Nicky

Well I'm glad it's over now otherwise I would be going bald! I was probably too excited about applying pressure for the tightest joint...

True! I will try duct tape that thing see how loud it goes

It's probably just me. Several people told me that, but the gluing process, keeping pressure on the outside, made me scream. After swearing a lot with clamping troubles and parts moving I ended up using the weight of 2 beer cans to glue the inner strip first, then I just needed a few magnets to keep the outer strip in place while the rest was already dry.

I never tried chest-Aker but now I have that big white one I'm happy with, I had a small black one available but my candy bag took all the space. I thought of wireless transmitter, and then I thought it would be more impedance questions, more batteries, more external factors, more hassle? I Googled for small audio transmitters that have small mono in transmitter and larger 3.5mm mono out receiver I could put in my chestplate, but didn't trust what I saw. Speaker is fine on the side, easier access to volume control, I could barely hear some people with the small black Aker in their chest*. Also it's easier to recognize myself on flickr *because they stood so far away to avoid hearing damage from my speaker.

Butt joint with cover strips look a lot better to me, more armor-like whatever that means. People should consider it even when not considering EIB/Centurion in the future. It does take extra hours glueing two cover strips, first inside, then trim and glue the second one outside to cover for how much it moved, it's longer but it can't go wrong. So in terms of difficulty I felt it would be harder to get the overlap to look right even when you have to do less. Would I need to convert an overlap to a butt joint I would only worry about the color of the outside strip. I think I could even work with 2mm ridges because there's no rule to how nasty you glue on the inside, I'd heat-bend wider inner strips to join the two pieces, then cover as much and pretty as needed on the outside, fill the space with glue or junk plastic. Then you walk to a centurion who wears overlap and tell him about how much fun you had.

Yeah he had my speaker yapping at his face for too long and my sister had to tell me to dial it down I'm actually looking into getting a cable auto-reel, I know they make some for headphones and USB-power. Just a bit of cutting and soldering to the right length and finding a good place to glue or velcro it on will improve it significantly.

Hi! Now that I'm 501st I can start telling people what's what So I've tested my first TK build at CVI and I've gotten questions about where I put my Aker amp, if I was happy with having it on my belt on the outside of the armor, loud, with regards to feedback. My response was: "no feedback, I use an unidirectional microphone directed straight to my mouth." The Aker amp being on my right side makes it easy to turn it off, on and dial the volume to preference or situation, it also looks cool when I do that rather than reaching inside the chest plate to scratch something. Now on to the microphone: Olympus ME52, 3.5mm unidirectional* dictaphone mike. (* Wikipedia says "A unidirectional microphone is sensitive to sounds from only one direction.") I'm the kind of person to look for something I'd picture in my head as adequate before asking if others are happy with their headset and just buy what everyone's happy about. I knew I wasn't going to be quiet one minute so I didn't want to try dozens of $5 solutions to be half happy about. This ME52 isn't a headset, rather a clip-on mike that I wouldn't use the clamps for. It cost me less than $20 on Amazon, comes with a mono 3.5mm cable that's at least long enough to go from the face to the knee, and other stuff I don't use. What I liked about it was that in loud environments of the CVI and when talking to crowds of people not all paying attention (who better than a TK to orientate people in the queues ) I could boost the volume quite high and be heard without feedback. I've gotten good remarks about the voice sound but that's the aker speaker, although I'm sure they were too polite to tell me "we hear you breathing all the time" ^^ so I don't know about that. The microphone has to be angled and at an ideal distance to the mouth, so you must fix it to the helmet, between the teeth and the vocoder. That's what we call it, right? vocoder? lol Unidirectional microphones in general are not the most popular microphones because it requires the speaker/singer to know the pickup pattern and hold the mike properly, and they're sometimes lower output. People may say the sound sounds tighter, less space, but that's subjective opinion. I don't believe ambient noise is good just because it sounds more normal. The advantages of unidirectional microphones are less feedback, less leak-in noise, higher signal-to-noise ratio, and allow higher gain. Installation in the helmet: behind the vocoder. What I did is cut an extra ABS piece that looks like this: \__U__/ , glue it as in photo below, and just use the ridges on the ME52 to clip it on the U. Actually it's slightly a C=, and leaving no extra gap around the ME52 to keep it solid. Removal is hard, like it should to be so if I pull hard on the cable the mike doesn't fall off it just unplugs. If your face is not like mine then just angle the mike tip to where your mouth should be, you can also rotate it if you're a very sad person with a mouth that is off-axis. (thumbnail) Disadvantage of the whole thing: run a cable under the neck-seal, unplug every time you remove the helmet if you don't want a cable hanging at your neck. Putting the helmet back on takes about 15-20 seconds: bring the helmet to your chin, plug the cable onto the ME52, put the helmet on, pull the excess cable to hide it as it rarely "chooses" to hide inside the helmet. But I liked this system so much at the CVI that I couldn't shut up! I say thumbs up.

