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Hello everyone, after searching the forum for several weeks and snapping up information, I have now decided to create my own account. About me: My name is Andreas, I come from Germany and live in the south of Bavaria. I've wanted to be a member of the 501st for a long time and I hope to be soon. I recently ordered a stormtrooper suit from RS Prop Masters - fully finished commission because I have two left hands and I'm a little unsure whether I can make a proper suit myself - and am now waiting for the delivery. Greetings from Bavaria Andreas

Here's the first pics of an almost complete kit up. - Helmet is still my esb (messaged Ross to order an anh stunt) - Drop boxes need to be made removable - Pauldron not arrived yet - I'm not happy with the fit of the pack straps yet - No weathering yet ther than that it should be all there.

Alright .. recap time. Last Thursday I picked up everything from the chrome guys. That was a total of 20 hours by car. Personally, I wouldn't do it again unless there is a valid reason, although the highway to the east was very, very empty and almost always unlimited. You could podrace a bit there. Anyhow. The chromers did a good job, with some parts needing to be remade. But it's not a huge drama. Then I spent the days (Thursday evening, the entire Friday + Saturday) with the strapping. So the Saturday at the con itself. Thanks to my supporters kept the booth running. On Saturday I gave Liam McIntyre an extra set of gloves with handplates (whatever he should do with them, but hey. I don't need 2 pairs and he thought it was cool - Mission accomplished) and an embroidered shirt with a Pyre helmet + Commander Pyre - Build Crew and my logo on the back. Even then I thought "he won't wear it anyway". Then Sunday .. the moment of truth. In the livestream on Instagram I then pulled (got) everything for the first time. The video is on IGTV: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CTt0cl4KfWc/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link You can also see Liam's reaction directly there. Incredibly awesome! And he actually wore my shirt! Just awesome. The rest of the day I took photos with a lot of people. Then there was the moment when Liam stopped by my booth and looked at all the props. He celebrated everything - which I celebrated a lot :-D :-D :-D He also signed the helmet from the inside In general, I can only say: I didn't think that everything would work out like this, but the stress was absolutely worth it. Sunday was definitely one of the best days of my life. Here are the pictures A new helmet is needed for the CRL. The helmet is already gold chrome-plated and will then get the black details at some point in the days. + taking photos for the CRL of the individual parts

Expert Infantry Honor Gallery Welcome to the new Expert Infantry Honor Gallery. Click on the numbered links below to go to the image gallery for that block of application images. 1-49 50-99 100-149 150-159 200-249 250-299 300-340 350-399 400-449 450-499 500-549 550-599 600-649 650-699 700-749 750-799 800-849 850-899 900-949 950-999 1000-1049 1050-1099 In the event you do not remember your application number follow these steps: Go to Request Expert Infantryman Status area Enter your TKID in the search box and make sure you select "This Forum" then click enter (or the search icon). Search results will appear, you are only issued one EI number (see green highlighted area below). If you have achieved multiple awards they will show with a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and so on at the end of the title of the thread and no other numbers. ----------------------------- Please note some images have been lost from some EIB applications and in this case a generic image has been used, if you find your image is like this and you have a copy of your original application photos and would like it updated please contact me via private message. ----------------------------- Multiple EIB recipients in the Expert Infantry Honor Gallery After some searching I found in the past honoring multiple EIB recipients was done by combining all of their approved EIB costumes into a single animated GIF, as shown below. We will continue with this layout which is a work in progress, some of you may have noticed this has now been implemented. Also before taking your Action photo please have a read through this thread

Grüß Gott Andreas. Good choice in armour and you are in the right place for all the assistance you may require. My family is from Rosenheim, what part of Bavaria are you from?

