Legacy Fem, Version A Build

[Tilheyra[IPM]]

Here I go again! Yet again I buy the kit for another build before my current build is complete… But is anyone surprised I would pursue a femtrooper build again?

 

My success with my FEM7 build encouraged me to look at making a Legacy Fem build a reality, especially given the immense similarity between the FEM7 and Legacy Fem armor. After checking with Imperial Surplus, it became clear the sizing of the Legacy Fem kit is not a concern for me, so I ordered the kit as soon as I was able!

 

I am building my Legacy Fem kit for 501^st approval, so I’ll post occasional updates here once I start this build.

 

As I am so close to being done with my shock trooper, I will be delaying my Legacy Fem build just long enough to bring my shock trooper into being via approval. However, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to celebrate my new kit and my upcoming BBB day!

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

10 minutes ago, Tilheyra said:

Here I go again! Yet again I buy the kit for another build before my current build is complete… But is anyone surprised I would pursue a femtrooper build again?

Definitely bitten by the building bug, happens to the many of us, most have a few projects on the go at the same time  

 

[Tilheyra[IPM]]

50 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Definitely bitten by the building bug

 

Happy to be afflicted!

 

Why have just one set of armor when I could choose from many?!

[Tilheyra[IPM]]

Yesterday was BBB day! It was really nice to return home to this kit after a long trip to visit family (it was Thanksgiving here in the U.S.). 

 

This morning is the first time I have been able to go through everything, so I set out all of the parts for these "Before" photos for the build:

 

 

 

I'm thinking of two potential timelines for completion. A major cosplay/gaming/pop culture convention in my area is at the end of April, so if I cannot finish the whole build by then I would prefer to have everything except the helmet complete for the con (although I know I cannot be approved until the helmet is complete). If I can't finish the whole build by the end of April, I would like to have everything completed and the costume approved by June. It seems fitting to have a cross-gender costume complete and approved in time for Pride festivities in June. 

 

With my shock trooper nearing completion, it will be great to have 2 approved costumes by the time my Legacy is complete! But I am getting ahead of myself, because I need to complete the costumes!

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Gotta love a BBB, looking forward to seeing the progress, good luck

[Sly11[Admin]]

This is where it starts to get exciting!  Good luck with your build

[Tilheyra[IPM]]

My shock trooper is complete (and approved!), and I ain't taking a break, so back to the Legacy!

 

Starting off slow, I decided to tackle the boots before getting into much of the armor building. Here's what I bought:

 

 

The prevailing tale across many of the Legacy Fem TK threads is the lack of availability of suitable boots that fit the picture and description for Version A of the CRL. Add to this my feet are in a large size for women's boots, and it becomes quite a bit more challenging. The boots I bought came out of a long process of searching, but they still may be problematic.

 

Best I can think is to run these boots by my GML to see what he may think. I will need to add the leather strip from toe to tongue on each boot, as discussed in the CRL, and perhaps then do something about covering up the elastic on the sides (unless an exception can be made due to the lack of availability of suitable boots). I'll report what I find out.

 

Now to get to trimming the armor!

[Sly11[Admin]]

59 minutes ago, Tilheyra said:

My shock trooper is complete (and approved!), and I ain't taking a break, so back to the Legacy!

 

Starting off slow, I decided to tackle the boots before getting into much of the armor building. Here's what I bought:

 

 

The prevailing tale across many of the Legacy Fem TK threads is the lack of availability of suitable boots that fit the picture and description for Version A of the CRL. Add to this my feet are in a large size for women's boots, and it becomes quite a bit more challenging. The boots I bought came out of a long process of searching, but they still may be problematic.

 

Best I can think is to run these boots by my GML to see what he may think. I will need to add the leather strip from toe to tongue on each boot, as discussed in the CRL, and perhaps then do something about covering up the elastic on the sides (unless an exception can be made due to the lack of availability of suitable boots). I'll report what I find out.

 

Now to get to trimming the armor!

Awesome momentum Brian, keep up the outstanding work.

