StarTrooper’s ATA ANH Stunt Build (Aiming for Centurion)

[StarTrooper]

Hello everyone! 

My name is Jayke aka “StarTrooper”, you can call me either.

My BBB arrived around 6 months ago, so it’s been some time since it arrived, but the nice thing is, the armor is always there for you!

I’m open to any suggestions, tips, and advice you may have as I am a metiphorical TK sponge ready to soak up as much information as I can.

I am about 5’9” inches tall, and am about 160 pounds, around the right size for an ATA (to my knowledge).

As stated in the title, I am hoping to build this beauty to Centurion status.

I hope to have lots of fun on this journey with you all, as that is my number one priority (that and not creating a fatal screw up).

 

Armor: ATA

Helmet: ATA

Undersuit: Amazon

Neck seal: Researching

Boots: Researching

Blaster: DoopyDoos(not ordered yet)

 

 

At the moment, I’m in the process of cleaning up the rough edges from the rough cut with a Dremel.

I’ll also be fitting the pieces and cutting the cover strips soon. 

 

I’m super excited for this build and I’m looking forward to sharing this journey with you all.

Until next time.

 

 

 

[repentance3232[TK]]

The cover strips are standard measurements for all Stormtroopers of your size. Here are so references. Remember no return edges on forearms at wrists. Good luck with your build and be patient, ask plenty of questions before moving forward. I didn't move forward until I built up confidence. You will be just fine with all the people who will help and guide you. I also used heavily Ukswrath Anovos build thread. He would be rich if he got paid 5 cents for everytime I opened up he thread

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[StarTrooper]

Awesome thank you!

[repentance3232[TK]]

Awesome thank you!

Anytime Trooper, if I give you information you are already aware of, you can use your knowledge to help fellow Troopers , hee hee!!!

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[StarTrooper]

Question: How much should I trim off the kidney?

[repentance3232[TK]]

Question: How much should I trim off the kidney?

You can leave it for right now until you decide if you are going to web interior strapping or bracket strapping. You will need return edge for brackets and less to none for web. What return edges you leave will possibly dig into your back. I went with web and trimmed return edges away, so I'm not sure how much you need for brackets, if I suggested a measurement, I would probably steer you wrong. Hope this little information will help you!!!

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[StarTrooper]

Yes this helps a lot! Thank you

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

You can also refer to the gallery section while building, sometimes it can be quicker than waiting for a response to a question  

 

[repentance3232[TK]]

Yes absolutely!!!!! Locate GALLERY

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[TheSwede[TK]]

Hey Jayke - great to have you with us

It will be a fun journey for sure, there´s not much more iconic than a Stormtrooper and to be able to wear the armor yourself is truly awesome.

Great to hear you are aming for Centrurion and as such I would like to suggest that you check out the advanced tactics and look over the approved Centurions to see and get a feel for on how it should look

https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/forum/66-fisd-centurion-program/

[StarTrooper]

Thank you! I really appreciate all of the advice I’ve received so far

[StarTrooper]

Hello everyone!

I know it’s been a long time but I had so much going on including school, hockey, a trip to Galaxy’s Edge, and a bunch of other stuff, but now it’s summer and I have lots of time to work on my build!

Yesterday, I went to a garrison-wide build party where I got to meet plenty of the members of the SoCal Garrison for the first time.

I had a blast and got lots of great advice and tips as well as the confidence to continue on my build.

I was able to get plenty of work done on the forearms and the helmet which is very exciting especially cutting out the eyes, which was the scariest part of the build(for me).

I’d like to say a big thank you to @Oztrooper(Jeff) and @TheRascalKing(Justin)for helping me out with the helmet and the rest of the SoCal Garrison for the warm welcome and all the great tips and advice.

Edited June 30, 2019 by StarTrooper

[Bullseye[TK]]

Good luck with the build. I’m in year 2 of mine. It’s daunting but a lot of fun. 

 

Looking at at your helmet build it might be helpful to take a look at my build thread for the helmet. Basically so you can learn from my mistakes. Take your time with the helmet, but visualize and know what you want you want it to look like. If you want a low brow, put the bucket on the face plate and use painters tape to secure it so you can get a feel for where everything should be. You can measure from there and start to put everything together. 

