CommanderZel

Oh, that's excellent. I've only got the middle kind. Well, just another resource to add to the ever-growing list, I guess!

I believe so. You can also get it from Trooperbay, who is a very well-trusted vendor around here. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

And details like the ab buttons will need to be painted, and the helmet details will probably be decals so if you want a hand-painted look you'll need to remove those and repaint those details, but otherwise the kit won't need any painting. The natural white of the ABS will be white enough, but you can always polish your armor to give it an extra shine. And some people use a chemical finish to seal out oxygen so the ABS doesn't yellow over time, but that's up to you just like the polish is. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

New ANOVOS e-mail update, for those interested. Quick run-down: Switch back to ABS is now official The "arming suit" will now be a standard lycra undersuit with no attachment points Neck seal material change from the shiny material we saw in an earlier update to a more clothlike (and currently unidentified) material Changes are being made to the thighs, calves, forearms, and biceps They say they're still on track for a "late November/early December delivery." That's about all the valuable information I could glean from it.

I thought their confirmation of the switch back to ABS was during SDCC... I'll have to go looking for that, I suppose. At any rate, I believe that they'll produce high-quality armor no matter what kind of plastic they use. I've heard good and bad things about both ABS and PVC, and I, having never made armor before, have no real frame of reference and therefore no preference.

Just so you know, they've switched back to their original plan of using ABS rather than PVC.

Yeah, I found that yesterday. That's really all the information I could find on it without looking through other detachment forums

Interesting. See, I was coming at this without the knowledge that this particular version of the blaster was anything special. The more you know, I guess!

Thanks, I was able to find some info about them as "Tunisia Blasters" used in the Tatooine scenes.

What exactly is a Bapty? Is it something that was actually used in production or is it a fan-made sort of thing? I've seen the name get tossed around here and there, but I've never known exactly what it means.

That's kind of what I thought. I'd picked up on a few of those details, but I just ignored the power cylinders because to my knowledge they shouldn't be there on a screen-used blaster. It's my understanding that all the screen-used blasters had their power cylinders removed after the production was completed. At any rate, I just don't want someone to get conned like this.

https://www.facebook.com/PropStore/photos/a.1009003935799606.1073741990.104664682900207/1009566675743332/?type=1 This isn't E-Bay, but a page I follow on Facebook posted this today and it looks to me like a fake "screen-used" blaster because of the muzzle, rear sight, and power cylinders. As far as I know, all screen-used blasters had their power cylinders removed to be recycled. This wouldn't be a problem if they weren't selling it for $30,000. Anybody with more knowledge of the E-11 have other info on this?

In theater we use unlubricated condoms. A little adult, maybe, and a little embarassing to purchase, but they work great. We strap our transmitters to belts that we wear against our skin (usually on our backs), and on stage you get VERY sweaty. I've done many shows with the condom/mic combo, and it works really well.

I meant the OT buckets that they'll be shipping with the kits that so many have ordered. I'm definitely planning on either making or buying templates for hand-painting the tube stripes, and while I've heard that the Dave M decals are kind of the way to go for most ANH Stunt helmets, I feel like we should try to get this figured out early so that people looking to replace the decals don't buy something that doesn't fit and then get embarrassed or indignant over the loss of time and money. Just a mild concern of mine

From the images we've seen so far of the Anovos helmet, it seems fairly clear that the paint details on the helmet are not hand-painted, but are decals instead. That makes sense, given that it's a commercially available piece that is being mass-produced to a certain degree. That being said, there are several options for replacement decals (based on what I've seen at Trooperbay), and it is unclear to me what the best option would be for replacements since I don't know exactly what helmet the Anovos helmet is based on. I personally plan on removing the decals that come with the helmet and hand-painting the details myself, but I'm sure that someone at some point will need to replace the decals. Has anybody with more experience than me been able to discern what kind of decals would be used to replace the existing ones shown by Anovos? I don't have any images of my own to show, but I'm sure I could dig some up either here or on Facebook if that was necessary.

I will also say that I don't think an imperial officer's cap would look very good with TK armor. I like the way that the beret looks, I just also want to know if there's something else that's more accurate to existing material in Star Wars. I don't think there is, but I also know very little about the EU.

