Sly11

Congratulations Chris, great to see you approved as a TK!

I'm going to point out the major stress areas of the armour from a wearing it perspective. These areas I see as almost impossible to be able to duplicate with a 3D printed set of armour and have last any period of time without repair rebuild or even complete part failure. Before I go into this, I would recommend anyone looking to attempt a 3D set of armour, take a good look at a correct ABS kit, understand how flexible it is and where it needs to be able to flex when worn. Shins: These need to be able to flex open to get into them, They need to be assembled in two hemispheres like all other limb pieces but they clam shell at the back. With ABS plastic at 1.5 mm you get the flex you need to be able to open them up and get your shin in. Printing in a hard medium will not work for this, rigidity is going to send the stress strait to the front join and it will fail at the weakest point. Shoulder bridges: these flex when putting the chest/back torso armour on. Even with the flex of ABS they still tend to crack over time. 3D printed could break on the first outing or so. Agian a rigid material like PLA or ABS filament will fail. Chest piece has a degree of flex just from moving your arms around and taking certain poses. it needs to have a small degree ot twist and flex. But plate: this also needs to flex when you strap it to the Cod piece. Remember, these files were designed to use as a bucks for vac forming, not necessarily to build a functional set of armour that is 501st approvable, that would come from the bucks and refining them until Chris could vac form something that is functional and how the original suits were constructed. His 3D printed helmet looks ok but the vac formed version he does from the buck looks much closer to on screen as an example. Not only will you need to be prepared to sped a lot of time and money on printing and trying to make this actually work, you need to then refine it so it looks like all the vac formed TK's out there. No one is going to give a guarantee a GML will ever approve a printed kit unless side by side it stands up to all the kits available that look identical. I can't wait to see someone try, but be prepared for disappointment, i can't be more honest than that.

Congratulations Jessie, welcome to centurion.

Just a note Chris as we do with any vendor that mentions 501st approved, nothing is effectively 501st approved until built to the CRL and approved by a GML of a local garrison. Might help you avoid any noise or negative responses to your hard work by removing anything that sounds like 501st approved. I think it is OK to mention you are working with the 501st to get these as good as they can be. To explain further, a member could buy any armour on the vetted sellers list and completely make a hash of building it, bad trimming, miss aligned parts etc, and be knocked back by a GML, 3D printed armour would undergo the same scrutiny, in fact maybe more if an applicant doesn't finish it to a suitable standard, like visible print lines bad paint job and the like. I look forward to seeing your V2, you know where to find me if you need any more assistance.

Looking good so far Daniel, I'm getting the popcorn out for this as you get deeper into the build.

Hi Rob and welcome to FISD. I love that you have plans to take your armour to centurion level and wish you the best of success on that journey to level 3 approval.

Bienvenido a bordo Darth Pakal!

Hi Marty two small adjustments that might help a little are rotating the shoulder bells forward a touch. if you want them to naturally fall forward you just need to move the strap that secures them at the top, forward. That alone can help close that gap down between the chest and the bells.. if we look at your rear photo, you can see that they fall toward the rear more than they do the front, so that strap adjustment should easily rectify the situation. i would also shorten those straps slight;y so the top of the bell, virtually touches the plastic shoulder bridge. It looks a fraction long in your photos. You could also shorten the strap between the cod and butt plate. This should help curve the butt plate under you more, if that makes sense. As to the way the butt plate fits your small frame, all you could do is trim it down in size, but I would check in with your GML to see if you can get proved as is at basic before cutting into your armour. Other than that, I can offer several other pieces of advice about re sizing various parts, but first and foremost get approved or feedback from your GML again before making any major modifications. Good luck sir.

Welcome to FISD Bart, my deepest sympathies and condolences to you and your family for your loss. people come here for many different reasons, but the one major thing is we all share a passion for Stormtroopers, and the love from this community. We are indeed one large family, and welcome you with open arms. I see there is good advice already heading your way, don't be afraid to ask plenty of questions, we are here to get you on your new journey and active in this great hobby. Once again, welcome aboard!

Wow I hope you can pull it off, would love to see the photos of that!

