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tkrestonva

Imperial Attaché[TK]
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Everything posted by tkrestonva

  1. Awesome. As you can see by my avatar, I'm in Garrison Tyranus. We work hand-in-hand with Old Line Garrison on many events, in particular the bigger ones where neither of us has enough available members in order to put on a good show - the most recent example being last weekend's Scottish Christmas Parade in Alexandria, VA. We will also be doing some joint trooping with OLG for the Rogue One opening in less than two weeks, in particular at the National Air & Space Museum on the Mall in D.C. Hope to see you at a troop sometime soon.
  2. Yeah, that line about "... enroute to our fulfillment center, and anticipated to ship this week!" doesn't mean jack since their fulfillment center (to my knowledge) is in Southern California or Wisconsin, and from there they ship out in batches. Plus the "en route" part likely means that they are just now leaving the factory in China. So if you get it prior to opening weekend, do yourself a favor - go buy yourself a Powerball or MegaMillions lottery ticket as well.
  3. You will almost always get more out of the experience with a DIY kit and it also will fit you better by building it to your specific proportions - not to mention being 1/3 the cost of an assembled kit and receiving it much faster than an assembled costume. You may not get the Anovos kit anytime soon, but it's proven to be a decent kit at a great price. Furthermore, nearly all of us started our journeys with little-to-no experience or skill in building armored costumes - once you dive into it it's not as hard as you think and you have the best minds available here at your fingertips. If you ditch the soft goods (and Anovos' undersuit, gloves, and neck seal are are nowhere near worth the extra $200), you can get a kit for even less money. Having said that, RS Propmasters is a solid choice for either a DIY kit or an assembled costume. Just expect that if you go with an assembled costume, there will be fitting tweaks that need to be made once you get it before you can truly call it yours. They also tend to be backlogged, in particular when it comes to commissioned builds. I'm not sure where you are reading that the Anovos assembled kit has the best reviews, but from everything I've seen it would be the worst choice by far. Shoddy assembly (seriously - I've seen stuff like the ab button plate being glued on upside down ), and due to the adhesive they use it's almost completely unalterable if it doesn't fit you perfectly right out of the box - and they build them "one size fits all". Not to mention the costs (which doesn't include taxes and shipping) and their laughable reputation of delivering their products on time. Oh, that part about not caring about joining the 501st (and presumably having to meet 501st quality control standards)? I saw that A LOT in the Anovos Builders Group on Facebook last year before the kits starting shipping - in fact I would say the large majority of those posting there had that same position. Fast forward a year later, and now I hardly see it at all. Quite the opposite, actually - most have found that trooping with a like-minded group is so much more fun than doing stuff as a solo trooper. So do yourself a favor - build (or have it built) to 501st standards right out of the gate even if you don't plan on applying right away. You won't regret it.
  4. Other than building it correctly for your body type (which is true for any kit), the biggest mandatory change is to pull out the top two rivets on the belt that attach the holster, and patch the holes such that it appears seamless. Better still, replace the belt entirely with something better such as what you will find at http://www.imperialissue.com
  5. I personally don't see anything that would hold you up for basic approval. Even the belt looks good (for an Anovos belt). Looking sharp. Which garrison are you applying to?
  6. Moved topic to the Field Training Exercises section - more people should be able to see this.
  7. Your belt placement is fine, but you can tighten up the sides of the butt by immersing each side in near-boiling water for 5-10 seconds, gently bending them in to match the curve of your posterior, then "setting" the new shape by immersing it in a cool water bath. If you have a large enough container you can do it all at once, otherwise do it one side at a time.
  8. Agree with both Mathias and Mark. Shorten those connecting straps and you should be fine.
  9. 1. Remove much of the return edge on the shoulder bells - that alone may give you the extra room needed to pull the shoulder bells in closer. If not, then you'll need to remove it anyway in order to proceed to the next steps ... 2. Using a large pot of almost-boiling water, heat the armor by fully immersing them in the water (don't let it touch the bottom of the pot!) for a few seconds - I've found that since the Anovos plastic is so thin you only need to immerse it for 5 - 10 seconds to get it soft enough to reform. Any longer than that and you'll start to deform the plastic in undesirable ways. 3. Once the plastic is soft, gently pull the shoulder bell apart to the width you want and hold them in that position - being careful not to pull it too far apart. Have a sink or bucket full of cool water ready and dunk the part in the cool water to set the new shape into place. Stay away from heat guns - unless you have a lot of experience using them you are likely to do more harm than good. The hot water bath is great in that is promotes even heating, whereas a heat gun heats the plastic in focused spots and is more likely to result in warping of the plastic. But yes, please show us some photos before proceeding.
