Weasel

Same issue. It's not super bad, but noticeable. This might be one of those things I'll accept in terms of discomfort. If I feel it isn't feasible for longer troops, I would probably cut the hole at the front and sew some extra fabric on it to essentially widen the hole to reduce the stretching. Since it's converted with your gloves nobody would see thst anyway.

My straps are attached to the greaves with Velcro. Superglue will permanently bond the velcro to the silicone. it's not a perfect solution but it seemed to hold. I think a part giving out after trooping for 3 days straight is a good track record. your could also try double sided tape to hold it down. And don't forget to weather your boots! They still look so clean

It might be the picture, but it looks like the T shaped plate on the right greaves is attached a bit low, since the diamonds are touching them and I see the top of the long plate sticking out the top, behind the T shaped top plate. That might not be an issue with your GML, it's just noticeable to me. I'd reattach it a bit higher to be safe. In regards to the hip armor, check out this picture (yoinked from Rads Vanguard app) You'll need them to come up like this, so you can see the oiler and the shells from the back. I see thst you have the shells attached, but they aren't visible from the back. Did you follow one of the patterns thst can be found on the forum? Another thing I noticed is the white and black band on the shoulder bell. Are the black lines parallel to each other / is the thickness of the white/black consistent across the bell? Might be the photo but it looks like it's uneven. Might be fine for Level 1 depending on your GML. Looks like you're getting there, though! Good work! Hope youre happy with your helmet now?

Looking forward to seeing it come together! Keep us in the loop!

Congratulations, glad to see more Grunts!

I 3D printed my Torso piece and while it isn't as flexible as a vac kit piece, you still got plenty of space and flex to bend it open to get into it, especially since you have the layerlines going horizontal which gives it more strength when bending it as you put it on. If you can, I would highly recommend looking into getting an enclosure for your 3D printer and printing it with ABS. While it's a pain to wrangle it at first, once you got it figured out, you are rewarded with much better heat resistance and better post-processing (i.e. using acetone to smooth / weld) .

ST-31497 reporting for duty!

The weathering looks great! I don't know whether or not the lip of the blast shield needs to be black in the inside edge or not, it's the only odd thing that stands out to me. I haven't seen the blast shield ridge with Sahara beige on that edge anywhere else, but that might be fine and also just relevant for L2?

Heat gun? Can you explain how you used that to what effect?

Hi Ashley, if you go onto my build post, Rad has written a great weathering guide that can help give you an idea. There are a few videos on the Shore Trooper mounting and weathering on YouTube as well to get some ideas, I don't have the links right now but I might assemble a separate posts for other troopers soon. I forgot the series but there are great weathering videos on YouTube around various Star Wars armor pieces. My suggestion for mounting is to look at Mike's video on how to wear the costume and then browse every Vanguard Deployment post and look how other troopers have solved it. There is no one right solution for all pieces, some things work better for you than others based on tools available and skill level. I personally have used Velcro sewn onto Nylon straps and then glued onto the different pieces to hold the chest and backplate together, but it's a little wonky to explain without pictures

Hey, any tips for weathering leather boots? I feel confident messing with ABS because I can reprint parts but I can't remake my shoes haha

I'm a bit too tired to sort through and upload photos, but I will upload a set soon enough. I have finished all the hard parts! (Except the forearm mounting, for which I will need to hand-sew some velcro into my shirt) I have some worries about the buckles on the front plate and their L2 eligibility, but at this point I really just want basic approval. The past few weeks have been particularly grueling, but there is finally an end in sight. I am still waiting for my boots from Keep Trooping (I guess it's not super high on the production list) and I now need to make the pants... Part of me wishes I would have ordered the pants from Keep Trooping as well, but I have the materials and cut out the pattern . Might as well keep myself busy until the boots arrive. I wonder if I will see any Shore Troopers at the Air N Scare event (I am volunteering as an handler), it'd be nice to actually see the armor in person lol.

So if the straps are silicone (which I assume they are, you can use a very permanent adhesion: CA Glue / Super Glue. Word of warning - It will bond aggressively to the silicone, meaning if you ever want to get that velcro off, you will most likely rip out pieces of silicone before you separate the two parts. It also makes it possible to use CA glue to bond silicone pieces back together. Chances are, you've gotten straps that are longer than you need, so like before, experiment with the excess to see what gives you the best result. I bonded my velcro to the straps with CA glue. If I ever have to replace the velcro on the silicone, I will most likely have to sand off the velcro, but I don't expect this to be an issue moving forward. Hope this helps.