Thank you everyone, truly appreciate the love. At the heart of it, these forums are nothing without all of you! I'm just the guy presently steering this large ship, and keeping us on course and heading in the right direction.

I would say with certainty that we have evolved as have the products and information available to us. Today we are spoiled with choice, so I would unequivocally say yes! Basic approval is the best it has ever been, has this cause us to look at EI and centurion to improve then, again yes. That necessity has and will continue to allow us and the higher levels to remain relevant. The last two years and now into this one, have been a journey of updating FISD across many facets, to remain at the forefront of what we do, and to keep the forums and all our content relevant. We have taken all feedback, both positive and negative, and actioned it where possible. Our CRL's and higher levels form a very important part of that as do our various members programs. Ultimately, you need traffic and members who want to participate to make anything work, evolution is the pathway to rejuvenation. I better get off my soap box now don't want to overdo it.

I just want to point out something that has always been the case with how higher level approvals take place. If you read the information it tells you, not only word and images but to use additional references when looking to apply for higher levels. They are steps toward more accuracy and a standardised look (no gaffers tape, cracked and damaged areas) that's prop replication. This has worked well and been accepted for many many years by almost all that have applied, it has only been a few who have stepped away from it or pushed back so they are the exception and not the norm. Most of this occurs at centurion not so much EI, but it makes sense to recommend a change if they intend to apply for centurion. CRL review will be ongoing this year, and more changes will be made to the CRL's so the standards can be kept high. EI and Centurion are purely optional, no one is forced to make the step, it's something that either interests or excites you, or it doesn't. Everyone that has passed those levels is proud, they did what it took to get there, and we owe it to every single one of them to keep consistency and that high standard. We are 501st, we are known for quality, I for one believe in that, and have no intention on letting it slip. We will be having more Polls, and membership voting on amendments, so I think you will find this year, an expansion on what is already in our CRLs for Centurion, maybe a little on EI too, but we wont really know until we start to review each CRL. Having things mandated and in writing in the CRL should certainly take any resistance out of the equation form that direction, making the minority an even smaller group, and aiding in reducing pressure on the Deployment office. Easier for all process is the way forward.

It is actually in our detachment plan for this term to take a look at all out various programs and see where we might make improvements.

I had been trying to update Tony's very first post with the information/wording, but think we need a thorough run through everything as I'm sure there is info i have missed or more recent additions i have not edited into that initial post.

Welcome aboard Alyssa! Definitely head over to our first order section as Glen mentions. Plenty of resources there and many experienced members here to help you on your journey. Research is the key, but the more questions you ask the better the help we can give you. We do indeed have some great women in this detachment who can certainly offer advice on building for a shorter height, but most anything is possible. Look forward to seeing a build thread once you make your choices on armour maker and components. Best of luck, here to help.

Look at you with your shiny new Detachment staff badge. Thank you James for stepping up to a new challenge.

