Kilika

Ashley, I hope this message finds you doing well. My kit is an approved Sean Fields and if you still need someone to talk with about needed conversions/assembly, I'd be happy to help Cheers Chris

Can't speak to the shirt, mine is Imperial Boots, but the pants are wonderful. The Dark Side Closet is well known for quality. Hope that helps. Cheers Chris

The greaves as is are snug. I have mine open in the back, to give some room to slide my foot/leg in. As you likely know the greaves come in four pieces for the "core". I would encourage printing the middle bottom piece first as if you can slide your foot/calf through that piece the other three "should" be ok. I do hope that helps. Cheers Chris

Good day everyone. I have some free time coming up and decided to try to put together a "rough" assembly guide for those thinking of using Sean's Files for their Shore. In this post I will be doing a quick review for the Version 2 Chest and the Lower back/Kidney Assembly. The files can be found at https://www.shoretrooper.co.uk/ Chest First be sure you are in the correct folder as there are two chest folders. The folder labeled "Shoretrooper Chest" is the Version 1 model. You want the Version 2 as it is "more" screen accurate. Thus the files you want are in "Version 2 Shoretrooper Chest" which should be the last folder in the series. The chest can be printed as a single piece or in 11 separate parts to form the whole. Think of it as three sets of three being left, center, and right. Each side (left and right) also has a "side front" which connects to the chest to the back armor (not discussed in this guide). In Sean's folder files 1-3 are for the center (both the center middle and bottom are labeled as 1 even though the middle should technically be 2), 4,6,8 are for the left side, 5,7,9 the right, and 10-12 are the side connectors. Please note that for the left and right sides certain files have "duplicates". By example there are two file 4s, one with supports and one without. You only need to print one of these so you can chose if you want it with or without supports. For the side connectors 10 and 11 are the individual sides. If you use 12, you will print both of them at the same time thus, do either 10 AND 11 OR just 12. Center Pictured here are files 1-3 being the center bottom, middle and top. As pictured the bottom is to the left while the top is on the right of the picture. You will see that the center piece has angled sections at its ends. The bottom and top will align with those making the center completed into a single piece (you'll need to secure via glue or other method). The top and bottom pieces will be angled when secured to the center piece. This is important as the angle will help with alignment to the left and right sides as discussed further in the guide. The left and right are basically mirror images of each other so I will only be showing the left side as the right will be the same, just flipped. From picture left to right we have 8 (top left), 6 (center left), and 4 (bottom left). The files are labeled slightly confusing as they are left middle top (top), left middle bottom (middle), and left bottom (bottom). They actually fit together nicely which helps figuring out the connections. In this picture I rotated the left top backwards to show that there is a grooved slot in the base. Their is a ridge present on the middle that slides in nicely. Insert the middle edge into the grooved slot and push it gently in until it hits the edge. The top and middle should look relatively flush with each other. With the top and center attached, the bottom aligns with the center (the center being offset slightly so a lip from the bottom will overlap it). This creates almost a "shelf" for the center to sit on the bottom piece. Connecting the left/right sides to the center chest relies on the edges present on the respective left/right pieces. A front view shows the center center piece with the lower half of the left's top most piece. You will see the lip from the left piece will align with the back of the center. The upper lip on the left side goes along the back of the center's top most piece. In this next picture we have the bottom pieces for both the left and center. The tab on the left side piece will be flush with the back of the center piece. The bottoms of both pieces are slightly rounded and what you are looking to ensure are aligned/flush with each other. When all pieces are connected together, the bottom left and right pieces will extend slightly beyond the top of the center bottom piece. That is ok because this evens out when all bottoms/center pieces are connected together. The side connectors also have tabs that align with their respective sides. Here we have the bottom left piece (left side) with the left side connector (right of picture). The tab of the side connectors will back the bottom/middle pieces of their respective sides. Old pictures from my build to show a front and back view of the Version 2 chest. I did not yet have the side front connectors present so please note they are missing from the picture. Kidneys and Lower Back These files are found in two different folders. The primary folder is "Shoretrooper Kidney" but you'll also find parts needed in the "Shoretrooper Belt". The Kidney folder has a full construct file but also can be broken down into 8 separate pieces (six files from Kidney, two from Belt). In "Kidney" files 1,2, and 6 are for the right side with their "mirrors" being 3,4, and 5 for the left. Each side has a belt piece labeled as "back-right" or "back-left" in the "Belt" folder. Pictured here is the full construct. Shorie is pointing, with his E22, to the belt backer section not present in the Kidney folder. Moving on to the pieces themselves we will be look specifically at the right side. We have Right A, Right B, and Backplate Right to make a full "set". Pictured next is Right A and Right B. Notice that there is a angular ridge that shows where the two should be connected. The pieces will be next to each other with Shorie pointing to the "tip" being the top of the angled ridge (in the picture the left piece needs to be elevated for the pieces to "lay right" and connect properly). The back plates connect via a lip from the side panel that overlaps with the interior of the back plate. Again Shorie is pointing at the lip (the lip goes inside the back plate). This shows the "back-right" (remember Belt folder) with the Right A. Right B would go "on top" of the belt backer. The Back plates have a tab that overlaps the two. In the below picture (Right plate is picture left, Left Plate is picture right) you can see the tab on the right plate goes on the interior of the left with them meeting flush. Printed example of the pieces follows: Please note that the second picture has pieces from the central abdomen included as well (everything to the right of the angled taped area is from the abdomen). I hope this is helpful for those working on trying to figure out how the files come together. I will be working on getting a guide up for the abdomen and greeves next. Thank you all for your time. Cheers Chris

