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Showing content with the highest reputation on 06/21/2019 in all areas
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Your first attempt looks the best and probably feels the best too. You want to have your forearms up tight against your biceps to reduce the amount of gap between them and minimise the chance of pinching. Ignore how much gap you have on your wrists, it's totally irrelevant. Any wrist gap goes as soon as you start carrying your blaster. Try to focus more on the elbow. The biceps are usually about half way into your shoulder bells as a guide, but you may need to have them slightly lower or higher - whichever feels the most comfortable.2 points
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Howdy Troopers!! Starting a thread here has been on my list of things to do for nearly 18 months. Shameful, but... I work a ton and tend to be pretty forgetful. Also moving and a ton of other excuses kept me from starting some armor. I got a big brown box something like 18 months ago. Maybe longer? Ages. It's sat and been dusty. Meanwhile, the brother armor belonging to Scimitar has been built and trooping around happily for months. It's an exact double. Everything Eric bought two of everything and shipped half to me. Which is awesome because I *have* everything I need to do the armor. But... clueless about putting it together. Anyways, more build less talk. Eric pre-trimmed this bucket for me (many thanks) before shipping it off. And 18 months later, I spent something like 90 minutes painting the frown on. I... can't explain how it took me that long. I've not painted something BIG in ages. I usually use toothpicks and micro brushes on Hot Wheels. Trying to get an even coat of grey on the frown was rough for this toothpick painter. And rougher still was learning that I got some paint into the gums and had to fix it. lol About a week later, I got to here. Not perfect but pretty decent. Good enough to move forward with the armor while occasionally running around with a bucket on my head. Yeah, getting to wear my bucket for the first time was a proud day.1 point
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With a heap of thanks to previous build threads from multiple members, particularly "@Ruthar" "@ukswrath" and "@JAFO", thanks to jimmi for supplying an awesome kit, and thanks to my own blood, sweat and tears (literally all 3), I am super proud to have had approved my own TK after a reasonably accurate 270 hours effort over a 6wk window. Sent using Tapatalk1 point
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Name: Robert Harlan Username: rharlan91 TK-42191 Old Line Garrison Armor Maker = AM Helmet Maker = AM Blaster Type = Praetorian E-11 Height = 5'8 Weight = 165 Boot Maker = TK Boots Canvas Belt = TrooperBay Hand Plates = AM Electronics = TRamp, Trooper Tronix fans Neck Seal Type = Darman Holster Maker = Trooperbay1 point
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Hi all! Me and the sniper knee are not getting along, lol. I have gotten both sides to line up. I need to get excess glue off, but it will have to wait. I am at the point where I feel it is as good as I can get it. What do you guys think? Thanks, Pam Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk1 point
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Thanks guys! I'm gonna take a pic of what I have tonight. I'm planning on building a Jedha sandtrooper. I know I will have to mod parts to match the screen used suits. I'm having trouble posting a pic. Imgur is confusing, I just can't figure out how add my photos to it so I can resize them to place here1 point
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Looks amazing Steve, looking forward to trooping with you in your FOTK next time I'm in Vic. Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk1 point
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Thanks! I think I might stick with an Anovos kit I recently saw. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk1 point
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Hey Derek, thanks for the kudos brother. You can suspend your thighs a few different ways. 1. Take 2" or 3" wide Velcro and sew a loop at one end for a waist belt. On the other sew on some Velcro, then add Velcro to the inner thighs. There you have an adjustable suspension system that's supported by your waist. 2. Take 2" or 3" wide Velcro and sew on some Velcro on both ends. One side connects behind your Ab the other to the thighs. Again, adjustable suspension system. 3. Glue, or add snaps to each end of 1" nylon webbing (length is up to the wearer). Then glue webbing or snap mounts to the thighs and Ab. Split the webbing somewhere in the middle/upper and add an 1" adjustable buckle for dis assembly and adjustment. 4. Buy an already completed suspension system that's not only used for the things but for the torso as well. Hope this helps1 point
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Hi. You could try comparing what you have to this thread; There are other AM builds in that section as well.1 point
