The5thHorseman

CAP rivets should be used for fastening the cloth belt to the ABS belt. Same goes for the drop boxes to their straps. Also, the rivet covers present on each end of the belt should be practically lining up with the edge, and not centered like you did.

Yes, that's what I'm thinking and shared it in this very similar thread actually: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/32111-fisd-e-11-blaster-reference/?p=422654

In my opinion, Jim's kit has too much shape and dimension issues to my liking. The foreams, backplate, thighs, chest plate... Worst of all being the helmet. Overall it looks like a FOTK of course, and it's enough for many, but I personally don't like this kind of issue.

You're right. So far I think the ANOVOS kit is the best out there. Especially if you compare it to Jim's armor.

Actually, the counter thing doesn't always work. I shared my build thread on my garrison forum and so far, I've come across three blasters using my TK-ID as counter numbers. Needless to say I immediately claimed they were all mine .

ANOVOS doesn't have the same scale and weight than any other fan armor makers we know of. They also have an official selling license from Disney, so you can't really do anything against them. They're starting to become the evil Empire we all like in the films .

I guess they're still lying by omission on that one. They're saying the armor comes from an original from ANH, which is true, but omit to say the armor is the one owned by RS Propmasters.

Well, minimum width for the front ridges would be around 15mm each (as you overlap one over the other). Same for the back ridges.

I know that sizing down the ATA forearms can be a real PITA. We struggled hard with my brother to get his to the right size and ended up removin all the raised ridges at the back. However, it made the forearms (especially the right one) a lot harder to close. But I think if you only correct the strapping between the forearms and biceps it will help reducing that feeling of oversized forearms.

My blaster has seen so many troops now that it's beaten in a very unique way. Can't confound it anymore. But... you have to troop for that to happen, so if your blaster gets stolen at your first troop, it's doesn't really work . Tagging your TK-ID somewhere on it seems like the best way to avoid that. In preference hidden somewhere hard to see so the guy who takes it doesn't realize it's tagged.

For ROTJ the straps across the shoulder bells are supposed to be midway and not at the bottom. Eve though looking at the few reference pictures posted of this trooper I'm not even sure there should be any. But the main problem for me is how the forearms are oversized compared to your arms, and not correctly strapped to the biceps armors. The belt could use some weathering too by the way.

Anyone with a decent sense of observation will reckon it's not an ANOVOs recast.

All the other pictures I have of the back and yoke junction aren't as good as the ones I already posted. I guess the seams on the abdomen and thermal detonator are indeed the biggest pills to swallow. For the detonator, here again most have done some ABS paste work to smooth things out a bit. ----------------- But honestly, I feel like at this point i have thoroughly explained my point of view and illustrated it with pictures. Not much else I can do to convince people. Off topic.

Also, I've been thinking back about the conparison with the clone armors, and had a look at some reference materials for them. The clone armor is by design absolutely seamless when the FOTK is not. The lower leg armor parts are seamed on both sides, the biceps are too on the inside and front, the forearms are also very clearly seamed. Not to mention seams incorporated into the design of the armor itself (sides of the chest plate). So in my opinion adding few more visible seams to the armor is not as distracting or denaturating as what it would be with a clone armor.

I feel like I'm talking with a wall... Why don't you go back and read again my posts? Yes leaving those seams doesn't look screen accurate. Is it a dramatic difference? No. Almost identical to having or not the very visible screw heads from the brackets on an ANH stormtrooper. Yet it's not in the CRL. Of course. Posting a Hot Toys picture as reference only make you look like someone who don't know what he's posting and realizes afterwards. Not good for your, FOTK expert reputation.

First, this picture is from Hot Toys. You can question my eyes, now let me question yours. Unless your point was just to illustrate the shoulder drop? These armors were not ANOVOS. I am absolutely positive about it. Helmets were different, the detonator was accurately shaped (had the correct outwards curve to better fit with the abdominal plate), the gaskets were much better, and all details of better quality (for instance: chest emblem, holster rig on the thigh had the correct profile). However, we spoke with the extras who wore the armors and they told us they were different from the original armors as they also had the chance to wear them before. These armors seemed to be vacuum formed in thick ABS and according to the extras, much lighter than originals. Lastly, these armors weren't even finished the day of the troop. They did the final adjustements and built the belts during the rehearsals. The shoulder bells didn't have the little bracket to support them, but they were strapped accurately with the two straps coming through the yoke just like it should. But honestly, we are swaying way from the topic here. I am not here to defend the accuracy of this kit or the way original armors and promotional were built, but to inquire about the CRL.

