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I just wanted everybody to know that being a Stormtrooper really makes me smile. I've got an official LFL event to go to soon and I feel like "I'm the real deal" now that I've been approved as an official 501st member. I've wanted to be a stormtrooper for almost 48 years, My wife doesn't understand it, but you people do. I personally feel honored to be representing Star Wars in all of its glory. And will never forget this memory I'm about to create.

So the journey started back in December, now completed this week. Below are the images of the final build along with individual parts in high definition so you can capture the details. In the next threads below, I will explain how I did end up with this final result. I will also try to share the tips and tricks for you guys to make your life easier. I based all the design and parts on the reference document I have put together (you can find it in the reference section in my post). Here's the build: Boots from Crowprops Leather gloves from Crowprops Abs section made out of urethane foam rubber molded, per screen reference Suit from Keeptrooping a good portion of the 3D models are from Big Fred Customs who did an amazing job already (I did modify almost all of them for screen accuracy and trooping) Several parts modeled by me (single piece Shin/spat, abs mold, dart launcher and greeblies on gauntlets, top box on chest plate, jetpack, jetpack attachment to the back plate, cod piece, etc) Soft goods made by my girlfriend (MW11271)- belt and holster, velcros, harness,...!) I will post the build process of these parts in the following threads. I will show how everything was printed/ prepared, painted, assembled. I will make the models available when possible (only the parts 100% designed by me, for the modified parts, I will sync with Big Fred to see how they could be shared. Goal is to provide you info on how to build a suit that is designed by a guy who knows the pain of wearing the armor (my Sithtrooper is a tuff one to troop... Front top to bottom:

NEW In Memoriam Detachment Leader Executive Officer Merchandise Officer Hall of Fame FISD Meme's Around the Detachment Trooping Opportunity INFORMATION & AWARD PROGRAMS FISD Tri-Fold Brochure Common FISD Acronyms and TK Glossary Pre Approval Forum 3D Section Field Exercise Award Imperial Attaché Program Master Armorer Award Fire Teams EIB & Centurion: What do these terms mean? Need Help Ask the Deployment Officers Advance to 1500 Advanced Tactics Awards Social Media Newsletter Editor Staff List 2023 Follow FISD Michael Culver, a British actor best known for his role in the 1980 Star Wars movie The Empire Strikes Back, has died. He was 85. Culver's agency Alliance Agents announced in a statement on Facebook Tuesday that he died Feb. 27. No cause of death has been revealed. "We are very sad to confirm the passing of our friend and client Michael Culver," read the statement. "A career spanning over 50 years with notable roles in Sherlock Holmes, A Passage to India, Secret Army and, of course, one of the most memorable death scenes in the Star Wars franchise." Our thoughts are with his family and friends and wish them all strength during this difficult time, rest in peace. "Buckets Off" Sascha Schütz entered the Hall of Eternal Legionnaires on May 20th 2022. It was a heavy loss, felt deeply by those in the German Garrison who knew him. Because of the pandemic situation, he did not even get to troop a single time in his costume. Sascha joined the German Garrison with his Biker Scout, which he had built with great effort, since September 2021. He would have loved to participate in an event, but unfortunately it did not happen, and his fellow troopers mourn the loss of the opportunity to welcome him at his first event with them. He had fully internalized the spirit and purpose of the Legion. He embodied the ideals of the 501st Legion: he put smiles on people's faces and hearts, and celebrated Star Wars as a part of our lives and shared that joy with others. All this made it truly tragic that Sascha never got the chance to troop in an event. Condolences to his family, friends and garrison "Buckets Off" Greetings troopers! A month already, time flies when you have a lot to learn. You would not believe the amount of paperwork! In the last month we managed to fund the forum email system into the next term so a big thank you to all of you who donated to the Imperial propaganda effort. You should have all received your forum banner now, so if yours is missing please do reach out. We've also made a start on the CRL for Captain Enoch, with a few builds being worked on and hoping to be the first in Legion. This is based on the Night Trooper draft CRL, so if any of you are working on a build please make sure you are involved in the CRL so there are no surprises. This term I am also hoping to get some of the past CRL work completed, so do keep an eye out for changes. Merch wise the gears have been turning and things are now starting to appear soon, but I'll leave that to the DMBO to announce. There are some exciting things to come this year, TDs included. With Unquestioned Loyalty Chris Pearson TK-10991 "themaninthesuitcase" Detachment Leader Greetings fellow members, Chris is off to a great start as our new Detachment leader, and has taken to the role well. I am honoured to accept the position as his XO, and will continue to assist him in getting up to speed as quickly as possible. Hopefully everything appears as seamless as possible so far, all considering. Chris has a good plan for the continuation of CRL work, as there were a few things we simply ran out of time getting finished last term. The future of a couple more new CRL's this year is exciting, as is the prospect of adding to existing CRL's (unfinished work from 2023). I think we are in for a fun year for all, so please keep an eye out for announcements, the newsletters, and please visit the forums so you don't miss out on any of the action. With Unquestioned Loyalty Andrew Franke TK-11469 "Sly11" Executive Officer Greetings Fellow Troopers! Lots of exciting news on the Merch Front, so let's get right to it! Old Business I know it feels like it has been forever since we did this run. The end of the year holidays and then the Chinese New Year didn't do us any favors. The last word I received was that the coins were en route to Pfab from the Factory, so we should start seeing them here in the beginning of April. Any further developments will be posted in the sales thread, found here: Secret Merch Item The Rocker run had a bit of a set back. The lettering was not centered correctly in the proofs that we received. The vendor has gone back to the factory to get this corrected before they go into production. Updates will be posted by @MaskedVengeance in the sales thread (below) once he has more info. Rocker patches. The Banner patch proofs were sent, and the look good. I approved them and they are scheduled for production. I don't have any dates as of yet, but I'll update the sales thread below once I do! Stormtrooper Banner Patch The Interest Thread for the Memorial Patch for Terrell Reber of ATA, has closed. . We are currently inquiring with vendors to find a mix of good price and high quality. Once we have selected a vendor we will open the sales thread. Thank you to everyone that expressed Interest. New Business Now for the new business! The OP rules for Merchandise and Branding changed at the end of last year. We lost a Merchandise slot, but gained what are called "Standard Logo Items" or Branding items. These items are meant to be generic representations of the Units. They are only allowed to have the Approved Unit logo and the Approved Legion logo, and they include items like T-shirts, coins, patches, and flags/banners. As MBO for the past 3 years, t-shirt is the second most requested item that I get. So for the first FISD Branding item, we are going to do a T-shirt run. The design above is just for attention and is not the final design. We are currently running a poll to get feedback from members on what color shirt, logo placement, and what variant (2 colors, long sleeve, hoodie) they prefer. You can find it here: FISD Branding Item Poll FISD OT and FO vinyl stickers are available again from Assassin Graphics. FISD Racing Shirt For those that read the Legion forum, you already know that there was a bit of a dust up about Garrison/Outpost Logos usage permission. I fear that I may have caused some of that because of the request we made for our next racing shirt. The staff (and by staff I mean @revlimiter doing all the work and us asking him to make changes to the final.final(2).Imeanitthistime_final.pdf) has been diligently working on creation of the next iteration of the FISD Racer, and we have locked down the design, but we are still working on permissions for logo usages and selecting a vendor. While I am not going to reveal the shirt here, be on the look out 1 May 2024 for an Interest thread to be posted with the majority of details. We will run the Interest thread the month of May and the sales thread the month of June, so stay tuned! Okay, just a tease... There is still more to come, we are talking about a Baseball Hat, a "war" banners, different coin options, patches and even a badge lanyard. So lots to look forward to this term. If you have any thoughts, suggestions, comments or concerns about FISD Merch or Branding, my "virtual" door is always open. Hit me up, you can reach me via email, forum DM, or find me on Facebook. With Unquestioned Loyalty James Silvius TK-12953 "jsilvius" Merchandise & Branding Officer If Darth Vader ever made a music video, it would look a little bit like this! What an awesome shot! Please welcome TK-20177 to the Stormtrooper Hall of Fame, March 2024! @Cybergrunt Troop log can be found here. Congrats Bill on 190 troops! Sooo close to that legendary badge! Other HOF recipients can be found here. With Unquestioned Loyalty Jonatan Östling TK-23592 "Nairy" Attaché Ambassador You can find the full meme thread here This Month's Screen Saver New desktop Screen Saver/Backgorund alert! In this months Screen Saver/Background release, from left to right we have: TK-66979 (Alan), TK-21476 (Lucas @lugalleg), TK-89400 (Adam, @revlimiter), TK-10492 (Brandon, @elwessbrandon) Members from Fire Team Rio Bravo! Trading Card Archives For those with FISD detachment trading cards please consider sending two to Paul @Daetrin keeper of our detachment archives. Address and more info here With Unquestioned Loyalty Paul Hoeffer TK-8020 "Daetrin" Detachment Founder Keeper of Archives LFL Retail Moratorium Lift While there is currently a retail moratorium on character appearances in effect, it is being lifted May 3-5 at retailers selling Star Wars Related merchandise during the May the 4th fan holiday. We are also happy to allow appearances at theaters screening The Phantom Menace during this time. All fans, costumed or otherwise, can participate with venues of their choice within this window with the restriction that costumed appearances must not be used in the advertising for the event. Although these appearances will be treated like an open invite, we’ll leave it to the fan groups to independently organize around these events as they see fit. LFL will not need to approve or coordinate these. Please note that retail locations should not include restaurants, bars, or venues with no apparent reason to feature Star Wars characters. In the coming weeks, we may send out a list of ‘preferred’ retailers and theaters who would welcome fans to participate at their venues within these event windows, but you are all still welcome to make plans with appropriate retailers or venue hosts of your choice regardless of whether or not they appear on the list. *REMEMBER* Always follow your garrison/squad/outpost guidelines when in comes to organizing Disney/LFL promotional troops, only command staff should deal directly with LFL. INFORMATION & AWARD PROGRAMS For a full list of FISD awards programs head here. *Now Available in Swedish* Want to spread the word about FISD?, you can with our FISD Tri-Fold Brochure. Originally these were done in a limited run by the member who created them, but nowadays, we have moved this to a print your own service making them accessible to all countries around the globe. Files are available to all full 501st members on request by contacting our DL Andrew @Sly11 , you can find more info here Currently Available languages: English - Spanish - German - Swedish Are you new to the FISD and wondering what the heck all those abbreviations and strange sounding terms mean? To help you @justjoseph63 has started a list of the most commonly used ones that will give you some insight. If you have ANY questions about a particular term that is not listed or suggestions for new ones please contact Joseph. You can find the list here. Pre Approval Forum allows future Troopers the opportunity to submit photos of their completed build to be reviewed by the Staff, Imperial Attaches and others in preparation for forwarding it to their GML for approval. Any and all advice/suggestions given will be specific, constructive, helpful and respectful. Please note that this program will NOT take the place of your local GML, as Detachments are not chartered for costume approval and can not override a GMLs decision, but is instead a peer review program designed to help you look your best and offer guidance and positive feedback. For more information on this program, please visit the link here. Don't forget to visit our 3D section when next surfing the FISD forums, there is plenty of useful information to potentially help you on your next TK adventure. You might be feeling may generous and share with our community a new TK related 3D file and maybe win yourself a 3D contributors award so check out the details below and be part of the in house 3D community. Congratulations to Helvio "Kuroi_Sabato" TKID: -----, for his excellent E-22 files and instruction manual. Not only has he put a good deal of time and effort into these files, but he has offered them free of charge for use to FISD members. Thank you sir, we award you with the FISD 3D Contributors award, congratulations! https://drive.google.com/file/d/15BcYD-rOJrIrJWRauFvmXZXC3CUOMSfB/view?usp=drive_link Here is a link to the FISD 3D Contributor program. Don't forget to create a troop log here on FISD and get awarded for your adventures The list of accomplished troopers keeps growing, so get on board and register your troops today Simply start (or update!) your troop log, keep the running total in the title, and post (at least!) a date and name for the official 501st event where you wore your TK! Once you've hit a milestone count, go over to the "Field Exercise Awards -- Post your milestones here" thread to request your profile be updated! Simple, right? Also if you would like your troop photos shared on our social media channels please add the following to the first post of your FISD troop log: I give permission for FISD to repost my photos on social media in an appropriate fashion. Award Recipients March - April TK-87665 "Stardust665" Angie - - - - - - Are you an approved TK that spends more time on the boards than the average Trooper? Do you enjoy using your knowledge to help out future and existing Troopers? If so, we would like to invite you to join the Imperial Attaché program! Members of the I.A. team are chosen to help out not only those here on the boards, but on a local level as well. Our aim is to have at least one in each and every Garrison, Squad and Outpost in the entire legion to be the eyes and ears of the FISD on a local level. If you are a 501st approved Trooper who wishes to join the ranks of the Attachés, please get in touch with me and/or visit: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/15252-fisd-attaché-program/ For a complete list of Imperial Attaches, go here. Some of the benefits include: Access to exclusive Attaché merch, including patches. You may also be in the running for an Imperial Attaché Award. An award for those attaché's who have gone above and beyond [minimum 1 year of service]. You can find a list of prior recipients here. Imperial Attaché patch Imperial Attaché Rocker Imperial Attaché Outstanding Achievement Award ATTACHÉ AMBASSADOR Hello there! Our list of attachés is growing, and I'm pleased to announce that we now cover 3 additional attaché positions in the world! @dejango (Wisconsin Garrison), @JEAN LOUIS (French Garrison) and @Georgia Haywood (Outpost 42 New Zealand Garrison) Thank you for serving the Empire on a higher level with unquestioned loyalty! For the already existing Attachés that haven't done the Sound off for 2024, please do so! With Unquestioned Loyalty Jonatan Östling TK-23592 "Nairy" Attaché Ambassador The FISD Master Armorer program is an optional, detachment only incentive award to recognize individuals who have directly helped another 501st stormtrooper to achieve Expert Infantry status. Some people spend countless hours helping others, and want to reward their results as well as incentivizing new people to help as well. To register a “win” in the program, the assistance must have provided hands-on help trimming, building, and/or fitting of said armor for the person who was awarded Expert Infantry status. More information can be found here Want to setup a "Fire Team? the Fire Team program is completely optional, and is intended to help form a common identity and spirit of camaraderie among 501st Legion Stormtroopers in the same geographic area/garrison that troop together. Fire Teams are not officially recognized by the 501st Legion nor the FISD, although they will be able to access a Fire Team sub-forum on the detachment website. You can find more information here. For those interested here is the original discussion on the creation of Fire teams here With Unquestioned Loyalty Mark Ryner TK-4584 "captsafe66" Fire Team Relations So what exactly are and levels? These programs were designed for those who choose to take their armor above and beyond the minimum requirements for basic 501st Legion approval. It gives you the chance to show a level of dedication and pride that takes your armor closer to being as "screen accurate" as possible, without as much extra work as you may realize! You can find more information on the programs here. For those unaware it is possible to achieve extra awards at Expert Infantry for each additional version costume you have approved, additional awards are not issued with another Expert Infantry number (you are only issued 1 Expert Infantry number) but you will see a star above the award on your profile and the thread title will show [APPROVED] 2nd, [APPROVED] 3rd, [APPROVED] 4th and so on. Multiple EIB award recipients and info here NOTE If you are approved with a "2nd Version" of a particular costume that you are already approved with you do not receive an additional award, there is only 1 award issued for each costume version ie: only 1 x Hero, 1 x Stunt, 1 x HWT, 1 x ESB, 1 x TFA and so on. If you have a second/additional version costume approved you will see "2nd Version" and [APPROVED] added to the thread title, no additional profile stars (more info on profile awards here) For those of you who have a particular issue (or issues) before or after submitting for Expert Infantry / Centurion level approval, in order to get you an answer faster you can now privately contact the entire Deployment Officer team at one time! Questions about fitting, repairs, CRL standards/requirements or anything pertaining to reaching Levels 2 and 3 are not only welcomed, but encouraged. Keep in mind that no question is too small, and that your queries will only be seen by the D.O. Staff. We are here to help in any way we can, so please feel free to send us a message by clicking on this link: @Deployment Officer Team and we will get back to you A.S.A.P.! The 1500 unquestioned loyalty! This area lists all those who have gone above and beyond basic approval toward screen accuracy and obtained EIB or Centurion or both. FOR March - April the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment would like to congratulate the following. Expert Infantry Badge Award: Tim "TrickyT81" TK24881 EIB 2nd EIB approval GREAT job on your approval, now on to Level 3! Request your free EIB certificate here. You can find a list of multiple award recipients here. Multiple EIB award info here Expert Infantry Honor Gallery here --------------------------------------------------------------- Centurion Badge Award: Tyler "iSmilebak" TK82278 Centurion 530 Outstanding job on reaching Centurion, Troopers! Request your free Centurion certificate here. You can find a list of multiple award recipients here. If you see any of these Troopers around your Garrison or Squad, be sure to congratulate them! Last month we started into the Legion year with a post showing off our fantastic Valkyries. Thank you to everyone who shared their picture(s) with us, so we ended up with almost 50 photos! Definitely an amazing Women's Day for this Detachment. If you missed it, feel free to contact me at any point on the forum, I take picture submissions all year round and am always looking forward to showing off our members! Talking of showing off our members, keep your eyes open for another picture request coming soon. We might still have over a month until June but we will start looking for Pride pictures soon. All the information will follow shortly. If you've been active on Discord these past weeks, you might have noticed that we're now offering video chat meet-ups on our server. The dates and times will be announced a few days in advance both on the Discord, as well in our Forum Thread. We talk about everything FISD, Stormtrooper, and whatever else might come up. I'm looking forward to seeing you! With Unquestioned Loyalty Luca Hahn TK-66744 "Morgi" Social Media Relations With Unquestioned Loyalty Adam Wolf TK-89400 "Revlimiter" Content Editor Support With Unquestioned Loyalty Vicky Mandlmaier TK-50893 "Vicky_Velocipanda" Content Editor Support I'm always on the look out for interesting stories or posts, please drop me a message if you have anything of interest. For anyone interested in having a look through any of the older newsletters they can find be found here. With Unquestioned Loyalty Glen "Q" Rhodes TK-85421 "gmrhodes13" PRO, Newsletter Detachment Leader (DL): Chris Pearson (themaninthesuitcase) TK-10911 Detachment Executive Officer (DXO): Andrew Franke (Sly11) TK-11469 Chief Deployment Officer (DCA): Mario Reyes (TKSpartan) TK-48117 Deployment Officer (DCA): José Mª Sánchez (Chemi) TK-30173 Junior Deployment Officer (DCA): Gerald J Gyorffy (Doggydoc) TK-96004 Provost Marshall (DCoG): Steven Sheades (starsaber25) TK-10466 Provost Marshall (DCoG): Caleb Mask (MaskedVengeance) TK-73692 Provost Marshall (DCoG): Arthur Wong (giskard8) TK-39093 FISD Diplomat (DPRO): Tony Jobe (ukswrath) TK-10116 FISD Diplomat (DPRO): Tim Waychoff (Dark CMF) TK-51878 FISD Diplomat (DPRO): Christoph (Danny) Lauber (Ripper_L) TK-55550 Fire Team Relations(DCoG): Mark Ryner (captsafe66) TK-4584 Merchandise and Brand Officer (DMBO): James Silvius (jsilvius) TK-12953 Trading Card Specialist (DPRO): Eric Ho (Hoda) TK-77520 Newsletter Publisher (DPRO): Glen Rhodes (gmrhodes13) TK-85421 Content Editor Support (DPRO): Adam Wolf (Revlimiter) TK-89400 Content Editor Support (DPRO): Jeff Salt (Wingnut65) TK-50297 Special Unit Director-Valkyries (DPRO): Vicky Mandlmaier (Vicky_Velocipanda) TK-50893 Attaché Ambassador (DPRO): Jonatan Östling (Nairy) TK-23592 Social Media Relations (DPRO): Luca Hahn (Morgi) TK-66744 Personnel Officer (DPER): AC (NoVATie) TK-5597 Systems Administrator (DWM): Mathias Rodstedt (Locitus) TK-2959 Systems Administrator (DWM): Eric Brager (Darth Aloha) TK-9674 Systems Administrator/Detachment Founder (DF): Paul Hoeffer (Daetrin) TK-8020 Facebook: www.facebook.com/whitearmor Facebook Group: 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment (FISD) Official Twitter: www.twitter.com/FISD501st or @FISD501st Instagram: www.instagram.com/fisd501st Discord: https://discord.gg/FmQZ2qW8gx On behalf of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Command Staff and the Imperial Propaganda Department