[Tilheyra[IPM]]

As I suspected, it looks like shims and ABS paste are in my future with this build. Fortunately, I am in the right place for this as folks here are no strangers to this process (as well as many folks in Bloodfin), so expect me to ask lots of questions about this process when the time comes! I've never worked with ABS paste before, and the shims will need shaping, especially shims for the kidney and abdominal pieces.

 

Also, I want to double check the EIB requirements for the Legacy Fem kit. The only mentions of EIB I see on the CRL are in reference to weapons. Is that the extent of EIB requirements for the build, or should I be reviewing other documents here on FISD as well?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

3 hours ago, Tilheyra said:

As I suspected, it looks like shims and ABS paste are in my future with this build. Fortunately, I am in the right place for this as folks here are no strangers to this process (as well as many folks in Bloodfin), so expect me to ask lots of questions about this process when the time comes! I've never worked with ABS paste before, and the shims will need shaping, especially shims for the kidney and abdominal pieces.

 

Also, I want to double check the EIB requirements for the Legacy Fem kit. The only mentions of EIB I see on the CRL are in reference to weapons. Is that the extent of EIB requirements for the build, or should I be reviewing other documents here on FISD as well?

Thread on making ABS paste, quite an easy process to make just a little tough for sanding. I find multiple thin coats the best as it doesn't create as many air holes while drying internally 

 

I don't think anyone has ever applied for EIB so additional requirements have not been added to the CRL, you could contact Andrew @Sly11about it.

 

[revlimiter[Staff]]

3 hours ago, Tilheyra said:

I've never worked with ABS paste before, and the shims will need shaping, especially shims for the kidney and abdominal pieces.

 

I suspect that when you start to work with it, most of your questions will answer themselves. It's pretty easy stuff to work with.

 

I highly suggest something like a jelly jar with the double lid to house and mix your ABS paste in. I used a baby food jar and the acetone melted the seal in the lid after a year or so. I had a solid block of ABS inside that I had to break free (no sense in wasting it) and revitalize in a new jar.

 

Every consistency of ABS paste has a use in my opinion. The runny stuff that's super liquidy is fantastic for a top coat or getting in small cracks. More chunky stuff works great for filling holes quickly. Everything needs sanding of course, but runny paste sands easier and seems more coherent. Chunky paste will reveal inner bubbles as it's sanded.

 

And since I'm putting in my 2 cents, I really like 2 part epoxy for holding things like shims in place. Use the ABS paste to finish edges and holes but rely on the strength of 2 part epoxy to bond things together. My personal fav is Devcon Plastic Welder.

[Tilheyra[IPM]]

Although this photo does not show everything, I have rough trimmed everything except the belt and boxes and the thermal detonator pieces! There are still places on many different pieces (such as the lower legs, thigh armor, and arms) where there are indentations for seam lines, so I will move on to cutting the excess in those areas when I measure the different parts to fit. Additionally, many of the return edges on the parts in the photo are still too wide for what I think should be appropriate, so those return edges will also be reduced following measuring and fitting.

 

 

I also did some rough trimming of the helmet to see how well my head will fit in it. Fortunately, my head fits with a small amount of wiggle room!!! Here's what the helmet looks like at the moment, but I will clearly need to do some finer trimming as I continue constructing the helmet.

 

 

One issue that will come up when constructing the helmet is the addition of helmet fans and the battery. The fans themselves will not be an issue as there will be enough space under the mouth of the helmet, but fitting the battery inside may cause trouble. I will either need to find a small battery (or use multiple small batteries) or move the battery to the chest or back armor and run a cable between there and the helmet. I'll let different ideas simmer on this aspect as I continue my progress.

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

3 hours ago, Tilheyra said:

One issue that will come up when constructing the helmet is the addition of helmet fans and the battery. The fans themselves will not be an issue as there will be enough space under the mouth of the helmet, but fitting the battery inside may cause trouble. I will either need to find a small battery (or use multiple small batteries) or move the battery to the chest or back armor and run a cable between there and the helmet. I'll let different ideas simmer on this aspect as I continue my progress.