Good evening everyone, I do hope your respective days have been going well. I am very pleased to announce my Sean Field's Shoretrooper Squad Leader was accepted and I am now part of the Golden Gate Garrison Thank you to all the members that supported me during the build with a special thank you to KOTrooper and Minimo. The process went a lot smoother with your guidance and I am grateful for your help (thank you Minimo for all the picture references). I am going to do my access request update then spend some time trying to consolidate key points from my WIP into a basic augmentation guide for those that are considering using Sean's files. My intent with this will be to hopefully make things a bit easier to know general assembly as well as what needs to be added, or in some cases removed, to better align with the CRL. I wish all the other Shores the best with their builds. It can be frustrating at times but it is well worth it when you hit the finish line. Cheers Chris

Good afternoon, My printer basically is a 300 all around and worked great for printing the different parts for a Sean Fields set. I used ABS as my main filament as I didn't know about PETG when I started. As others have said PLA may be an issue due to its heat resistance and PETG will likely give you more forgiveness with accidental drops. I had a couple good partial shatters I had to mend with my set that could have been avoided if it was made with PETG instead of ABS. I've enjoyed my printer, a Creality, as I use it for presents for Christmas/birthdays and have been also using it for terrain for miniature gaming with my kids. Thus, for me, it certainly has its uses beyond costuming. Just be patient with yourself if you go the printing route as it takes time to dial in the settings/get proper bed adhesion. Once you have that though, you can make some really neat stuff. Back to your original question the printer you are looking at doesn't look to shabby but take your time to see if the size works for you/what you want to do with it both costuming/hobbies beyond costuming. Cheers Chris

I've been wearing mine for weathering, they are really great boots and super comfortable. Honestly strongly debating buying a set for everyday use. Cheers Chris

Good afternoon everyone, I do hope your weekends are going well. Taking Minimo's advice I moved in the should bells as well as raised up the bicep connection points. Honestly I still need to tweak this a bit but I do think it is better than it was before. Bringing everything together I have the following pictures: Before getting kitted out the family cat was trying to kitten up: I'm thinking of pressing with applying soon. I still want to do some more weathering, as well as the aforementioned strap-resecure, but think I am standing a decent chance for Level 1. As always, thoughts and opinions are greatly appreciated. Thank you all for your time and the support. Cheers Chris