We are now funded through into the next term, so this funding drive is now closed. Thank you to all of you who donated and have kept the Imperial engine turning. Supporter badges have been applied to all of you. As a reminder the majority of our costs are picked up by the Legion, who are currently having a drive to cover those pretty substantial costs. If you have not yet done so, even $1 will help. https://www.501st.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=113646

Back with some random memes! Look, I've seen what's in store for this year and it's awesome!

To echo what Chris said, a big THANK YOU to each and every one of you who donated. I've PMed or emailed most of you confirming receipt of your support, and the remainder of you will receive confirmation from me by tomorrow. For now, the easiest way to confirm your gift was received is to check your profile for the Supporter badge. Forthcoming will be receipts showing how and when the funds are applied to our forum/email expenses.

Hello! My name is Jason, I am 48-years-old, and I just started trooping. I am a huge fan of Star Wars since A New Hope so I have chosen a stunt stormtrooper as my first costume. That opening battle aboard the Tantive IV is forever imprinted on my mind. My father was in the U. S. Air Force and we were stationed in Sembach, Germany, when I was very young. Even though I was born in 1975, it took years for A New Hope to make it to the theater on our base in Sembach so I got to see it as a young child in the theater. I ordered my costume from Dave's Darkside Depot and received it in January. I have joined the 501st Legion and received my Legion ID (21137). I have joined the Diamond Garrison in Arkansas and attended my first troop this past Sunday for a Make A Wish fundraiser and had a great time. I look forward to being a productive member of our garrison, our local squad (the Womp Rat Pack Squad), and these forums. Thanks!