 

 

Some use a flat 4 x AA flat pack but I found a square 4 x pack fits into the lower rim around the sides

[Chopper857[TK]]

For Tracey’s trooper a friend put together a micro fan system which runs via a a small usb bank that fits nicely in the front of the helmet

[Tilheyra[IPM]]

On 1/13/2024 at 4:38 PM, gmrhodes13 said:

Some use a flat 4 x AA flat pack but I found a square 4 x pack fits into the lower rim around the sides

 

On 1/14/2024 at 1:59 PM, Chopper857 said:

For Tracey’s trooper a friend put together a micro fan system which runs via a a small usb bank that fits nicely in the front of the helmet

 

I've been looking at the options available on Amazon and there are many more options than I thought! I will probably go with individual AA battery packs that I can wire together. That should allow me to fit multiple batteries along the curved lower portions of the helmet.

 

In the mean time, I have been slowly scheming about the best way to put the armor pieces together, knowing I need to enlarge certain areas. That made me think about using some of the excess that I have yet to trim away to serve as shims without having to make and attach shims. This would only work on the thighs. My thought for the thighs is using the excess shown in the photo (but trimming it just enough for the edge to be straight) as a shim itself:

 

 

Keeping this excess on this front half of the thigh armor would give enough material to enlarge the circumference of the thigh armor to fit me. The straightened edge of this excess will then be glued in the proper place to the back thigh piece. The problem is the indented cut line (shown with my thumb in the photo) would need to be hidden, so my thought is to cover this with ABS paste and then sand smooth.

 

That is my thought right now. I figured I should mention this here to see what folks think. This would save me needing to place a shim in this area as the excess would act as a shim, but I want to think about my options before cutting or gluing anything. The one drawback I can foresee now would be the visible seam being further back than usual, which impacts the appearance and where the knee armor straps connect to the thigh armor (as the strapping attachment usually rests on or near this seam).

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

The only draw back with using ABS in front areas is it can dry a slightly different color to the armor especially once sanded/polished, thin coats are also best so it reduces any air bubbles while curing. If it does dry differently you would have to try to match some paint.

 

Personally I would try not to touch the fronts and add/customize the rear as it's not seen as much by the public.

[Chopper857[TK]]

hope this helps 

[Tilheyra[IPM]]

On 1/18/2024 at 4:46 AM, Chopper857 said:

hope this helps 

 

This is super helpful! I am happy you documented this!

 

I am still divided over whether to alter the sides or back of the thighs, so I figure it will just have to simmer while I work on other parts of the armor. I should probably consult my GML as well.

 

Either way, some part of the thighs will need to be altered.

[Chopper857[TK]]

personnaly and from a gml perspective i would mod the sides trying to retain the ridge at the back of thigh would be very difficult and with the side mod you only have to blend out one side of the shim as leaving the front edge retains the orignal look 

[Tilheyra[IPM]]

3 hours ago, Chopper857 said:

personnaly and from a gml perspective i would mod the sides trying to retain the ridge at the back of thigh would be very difficult and with the side mod you only have to blend out one side of the shim as leaving the front edge retains the orignal look

 

I agree, it would be simpler to make modifications at the joints, where possible. Your documentation of what you did to modify the thigh armor will be very helpful!

 

I sent an email to my GML earlier, just to be safe, so unless he has objections, the side modification for the thighs is what I will do.

 

As can be gleaned from the thread so far, I tend to have analysis paralysis. Everyone needs to be careful, but builds do not get done if we don't actually take the step of doing things. As such, I have started on the lower leg armor (I'll make a post on that when I make more progress). I anticipate my calves will necessitate some modifications to the lower leg armor, but what exactly that may be will not be apparent until I am up to the point just prior to gluing that front seam. 

 

A lot of modifications for this armor, but this armor is among my favorites of all the stormtroopers (and through this intrigue allowed me to learn about the Legion), so it will be fantastic to bring my own Legacy into reality!

[Eleanor]

Am 13.1.2024 um 18:49 schrieb Tilheyra:

 

One issue that will come up when constructing the helmet is the addition of helmet fans and the battery. The fans themselves will not be an issue as there will be enough space under the mouth of the helmet, but fitting the battery inside may cause trouble. I will either need to find a small battery (or use multiple small batteries) or move the battery to the chest or back armor and run a cable between there and the helmet. I'll let different ideas simmer on this aspect as I continue my progress.