Good afternoon everyone. Happy Easter to all. First a thank you to the Detachment staff for hosting the Virtual Armor Party last weekend. It was nice to see several of the faces behind the posts and the immediate help Minimo provided with the buckle picture was appreciated. As Sean's files aren't accurate with the Squad Leader's belt buckle I had to modify the end attachment. I did this in a ghetto fashion using some of my kids molding clay to make an impression of the back end of a chopstick. I then poured into the mold ABS I had melted down to a liquid consistence and let that dry/harden. While not perfect, it met the intent. Over the past few weeks I have been working on finishing the modification on my back. Looking purely at the back box the four greeblies above the recesses need to be added as do the circular/square cut outs above the left recess. The circular greeble under the mid-section is also missing as is the rectangular cut out near the bottom right. I simple cut out the circular/square cut outs and the lower right recess. The center circular greeble is a repurposed E-22 knob from Sean's Files. Of all the things missing, the rectangular recess on the mid-right is actually present however there is also one on the left side that needed to be filled in. I wanted to see how everything was coming together/how my "rigging" was holding up so I got the Mrs to help me gear up from the waist up. I have Velcro T-straps for the upper chest/back and pauldrons. I also have strips connecting the pauldrons to the biceps. All "seem" to be functional during low-stress testing. Immediate critiques are that the chest plate was ridding a little high and thus over shooting the center abdominal plate causing a gap. Additionally I did not account for weight distribution with my belt boxes thus resulting with the belt sagging in the center. For my boxes I made small cuts in the belt itself and attached the boxes via screws. This was done two-fold, first drilling into the boxes with a bit slightly smaller than my screw then coming back to screw the belt to the box. As the center buckle, not pictured, is to thin for this I am going to Velcro it on and see how that works (cautiously optimistic). To circle-back to the belt sag, I think I'm going to look at finding a way to secure the back of the belt to the back of the center abdominal plate (likely Velcro) to bring that back up. You'll note from the sides that I am popped-collar cool as my bucket didn't go over the neck seal. I wasn't wearing my balaclava either so you'll be able to see the hairs of my chinny-chin-chin peaking out as well. Speaking of peaking, my Velcro is slightly exposed on the chest buckle but nothing that can't be fixed by proper positioning. I re-attacked my lower abdominal sections as it was not as smooth as I wanted. As a result I need to go back and get my "black line" back on both sides however that section is obscured by my arms so you won't be able to see it well in these pictures. From the back the neck-seal mishap is obvious, but so is the fix for that. The lower abdominal armor hasn't yet been shaded as I was fixing out some "smoothing" issues. From smoothing out/painting the back I still need to ensure I get the lower recess to black (the alcove below the left back box). Overall happy with the progress. I do hope everyone has a good start to their respective weeks. Thank you for taking the time to look over the post. Any thoughts and suggestions are appreciated. Cheers Chris

I also appreciate the command staff taking the time for this and getting to see the people behind the names. Double T, I can almost assure you will love the Orca Bays. I have been wearing mine to break in/weather and they are honestly my favorite footwear. Once broken in, perfection. Cheers to all.

I believe it was for a 160-180 pound, 5 foot 10 inches individual. I haven't used it but certain software can be used to put in your measurements and then adjust sizing accordingly. From my experience printing in single pieces is best for the forearms, biceps, and shoulder bells although my shoulders are the three part configuration from his files. I slightly scaled up the helmet, forearms, and biceps to fit properly but haven't needed to for the other segmented parts. I am 5'10'' and about 195 and most of it fits well enough on me. I would encourage you take measurements of yourself to help guide your printing. Remember that the armor goes over the soft parts so you'll need space for that. I hope that is helpful. There is going to be trial and error with the printing so be patient with yourself as you go along. Cheers Chris

