toddo

Agreed.

Those are nice. Great reference.

Comparing my figure's pack to the photos I took at Celebration, I think the tank is pretty accurate. I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Outstanding. I can't say what the overall length is even after seeing it in person. I wish I would have had some sort of measurement device at CVII. Your work looks SPOT ON.

Yep. I got the gloves and the boots from Francois. They are great too.

It should be the same boots and gloves as the TFA stormtrooper. Were those not on the site?

Godspeed Steve. I know you can do it and am proud of you for considering it. I can't wait to see what you do with it.

I've done something similar before, but yours look much nicer.

It's always a proud moment when you resort to crafting pieces yourself. Way to go.

Wow Steve. I had no idea that this costume was so detailed. It reminds me in many ways of the Sith Acolyte. It really isn't possible to capture all of that detail from vac-forming, but if it's carved deeply into molds the detail should transfer nicely into fiberglass casts. That also would allow for sealed pieces if you wanted. That seems like the best way to go to me. I don't know about you, but that is beyond my current skill-set. I have seen a couple of other options for detailed armor like this on theRPF: first, pepakura and fiberglassing over the results; second, the use of carved foam with added resin greeblies again fiberglassed over and sanded/shaped. I never thought of this guy as being all that neat, but looking at these details he's quite the trooper.

I got mine from Francois @ http://www.imperialboots.com/

That works wonderfully. Immaculate work Kevin. I can't wait to see if printed. Any plans to work on the tank pack?

That's awesome guys. A well-earned congratulations indeed!

I have Daniel's old black armor that he polished with the Meguiars, and it is amazing.

Congratulations! Gabba gabba one of us! One of us!

Thinner allows for crisper details, but Steve is correct about durability.

Massive improvement to that suit. I have a couple of suggestions. First, the shoulder straps are held together with the stock rivets. That is ok for base approval, but it is rarely done these days and tends to be one of the easy-to-spot hallmarks of a Rubies suit. I suggest drilling out those rivets and replacing the shoulder straps entirely with a new pair using E6000 or something similar. It will make the biggest difference on your suit of my suggestions. Second, the belt is ok being plastic, but you will look much stronger with black canvas. Third, what are your gloves made of? Are they the stock material? If so, you will want to replace those with something else. The CRL calls for black rubber, leather, or nomex. Run to the hardware store and get a super-affordable pair of black chemical gloves and be done with it. As for the holster, the Sentinel is not seen on screen with a holster, so it is acceptable to not have one. He's a bit of an anomaly that way. Aside from the gloves, the rest of suggestions that will polish your look. Amazing job!

This is looking good! You're making great time as well.

This is coming along nicely. I have a suggestion for you that will make it easier for the rest of us to view your photos: upload them to a Photobucket account and simply copy the IMG code from each photo directly into your posts. The photos will display nice and big.

Awesome work Kevin. This will be an easy pass.

Looking great Kevin. Keep going!

I forgot about the hand plates. That's correct. As far as cutting the armor, you can score it and snap it, but your risk breaking it as it is pretty thick, yet brittle fiberglass. Safest bet might be to use a dremel to cut and then sand your edges.

You can't effectively make the Rubies acceptable for a Shadow Stormtrooper. This is because that costume is based on the ANH stormtrooper whereas the Rubies, while a far cry from it, is based off the ROTJ stormtrooper. The major roadblock is that the trim is built into the Rubies suit. You can only have that for ROTJ-style suits, and cutting it from your armor will sacrifice it's shape. You could go for the Novatrooper Sentinel as it is based on the ROTJ suit. Having said that, you still are going to have to do a few things: 1. Replace the helmet. The Rubies cannot be salvaged. 2. Re-strap everything as the stock strapping is crap and won't make the suit hang correctly on you. 3. Depending on your body size and shape, it is highly likely that you will have to re-size your armor pieces. The pieces are cemented together, so you will have to actually break them apart, risking severe damage, trim, and then re-glue together. Another problem is that this fiberglass material is not easy to bend to shape when you re-size. 4. You will need a better undersuit and gloves. 5. You will still need the proper boots. This can all be done, but it is advanced, risky stuff. Having done this for my ROTJ suit, I will recommend to you that sell the Rubies on Ebay or something and get a proper kit.

That's a huge improvement. Nice job.

A little bit of space at the bottom isn't a bad thing as it allows air flow and can help prevent fogging.