To be clear, I am aware of this thread: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/23074-how-to-fit-and-adjust-a-beret/ That's kind of why I'm asking

I was thinking this morning about what a trooper might wear if he, for whatever reason, could not wear his bucket. The most common alternative to a bucket that I've seen is a beret, but I don't know anything about berets being used in the canon. I believe that the dress uniform for a TK is similar to the black imperial officer's uniform (I've never really known any of the terminology for those ensembles), but I really don't know. At any rate, here's my question: If you were for some reason unable to wear your bucket, what would be the most appropriate headgear? From what little I know about military tradition, the covering of one's head seems to be relatively important. Would it be more appropriate to wear a beret or an imperial officer's cap or some other kind of head covering? Is there an answer to this somewhere in the EU that I'm unaware of?

No problem! I initially ordered an ATA kit back in November of last year and I'm still on the waiting list, which means that I can't even actually order a kit yet. I've ordered the Anovos because the price was just too good to pass up, and at this point I'll go with whatever seems the best when it comes down to making a final decision. So if you're looking for what seems to be a relatively high-quality kit for a fairly low price and a relatively short wait time, go for Anovos. If you're more in the market for something along the lines of the "tried and true," look deeper into the vetted troopers. From what I've hear, TM makes the best armor in the market for accuracy, but there's a wide spectrum of specialties in the community. Find what works for you! No two troopers are going to be the same.

Just to be clear, ATA has something like an 8-month wait as well, so if the wait is your only problem with Anovos, I would say that you should probably just go with Anovos. They've been talking about what is looking like a relatively short wait from now to the end of it (they're expecting November, but that's probably not entirely realistic), but any kit you can find is going to have three points in the same triangle: price, quality, and speed. A cheap kit fast is going to be very low-quality, and a cheap and high-quality kit is going to come with a significant wait time. If the wait is what's holding you back, I'd say that you should just go for it.

They were never completed, or if they were they were never posted here. I was going to take on a similar project, but my plans for a 3D printer fell through so I haven't been working on any models.

Yeah, what exactly are "bed members?" And those aerators/hovi mic tips look super different from anything else I've seen I'm planning on switching mine out with Tony's speaker kit or something like it at some point so I'm not too worried, but I'm completely unfamiliar with the screw going into the mic tip like that.

Well the rebels are undoubtedly a problem. Hostile may have been the wrong word, and I think that after more thought I might amend that to "heated." I guess what I'm really trying to say is that the whole point of all of this- the 501st, the FISD, and all of us here- is to come together as a community and just be really big nerds about something that we all love. Everything will become more clear as time goes on, and eventually we'll see the final armor. Then it'll be completely appropriate to judge the heck out of it so that future buyers can make informed decisions, and the kit will still cost well within the price range of most other kits, so it won't be too competitive. Anyway, the important thing is that everyone is here because they love Star Wars, and I think that's really all we need to have a good time.

I think that this is something really important to keep in mind. A lot of people (me, for example), jumped into this because of the price. Some people can afford higher-end armor, and that's great because it means that there are some really amazingly accurate TKs out there. However, for a lot of people it comes down to money. I'm trying to pay for college and afford the armor at the same time, so the Anovos offer was too good to pass up. Personally I'm really excited for this because it means a more affordable way to fulfill a dream of mine that's stuck with me essentially from the time I was two: be a part of the Star Wars universe. I know that this is almost certainly bad news in some ways for the vetted independent producers we've got on here, but I also doubt that there are going to be red scare-level blacklistings and takedowns. The way people are talking about it makes it sound like McCarthy has suddenly become the ruler of the Galactic Empire. I don't know anything about the kind of contract Anovos is under, but I would be very surprised if independent producers get shut down. The 501st is an immense force of good, and it would reflect really poorly on Disney to have one of their denizens cause such a stir in such a wonderful community. Not everyone is going to be happy about Anovos, and the armor could be really disappointing for a lot of people. But for some of us, this is an amazing opportunity to be part of something phenomenal. I just feel like we should try to take a less generally negative approach to this. Things seem to be getting pretty hostile.

It's very unlikely that they'll do something so drastic to the undersuit as to make it impossible to use for 501st approval. I doubt that they'll fundamentally change what is essentially a spandex suit, and if they do it's not that hard to find undersuit pieces. It's fine if Anovos doesn't work for you, because it's true that they have very severely limited their possible audience by making the suit so strictly single-sized. Different armors do different things for different people, and the biggest draw to Anovos was the price. Once the tiered pricing ends, there will be very little reason to choose Anovos over any other armor, and that's alright. For $350, this will most likely be a phenomenal buy.