A little short for a trooper - help!

[zediyeti]

Hi! I've been thinking about building a ROTJ biker scout for the last year or so, but haven't gone for it due to my height. I'm only 5'3 and just over 100 lbs, and while I know it's possible I am looking for some advice from other short people out there. My main question is, where is the best place to source the hard parts from? I'm a very confident sewer so I am not worried about the soft parts, but the armor I am. I've heard that WTF is slightly smaller, but was told by their admins on FB that I wouldn't be able to fit into their adult size and the kids one would not be approveable. I have seen people who have made his fit so I don't fully believe that and am hoping there's someone out there who can point me in the right direction. I'm just looking for any insight from people who have made a kit fit, or who know someone who was in the same situation. Any tips on vendors, construction, or even just words of encouragement, anything at all is welcome!

I've joined the a little short for a trooper FB group but am just seeking out as much advice as possible before I commit the money to purchasing a kit from a vendor. Learning to navigate a new forum style is hard, and I'm still getting used to it! 😛

[Chopper]

Hiya, welcome to the pathfinders forums.

I'm glad you asked us before buying anything because the WTF armor is most definitely not smaller. The chest and back armor runs on the larger size and, on top of that, has a fair number of inaccuracies for the ROTJ scout.

The smallest armor currently available is from Mon Cal/Far Away Creations, but you'll likely still need to do some trimming and shaping to make it fit your size.

https://www.etsy.com/market/far_away_creations

The chest and back armor on Studio Creations is larger than with Mon Cal/Far Away Creations, but their shoulder bells, biceps, knee, and forearm armor are smaller.

https://www.studiocreations.com/howto/bikerscout/bike_armorforsale.html

There are few shorter folks who have re-sized their armor -- @shashachu and @jennyruth are two recent troopers who've made great looking scouts.

[zediyeti]

Exactly the type of answers I've been looking for, thank you! I've got lots of research to do before I order anything, but will definitely be checking out both those shops. Thank you for the trooper profiles as well, I look forward to having a read through!

[jennyruth]

Hi! The scout was my first armor costume, and even though it was tricky to get it all to fit, I love wearing it. It’s so much fun! Being able to sew, you will especially enjoying being able to make your soft parts exactly to fit you as needed. You can check out my work in progress here: 

I posted regularly about both my soft parts and the hard parts. One lesson in hindsight—make elastic waist pants

I am the same height as you but am a bit heavier. I found that the length of the chest and back pieces were not a problem with any maker, but the width was my biggest challenge on the two models I tried—RS Propmasters and MonCal. We ended up 3D printing most of my armor, and it worked great for sizing. It was a ton of work to finish, but it fits well. Reinforcing certain parts with fiberglass is extremely helpful.

I definitely recommend the smaller belt pull from Studio Creations. It’s what I have, and it allows some more flexibility over what a 3D print does. They also have smaller bicep pulls. You can ask for the smaller than normal pulls of these pieces. I do have a friend who is taller than I am but smaller around and she made the Studio Creations armor work for her. You can check our her build here: 

If printing isn’t an option for you, then Chopper’s advice and looking through builds like these should give you an idea of what you may be looking at. Let me know if you have any questions!!

[zediyeti]

2 hours ago, jennyruth said:

Hi! The scout was my first armor costume, and even though it was tricky to get it all to fit, I love wearing it. It’s so much fun! Being able to sew, you will especially enjoying being able to make your soft parts exactly to fit you as needed. You can check out my work in progress here: 

I posted regularly about both my soft parts and the hard parts. One lesson in hindsight—make elastic waist pants

I am the same height as you but am a bit heavier. I found that the length of the chest and back pieces were not a problem with any maker, but the width was my biggest challenge on the two models I tried—RS Propmasters and MonCal. We ended up 3D printing most of my armor, and it worked great for sizing. It was a ton of work to finish, but it fits well. Reinforcing certain parts with fiberglass is extremely helpful.

