gymbeau2000

Exactly!! So what if she has additional parts and isn't white....she's 90% FOTK.

Me and Ingrid had just talked last night about you sending in pics of your parts!

Well there's always mine... Although I am now half done with a repaint. Our major 4 day con took it's toll on the costume. Yes, I have been working with Ingrid and some of the other makers and getting this right, to include having the most accurate cape material you'll find.

TK 2950 requesting Stormtrooper access (detachment) http://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=12104

Checking on the progress of this...it's been a month. Thanks.

Required, no...strongly suggested, yeah. It help seal in the fiberglass and stops you from itching! Adds for a nice touch too. I don't know anything about stormtrooperundersuit.

I have what I guess is considered Jim's V3. I also got Jim's cloth gaskets as I wait for the rubber ones from TK4205. Jim's gaskets come wearable out the box, with straping, buckles and velcro already sewn on and in place. All I had to do was put on some industrial sticky back velcro to the inside of some of the armor parts after I plastidipped the insides. Everything holds together and looks great. I only wish Jim included or offered a neck seal, since his gaskets look shiny and rubbery like a hero neckseal. As for straps, I made a suspender system for the one piece wrap-around ab plate, another suspender system for the thighs (since this armor is heavier than my ATA TK and the legs being all connected), a chest strap for the chest to mount between the yoke points, shoulder straps for the bells and a bicep strap for holding those plates up. Last thing are two straps for the cod and two for the butt. I did all mine as pile side sticky velcro on the armor and hook side sewn on heavy duty elastic straps. Gloves are very different for me as a Phasma.

I would post my Phasma build of a Jim kit, but honestly there has been nothing to really build. It's literally light sand everything for a once-over, primer and paint. I chose to trim down the thigh and open up the knee part of the thigh as well (as suggested) and I guess the only real cut is the bicep, since they are identical and you have to make one left and one right. I had to do slight Apoxie-ing in the bicep due to him sculpting in a hexagon as opposed to just one side of a hexigon and of course gap filling on the left shin boxes. Thermal det is better apparently, but fragile. I have recommended to him to ship the helmet with the det because I think the big bundle of his heavy "rubberglass" banging around is what breaks his dets. Fingers are unacceptable. Not accurate at all and too small. I replaced with an accurate set. You need to dremel out ovals and stuff, but otherwise, if you are like me (5-11, 200) there is very little work to do.

Hey there, go ahead and fire away in here of PM with questions. I haven't been in here for awhile cause I have long since completed my ANH Stunt....but have been researching some other stuff. I sitll want to refurbish this since my skills and knowledge in building have vastly increased.

Awesome thread to follow. I'm just now starting my CP. I'm thinking about taking it to an auto body shop for the chrome plating, since I have terrible weather for painting here and no garage. As for your cape, is that drop cloth fairly flowy or not? I thought it looked more like a duck cloth, but that stuff is very stiff. Also, maybe I missed it but what did you do for your glove base?

I only wore it for pre screening and to the Contest area, then back. I should have wandered more. After finishing my TK, now I am thinking of going back and revamping this.

Well, I never got any real feedback or tips after this, so I just drove on by myself. Trimming the armor was fairly easy. The helmet was spooky, but I followed Terry's example, except I used the lexan scissors and an Xacto. Paint and decals from TrooperBay really helped. I was not pleased with the alignment of my bucket, so I am going to prob pick up a RT Mod or see if someone can assemble and paint me another ATA ABS bucket. I went for the low brow, but some people seem to think it's too low, but others like it. I saw some super low brows in ANH in the Death Star Hanger (which is what I used as the majority of my references). Was a fairly easy build, just alot of plastic to work compared to a Boba. I bought some of the correct rivets for my left side from a seller in England. I got 50, so if anyone else needs some.... And I'm waiting for the next troop so maybe an EIB holder can show me the proper right side snap and cod snap before I mess stuff up. Also, waiting on my Doopydoos kit. I'm not going hyperfirm yet...too many other projects in the hopper that are more important. Other than that, was a fun build. The kit is comfortable and not pinching. I'm really happy with it. It was a lifelong dream of mine, now complete. I got approved this morning. I'm proud to say I got it all done all by myself with absolutely no help outside my own research and the 2-3 comments you see above.