Great!

I'm interested in the hearing system, 2 minimikes, amps and inside-helmet speakers! Your prototype looks really good too, but it must be hot in there?

9V is quicker to install on the field than several 1.5V, I'm the kind of guy who always gets the polarity wrong Personally I'm a fan of non-rechargeable generic 9V, I don't buy the cheapest there is, but if you test some of the cheapest you'll find one that work just as well as the Varta, Duracell, Philips, etc. I didn't meter the output, but all I know is how they all show lower effect after 6 hours when I usually replace. I save my pricey rechargeable batteries and their limited life span to more hungry devices like guitar pedals, walkies or VHF. I'd rather pay for "unpack, use, throw away" than add "put 9V on charger for x hours" in my trooping preparation routines, get lower performances and then choke to death For those wanting a quieter cooling: We could keep the 9V and use wider diameter fans with lower RPM to get more air flow for a quieter spin. I don't know how's the difference in battery drain but *coughdetonatorstoragecough*. Also the best way to lower the noise level is not to put the fan in direct or semidirect contact with the bucket, leave it hanging in the "tube cravace" on a strap if you can, there are pics somewhere (Using a non sticky velcro strap from a pad to under the edge cover http://s19.postimage...s3/IMAG0764.jpg ). So I'd keep it high power.

Touching story. I'm glad it worked out and I hope everything goes fine and she stays out of trouble!

Yeah, I know it stings. TSA/FAA allows weapon replicas to pass through check in but I have to side with people who feel discomfort when someone unannounced swings a gun toy around. And we don't need the blaster to look tough we boss people around through the voice amp

EVERYTHING looks great on this helmet!

Happy update! Diana (TK5027, FG) and I started testing our costumes in North America, in downtown Montreal just walking around unannounced taken in photo by friends and people walking by. One of our friends tried to imitate a certain rebel princess looks despite a lack of black danish raisin bun hair ^^. People and kids in the streets were very open and cheerful when seeing our costumes and wanted to pose with us, take pics, joke around. Very nice attitude here! Except one guy who knocked on my sister's helmet and ran away, I hear this is common. But overall a very cool experience with crowds, a rare occasion to have pics of both me and sis as troopers (we live in separate countries) and it was free And last but not least: there was a cool breeze. Later we went to the Star Wars Identities exhibit, visitors may not have helmets within the center so it couldn't work for us. But during this unofficial trooping we did some shots with our swedish friends living in Montreal. So the next step will be CVI Florida where I hope to meet lots of the people who helped and inspired me! Cool shot of my sister (left), our prisoner rebel friend Cecilia (middle) and me (right): http://postimage.org/image/lqcnj1t2n/ We are guided down the stairs because we have special needs xD http://postimage.org/image/o2tu84kfj/ Me (left), Diana (right) who got my back as she doesn't trust my stairs survival skills. http://postimage.org/image/gviykrur3/ Same place, me (left), sis (right) http://postimage.org/image/ymukz8a5r/ Nicky (left), Diana (right) http://postimage.org/image/jv3nd48dr/ Avenue Maisonneuve I think, me(left), Diana (right) http://postimage.org/image/x92y3xawf/ Cecilia, me, Diana (left to right) http://postimage.org/image/ut14q2str/ Updates and fixes with the costume: glued the shoulder bridges (they are awesome now, thanks for the advice!), added the white Aker amp to the right side of the belt, and tested the fan. I haven't figured how to quickly hide the mike cable yet, I have to pull on it at a certain point after which I can't see with the helmet on if it's properly stuffed behind an armor piece. I hope you enjoy the pics and update!

I'd trust anyone who's got a better eye for low res photos of builds. You may be looking at the 3 best photos of something that'd look terrible in real life or in the hundreds other angle/detail shots. I recommend holding CTRL and using the mouse-wheel because from far it looks like a stormtrooper, zoom into details it looks like the outer casing of something else. Here are things I don't understand how you can fix or improve, nor why you would fix for a £450 asking price: -brow -eyes -detonator? -faceplate -paint job -chest plate -shoulder bridges -all the joints -boots, leather look and size? I have no say about how right/wrong the armor is, just how odd it appears on the picture. £450 for that is too much. I assume you want to save time/money trimming/glueing/fitting, so here's my POV: myself I contacted a recommended supplier for my armor at a time when I was economically unfit, and spent probably £400 in tools and accessories alone. I think that you might end up needing the same tools and accessories and spend more than I did. From a proper use of zooming I can tell you I would waste a lot more money starting from that ebay recast thing if the plan is to look good from more than one angle and within 10 meters distance.

