Rich330

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.

I'm probably just going to glue them on, Mark. I've not exactly gone for an accurate interior; after all I stuck pink bloody foam in there! I made the chin straps reasonably accurate because they're sometimes visible on the outside but the inside is built for comfort rather than accuracy. Thanks to all for the input, references and tips though.

So, we're taking the ears off again?

No one congratulated me, which leads me to believe that it's quality, not quantity, that counts. And seeing as your posts are full of the same sort of nonsense and rubbish as mine, don't expect a pat on the back from me either!

Superglue I reckon.

Oh, I did put together a couple of chin straps (one for this helmet, one for another project) ...

Just waiting for the postman to bring the helmet decals, then I'm done and ready for a suit-up/clearance photos.

My deepest sympathy, Mark. Take care, mate.

Absolutely amazing! I bet he loves his armour. Mini split rivets in the post on Monday.

Video of me weathering the first part. I did the rest much the same but later on, instead of applying the two colours separatey, I mixed both together and applied them together as one shade. I was slightly happier with the single-shade technique.

Got my weathering done. I have to say I had a load of fun with it. I used variations of Terry's techniques with acrylic paint and mixed a dark brown (nurned umber) and black for the greyish brown shade I wanted. Quite happy with the way it turned out. I also recorded a few videos of how I did it. I'l post them when I have it all edited and uploaded. Here are some photos for now ... Nothing too over the top. Mostly light dirt. But this is where I stepped in Ewok droppings ...

Thanks, man. Glad to hear you'ev been looking in to the whole flat lens thing too. Nice to have some consensus.

Aaaah, just at the right time! Just before I start my ROTJ weathering. Thanks, Jesse.

Hi Terry, Just wanted to say thanks for the tutorials. I've been looking at ways to weather my ROTJ TK and found this very helpful. The look I'm going for is quite different to the really dirty sandtrooper but I still found your tutorial really useful. My wife does a bit of painting and I knew she had some acrylic paint knocking around. She even had the same "Amsterdam" brand funnily enough. Not in the right shade but some black for me to do a quick test on a spare bit of plastic with paper towels, a sponge and a scouring pad. I got exactly the results I was looking for. It was just a case of following the tutorial for the first stage (with the "burnt umber") and just varying the amount I subsequently took off and changing the technique a bit. I will get hold of some more paint in dark brown (maybe combine it with black) and post pictures when I'm done. Thanks, man.

Possibly, the troopers with flat lenses do seem to be doin much more running about. But there's a also definite pattern of stunt versus hero, i.e. the bubble lenses are the ones seen closest the camera and the flat lenses are seen on the background troopers. Either way, I was pleased to find more troopers with flat lenses. It proves it wasn't a one-off "mistake". I can now finish my "ROTJ stunt trooper" safe in the knowledge that I'm replicating something which appeared several times on screen.

Pretty certain that these are different boots to ANH too. But also pretty certain that the soles were painted. Look at these ... And compare ....

Absolutely agree that they're the same boots but I think it's more a case of white paint falling off the soles in the woods.

Thanks but I wouldn't exactly take any credit for discoveries as such. I think I just maybe looked a little longer at the screen caps than most do ... instead of getting on with my work!

I've been looking at screen caps again, and in particular those which are good reference pictures for weathering, i.e. troopers in the woods. I've come to the conclusion that the stormtrooper costumes were divided up into hero and stunt in a similar way to ANH. It seems the vast majority of the dirty/weathered troopers, getting attacked by Ewoks, have flat lenses. The bubble lenses are predominantly seen on the clean (hero) troopers seen indoors. It might even be worth including in the CRL / EIB / Centurion programmes. These are the typical features of each as I would break it down ... Stunt Seen in the forest (by definition performing stunts!) Flat lenses Weathered armour Visible dark soles on boots No holster (Often) no thermal detonator Hero Full armour configuration (thermal det + holster included - I have spotted only one clean indoor trooper with no holster) Clean armour Bubble lenses Clean painted white boot soles This has finally made up my mind to weather my suit and go for my own "stunt" configuration, i.e. flat lenses, no holster, optional thermal detonator, sometimes carrying the ESB promo version of the E-11. Just look at all those "Stunt" troopers with their flat lenses! The "ROTJ-toppers-all-had-bubble-lenses" myth busted?

The Rebel Legion, you seek the Rebel Legion ... http://www.rebellegion.com/

He was just the right size to apply the correct amount of .... wait for it .... wait for it .... FORCE! :vader1:

Inundated with PMs asking you the brand I fear also you will ....