Allerg3n

Approved over the weekend! TD 31285. Huge thanks again to everyone for all your insight and comments. Looking forward to putting my backpack together in the coming months for MEPD deployment!

Woohoo! Almost there now! Looking great!

Thanks Sean! Interestingly I think it's more the shoulder bells in my case - the ATA breastplate is a bit narrow and I didn't have to trim much at all with regard to width. I think I may have trimmed about a half inch too much off my shoulder bells when I was working on the arms. Not too worried though since pouches/backpack will cover up most of the black. If I ever decide to clean up and convert to TK, I may order new bells and re-trim.

Thanks guys! It's kinda remarkable how much the light washes out the dirtiness in photos - I may take some in natural daylight to compare, but I was too eager to take pics in order to get 501st approved. This winter's projects: newborn baby girl, and Dirty Boy's backpack for MEPD approval

Thanks Ricky! I'll let you know how it goes. :-)

Party went well - no real pics because my wife was busy corralling kids who wanted photos - that was awesome. I submitted pics for 501st membership tonight - here's the album: http://imgur.com/a/NgQKJ I do have a few minor things to clean up...my left shin keeps popping under my boot, which gets annoying fast.

Hey Eric! You'll hopefully be getting a set of submission pics for me soon. :-D I trimmed mine to about half an inch thick, just going anecdotally based on guesstimates from other peoples' build threads and what I could find online. Mine came out a bit sloped - it's thicker towards the bottom and thins out on top. I initially trimmed the piece I got from my ATA kit, which was hollow, then filled it with two layers of foam board and cut an ABS back for it. Can take pics if you'd like. It's not the slickest knee plate out there, but it looks banged up and dirty. Some more experienced members here may have a more precise answer, though. Best of luck! Hope to meet you at a troop soon.

Brothers! Going to a friend's daughter's birthday party tomorrow - their whole family are huge Star Wars fans. Should be fun, and I figured it'd be a good "trial run" for the armor. The only thing I'm missing is Darman's neck seal and then I'll be ready to take pics for 501st acceptance. I'll have my wife take some pics tomorrow though and share them - will be good for critique on the build. One glaring error is bothering me - I can't seem to get the gap on my left side to close properly. I accidentally stiffened the elastic with glue (whoops) and now it doesn't pull back anymore, which sucks because I have it all riveted in. I suppose I may have to cut it and use snap plates to tighten the sides up. I don't really need to shim because the ab probably isn't as tight on me as it should be anyway. (I left a little room for "growth" when I my 30s in two years ) But regardless, I'll post up with some pics soon. Thanks again for all your help!

Was just reading this thread on FISD - it's not too old and may be relevant. I thought it was pretty interesting: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/25018-compare-tm-rs-and-ata-armor/ Best of luck with the purchase, Sean!

ATA bucket is a bit smaller than others though - just be ready for a tighter fit. I have to put mine on sideways first and twist it straight. Not a dealbreaker by any means, just a quirk.

Looking great! Hoping to join you soon.

Great trooping, Michael! I can empathize somewhat with the heat - I'm almost done with my armor and I still don't have any fans installed. I put my armor on for 10 minutes in my apartment the other day and busted into a sweat in no time. Now I've got 4 fans on the way to help keep me cool. :-) Looks like you did a spectacular job. Hope it was fun!

MEPD is the most valuable trooping resource this side of the galaxy, and I'm honored to help keep it going in my own (small) way.

Almost there...

So I ended up splitting the difference on the back of the left thigh with a 1" strip. Doesn't look too bad. I also installed my thigh pack on the right leg - need to work on strapping and then I'll post up another round of pics as a test fit.