  10. The best way to post photos to this forum is to host them via a photo sharing site (I personally use Flickr), and using the image tags on either side of a http link to the photo's JPG file. As far as pictures of what a properly removed return edge looks like, I would just look through either UKSwarth's thread or some of the approved Centurion submissions. Also, instead of trying to squeeze your hand through while balled into a fist (assuming that is what you are doing), it would be easier to extend your fingers and then squeeze them together like a spear - then push them through. That will also allow you to make the wrist end of the forearm armor even narrower.
  11. It's just the commonly-accepted size. I suppose someone could sell them to you, but it makes more sense (to me) to make your own. The difficulty will be in getting sheets of ABS that is a color match to your SDS kit.
  12. Excellent job, guys. Is there a reason why this thread has to remain behind closed doors (501st Only section) and cannot be placed in the Field Training section?
  13. You can either (1) use the standard 20mm cover strips on the front and make up the difference with shims and wider strips in the back, (2) use larger but equally-sized cover strips in both the front and back (mine are 30mm wide but because they look proportional to my larger-sized thigh and shin armor you wouldn't know the difference unless you took a ruler to them), or (3) a combination of both techniques.
  14. Saw these on FB, and this is amazing! How did you make the toy soldier costumes?
  15. I'm having a bit of trouble visualizing the problem, but it sounds like you want to be able to pull the kidney plate up a bit so that the top of the kidney plate is not perfectly aligned with the top of the ab plate, but it's about 1 1/4 inches higher - did I get that correct? If so, then as long as when you secure the belt on your back it still falls on the kidney plate (even if it's right at the bottom edge) you should be fine. But can you post a photo of what you are seeing?
  16. A couple of things I've noticed: 1. You are going to want to taper down the forearm openings at the wrist end, essentially so that the forearm armor roughly follows the tapered shape of your actual forearm. The opening should be at a point where you literally have to squeeze your hand and fingers into a narrow shape in order to get them in and out of the forearm armor. 2. As I suggested in your introductory thread, you'll want to remove part of the return edge at the top of the backplate where it rides on top of your traps, and heat bend it so that the armor can sit lower on your back. You need not remove the entire return edge (nor would doing so disqualify you for Centurion). A gradual tapered removal will do the trick and it's barely noticeable - see photo of my kit below as an example:
  17. Yes, I believe the screen-used armor was made of a flexible (and proprietary) material.
  18. You should at least sign up on the Carolina Garrison boards. I know for a fact that there are Carolina Garrison members in SC (including the Legion Founder). If you can't get to them, then depending on where in SC you are perhaps a few of them could be convinced to come to you.
  19. The TFA costumes (Kylo Ren and First Order stomtrooper) set the precedent for getting accurate costumes built and CRLs released based on available references and quick-on-the-draw armor makers before the movie actually comes out. Still, either I haven't been paying close attention (which is true) or they must have set a new land speed record for getting the Shoretrooper CRL done.
  20. If you are truly looking for a prebuilt set because you aren't very crafty (and most of us were in the same boat but you learn via study and experience), you are better off going with RS Props - they will request your detailed measurements and build the suit accordingly. Anovos, on the other hand, builds to a "one size fits all" philosophy. Having said that, it is always better (and far less expensive) to take the time and learn how to build it yourself.
  21. Question ... I see you are in Alabama - why would you need cold weather gear? Most of the time you will be too hot and need to shed body heat - not keep it in as UA ColdGear is designed to do. Unless you anticipate trooping outdoors in winter or late fall/early spring, I would personally hold off on that purchase until the actual need arises.
  22. YES! That one is going to both my Instagram and Facebook collections!
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