Nicky

It's a very time demanding subject, just like topics about pre-assembled armors, community judgements and assembly skills, If we're to disagree on these, it will render everyone sleepless. Don't take it personally, we're not in your perspective and most of us have it easy with our finished costume and Legion-ID all things ready and approved. We can't make the decisions for you or just answer yes / no without questioning the background on a product we've never seen or heard about before. I wouldn't call that "tense". Sorry we can't tell much else than what we said about the helmet and blaster's looks. We're just not impressed, due to the price tags and assembly flaws to mention the visible. Xacto and sandpaper, the cheapest, and most hassle-free. The cuts are always precise and clean. I have lexan scissors and dremel tool, and they have so many cons and hazards I would only use them for handplates and ears. The rest of the armor works great with just a xacto knife to score and hands or flat pliers to snap. Slowly but certainly. But I guess you need to have a kit in your possession to see this as constructive advice and a superior alternative, we don't mean to discourage anyone. It's just not a simple pay and wear hobby. If your GML wants to help newbies and has the network and connections to import kits, why not have him import your kit and pay him for the assist wuth logistics and assembly? It's more expensive but at least you can get a sharper build, vaccuformed properly by the actual maker. If you want to save money, save it by cutting and glueing yourself. We'll show you how, for free.

We can see that >1000 posts on the FISD paid off in the form of a great build!

For assembling a helmet you only need an utility knife, sandpaper and 8 screws + washers of your choice, and 2 colors of paint. For the entire armor you use the same knife, sandpaper, tape and epoxy or E6000 glue. I wouldn't call that a luxury or something reserved for America. Is that what the GML encourages people to think? Also the right ear is painted wrong. The concern about the eyes to me is mostly due to the excessive trimming. I'm not trying to say you must buy from Troopermaster, I didn't buy from him myself he just happened to jump in on the recast matter. I just think the real topic is how is it risky to order from abroad when you're in the Philippines? How were the incidents reported/experienced? How can it be improved and risks avoided? We want to be all-including and not wanting to see a whole garrison rely on recasts for their costumes to make one single person more wealthy thanks to preconceptions, is part of this all-including spirit. Some people get bitter because we see the 501st Legion by its popularity has become a marketing stamp for recasters to make money easy, and when we point out the issue we're accused of discriminating people or garrisons, the opposite of what we're actually trying to do. So yes, this helmet is approvable with modifications, but there's a loop-hole in the 501st standards that when taken advantage of can compromise the image of the non-profit organisation. It's not one person's problem, but no need to rub it in our face by using the FISD to certify a recast for future promotions. Also you need an armor for 501st standards so I don't see how this is a shortcut.

Money and time's not a real problem if you want to make this your hobby. I believe people overuse this line because they think that by saying that they're full time nurse with past gambling issues we will uncover a secret passage where cheap armors just build themselves for you and their application will just fly through garrison approval. But this passage doesn't exist. And once we've assured that it doesn't exist, not even on eBay aka eGarbage compactor, they suddenly they go: "oh well, I do have about 1-2 hours every other day I can work on an armor, and a few more hundred bucks for getting soft parts separately isn't that a big deal!". Am I right? If you have been doing research for 2 years and even considered joining the 501st, then you want this, and you are ready to take the long road and invest like you would invest in a PS3, soda maker, or iPhone 5S with much less discussion involved. If you're a student then you know what to do when you're overwhelmed with information and how-to's: you take a nap. It's the same with armor making. And isn't it like 99% of the 501st who never assembled an armor before they... assembled their first armor? So keeping in mind your budget, let's be honest. How tall/big are you? PS: Last month one person in my area didn't bother to ask first, and got himself an old, used, formerly 501st approved (formely), TK armor with soft parts, for 1200 CAD. It wasn't even ebay so he overestimated the deal. See the armor he received has a dozens of things that were built, sculpted, trimmed, and painted wrong, he wanted to join the 501st quickly so he tried to take a shortcut. The GML who handled the application does her job like every other GML: look at the application photos, follow the CRL, but can't approve the costume - i.e. he can't participate in canon or semi-canon garrison events. We're trying to help everyone regardless of what mistaken purchase they come from, some will have little flaws to fix and will just look "passible", some will have too much to do, and be discouraged. It's one out of hundreds of stories we base our opinion on. If you have a 2013 plan in mind already, then you definitely want to trust our judgement completely. And what hard parts to get is the most crucial starting point to get right, especially if you're on a budget or tight schedule because you get the potential to get everything right. If on the other hand the GML for the garrison you apply to requires you to retrim, shim or replace a whole piece of armor for example: you'll have to do it to get your costume approved, regardless of your schedule. Alex, what LadyinWhite writes is true and enough reason not stay away from ebay, and I rarely feel I need to add anything more, but from what I read in your first post you knew we would tell you that already, and your having plans to troop next year showed that you needed some crude perspective on how shortcuts can ruin your plans and wallet.