48. 2024-03-29, Star Wars in Concert (Return of the Jedi), Stockholm (Hero) The Star Wars in Concert (A New Hope) is what started my Stormtrooper journey in April of 2022. Very soon after that concert experience I decided to order my kit after wanting to become a Stormtrooper for ages. This is a picture of me from that event: The orchestra honored us by after the movie was over, inviting us in to stand in front of the stage, while they played Imperial March one last time! Escorting Papa Palps The people in the orchestra was really excited to meet us too! I confiscated some Mandalorian weapons and played them like a violin to the concert music in the background The Mandalorian wanted to see if it worked or not! Argued with some rebel of course! Am I doing it right? The view from the venue is of the Stockholm City Hall, the most famous landmark of Stockholm, Sweden. It's crazy to be able to say that I've had a troop in there too! Playing rock paper scissors with the Mandalorian There is only one way to guarantee a win! That's it for this time! Now I'm going to Vietnam and Thailand for some vacation for 2 weeks! No troops until May!

Greeting all! I'm about to start down this road. I was gifted a 850 armor works R1TK, minus the helmet. My son and I are planning to build it for my Wife (DS-32076), she currently only has a Mara Jade that she wears, but she is jealous of al the attention that Jarod and I get, so she wants to be a TK too! With her disabilities, our local Garrison Armor and GML both suggested the R1 style might be better for her as it maybe a bit easier to customize for her conditions. We plan to build it standard, but we will be setting it to have the cod and butt plate be strapped for easy removal as she often has to use a powerchair for larger events and needs a walker otherwise. We may need to cut the thighs and shins for easier sitting, and we'll see what other changes we need to make post build. This will be the build thread. Let's see how it goes.

Troop #11 April 20th was a two-troop day for me! The second troop was at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for Star Wars: The Force Awakens in Concert! We provided the proper atmosphere for the performance by trooping the lobby of the theater before the show and during intermission. Following Legion guidelines, we remained outside the ticketed areas. Many photos were taken, and I should receive those soon, but here's the one photo I have in the mean time: We took part in the Star Wars Indiana tradition of getting photos near the Soldiers & Sailors monument (the theater is right next to it) that Indianapolis is known for. I'll also post that photo when I get it!

Troop #10 A favorite troop among many members in Star Wars Indiana is the Republic Airways Plane Pull. This is a charity event put on by Republic Airways to raise money for children's hospitals, and teams that sign up for the event (and raise money) are given their turn to, literally, pull a plane a short distance. The Republic maintenance hangar at the Indianapolis airport was set up for the plane pull itself, as well as included different food vendors, booths and activities with the local professional sports teams, and different aircraft on display. The event started with the mascots of the local sports teams pulling a small, single engine airplane. This was followed up with children directly benefiting from the charity event pulling the small plane! Star Wars Indiana was then given our turn, but we were given the rope to the plane all the other teams would be pulling, which was an Embraer 175 regional commercial airliner. Wikipedia notes the empty weight of an Embraer 175 as 21,890 kg (just above 24 tons). I was surprised that we were able to get the plane moving so quickly and covered the pull distance (15 feet) in such a short time, but we also had 18 of us pulling the plane, and aircraft are supposed to roll pretty easily. Someone was in the cockpit of the plane to apply the brake as soon as we reached the max pull distance, and they certainly weren't playing around with getting the plane stopped! Here's a photo of us pulling the plane! After we had our turn with the plane, we were let loose to roam around the open areas of the hangar and tarmac. I headed with some of our TIE pilots to go in the other commercial aircraft on display. We made sure to verify the credentials of the captain before the TIE pilots examined the controls of the plane. Not being able to negotiate the small space of the cockpit, I decided to make sure the coffee maker was in working order in the event our pilots needed coffee. Our pilots may have had the more exciting job: Plenty of photos were also taken with the smaller aircraft on display on the open areas of the tarmac! TIE pilots and rebel pilots alike had fun taking various cockpit photos, and like usual, the public absolutely loved us!

First enhancement, replace the solid resin detonator with an accurate, two piece 3D printed detonator. The model came from here on the FISD forum. It is sooo much lighter than the resin. Painting the tube and the enclosure using the Behr satin black and gloss white:

Troop #9 It was an eventful evening with the Indy Eleven to put on Star Wars Night! The Indy Eleven is the professional soccer team in Indianapolis, Indiana, and they played Charleston Battery of Charleston, South Carolina (Charleston Battery won). Like usual, the Bloodfin Garrison teamed up with the Mos Espa base of the Rebel Legion and the Taakure Clan of the Mando Mercs to make this event a success! The Indy Eleven incorporated us into many different aspects of the evening to make Star Wars Night very immersive! They requested some of us to walk with the players as the players gradually arrived for the game, and the Indy Eleven social media team was quick to post photos of us walking alongside many of the players. We also got a photo of the crew for the players' walk. After the players' arrival, the Star Wars crew was guided into the stadium to provide the right atmosphere for some of the before-game activities, such as Star Wars bingo and visiting with many of the season ticket holders who were allowed to enter the stadium early. We were then stationed near the various entrances to greet the spectators as they entered the stadium! After some time greeting the spectators, we were then ushered near the stands to be part of the players' introductions as they entered the stadium. The Indy Eleven social media team made sure to take a photo of many of us with the game ball shortly before the players took to the pitch. Once the game began, we were then ushered over to the fun zone for families with kids, and I remained there until the troop was over. We made sure to get a group photo at this point. I also stumbled upon the rebel base! It was a tiring evening with lots of walking, but there's no doubt it was a super fun experience!

Troop #8 The Bloodfin Garrison and the Taakure Clan of the Mando Mercs teamed up for a showing at a school carnival in Lafayette, Indiana. Most of the troop was spent inside in a designated area for taking photos with Star Wars characters, but we did venture around the school and went outside at one point. Vader wanted to get some photos of his cape fluttering in the wind, so I provided some help as well. Like many troops, we got a bit goofy toward the end. One of the students told me I slayed, so I joined her and her friends in different slaying poses! I later recreated one of the slaying poses for the camera: I think it is a decent pose!

4/9/24 - Ronald McDonald House Party 103rd TK troop, 9th for 2024 In April of 2024, Dewback Ridge finally got to go back to Ronald McDonald house after a roughly 5 year absence. COVID stopped these troops and I never got to do one... until now! We began the troop with a serious meeting discussing ways in which to spread smiles and enjoy troopy antics that wouldn't break our little plastic necks. Or butt plates. No one likes a broken butt plate. A moment of reflection as the sun set to the west. A quiet song at the piano to set the mood for dinner. A ball game spread smiles between posing for pix. Every time I see a McDonald house troop in someone's log I get a little jealous. Well, no more!!! I finally get to cross that one off. Next one I hope to cross off is a Weird Al tour, but I'm not holding my breath.

Troop #7 Finally!!! Eclipse day!!!! I had the pleasure of trooping Anna's Eclipse Celebration in Indianapolis, Indiana. The watch party was hosted by a charity for children with special needs, named Anna's Celebration of Life. The organization went all out with a DJ, photo booth, tabling by other human services organizations, a TV meteorologist discussing weather and eclipses, free food, and of course the main event, a stormtrooper! Well...actually, the main event was the eclipse, but you all get my point... I was the only one from the garrison to sign up for this event, so I was lucky to have a friend accompany me as a handler. It took a lot of persuasion (it did not) to get my friend Melissa to go with me, and she was so happy to be part of this troop! Melissa also has a real eye for good photos, as shown in this photo during the eclipse! My XO had previously told me to take some time for myself during the eclipse and not keep my helmet on. I took his advice and I am happy I did! I was fortunate to also be in the path of totality for the eclipse in the U.S. in 2017, and I am so thankful to have had the chance to be in the path of totality today! Even better, I got to troop during this eclipse!!!