 

Just know you’re going to make mistakes, but that’s part of the process. You can fix just about anything, so don’t let perfection grind you to a halt (it did for me for about a year). Have fun with it and good luck!

[TheRascalKing[TK]]

Was nice to meet you and I'm happy to help, man! Following your build thread, but hit me up with questions any time 

 

I saw from your OP that you're researching boots and a neckseal - here's links to the ones I recommend!

 

https://www.imperialboots.com/product/421/

https://www.etsy.com/listing/642686929/stormtrooper-neck-seal?ref=shop_home_active_23&crt=1

 

Darman also makes great holsters if ya need one!

 

[StarTrooper]

On 7/1/2019 at 10:02 PM, Bullseye said:

Good luck with the build. I’m in year 2 of mine. It’s daunting but a lot of fun. 

 

Looking at at your helmet build it might be helpful to take a look at my build thread for the helmet. Basically so you can learn from my mistakes. Take your time with the helmet, but visualize and know what you want you want it to look like. If you want a low brow, put the bucket on the face plate and use painters tape to secure it so you can get a feel for where everything should be. You can measure from there and start to put everything together. 

 

Just know you’re going to make mistakes, but that’s part of the process. You can fix just about anything, so don’t let perfection grind you to a halt (it did for me for about a year). Have fun with it and good luck!

Cool thank you for the advice! P.S. your helmet looks great!

19 hours ago, TheRascalKing said:

Was nice to meet you and I'm happy to help, man! Following your build thread, but hit me up with questions any time 

 

I saw from your OP that you're researching boots and a neckseal - here's links to the ones I recommend!

 

https://www.imperialboots.com/product/421/

https://www.etsy.com/listing/642686929/stormtrooper-neck-seal?ref=shop_home_active_23&crt=1

 

Darman also makes great holsters if ya need one!

 

Sweet! Thank you for the links, I’ll most likely be picking up the neck seal and the boots. I had my eye on the boots but they just closed to produce orders. D’oh!

[StarTrooper]

I’m baaaack!

So I got quite a bit of progress done, with the helmet and forearms again. I removed almost all the return edge on the forearms and all they need is to be sanded down and then they are ready for glueing.

For the helmet, I Dremeled out the teeth and then went in with a needle file to open the gaps a bit more. It still needs some work but the helmet is starting to look pretty good.

One of the big things that needs to be done is remove some more plastic from the eyes as they look a little goofy right now.

I will be back shortly with the first cover strips glued on the inside of the forearms.

Until next time

 

 

Edited July 6, 2019 by StarTrooper

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work, you will need to remove all the return edge at the wrist end of the forearms for L3

 

[Oztrooper[TK]]

Feel free to PM me at any time...im on FB Messenger also...always ready to answer any questions...ive built 3 Of the ATA suits over the years...can never ask too many so have at it..

Edited July 15, 2019 by Oztrooper

[StarTrooper]

Hey everyone!

I got a lot of work done so prepare to be bombarded by pictures (as well as a few questions)

So, first off, I got the forearms interior cover strips glued, and now I am starting to glue on the exterior cover strips.

Quick question: do I have the left forearm lined up correctly?

 

Next, I am trimming and fitting the biceps. The right bicep feels great, but the left one (just like the left forearm) is pretty snug because of the weird arm contours so I may have to remove some more of the return edges.

Lastly, I made a quick mock up of what the interior strapping should look like.

[CableGuy[TK]]

Nice work, Jayke. :-)

When you get back to the eyes, here’s a nice example of how much you can open them up.



Note that they were a little rough and ready and potentially cut with a sharp blade.

[TheRascalKing[TK]]

12 hours ago, StarTrooper said:

Hey everyone!

I got a lot of work done so prepare to be bombarded by pictures (as well as a few questions)

So, first off, I got the forearms interior cover strips glued, and now I am starting to glue on the exterior cover strips.

 

Quick question: do I have the left forearm lined up correctly?

 

Next, I am trimming and fitting the biceps. The right bicep feels great, but the left one (just like the left forearm) is pretty snug because of the weird arm contours so I may have to remove some more of the return edges.

