Daetrin

That is dreadfully gorgeous! Man, I wish I had the talent to do this kind of work - I can only admire now. Great job !!!

AP, TE2, TM - can you go wrong with any of them? I don't think so...I agree with Doug that it's the Baskin Robbins and we're sooooo lucky to have multiple, good producers of armor to choose from. It wasn't always the case. It says a lot that we're at a place where people are comparing AP to TM, when it used to be FX vs. AP. My, how this hobby has advanced!

Or how about...ask! It's the mature thing to do. There are established good routes to go - why not take one of those rather than one that isn't? I believe that we have set clear and IMHO (thought others disagree) fair rules that we apply equally. People can choose or not choose to follow them, but they should then be surprised at the outcome. I've also stated where my thoughts on DIY comes from - if all people send me and talk about is the 1/2 that is pro full-on recasting and violently anti-501st then this is all I can base my judgement on. If DIY were open like C-E was for clones, it would be a non-issue as I'd be able to see the entire picture. Rolf - since you started this thread are there any open questions left, or did you get the information you need?

Thanks Doug for the excellent response. I've gotten the impression if I went & registered on the DIY forums that my account wouldn't be allowed to be activated, so I'm asking as I can't see for myself. To my mind it's not a "one or the other". There are a lot of people here on both forums, I know. I'm not sure what I'd be witch-hunting for. As you note even some staff are dual members. But without being able to see it makes me curious - if it's so good, I'd like to join too. It would be great to see all the things you describe as all that is forwarded on to me is anti-501st posts and other negativity. If I could see first hand the value of DIY, wouldn't that be a good thing?

I have to ask why the DIY crowd is so celebrated by some 501st members, especially when that forum makes heroes of people who celebrate stealing the hard work of people like TrooperMaster or those who spent money on molds like AP/TE2 did. The fact that the DIY boards are so anti-501st makes me curious as to why there are 501st members there at all. I'm not saying this as a slam, but trying to understand the appeal.

In some ways I'm confused that people are confused. The policies are pretty clear and I believe we've applied the standards evenly. GF, AP, TM, TE2 These are considered OK. GF actually no longer makes armor, so should be a moot point. AP long ago was cleared as having acquired the molds as part of a transaction from TE and is thus OK. And, he's been doing it so long w/o any objection from anyone I'm not sure why it would be an issue. TM is a fan sculpt and thus 100% OK. TE2 like AP got molds from TE in a very open transaction and is also OK. CAP (Chris AKA weiBes) Direct molds of CAP are considered OK as best we've been able to determine, while he did recast TE somehow they made a deal. I've only seen parts of emails, but this is what we have and the community seems to have agreed and thus CAP is fine. CAP2 has some parts from TM & crashman (?) that are considered bad form, and it would be great to hear people's thoughts on this. Lastly, not all CAP parts are recast - he made is belt (at the least, it's different from TE) it seems. CAP also said he doesn't care if people recast him. ATA is direct recast of CAP and took the steps to replace parts that were not OK (TM knee, control panel). Since he's done that, there seems to be no objections. Scootch (CAP WEST) - pretty much the same as ATA though these are Chris' molds and not a recast of them. We've applied the same standard to ATA - replace the TM/crashman parts and will then be fine to sell. Sandtrooper should be fine (as someone asked). PT - 100% not OK. He lied about his intent and then made a direct recast of TE2. He's no longer a Legion member either. VT - fate undetermined. No one will claim to be him and since he's not tried selling on these boards I've ignored it for now. Should the real VT stand up it can be discussed at that time. Pretty much direct recasting anyone's molds without permission is just a bad thing to do, regardless of how many generations it's removed. I think it's pretty clear in the community that recasting any fan sculpt is flat out dishonest. Some exceptions seems to be allowed, e.g. C6 was fine to recast when he stopped selling helmets, but everyone stopped doing that once he started again. IOW, it seems if people stop making parts. TE While TE has been banned from these boards for bad business practices, you'll note we allow the selling of TE suits as being OK if done via an honest intermediary, e.g. someone who delivers on time & is transparent in their dealings. FX Like TE this is done via an intermediary. Ward (Deckard) has been openly selling on these boards for a looooong time because he is delivering quality, direct made kits at a good price and provides excellent customer service. Recast FX Nope, bad form just like selling recast TM.