Here is the link to Gus Lopez' article on the wierdness of Uzay. http://theswca.com/images-speci/yglesias/uzay.html I have the Blue Stars armor in my attic still, but sorry, no more real pics, just multiples of the one's I posted. I might break him out for a convention or something soon. it's a fun costume to wear cause people don't know if I'm some sort of custom or an obscure character or what. All I know is it fun to be a life sized version of an interesting toy.

So I never post about this cause this kit doesn't really have a home, but now I found this section, so awesome. Years ago, I stumbled upon Gus Lopez' site where he talks about super rare figures and I discovered the weird Uzay figures. For those of you who don't know, Uzay is the Turkish knock off's of the vintage figures. I think they might be on the edge of authorized, since they are not pure bootlegs. The thing I really liked about about the Uzay ones were the custom characters they created. I always liked snowtroopers, so their invented character "Blue Stars" was my favorite, although "Head Man" (yes, I'm serious) is pretty awesome. The Blue Stars is simply a dark blue TS, yellow eyes, red accents and a white gun. The Blue Stars were a more serious type figure compared to Head Man. Head Man was a Royal Guard with no soft cape, black body, chrome head and a Captain America type shield. Since there are only 2-3 Blue Stars out there, I only had Gus' pics to work from. ------------ So, as I was thinking about joining the Legion, I though maybe doing a TS would be fun. Fairly easy (in my opinion) and cheap comparatively. So upon some advice, I bought a TS kit from a maker I won't mention, but it was NOT from Ebay and WAS from a known Legion kit maker. When I got it, I was pretty excited. I figured I was well on my way to being in the Legion. As I did more research, my hopes were crushed as I discovered that the pull I got was so weak that there was no way it would get approved. Well, lemme state I felt that it was not good enough...I might have passed muster, but the way the backpack and bucket were pulled I felt strongly that I had just wasted some cash. Around the same time, CV was being rumored. When I saw they were infact planning CV and announced it, I had an idea while reading their site. They mentioned a costume contest. I figured it would be full of Legion types, started thinking there would be NO costumes of a rare Uzay figure. I knew that making it would be a one shot thing, since there are only two references for it (if you can even call it that...the vintage figure and now a Kubrick) and I highly doubted anyone from a normal con would understand what I was doing. But at CV, I might get recognized. So I started the fun process of learning how to work ABS with no CRLs except my own standards. Trimming the armor and painting it blue was easy enough. I didn't know about the nice Lexan scissors, so all my cutting was with a Dremel. I used a Testors Model Masters Acrylic blue, airbrushed onto the armor after being rattle can primed. http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1341/4728207975_4f53d502d1.jpg As you can see from the brim, this was very roughly done. I kindof stressed that it didn't look like a nice Legion TS, but then thought it added to the whole knockoff and tacky-ness of it. Making the soft parts was fairly easy. I found a nice flowing blue cloth that matched the paint and used the Matrix Neo trenchcoat pattern for the duster. I threw together a pair of pants from the same material in a simple style. The gloves were white yardworking gloves that I dyed (dying the elastic as well) and used zip up boots that came with the Rubies Supreme Vader I got on Ebay for extremely cheap. I bought some yellow TK lenses from an Ebay seller who threw in some mirror tint for free so I could make my eyes. I used craft foam painted yellow for the rank buttons and an actual TS ab plate greeb. I already owned a 1996 era Hasbro E-11 that I dusted with white primer to finish off the look. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4813301901_4d04bbce93_z.jpg And here is the finished bucket with the yellow mirrored eyes: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4100/4813925320_5538577fa6_z.jpg I didn't take too many build pics, but here is the final result: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4817035929_33ce01370b_z.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4817658732_2588d15474_z.jpg I had to do some repairs at CV, but I did get there with it and entered it into the costume contest. I took runner up in the "Outer Rim" category to the badass Gammorean. But I guess the coolest part is that when you go to www.starwarscelebration.com and see the trailer video they show for C6, upon mentioning "costumes", they show a queen, a TPM denizen, Grievous and ME! Not too bad to be only one of 4 demo-ing the costumes and contest! Oh yeah, I bought a repro figure and packed it with me while in costume at CV, lol -------------- Thanks for letting me show off, TK brothers!