Costuming and Builds - EU (501st Approved) - Battlefront Dice Shocktrooper - Glen Page 1 complete - gmrhodes13 SECTION COMPLETED

Thanks Glen, I remember seeing this mentioned elsewhere [emoji106]

Looking good, nice work. Just in case you aren't aware, one thing if (when) you will be applying for EI and Centurion you will also need to remove the UKG branding from your shoulder bell, unfortunately it is required for higher level approval and many have had to do this in the past, some even purchased another shoulder bell as they didn't want to replace their original branding, could be an option

Servus Andi! Schön, dass du den Weg in's FISD gefunden hast. Das hier ist definitiv der größte Wissensschatz des WWW, wenn's um Stormtrooper geht. Mit RS hast du schonmal nichts falsch gemacht. Ich selbst bin übrigens auch aus Südbayern und hier gibt es noch einige mehr aus der Region. Im restlichen Forum wird zwar Englisch gesprochen/geschrieben, wenn du aber mal Hilfe auf Deutsch brauchst, kannst du einfach bei den 'Imperial Embassies' nachfragen, da gibt es auch "Unterstützung auf Deutsch". Wie Tino schon geschrieben hat solltest du aber erstmal die "Getting Started" Section auschecken - viel Spaß! LG, Danny

Looking very good Richard. Do you have a special holster for the SE14? Have you worked out a way of weathering the armour and cleaning it off yet? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No pictures for updates, just saying that at this point I got approved by my GML and assigned TK-11429. WOO! I've finally made it to this point. Now to work towards getting ready for EIB.

Welcome to the FISD, Andreas. RS is a good choice and depending on your body size, you might have to adjust some minor things here and there. No big issues. Use the waiting time to check out the 'Getting Started' section of this forum and don't forget to research for a blaster... Good luck on your Stormtrooper journey.

Hallo Andreas! (or would you prefer "Grüß Gott"? haha) Good to have you here. RS makes some excellent armors, I'm sure you'll be happy with yours. I'm looking forward to seeing some pictures once it arrives -- it will be a memorable day for sure, so you'll want to take some photos

Depends on which armor, some are shorter, usually though the 1 large tab and 4 1/2 small tabs are seen on the front. Also for higher levels, no large tab on the back.

Looking good! Fingers crossed!

Nice work

Good luck Kris. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good luck Kris. Looking great

And because I had some time, I modeled the level 3 forearm shape as well... Feedback welcome! Left is the normal shape and right is the updated one.

As you know, in many (if not most) cases there are always exceptions to the "norm", especially in OT armor (i.e. Mr. No Stripes). The teeth paint issue is one we have addressed for as long as I have been a D.O (almost 5 years) and since it is listed as a requirement for Basic approval we have to enforce it for EI. Frown is painted gray and does not leave the teeth area. Unlike the MEPD we don't choose a particular Trooper to copy for higher levels of approval, but rather the "ideal" look.

Welcome to the Legion (from another happy newbie)!

Welcome Luke to the Imperial Army.

Congrats Trooper

Well done trooper, the empire looks forward to your service.

Congratulations Luke!