Troop 15: Draggins Car Show in Saskatoon supporting Children's Easter Seal. March 29 and 30 although I was only able to make it for the second day. First troop of the year for most of the Saskatchewan crew. I had my second eye surgery five week prior to this troop and it will be another week until I get a new eye glass prescription so any long drives just are too hard for me to handle right now. I had wrote this one off because it was three hours away and there was no good logistics to get there and back. All was not lost though as a random conversation with a friend here led to the revelation that he was going up to the show for most of the day and was going by himself so he had room for me to catch a ride! One day for part of the day is better than no days so off we went. I had been reading communications from the crew from day 1 and they were short staffed and very busy. This show was two 12 hour days and they were trying to cover the entire 12 hours each day. I didn't fully appreciate how nuts it was until I got into it. I spent an hour at the club table then the next 4+ hours in armor with maybe two five minute breaks (a new personal best). By the end of it I didn't know if I was living in the SW universe as a stormtrooper, was hallucinating, was having fun or was just dreaming it all. At one point before the four hour mark I was going to shed the armor and work the table then someone said, "If you can keep at it longer it's really helping the photobooth when a stormtrooper is milling about." so I got in the flow of traffic and just kept directing them into the photo area. Well it was either me or a robot by that time, not really sure. I was on auto-pilot. There is always room for some fun though! This is my friend that got me to the show. Not a huge SW fan really, but a car fan. Also the first friend, not part of the costuming groups, to pose with me so it was kinda special for me. Just standing around by myself for a few seconds. The guy beside me is a big geek. The other two were there to humor him I think. He wanted me in the boat, but it required going up a ladder/step thing then a big step then a two foot step down into the boat. They assured me they all had emergency medical training if I didn't make it however I still had to decline the adventure of getting into the boat. However, after I left @wook1138 took a stab at it and got into the boat. Now I am bound by some kind or honor or challenge or embarrassment to find a boat to get into without getting hurt or climb a tree or some other feat of dexterity while in plastic. Oh dear. At least I was able to keep my head on my shoulders even though my neck and shoulders were killing me by this time which was around the four hour mark. I demonstrated how well I could blend into a car show. If you look very carefully you can see me. Oh look, some nice coloured lights! My friend acted as a handler to get me to this part of the show and he practically ran me there! He found it amusing and commented how many times I was pulled over for a photo. I hadn't even thought about it actually. As we were powering through packed areas of people I kind of forget I was the stormtrooper in the room. Nothing to see here, just taking a jog through a car show. It's perfectly normal. Carry on. I finally found the droid I've been looking for and this time there was no old man in a dusty bathrobe to tell me otherwise! One of my buddies built R2. He's in both the 501st and the Droid Builders. DOs and GMLs look away. There was only one of these photos taken at the end and I had a costume malfunction so the image needed a bit of touch up. I think my body was trying to tell me it had enough and it was time to get out of the plastic or it was going to let it fall off me. @wook1138 and I had a short photobooth session with just two of us contending with a number of rebels giving us the gears. I was there only for a quarter of the total time for this troop and I was sore and dragging my butt. I have no idea how the others managed it for much, much longer. I had another oddity with the icomm not working properly. I hope it is just the battery this time and not needed another repair. I have to check that yet. It would make a fast ticking noise then it would work for an extended period then stop working until it was unplugged and the process repeated. I fiddled with it a bit on those little breaks but really didn't have time to change batteries or mess with it. Next two troops are back to back over May 4, 6 and 7 so it will be a busy one. By then I should be back to somewhat normal vision (crossing fingers) and can get around to these longer drives again. I was really bummed when I thought I was going to miss this one. I didn't realize how much I needed to get to it until I was at it with my friends. I hadn't seen most of them since before Christmas. It was still just so much fun and almost everyone is excited to see us, talk to us and get photos. All the sore muscles were worth it. Bart

Troop #5 I was able to get away from work today to attend a small troop at an assisted living facility in Lebanon, IN. The troop was an event put on by an organization known as Live A Dream, which grants wishes to elderly individuals. The person having a wish granted wanted to meet a stormtrooper! The Bloodfin Garrison was able to provide 2 stormtroopers today, as well as an Imperial Cadet, and an officer! We weren't able to get photos, but as many can guess, it was a fun experience for those there. Adults get just as giddy as children when they get to meet a stormtrooper! EDIT: Some photos have been shared with us (with permission to share) by the family of the man having his wish granted! I still want to honor his privacy as he is in assisted living, so here is a photo where he is not facing the camera. I also did not mention we made him an Honorary Member of Star Wars Indiana! We had a little ceremony in front of the other residents of the community!

I was talking with my family the other day about how happy I am to be part of the Legion. It is wonderful that we can all be part of something that transcends our backgrounds, cultures, and generations! Few organizations are like this, and I am happy to be part of such an amazing group and community!

Howdy Folks. I found some photos of myself in high school wearing my MovieFX armor. This had a three peice helmet and was made of HIPS. I saved up three paychecks and sent two money orders to Germany IIRC. That was over twenty years ago and a lot has changed, I no longer have my old armor for one. Recently I found a rotocast of a screen used Move Along helmet in my garage from the same time period, it sparked interest in me to recreate some old props that I miss. Hopefully I can contribute more to the 3D Depositary as in the past two years have successfully self taught CAM/CAD. You can find my ANH Hovi tips and soon I will have some ROTJ tips as well. Have a great day! P.S. I Think I'm going to buy a MovieFX suit again, although I love the TM suit.

