kman

I love authenticity... but I have to admit the aurebesh looks fantastic!

Here's a photo of a real Sterling end cap:

It's definitely not the norm. Not sure how much that matters, though.

That's looking awesome! I don't suppose you'd share any of your models, so others can increase their accuracy, too? (people with 3D printers, that is, unless you post them on Thingieverse so people can also have them printed if they have no 3D printer)

Yes, TK Chatter, and TD Chatter, are included!

I'm not clear... is the issue the shoulder bridges (which a TD doesn't use anyway) or the shoulder caps (bells)?

I wear a 10 as well. I bought size 10 because I read they were true to size. Got them and was worried about how tight they were, so I ordered a pair of 11s as well. I was in the middle of a build, so I kept using the 10s for a week while the 11s shipped to me, so I could take pictures. By the end of the week, after putting them on every day for maybe 20 minutes, the 10s had stretched enough that they were totally comfortable. I ended up selling the 11s unopened. I can't promise your experience will be identical, but that was my experience. A year later, they fit me like a glove. Love 'em!

Where did you hear TK Boots is closing down? That's certainly big news, if true.

Congrats!

Jason is correct. I prefer to use black plasti-dip on the inside of all my buckets anyway. It just looks better, IMO. And in bright light, it cuts down on some of the light filtering though the thin white plastic. The black is NOT visible through the plastic, from the outside.

Got 'em, thanks!

Interesting... I think I like that tab idea for the back of the shins!

Are you looking for a used one or a company like HFx? (They do the Hyperfirm T21 and DLT19s)

Is the PDF still available? I'd love to get a copy.

Also, no drop boxes and no holster. And different sniper knee plate. Tally **! (edit: Really? I can't write "h-o" (no dash) without being censored? It's not a bad word!)

CRL technically allows for regular 4 button panels for basic approval. http://databank.501st.com/databank/Costuming:TD_sandtrooper But I sure wouldn't want to be one of the only Sandies around sporting a 4 button plate... The accurate panel is 3 buttons.

I would rate Doopy kits as merely "moderately ok for trooping... with care" due to their fragility. Resin and drops to hard surfaces are bad combinations. You might be able to source T-Tracks from Gino who has threads on FISD: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/36713-100-accurate-t-track-for-your-blasters-and-sabers/ and on TheRPF: http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=258205&highlight=+t+tracks Also, it could be worth inquiring with DDay (on FISD, TheRPF, and other boards) as to whether he'll sell any of his T Tracks separately from his E11 kits.

Looks great! On the right track...

You can also get the TrooperBay templates from their eBay store. For small orders, shipping is sometimes cheaper from the eBay store instead of direct.

Looking good!

You're on the right track. I'd recommend removing the return edge on the kidney plate entirely, along the entire side edge (the edge that goes vertically up your side). Then place the new shim flush against the new edge: Tie the two plates together with another piece of plastic glued behind them. (ignore the clamps in the photo, that's just adding a reinforcement plate for the rivets to go through to add strength to the shim plate, since it was thinner than some other armor and that area can get a lot of stress)

Yes, you'll want to shim that gap, not use elastic. It's actually pretty simple. Get some scrap material. Ideally, ask TrooperMaster to sell you some extra plastic so the color match is perfect, but depending on how much weathering you do, it may not need to be a perfect match if it's covered up a lot. Cut a plate for each side, roughly the size of the yellow rectangle you drew in the image above. (Note: The top of the kidney plate should align with the top of the ab plate. Any extra extends below.) Remove the return edge at the side, so the new plate can lie flat in line with the kidney plate. Tape it in place (temporarily) to see how it looks from the outside. Now, instead of tape, just take another piece of scrap material (perhaps 4cm wide, almost as long as the whole shim edge) and glue it to the kidney and the shim from behind, to hold it in place permanently. For higher level approvals you'll need to use ABS paste to fill the joint where the shim and kidney meet, and sand it smooth to "erase" that seam. That's it, good to go.

Really? Fascinating! Curious: Do people do any weathering over the tape every time they put it on, or is it shiny white tape over weathered shins?

Btw, most browsers have a way to display saved passwords (and OSX has the Keychain App)... have you checked to see if you can find out what the password is, and write it down? Might be annoying to key in, but at least it would get you up and running until you can successfully change it.