You will have them ready before March.

I'm going to learn wood sculpting using lots of dremel tips and bondoing, to make Mass Effect heavy pistols from scratch, and maybe a mass relay while practicing. I really like Mass Effect. I don't feel like wearing a soft foam costume though and it seems the cosplaying community haven't started vaccuforming hard armors for Mass Effect, which I have no tools or skills to do myself.

I've gotten money back from the doopy dispute so I am very willing to pay for the upcoming kit ahh I can't wait!

I hate you guys, I didn't any offer!

You're all a bunch of show offs! I used a velcro band spread from the neck trim to a pad near the ears to free-float the fan inside the tube area, it blows towards the faceplate. This to avoid noise propagation through vibration. No photo for you!

My bad, bubbled lenses, green and black are both allowed!

Great trim, nice fit, good job! What make is your kit? Reminds me of RS but... what do I know. And is it ANH Stunt or Hero? You painted the frown like a Hero, while the stunt would have 4 grey teeth per side. If you're going for hero then you need black bubbled lenses, you already have the right attachment point count on the holster, and your biceps are accurately hanging loose like on Han and Luke so I believe you're going for Hero. Like everyone thought and said: Awesome 'stache! It matches the one you have on the helmet Regarding the EIB/Centurion details, it's really just about smaller details and you covered many of the major ones. We will need close up pics of a few things like rivets, butt snaps, rear ammo boxes, etc. these are things listed and color coded in the CRL. There are no close up pic of it but we like to think the knee ammo pack have rivets painted white. Can someone confirm that?

I knew I would fish some nice background info with that pic, thank you Paul I like this A/B photo I took because it teaches me to spot the slight differences you can have in two helmets comparable to eachother. I wanted AP but my sis recommended to "try" T/MC, can't fit AP on my head. The overall shape with the back and dome make them two look very different. Here's another one T/MC + AP: and GF from SWHelmets.com: Ok back to topic, now I stared for my entire lunch hour. AP, Ebay:

How do you guys recognize so easily?? It looks more like a shepperton to me because of the teeth, uneven dome, and eye bump: Here's a photo of my T/MC (left) and my sister's AP (right), where the bump isn't quite the same, then again I guess there were modifications through the years:

Yes, there. But they take paypal and google wallet. "STORMTROOPER E11 HASBRO BLASTER CONVERSION SKIN KIT MK2" Do e-mail them first to ask if they have it available before ordering.

Everybody say "Hello" to THIS again for the 800th time Jared, stop using google and go there: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/forum/38-getting-started-read-this-first/

I remember I browsed the guy's facebook photos for hours, catching some lolz. He's Shadow Legion Troopers DK alright, and he's the contact on this dealer site. What it implies is completely off topic but if I used my contacts to find out more (i.e. insinuate things) I bet it'll start a fire between the NG and the SL They are presumably the preferred dealer for the SL troopers, but the SL have nothing on us. The way I see it they ruin their own armors from start to end, waste money and make these guys rich. So no, I don't want to know. This is going to be another RTA-like topic and imply that NG has to do something about it.

I was not joking. Just sent another e-mail to doopydoo. Because still no response so far. OK I finally got a response, strange response too, and wasn't very helpful but I ended up with a 39,99 GBP refund in the end, that's the price of the kit excluding S&H. And they wrote no final answer, just the paypal thingie. They just didn't know what else to say I guess.This cost me 82 days and the shipping fee. I'll just post the e-mail conversation so you can see what kind of contact I had with doopydoo. If you consider buying from Doopydoo, check the dates below. Ordered september 17th and got my money back December 8th. I don't have any proof of a legitimate attempt from Doopydoo to help me out in due time. I also demanded an extra 10 GBP for the shipping fee that I think they still owe me.