Would you look at the time, seems like it's pew pew o'clock. So let's get to it! Due to airsoft guns being outright illegal in Australia (sigh), I wasn't able to get the initial base gun I wanted. Nor was I able to obtain the import permits for a deactivated Sterling due to it requiring permission from my states AG. So instead, I acquired a 'basic build kit' from BlasterFactory. The BF E-11s are based on the traditional Sterling SMGs used in the OT films; where as the Rogue One and anthology series E-11s use an airsoft variant as the base, both real and casts. So basically this build is a kinda love child of the two, or a mutant.. anyways, the primary reference I used for the build is this one from the reference library: It is what I've been referring to as the 'hero' version. Much like OT blasters, there's decent variation between the E-11s we've seen on screen in recent years, so I wanted to have a specific 'fallback reference' to come back to, despite the airsoft/sterling differences. I also prefer it's scope rail over the block ones so there's that too. Delivery was super quick with no import issues thankfully. My previous experience importing blasters hasn't gone so well in the past. Despite me jumping through the many hoops that be our ridiculous import laws, I had one of my resin blasters quite literally broken and destroyed by customs (with what I still believe was malicious intent). Here's how I received that one: Forever salty about that, but anyways, here's the basic BlasterFactory E11 with a (not destroyed) resin E11: She's a beaut. Chris really does fantastic work. - Got it dis-assembled and ready for prep: -Vintage folding stock was delivered with no issues either: -Sourced a vintage R1 appropriate scope that was re-purposed for civilian use and repainted, so it needed stripping: - After removing it from the mount I used acetone to remove the blue paint which was easier than expected. The large optic ring was shiny brass so I repainted with hammer finish followed by flat clear, which was the closest match to the rest: I did keep the original mounting screws, but still have the mount itself if anyone's interested in that sort of stuff. - Also bought the replica 'Surefire' flashlight and rails. Link to my rails post HERE Flashlight link HERE. - As mentioned before, the new era E-11s use a number of different scope rails/mounts so I just bought one from BlasterFactory. The counter mount isn't accurate but I'll probs mod that in the future. Ordered a vintage end cap too, but decided against the vintage grip as there's almost no difference besides the age and weathering. I do plan on swapping some minor stuff too, like the stock screws for example. Sterlings had a smooth dome where as the R1 version had flat head ones, and the BF replica uses hex ones. The aluminum folding stock also uses grub screws instead of a pin-locking system but that's part of the design with the reproduction so I don't think there's much I can do there. Another is the rear sight screw being flat-headed instead of a hex, I think? Will have to double check, but this is just me being picky. - For the Hengstler, I'm waiting until I can find a vintage small eagle version for a good price, but for the time being I just used an already finished resin one I had spare, though it is a medium eagle one (with a small crack/split). I did print up a Rogue One style counter (thanks Trooper96) but haven't gotten around to getting it completed just yet: After getting almost all the required parts, it was now time for primer and paint. - I painted certain pieces (barrel for example) with straight-up flat black, but parts like the mag-well, front sight and rear catch got coats of etch primer to retain as much detail as possible. - Got the trigger housing/grip assembly and power cyls complete, then slightly weathered for now. Just sandpaper for the grip, but for the cylinders I used gun-metal paint and liquid latex before the flat black, then removing the latex to reveal a gun metal colour instead of the base aluminium, finished with flat clear. Everything here got the same black and clear, though the selector switch is untouched at this point: I used a thin disc magnet glued to the base of the cylinders to attach it, this way the mag-well details aren't ruined by glue or anything. The magnet is strong enough to reach the magazine inside and is secure enough that it won't fall off easily. - Probably unnecessary, but the main body tube got some etch primer for texture before the other etched parts were attached and ready for final paint. When painting/priming I suspended most parts from wire and cut coat hangers. For body tube primer and then final paint, I used a set-up similar to what Chris does in THIS video and can't recommend it enough, made everything way easier. - Now, the final paint was rustoleum hammered with flat clear. I tried multiple paints and primer combos on scrap aluminium before settling on the etch+hammered+flat clear. I wanted to closely match the vintage parts without repainting them and I am happy with the result. I did consider trying wrinkle paint but felt the forces of Vern cursing me so I decided against it. Because this is a weathered build I also applied gun-metal paint to spots across the blaster, followed by liquid latex before the hammered. Same as what I did with the power cylinders. - Found the sling mount and talon swivel thingies at a local gun store which was a bonus. It was easily swapped with the bayonet lug. (Still really wanna use a sling with the R1TK, crl update maybe? Plz? I beg) - Bought some "M-Loc t-nuts" for the rail, these seem to be the best solution to attach it securely for trooping. I did this step almost last and it was a pain, I'd suggest doing it earlier in the build. I couldn't use the included rail screws as they were too short, so I used the ones that came with the t-nuts. Not accurate, but it'll do for now. I found the t-nuts locally but you can find the same type on Amazon HERE. I picked up some accurate t-track and installed it using THIS method as hot water didn't work for me. I cut the tracks to these lengths: 1 x 7.25" 4 x 6.5" 2 x 2.5" Once installed they're actually quite secure, I only used glue on one that was a little loose. And without further ado, here it is completed (for now): (scope works too, couldn't pickup the crosshairs with the pic but its way more clear irl) With R1 being ANH adjacent I was going for a more 'real' look and feel with this build, more Sterling and less airsoft if you will. Total weight comes to 2.2kg/4.85lbs for anyone wondering. This was my first proper, full blaster build and I'm very happy with the final product. Test-trooped with it too and everything held up great, even against some VERY grab-happy younglings. My resin and printed ones would've had pieces break off in that situation. Still got some upgrading to do, gotta get a vintage counter, add a dome hex bolt to the mag and a lil more weathering, but I'm deeming it finished as of now. (is anything ever truly "finished" in this hobby though xd). I also can't wait to see how it fares in the coming years, with the wear and tear of trooping I really hope it gets more of that grubby, beat-up R1 look to it. Side note. Unfortunately I had to ditch the vintage stock because of issues when installing. The catch sits further back on the vintage one and doesn't lock into the folded position, even when swapping the catch parts with parts from the included aluminium one. I really tried to make it work without any serious modifications but it just won't. It also didn't wanna work with both the aluminum and vintage end cap for whatever reason.. Really disappointed as it not only wasn't cheap, but it looks, sounds and feels amazing compared to the aluminium. The only bummer of the build. I do plan to build a non-weathered version, expanding on what I've leant from this build. I am also considering doing a few R1 E11s in a run at some stage, once I work out the most viable (and accurate) parts from the currently available vendors/sellers that is. Now, now it's time to blast some rebels!!

Lighting of the Armor There are 4 parts that need lighting to be screen accurate: - The jetpack grill - The two gauntlets (2x red lights) - The chest armor (1 red light on right side) The jetpack grill was straight forward as I already had done the red transparent part (see thread above) inside the top grill. I simply put a white light you can find at any hardware store that has a remote and works on 3xAAA batteries. I will last several 10’s of hours before replacement, as with a remote no issue opening the top cover each time to power it or shutdown. For the other parts, I went with easiest way forward for me, which was to use discrete LED. The ones I picked are rectangular 2x5x7mm red LEDs that work with 15-20mA/1.9-2.2V from Amazon. I have put the link belowand hope it will stay there, but these are pretty standard and can be easily replaced by Digikey/Mouser equivalents. https://a.co/d/a1I6r5v I used a small 3xAAA battery pack with rechargeable batteries that generates 4.4V and will also last 10s of hours in the Gauntlet (around 8-10h on the chest), which is perfect for using with the LED (I put 2 diodes in series). I simply added a small resistor adjusted to number of diodes to limit current. (ex: 4ohms for 2 x 2 diodes). For the 4 squares in the gauntlets, I used 4 LEDs (2 x 2 in series), for the larger rectangle, I used 6. As for the large rectangle in the chest, I used 20 (10 sets of 2 diodes in series). I glued them on an aluminum sheet (from dollar store), it helps reflect back the light in the right direction. The reason for the aluminum is to dissipate the heat from the LEDs, you don't want those to heat up and melt the PLA. As those are still discrete LEDs, you have to diffuse their light to have a uniform red glow. I used 2x 0.3mm layers on white PLA sheets I printed, cut and glued in front of the transparent red plastic of the gauntlet/ chest armor. I soldered them, then added a layer of insulating tape between the leads and the aluminum sheet to avoid shorts. I also potted the lead in clear silicone to further insultate and prevent leads from moving around. and attached them to the gauntlet with white duct tape (so that they can be removed if broken). Took me around 3h to get it done for all the parts, pretty straight forward stuff. Could be nicer looking, but nobody sees it…! N.B. I added aluminum foil on top of the duct tape and secured it with yet another layer of duct tape to block the light... otherwise the armor was glowing from the inside 😊 Below is a schematic of the assembly and basic concept of LED assembly. You should do your own circuit and validate with someone familiar with these kind of circuits prior to assembling the lighting system Below is the LED arrays prior to soldering and insultating. Unfortunately, I forgot to take picture after final assembly... The inside of the gauntlets after assembly Very difficult to take pictures of the light with a phone without over exposing the light/ under exposing the armor (phones hate LEDs), but here is a first pic that show the functional light. The most realistic view is actually from reflection on the floor…! For nicer images, I did use my reflex on the chest with two light settings and take some longer exposure to get the color right, gives a pretty good idea.