 

Lastly, I made a quick mock up of what the interior strapping should look like.

 

Looking good! Remember to align the forearms from the TOP (elbow area), since you'll have no return edge and can trim from the wrist to even them out. You can take MOST of the return edge out of the biceps since they're barely visible, which will help a lot.

Your strapping layout looks good, though most guys only run two straps from the back to kidney. And you'll need to move the outside kidney to posterior strapping in a bit to make room for the kidney notches, should you choose to run them. I actually make strapping kits if you're interested, or I can at least show you how I do mine, which should help a bunch. Find me on Facebook and send me a PM? Justin Reed.

[TheRascalKing[TK]]

Found these for ya. Mine are based on the same diagrams, but I use two Line 24 snaps and 2" black elastic for all the body connections and 1" for the sides and arms. Some places like the legs and left side of the kidney attachment, I use 1" black *nylon webbing where I don't want it to stretch. I'd also be cautious of using snaps actually set into the armor for anything load-bearing, as it just adds stress and stress makes cracks. I'll try to find a good photo of one of my kits too so you can see.

 

Edited July 18, 2019 by TheRascalKing

[StarTrooper]

Hey everyone!

Justin, thank you so much for the diagrams, they helped so much for the snap placements, as well as pictures of your strapping system. And thank you Dan for the diagram for how much to cut the eyes.

 

Its been a little while but I have made lots of progress, so first off...

Strapping system!

For this build, I am using Tandy Leather snaps which, following ukswrath's video tutorial, I set into the plastic, and then cut a taper. This makes the snap sit flush and looks very clean.

I have started to glue the chest and ab straps on as well as the shoulder elastic.

I have also ordered boots from Imperial Boots and have shipped, and will hopefully be here in the next couple weeks. Once they get here I will start on the legs.

So, now I will continue to glue the straps, and I'll be back with another update soon.

Until next time.

[SgtGarand[TK]]

Looking good so far!

For your helmet you can open up the teeth a bit more as well if you haven't already since you posted.  And for the straps, I doubled up my elastic to keep things tight and also used a square piece of canvas strap material to keep the elastic from pulling off the snap during a troop while suiting up/down.  

[TheRascalKing[TK]]

Hey Jayke! Dug through my phone to try to find some more helpful photos for ya. I've been making straps for people fairly often these days and have found some tips and tricks by trial and error haha

 

So this photo of a buddy's Sandy strap setup gives you a good idea of how I've kinda translated the Billhag diagram over into the real world. It works great and I've got about a dozen guys and gals wearing my kits without any issues. I definitely like the double-snap system for the body connections and have never had reports of it failing during a troop.

 

I actually set the male snaps into a piece of nylon webbing instead of ABS like the tutorial you saw (which is great otherwise!). Personal preference, but the nylon bonds really well with E6000 to the armor and can adhere to the curves of the armor better - it's tough enough that it'll never accidentally come apart, but if you REALLY needed to remove it to adjust things, you can pull em off with pliers. A lot of guys will CA glue the ABS squares in, but... then they're pretty much never coming off clean ever. Also, if you're going to do ABS squares, I would leave a lot more ABS around the snap - right now, it looks like you're bonding the actual metal snap base to your armor, which isn't ideal and kind of negates the ABS. A larger, rectangular tab or nylon like mine would bond better. It also helps to scuff up the armor a bit before gluing anything - glue sticks better to a rough surface than a perfectly smooth one. It's also worth mentioning again that anywhere a snap or rivet has been drilled and sunk THROUGH the armor, I never attach a strap there by itself - you don't want them to be load-bearing, because that leads to stress, which leads to cracks. 

 

 

Here's what a full strapping kit more or less looks like when I make em!

 

Another view, and a Shadow Trooper kit, but you get the idea.

 

Here's one showing how I do the sew in snap. If you switch between holes on this side, the visible side comes out really clean. Plus, I integrate my Centurion elastic tie-downs into the shoulder strapping so they stay in place and never get lost. Super easy to do!

 

Anyways, hope all this helps! Hit me up with any questions and keep working away - it's looking great!

Edited August 2, 2019 by TheRascalKing