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This build post (or should I say re-build) is about solutions to problems if junk happens during your build and you’re unsure what to do. It’s also a testament to how being impatient in purchasing or building armor may come with a cost. Though this particular build has been a bit painful, it’s also given me hope. Through perseverance, patience and understanding, anything is possible. Part 2 http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/29684-anh-stunt-ata-re-build-part-2/ The Story Like most new troopers here, after a couple weeks of reading through armor threads I’d settled on ATA and put myself on the wait list. Echoing the thoughts of many who will read this this, the wait can be excruciating, especially when there’s other armor more readily available, but I wanted ATA and that’s what my budget allowed. After a month or so the anticipation turned into impatience and soon began looking at the “for sale†posts for new, already assembled, and used kits. I searched high and low for a couple weeks until I found a seller with the armor I wanted and it was already assembled. We had the same body type, it had low usage and looked immaculate. After many PM’s questioning the quality and whether it was EIB or Centurion approveable, I pulled the trigger. Though the price was a bit steep (compared to a new kit), I figured someone’s labor of love went into it and I don’t mind paying for that. I was willing to pay a little extra for a ready to wear gorgeous piece of armor, not to mention it came with a nicely modified E-11. When the box finally arrived this ole man’s face lit up like of a child on Christmas morning. As I began the unboxing, to my delight everything was neatly packed in bubble wrap however, this is where the delight stopped. Upon removing the bubble wrap my heart went from that of joy to despair. You could hear a pin drop, crickets, etc. You could have heard tears hit the floor (ok the last part was a bit much but you get my point). Then anger set in. I remember asking myself “How could this have happened, I asked all the right questions? This wasn't the scenario I was looking forâ€. My problem is I want to believe everyone is being honest especially if you’re 501st anyways, back to the unraveling. To my dismay what I had was a nightmare. Well worn, helmet as with the rest of the armor, was assembled incorrectly. The most shocking was the main torso section. The back, kidney, ab and cod plates were all super glued together with scrap plastic, I almost couldn't get into it, not to mention there was a sheet metal screw running from inside and through the kidney plate, through one section of the canvas ammo belt into the thermal detonator, REALLY!? To give some credit to the builder, you can tell there was an attempt to build it correctly however, at some point that rule sadly went out the window, BUMMER! So there I sat on the floor with my pile of unwearable plastic I obviously paid way too much for. Utterly discourage I had two choices, contact the seller and go through the painful process of attempting to get my money back or the other, as my wife loves to quote at every life’s low moment, “It’s time to pull up the big boy pants and get in the ball gameâ€. Knowing FISD had plenty of build and some what to do posts, I dove into my quest. I figured with a mountain of knowledge at my finger tips, and sheer determination I was going to rebuild this pile of plastic to EIB, and maybe even Centurion approval. I also figured most troopers here at some point may, or did, make a mistake during assembly. Maybe I can be of help. In this re-build I’m pretty certain I've come across and overcome every obstacle there is to building or repairing armor. To be clear, I don’t claim to have all the answers or solutions to every problem you may encounter, only my experiences. If you have a better solution to a problem, by all means PM me and/or post it. Troopers helping troopers is what the FISD is all about, right? Finally in this thread I’ll post pre & post armor build pics and will attempt to address every obstacle I came across and the solution. Again, if all goes well this pile of plastic will become EIB, and maybe Centurion level approvable, giving proof that anything is possible. I want to give many thanks to those who've documented and paved the armor building trail before me. Through your trial and error what I thought was impossible has become possible. NOTE: I would like everyone to understand I’m not here to bash anybody’s building skills, styles or etc, especially the prior owner/builder of this armor. I’m merely pointing out flaws or imperfections I found and my attempt, or success to repair them. Please forgive me in advance if my comments come across otherwise. With that, let’s get the re-building or should I say dismantling started. 