Dear FISD members, I am once again honored with your continuing support as detachment leader for the 2022-2023 term. Thank you. We have a busy year ahead of us, which I will shortly give an update on, but first I’m sure you will want to know who your staff will be for the year. I would like to congratulate Steven Sheades (Starsaber) TK-10466 for taking on the position of Detachment XO. Steve has many years of experience both as one of our DCOGS, but also as a GML, GPRO and second seat in council for his garrison. Thank you Steve for stepping up and taking on your new position. Tim Waychoff (DarkCMF) TK-51878 will be moving into a DCOG roll and offering his expertise with our moderation team. As many of you are aware, Tim has several feathers in his cap, as a prior FISD DL and XO and Attache ambassador. Thank you Tim for taking on the position. This term we will indeed have a DMBO again, it’s been a few years running without this roll filled, but it is time to change that. Please congratulate James Silvius (jsilvus) TK-12953 for joining the team and taking on this challenging position. James held our 15th anniversary coin run, and did so exceptionally. His accounting spreadsheet and immaculate record keeping made my job very easy communicating the fine details with the LMBO team. Thank you James for accepting this position. There are a couple more additions to come to the IPM team as we will be focusing on more improvements to FO CRL's in the very near future. I shall announce those when we are ready to go. All other staff positions are currently remaining the same and are as follows. Deployment Officers Joseph Pedigo (justjoseph63) TK-10963 Mario Reyes (TKSpartan) TK-48117 Jose Sanchez (Chemi) TK-3017 DCOG Chris Pearson (themaninthesuitcase) TK-10911 Dan Branton (Thecableguy) TK-42911 Mark Ryner (captsafe66) TK-4584 DMBO Trading cards Eric Ho (Hoda) TK-42911 DPER AC (NoVaTie) TK-5597 DPRO Christoph (Danny) Lauber (Ripper_L) TK-55550 Tony Jobe (ukswrath) TK-10116 Aaron (Bronx) Gibson (Pyrates) TK-99725 Frank Peranteau (Frank75139) TK-75139 Glen Rhodes (gmrhodes12) TK-85421 Jim Ferrell (Rat) TK-95970 Teresa Nuthall (Soulart) TK-41307 DWM Eric Brager (Darth Aloha) TK-9674 Mathias (Locitus) TK-2959 Founder Paul Hoeffer (Daetirn)TK-8020 What lies ahead The last two terms have focused heavily on the forum refresh, uncluttering archiving and restoring. As you can imagine very time consuming, i also undertook a member data base clean up which hadn't been done in a long time. My vision has always been to leave this place in better condition than I found it, making it easier for anyone that comes after me and giving them a clean pallet into the future. This treatment will continue on this term although alot of the heavy lifting has finished or is nearing completion. This allows us to focus on things that are more beneficial to members, like our various programs, and the introduction of a new one as well. We will lead out this term back to work on our First order CRL updates. Discussion threads are already open, proposals will be written and membership polls set up so you can continue to participate in the evolution of our costumes, their quality and standard. We have a big year with Celebration, the patch sales thread is open until sold out, and I received an update from the vendor today that we have around 200 patches left. If you haven't ordered, now is the time before they are gone. I hope plenty of you have a chance to go to Celebration, meet fellow members, make new friends and have a blast. New Members section update will commence with an adjustment to the forums, a gate keeper so to speak, and hopefully an easier start for those brand new to FISD and costuming. Lets talk about some more fun stuff, like the FISD Coffee table Book. Work will continue, and a larger team will be formed for various parts of the building and design process. This is a huge project and we still have several hurdles to face, before it becomes a reality. It will be a first of it's kind for the detachment, and we can't wait to have more information available to you all. FISD Shirt run, needs to get underway quickly, so I will be working with our new DMBO James. to motivate that into action in the next couple of days. More Merch to come, and we continue to look towards items we haven't done before, we have ideas, we will be working on designs, slot planning and time frames. Now It is time for me to get busy in the background, onboard our new staff members and get the discussion going with your new team on the full plan for the year. Thank you all once again for the ongoing support, and we look forward to serving you all to the best of our ability. With Unquestioned loyalty TK11469 (Sly11) Andrew Franke.

Thank you all, and to those also nominated. I will make a formal announcement in the coming hours so please stand by.

Greetings all. Recently we concluded the Polls for some updates to the OT TK CRL's. I would like to thank all those members who took the time to read through them, possibly the linked discussions around them, and placed a vote on the proposals. These proposal passed by majority vote and have now been enacted on the CRL's they affected. ANH Stunt, and Hero, ESB and RotJ Most were only miner changes to refine detail, add some approximate measurements but all designed to get our troopers looking a touch more accurate. Most only for level 3 centurion, and a small change for basic level, which the LMO team agreed were satisfactory. Anyone currently with an application in need not be concerned of these, as you are in before the changes take effect. We always offer a grace period in all fairness to everyone, which can run up to 3 months for major changes that would certainly impact basic approvals. We now continue the discussion threads on our FO TK CRL's which will have several proposals to update these with better language and detail, some additional items that were not available at the time they were written, and more weapons as accessories for some of the CRL's We again will set up Polls for the membership to take part in and vote how they see fit.

Best of luck Jessie!

Best of luck with your application Merlin.

Great work Ardeshir.

Sure does look perdy! Amazing work Adam.

Well done sir, we are here to help make that a reality for you.