You know, I've heard nothing but good things about Dan - I hope to meet him in person some day.

Yes, there are two other makers of ABS armor that normally don't get mentioned on these boards. One could but chooses not too...

True that - Mark looks awesome in this armor. Wish I were a few inches shorter and I could too. Builds are always tops

Hmmm - this is not what I've heard. Terrell - can you please clear up this discrepancy?

ATA has replaced the parts necessary or else made arrangements with the source makers. CAP-West has indicated he'll do the same, and my working presumption is that once he has done this, and is thus in the same state as ATA, then he'll also be OK. To be clear 501st approval is maker agnostic - regardless of the origins of the suit - though some GML's may decide to make calls on a 1 by 1 basis. What is "lawful" really means what FISD staff will allow to be sold on these boards. These requirements are based on 501st Legion charter, which is unambiguous in stating that the 501st does not condone recasting. So as long as there is contention by the members of this community we have the obligation to take action and control the list of vendors who we allow to openly sell on our site.

If you can, I'd recommend going for the double play. To get EIB for both ESB & ANH you have to have two helmets and a second holster, but if you plan the belt out correctly you can use the same belt. After that it's just the blaster, of which the ammo counter is the main block. If you can have that be detachable, then you're set. The great part of having both is you can do either depending on the need of the event. Especially as next year is the 30th anniversary of ESB...

Yep, that's it. It's mainly the helmet, hand plates, blaster, and holster. All else is unchanged.

I'm surprised they didn't have something like the LAAT/i in the NT. I think there is a heavy shuttle in the EU that could work as a troop carrier but we never see it armed like the LAAT/i. Perhaps it's kinda like how Huey's in 'Nam were armed, but in the peace time afterwords they were not. As for ground transport it's possible that the AT-AT was the machine of choice - the Empire certainly liked doing things in a large way and tried to dominate by intimidation. I wonder if we had something in the OT that wasn't on a resource starved outpost (Tatoonne) or the heavy forests of Endor, we'd see the equivalent of a Humvee.

Feel free to keep posting here Bill - a trooper is a trooper, black or white. One TX is cool - it really takes 2-3 together to really look a treat, just like TK's. It's an easy 501st pass, though I'd adjust the shoulder bells a little closer to the shoulder straps. Feel free to post more pix

The reality is this is not a cheap hobby. $1000 for your first suit is pretty average when you add it all up. With ATA you can go a little cheaper, you can also easily climb to $1500 or more with upgrades. This is not a cheap hobby by any stretch of the imagination. Heck, even an officer can be $500. An IN (Imperial Navy) helmet alone can go for between $250-$500 :-p

Thanks Mark

Terrrell / Billy - can you guys please review the CRL/EIB to ensure I have the details correct?

Joey - I can ship to Bolivia. Have him ship it to me and I'll ensure it gets to you.

It's how it is now, at any rate. Hurry and get that EIB submitted Noel!

FYI, I updated the EIB ESB blaster requirements based off of info from Billy Haggis (hope you don't mind me using images from you as well) --------- Please lmk if they are not correct. Also, I moved them to MAY HAVE from SHOULD HAVE as they are from a promo and not seen on screen. So, essentially the MUST HAVE is an ANH E-11 sans counter only?

Got this from MEPD : ----------- Apparently same folks who make TKBoots, but I'd like to get confirmation on that. Note the puffiness of the pleats which is absent from older style pauldrons but is more accurate in appearance. The only downside is for those of us with more expensive, less accurate pauldrons from earlier - what the heck to do to unload them? ;-p

A beautiful shot - thanks for posting. Yeah, I like 3 teeth too.

Thanks Mark! I updated CRL & EIB with this info as MAY HAVE's.

Terrell did an exhaustive screen grab search about this awhile back IIRC and should be able to comment.