Rich330

It's as good as I've got at the moment. Makes sense. I'll keep digging ...

I'll eat my boots!

They match the pink foam in my helmet!

Just the MGC replica itself? Would definitely be interested to see it anyway but I don't know it it will help. What I'm really looking for is pictures of screen-used ROTJ E-11s. So far, everyone I have seen looks like it has a closed barrel with no cocking lever, i.e. that whole eongated hole area is sealed off (like the ESB promo/snowtrooper blaster). Before I go sealing up my blaster, I want to make sure that they were all like this.

Whilst we all scratch our heads, I found another type of boots in current production that look like a good match. Nice high tops, similar sole shape, the insides even looks quite close ... "Leather jodhpur boots" by Saddlcraft

Starting with sewing your bloody mouth shut!

Aaaargh! Why did you have to remind me about that whilst I'm trying not to spend too much money? One day ... Bank transfers between two EU countries are free of charges by the way. Sverige -> Deutschland should be no problem.

Putting some finishing touches to the costume .... I weathered my boots a little. Having deciced to sacrifice my TKBoots and "go the extra mile", I will also be painting the sole white later. My blaster also arrived. It's a really nicely made piece with lots of scratch-made parts. It does have some parts which are cast from an original Sterling instead of MGC parts. I'm not entirely convinced the open barrel with cocking lever and visible spring is quite right either (still looking for input on this one) but it would be an easy fix to close it up. A few inaccuracies but a nice blaster all in all.

Numerous shoe makers use Goodyear welted soles on their products. This type of sole is not the rare part.

The protruding lip on the RS Props belt varies in size all along both edges. It's almost flush at one end and protrudes quite some way at the other. You should advise Chris to cut the belt wonkier!

My ROTJ suit is finished with deliberatly inaccurate snaps and strapping. My main interest in these is for ANH strapping. I think for the time being using something in a similar style with the right colour looks better than the correct snaps with the wrong colour. I'll get some proper ones in the end. At least I know what I'm looking for now.

I'll look into it. I'll give the coloured headed ones and the bronze ones a miss though I reckon!

OK, thanks. Should've snagged 'em!

These are the 14mm jobs that came up on eBay recently by the looks of it. I was monitoring them but decided not to bid in the end. I wasn't convinced that they were the right size. They pop up quite regularly in various states but this last lot were in good condition. Paul, do you believe that these snaps are the correct size at 14mm? If the elastic on Joe's helmet is 20mm wide, the snaps on the strap are almost certainly only 12mm in diameter (head). Hey, at least we didn't get into a bidding war!

Here are the drafts of my proposed split CRLs then .... I kept the same formatting as the originals (i.e. blue = EIB, red = Centurion) Additions are highlighted yellow. Comments are highlighted green. Things to be removed are crossed out.

I'll do just that when I get a moment. Be glad to.

Really? The first CfO complete armour in the 501st? Wow!

Cheers, chaps. The armour was just cleared so I can take it out on the road to the big event next month.

So, it didn't necessarily have anything to do with my topic? You were just looking at the photos?

Steve, I'm not sure I follow.

Still a few finishing touches to add but clearance photos have been submitted ...

Decals arrived. So that's my order complete and now so is my costume. Before I suit up, here are a few helmet shots. The decals went on really easily. Good quality, perfect fit. Worth the wait!

I like my Hello Kitty helmet liner!

Time to lighten up, miserable bugger! Or at least just ignore what doesn't interest you. I agree with you; post counts don't mean anything to me either. Like patches or whatever it was. To some people this stuff is important/interesting. Live and let live. No point wasting your time moaning at people. And cheer the ferk up, man!

