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Dear fellow Staff members, Troopers and future Troopers, As Sarah mentioned in a previous post, it is with a heavy heart that I am stepping down in my role of Executive Officer of the FISD. Over the last few months life has thrown me more than a few curve balls, including personal issues, 2 deaths and a hurricane to boot, which in my opinion have precluded me from having the time to effectively perform my duties, and for that I add my sincere apologies to you all. Those of you who have known me over the years know that this Detachment and the people here have honestly meant the world to me, and it has been both an honor and a pleasure being a part of such an incredible group of folks. Although the dust is finally beginning to settle (at last), it will be several weeks before life allows me to get back into the swing of things here 100% as in recent years, but I promise I will get there. After speaking with Sarah, she has graciously offered that I step back into my previous role as Deployment Officer. This will allow me the chance to serve the FISD in the area that I know best, and I look forward not only to returning to assisting future Troopers, but helping those aiming for EI and Centurion attain their goals as well. A big THANK YOU to all of you for bearing with me. Your kind thoughts/comments and personal PMs have helped get me through the recent months more than you will ever know, and an extra big thank you to Sarah for her understanding and keeping me on as part of the Staff. Also, I'm sure that you will all join me in welcoming Brien as our new XO. He is a true treasure here, and I am sure he will continue to go above and beyond to make sure that this Detachment continues to be the best one in the 501st! My very best to you all, and I will see you on the boards a LOT more. Troop on, Joseph

Once the seams are bondo’d the cover strip appearance may go away. Here are a few pics of the overlapping halves for both sides. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure if those 2 Failures were posted here already since google and/or forum search refuses to work in that regard. Found the first one while searching for a different one already known (the falling off shoulder bell one when Han gets carbonized). Second one was spotted on a casual watchthrough

First ROTK of my Garrison

Newly approved Return of the Jedi stormtrooper.

Nice work, I got caught once and since then upgraded most areas that take strain to double snaps, great to have a spare if one lets go

I had my shoulder snaps fail on a troop and had to get creative. I finally broke down and taught myself how to sew on snaps and I’m very happy with them! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey guys, I've finished trimming the helmet parts. Next thing to do is adding the screws. I also need to clean up the eyes some more. If there's anything you see I still need to do before I make holes please let me know! Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk Oh! i also need to sand all the edges lol

Looking SHARP, Robert! Really nice job on this AP armor, sir, and I see nothing getting in the way of you and your official TK number. It's obvious you put a lot of thought and care into this, and judging from the overall fit and details it looks like you are (hopefully) aiming for EI and then Centurion . I realize I'm jumping the gun a bit, and there are a few small details that will need to be addressed for those levels, but it looks like you the mad build skills to take care of them! One thing I would suggest (for comfort levels if nothing else) is to trim the tops of the forearms . When carrying your E-11 you will spend a lot of time with your arms bent, and those will more than likely poke into you making it mighty uncomfortable. 5 minutes with a Dremel and some sandpaper and you are golden. You may want to raise the ABS belt a bit as well. Reference images Gotta say fantastic work on trimming those ab-button panels... absolute textbook! Again, a super nice job, sir, and looking forward to seeing that TK number under your name.

Great job on everything. Looks nice. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks buddy!

Moved to the TLJ build area for you. Bummer about the ab box, although looks like it could be saved if needed, hopefully you won't have to wait too long for the replacement. Many suppliers of the pauldrons just haven't got the size or shape quite right, I'd suggest giving some feedback and perhaps some references, never know they may update their moulds. Once again good luck moving forward, exciting times.

Congratulations Trooper . Welcome to the Legion!

Hi Michael and welcome to the FISD! You're in good hands here with the advice you've been given. The UKG is one of the finest garrisons in the world.

Alriiiiiiight. Big box of fiberglass and resin showed up! This is the raw kit from Shawn Thorsson. Taking inventory, I found a few things missing, but are being sorted out. I was given an extra set of fingers just in case I need replacements and a spacer for the back of the abdomen section. Lots of work to do to trim this up and clean up the parts. What a project this will be! I have Spec Ops boots coming in from Imperial Boots and once in hand can start working on the lower parts from the waist down. Exciting, but it will be a while. I still have to order a jump suit / undersuit. Any recommendations? I'll be looking into options but personal favorites are welcome. Will also need to look into a strapping system and will check out other builds and FOTK sets on how it's secured. There's no ONE way to do this right? Just black webbing/belting? Also, took a crack at the chrome for the test helmet. Still learning, but it will be a good test bed. A long way to go before I decided on a method. This was just the black gloss primer/paint layer, then two coats of Spaztix spray can. Buffed between layers. But 2nd coat went down and haven't revisited this yet. Needed to get another can, rofl. One can not enough. Major part of the kit is here! Just need to sort out the undersuit and wait for boots to roll in, then can start prepping the fiberglass for paint. Likely dremel, sand, primer to gray for starters. Dang. Hopefully by Anaheim Celebration? Here's to square one!

Lovely additions to an already superb E-11. :-)

She's going to the chromer tomorrow!!! Don Valenzuela of Don Valenzuela's Autobody in Clovis is going to be doing it for me. His main business is autobody painting and work, but he's also an artist and has done beautiful logos for some local wineries. I'll be dropping her off after work and then... then I can work on all the other stuff in preparation for when she gets back. Gotta wrap up cutting out all the fleece for the cases I'm making for all the parts while I still have them tonight.