1. The first set of pics is the armor before dismantling (with the exception of the kidney and posterior section I separated). My first obstacle was to identify which sections may or may not need complete rebuilding. Though not all the sections needed repair all needed cosmetic corrections. Finally, determine how the sections attached to one another were connected (super glue, E6000), and how to safely separate them. 2. Starting with the bucket. At first glance it looked lopsided and off center. As I disassembled it I found the front and rear sections about ½†off of center. Given the ATA face/frown section is already a bit off, the ½†made it look worse. I also notice the ears were a bit on the thin side but there’s nothing I could do but install them as is or replace. The eye sockets were unfinished and the “S†seal was cut too short (not a huge problem). Upon reassembly I ran into a bigger concern, no matter how accurate I was with my measurements the helmet appeared warped. Maybe it was overheated or something happened during the manufacturing process, I don’t know, it just seemed off. It may not be very noticeable in the pics but there's definitely something wrong. Being I've never built an ATA bucket, I made the decision to purchase a one new from Terrell and have a reputable builder put it together so I could compare the two, and boy were they different. Ultimately I decided to use my newly acquired bucket from ATA for my EIB approval and use this bucket for my TD seen here on M.E.P.D. http://forum.mepd.net/index.php?showtopic=13197. 3. Onto the (most difficult) back, kidney, ab and butt (posterior) assembly. Whatever was held together with E6000 I gently softened (on the scrap plastic side) with a heat gun. (http://www.amazon.com/1500-Watt-Temperature-572%C2%B0F-1112%C2%B0F/dp/B0053U2B8G). I then cautiously separated with a butter or large sharp hunting knife. NOTE: I highly suggest buying a pair of cut resistant gloves (level 5, (http://www.amazon.com/Kaffyad-Resistant-Protection-Mandolines-Lightweight/dp/B00KXFCJJW) or something similar). ALWAYS remember to cut, slice, pry, etc, AWAY from your body NOT towards it. As for the superglued sections I purchased a Black and Decker Mouse Detail Sander (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-MS800B-Detail-Collection/dp/B001H0GC04). Starting with 80 grit pads I began the rigorous process of sanding away the scrap plastic until I reached the original. Once I reached the original plastic I finished the surface off with 200 then 800 grit. My biggest disappointment came when I realized a majority of the 90 degree edges were damaged and unusable due to how they were trimmed or how connecting scrap plastic was installed. Using a Dremel (http://www.amazon.com/Dremel-100-N-Single-Speed-Rotary/dp/B002BAHF64 , http://www.amazon.com/Dremel-430-drum-sanding-mandrel/dp/B00004UDHD) trimmed the remaining edges off. Then using the B&D Mouse I finished the edges giving a mated/uniformed look as they were intended. Kidney after sanding Inside posterior section after sanding Posterior exterior after sanding Time to assemble. NOTE: 95% of the armor was assembled using E6000 (strong yet very forgiving).I fabricated and glued cover strips at the inner left & right side kidney/ab plate joints for the side split and snap rivets. Measured and drilled the left 6 split rivets holes, ab ammo belt snap and right upper ab snap holes. Cut the required 22mm notch on the left & right side kidney plate as required for Centurion. Unfortunately the ab buttons looked like they had paint thinner damage. No matter how much I polished I couldn't clean them up, and so were also replaced. Here's a small demonstration of how I painted the new ab buttons. Once I trimmed them out they were ready to install. Improper rivet placement, snap and screws left several holes in all the sections. My best option was to fill the holes using boat gel filler by TAP Plastics. It provided a pliable and strong surface that could be sanded and painted. The areas where you can see lighter white spots are holes that were filled in. Once the major problems were addressed I measured and drilled holes for all the rivets and snaps needed. Left side split rivets, snap on right, and front belt snaps. Chest plate - Excessive trim and damage from super glued strap cover removal Chest after sanding Once finished I prepped the armor for paint. Prior to painting I assembled and installed the strapping mounts used to secure the sections together. Installed rubber bolt covers over the snaps to protect them from the primer and paint. Primed then painted the interior side of all the torso armor sections. After painting the exterior was polished. As for polishing scratches out of the ABS, Novus polishes are the norm however, given the amount of polishing I’ll be doing I elected use a headlight restoration kit from 3M as well. Not only will it take out very deep scratches and polish the plastic to its original luster it’s connected to a power drill which greatly reduces the effort you have to exert. To this day I used the 3M polishing pad and Novus 1&2 for all my needs. (Novus Polish - http://www.amazon.com/Novus-Plastic-Scratch-Remover-bottles/dp/B000J41VDM. 3M Kit - http://www.amazon.com/3M-39008-Headlight-Restoration-System/dp/B001AIZ5HY). Install new Ab plate. Ab section after assembly and polishing. 4. Shoulders – Upon inspection the shoulder straps were found to be shaped and glued incorrectly. Wrong connecting fabric color (black) and incorrect bell support snaps were installed. Removed super glued shoulder straps and black nylon shoulder fabric and reshape cover straps. Assemble white elastic connecting fabric x2 and rivets (right side shown), left side similar but with out rivets. Assemble and install bell support snaps on both sections. Assemble and install Cover retainers Superglue or fabric glue knot Install Attach left shoulder connecting strap Attach strap covers After polishing and assembly Stay tuned, Part 2 http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/29684-anh-stunt-ata-re-build-part-2/ EIB request - http://www.whitearmo...eib-status-ata/ Centurion request - http://www.whitearmo...-status-ata144/