Haha, nicely put. I very much agree with you that being involved in the creation of this kit (not much though), I am of course biased. However I like to think I am not headstrong or stupid enough to deny the truth when it's shown to me. This armor kit is not by any means perfect, but it's easily up to the 501st standards, and I would give it my "seal of approval" (for what it's worth) even if I wasn't involve into it. There's a simple reason for that: in one of these pictures I've posted, this armor is standing next to three promotional armor suits (sent by Disney or LFL I don't remember) coming from Pinewood, England. And the difference is minimal. Yes those armors were promotional ones and not the real deal, but trust me they were far better than the ANOVOS'.

Hum, I guess if I tell you that Clones are the darkside of Star Wars and should not be debated about, you're not going to be pleased with that answer ? I honestly don't have strong arguments to oppose you on that. About forbidding to Velcro thighs on the ANH troopers, I have always seen this as a precaution to ensure that 501st troopers won't have their thighs to open during a troop. It's more a "practical" line of CRL rather than a "visual" line. Leaving the seams apparent on the FOTK doesn't imply the risk of the armor opening up during a troop, as long as parts are glued with an inside stripe (actually FOTK biceps should be velcroed on the inside seam). However, when it comes to if having those extra seams left visible is distracting or not, the answer for me is clearly "no". It fades to the eye as soon as you step away from the armor, and to be honnest it barely appears on pictures. ------------------ And on a side note, I'm not fighting for myself here. I actually don't have a FOTK armor and none of the pictures I have posted are from me. I only helped creating the kit. True. However, for the stuff from this new trilogy, we can expect they'll be a lot better supplied.

Correct. Those particularities are actually already mentionned in the CRL as seams that shouldn't be smoothed out.

I must admit I do have an absolute absence of any kind of knowledge in clone armors or their CRLs. If they indeed require a seamless appearance for base level, and people are used to it and accept it, maybe I'm wrong asking to change that. It just feels like a shame to me that those troopers can't be officially approved when they look so much like movie stormtroopers.

Alright I get your point but those armors aren't ANOVOS, so what applies to ANOVOS armors doesn't necessarly applies to all the others. Maybe wording will be required then. Something like: Seams don't have to be filled, but they must remain discret and clean. If not possible, then fill and paint. Copy that.

The thing here is, by thinking like that you are striving for absolute movie accuracy from the base level of approval. It's not the goal of the 501st, and it seems a bit overkill to me as, like I have already said, those seams whether they are left visible or filled don't play much in the visual look of the finished armor.

Most have used ABS paste for that junction: ---------------

I see your point here Clint. It's not much the seam work which is annoying, it's the fact it necessarly involves painting the armor after, which is an expensive step if you want to get it right. All that when in the end raw ABS looks already really good, making the paint process facultative to my eyes (for basic approval only of course). Also some people just don't like to paint a whole armor, for maintenance reason. After a number of troop attendance and depending on how hard were the troops, painted armors can flake off. And fixing this is harder than if it just unpainted ABS. Once again, it can be seen as laziness, but some are really reluctant to this.

Hello, I wanted to open back the debat about this requirement of the FOTK CRL: http://i84.servimg.com/u/f84/12/31/04/96/sans_t14.jpg Now with that requirement in mind, here's my current issue with it. All the troopers pictured below are clearly looking like TFA stormtroopers, from 501st members to the general audience eyes, yet none of them can be approved at the Legion level because they do have visible seams. http://i84.servimg.com/u/f84/12/31/04/96/12801610.jpg http://static1.purepeople.com/articles/6/16/77/66/@/1984669-lancement-des-illuminations-de-noel-950x0-1.jpg -------------------- In fact, most of these armors have been LFL approved for special events such "Galleries Lafayette Parade" or "DisneyLand Paris Parade", but they're currently not 501st worthy. It seems wrong to me as those seams aren't even much noticeable unless upon close inspection. Actually I think this requirement is unnecessarly restraining 501st membership than anything else. Especially when at the same time we still allow for approval FX armors, supposedly for not creating unecessary barriers to entry into the Legion because we should focus on including rather than excluding. I kind of see a contradiction here. Secondly, the amount of money needed to complete a full FOTK armor is already very excluding. Now if you add to this the need for seam filler, primer, paint, and varnish for a whole set of armor (which is a lot), and man-hours if you can't underdo this work yourself, it becomes even more excluding, when in the end the visual difference is minimal. In my opinion this requirement could very much be something that could be moved to a L2 or L3 level of approval. People who have already built their armor up to the current CRL wouldn't be troubled by this change and would already be up to the higher level, when it will open the door for new comers to minimize the expense and work required to complete base level approval; while also leaving them the choice to upgrade later on. I know we're in post-election period, and the FISD's staff for this year hasn't even already been announced, but I think starting to think about this now would be a good thing. Thanks for reading.