Good evening everyone. I do hope every has had a good weekend. I've been experimenting with painting and have worked on the bucket a bit. I addressed the "lack of black" that Minimo helped identify as well as some slight modification to the blast shield. With Sean's files as is the blast shield is slightly raised above the top visor. The blast shield itself has rectangular protrusions on the back that align with rectangular slots on the blast shield attachment (the attachment is the connecting piece between the blast shield and the bucket). By trimming a small bit from these rectangles, the blast shield now sits at the level I cross-referenced with screen-acurate pictures. The below picture was taken just before I did the modification so if you zoom in you can see the subtle gap between the blast shield and the top of the visor. The back recess boxes have been progressing nicely. Pictured here is the current state of the left box. I had some paint wear with the insertion of the tube so I did another spray and it is all properly black. I also trimmed the excess tubing coming out of the box, while adding some "securing" E600 on the other side to help keep it in place. Both the left and right boxes fit nicely in their respective recesses in the back. Progress is coming along also on the belt. My main hold up right now is the center buckle as I haven't been focusing on it as much as other pieces. I also took my drill to the back plate to provide channels to then add some securing screws (two for the thermal detonator and one each for the boxes). The belt itself is sewn, I just need to finish up the center buckle then start attaching the boxes. From looking over my abdominal set I think I'll be doing another go over to help smooth out pieces using what I have learned from the chest/back. The separate pieces have all been secured with ABS slurry but I've been going over the pieces with wood filler to help fill gaps and make it "smooth". I need to make some more modification on the back. This includes redoing the four "bumps" along the upper recess boxes (two each side). The ones I jury-rigged look bigger than they should be so I'm planning on taking a second crack at it. I have marked out in black other mods still needing to be cut/added. What follows are top and bottom pictures of the back piece: Next I've got a rough-360 of the chest and back. I've drilled a holes through the collar into the center chest plate to act as anchor points. With how the chest plate slopes I extended the collar with bits of ABS melted into a play-dough like consistency and molded into the desired shape. I am still working on smoothing it out but it has resulted in closing that respective gap. The sides are now aligned properly following the collar modifications. However, using the modified Version 2 files results in no gap between the top connectors. Even having shaved off part of the back, the gap is still narrow when compared to screen-accurate pictures. I am looking to shave off a section of the front on both sides. This will provide the needed space for the top gap to be more accurate. Using my top straps as a unit of measurement the current gap is 2 greeblies long. My modifications will make the gap roughly 4 greeblies long. Most of the pictures I've seen have a 5 greeble gap however doing that will make the gap look to big on my body, thus going with the "4-wide" and see how that looks. The third picture shows me pointing at the upcoming cut point. If any armorers have feedback please note I'll specifically address those comments in my next post, as I have been accustomed to do, but provide the close-loop understanding of your feedback with the "Thanks" button. I am hopeful to post substantial progress on the chest/back in my two week follow up (looking forward to the armor party on 9 April). My current hope is to get everything "first draft done" by the end of April with touch-ups and corrections done by the end of May with applying for membership at the end of May to mid-June. As always, thank you all for your time and for any feedback you may be able to provide. I hope everyone has a good start to their work week. Cheers Chris

Good evening everyone. Pending any mishaps I am looking forward to attending and appreciate the Det Staff for putting this together. Cheers Chris

Late to the party on this one but I do think you'll be happy with the XL. I think mine are L (about 8.5-9 for my sizing) and they fit a slightly big in the palm but overall are comfortable. The gloves were my first piece too and an easy way to transition into the build. I would encourage exploring the boots next. I've had mine for a bit and have been working on their weathering just be wearing them. They are super comfortable too so it has been an easy investment on them. I do hope the build goes well once you start it up. Cheers Chris

Good evening everyone, I hope your weekends have all gone well. To respond to Minimo, I appreciate the highlights on the bucket. I hadn't forgotten the snout recesses but honestly had with the other identified areas so thanks for that. On that topic, are the snout recesses painted black or more "weathered" with oil paints? On the perspective of oil paints, I would appreciate thoughts on if what I did with the belt boxes is acceptable. I have the abdominal plate with a flat Sahara Beige present as a contrast to the boxes which are burnt umber oil paint over the Sahara Beige. I appreciate the upcoming thoughts/feedback and I will plan on posting an update in a couple of weeks based on how the chest/back and front belt buckle are coming along. I hope everyone has a good start to their week. Cheers Chris