Even though it's finals week, I could not resist. The beautiful shiney ABS called to me, so I did a little bit of work. Since this is my first TK, I decided to work on the hand plates first. I figured no loss, as I plan on replacing them next week with latex or rubber ones (go EIB!). Also, I wanted to monkey with the det. I had some experience with that from my weak pulled TS that I turned into a Blue Star Trooper. So the things I have been working with are a set of Stanley tin snips, everyone's highly recommended Exel (right?) scissors from my local model shop. I got the curved and straight ones, well cause they were both fairly cheap. I also brought out the Stanley box cutter, a nice pencil, masking tape, the measuring tape and pencil sharpener. So not knowing much about the return edge (I need to rewatch Panda's youtube vid and get an iron), I simply practiced trimming the excess off the handplates. I left some on there and they are still a tiny bit too large for my hand, so I should be able to practice the return edging on them next week. I ended up with this: Next, I trimmed up the det. I figured if I really screw it up, I can buy a finished one. I rough trimmed it with the tin snips, then referenced a fellow FISD member's thread where they showed a det beside a ruler. I measured mine out to match. I used masking tape on the ABS to make the straight edge for pencilling in my cut line (since the det is not flat). Once drawn on, I peel off the tape for a nice crisp line to cut out. Then I got the straight scissors and cut along the line. I know it doesn't look straight in the pic, but I tilted the det at a little angle. In the other pic, you cannot even see where I cut. (Don't steal my fingerprints, bro!) I didn't take pics, but it fit like a glove on my 2inch pvc pipe. I got my bucket in the mail today from ATA, so now I am even more fired up, as my TK stares at me from my dining room table. I'm just glad finals are done this week. It's hard concentrating when you can see your box 'o TK from your laptop....

Disregard the Det question...I took the hand off my Vader PVC mannequin and the 2 inch pipe he is made of fits the det ends like a glove.

Yeah I plan on EIB from the get go..I mean why wouldn't you? After doing a ESB Boba, the EIB standards don't seem too hard. I really don't know what all the fuss is about the FISD and EIB being overly elite if this is the reason why, lol. I need to go get some E6000 and ABS cement and some of those small trimming shears now. My Stanley box cutter is ok as is my tin snips, but after starting on the battery boxes, I see I need a little more finesse in the cuts. I can dremel it, but that's almost overkill. One question I never saw answered, although I am sure its out there - what is the pipe diameter for the det...2"?

Got my ABS ATA kit after about 3 weeks. Super smooth transaction. I am getting my helmet a couple of days later cause he was out of neck trim, which wasn't an issue to me cause I bought some Trooperbay stuff and have extras now. Now unopened box pic, but shockingly, the box was small. I have seen other ATA build threads and they talk about his ridiculously awesome packing job...yeah it's true. I did take it all out and laid it on the sofa. Reading up here I was very confident about this build, but have to admit, I'm alittle intimidated now. As I was looking at the pieces for the trim lines, I saw a couple of pieces were scraped and looked melted really bad on one thigh... but then I remembered on some of our Mando armor that we made out of the thick solid PVC and how it had protective film on it so it maintained the shiny scuff free appearance. Just as I though - it was the film that was scraped and bubbled! This wasn't something I had heard about on here so far and yeah I figured it out fast, but was a spooky moment. I'll be studying the pieces for a couple of days till I trim. Luckily I have homework and finals till next Friday which makes me keep the TK to the side for now and prevents me from diving into it.

I'll be following this WIP. I emailed him to get on the waiting list on Feb 10th.

I am thinking of doing something borderline foolish. My g/f is interested in doing a TK also. However she is 4-11. I can trim the crap out of it I suppose to make her look like a shrunken TK, but has anyone other than the Ebay recasters ever made a Child size TK (other than Foamy)? Luckily she is not busty, so that won't distort the shape.

I'm in all three clubs. I thought the cartoon was really funny, but it was the artist's comment at the bottom that was kind of harsh one way. Oh and R2Dan, sorry but the Mercs have not allowed cardboard armor for as long as I have known. The Nerf issue was slightly fixed recently...but I think they should be outright banned. But I am sure in the 501st's infancy that the Hasbro E-11s were allowed, right? I read some of the comments on the drawing's page from some hateful Legion members. All I do do was think two things. One, I would like to see them try to make a Mando and actually get approved...since we have no standards. I bet if they even could finish, that they would be denied membership a few times like most people applying. The other thing I thought, which I really wish, is that those haters would just be quiet. They make the Legion look like a bunch of assholes & elitist pricks, all the while in the process of tearing down a fellow costuming club. Crap like that is stuff the can make LFL tell us to STFU and shut down. I'm just glad I live in a great area with almost everyone being nice and open-minded, realizing that this is all just fun and helping each other be better.