Nicky
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Posts posted by Nicky
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We've already taken the time to answer to Alex about buying your first costume, and ebay.
There are so many irregularities in the photos and description I wouldn't know where to start. We can start with the big fat lie: "501st approved". Well the hypothetical GML who approved it needs to get his eyes checked ASAP.
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Around 50 hours then! 10 hours less than me, but 6x faster on the calender
I totally noticed your eye for straight lines, and couldn't have guessed you used a dremel as I assume everyone has my shakey hands .I wasn't as active reading or participating in the forum for until I was almost finished, so I needed lots of breaks far away from the build, to let all the information sink into my brain. I hear you regarding the clamps and magnets, I had 2mm thick ABS to work with and I didn't want to use the heatgun everywhere the clamps and magnets wouldn't suffice. But my sister told me that you can't just do things by the book if you want to go fast and avoid frustrations: use whatever you have in the house. And I happened to have beer.
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Thanks Nicky, well on my way of learning I have managed to provide some info to help others, think this happens to most on their build journey. I have had a great time with this armor build, from the start of being scarred of the first cut, to the end with the final fit up, it is amazing how much you can learn in such a short time, but there is allways more to learn
Indeed I noticed, you brought helpful stuff to the table and it's a great spirit. How many hours did you spend on that build?
Regarding the shins, the straps make it look dodgy. It should be tight enough so the thickness around your shoes and leg keeps the pieces stable. They shouldn't have the freedom move, twist or anything, let alone the need for a strap. You're very good at trimming, it's all straight and clean, even the finishing strips are well defined. I think you trimmed the calves with too much with respect for the present ridges rather than trim to a fit. If it's trimmed tight and bites around the left knee (due to any odd symetry), we can shorten/remove the return edge hidden by the sniper plate. But since it doesn't show that it's loose or oversized compared to the thighs another option is padding the insides with a thick/dense foam, just like some people do with forearms.
Congrats on your well deserved TK-ID!
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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.
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We can see that >1000 posts on the FISD paid off in the form of a great build!
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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.
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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.
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You will have them ready before March.
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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.
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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!
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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!
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My bad, bubbled lenses, green and black are both allowed!
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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?
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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:
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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:
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Really cool to see that many!
Ok I see the topic went on about Disney's cast members' TK...
...Let's also talk about our own 501st and some of their helmets that really need replacement.
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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.
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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/
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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.
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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.
Hi,
I received on paypal the incomplete amount of £39,99, that's 82 days after I ordered from you.
You have still not written anything to assess all the points I have brought up. You have therefor not proven the reason of no-delivery. The images you sent had a timestamp that proves nothing without a copy of the claim report from the post office. Shall you be refunded for Royal Airmail's bad handling in the future, that money is NOT yours.
I demand a refund for the remaining of the amount I paid in total, that's £50.82 - £39.99 = £10.87 that you owe me.
Please transfer the funds as soon as possible £10.87 to my paypal: nicky.-.com
Regards,
Nicky Mezzina
On Fri 07/12/12 10:37 AM , nicky@re.c.om wrote:
Hi,
Would you be kind and answer my e-mail from tuesday this week and take the time to assess every point?
Thank you.
Regards,
Nicky Mezzina
On Tue 04/12/12 12:54 PM , nicky@d-com wrote:
Hi,
You have not given me any help in your response. The images you just sent show a stamp on september 20th so it does not prove that you have sent a replacement in october as you wrote on october 15th, I quote:
" it went out via airmail on the 20th September so it should have been with you weeks ago. What we will do is send out a replacement whilst we put in a claim for the missing one. We apologise about this situation. We will give you a e-mail as soon as the replacement has been shipped out to you as all our props are made to order. Hopefully one will be ready this Wednesday the latest. "
So do you have a proof of posting for the replacement, have you filed a claim for this one as well and have you gotten any response?
A post office cannot doesn't take 49 days to respond to a claim, let alone two, so I don't see how this is helpful to me.
Your last e-mail to me was october 30th 2012. I e-mailed you more questions about my order, and no answer. I know how to use a mailbox and @Doopydoos.com doesn't cought in any spam filter.
Either you prove that you have answered my previous e-mails from november, that both packages (the original and replacement) were posted and delivered to Sweden...
...or you send me a refund and we settle this once and for all. My paypal is the same: nicky.t@com
I've been waiting 78 days for something to really happen and we're not in the 90's anymore, that's why I don't take your word for it.
/Nicky Mezzina
nicky-.com
On Tue 04/12/12 9:26 AM , <sales@doopydoos.com> wrote:
Good morning Mr. Mezzina
We really do not know what is going on, we have answered all your e-mails.
We have attached the proof of shipping your name is on the 3rd line down.
We have put a claim in with the delivery service for you but we still have not heard anything back from them.
As for the accusation that we did not really post your replacement is outrageous when we have the proof given above.
That was the proof of shipping that we also gave the delivery company when we put the claim in for you.
We certainly do not trick or lie to any of our customers.