Hey! It's awesome that you are coming back to your build after all these years! That's really cool and if someone asks you how long it took to build you costume you can tell them 'half a decade' and shock them But in all seriousness, excited to see progress! I generally would love to see the different approaches people take to making their costumes!

Looks great! I just recently finished my collar work and I can put it on my own, but I also did a lot of messing around with the collar to make it easier. For one, I remove the ABS plug and sank a longer piece if metal into the spot to make it more rigid and have a longer piece sticking out the front, which makes it easier to feed it into the holes. There are several parts where help from another person would be really handy, but if you're trooping with others, I am sure another trooper will help you out putting it on. If you have a handler helping you out, even better! I just got my shirt from KeepTrooping, so that gave me a boost to keep working on it extra hard! Keep up the good work!

I think your shins look great and I think the distance right now fine. It's very easy to worry about this, when you are so close to the part. Once you are trooping, nobody would even think to look there, to make sure the distance is "correct". That you see differences between costumes gives you an idea that it's probably not an area to worry about - The one missing diamond on your right is of more concern

I think the chipping looks great, fantastic base for more weathering. I am worried myself thst some stuff has too much weathering but then I remember to look at the reference pics and realize how messed up those uniforms are haha. It's impossible to get a super consistent look of weathering between costumes and I also think that it doesn't make sense. Just think of it this way: The cleaner to armor, the less time in the field spent by the trooper. More weathering = more experience

Haha once again gonna sand down the blast shield to get that spot right, thanks for noticing! Those are excellent instructions and I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my question. I hope it'll be helpful for others in the future as well! More detail photos of the helmet are also super appreciated! Thank you so much!

Any contact cement you get, will have it's own instructions, like most other glues. Best practice would be to follow them,bbut generally speaking you coat both sides with a thin layer of it and then let them sit (usually 5 to 10 minutes) for them to get really tacky and then push them together. I cannot stress enough that once contact cement touches each other it's bonded and almost impossible to get apart again without damaging whatever you glued together. I would recommend for pieces that are a bit tricky to line up without any repositioning or (like the plates) or if you have shaky hands that you make a 'tape-hinge' or use some other additional positioning that will help you get it right the first time. If you have some scrap pieces of the materials, practice with gluring them together to get a feel for the process. Good luck!

Oh, I misunderstood the distinction in the CRL, that "the lights are permanent and are non-flashing or pulsed (optional hero version only)" refers to the pulsing, not all lights. That threw me off. Well, stunt blaster it is!

Well, I am going for basic approval and will be happy if I can go trooping, but I am building everything so far with Level 2 in mind.

I am worried about asking, but as I wired up the lights for the E22, I took a break after I got the lights in the back and the hengstler, not realizing I had forgotten the two lights under the flashlight ... I've now spent a considerate amount of time on the blaster, not realizing I was missing two lights and now I don't know how to wire up the extra two (suggestions welcome).

3M Hi-Strength 90 Contact Spray Adhesive seems to work as well without damaging the neoprene I am using. Super 77 works is safer with more foams. In general, apply a bit to a test piece before committing.

Regarding adhesion: I would suggest taking your foam and applying some PVA Glue (Bastelkleber sollte klappen, der hat keine Loesungsmittel die den Schaum angreifen), letting that dry and spraying on it to see if you are getting a better adhesion.

Hi, possibly late, and just my two cents from looking at it and comparing it with the CRL. Trying to avoid some work, so this is great for procrastinating. It's hard to tell from the photos, but it doesn't look like it has a neckseal and it's jsut a baclava? If the costume is supposed to come with everything make sure it has the Neckseal as well. Its almost impossible to tell what kind of material the shirt is, but making sure it's ribbed is important. The Chest Plate and Back Plate proportions also seem off, but that might be due to the photo taken, I also can't see a collar, just two black recesses on the chest palte where they would sit inside of. Ask what colors he used for the paint as well. While Level Two might not be your goal, it would really suck if you had to repaint everything because it isn't the right color.