What have I gotten myself into?

[Zinfer[TK]]

As Rob would say 'This is not for me'.  Watching the tuts, I was like - I can do that!  Now each cut frightens me to death.  My first ever hard armor build.  A RS Propmasters 'Idealized' Stormtrooper.  PVC build.  I've got a bad feeling about this.  :p   First shot is thrilling, here I recieved my shipment of beautiful ANH Stormtrooper armor.  I couldn't wait to open up the helmet box and marvel.

[Zinfer[TK]]

But I'm cheap, ie, furloughed from work and then a couple months later - laid off.  So I needed a long winter project.  And away we go.  It's like the little Engine that could.  I think I can, I think I can.  I HOPE.  Dove in on the Helmet first.  Most I've ever used my dremel I've had for ages.  Let's see what I can do here.  Looking...Original and thanks to all those in the Ohio Garrison and FISD for helping me along so-far.

[Zinfer[TK]]

Now turning my attention to the back cap.  I am liking how gloriously WHITE, shiny and new the PVC is.  I've also found that it's better to NOT use a flash.    It just appears very washed out.  Alright - after alot of sanding, it's time to mate them together.  And this could get harrowing using Rivets.  Once committed to using Rivets you have to be of a mindset that you get one shot at this - at least I was of that mind.

[Zinfer[TK]]

Uhm.  Ok.  Well I mean it's together and now looking like a stormtrooper but the Brow is looking and feeling a little wonky. 

and this is why.  I big gap at the brow.  Now how did that happen.  The brow is fairly unstable.  

 

And it seems like it's sticking out too far forward.

I mean I intentionally wanted a low brow, I never much cared for the high brow.  Maybe I'm trying to make this look Hero model.   

So after consulting with many, many on Ohio Garrison and FISD, they showed me the light.  Well first it was said to just put on the ears and it'd fix itself.  Well, it didn't.  Next I learned I was going to have to tear it all back down again, drill out the rivets and slot out the hole so that I could pull the backcap back and the face forward.  Nuts!

[Zinfer[TK]]

I would have to say the KEY moment was actually using Magnets to pull the face and cap together where they should be.  I tried clamps but mine were of a kind I couldn't really get them through the eyes right.  SO while keeping the rear eye's in alignment with the backcaps' side indentations, I test fitted the new slots on either side, being careful not to reveal the forward area of the slots, keeping them behind the backcap. (hard to understand right?)  Screwed the ear portions into the faceplate.  Happy with that I then proceeded onward to the ears.  Now those little buggers are HARD to sand right for helmet perfect fits, being the helmet isn't by far, perfect.  But I muddled through it with alot of you guys' help.  

So the right ear I had very minimal problem getting it dremel'd sanded and test fitted x12.  That went right on perfectly, but the left - ugh what a nightmare.   While Rob claimed the left was easier than the right - I heartily disagree.  But, after a bit of work and time, I finally got it on and looking - meh?    Maybe some bondo?  or gap filler   This was my Second Try.  Thank goodness the folks at RS provided 2 pair of these.  I'm leaving well enough alone.  The Brow looks fantastic and the helmet feels tight now.  Time to put the Mics in, or whatever they are.  Used a mini-file to poke the holes in the existing dimples and gave it a few in and out pulls to sand the holes a bit.  A washer and nut on either side and it's looking great!  

Now we're cooking.  Time to get the S Trim in, then the eye film.  and finally the padding and helmet snaps.

[Zinfer[TK]]

I'm really not sure about that eye film.  I think, looks wise I'd love the bubble eyes.  Those honestly look bad-an impolite person I think.  But whether they can actually get put on the stunt ANH I'm not really sure about.  Sticking with this film for now.  TEST FIT TIME and wow is this ever a tight helmet, I mean not that I wear a mask very often, but this is like - Nose riding time. 

Yep the old girl needs a good paint job.  But I gots more building to do.  Such a LOOooonngg way to go.    And yes, another of my projects was to pull off all the nasty wall molding and replace it with spackle and sand.  That's not done yet either.  

Edited December 2, 2020 by Zinfer

[Zinfer[TK]]

On to Biceps.  Trimming them out.  I went alot off of Rob's tutorials on Youtube.  Religiously watching every single last StormTrooper build.  Then I watched Ritchie StormTrooper, then I wanted Panda Props.  You guys are so full of knowledge and very helpful.  

So, ok, got them dremel'd out and sanded all the edges smooth.   Time for a test fit.  So out comes the painters tape.  

Starting with the right bicep, it is enormous to my arm, loose and baggy.  Go back to watch more tutorials.  But wait, Rob never really covered this part.  Stymied what the procedure is.  Huge gaps.  At least 2" top and bottom.  I could probably get 3 fingers in there on both sides.  So I'm on crisis uhm, 3 I think.    So while others are saying no, don't cut it down, stick in foam I'm like, but it's going to be flopping around everywhere.    

