SethB6025

I think that I've seen the "ANH" armor in question, and it looked lousy. The pulls were very soft, and as can be guessed it is a recast of an AP. Save up a couple more hundred dollars and get the real thing.

Thats great Paul, can't wait to hear his comments.

He has "changed his stories" a lot over the years. Adding in the "from a certain point of view" kind of opinions stated as fact. Plus things like the shin comment that are rubbish. Of course, memory tends to erode over three decades so oh well. At any rate he is like most true salesmen; a very nice guy & willing to say what people want to hear in order to make a sale. The is no thermal detonator as seen on stormtroopers on sandtroopers anywhere. The button and end cap parts for the stormtrooper belt detonator were originally used on the "mortar launcher" on the side of the sandtrooper backpack. I guess that is what you mean though.

Wowzers! That looks pretty nice. All dramas aside, it is cool to see an HDPE replica helmet.

Not all criticism is negative. If you're getting into the whole star was costuming/trooping thing the best advice I can offer is don't take personal offense to a fellow trooper giving critique on your costume. There can be something poorly done or less than stellar and in need of repair about your gear and it has nothing to do with your individual character. I enjoy hearing others thoughts on what I'm wearing, I'd sooner take an unpleasant to hear/realistic comment than blind praise while parts fall off. For example; "your chest plate needs trimmed or adjusted, its touching your belt" Two reactions possible and I've seen both. 1) "Okay thanks, any advice on how to do that?" 2) "What do you mean!?! I just spent all this money on this and now you are saying its wrong, I thought the 501st was all about trooping this stinks" I had someone spazz out when they found out the 501st doesn't accept Rubies stormtrooper helmets for membership, but no one told them they weren't eligible, just their goofy helmet. Take it all with a grain of salt, when someone comments on a brand of armor or a nuance of your personal gear, firstly gauge the level of validity their opinion has (do they even know what they're talking about?) and then remember its not about you, its about your plastic. They might be trying to help you look better.

Like I said; to each his own. Symmetrical armor is an idealization, and fine if that is your bag. For me, I want to look like a stormtrooper from star wars, so I want asymmetrical realism. All good in their own way, just different strokes for different folks.

FX armor and helmet are still permissible for 501st membership.

As a former FX (actually GF1) owner I'll throw out my observations. You shouldn't forget the size factor, as this is one of the main problems particularly if you are 77 trooper sized like me. In terms of details, most of the armor is simplified, the legs and arms are more "straight" and a lot of contour has been omitted. There is a near complete lack of undercut/flashing. The chest is too long (read tall) the whole thing has been made symmetrical, and then there is the helmet itself, which I would strongly recommend replacing with an A.N.H.2/RTmod/AP/TE2. There is a great side by side here (this is a FX with a TE)> http://www.tk409.com/images/anharmor/fx-anh.jpg With that said, FX can look very good. A lot of people make the mistake of not making it fit them properly. Poor assembly is probably the #1 reason why someones suit might not look good. So regardless of make, at least try to make it fit you right.

The 501st Legion is actually a costuming club that happens to help charities and do charity work under its banner. So since our primary MO is a costuming club you will have people who want to make their costume better instead of just cranking something out and leaving it alone. There are a lot of people who choose quality over quantity. I could have three of four passable costumes for what I have into my one really cool one. Thats how I roll, but to each his own. The FX falling out of favor is a natural thing, it happened with the DP standard, it happened with Marco and it will happen with the FX. All for the same reason; something better became easier to get. I don't think we should force it to happen, but nature will take its course. Its had 12 good years but the time has come to move on.

Wow, excellent work on both! I can't wait to do my ESB trooper.

Hey Matt, what is your source on both of those statements? I can't comment one way or another on the first part but all the special edition bonus features verified the SE as a made-symmetrical ROTJ. Also I thought the DPD pre-dated the SE, although I could be mistaken.

On my old suit (FX), I had cut a line that would be just above the bottom edge of the belt. It didn't really help with bending, considering your torso is wrapped in rigid plastic bending won't be real easy. It helped a little with sitting and stairs, but aesthetically I think it takes away from the overall look. Also if you don't strap it right it'll stick out and look like you've got a halfie under your cod-piece. On my current suit (TE) I left it all in one and I haven't noticed a huge difference. I don't try to sit anymore since it is so uncomfortable to do in armor.

http://www.sdsprops.com/ There is quite a bit under "FAQ" if memory serves.

The "no shins" pictures were so the trooper could bend down (look sir droids), it had nothing to do with anything not being good. The changes were merely cosmetic and from a visual perspective. Something AA would know about if he actually sculpted the armor. To answer the "two suit" question, there were two versions, one pre-elstree (read as "sandtroopers"; no ab button detail, no drop boxes, less complex knee, no shoulder straps, no thermal detonator, less detail on helmet paint job) and one style post tunisia which is a "stromtrooper" with the details changed from the first incarnation.

That sure is a lot, especially considering it wasn't verifiable as real. A fool and their money.....

He could show up and troop and do whatever the heck he wants legally (except buy porn & cigarettes and stay out after midnight ) . Of course, he wouldn't be there "with the garrison". We have cadets join GC for troops unofficially (you can't tell someone where they can and can't go) prior to joining. Also, there isn't any insurance since the 501st isn't a legal entity. The concern is that someone would sue the "501st" which would likely be the event organizer, or maybe whoever has their name on the website registration.

Rubbing alcohol. It will take off the adhesive and you won't risk damaging your armor.

No problem Jeff! No one be afraid to sign up at MEPD now. We had a bad bot problem, up to 200 bots a week. I would sort through them one-by-one once a week to find maybe 5 real people (probably miss just as many). Often I would miss them if they didn't have a "TK####" type name. Although at least two bots I remember mimicked board names. Although, the bot had too many numbers behind "TK". Now thanks to our newest member of the web team I have it real easy, and haven't seen a bot in a week! He updated the interface too, so now I can see all unactivated members and take care of dozens of new members in a few minutes. I worked through a 600-bot backlog last weekend in less than 20 minutes. Now all I see is real people signing up! I hope you guys don't have too much bot trouble, it saps a lot of time from fun work.

Hi Jeff, I'm the DL of MEPD and an admin for the boards. We just had a huge over-haul to the registration process due to a severe bot problem (now elimitnated) if you registered and have not yet gotten an activation email you got deleted in the purge earlier today. Go ahead and re-register and you'll be up and posting within a couple hours at most.

If you look closer, the right one appears natural. They may look black due to being in shadow, although it wouldn't surprise me if they were inconsistent.

Sickness! I love it, great acquisition.

I'm still blushing.

Some of those standards look mighty familiar. Good work guys.

You could cut the shapes out of sintra pretty easily, then paint with silver leaf rub-n-buff. I plan on building one when I get around to doing my stormtrooper.

That was looking pretty good, what base gun did you use?