dougefresh

Thanks, Paul! Workin on the Elite stuff as we speak -- just need to clean up the lines on my thighs a bit, and add a D ring to my gun, and I think I'm ready to make a run at it.

I just got my TK designation! Woo-Hoo! My 501st Profile TK 7185, requesting access to the 501st portions of the board, please!

The dude building a custom computer case out of a Gonk Droid is callin' me out on my nerd-dom? "Hello, Mr. Pot? We have Mr. Kettle on line 3. Should I place him on hold?" I keed. I keed.

I have the Dell Precision M6400 mobile workstation at work, and that thing is a BEAST, in every sense of the word. It weighs about 15 pounds, and runs hot enough for me to cook a T-Bone on it. However, I'm consistently amazed that I'm able to plow through huge Photoshop files and multi-layered After Effects comps with no problem-- on a laptop! Pretty nifty. It has the 17" non-glossy display... which is a little too backlit for my tastes-- whites end up looking like they're overexposed, like a 1980's music video or somethin'. I usually run it in a docking station though, so I only use the built-in LCD if I'm away from my desk. At home, I have the Dell 690 desktop workstation with dual Xeons. It's as big as an air conditioner, but it's a monster for audio and video. So much fun! -- Good lord, I'm a geek.

Hey, Brad. I'm from Alberta, too! I've lived in the States for about 25 years now, but I was born in Calgary. Nice to see another Albertan on the board! A few years ago, I faced the same decision you made-- except I ended up coughing up 6 grand for a high-end graphics workstation. I do a lot of After Effects compositing, 3D rendering and Pro-Tools audio editing, so I needed something with ridiculous headroom to chew through really RAM and processor-intensive tasks. In the long run, it's been one of the best investments I've ever made-- the computer has definitely paid for itself several times over. Owning better hardware let me start learning more complicated software, allowing me to expand from web design and Flash animation into broadcast motion and video, and an entirely new world opened up for me, creatively, professionally and financially. It's not often I attribute that kind of reward to an inanimate object-- but buying that computer opened a lot of doors for me. For whatever it's worth, I'd really encourage you to keep squirreling away your money for that computer, and buy the absolute fastest, nicest machine you can afford. It's completely worth it when you're able to sit down and work on a project without having to fight tooth and nail with a slow computer. From my own experience, it's an AWESOME feeling to know you're not limited by your tools. Just my $.02

That's awesome, Alex! I admire you A LOT for taking on such a harrowing project. I can't imagine how much hard work you've put into it. Definitely got some talent goin' there, brutha. Keep it up!

Happy Holidays, everyone!!!!

That rocks! Thanks for lettin' us have a peek!

Just checked out the site, Jez-- lookin' good. Thanks so much for posting all the new info! I know starwarshelmets has been an invaluable rescource to me and many others. Keep it up! Terrell -- you're famous now!

It's entirely possible-- my AP was shipped from Montreal.

Makes it more accurate, if you're going for the ANH look... and supposedly, it makes it easier to sit down and bend over. I had the ab and the kidney/ butt cut on my FX, and it does allow a *bit* more flexibility. But as anyone who has dropped anything in armor knows, it's gonna' be a pretty comical experience no matter what. You're gonna look like a doofus tryin' to pick it up either way.

Alain-- oh, pshaw. I just make stuff look pretty, and animate it-- you actually make stuff WORK. I'm eternally in awe of you programmer/developer guys. My brain just isn't wired for that kind of linear, pragmatic style of thinking. It completely mystifies me how you guys are so good at it. Also, much thanks for checking with Mark about the moulds. I love learning stuff like that. Nice of you to ask, and share! Scott--- good one! A joke within a joke-- even if you don't think it's funny, you have to know WHY it *should* be funny. I like it!

Paul: Ask, and ye shall receive... Please note that these are rough measurements... "Base", is the rough circumference of the cap, just above the brow trim. "Crest" is the circumference at the highest part of the cap, before it starts sloping inward to the dome. AP: Base: 29" Crest: 27" Ear to ear: 14 1/8" GF: Base: 28" Crest: 24 1/2" Ear to ear: 14" Quite a difference at the crest, as you can see. The GF, as I heard someone put it, is fairly "pin-headed". The "hero" theory has some legs, I think. It's just a guess, but I'm thinkin' GF was trying to get the squat, lowered-brow, hero look down, and simply overdid it.

Oh yeah-- don't want to cover up the message from Guns! I forgot about that.

