jokerfish

I have done about 20 troops so far, all in my Vader suit, but last night I finally got to break out the TD! The Audubon Zoo had their "Zoo to Do" party last night and I worked like a maniac trying to get this thing ready to roll for the event.It was a lot more "fun" in the TD because as vader, I just have to stand around with my hands on my belt occasionaly choking someone or pointing at their camera. As the TD I was harassing people for their wrist bands, checking for papers, asking of they had "seen these droids", and of course breaking up the crowd with "move alongs" although, I dont think 99% of the people there got the joke. All in all, the suit held up great. I don't think I am ready to walk 5 miles in it yet, but its much better than I thought it was going to be! I found quite a few pinch points that I need to work on, my shoulder straps kept sliding down, so that needs a good fix, and more trimming on the backs of the thighs and calves. The only part I lost was the "stinger" on the backpack, so I am thinking that even though I was ripping and running through this armor build, I did a pretty decent job. Pics to come ASAP!

Thanks guys. I wanted it a bit dirtier than most because if everyone does the mild weathering in the same spots, we would all just start to look the same. Plus its fun Thanks for the tip on the strapping and gaffers tape. I have some of both, will fix that up when I get to the troop today

How do you guys mount the shoulder canvas pouches? I know some people use snaps, others clips, some even white tape, but what do you guys think is the most effective?

tonight I: added screen behind the frown mounted 4 fans in the helmet added trim to the bottom ring of the helmet put two pieces of foam in the helmet to help stabilize it on my head got my iComm and Aker amp set up and ready to go glued aerators in place added "shotgun" shells to backpack added wipe containers and caps to backpack glued blue part of stinger to bottom of the pack, still need to find the small black piece and the actual stinger added ammo clips to right leg I am running out of things to do! Plenty of pics tomorrow hopefully, my goal of having it done saturday is getting close!

I toned it down just a little bit I also: trimmed the return edges as suggested by Pandatrooper trimmed and glued the thighs added cover strips mounted the sniper plate mounted the belt to the ab section changed up some strapping to make it fit a little beter on the shoulders weathered all the "clean" parts added more to the back pack, I lost a few pieecs ithanks to my kids, but they should be an easy fix bought a set of aerators for the mic tips till my other set comes in STill need to do a final weathering on the armor, add a few parts to the pack, do my e-11 conversion, trim the kidney plate, trim a little of the chest, and I should be ready for approval!

OK, reading the CRL, it states that there should be NO overlap of the backplate. Mine hangs over about 2:, so should I trim the backplate down, or the kidney plate, or both? They both have return edges that I want to trim away anyway, so I am fine with cutting down either Can anyone supply pics of side views so I can see what I need to do? I rivited my kidney plate in the proper clamshell fashion so it was the same height as my ab piece on the sides

2 better words...how much??

I haven't finished the pack yet, I was just test fitting it with the armor on. I will add the missing parts during the week. Thats a good idea on the shins, they still ride up just a tad bit higher than I would like. I took some of the paint off last night, some of it dried so thick it just looked like paint. I am going to smooth it down some more today and do a more subtle approach in those areas.

Little better pic of the face I am going to tone the sides down a little. The paint dried darker than I would like

trimmed the shins today, did some painting on the helmet, added some snaps to the harness, worked on the back pack a bit, raised the things a bit, but still not happy with them. Been a busy day! Before After I really dirtied up the sides where they would get very messy from a trooper grabbing at them to get the helmet on and off with the dirty gritty hands. I saw the weathering between the teeth on someone else' helmet here and I really liked it, so I added it as well. I may still take a little off, will see what needs to be done when I get the entire suit on again The shins look 100 times better now that they actually fit. In this pic, the right thigh was not snapped, I didn't realize it as we were taking these. HOPEFULLY I can get someone during the week to give me a hand fitting the thighs so I can try the suit out at a troop this weekend. The top shin is basically untouched, the bottom was fully trimmed Still need to shorten the shoulder straps a little, raise the backpack up, glue the hand guards on, and some more minor fitting, but I have made leaps of progress the last 2 days compared to the last month!