 

 

 

Sorry to be in quite late to this, covid was mean to me.

 

Even though i have yet to hand in my application (Detonator and boots still to do), i have everything else finished.

 

In terms of helmet i used three rather small fans from Henry's Helmet Fans, the 30x10mm ones if i am not mistaken.
Coupled with two powerbanks i picked up at my local electronics store for like 10 bucks each. The powerbanks go into the 'cheeks' of the helmet and sit there perfectly. The fans sit on either side of my visor to keep it from fogging up, angled slightly downward, while the third one is right behind the black vocoder part of the helmet on the inside - sitting under my nose and chin. To catch all the moisture from simply breathing/talking. It is sitting a bit sideways to push the warm air out to the left of my throat.

 

I can comfortably wear my helmet for 9h straight without fogging up or feeling bad inside it. It works just right with an Aker mic i cut down and stitched to a simple sweatband for my icomm, which is sitting inside the chestplate. And one powerbank lasts for 11h of use with the three small fans. The second one is simply to keep balance and as a backup in the helmet, as their weight would otherwise make it feel a bit lopsided.
I am hat size 58, for America that is 7 1/4 i believe. I fit in fine with all of that inside + cushions.

Hard to take pictures of it, so bear with me.

 

 

 

 

 

[Tilheyra[IPM]]

7 hours ago, Eleanor said:

 

Sorry to be in quite late to this, covid was mean to me.

 

Even though i have yet to hand in my application (Detonator and boots still to do), i have everything else finished.

 

In terms of helmet i used three rather small fans from Henry's Helmet Fans, the 30x10mm ones if i am not mistaken.
Coupled with two powerbanks i picked up at my local electronics store for like 10 bucks each. The powerbanks go into the 'cheeks' of the helmet and sit there perfectly. The fans sit on either side of my visor to keep it from fogging up, angled slightly downward, while the third one is right behind the black vocoder part of the helmet on the inside - sitting under my nose and chin. To catch all the moisture from simply breathing/talking. It is sitting a bit sideways to push the warm air out to the left of my throat.

 

I can comfortably wear my helmet for 9h straight without fogging up or feeling bad inside it. It works just right with an Aker mic i cut down and stitched to a simple sweatband for my icomm, which is sitting inside the chestplate. And one powerbank lasts for 11h of use with the three small fans. The second one is simply to keep balance and as a backup in the helmet, as their weight would otherwise make it feel a bit lopsided.
I am hat size 58, for America that is 7 1/4 i believe. I fit in fine with all of that inside + cushions.

Hard to take pictures of it, so bear with me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is super helpful! I only paid attention to the regular size fans when I purchased from Henry's for my shock trooper, so I did not know about the much smaller fans! 

 

The photos are great as well! It really helps to see how big the fans actually are in comparison to the rest of the interior. Although the power banks you use aren't sold here in the U.S., I have found some of similar size, so I am happy to see how well they can be nestled into the cheek area of the helmet.I'd very much prefer to contain everything within the helmet, and this will make that achievable! 

[Tilheyra[IPM]]

I took the first step of doing some actual cutting...finally... I decided to start with the lower leg armor. I'm paying careful attention to the visible butt joint on the front of the lower leg pieces to minimize the gap between the two pieces. I've not encountered a visible butt joint during my previous builds, so that explains my efforts in diligence here. The two pieces making this butt joint are also at an angle, which is also new to me for a build.

 

Conveniently, Imperial Surplus provides a molded cover strip to help with making this joint, so I didn't have to make a cover strip and bend the plastic myself. I originally thought this molded cover strip was supposed to be the front of the lower leg pieces, which never made sense to me given the clear seam/joint line in the CRL photos. Then I finally recognized that I was using my thick skull again and figured it out after looking through the other Legacy threads here.