A bit of delay as I was completing the lights for the jetpack, chest and gauntlets (will post some nice pics later, but very satisfied with low cost solution to get screen accurate lighting ). Here is one nasty part that gave me a lot of trouble... the ABS Abs section Probably the most challenging part is going to be the ABS section. The canon pictures are showing flexible armor With only one seam on the right side. On top of being accurate, I really did not want a hard armor, since either will be too large of a fit, or will be very uncomfortable (I can relate with my sith trooper). So I decided early on I would cast the ABS. I designed a mold out of 3D print (+bondo+ filler+ clearcoat to get perfect smooth finish) based on many pictures. 3D models online are not perfectly accurate and of course cannot be made flat. I will have the 3D model available on my Etsy soon for everyone. It had to be printed in 4 sections on my large printer to be approx. 330mm x 1000mm, as I am 5’8’’ /165lbs but I want the ABS mold to be fitting a bit larger/taller troopers if needed. casting material So I did a LOT of research on best suited material (I didn’t want to go to silicone, unless last resort as it cannot be painted ( except with costly stuff) and with the size, would be also costly. I went with Smooth-on Tuff Stuff 15, which is supposed to be designed for cosplay. Ok, that was a learning experience which cost me 4 full bottles, chat with Smooth-on tech guys, frustrations,… I colored it with so-strong pigment white and black to end up with a grey. Just black is not accurate or enough qty. Lessons learned: - Works great if : - You cast it with a room that is 20-23C. Don’t do it in hot or cold environment. The foam WILL collapse - You have to use the proper mold release and don’t be cheap on it, urethane is very sticky - Don’t remove it out of the mold before 24h, even if they say 3h,… it WILL collapse in some areas - Mix it with color in part B only. Mix it with mechanical mixer ( I used Allway HMQHelix paint mixer drll attachment on Amazon) in a high container (from 1$ store- you will throw it away) so that your mixer on your power drill will not inject air into it. Mix it for 1min at full throttle, after the first 30s, poor in new container, otherwise you will have some areas that will not cure. - Once mixed…you have 1min to poor it and level. You’ve got to be fast and accurate as it will expand 4x, not to have thin and way too thick - You have to put a plate with stoppers over it to control thickness uniformity (aim 8-9mm) and have a nice surface finish. - Even with all this, you will end up with marble finish (after several chat with smooth-on staff) , but surface finish will nice and even, so when you apply the paint it will be smooth and nice. I used Tulip grey fabric spray paint ( you can get it at Michael’s if your in US or Canada). Fabric spray paint is the best for this flexible material. It’s scary when you apply it, but when dried it is very uniform. Below are images of the mold open and closed with the cover (showing white stoppers to have 8-9mm thick ABS ( I tried several thickness and this is the optimal for this product). Here is the ABS as demolded. Painted The ideal is to use straps on the ABS to support weight of the belt, cod and holster. I used velcros from brand 'Velcro' heavy duty, white from Amazon) inside and outside to secure the parts to the ABS

Whoever says that you're done with working on your armor once you get approved is lying. So here I am, once again! Aside from the usual clean-up and crack repair, it was time for something more unusual: Bleaching my armor Now, if you've taken a look at my troop log, you might have noticed that every since June last year my armor color hasn't quite matched up with that of my fellow troopers. Long, long hours of trooping in the sun can do that to ABS. After a bit of looking around and researching, I stumbled across the fact that you can bleach your armor. Here is a good tutorial. First things first, I got rid of everything that didn't need bleaching or that might make the process more difficult. Just look at this part of my helmet: you can clearly spot which parts were covered by the ears and which had some sun exposure! By taking my helmet apart I could more or less guarantee equal sun exposure during the bleaching process, as well as making sure the screws, the lens foil or the rubber parts wouldn't get bleached by accident. The paint however won't be impacted by the bleach. Similarly, I made sure to remove padding and strapping wherever possible. For bleaching the armor I used this hair bleach. I put a dollop of it onto the cardboard and painted a layer onto my armor. I then wrapped the armor in clingfoil and sealed it as airtight as possible with see-through tape. Remember to only use bleach whilst wearing skin protection and being in a ventilated area -- I forgot the gloves at first and my skin got really itchy and a bit spotty. Once I had everything wrapped up, I put the armor parts out in the sun, making sure to give them the most sun exposure they could get. Originally, I had planned on leaving them there the entire afternoon whilst I relaxed inside, but it was a rather windy day and I instead spent the next two hours playing catch with it in the garden. After those two hours I decided enough was enough -- at this point it was fairly likely that all the tumbling around would mean risking cracks and there were storm clouds coming up anyways -- so I carefully removed the cling wrap and wiped off all the bleach with water. Since I was already dedicating that day towards armor maintenance, I decided to give everything a good clean up as well, getting rid of some of the scuffs with a magic eraser. At a first glance, my armor certainly appears to be less yellow than before. I didn't get around to bleaching the whole armor, but only the more yellowed parts -- shoulders, helmet... anything with sun exposure from the top -- so we'll have to see just how well I will fit in with my fellow TKs at the next troop.

Troop #47 G-Note Comic Con Bellahouston We attended a small local comic con raising funds for Glasgow Children's Hospital charity today.

Troop 49 Niagara Falls , Ontario April 6, 2024 Niagara Falls pre Eclipse Party This was a Star Wars themed pre eclipse party put on by the City of Niagara Falls. We were asked to be there to interact and take photos with guests. Unfortunately the event was not well attended and only 20 to 30 guests came. We still had a great time dancing away in our costumes. Pre event group shot Obligatory elevator selfie There was an odd pole in the middle of the room we used to change. So I had to try it out. Got a bunch of credits for my effort from the FOTK in the back. Had to also grab a photo with my new transport vehicle. They said the barrel ride was completely safe. Not so sure

Troop 39. Big Lick ComicCon NoVA Sent from my SM-N981U1 using Tapatalk

Troop #6 The Eiteljorg Museum of Native American & Western Art in Indianapolis, Indiana hosted a screening of A New Hope in Diné (the Navajo language) as part of their programming around the upcoming total solar eclipse! Naturally, the Bloodfin Garrison was invited to provide the right atmosphere leading up to the show, and a Jedi from Mos Espa Base of the Rebel Legion joined in the fun. Before I get into the troop log, I did some searches online to learn more about how A New Hope was dubbed over in Diné and found this informative article! As noted in the article, it took plenty of persistence and patience to make the dub in Diné, and it is wonderful that films can be used as a way to preserve and strengthen cultural heritage! Now, to the troop log: Much of the troop occurred during the hour leading up to the showing of the film, so we wandered around the different areas of the museum. We were even allowed to go through the different exhibit galleries (carefully), so we made sure to visit just about every part of the museum. We mostly stuck to the common areas on the main floor and the children's exploration area on the lower level. The museum's photographer also got many shots of us for the museum's social media accounts, and we all posed under the main sign for the building: The two officers with us on the troop are former Bloodfin members who recently moved to the U.S. state of Virginia and, thus, Garrison Tyrannus. The eclipse drew them both back to Indianapolis for a visit and troop! The children's exploration area is where we found the opportunity to take lots of goofy photos. I also worked up the courage to fit myself into the stagecoach...and regretted it as soon as I got in (no armor was damaged in the making of these photos - but Vader looked on disapprovingly)... In time, the exploration and goofing around was over and it was time for the film! We settled into the front row (despite what it looks like, I had not had too much popcorn), but I ultimately ended up with Vader and the snow trooper in the back of the theater: A fun time and a cool experience that not many people get to have! Trooping lets me do a bunch of awesome things!