Dont know what kind of pouch it is, I didnt know there was specific pouches that had to be worn. I am not trying for the police or SWAT right now, was just getting a dirty kit for now

So, after a few weeks of slow building this is where I am at on the TD From what I can tell I need to do the following: Thighs are still to long, need to be raised up a bit Shins are not trimmed or finished 3 buttons on ab aren't painted belt needs to be attached to ab section need to trim lower "crotch" from ab section hand plates need attaching strapping for ammo pouches need to soften some edges, getting poked in numerous spots Left arm shoulder hangs too low, may connect strapping to main harness as opposed to the white elastic so it doesn't pull helmet needs trim on bottom lip (where do I buy that??) need mic tips paint blaster finish weathering Lose 20 pounds..... Seriously though, what do you guys see that I am missing? I want it up to code by the weekend

I emailed last night. Doubt my Vader gets picked over everyone elses, so I am looking to go dirty or with my TIE pilot

Hmmmmmm, that is a thought! I dont know if I want to redo my entire strapping syestem though, but I do like the look, plus its just a little bit extra for some dirt to grab ahold of! I may kick this one around a bit before I start drilling out holes though

I have seen a few pics of TDs with a small flat head screw in the bottom edge of the chest armor. Is this required? I like it, I would like to add it to mine if I can get a definite pattern on it. I bought a few screws at the hardware store yesterday just in case

I just glued them, sure I can get them off relatively easy. I didn't see any stainless buttons in my box

Oh yeah, back to the drawing boards for me. I overlapped the thigh and calves, I didnt butt them up to each other, and that way looks MUCH better! I did however mess around a lot with the ab and kidney plates, and even started getting dirty in my bout of insomnia I need to get in the gaps a little more on the elastic and on the back of the shoes, but its coming out great so far

We are going to dirty those boots up this weekend, no worries

Thanks for the links! You have great tutorials man, they have definitely helped me out a LOT! I think I am going to trim down a few of the edges, or at least angle them to a more comfy position. I think I just about have the torso finished up, I just need to hammer down a few snaps on the hard to get spots tomorrow. Tonight I got my harness made, did some trimming, started gluing all of the arm and leg armor so I can tweak them a bit tomorrow. I also plan on finishing the strapping for them as well. This is a lot of fun, its a pain sometimes, but I am enjoying this build. I am learning from my mistakes, and I think when I do one or two more suits with some buddies, I may go for the shiny TK when I know I can get it finished without beating it to death before I even put it on!

Got to work on my armor a bit tonight! I have a few questions though. 1-The return edge on all of the armor..should this all be trimmed off, or do I keep it? It seems VERY uncomfortable, I am hoping to cut most of that off, especially around the arms and legs. 2-The clamshell torso. I should be able to close this in with no problem, I know one side has rivets, I just wanted to know what to do with the other. Should I use velcro, elastic, snaps, or something else?? Since this is not going to move due to the rivets, should I glue it on the one side also? 3-The Belt! How do I mount this to my abdomen, or should I leave it as its own piece of armor? I like the idea of a permanent mount, that way I dont have to worry about it slipping off 4-Gaps in the glue...do I caulk it, or just glue it down some more? More pics by tomorrow I hope!

June??? Man, now I need to start saving up Wonder what its going to cost??

I just got my size 12 in and they fit pretty snug. Right where I want them. I wear an 11.5 so I would go with the full size larger to be safe

Just got in from work and had quite a few pieces waiting on me! This is a pic of my current "projects". 20th Century Fox Vader helmet, DPCA TIE fiberglass casting, finishing up my TD helmet, and just got my AM armor kit in. My Vader is already 501st approved, I still need the chest armor and box for my TIE and its completed, so I am mainly going to focus on my TD for a few weeks since I have just about everything I need to get it together. I wont have much progress the first few days, but I would love to keep a record of all my steps, better or worse since its my first armor build. This is how its got to sit for a few days unfortunately. I dont think I can do this build on my own, the kit came with a bunch of velcro strapping, I want to go with snaps and nylon, not glue and velcro for most of the parts, so its on hold till I can geta friend or two over here and do an "armor party" since they both want TD's also. Wish me luck! ***For the record, i am going for the cantina captain version. I need to get another green ammo pouch to dye with my others, and get to work on a back pack. No clue where I am going to find the DL-19, but I have some time

I can wait awhile, I have spent too much in the last 2 months anyway, just glad to know that an "OG" kit is going to be on the market! I would prob use that as a display piece

Looks like I picked the right time to start building my TD and TK suits!