dougefresh

Cool! I haven't seen an RT-Mod suit come through in a while! Looks outstanding! Well done!

I used a roll of screen mesh for doors and windows. I have yards of the stuff. If you want to PM me your address, I'll happily cut you a couple sheets and mail it to ya'.

I'm so sorry for your loss, Joe. My sincerest gratitude goes to Robert for his service, and sacrifice. Best thoughts to his family & friends.

Phenomenal job, Matti! That really looks like the genuine item!

You look great, dude! Looks like you had fun! The black and white P-Bass was a nice touch.

Nylon or propylene, I think. Is that right, guys?

I'm having to do the same thing. After getting it painted and assembled, I couldn't leave well-enough alone and kept fudging around with my helmet... now the brow trim is coming up short, so I ordered a new one. I have a feeling my build is gonna be stalled for quite a while... we have almost 20" of snow on the ground here, so it doesn't look like it's gonna be warm enough to paint for quite some time. There's a guy in my Garrison who has a paint booth... maybe it's time to bust out with some quality groveling? On my first build, I ended up having to replace an entire shin, and one of the gauntlets. You're definitely not alone.

Correct. White webbing, or barring that, white elastic.

You're lookin' the business there, Johnny. Just a few more little details, huh? It's coming together great!

The whole assembly comes in under a hundred pounds so far?!? WOW! I would have guessed much higher. This is probably one of the coolest projects I've ever seen, on this board, or any other. So happy to see you're still pluggin' away at it. This one's definitely a crowd-pleaser.

Allan -- no problem. I really have no axe to grind, I was just commenting on what I've observed here over the last couple years. Smitty -- sounds like you and I have very similar opinions on this matter. Joey -- while I can't say my opinion has changed drastically, I'm truly impressed with your post. You definitely gave us all a lot of pause for thought, I think. Matt's lucky to have you as a friend.

Haha! That's *exactly* why I'm fascinated by Ayn Rand, and *exactly* why I can't stand her. I tend to believe that there are very few things in life that are absolute. I try my hardest not to be a flake, but I'm often honestly stuck in the middle on a lot of issues. Which, I guess makes me "evil". I disagree vehemently with most of her moral philosophy, but I do line up with quite a bit with her take on capitalism. So there I am again... evil and in the middle. ** EDIT ** -- Sorry for running my mouth off so much today, but I'm snowed in at home, and have no desire to work.

Allan... I don't think anyone would ever hold that against you. I don't have a *personal* problem with TE. I don't even know the guy. He might be a great friend, a wonderful father, and a total blast to hang out with in real life. All I know him from is his persona on this board. And I gotta level with you -- more often than not, he comes off like a big ol' jerk. From what I've read-- from his own hand -- on this board over the years, combined with stories like these, he's a dude with a pretty inflated ego, who absolutely LIVES for drama. Maybe he's not like that all the time... but when he was allowed on the board, I saw a guy who was almost always argumentative and confrontational. 9 times out of 10, he was either taking a dig at someone, touting his own greatness, or endlessly bickering with Gino. Every once in a while, he would share some photo, or tell a story that was just amazing, and I'd find myself liking him... but then he and Gino would erupt into their battling diva routine, and he'd erode whatever goodwill he built up. I learned A LOT from the confrontation between those two, but I also got the impression that they both needed to do some growing up. You're totally right: he makes really nice stuff. And we all owe him a GIANT debt of gratitude for giving us screen-used armor in the first place. This hobby would suffer enormously if he hadn't gotten involved. And I'm glad you've had good dealings with him. That's awesome! But the animosity towards him didn't form in a vacuum. (no pun intended.) Without even getting into his past history here, the emails posted in this thread do a pretty good job of self-incrimination, y'know? Even if his side of the story is the truth... you'll notice that all the swearing and vitriol comes from his side of the keyboard. I dunno... I try not to judge anyone, particularly for their associations. I think most folks here are the same. I'm sorry for taking a shot at your friend. But I call it like I see it. I *certainly* don't hold anything against you, or anyone else who has had pleasant dealings with Matt. I wish everybody did.

As a Democrat, I'm loathe to reference Ayn Rand, but the assumption that *want* constitutes *entitlement* is just ridiculous. Nobody has a RIGHT to an artist's work. Just because you want a product, it doesn't mean the producer is obligated to give it to you. I *want* a new washing machine. Is Kenmoore obligated to give it to me for free, or next to nothing, just because it would help me out? They can charge whatever they deem fair, and you can either accept it and pay up, or find another provider who sells at a price you can afford. The whole transaction is COMPLETELY, UTTERLY mutually consensual. And if it's not-- it's charity, or theft. Period.

Sounds like one material is more light-reflective than the other. Plus, most of the new point-and-shoot cameras have chips with facial-recognition capabilities and they tend to give greater exposure to people's heads. You might be able to override the white balance in the camera and lower the sensitivity, but that will throw off the exposure, and possibly the color, for everything else in your shots as well. Seems like an easier way to fix it would be to open your pics in Photoshop and manually adjust them. You can either use the bezier tool to draw a shape around your head and use the brightness-contrast slider to make it match, or use the magic want tool with a low color tolerance and play with the brightness, or the whte-to-black levels.

Hell yes, you are!

That's incredibly modest of you to say, and is just one more example of your personal integrity, Tony-- but respectfully... it's horsecrap. TE2 armor is easily among the nicest out there. And is provided by a guy who is unerringly generous, personable and helpful. Matt might make a mean set of armor, but that's the ONLY thing the master and apprentice have in common. I HUGELY appreciate TE's original contribution to the hobby... but his follow-up has flat-out sucked. It's all about context, and though he may be the first, TE is a sad fraction of the man his heir is.

Halloween tends to be a very busy time -- at least in my Garrison -- for the 501st, so it may take your command staff a couple extra days to get back to you. Did you try emailing your squad leader directly? Also-- everyone here is super helpful, so don't be shy about asking questions!

They make such handy holders! You can cart around a couple dollars/ pounds, travel brochures, a burrito... the possibilities are endless.

Definitely elastic. Those attachments will need to stretch. If you have to choose, I would suggest making the back connections a little tighter than the front. With the ab and cod being one solid piece, bending over is practically impossible anyway, so you're not going to gain much flexibility by making the back connections longer. You'll just have more undersuit visible.

I glued the fronts and left the backs floating, using thin, white elastic ties to hold them down-- same as the film suits.

Get some E6000 and glue those puppies!

This thread rocks! You got some serious skills to pay the bills, my friend. Keep it comin'!

Thanks for the insight, Rolf! I had no idea he was re-creating the armor from scratch. Cool!

Tim-- I think you've done an amazing job adapting the armor to your body type. You look right at home in it, IMO. I would second Chris's suggestion -- ditch the chest-to-back strapping along the sides and instead strap the chest to the ab-plate and the back to the kidney plate. It'll accomplish what you want -- preventing the chest from creeping up, and the back from flaring out -- and will be a lot more comfortable too. I used to have straps along the sides from the back to the chest, and I recently removed them and went with the other method. It's been a big improvement-- far less constraining, IMO. Really nice job, bro!