Case, Sounds fun, in that case the only thing to be immediately mindful of is making sure you match up the chest/back files. There is a Version 2 chest folder that is more accurate but requires modifications to the back files (there is a back modification folder but no true Version 2 back folder). I do hope it goes well for you. Cheers Chris

Case, I can appreciate your concerns as I am also working on a Sean set for the squad leader. Without resizing any of the chest/back/abs it is a snug fit amongst the pieces and I am going to try KO's neoprene suggestion once I am closer to finishing a few connection points. I am actually responding in regards to the shins. I didn't resize them, nor did I skip leg day, and they can be snug. They naturally open from the back so you have a little room for them to spread out as you put them on. As the "main body" of the shins comes in four sections I would recommend tinkering first with the lower middle section as that is the hardest part to slide your foot through from my experience. Be mindful that with Sean's files the hand plates are missing the mandatory slot but this is fixed by going to Thingsverse. There is a modified STL of the hand plates there. The abdominal sides also don't have the pronounced side strip or recess so that will take some modifications. The back boxes also have issues with missing parts not in Sean's files. Honestly it is a fun build that just takes patience. I do wish you the best as you work on your Shore. Cheers Chris

Good evening everyone, I do hope your days are going well. As always, thanks to Minimo and KOTrooper for their thoughts. To respond to KO's comments from my prior post, she is spot on in that the paint lines were not as smooth and will be redone when I get to a "repaint" phase for the entire set. In the past couple weeks I have been working more on the abdominal section. I got the system to "connect" well with velcro and was working on fine tuning the fit and smoothing out the sides. I also have been working on tinkering with the back boxes. For those familiar with Sean's files you will see that he has several folders to include two "kit" folders for the back boxes. From my observations in Cura, the kit folders "i.e Jim's Kit" are specific to those builds won't fit properly. Thus, best to use the back box files unless you have one of those kits. Both of Sean's boxes need a little reworking to be in compliance with the CRL. As stated previously, the right does not have the ridged strip. I am making one with a piece of ABS raft, a thin layer of wood filler, and combing through the wood filler with a "tactically requisitioned" Beyblade pull string I "borrowed" from my sons. I need to smooth out the sides so only 17 ridges are present but it seems to be working for now. For the left box,the tube running up the left side of the box and across is not present. To fix this I am using tubing from when I replaced my printer extruder due to a catastrophic failure. To get a proper bend, a piece of a coat hanger seems to be working, for now, as pictured: A better fit: Also working on experimenting with burnt umber. What I have pictured here is a bicep that was printed to big but is being used as a test piece. As it was a test piece, I gave it a "chocolate chip cookie" treatment to see how it would look across different edges and areas. I started doing the technique Christina described in her build of using the chip brush to apply and then wipe off the excess. While I will not be at her level, her advice resulted in a test piece I was happy with and look forward to experimenting with further. Finally, I did some rough fit testing. I still have a ways to go but want to say thank you to everyone for the support (special "thank yous" to Minimo, Mickey, and KO). I will be identifying some things I noted need work but would appreciate any other general thoughts I might be missing. First from the front, the visor on the helmet is to low and off-kilter. I had it roughly tapped and this will be fixed when it is properly secured. I haven't gotten the pauldrons secured yet but am planning on doing a T-strap between them and the chest/back. Because of not having the pauldrons, the biceps were not as high nor did they want to say oriented. I'm still working on the belt in regards to the buckle and attaching the boxes. You'll see in the side picture the belt is clipped with half of a clothes hanger courtesy of my middle whom wanted me to have a "clamp" for the build. My pants bunched up too so I need to pull them through a bit more with the greaves. With the back I need the belt to fit better which I believe will be the case when I get it secured. I also misaligned my velcro on the greaves so you can see the back velcro showing on the lower right. The chest/back need work to include adding the neoprene. From the right side we see a great picture of the belt clip my son provided. The chest/back are misaligned at the bottom connector as I need to length the collar on both sides to better reach the chest plate. This should help close the visible gap between the collar and the chest plate as this will allow for the sides to align with the back tap overlapping the front slightly. Same issues from the left as with the right but I would appreciate thoughts related to the "gap" that should be present between the top of the chest and back plates. The gap is not wide at all and I think I need to shave off some from the front. And one final one with the E22 for the fun of it. My current plan of attack is to work on getting the center belt buckle to be accurate with the CRL while working on finishing up the belt. Then working on the chest/back modifications, then reviewing the entire build for repainting and weathering. As always, thoughts and guidance are appreciated. I do hope everyone has a good rest of their week and thank you for reading my post. Cheers Chris

