Daetrin

Not to put a damper - but realize that officially you need both the correct hovi's + Scott's blessing. Not sure if he'll ask for a new photo of the bucket or not - we'll see what he says!

Don't worry about the fine tuning - I think it's pretty common. I think the minimum amount of iterations I've ever needed to do was three passes to get it where I could troop OK.

That costume there exceeds the standards. ROTJ is the most difficult of the Elite to achieve (the elite of the Elite?). Congrats on being the first 501st FISD ROTJ Elite! Can't imagine Scott finding a nit on this build. Most especially, kudos on blazing the trail and proving that it can be done. I felt the same excitement when Scott made Elite with an FX kit. You've done the detachment proud. Now, have a

Looks like someone will be taking a few sick days ;-)

The purpose of this part of the boards is to be an easy to find repository of the best TIPS and HOWTO threads created by our members Much easier than using the search button If you are posting a TIP or HOWTO, prefix your post with TIP or HOWTO. If you want a TIP or HOWTO, prefix your post with REQUEST FOR. All other threads will be MOVED with no warning.

I created two new areas in Basic Training The first is for AP/TE2 specific discussion as the builds for those armors are quite a bit different from FX, RT, or TM. The second is a section that will be just for TIPS and HOWTO threads. As people post new tutorials we'll move them over there. It's *not* the place for general discussions though.

Thanks so much guys - was confusing as the emails didn't match but I think I got it sorted. My hat's off to you!

Thanks so much Dave! You now have access to the Supporters area + a larger mail box.

And here is a pix of my rig:

That's some pretty sweet armor Nick!

The FX can be found in full kit form for ~$600 or so most places. Kits w/o helmet are about $400 shipped, but throwing in a helmet you're back up to at least $600 but more realistically $700. So the price difference isn't quite so large as you might think. FX for a smaller guy can work, but you'll have to do massive amounts of trimming, and then certain pieces especially the chest/back and belt will still look out of proportion. If you were taller I think FX could work, but given your size I'd suggest funneling the beer/Starbucks fund into getting an AP/RT/TE2, which will more better match your frame.

If you go into My Controls on the left had side is a list of links. Under the Options section is a link for Purchase Paid Subscriptions. Click on that and complete. I typically update membership w/in 24 hours.

You have my deepest sympathies. I can't imagine having to go through that much heart break in so short a time.

Actually a blaster is not a requirement for 501st membership for the TK or many other costumes, which is probably why no one ever really paid attention.

What Ed said, but also that the state of the art has progressed. Not that long ago getting a non-FX bucket was very hard and FX was very easy. Most every trooper had an FX bucket. Times have changed. I have two issues with the FX. 1) It's not proportionate to people under 6'2" or so. I believe people's costume should fit proportionally, in much the same respect that someone 5'6" shouldn't be considered acceptable to wear a Vader that was made for someone 6'4". This is actually my biggest beef. 2) It's inaccurate in many details. Everyone has their hot spots, but for me it's the tube strips and squarish dome. This in itself would not be as big an issue to me except for the fact that more accurate helmets are these days easily obtainable. Every costume in the 501st raises the standards over time. This would be but one example thereof. There is however a world of difference in stating that the helmet is banned retro-actively and banned only for new members, the main component of which is cost of upgrading, which is a concern to many.

Because it's a common, distinguishing detail. As we all know there were omissions and flubs in the movies, e.g. a trooper without tube stripes. But when we think of an ANH blaster, we think of ones that have the counter. In much the same respect that we require holsters, even though not all TK's work them in the movie, as it's a common element.

Chip - great to see an battle scarred vet here Gareth - I'll take pity and process you even w/o a link as I'm in such a good mood today. ;-)

Frak! That's pretty tight for the price. How do they hold up? Reason I ask is I've had some resin props that chip just by looking at them, and others that can take abuse and even small drops.

I'm 6'0 with TE2 so in a similar situation. There will be a bit of a gap, but there's not much to be done about it, and you'd be in the same situation with RT/FX (the latest FX thighs are in some ways worse, as they are now molded to have more room back there). Alas, for anything other than an FX there really is nothing to be done about having to put the helmet on sideways. This is how the helmets are actually supposed to be.

I'm pretty certain they're not fiberglass. There's been talk of someone laser scanning in an ANH bucket, resizing it in CAD, then creating a mold from that. But that's a lot of $$$, unless you happen to work in a prop building shop.

Security check complete - the blast doors are open gents. That's a smart looking ID Javier - hope mine turns out as good looking.

I think we're down to just one guy in Garrison Titan with an FX bucket. Everyone else has either upgraded or has one on order. Still seeing mostly FX armor coming through, but even this is starting to change.

I've asked the command team to create such a poll - let's see what they say.

Here is a review I did on the ANHv2 helmets: http://whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=502 As noted many times over, there is no one "best" helmet. There is however, a best helmet for each person.

All set!