Weird things you say when you're a costumer: Oh hello, butt plate... I haven't seen you in a while... The good news is I was able to fix the holster pretty easily- it came off without much trouble, and with no damage other than some glue to scrape off. It went back on about the same as it did the first time- a huge pain and four plus hands needed to really do it. At least this time I hadn’t been painting so there weren’t any paint smears to worry about. I scraped and rubbed off excess glue in various places. My thumbs feel rubbed raw from all the rubbing and picking at glue. It reminds me of Peter Jackson saying they had so much chain mail made for the LOTR films, that the guys that did it just about rubbed off their fingerprints on a couple of fingers from linking it all together. I did a bit of fine sanding on a couple of edges, checked on seams and inner strips, basically gave everything a once over. Touched up a trim or two. Doesn’t look like much but will make a difference in the end. One of the shin spats had shifted during gluing, and the seam was huge, so I pulled it apart and re-glued it. Annoying, but just another symptom of how my week is going. I checked it again before I went to bed and it stayed in place this time. The belt boxes still honestly confuse me, but I’m just going to send them all off to the chromer/painter and then figure them out later. In my review and digging through the pile of parts, I found that I had forgotten about the upper boot spats- they weren't the right shape out of the box. They're supposed to be rounded, mine are just straight. This is a pretty early KB kit, so it's entirely possible they've worked out some of these things and quirks in the newer versions (they've had at least two versions since mine, not sure after that). So I marked it up and trimmed them real quick. I used the first off-cut to mark the next ones. Well look at that... she's actually fully assembled... And yet, she looks not a whole lot different than she did in a huge pile of parts form BBB Day. Now it's time to get all the dust and grime off from being in the garage for all this time. (My town is a dusty place on a good day, and the garage is terrible, no matter how many times I use the blower to clean it out). The weird things you do as a costumer: Bath time for Phasma! I figured the bathtub was the most efficient way to clean off all the parts. I was going to just take the hose to it, but outside has dirt and grit and dust. And cobwebs. Because I stop cleaning those up in September because I can just call them “Halloween decorations” for the next two months. I did the helmet clean up by hand- I don’t think fiberglass would react badly to water, but I’m not taking any chances with dropping it, for one. I’ve taken water to ABS before with issues. She's now drying off across my guest bathroom... which amuses me more than it should. And that’s… that’s actually it. She’s ready. I can’t believe I’m saying those words- but she is, she’s ready for chroming!

I mentioned having a new helmet and haven’t shown it off! Time to correct that mistake. The padded interior lining was a nice surprise. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm happy to report that on September 12th I was approved!! I've posted this information on every platform I could and now I'm posting it here. When I first joined the FISD, I posted a before and after picture of myself and told the story of my weight loss journey and how joining the 501st was a goal of mine on my journey. I'm now happy to update that before and after picture. I would also like to take minute and thank a few that, l felt, were right along with me for my entire build. gmrhodes13, Coastertk, starsaber25, ukswrath. Thank you so much for your guidance and support. I truly couldn't have done it without you. Taking on a project of this magnitude is not for the faint of heart. I took it on because it's something I believe is worth it. If you are thinking of joining I suggest doing your homework first. Read, read, read...... Then read some more. There is a treasure trove of information and experience in this group and you would be a fool not to listen and utilize it. Thank you all so much for your warm welcome and guidance. I truly cherish every moment during this new journey. I can't wait to get out there and start trooping and meet some of you in person. "You've taken your first step into a larger world." Obi-Wan Kenobi Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

Finally got everything in and was able to pick up my BBB! Definitely excited for this after opening it all up! Couple of things noticed, just some small cracks thankfully nothing major. And I’ll have to get the under suit taken in just a bit. But other then that, no major problems with this kit! Can’t wait to get with the others in our build group and start putting this thing together!

So since there’s 8 of us in this run. We got our first of 4 BBB’s! No ETA yet on when the last 3 will arrive. We had our armor shipped to our buddy’s work place. (Also apart of our SCG build group.) Thankfully he was nice enough to start separating all the parts and put them in a box for each of us. And here’s my BBB. Just missing the helmet and the other few parts that were still awaiting. And I got my gloves from Endor Finders. I really like the feel of these gloves. They fit my hand pretty well. That’s all for now. More incoming soon!

GARRISON TITAN Operation: Rule the Galaxy Hello Legionnaires! If you were brought here by me, then you already know why you are here! If you've tripped on this subforum, please allow me to thank you for joining us on this wild ride, and allow me to tell you a little bit about us and why we are here. My name is Kay, DS-52956 and one of Garrison Titan's Membership Liaisons. My flagship costume is Kylo Ren (as you have probably guessed). I troop about 20 events a year, and at the time of me typing this, we have about x1 First Order Stormtrooper for each Kylo Ren we have in the Garrison....which totals to 5 (give or take my spotty memory). As you can imagine, I was DISPLEASED by this! So I did what any self-respecting loyalist might do. I went recruiting. And here we all are. Garrison Titan is based in Washington State and is currently home to a little over 180 active members, making us one of the top 20 largest Garrisons in the 501st Legion. We have a tremendous relationship with our sister clubs in the area, and have made appearances at all sorts of events throughout the year. In 2016, we raised just over $58,000 for charity at just over 1000 events, and are well beyond that number for 2017. Our goal here is simple: have a First Order squadron ready for the release of Episode 9. That gives us a timeline of ~2 years -- plenty of time for experimentation and learning. For several members involved, this is their first armor kit build. For others, it isn't. We plan to operate using an assembly line system to get these kits trimmed and fitted by our target date. I will be documenting the process as best I can -- I am notoriously bad at remembering to take pictures of my builds, but hopefully with a support group of x20 other troopers, we'll get some helpful info here in case anyone else would like to start one of these in their own Garrison. On behalf of Garrison Titan, thank you for stopping in, and don't forget to CRUSH THE RESISTANCE! Kay Ahern DS-52956 Garrison Titan GML