tkrestonva

Very cool, indeed. IMO one of the Ep1 characters who had so much potential for character development, but was prematurely killed off. Same goes for Darth Maul. In a way, by providing further insight into these underdeveloped characters it seems that the Clone Wars cartoon series is trying to correct for some of the flaws of the prequels. For convenience, link to a video clip is here

I'd love to see some photos of the demilitarized MG34 and the conversion process to a DLT19. In it's own build thread, of course. AFAIK you'd be the first person here to have done so.

I initially felt the same way, but it kind of grows on you.

The answer is - it depends. It depends on the type of kit you have (a BIG decision in and of itself and one not to be taken lightly given the expense involved), how much experience you have in doing this sort of thing, how many hours a day or week you are willing to put in, how much local help you can muster, how well-equipped you are in terms of required tools and supplies, etc. Fortunately you have the Georgia Garrison right there - they're a great bunch and will help get you sorted when the time comes. Having a kit built in time for DragonCon (first weekend in September) is absolutely doable, even for a novice. However, each kit has to be custom-fitted to the individual. Being pregnant, your body is going to go through some massive changes both during and after the pregnancy. If it were me - and of course it never will be - I'd want to ensure I had my pre-pregnancy body back prior to assembling a TK costume. Once built, they are not easily modified to accomodate body changes. Oh, and congratulations BTW. When do you expect to give birth?

I like Carlos's idea, as the return edge at the bottom of the shin pieces is completely unnecessary. As a clarification, when you said they were tight at the ankles, did you mean they were tight in circumference (as in too narrow), or that the shins are too long and as a result pushing down on your instep? If it's the latter (and that's how it looks from your photos), then definitely trim a bit of length off the bottoms, but make sure you are wearing your trooping boots to get an accurate assessment. I really like the way your thighs are positioned now - ideally you want to have little-to-no undersuit showing at the hips. Whether or not you can achieve that look depends a lot on how long your legs are - with me it's not possible no matter how I position the thighs. Still, the tradeoff is the better it looks, the less mobility you have, so you'll need to find a compromise between looks and practicality that works for your body, which may take a troop or two before you find that "sweet spot". If the way you have it now doesn't work for you in terms of mobility, then trim a little at the top while still retaining the contour of the top of the thigh. I'd recommmend reviewing Pandatrooper's AM build thread for guidance on how to do so. It also looks like you have enough material to work with to add the ANH-style "notch" if you choose to. Again, don't take any measurements for alterations unless you have your trooper boots on as well. For the belt, I'd do three things: (1) Glue your button box to your ab first before moving the plastic utility belt. The top of the belt should just about touch the bottom of the button box, and of course run straight across the ab armor. Once you do that, you'll have the utility belt positioned properly and then you can attach the male snaps to either side of the ab piece per Tom's guidance. (2) Push the butt plate down a bit to ensure there is no overlap between the kidney and butt. (3) Pull the canvas belt up a bit, between that and pulling the butt down it should correctly expose the gap between the kidney and butt pieces. EDIT: I just realized you are building a sandtrooper - no button box required. So it looks like you have the utility belt about right as is, although if you wanted to pull it up to the line Tom has in his drawing, I don't think it would hurt anything. Also, larger photos would help.

I just made an offer of $0.99. We'll see what the counteroffer is. This is going to make a great gag gift for a certain FX holdout in my garrison.

Not a bad idea, I just may do that. It would make a great gag gift, especially for the FX helmet holdouts.

+1 If you have an idea of what shipping to the U.S. is, that would be good as well.

Yes. Not screen-accurate, but it beats wearing a balaclava IMO. If you use a non-permanent method to attach it, tape for instance, you can always remove it later if you like.

Lightly weathered, with that "lived in" look - absolutely. In fact, I'd say it's encouraged. Dirty, sandtrooper style weathering - no.

Agreed. Either you'll end up having to cut away a TON of plastic, or you'll be swimming in it. Better to get a kit that is more closely aligned with your proportions. It'll be less work in the end.

Like Terrell said, we're looking at implementing measures to make the sales area here a bit safer for the membership. If anyone has ideas they'd like to share toward this goal, such as the ideas Pat suggested, please let us know.

Any chance one of these can be shipped to the U.S. - and not be confisgated by U.S. Customs?

That also looks more like a ROTJ-style E11, as opposed to an ANH or ESB E11.

I've shipped packages of similar size to Malaysia for less than $50 using USPS Express Mail International. Fast, reliable, and comes with a door-to-door tracking number. Unless my customer asks for a cheaper method (and is willing to incur the risk of non-delivery), it's the only shipping method I'll use.

Looks like a bad paint job, i.e. the surface was poorly prepped. It's as if they slapped a new coat of paint on it and it reacted badly with the previous coat. Also, moved to the ESB Stormtroopers section.

I initially had the same question - but then I reread the title of the thread: "TE2 ANH Tantive IV"

Looks really good, and definitely EIB-worthy as far as I can tell. Too bad you're not yet old enough to be an official member - I'd think you'd be a shoo-in.

I think you look great! I'm planning on resurrecting my semi-retired FX kit as a TKC, and will start on the painting once the weather warms up (it's winter up here in the Northern Hemisphere). I'll definitely be using both yours and Rick's TKC builds as my reference guides. It looks like you and Rick both used the same color paint and weathering technique, which of course I'll be emulating along with Rick's battle damage technique. Since I'm in the U.S., I'll be going with Testors #1151 Blue Angel Blue - the equivalent to Humbrol #15. What weathering technique did you use to get that grimy look?

Hey Vern, if you're going to do the video game version - and especially if you plan on applying for Expert Infantry - the pack will need to be a single box construction, as opposed to the dual seed tray construction of an ANH TD pack.

Wow - is that what the helmet looked like before you started, or is that a different helmet? Regardless, a very nice job. Looking forward to seeing it in action. Who is the maker of the helmet kit?

So the question I have for the experts is - why is the tear detail there on the screen-used helmets to begin with? It doesn't seem to add anything to the overall look IMO.

Yes, it's a 501st costume, owned by The Bounty Hunters Guild As an aside, your boss does realize that Boushh was simply Leia in disguise, right? I also did a quick check of the Legion Boushh's on record at the main website - all of them are women. Not saying he couldn't pull it off, but . . .

Score & snap works well on ABS, especially for long, straight cuts. Obviously the thicker the ABS, the more you should "score" before you attempt to "snap".

Happy birthday, John.