DeadMan

Having a problem deciding on what colour the connectors should be. The Disney ones are a much lighter silver; where-as the Anaheim ones are more gun metal looking - the colour I originally chose for mine, and I think looks better than the lighter silver. Mine is still a little darker than the Anaheim one though. Since I haven't attached them yet completely, what do you all think? I like the used look of the Anaheim one as well, think I will try to do something like that too.

Helmet padding. Really have no idea how this should go. Just adding pieces until it doesn't wobble on the melon anymore. So far it is lightly snug and does not move around at all. Still might add a chin strap just to make it 100% snug. Should add that I used a 1" foam. Peripheral vision is really good, except for the inferior-peripheral. I have about a 6-7 foot gap directly in front of me where I can't see directly down if looking straight ahead. Walking with head down a bit, this lowers to about 5 feet.

I'll be flooding the forum with posts the next 3 days in order to finish up the suit since I need to have it on Saturday morning Took these 3 days off work to get it all done. Suit just needs to be all stuck together and wearable, but lots of work to do on my thrower, and that will take most of the time up. Added a 1/16 inch think piece of craft foam to the inside of the hand armour so it sits a little better once stuck onto the glove.

Finally done the repaint on my helmet. And did the trim tonight. Looking at the ref pics, I was certain they didn't paint the thick line on the bottom since it's nice and straight, where-as the rest of the painted lines are messy. So I found some awesome tape for the thick line, and used 1/32" correction: 1/16" pin striping for the small lines. Also used the thick tape for the brow line. Sorry, my model isn't wearing anything under the suit... (This is totally what I thought the original Stormtroopers were when I watched in the theatre as a kid.) Not happy with the lens I have, so need to find something else quick in the next couple days to put there. Tinted plastic from the print shop I think. Holes in the ends of the "things" for my speakers. Won't have those working by this weekend though My trimming is not very good, but this stuff is easy enough to peel off and redo. Took about 10 minutes to complete the large stripe. Foam chunks in the ears for my hearing devices. The tape I used. Very flexible and easy to use. Can leave a gooey black residue when trimming, but I used solvent on a paper towel to rub it all off.

The Bullet Belt: The 3D printed ones that come with the kit are 2 5/8" long, so I went with a 1.5" elastic. The creases are 1" apart. I sized the loop around my thumb which is not as big as the bullets, so will make a nice snug fit. Pinched it together with those handy clamps we all have now and ran glue down the length of each crease. Glued on the support behind the loops. Added the slider for the photo. Still need to trim down the elastic strip. Had to repaint the leg, and it's drying right now, so will fit it properly tomorrow. Tops of the bullets are gloss black, and they will be flat black in between; will finish the paint on those tomorrow. The reference photos from the Anaheim suit.

Tube connections: Not great pics, but good enough to see where things are going. These first two pictures show the inside tubes coming off the loop and connecting to the top of the inside tank. These two pictures, although harder to tell, show the tubes connecting to the small under-tank on each side. I'll keep looking for better ones.

Here is how I did my spat gaskets. It's a 6 inch elastic and glued into place. Measured the circumference around the top of the boot to get the length of the elastic - 14.5 inches long in my case. I also sized the spats to fit this circumference, then trimmed off enough to give a 15mm gap after it is put into place on the boot. Trim the spats so the top-inside circumference is the same as the measurement taken for the elastic. Then cut back the edges of the spats 12mm in total for each side. When you slide the finished rig onto the boot it will stretch out to about 15mm. Once I had made my elastic into a tube, I glued the spats into place. I didn't glue right to the edges, but left about a 1/2 inch space from the edges to give some room for extra stretching. I only glued the edges on each side and made sure it fit snuggly along the edge at the tops of the spats. After the edges dried, I flipped it over and cut slits that just about reach the inside edge of the spat. Then glued those down to the inside. Only pit a line along the bottom edge of each one and didn't run glue over the whole split piece. Then slid it onto the boot. Fits nice and snug. I don't think I will need to attach this to the shin with Velcro, it doesn't move at all as is, but I haven't walked around to much with it on yet.