Just huge.  Shaming my biceps.  Body Shaming!    Well, instead of sitting idle, I decided to start cutting some cover strips, which I'm going to need anyways.   Well I screwed up half the material in cutting, the razor ran completely away from the ruler and created a very bad score.  My first time cutting with a razor on a straight PVC sheet.  Uhm but wait a minute, something is wrong here....

It's hard to tell by the camera's light filtering, but this cover strip is not PVC, but ABS...

It appears the whole sheet is ABS.  I checked the 2nd full sheet.  That is ABS as well.  Sent an email to Robb.  After a couple days I followed up with an email to Andrea.  I figured what with the Black Friday sale they had going on they were probably very busy wrapping up the year.  Andrea got back with me today 12/02/20 confirming they were slammed with new business and said she'd bring it to their attention and get it taken care of.  I tried finding some locally at US Plastics, but they don't work in 1.5mm.  They may have 1/8", I wanted to avoid further issues with wrong colors and wrong measurements in thickness so I did try that avenue first but thanked them and departed.

[Zinfer[TK]]

Well at this time I'm kinda screwed although I did find that I was of the correct notion that I did in fact need to match the biceps with my current, not too tight, not too loose, which reminds me I need to buy an undersuit.  I picked up something off a site called 'Light In a Box'.  Compression/Running pants and shirt - black.  I hate doing sizes over the internet, but I guess I'll find out.  The grand total was like $40.  About the price of a single Under Armor Shirt, which I have a devil of a time even finding one without all the white, yellow, red, blue, green pinstriping.  It's probably junk, but very form fitting and probably too small and the material of pantyhose.  But I digress - It's time to take a really good look at just what the contents of the Big Box are.

So here I laid everything out just to make sure I have all the correct things required for this build. 

 

I'm not ready to open that bag yet.  Looks like I'm kinda screwed right now for buiding anything with cover strips so, I'll just pick a project or two for each day from here.  The biceps are kinda off the table for now so I should put them back out here and pick another.

 

[Zinfer[TK]]

I did take some mirror shots of the biceps  for fitting and input from FISD/Ohio Garrison.  And got some great input back in which I was told there should be no return edge on the bicep.  While I did leave a slight amount in accordance completely with Robb's tutorial.

So yea There's practically 2" gap top and bottom and yea I probably need to remove ALL of the edge trim, but wow is that ever going to make matters worse.  But as I said I can't really do anything right now without cover strips, so hanging this portion up to revisit later. 

[MaskedVengeance[Staff]]

If you’re into the bubble lenses you’ll definitely need to get a Hero helmet, as they are not proper with the Stunt version. I do personally love the low brow of Luke’s lid.

As for the circumference of your biceps, and other parts for that matter, you’ll definitely want them to fit well, but also look proportional to the whole suit. So some trimming down may be necessary, but so might foam paddling inside as well. There are some common outside circumference measurements floating around here and YouTube; I think RS states roughly 170mm around the bottom and 190mm at the top of the biceps. But always remember that your suit needs to be tailored to your body build.


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[Zinfer[TK]]

Turning my attention to Hands and buttons.  I began the white dusting process of my face, shirt pants, arms and basically everything else.  Dremel hard at work.

 

Definitely need trimmed down alot.  

And the buttons.  I need to work further on the rightmost set but since that sits on the torso, I am going to look at that for fit before I trim anything really more closely.

[Zinfer[TK]]

6 minutes ago, MaskedVengeance said:

If you’re into the bubble lenses you’ll definitely need to get a Hero helmet, as they are not proper with the Stunt version. I do personally love the low brow of Luke’s lid.

As for the circumference of your biceps, and other parts for that matter, you’ll definitely want them to fit well, but also look proportional to the whole suit. So some trimming down may be necessary, but so might foam paddling inside as well. There are some common outside circumference measurements floating around here and YouTube; I think RS states roughly 170mm around the bottom and 190mm at the top of the biceps. But always remember that your suit needs to be tailored to your body build.


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Oh I see.  I wasn't aware it wasn't appropriate for my Stunt.  Oh I do too.  I loved that look of the low brow.  Yea I really have to figure out what actions for I do something rash with the biceps.  I mean, I'd at most try 1/4" at a time and test fit.  But I mean that would add up to 1/2" total.  Yea Robb did state his measurements of the outer and inner  I hate to combine foam padding with trying to slip my arm through to the forearm.  But I def want ease of putting the costume on.  Yea that body build is going to come down to crucial when I get to the inner armor and fit.  I have some weight to take off for sure.  And when I say SOME I'm being gentle with myself.    But yea those biceps are messing me up and I'm sure the forearms, I mean this is SO my first time and I don't want to screw it up by having to order new armor pieces due to trimming entirely too much, so I am scared.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

7 minutes ago, Zinfer said:

Oh I see.  I wasn't aware it wasn't appropriate for my Stunt.  