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Greetings Dave and welcome back to your Expert Infantry review. Thank you for your EIB application. We really appreciate the extra effort you've made to submit additional photos for the review and make changes as requested. It's been long enough... Are you ready??? Let’s get to it! CRL and EIB Application Requirements: All required photos have been submitted. Thank you for taking the time to submit such great photos! Your armor contains all necessary elements to qualify you for EIB. The entire DO Team would like to congratulate and welcome you to Expert Infantry. *********** Other-Armor Fit/Assembly: You've done a fantastic job putting together your armor, and you should be proud of it! We would like to offer a few suggestions as to how you could do some additional fine-tuning to make this kit look a little more screen accurate. Again, these are suggestions only, and are not required for higher-level approval. ************* Starting at the top, we're looking closely at your helmet, beginning with the ears. You totally nailed the angle of the right ear! You aligned the right side perfectly with the angle of the trap. Great job! The left ear has the correct angle, but it could stand to be moved back a little bit if you feel up to the challenge. Your ear is still great, but we thought we would point this out to you in case you felt like trying for a little more screen accuracy. Ears are always a challenge for most troopers (myself included)! Screen reference: Moving down on the helmet, we noticed that your vocoder could benefit from some clean up around the edges to make those lines crisp like Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen after we paid the moisture farm a visit. A small brush with a little enamel thinner or a toothpick would make this vocoder most impressive. Screen reference: Now let's look at your ab buttons. Typically the paint on the ab buttons stays within the raised area of the button and does not extend beyond it. This isn't anything that would prevent you from achieving Centurion, but if you'd prefer to get them looking a little bit more screen accurate, you may consider reducing them down just a tiny bit. This can be done with either some enamel thinner and a small brush or with a toothpick (gently scraping the excess away). Either way, it's a quick and easy fix to make your kit look a bit more ANH-y! Screen reference buttons: Did rebels blast a part of your ab return? This is a highly visible area... while not required, you may consider filling in those extra holes at your ab return with a dab of ABS paste. We noticed that the snap on the upper right side of your ab seems to be placed a little too far inside the ab plate. Typically the center of the snap hole should be 12mm in from the edge, and 12mm from the top. While you don't need to switch this out for approval, we would like to mention it for improved accuracy should you decide to improve this area. Screen reference: Measurement reference (disregard the "seam line"): While we're cleaning things up, you might want to give a quick buff of the e6000 off of that sniper plate. Further down, we noticed that your butt plate is hanging a bit too low back there. It really should be tucked so the snaps don't show as much. This is an easy fix by placing the tab part of the butt plate into boiling water for several seconds and adding more of a curve to it. You can also improve this by shortening the strapping between your cod and butt plates as well. Screen references: While we're on the butt plate, we noticed that you've got screen-accurate screws on those brackets. Nice touch! You may want to consider countersinking these further into the returns so the tops sit flush with the plastic. Depending on your armor, you may need to add an additional layer of ABS to the underside of the return to reinforce the holes. I've reinforced returns where brackets go on all of my kits, and it doesn't take much time at all to do. Once this is done, you can gently open up the top layer of the holes so the screw heads sit flush on the plastic without worry that the returns will crack. I used a step bit and opened up the holes by hand (not with a drill) because you really don't need to remove all that much to get the screws flush. Another thing to consider is that when the screw heads are raised like this, they tend to lock on the screw heads above them (this happened to me when I was test-driving my first kit before approval). Screen reference: Working further down, we have noticed that there is a bit of a gap at the bottoms of the backs of your thighs. You may want to consider filling in the gaps with some scraps of ABS and/or ABS paste. Screen reference: While we're looking at the backs of your legs, make sure that you get that left shin closed completely before trooping for the Empire. Screen reference: And we've made it down to the bottom of the kit! We noticed that your shins are riding kind of high and could stand to be seated further down on your boots, roughly where the green lines are. This is a common occurrence for many troopers. There are several methods that troopers use to keep those shins down. The one I use is very simple (you can read about it in detail here), but it essentially involves making an elastic stirrup loop that has velcro sewn into a tabbed end. You step into the loop before putting your boot on, and you keep the tabbed velcro piece pulled out of the front of the boot as you put the boot on. A piece of industrial velcro is stuck inside the front of the shin. When you put the shin on, you simply stick the velcro tab of the stirrup onto the velcro inside the shin. And presto! The shin stays snug on the boot and doesn't rotate! It also has the ability to flex a bit as you move due to the elastic. Others use different methods, so use the method that works best for you to keep those shins in line! Screen reference: That´s it for EIB! Congratulations and welcome to the ranks, trooper! ******************************** Centurion Requirements: In this section we prepare you for Centurion. More photos may be requested in the future that allow us to make better decisions on possible adjustment etc. If there are any areas of concern they will be discussed here. Because Centurion photos show much more detail than EIB, items pertaining to Centurion might be seen there and not here. We try to point out all we can from what is seen, but the final accuracy is the responsibility of the trooper. Below you will find areas that will need to be addressed for a future successful