As you will all know, I have been working on my ROTJ costume. Along the way I have had the chance to study a lot of the screen captures and came to some conclusions of my own. I don't believe the current CRL/EIB/Centurion guidelines reflect what I believe I found. In the interest of improving our accuracy I would therefore like to propose the incorporation of my findings into the CRL and/or EIB and/or Centurion guidelines. In a nutshell, I believe that for ROTJ the costuming department adopted a similar approach to the stormtrooper costumes as in ANH, i.e. there were "stunt" and "hero" costumes. Importantly, I'm not talking about a few exceptions or continuity mistakes. I believe I have evidence of a deliberate and consistent methodology. - Just like in ANH, the "stunt" costumes are designed to be background suits, sometimes with a reduced configuration. In this case, those used to perform the stunts in the forest scenes. - The "hero" suits are those with a full configuration, very clean looking "posh" versions of the costume for closer shots. These, for me, are the main differences ... 1. Appearances: HERO: Although, sometimes seen outdoors (outside the bunker), all hero troopers are seen indoors (or emerging from the bunker) at some point. STUNT: Only ever seen outdoors in the forest (by definition performing stunts!) 2. Lenses HERO: Bubble lenses. STUNT: In general, flat green lenses. I'd even go as far to say that all the troopers seen exclusively in the forest have flat lenses. 3. Armour details HERO: A. Mostly very clean, e.g. Death Star troopers never seen outdoors. Excepeption: troopers exiting the bunker (lightly weathered). B. Full configuration, i.e. thermal detonator and holster included (I spotted only one hero trooper without a holster) STUNT: A. Always dirty/weathered. B. Often reduced configuration. Thermal detonator often removed, holster often not included. 4. Footwear HERO: Clean boots. Soles painted white. STUNT: Dirty/weathered boots. Many examples of boots with clearly visible dark soles. Probably due to wear and tear, i.e. paint flaking off. How I think these findings could be incorporated into our guidelines ... HERO 1. Armour may be clean or weathered. Clean armour always = hero. 2. Helmets should/must have bubble lenses. Bubble lenses always = hero. 3. Armour should/must have full configuration (thermal detonator and holster included). 4. Boots should/must have clean white painted soles. STUNT 1. Helmets must have flat lenses 2 Armour must be weathered. Hero armour can be weathered too but there are no clean stunt troopers! 3. Armour may have a reduced configuration, i.e. holster is optional, possibly also thermal detonator. 4. Boots must be weathered/dirty but need not have white soles. Ideally - painted white soles subsequently heavily weathered (paint scraped off) The evidence ... STUNT Stunt troopers with flat lenses (the compulsory three references found immediately!) ... Various "stunt" troopers, displaying reduced configuration of armour, weathering, dark soles etc. ... HERO Hero troopers emerging from the bunker, lightly weathered but still seemingly with full armour configuration, bubble lenses and white soles ... The more typical "strictly-indoor" hero troopers. Full configuration, clean armour, bubble lenses, white soles ... What's "wrong" with the current guidelines / conclusions / my motivation ... 2 examples: 1. Currently, to achieve Centurion status, bubble lenses are a "must have". I think this is an incorrect interpretation of the movie costumes. I have a lot of evidence of flat lenses on my "stunt" troopers. I believe this is enough evidence of a deliberate and common costume configuration. We are not dealing with isolated continuity mistakes. Flat lenses represent an equally accurate costume build as long as the rest of the costume details match (i.e. for centurion stunt flat lenses and weathering should be "must haves"). 2. None of our guidelines mention weathering at all! This is a fantastic opportunity missed in my opinion. We have to acknowledge weathering as a way of achieving an accurate Endor/stunt TK. This is more than just grime and scuffing and it gives us scope to use paint/wood varnish and a bit of artistic skill to create even more accurate costumes. And why should the sandtroopers have all the fun with acrylic paint? Of course, the building of my own suit has provoked a lot of this thought. When I finish it, it will be fully weathered (with acrylic paints), the helmet will have flat lenses, the boots will be weathered but will not have perfect white soles and I will not have a holster. I think this is a very accurate ROTJ TK costume. It reflects what I call the ROTJ "stunt" TK costume very accurately. In my opinion, it is every bit a Centurion standard build. However, as it stands, it would not even pass EIB. I would like to think we could incorporate my ideas into the current guidelines and would love to see a split set of guidelines with separate "stunt" and "hero" costumes. I believe this way we will have more scope for more accuracy and inevitably see more EIBs and Centurions. I would, of course, be willing to help in any way I can with any redrafting of guidelines. If it's not possible, i.e. the detachment decides it does not agree with my theories, or the timing is not right, I fully understand. I just hope at the very least to provoke some discussion and generate some interest in the largely ignored ROTJ TK. I've really grown to love this costume since I started my build.