Casey
From: nicky@-.com [mailto:nicky@-.com]
Sent: 04 December 2012 07:30
To: sales@doopydoos.com
Subject: Paypal Transaction ID #2R30-72N)
e-mail to:
DoopyDoo's Ltd
261 Brereton Avenue
Cleethorpes
North Lincolnshire DN35-7RA
Date: December 4th, 2012
Hi,
Transaction ID #2R303-72N)
You have received £50,86 GBP on monday 17 september 2012.
I, the customer, never received anything and e-mailed you countless times, you say you sent two packages assuming the first one got lost. The second one presumably sent, never arrived.
You have ignored my e-mails and you have refused to give me a package reference number so I could start an investigation. Ignoring a customer's e-mail for months is a commonly accepted sign of fraudulent intentions. You have responded to other customer's inquiries during that time as it was reported, so you basically pick your customers according to how much power they have to file a dispute on ebay or paypal. You managed to trick me into waiting long enough to pass that 45 days deadline.
Answer within the day.
Nicky Mezzina
nicky.-.com
nicky@-.com
[sWITCHED TO A DIFFERENT E-MAIL ADDRESS FROM HERE]
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2012 09:01:22 +0100
Subject: RE: Doopydoo's Collectables - Order Status Updated 3220/170912/25
From: nicky.t-.com
To: sales@doopydoos.com
Hi again,
Still nothing arrived.
I order stuff all the time, even from the UK and Royal Airmail doesn't take that long. So I am a bit concerned. The Swedish post office is very reliable and quick, not a single lost package, things coming from the USA take 4-6 working days total. Then I deal with you guys and the first order took 2 weeks for a Hasbro conversion kit you had in stock, and my second order from 20th september which after according to you was sent twice, 20th september and 19th October, all in all resulted in 49 days waiting and still counting.
Please help me understand what is so special with Doopydoo that makes the wait so long? What cheap postal service do you use? Are you cursed with bad luck?
Did you get a feedback on your claim for lost package?
There is a forum thread on the FISD community dedicated to problems dealing with Doopydoo and in my experience I only lose money and time when an ebay dealer is personally pulling my leg and sometimes insults me in his e-mails if he answers at all. Basically 49 days is in pair with a bad ebay purchase and I didn't expect it from Doopydoo which came recommended by the community.
Please enlighten me because most buyers in the costumer's community dont believe in curses and we are discussing seller reliability regularly. If we come to a clear understanding and resolve this issue then I will not make any assumption and hope more people will order from you.
Thanks in advance!
Kind regards,
Nicky Mezzina
-----Original Message-----
From: sales@doopydoos.com
Sent: 30 Oct 2012 08:51:55 GMT
To: 'Nicky M'
Subject: RE: Doopydoo's Collectables - Order Status Updated 3220/170912/25
Good morning Nicky
Yes it was shipped out on the 19th via airmail.
It should be with you any day now.
Kind regards, Casey.
From: Nicky M [mailto:nicky.t-com]
Sent: 29 October 2012 21:50
To: sales@doopydoos.com
Subject: RE: Doopydoo's Collectables - Order Status Updated 3220/170912/25
Importance: High
Hi!
I didn't get any status update on this, was it shipped yet?
Kind regards,
Nicky
From: sales@doopydoos.com
To: nicky.-.com
Subject: RE: Doopydoo's Collectables - Order Status Updated
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2012 08:14:40 +0100
Good morning Nicky
No jet ski sorry, it went out via airmail on the 20th September so it should have been with you weeks ago.
What we will do is send out a replacement whilst we put in a claim for the missing one.
We apologise about this situation.
We will give you a e-mail as soon as the replacement has been shipped out to you as all our props are made to order.
Hopefully one will be ready this Wednesday the latest.
Speak soon
Casey
From: Nicky M [mailt-.com]
Sent: 14 October 2012 23:36
To: sales@doopydoos.com
Subject: RE: Doopydoo's Collectables - Order Status Updated
Importance: High
Hi!
This has not arrived yet and I received the dispatch status update on september 20th.
Is September 20th the actual dispatch date or just when you registered for upcoming dispatch? How long from your lcoation to international destinations (Sweden) does it usually take? And why so slow when you are so close, is the courier traveling on a jet ski?
Thanks in advance!
Kind regards,
Nicky Mezzina
> From: sales@doopydoos.com
> To: nicky.th-com
> Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2012 05:58:21 +0100
> Subject: Doopydoo's Collectables - Order Status Updated
>
>
> Dear Nicky,
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> We want to let you know that your order 3220/170912/25 status has been updated to...
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> DISPATCHED
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> If you have any questions about your order, send an email to sales@doopydoos.com or simply reply to this message.
>
> Doopydoo's Collectables
>
>
>
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Actually the opposite. We do remove and moderate specific sales that are adverse to the health of our membership, club, and hobby.
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.
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Yay! We did it!.. I mean, you did it!!
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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.
Any current or former MMO players out there?
in Off Topic
Posted
EVE.