Centurion Application. Please note that text descriptions in the CRL are only one part of the approval guideline. We consider both text and pictures (CRL and Reference) when reviewing the costume. That said, let's get on with prepping you for Centurion, trooper! ************************ Shoulder bells- There should be a minimal gap between the shoulder armor and the chest/back plates. You did a great job lining up the tops of the shoulder bells to meet the shoulder straps! However, we're still seeing a bit too much of a gap between your shoulder bells and your chest/back plates. Typically, the curves of the shoulder bells follow the side curves of the chest plate in the front, and the side curves of the back plate in the back. If your body type allows it, adjusting the strapping to bring the tops of the shoulder bells further in at the shoulder straps, doing some additional trimming of the tops of the shoulder bells, and/or removing all of the return at the bottom of the shoulder bells can help reduce the gaps. (Note that the screen-used shoulder bells follow the curves of the chest and back plates and are not necessarily trimmed in a straight line.) Screen reference: Back plate shall have no, or minimal overlap of the kidney plate. We have noticed that your back plate is overlapping your kidney, as shown by the blue arrows below. It looks like you have room to move your entire back plate up. This would effectively solve this overlap quite easily! You may find that you will need to make trims at your shoulders (as shown where the red lines and arrows are) to make the back plate fit correctly in the shoulder area (where the back plate and chest plate meet). This small adjustment will make a huge improvement on how your kit looks! Screen reference: Belt- Drop boxes are vertically aligned with the end of the ammo belt with minimal gap between belt and box. I know when you've got your belt laying flat that your drop boxes line up nicely with the ammo belt. Nice work on those! However, in some of your photos, the boxes look like they shift around a lot. This issue can easily be solved for Centurion by simply adding a few drops of e6000 to the white elastics in the back. A little bit of glue will absolutely keep those drop boxes in line! Screen reference: The top of the ammo belt should sit at or just below the bottom of the central and vertical abdomen button panels. You're super close on this one! Your belt could stand to be moved up just a bit to meet up with those lower ab buttons. An easy way to move up the center of the belt (and keep it there!) is to stick on a small piece of industrial Velcro on the ab plate and belt in the middle to secure things in place. Screen reference: Forearms- No return edge on the inside of the front of the forearm is allowed. You did good work on the forearms, but it looks like there is still a bit more on the inside of the ends of your forearms that still need to be removed. I've highlighted the areas that need to be removed in the image below. A little bit of time with a Dremel will knock this out easily! Aaand that’s it! Once again, we are proud to offer you a well-deserved congratulations on achieving your Expert Infantry award. You can be certain that Lord Vader will be most pleased with your efforts. Be proud of your achievement and we hope to see you soon at Centurion!1 point
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I like the big wheels of my Husky case, even though it's heavy. For troops where I can't fit my bin (very rare), I generally just opt for a simpler costume, rather than messing with repacking everything. It's easy to toss everything into the 50gal Husky bin, including extras, a substantial repair kit, helmet, etc... I could fit even more if I left out the padding, but there's really no need with a bin this size. I experimented with a lot of packing options, but have settled on this as the best comprise among ease of packing (with minimal disassembly), protection of the armor (I have 1/4" sheets of foam between each layer, and wanted to be extremely protective of the shoulder bridges so they're not under any strain), and fitting everything I need in there. Bottom layers: main clamshell halves, offset for betting protection of the shoulder bridges (also boots in the corners, not pictured) Next layers: Thighs, shins, arms, etc, all nested: Next layers: Pretty much everything else, including helmet: There's even room for a (plastic) mirror mounted in the lid! Super handy.1 point
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I have had a few people in my Garrison copy this idea so I thought I would post it here for FISD members too Do you have an issue with keeping TK shins in place? More specifically stopping the shin armor from moving up and above your boots? I know I did! When I had this problem I investigated a few different options, I first tried the hook velcro on boot & loop velcro on inner shin combo, whilst this did help I found that walking up and down stairs a couple of times was enough for it to come apart. So I've improved on this with a "stirrup" setup.. The following setup has been tested with many troops (and stairs!) and I have had no issues with riding or twisting Here is what I did... I made stirrups for each leg using a length of 1inch wide high density elastic, this was glued and stitched to a 50mm x 50mm square of hook velcro. Then I glued and stitched a 50mm x 50mm square of loop velcro to a piece of nylon strapping the same size. Then glued this into the front of each shin just above the top of the boot line. When attached it looks like this This way you can have a "stirrup" setup but you can also put your boots on first Then attach the velcro before closing your shins as normal The elastic allows for plenty of movement and pulls the shin back into place if it rides up Hope this helps someone1 point