 

Anyway, even though I cut on the cut/seam lines on the armor pieces, one of the two edges that are supposed to butt together is not straight. The outer half of the right lower leg armor (I've only been working with the right so far) was straight, so it is currently being glued to the cover strip. I'll work on the right interior piece once the glue dries. I'm not sure if the right interior half is supposed to be curved to accommodate the shape of the completed lower leg armor, so I'm not cutting or sanding that piece until I can see how it will attach to the cover strip to make the butt joint. Testing that out with the cover strip will make the process easier to figure out.

 

 

 

The return edges on the lower leg armor pieces are still too wide, so I'll cut those down to 5mm in width and see how that works when I do the fitting on my legs.

 

In other news, my GML encouraged me to get the boots from Crowprops, so I followed the instructions from Crowprops on measuring my foot size. This is where I found another use for one of my interpersonal communication textbooks. I was told throughout graduate school that textbooks should be seen as tools that help us, so I believe I honored the spirit of that statement:

 

Edited January 26 by Tilheyra

[Tilheyra[IPM]]

Part of my Legacy finally takes shape! I am currently gluing the inner half of the right lower leg armor to the cover strip (and by extension to the outer half of the right lower leg). It took some careful trimming and sanding to get everything to line up to this point, but we can clearly see a bit of a problem with the bottom portion. I will need to do some sort of correction for this part to make both halves match up appropriately. I am thinking of having minimal return edges (about 2mm or so, if any - but I am noting that here in case anyone has concerns about that - if so, please make that concern known) on this bottom portion to allow greater freedom of movement in this area, so trimming accordingly may help me blend the two halves together at the bottom.

 

 

I have also trimmed the armor parts for the left lower leg. Although the edges for the front seam/joint do not line up properly on the halves for the left lower leg, the gap is not as drastic as was the case for the right lower leg. I'll still need to do some trimming and sanding, however. 

 

Trimming the return edges to 5mm for the tops of each lower leg will follow. At that point, I will then see how well the back overlap for the lower legs lines up, and if I need to do any modifications that may be needed to accommodate my calves. I recall a build thread specifically addressing that subject (calves being too big for the armor as designed) here on the Legacy Fem portion of FISD, so at least I have some documentation to guide me if I need to make said modification. 

 

Despite these possible problems, I am very happy to finally be putting some of the pieces together!

Edited January 27 by Tilheyra

[Tilheyra[IPM]]

Progress is being made! Both of the lower legs have taken shape and I navigated my way through the visible seam/joint on the front of the lower leg pieces!

 

 

The bottom edges of each of the lower leg armor pieces need additional work. The right lower leg (the one on the left in the photo) did not line up as well as on the bottom edges as I would have hoped, so I may need to do some beding of the plastic here to align the pieces together. Also, the bottom edges of both pieces still have visible gaps. I will need to close these in some fashion while also maintaining the visible seam. Also, as I mentioned previously, I am thinking about trimming away all if not most of the return edges on these bottom edges to allow greater freedom of movement. 

 

Here's how the backs of the lower leg armor pieces look. The pieces easily bend enough to get into the proper alignment for closing them along the rear greaves, so I have no concern velcro will keep these closed. However, I still need to see just how much modifying is needed back here. In putting the pieces around my legs prior to getting everything glued, the pieces will not close around my calves, so I am considering either widening the rear raised greave with a cover strip (as noted as a possibility in the CRL), or wideing the upper portion of the lower leg armor with shims and ABS paste. Any widening will be done in the back.

 

 

I figured I should also show how much material I am going to be removing from the current return edges. The dashed pencil lines on the right armor piece show how much width I would like to reduce, and trimming to the dashed lines would keep a 5mm return edge all around. The same will be done for the left armor piece. I am going to test fit my lower legs through these pieces again once the return edges have been trimmed to see how much the situation may have improved (better to remeasure before making any modifications).

 

 

I was going to jump into addressing the bottoms of these pieces, but I recalled reading on numerous build threads (and my own previous threads) that it is best to work on the lower openings of the lower leg armor while wearing and using the boots one will be trooping in. Those boots are many weeks away from shipping, so I think it is best to set the lower leg armor aside until that time comes.

 

I'll go ahead and move on to the thigh armor!