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your days are going well. I've been making steady progress on the build but first want to provide updates on the shoulder bell issue identified by Mickey and Minimo's observations. From looking at the provided math from Theo's post my black lines where both 1mm and 2mm off respectively from what my build should be showing. Fortunately, my white stripe was roughly 3mm bigger than it should be allowing for me to properly rob Peter to pay Paul. I would appreciate a "second look" as it is easy to miss these things after looking at it so long (outside observations are truly appreciated). In regards to length, the top black is roughly 1.5-2mm bigger than the lower. I've been working on the belt and abdominal areas recently. I have the back belt plate nearing completion as are most of the boxes. The belt buckle is giving me some issues though. Sean's files need modification as the inner clip isn't long enough to "fill" its central plate. Additionally, the "pin" on the left side isn't the same as the Squad Leaders. The associated pictures are first of the back belt plate. Next are the pieces I have for the belt buckle which include the main piece, the inner clip, and an "extension" I jury rigged from one of my printed rafts. The following picture is all of them together. The last two pictures are a close up of the belt pin from Sean's files followed by a comparison picture "borrowed" from Scary Guy's Vanguard approved kit to show what I'll be working on modding the pin to. The picture may be small, but you can see the remaining "three pin" section from Sean's files aren't a match. I am looking to remove the top of the Sean pin, leaving the middle to serve as the "new" top for the modified pin. The abdomen is a labor of patience as I've been working on smoothing it out through sanding, and wood filler. The diagonal ridge on the sides is not a predominate feature on Sean's files so I lengthened them by taking the STL file for the forearm connectors and increasing their Z-Axis. I then glued it to the sides via ABS slurry and clamps. To help with the recess behind the ridge I took old pieces of printed rafts and made a "stair case" to form the recess. Currently, I am working on filling in the steps of the stair case to allow for a smooth and clean look. An inside look of the back/sides for comparison. I am looking at doing some internal fiberglass work on the inside to add strength. I opted for the opening to be in the front. This is because it actually works well with Velcro joining the sides with the center. In the prior picture you can see my Velcro strips on the upper parts. I need to add strips for the lower to help re-enforce it but my current trials with security have been successful. I've also been working on the back boxes. I have pictures of the progress on the right and plan on adding the left box later. The first picture shows the five parts from Sean's files that make the recess. Not included in the STL files is the ridged strip. I am working on crafting one which is why the wood filler-raft piece is present. The second picture is a mock up of their respective placements. A question for the armory staff. The CRL says that the vent details "may be cut out and backed with black foam. If they are not cut out they must be painted black in between the slats." As I cut mine out, should I back the top vent piece with foam or the back of the "squared" piece? Additionally, is neoprene ok for the foam backing? As was/is the case with the should bell, if any more experienced eyes see something I am doing wrong, or questionable, please let me know. Such help and guidance is most appreciated. As always, thank you for reading my post. I do hope everyone has a good weekend. Cheers Chris