You're gonna like the Satin on the interior. I sprayed the inside my AP and was totally happy with it-- to me, it makes the helmet look and feel less toy-like and "plastic-y", if that's a word. Also, I highly recommend going with the liner from a batting helmet. Again, it adds something to the realism, and will let ya' troop in comfort too. I also find that it really helps in animating the helmet too-- with the hard-hat liners, etc., your head moves, and then there's a delay until the helmet wobbles around to line up with your face. With the batting helmet liner, the bucket goes where you go. I practiced the "What? Oh-- the uniform" head-weenie in front of the mirror to test it out. Good God, I'm a nerd.

I *think* it's a GF-- I got it off the big auction site a while ago-- don't gang tackle me all at once.... I was a noob! Hence, my thread about the different helmets. Yeah, I more or less accidentally glued a few pieces of tape to the armor. So far, I've been able to carefully pick/pry most of the tape off with the Xacto... it's tedious as hell, but so far, it's working. I planned on following that up with some ultra-fine-grit sandpaper and some Novus. I got the armor pretty cheap, so I'm not completely heartbroken, but it's been a real pain nonetheless. I'm definitely mad at myself about it. I'm finding out rapidly that a combination of impatience and a lack of modeling skills is not exactly the best thing for building armor. I don't think I'll paint it-- but if I run into too many more problems, it's something I might have to consider. It's been a learning experience for sure. Sadly, I think mine is going to end up looking like a "learner's kit", big-time. Such is the price for being in too much of a hurry and a beginner to boot, I guess. Eventually, I think I'm going to get an AP kit (already bought the helmet) and take another run at it, using my mistakes as a solid foundation of what *not* to do. We'll see.... I'm up for a raise in January, so how fast I can move on the rest of the armor depends on that. The biggest thing I've learned so far is to SLOW DOWN. Getting too excited just makes A LOT of extra work. Live and learn, I guess... Again, sorry for hijacking your thread. Didn't mean to. As a side-note-- I'd just like to say that from my experience, CA Glue is total crap. It's very difficult to work with. As many of you know, getting the long seam on the front of thigh is a bit tricky-- trying to get the entire seam to lay flat is pretty tough. And the CA glue didn't do a good job of keeping the whole thing in place, even with two clamps on each end, and a dumb-bell lying in the center to press the pieces together. I have little "bubbles" in the seam, and the CA glue has congealed in little globs under them. Like I didn't have enough problems already. Ugh....

Sorry to derail your thread, Chris. I think I can probably sort things out myself... but, uhhh... let's just say that I *may* have laid the painter's tape a little too close to the glue line on the thighs and shins... and *might* be spending the bulk of my Christmas vacation picking blue tape out of the seams with an Xacto blade. Fun, fun, fun.

Now THAT one is cool. I like that bucket a lot, Chazz! Nice job!

I know-- the helmet in on the right is breath-taking, isn't it? Must be the handywork of a Canadian. Only a Canuck could be capable of such master craftsmanship. I agree, Thomas. I have an AP lid myself... not as nice as BigTurc's (I've been away from the homeland too long ), but I dig it. Paul-- I think you're probably right. Just makes me wonder why though-- to conceal a mistake, personal preference, a hand-sculpt? I always get curious about the stories behind these things. It's fun to imagine what the process was. Personally, I like all the little quirks between the different armors. Maybe some are less accurate than others, but I enjoy seeing and learning about the differences.

Boo! Stupid Internets. Here's a pic: ----------- It's something like $40 at The Container Store. EDIT: You can find it on containerstore.com here: Category --> Garage --> Storage Bags and Boxes ... it's at the bottom of the page.

Here's a pic to illustrate what I'm sayin' -- --------------- Looking dead-on from the front, the difference is even more apparent, but I couldn't find any decent images with nearly identical angles.

Just for the record, I want to state upfront that I'm NOT trying to ressurect the armor war, or incite an argument over lineage... I just have a question... I was fortunate enough to see a GF helmet and an AP helmet in the same room a little while ago, and I'm curious about some of the differences... As I understand it, the faceplate was a bit sanitized for the GF, and then restored to a more asymmetrical look for the AP, but what really has me curious is where the differences between the cap-and-back stem from. The GF has a much more trapezoidal, tapered look, whereas the AP is much rounder. (The dome section of the GF slopes inwards on the sides, so that the width at the crown is significantly less than the width at the base. And the sides of the AP's dome are almost parallel all the way up, with a fuller curve at the crest.) Anyone know why? Did they use two different helmets for the cap-n-back? Just wondering.

The sides look flawless again! You wouldn't be interested in coming to Denver to fix all the boo-boos in my armor, would ya'?

Thanks for sharing this with us, Tony!

I have this guy:------------ More than big enough to fit my armor, the bucket, boots, and a blaster, with a little bit of room to spare. And it fits in the backseat of my Audi A4, which isn't the roomiest car on the market. It's perfect for me. The only thing I think I might change about is possibly adding a fleece liner, and maybe compartmentalizing it so my helmet has it's own little nook.