An interesting read on brow trim heights 

 

[Zinfer[TK]]

So Started the Sniper kneed and shoulder strip trimming. 

I was a little taken aback by the shoulder strips.  Now how am I going to fix this?  Well thanks to a fellow trooper in the Ohio Garrison he sent me pics of his and the light binked on in my head AHA!

Much better.  Thank you Jeffrey Aurand.  Just had to get in there a little tighter on that trim

[Zinfer[TK]]

Onward to the belt boxes.

created my pencil lines and ready to trim.

Not really impressed with the dremel much on these.

 

I tried dremeling these as close as I could but eventually succumbed to the thought that a belt sander with a sanding wheel was going to do these so much more cleanly.

Very pleased with the belt sander.  Test fitted and glued.  I ordered some ZAP a GAP today and the Kicker spray as I'd watched so many tuts that I knew eventually I was going to need it primarily for strapping.  At least I think so.  For now, using some Loctite super glue gel.

 

[Zinfer[TK]]

On a roll here with these smaller parts.  Next up Thermal Detonator.  

Not to bad of a small project.  Just need to put those end caps on the belt/circular sander and give them a nice flat edge, trimmed out the cover.  Test fitted.

And glued, and a little the right DANGIT!  Off by a hair.

[Zinfer[TK]]

Then it's belt time.  Pulling it out and doing my pencil lines.  This was a little tricky.  Straight lines are everything.  

So much to trim out of this.  

But I actually surprised myself, turned out pretty good.  So side story, I found that Justjoseph had a sale up for his elastic material hero gloves.  I was like I need a pair!  And contacted him and expressed interest.  So went out to the arcade to retrieve the belt/rivets to fasten this to.  So I got in that bag that I said I didn't need yet.  

Rummaging through it for the belt box straps and rivets and

Oops.  I had to sheepishly let Justjoseph know that I'm an idiot.

Edited December 2, 2020 by Zinfer

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

1 minute ago, Zinfer said:

I found that GMRHodes had a sale up for his elastic material hero gloves.  I was like I need a pair!  And contacted him and expressed interest.  So went out to the arcade to retrieve the belt/rivets to fasten this to.  So I got in that bag that I said I didn't need yet.  

I think you will find that was Joseph that sells the handplates  

 

With the belt corners you need these to match the width of the belt, at least for L3 

• The corners of the plastic ammo belt shall be trimmed at a 45 degree angle that that meets the outer edge of the cloth belt.

 

Also notice the rivet/snap placement is off center and closer to the end of the belt  

                                   

 

 

 

[Zinfer[TK]]

So that's the end of the tale so far.  At this time when I was out there just for the heck of it tried on the torso and kidney plate and OMG.  I need to stop eating for a month and def stop drinking every night. 

[Zinfer[TK]]

1 minute ago, gmrhodes13 said:

I think you will find that was Joseph that sells the handplates  

 

With the belt corners you need these to match the width of the belt, at least for L3 

• The corners of the plastic ammo belt shall be trimmed at a 45 degree angle that that meets the outer edge of the cloth belt.

 

Also notice the rivet/snap placement is off center and closer to the end of the belt  

                                   

 

 

 

Doing my best Jedi hand wave - you never saw me say that GMRHodes was selling those.

[Zinfer[TK]]

13 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

With the belt corners you need these to match the width of the belt, at least for L3 

• The corners of the plastic ammo belt shall be trimmed at a 45 degree angle that that meets the outer edge of the cloth belt.

 

Also notice the rivet/snap placement is off center and closer to the end of the belt  

                                   

 

 

 

Well this is a problem.  I hope I have enough room to do some retrimming.  So the inner corners of the plastic meet the cloth belt.  I was NEVER aware of that.  And thank God I didn't rivet anything yet.  But I am now hoping I don't need to buy a replacement belt.  Maybe I can fix it.  Maybe I can trim the belt back a bit.  Anything about the length requirements of the belt cover?

Edited December 2, 2020 by Zinfer

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Always best to recheck the CRL's when building  

 

You may be able to still trim, just lay on top of the belt and check the width. Normally the trimmed corners are @ 10-12 mm

 

 

 

 

[Zinfer[TK]]

Completed updated trimming and secured the ammo belt to the ammo cloth.  Next up is the drop boxes.  

[Zinfer[TK]]

Finished up with the knee ammo belt.  At least until I get the thighs started on.  

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Yeah, those biceps will need to be reduced in circumference.  Cutting down equally on both sides (front and rear) in small increments until you get a good fit... not too loose, not too tight.

Pic 2 shows a suggestion I just offered in another build thread.  Note the overlap and suggested cut line.

Although it's a personal preference, I am not a fan of return edges in most areas for various reasons, and this (link here) thread may help explain.

 

     

 

This is what I strongly suggest on the ab-button plate trimming:                                               Reference image