Good morning all. I have the day off today so was doing some work on the build before the family gets up. First, thank you as always to KOTrooper and Minimo for your help with my prior question regarding the chest material. I was able to procure neoprene easily and will toy around more with that when I get back to the chest/back. I've been making progress on my greaves lately. I had been working on sanding/smoothing it out with wood filler followed with a light resin coat. Sean's files essentially boil down to 9ish pieces per leg excluding buckles/straps. For my buckles/straps I ordered them from Mr. Paul. The pieces are four sections for the leg itself followed by three for the shin, a "topper", and then the back cover prints in two parts (thus the 9ish). I described how I assembled it in an earlier post but I basically glued all the sections together with ABS slurry followed with filling gaps with wood filler/thicker ABS slurry. Then painted. The little "rectangular knobs" on the top/inner/side are where the top buckle is placed. I presume it lays more closely if you use the one Sean provided but I didn't have any issues with the ones I got from Mr. Paul. I just glued them down with E600 and clamped them. In contrast to the prior picture, I have the greaves switched up (the right greave is on the left side of the picture and vise-versa to show the buckles). For securing the straps, I used small velcro strips as pictured. They seem to be holding up well enough and gave me the "give" I needed to get the leg in during my testing. I still need to touch up paint and weather them but am generally pleased with how the greaves have progressed. I am currently working on sanding/smoothing out the abdominal area which is my next focus. I did deviate a bit as I got in my Nordic Blue in and got the upper part of the shoulder bells painted. I am pleased with the progress although they share the same need for paint refinement/weathering as the greaves. As always, thank you all for reading my post. Thoughts and feedback are appreciated as I continue to refine and improve the build. Cheers Chris

A very good day to you. I have to echo Bikerscout's early post regarding the greaves. Of all the parts I printed from Sean's files, the greaves have been the stickier wickets in trying to assemble (10 pieces each leg excluding buckles/straps). The abs/back actually connect pretty well together. I would recommend that if you resize the abdominal items at all to be mindful of that when printing the chest/back to account for the upper overlapping the abdominal section. GIven the number of pieces be sure to be patient with the build and yourself. Definitely a marathon and it is very daunting at the start but it satisfying when each piece starts coming together (I'm slowly working through assembly myself). I wish you the best as you progress and look forward to see how your build progresses. Cheers Chris

Good evening everyone, I do hope your day has gone well. I am back from my work trip and starting to plan out what progress I want to try to make over the weekend. I did get my visor hot-glued in: I've also been working on the back, specifically with using wood filler to help smooth out some of the joints to the different parts of the print. I used several pieces of printed rafts for the back to make a top layer to allow for the circular indent to be present. While it looks pretty rough in regards to texture, it actually is pretty smooth to the touch: I still have a lot to do with sanding, smoothing out, and then resin work but the back is slowly coming together. I also went to the My Paint link Minimo provided me near the start of my build and got the Nordic Blue ordered and am eager for it to come in next week to play around with the shoulder bells. I am currently working on the black foam and would appreciate some guidance. The preferred material is black plastezote/plastezote-style material per the CRL. I ordered some from Amazon but the order was cancelled by the seller. I got another foam piece ordered in but I don't think it is up to snuff. In the below picture, the big piece is what I got from Amazon. The smaller square is what I think to be a plastezote equivalent. Can a better trained eye let me know if either of the material is acceptable for the chest/back lining? I am thinking the smaller square is the material I need to get which means I will re-purpose my bigger patch for other uses besides the build while I try to source the smaller. I am hopeful to have some more pictures over the weekend showing general progress along with focusing on adjustments I am making to the back boxes to ensure CRL compliance. As always, thank you to those taking the time to read the post. I hope your day ends well. Cheers Chris