Just remembered this clear stuff you are using in the gap. What is that? Cracked my bondo on one part, and recalled seeing you do this.

Wow Todd that is really cool. 28 suits? That is amazing in itself. Trying to finish just one

Any interest in reference photos of this awesome Sideshow Collectibles Ralph McQuarrie Concept Stormtrooper? Also has the alternate head and gun. Just ask and I will (try to) improve the lighting and take a bunch of pictures of the whole thing. There are concept suits out there, but I have never seen one up close.

Thanks Todd. I really couldn't say if they should be there or not. All they do right now is hide the screws - and look a little stylish when the tanks are off Hopefully one of these days we will get a really good picture of the Anaheim suit with the tanks off.

I am done tinkering with the whole thing for now (need to arrest The Princess when she's in town in 2 weeks), and am just putting the suit together... and repainting a lot since I appear to be a really horrible painter no matter what I use, but single stage certainly works better than spray paint for me! Fighting dust in my garage is the worst part now. I think I will make another new tank set using the pep files I made. Will just cut out ABS pieces from pep templates. The paper one I made earlier in the year is closer to the correct sizing IMO. Just don't know how to make the caps without vacuforming, but will figure something out.

Looks fantastic! Very well done sir.

Here's the completed brace. The back plate still needs a final paint job, so is just loosely attached. There are screws behind the straps holding it to the black part. I'm happy with it overall; and it does add a nice look if the tanks are off. It's also to small to hold a roll of toilet paper, and to narrow for a paper towel roll.

That's really cool. Will be buying a 3Dprinter this winter possibly, and was wondering how well a fully printed suit will be. Can't wait to see how this all turns out

Couple ref photos I looked at before going ahead with the back brace - after looking at the HotToys one. Once I knew what to look for, you can see the area on the Anaheim suit... somewhat.

My backplate set up. It's to wide, so have to trim it back a couple inches each side, and then heat-up and bend the edges again. Will add Velcro straps to the inside to hold it closed after resizing.

What did you use to glue the dowels in place? Going to have to do something to mine as well.

I think the bars are in proportion to the tanks; It's just that the whole set up seems a little to small to me. I think you said you're 5' 10", I'm 6' so could be adding a whole lot more to mine.

Have been combing through pictures looking for one that was a decent top-down view of the gauge area and I can't find a thing. Must have been dreaming it :/ This pic shows that it does not come all the way down as you can see right through to the back of the trooper. The triangle cut-out where the back brace is. It kinda looks like the inner tube coming down, but it is not. I know you guys don't like the Hot Toys pics as reference But I stand by it as the most accurate views we have. They had access to the suit for pictures in order to make the figures. In this one it shows the inner-tank coming all the way down to that crossbar. You can also see the crossbar in the picture above.. Edit: I think this is the one I thought of. Only gives a good view of the top of the inner tank, but not the length.

I mean that long one that is in behind with the gauge attached to the top. Will have to wait until after work before I can post the pics though.

Also received my 3D printed gun parts - and it needs an aweful lot of work. Only cost me as much as the plastic, but I will only be able to use about 50% of it, and will have to heavily modify and/or make new parts from scratch. Starting with the barrel... As mentioned in the FB group; I wanted a hollow tube look so I can see an inner tube running through. Made a quick template for the holes and put my never-used drill press to good use for the first time Would like to replace the inner tube with a plasma tube or some sort of LED strip for some effect in the future. Just want to get it all done for now though.

Tanks arived Small crack on the back, bottom tank dome. Looks easy enough to fix - not shown in the pic. Wondering how hard it is to take apart the gauge and put Aurebush in there Will have to modify the inner tank as it's not the full length of the back. I would say it hangs about 1/3 of the way down.

Ugh painting... I must say I enjoy the building & detailing much more than this painting part Love the arm setup. Are all the pieces just velcro'd together?

Excellent work Clint. Currently doing similar with my chest and back to hook together, just making them thicker and longer thinking it will reduce any stress at that point.