Thanks! I'll take tons of pictures!! Maybe with a compact camera stored behind the cod piece haha

Thanks for the thread Here's how I did mine along the same lines: I hang the cod piece with elastic straps, but testing webbing soon. It snaps into place with a rare earth magnet glued in place with the glue gun. But you have to be careful to keep the straps up correctly, or it will show under the belt:

Alright, I'll think about it But now I'm in France with limited hardware and off to North America tomorrow so I won't have the tools to make big fixes and have photos done until after the CVI in Florida. We'll look at it in 4 weeks when I'm back home!

Yeah haha I understand but I was merely kidding. And my sweat does smell like pee! I think the mold itself is sized so that this cod mod isn't leaving much margin. I see too much of the cod with the belt slightly higher, and too little when it's lower. Many times I felt like this armor was made just for my size but not for anyone shorter or taller than me. Split cod is not the holy grail to me either, it just feels better than without, and right now I've got it. I tested just by taping the ab piece around my body tight before cutting the cod piece, I could walk but you know. A bunch of things happen. But this isn't a debate to me, I know what I'm asked, and I'm considerng my options. One of them is buying another ab plate of the same ABS, that would fix at least three issues and add a money issue. I could have the belt right on top of the buttons if anyone asked and not do anything to the cod piece, and be able to swap for when I feel like sitting down or dancing a lot

I don't know, for peeing breaks? I know elastic seems dodgy to the ear but the way i put it the elastic is constantly pulling the piece back so it snaps into place either way, I didn't think webbing straps would give me the same flexibility but when I think about it I realize I don't need elastic so I might as well try webbing today! So I was reading some kind of trooping-only build threads and not tier 1,2,3 approval builds...oh.. well I was very confused then. I thought saving and bookmarking all the guides and tutorial that looked legit would save me trouble.

Yeah I could, but if I understood your advices correctly, for approval I need to glue the cod piece shut and the split is recommended to hide and seal with some home appliance, but to hide/seal isn't mandatory? Seems like an easy fix to glue but I haven't seen many threads about it, so it seems like a risky downgrade to me. Just wait for a stormtrooper dancing contest and I'll show you If I read between the lines I understand this is a hard rule in NG to not cut the cod piece on an ANH Stunt build, and but a recommendation by several troopers on this forum who want this extra flexibility. I did ask around before cutting and the answer was "I've only met one guy who didn't cut his piece". But I didn't ask on the NG forum though. The NG had a link to my build in detail for 2 weeks where you can see everything I modded inside out and it's a bit of a surprise that I am informed of this huge detail only today, so when I rely so heavily on FISD forums and only have one person from NG to advise, I wonder if uniformity is worth going alone in tampering of my only ab/cod piece.

Thanks Stuart So an update: I have a problem with my approval to Nordic Garrison, my belt is too low and there are concerns my cod piece mod would show if I raise it a few cm higher. Honestly I want to keep the belt where it is because I like it there, it keeps my buttplate disciplined with only minor overlap. Here's the link to my newest application pics: http://postimage.org...lery/8hv1tpxs/ By neglect my cod piece shows on its lower right edge, I was messing around with my armor during the photoshoot and forgot to strap the cod piece tight. The canvas belt is snapped on pre-marked spots on the ab plate so I thought it was high enough but it isn't. Relayed by my sister who's already TK in FG and could write directly with the NG, I am asked to revert the cod mod: glue the cod piece to the ab plate and not have it separate so I can have the belt as high as the CRL photo of TK-8377 on 501st website. I did some tests and obviously my armor is not conform and cannot be saved unless I clean cut 2-3 cm off the piece and glue it shut. The cod piece mod is stable with help of two elastic straps and a magnet but since it's not accepted I'm in a bit of a pickle: If I do it as planned from the start the mod is visible looking from underneath, as two splits / \ If I by neglect forget to tighten the strap or intentionally pull on it really hard, it does this: If I raise the belt above the blue button, that's how much my cod piece mod shows: Any advice how to get this fixed for approval? otherwise I suspect the best move to go along with NG's uniformity is to get a new ab plate and not cut the cod.

Posing with the blaster, like a boss 8D. And some attempt at modeling ;P

I take the silence as a "go ahead"

Here are things I recently fixed: Shortened detonator, to have the clips right next to the edge caps. Before I had 2cm of grey visible distance between the edge caps and the clips. Painted helmet screws white to remain uniform. It looked better before One thing I need to fix but need advice about: The knee trim for the back of the thighs. I'm not sure how to do it without trimming too much and risk becoming an outcast. I still want to be able to climb stairs without someone else holding me so I'm going to trim. The question is how much is allowed, this is what it looks like now: (the suspenders are mistakenly centered, but should not be visible otherwise) That's how far I can bend my legs without bleeding hazard: From the sides it looks "ok" I think: Here's a trim idea I had in mind (please click to zoom for details): Oh no, now I've got tears in my eyes! haha,,