[2] 4/6/2024 Memphis Central Library Bookstock Festival. We did a little research while we where there on a Target lord Vader has us looking for at all times. Thats when we decided to take the high ground Got to meet a lady with a strange alien attached to her. And also found another mode of transportation. And many People don't realize this, a Storm Tropper's life isn't always about Shooting at rebels.

Honestly, I am almost to 50 troops and I still have the biggest goofy kid grin under the helmet the entire time. Trust me we do get how you feel.

Congratulations!!! For me, there was a before and after with my first visit to the pediatric area of a children's hospital. Missions with a lot of feelings, but the children, even if they are not at their best, give you more than they receive.

I'm so happy for you! I still feel the same as when I started! I've never clung so hard to a hobby or community before, I'm here to stay! Can't see how my life would look like without it now that I have it! Crazy! Everyone on here becomes almost like an extended family, and it really shows when we go through tough times together, we are always there for each other! For the Empire!

Troop # 171 Indiana Comic Con Day 1 3-22-24

Hello, Kevin here from Imperial Surplus. I just wanted to let you know Option B version (back plate cover) is available when asked for at time or ordering the kit. I honestly have not had the option B requested in a long time (a few years) until just last week. I will continue to also provide some extra ABS with the armor kit to help with assembly needs. Any questions or want to order the Armor or Helmet kit please use the email on the Imperial Surplus website.

Some more pics from the day at our wall display. Great to be back on the Deathstar Pressing buttons I probably shouldn't...

4/15 preapproval troop (GCO approved) at Randall Children's Hospital, Portland, OR: Wore the costume for about 1.5 hours, walking for most of it. Overall went very well. Learned that I have a few things that need adjusting.

Well, here we go. Looks like it is all here. There are a couple of pieces that I don't have a clue what they are, so I'm hoping that some of the build threads will be able to help me figure it out. But the first step is lots of flashing removal. Sent from my SM-N981U1 using Tapatalk

My workbench RIGHT NOW!! This is my Nico ROTK helmet. The rest of my kit is a Frankenstein of Jim Tripon and Mr Paul’s Shoretrooper files and is in various stages of completion. This summer I will buckle down on it. I’m excited that you’re working on a New Gen TK too! Maybe we can inspire each other to finish these things up! Look forward to seeing your progress! -Mike 26300 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We completed most of the rigging today (I am waiting on a belt from Amazon for the thigh rigging) and it felt really cool (and tricky) to give everything a test fit at once. Sadly, I grabbed the wrong set of under clothes (with white seems, the set came with both white and black) so have that little annoyance in the picture.

Finally feeling inspired again, back at it. Almost at the finish line. Rough leg fitting: Rough torso fitting: Rough torso + legs fitting: Rough arm fitting, need to raise the bicep a bit: Converted from velcro to magnets for attaching the outer chest to the inner chest: Results look good: Final piece is the detonator. The decals provided do not properly cover the end caps, so I painted black:

4/6/24 - Surreal Comics 1 Year Anniversary 102nd TK troop, 8th for the year This one was an unofficial troop at a comic store. The owner is a friend of the garrison and does a lot of favors for us. Getting to help celebrate their first year was great. And it was my first troop with the elephant gun! T-21, baby! It's the same length as a DLT-19 but it sure has a lot more presence. This one was made by Tye, the Boba Fett in the above photo about 8 to 10 years ago. It appeared on the 501st forums for sale in Texas and I jumped on it. It's fantastic and will be going out with me in the future. At about 7 lbs, it's not bad to carry around for a few hours. These vintage motor cars requested that I pose with them. My only price was that they take a pic with my own datapad for my archives. Back to the troop, a local radio station was covering the event and the host wanted to interview someone with a voice changer. I was the only one in attendance with the little speakers and our CO (also in attendance) agreed it was fine since it was just radio. So I did about 30 seconds with Erica Viking. SO awesome!!! And then I got paid again for my services - with a selfie. I've listened to Erica since college (she's been a local DJ on various stations for a while) and it was awesome to be able to do this. 102 troops... Being a TK is still every bit as good as my first troop.

Troop 101 was a birthday party troop at a gym... at which I forgot my bucket at home. 100 troops without a problem and I forget my bucket on 101... UGH. So I had my first event handling and my first non-TK troop. 3/24/24 - Nerd Poetry Slam TK Troop 101, 7th for the year. A small group of loyal Imperials showed up to protect the nerds from Rebels. This was part of a larger city-wide Slam that involved a lot of different stages and poetry types. The finals were later that night. This was the nerdy poetry. TK9-Mabel was ready for some nerd love. And sniffing out Rebels. And treats. Opposite angle shot a few seconds later Mabel was popular. I thought "hmm... this might be a troop for Mabel to get some therapy hours and really connect with people." and it was. She got so much love all day. Didn't mind the loud speakers on stage or the clapping. She was in her zone. We entertained the crowd before the poetry started. I think they only came to see her tho... Later in the afternoon, once the troop was over and poetry was going, Mabel and I kicked back and soaked in the culture.

Latest modifications... Lowered the Chest/Ab down by 2" to expose neck area more as mentioned by @gmrhodes13.

https://i.imgur.com/GCZ8hrR.mp4 I posted earlier in the wrong section I think, but super happy on how this turned out! Make sure the volume is on. When I printed my abs, I created a cavity for a 4" speaker and a passive bass port. I house a 20w amplifier in the chest section. The voice modulator is located in the back piece. Im using a wireless mic so there are no wires going to the helmet. Enjoy!

Troop #172 Live the Dream 3-29-24 This was an event for an older disabled person to meet a stormtrooper.

You can also dampen a cloth and rub that against the glue, comes off quite well. Looking good

Update: I added on the ANH package. It sounds like I should have my commission in a few weeks as they are just waiting on holsters and my ANH helmet. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The way I’ve been drafting it on Enoch, which is based on this draft, is lvl1 can be painted on lvl2 engraved but can be paint and then lvl 3 is engraved and “gold coloured leaf”. Doesn’t have to be actual gold, but leaf does look very different to paint so I think is a valid step up for the top level. This applies to cracks and patches. Once cleared if you need to make repairs then how you handle that is going to be based on personal choice, what you have to hand, time and cost considerations. All still open to discussion, but that needs to start with something.

I did my 101st troop last weekend and STILL feel amazing when I get to walk around in my TK's boots. I know all too much how you're feeling right now. And let me give a tiny glimpse into your future - no matter what dumb things life throws at you, there's always the peace and happiness of being inside the armor. It never goes away or gets old. It's super special and I'm so glad you get to be part of it. Cheers to you Terry!!! Happy for ya!!!

Troop #45 Comic Con Scotland Aberdeen Had a fun filled day at this event in the north east of Scotland, raising funds for Macmillan cancer support. Our Nerf blast a trooper stall was a great draw for the crowds. Very proud of our Garrison pulling this event off, from organising, transportation, assembly of the prop/sets and attendance, all deserve a pat on the back you knocked it out of the park!