mikedwelle94

Seen stuff like this a few times before. Do avoid. If you *must* buy from eBay, look up MTK (Trooperbay). I hear that is some quality armor.

I'm on IG as @mikedwelle94. I'm following a few people from here already, but wouldn't mind adding a few more http://instagram.com/mikedwelle94

Nice kit, bro. I always love seeing the black armors come together. Have you been registered on the Spec Ops forums?

+1 for Mandalorian Mercs. For approval, your kit must be at least at 80% Mandalorian. The other 20% can be bits of whatever other style armor you want to incorporate, (i.e. Clones, Stormtroopers, etc) They are a different club altogether. You will not get 501st membership with a Mercs kit, unless it's a canon build.

First of all, welcome! AM = Armor Master. I think that pretty much any of the trooper armors you can get can be converted to TD (Sandtrooper) as long as it has the correct abdomen plate, which is one of the major differences from a TK (Stormtrooper). If I were you, I'd try to get in contact with AM and ask about it. If you go the AM route, I *highly* recommend picking up the lite kit (w/out helmet). The helmet that comes with those kits is way oversized and looks nothing like the screen-accurate stuff. Hit up CAP-W (Scootch on the forums) or ATA (see thread below) for the best budget friendly helmets. Contact info for vendors can be found here: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/11538-the-various-types-of-armor-and-where-to-find-them/ Don't forget to give us your rough location so we can point you to your local 501st chapter. And you'll want to check out mepd.net for all things Sandtrooper. Good luck Jess. edit: let's hope an expert chimes in here, because let's face it -- I don't consider myself 100% in the know

I promise waiting will be worth it. It's actually a pretty big part of this hobby. Your money is better spent that way, anyway.

You know I'll be looking to pick up a red one at some point...

That's why I didn't buy those. For me, it makes little sense to drop $200+ on something I'll have very limited opportunities to troop in. If you're situation isn't like mine and you plan to do a lot of trooping, then maybe the Loakes are a good investment for the reasons Soren stated. My Bass boots are good for Specialist anyway, so it's a no-brainer. But you -- a future FISD trooper, might want to wait out the 10 weeks for the TKboots or open your wallet for the Loakes if you want that Centurion award. Of course you could always get the boots you want now, and upgrade later.

That's general direction? Those pieces look ready to go at least in my eyes. So, they're not going to look like that when they hit the market? Dunno what to make of this I agree, although I imagine that can be fixed by the buyer. I wouldn't expect a manufactured costume to fit everyone without fuss.

Angelus is a good choice. That's what I used. Acetone worked well enough for me, but if paint thinner is easier to find, it should do the job just as well.

that's a good tutorial. I glanced it over a while ago. You'd do well to follow that, Christian.

use acetone to take the shine down. I then used acrylic paint on my boots. Mine came out looking fine. (ignore the battle-damaged shin armor ) ----------- Hopefully someone else chimes in on the right way to do it.

Those look pretty much identical to the Bass Amsterdams I picked up. I am not aware of Centurion requirements, but I do know for sure you will gain 501st membership with either of those boots you linked. But if I was in your position, I'd hit up TKBoots for a pair of white ones.

I have decided my next course of action is to win the lottery.

I went down the path of modifying the eFX and it is so not worth it. It only took my first unofficial outing to realize there are helmets that are so much better. So I upgraded to Scootch's CAP helmet and haven't looked back since. My advice to you is this: Sell that eFX for some extra spending money or keep it on your shelf as a display piece. If you must have a Hero helmet, like others said, hit up TM. He goes by the screen name "troopermaster" on this forum.

Sounds like it could be an option for those who don't feel comfortable building their own costume, and still want to be part of a club. I can imagine some work will still need to be put into their costumes to get them to fit your own body, though. I'd be interested in a fully prepped Jango costume, as long as it fits and looks right. I hope they know their work will be highly scrutinized.

I'm okay with the fact that people won't like it -- that's harmless, but when I see comments like "don't make this suit," that's what gets me riled up. Some of us don't consider that there are folks who would love to get into something like this.

Gah....this is saddening to read. I think the new Stormtroopers look fine. It's different, yes, but...wow. Imagine if the animated Clone Wars haters were successful in persuading the armor makers not to make those suits. The 501st would have a lot less variety, and the RL would suffer as well. Kevin and WCA (sorry if I'm missing any others) were awesome in that they could build these Clone and DW kits and get them in the hands of troopers. The TV shows are what the kids these days are into, and they need something immediately recognizable to them. I would think that this one would be a future FISD costume, so seeing so many negative comments from members of this forum really rustles my jimmies. I probably won't be able to make one of those things fit me, but you should totally make these suits Kevin. If not KW, someone's going to. Someone already made the helmet... https://www.facebook.com/grandzillocreations So get used to seeing them around, because once they're here, they're not going away.

I don't know of anyone putting out custom vinyl product.... Leather looks a lot better anyway and is worth the higher price tag. I would take up Vern on his offer if I were you. An alternative would be Delta13. He specializes in Fett parts, but can also do custom work, in any color you choose. I don't think he's active on the FISD, but I've seen him on the BHG as well as the Mercs. You will have to register if you want to get in contact with him. http://mercs.firespray.net/forum/index.php?topic=65417.0 Come to think of it...I'll be needing a leather girth belt for my Mando pretty soon... Vern, expect a PM when I get funds together.

I'm more active on the Mercs forum, but I figured I'd post another update here. Thanks for the kind words, Evan! I have a carbine from Woodchuck painted up and weathered. I don't think I sanded well enough on one side...you can see evidence of that near the end of the barrel. I'll have to revisit that later. For now, pics. Knees, handplates, back plate, shins and cod are done. Waiting for medical scrubs, a couple of Westar 35 pistols, a new T-visor, and a Season 5 wrist commlink to arrive in the mail.

I am not a 501st member, but I'll spit out some info that I absorbed over the past few months. Expanded Universe characters can be used to join the 501st, as long as they have canon full-body reference images. As long as it's got ties to LFL, it's canon. That includes comics, games, movies, the animated TV shows, and to a lesser extent, licensed toys and figures. If EU characters were not accepted, you wouldn't see any Darth Revan, Jodo Kast, Shadow Stormtroopers, or any of the video game characters like the TK Commander or Incinerator. I could go on for pages listing them all but you get my point. I'm aware that there are some EIB and Centurion approved TK Commanders and Incinerators, which fall into the same category as Death Troopers if I'm not mistaken. I would think that the 501st Legion has some sort of database to keep track of EIB approved costumes....

Although I fully understand your point, I'm not sure if I can completely agree with something like this. Say I made something really cool, just for an example. Some dude comes along and buys it, and starts churning out casts of my product. This guy also happens to have great people skills and awesome customer service. That's great for the customer, and gives them another option... but don't I still get burned in the end? Just doesn't sound fair to me. We can't force anyone to buy a certain thing, and we certainly shouldn't shame them for their decision (that's common courtesy). The best we can do is educate, and help them make the best of any situation (good or bad) whenever possible. I usually don't get involved in these kinds of topics, but I couldn't keep myself from submitting my $0.02. This should make for an interesting discussion. Followed.

Progress!

Definitely sounds like something that only happens once in a blue moon. I built one of Scootch's helmets and couldn't be happier with it. Mistakes can and do happen, we're all only human here.