Shadow build from a crappy kit

[Spycee]

As I said, I got a crappy FX kit that I'll try to salvage. Since the wearer (my daughter) is not 18 years old it is not necessary to be 501st approvable, but I would like to be as close as possible.

 

The helmet after some cleaning and repairing :

 

 

Here are some pictures of the pieces put together for the first time :

 

 

 

 

 

Since she is a bit short the body armor doesn't fit right, I must find a way to align the pieces properly. I'll probably align the ab and the kidney together, and cut the lower part of the kidney (or hide it under the butt, since she still may grow a bit ?).

 

There's 4 holes on the kidney, don't know why ... And I discovered that the belt is cracked, I must repair it. I will maybe try to solder it with a solder gun, just to melt a bit the plastic.

 

I began to glue snaps on the chest and ab, instead of just using elastics and glue.

[toddo[TX]]

Especially given her size, I would replace the helmet. Otherwise you are going to have a large bobble-head effect. I have trimmed-down the chest plate and shoulder bells on an FX fit successfully. Those are things you can do as well to help make things fit better. When you trim the chest plate, you can re-shape it to the correct curve at the bottom too.

[Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM]]

+1 on have trimmed down the FX and succesfully added return edges in multiple spots. For the belt, consider abs glue and using an ans piece behind the crack. Abs glue ezsentially melts the pieces together.

[Spycee]

Update ! I built the armor "as is" for the moment, just to see correctly what was wrong. Nothing too bad from what I see, except for the helmet size.

 

 

 

 

 

The thighs need some foam inside to keep them straight, and I need to clean the armor with a bit of novus. And I need the ab buttons, I should receive them soon.

[toddo[TX]]

Yeah, that's not too bad. You can also trim the bottom edge of the chest to the correct shape and size. I definitely would do that to the shoulder bells as they look jumbo in these photos. It's easy enough to do and will really improve the overall look.

[Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM]]

I reshaped my fx chest and added a return edge to it. Good thing to do and not to hard.

[Spycee]

Thanks for the comments ! I'll probably let her do a couple of troops before doing any big modification, and check how it goes.

 

So far on my todo list :

 

- Clean the scratches and polish

- Put foam in thighs

- Trim the bottom edge of the chest

- Change the helmet

- Repair a belt crack

 

@Todd : I'm not sure what you want me to do on the shoulder bells ? You suggest me to trim them in height and width ? I thought they were of the correct size.

[toddo[TX]]

So the FX bells are oversized. In your photos this results in them covering a bit too much of the bicep. There are two things to do:

 

1. take about a half-inch off the bottom edge or so.

2. round the corners more like so:

 

It's easy. I just take a sharp exacto blade and score it lightly with one pass usually. Then I use needle-nose pliers to snap it off. You can sand any rough edges really easily if needed.

[Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM]]

Did that to mine too, though they need to be rounded more. Easy change to do and will help with the proportions.

[Spycee]

Ok, so I only trim at the bottom to shorten them, and round the bottom. Easy enough for me, thanks

[izzi[TX]]

Oooh.... Put some Novus on it and make it shine!

[Spycee]

Hell yeah ! She'll probably do her first troop this weekend, so the shining is for tonight !

[izzi[TX]]

I want Pics!

[Spycee]

I managed to get a picture of the event

 

 

My son is the Jawa, my daughter is the shadow trooper. And me as the TK Yes, the little white dots are snow. It was not too bad, around 0 celsius. Snow and rain alternating.

[izzi[TX]]

Nice family portrait!

[Spycee]

Thanks ! And I'm currently building a scout trooper for my wife, it will be awesome to troop in family

[izzi[TX]]

So awesome.

[Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM]]

Very cool. ugh, snow. Hate the stuff