Then Troopermaster has nothing to worry about. The way I see it in the case of RTA the only thing done is that the vetted maker gets support from other members to abuse and violate forum rules until a forum moderator locks the thread (does not remove it) for bad language. Allows the topic to be re-opened and does nothing until rules are violated again. Then who gets punished? If you're talking about our detachment then we probably have the time, resources and knowledge to settle any irregularity in this forum here. That the 501st won't take our detachment's word for it is I believe an assumption and our staff should look into bettering communication with 501st forum admins.

Yay! We did it!.. I mean, you did it!!

It's because the 501st can't legally protect your property or officially authorize sales, but leave an open forum for unofficial trade activities. By moderating or unlisting specific sales it could be accused of having anti-competitive practices which can escalate to being involved in disputes that the organization doesn't have the resources to settle each and every one individually.

Looks good! I hopped back and forth between your pic and the reference gallery. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/gallery/album/23-knee-ammo-pack-a-new-hope/page__sort_order__asc__view_style__large You've come very far, farther than the prop makers for A New Hope who sometimes barely attached that thigh pack

I know exactly why I do this because I know myself. Trooping makes me a happier person. I don't see the stormtrooper armor as a part of me, but as a tool to take action on things that affect others than myself. Seeing things in first person perspective has always felt weird and cold so in the face of everything that happens I ask myself constantly "am I doing right or wrong?". At first the spending money on an armor was more of satisfying an OCD and Gear Acquisition Syndrome, I knew what the 501st does, and I followed through with that in mind, with the objective of giving it a chance and see how that turns out. First of all I must explain that I feel almost nothing about the human causes leading to charity. I grew up in a family of scientists who worked on genetic diseases and patients suffering from them. I translate the least feeling I get into a need to understand the distress. I've always been active donating to medical aids, but I rarely feel sadness about others' misfortune. I feel the need to act and support because questions pop up in my mind: what are my responsibilities as a human being? I don't believe in fate, God or bad luck. I believe others need help or want to be happy even for a moment, and if I can provide it in entertainment, practical help or moral support then I'll try to deliver. When trooping the question "am I doing right or wrong?" kept getting the answer: "yeah, you're doing the right thing". Thinking about charity and quasisystematic happiness fed back through my lenses. Another question popped up is "when will I get bored of this?", and that's why I get up early in the morning, pack up my costume and travel long distances to troop with unquestionable motivation to perform as much as I can. So far I seem to keep seeing it as productive and rewarding, no matter how redundant the experience is perceived by far. I always try to see every fellow trooper and kid as a one person I meet in the moment rather than a recurrent event, I don't take it for granted and I try my best to look sharp and positive. I care about what people think about me, too, so I it challenges me to think a lot about team work. So new efforts are always added to the original effort, I spend a lot less money on the costume, but I still spend energy because at the end of the year it's never lost. The photos, the garrison blogs, the memories, scratches and stink in the plastic remind me that I've done something. For me it's all about doing something and measuring impact. I am optimistic, yet very critical, insensitive, empathetic and I hate stagnation. The less I do in life the more I feel stagnation, I feel days passing by and my world feels boring and passive. Some people are happy when they feel it as a drive. I know I'm happy when I feel nothing.

Don't spend too much time on the asymmetry. It's there and we "feel it" but it's not the reason why we prefer it to other helmets that are mirror symmetrical. The others are just failed attempts to design or sculpt an equally menacing helmet and asymmetry won't help. The Stormtrooper helmet inflicts a similar effect on us as H.R. Giger's xenomorph. It's a hybrid human-mechanic skull-like face.

OK don't take my word for it but... Would it be an inaccuracy bummer to trim off the corner of that ammo back to let the rivet appear to be far enough to the edge? I've seen worse positions for that rivet, but that is probably not a problem to get basic 501st approval. Amirite?

It's a small world even smaller gothenburg! haha Convert! You won't regret it If you have the cover strips for it, and you used E6000 you can easily convert to butt joint for better looks, you would only need to trim half the ridge on both ends, peel the glue residue, re-sand and glue with cover strips that'll cover the entire ridge. You picked ANH Stunt so butt joint is best suited, even for TD.