Most of us use E6000. If you're like me, it's just stinky glue and you go about your build. I had no idea it was this toxic. Build safe and protect your health! From Facebook... "IMPORTANT INFORMATION - PLEASE SHARE WITH ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO USES E6000 GLUE. Ok let's talk about E6000 glue. Burlesque crew and fellow costumers, I'm looking at you! First off, this stuff is awesome for attaching rhinestones. I have yet to find it's equal. However, IT IS INCREDIBLY TOXIC!! Those warning labels on the packaging aren't even remotely kidding. And if you're anything like me, you probably didn't bother to read them or take them too seriously. And instead spend hours hunched over it inhaling it while you work because "the smell isn't that bad so it's fine". Don't be like me. This was incredibly silly. I CAN NOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW BAD THIS VAPOUR IS FOR YOU! PLEASE GET A VAPOUR RESPIRATOR TO PROTECT YOURSELF! I wasn't sure whether to post this as it's a bit personal, which is why it's taken me so long to mention something. But I now think awareness is more important than my privacy, so here goes. As some of you may know, I was incredibly sick not long after moving to Melbourne at the start of this year. And as it turns out, it was courtesy of E6000 poisoning. Before moving I spent the better part of 6 months consistently rhinestoning with E6000. I would occasionally notice the odd headache or dizzy spell but put it down to other things (mild dehydration, lack of sleep, etc). When I moved, my work gear was on a boat for 6 weeks so I spent my time eating well and exercising and such, which lead to a bit of weight loss. Because I was burning fat, the E6000 that had built up in my fat cells over the previous months was released and I was bed-ridden for the better part of 6 weeks with chronic toxic poisoning. My symptoms ranged from constant headaches, blurred vision, dizziness (falling over every time I stood up), confusion and inability to make decisions, breathing issues, chest pain, stabbing pain in my legs and arms, constant exhaustion, constant thirst/dehydration, menstrual cycle change, irritability, tingling/numbness in my extremities and chronic depression. I was at the doctors every few days. I was rushed to hospital twice with breathing issues/chest pain where I was chucked on morphine and suspected of having lung cancer/clots. I was eventually referred to an incredibly expensive specialist because no one could figure out what was going on. I was suspected of having (and tested for) diabetes, thyroid tumours, pituitary gland tumours, adrenal gland tumours, Addison's disease, Cushing's disease, lung cancer/clots and a host of auto-immune diseases that are incredibly hard to determine or test for. Of course, none of these came back with positive results and I continued to have absolutely no idea what was going on until I slowly got better. It wasn't until months later that I made the connection to E6000 exposure - simply because at the time I fell sick, I wasn't using it (but I was burning fat that was storing it). PLEASE NOTE: This glue predominantly contains Tetrachloroethylene which is absorbed easily via vapour (and skin) exposure into your brain, liver, kidney, lung and fat tissues where it then redistributes itself throughout your body. It is fat-soluble so hangs out predominantly in your fat cells which store it for a long time - regular exposure has a build-up effect. It also interrupts the Tuberoinfundibular pathway causing dopamine issues, menstrual cycle changes, visual problems, headaches and can lead to infertility or miscarriage if pregnant. It is a known cancer agent. I can not possibly stress enough to anyone who uses E6000 glue that you buy even a basic vapour respirator (Bunnings $35) and only use this glue in a well ventilated area. I have been using one ever since and it works a treat - no reoccurring symptoms for over 6 months now! smile emoticon You can read more about Tetrachloroethylene here: http://www.inchem.org/documents/ukpids/ukpids/ukpid28.htm" Linked here... http://www.inchem.org/documents/ukpids/ukpids/ukpid28.htm

The fronts of the forearms should have no return edge, and if I remember correctly the biceps as well.