Good evening everyone, I hope your respective days are going well. I'll be gone for a bit due to business and thus won't have updates for a bit however I have been able to make some progress. Regrettably I don't have many pictures as I forgot to take them prior to packing everything up to be out of my wife's way >.< I've been working on assembling the back and making modifications that aren't present in Sean's files. Specifically I have been using the rafts from my 3D printing to craft the rectangle bits above the left and right back recess boxes as well as making the two recessed areas (two for each side) behind the back's buckle slots. I will provide pictures next time I post to make it more clear about these modifications. I've also been working slowly on the abdominal section. As the raised diagonal section is not very pronounced on the files I sized up the Z-Axis of the forearm connectors and then trimmed off the "knobs" used to slot them into the forearm files. I then used ABS glue (raft bits with acetone) and clamps to secure them to the abdominal sides as is pictured below. I'll need to use my Dremel to trim the corners off the re-purposed forearm connectors but they seem to be meeting the intent of what I needed them to do. While I had a progress check photo earlier, I got my lower body soft parts in from The Dark Side Closet and was excited to try it again with those. The bucket is going through some repainting which is why the black is present. While I did initially sprayed black on the side recesses of the bucket, I repainted those areas Sahara Beige again and will get the darker fill through the weathering phase. I had missed the black under the lens/blast shield area and the eye bags needed a brush up so those have been properly fixed. Additionally, I made progress on the greaves. At this point I need to work on sanding them as well as working on attaching the straps which differ from what is pictures. All in all it seems to be coming along well. Again, apologies for lack of pictures but when I get back from the trip I'll provide some more detailed explanations/pictures of the back progress and modifications I spoke about. I hope everyone has an enjoyable end to their week and a great start to their weekend. Cheers Chris

Good afternoon everyone. First I would like to say thank you to both KOtrooper and Minimo as the guidance is always appreciated. My lovely wife got me a Dremel for Christmas and I had some fun tinkering with it earlier. I was able to trim up the sides of the back as well as cutting the excess from the upper connectors. I now have the gaps present on both sides between my chest plate and back (thanks to KOtrooper for the clarity on this/collar placement as it is looking good as a WIP). Earlier last week my wife also helped sew the nylon pieces together for my belt along with making some t-straps for the shoulder bells, chest, and back. Like everything else, I am looking forward to tinkering with that as well as playing around with nylon scrapes and belt attachments. Thanks to Minimo's reference pictures I am working on solutions to a lack of an indent on the sides and will share my findings when I have something tangible. Cheers Chris

Good day to everyone. I do hope everyone had a good week. I've been working on gluing pieces together and am biding my time as the weather is not favorable currently for sanding, let alone painting. I identified in an earlier post that with Sean's V2 Chest the back upgrades require trimming. I've marked this out with some masking tape to show the tapering I'll be doing on the lower back. Another modification is the upper connector. It's purpose is to bridge the back to the chest. The problem is that it is really long and actually doesn't fit properly with either the collar or the chest. I actually snapped off the "under support" present on each connector as it was already to long. Additionally, I have marked off an area that will be cut off with Sharpie. Unless I am mistaken, there is a gap between the chest and back that is bridged by the shoulder straps. Where I have it marked allows for the gap to exist. For comparison I have included the collar in this picture. As it is, the back/front are going to overlap each other so with coupled with needing the gap, trimming will certainly be requrired. I do have a question I would appreciate consulting with the armorers on. In regards to the collar placement on the front I believe it is supposed to almost go flush as in the first picture. Is this accurate or is it more "up" as in the second picture. I ask because I saw it half-way on a photo in one of my Rogue One picture books. Another question I would appreciate help/insight on. For the raised ridge on the abdomen's sides, roughly how long is it? Sean's files have a very subtle ridge but it certainly doesn't look CRL/picture accurate. By contrast I have a scrap piece held up to the abdomen in the picture for comparison. I think if I have something roughly 1/4 inch longer than the current scrap piece it may look ok. Additionally, what is the best recommendation for the black strip behind the raised section? Is it a recessed indent or painted area? The help and guidance are appreciated. Thank you for your time and for reading my post. I do wish everyone a Happy New Year. Cheers Chris