I definitely recommend the smaller belt pull from Studio Creations. It’s what I have, and it allows some more flexibility over what a 3D print does. They also have smaller bicep pulls. You can ask for the smaller than normal pulls of these pieces. I do have a friend who is taller than I am but smaller around and she made the Studio Creations armor work for her. You can check our her build here: 

If printing isn’t an option for you, then Chopper’s advice and looking through builds like these should give you an idea of what you may be looking at. Let me know if you have any questions!!

Wow, what a great wip thread. I'm definitely going to be referencing that a bunch as I go, not only for the similar size but also the detail in which you documented everything. Excited to have a read through Jen's as well, thank you!

I am trying to avoid 3d printing if I can get away with it. I have a printer and wouldn't mind using it if I must, but between just finishing my mando kit and now the blasters I've been working on I'd like to avoid filling and sanding prints as much as I can. I'm also thinking about the longevity of prints, because I've already started seeing some imperfections on my mando bucket of where the outer part is kind of sinking into the infill and making weird patterns when heated in the sun. Have you had any issues so far with fragility or anything of the sort, or has the fiberglass mostly taken care of that?

[Chopper]

1 hour ago, zediyeti said:

I am trying to avoid 3d printing if I can get away with it. I have a printer and wouldn't mind using it if I must, but between just finishing my mando kit and now the blasters I've been working on I'd like to avoid filling and sanding prints as much as I can. I'm also thinking about the longevity of prints, because I've already started seeing some imperfections on my mando bucket of where the outer part is kind of sinking into the infill and making weird patterns when heated in the sun. Have you had any issues so far with fragility or anything of the sort, or has the fiberglass mostly taken care of that?

Emphasis mine, but this will entirely depend on what material you printed in. People print in PLA because it's pretty forgiving and prints at low temperatures, but those same properties also mean that it's susceptible to deforming in the heat, which means direct sunlight, keeping it in a car, etc.

PETG takes a bit more effort to dial in, but prints at a higher temperature and is therefore more durable and resistant to heat deformation, etc.

[jennyruth]

I completely understand that. It wasn’t my first choice either. They used PLA plus filament on mine. I also used XTC-3D as part of my finishing, which helps with some of that stuff too. I bought the bucket and didn’t print it. We fiberglassed the shoulder bells, and much of the chest and back pieces. 

But I don’t leave it in my car in sunshine/heat and wouldn’t spend many hours in direct sunlight. I do have a friend whose MonCal armor is very yellow right now from sunlight (He’s going to fix that though.). So I figure I can’t get away from all the maintenance no matter what. I’ve only been approved since last May, but so far everything has held up well. When I was painting, I dropped a shoulder bell straight down on my concrete garage floor, and it didn’t have an issue at all. 

 

[JGS3]

A couple other good youTube videos that have been helpful for me...

Boots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6L4bY9NnqM

This one is a whole video set for everything but the helmet, and he is still making the helmet video as of April 2023) There are 18 video, but about 1/2 are how he casts the forms. Interesting, but not necessary to watch to get a costume built. 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLylZBXOeIZgnyUtHfmAZlMFPlQXtZCrgH

 

[Chopper]

As I posted in the other thread, I've seen that boot tutorial video before and most of the advice is fine. There are a few things to keep in mind --

1) You don't want a metal rivet sticking into the sides of your foot. Trust me on this.

2) The CRL for level 2 states that "Dogbone ends above the toe strip on both sides", which is a minor detail that would need to be adjusted during your build.

[shashachu]

Hi, sorry I missed this notification! I'm the same height as you (5' 3") but not quite as slender (~118 lbs). Overall I found the scout armor quite forgiving for a shortie. My build thread is here 

Unfortunately as I purchased my armor from another member, I don't know what maker it is. I think if any hard part is going to give you trouble, it'd be the chest. As you can see in my thread I shortened the shoulder 'straps' to get the chest to sit higher but otherwise I didn't have to make any major hard part adjustments. Go ahead and give it a read and feel free to shoot over any questions.