TK6540UKG

According to the plans on the BBC site it's a 1" barrel. However, this looks too small to me, and once the bipod is added, will make it flex a fair bit. I personally would go for 1¼"

I have 2 x 40mm mylar speakers in my lid with the ROM/FX so feedback was a huge problem for me. Used to use thin deodorant caps with a shed load of 'blu-tak' (stuff here in the UK that stick posters to walls)... worked a treat, but made the bucket fairly heavy. I now use some homemade vacformed caps that are fairly thick (3mm) and a thin slice of the blu-tak... works even better now, and half the weight. You can also use sound deadening material found at all good car audio installers.

I found that darkening out the inside of the helmet allows you to go with a lighter shade of lens. As I work in the welding game, I have access to the shade 3 or 5 screens...and able to experiment. Shade 5 I found was too dark, especially when trooping indoors, but meant you could leave the interior white as people couldn't see in, even via camera flash. With the lighter '3', visiblity was much more improved, especially indoors but had to darken the inside to help reduce people seeing in... and it worked....and still does 5 years on.

I used Jez's site, and Mike's 'DaveM' decals as reference to get the right shade. Just kept on adding black until it looked right. Ended up with a perfect match...so now have a near on full tin of it....lol.

Very strange... I fully resprayed my MRCE and still had to darken it down....but found it ok when I did my Ep3 Clone lid.. and both had the same white paint used. Had to darken it on my most recent TK lid, and that's gloss HIPS.

You also have to remember that #5 is now lighter than it used to be. A small amount of black is needed to darken it up slightly.

Now they are some amazing costumes... love 'em.

You don't need to paint them to get 501st status if that's what you are after.... it's only if you want to go EIB.

Black on the outside, white inside.

Hero lids have one screw above the ear cap, and the other on the underside near the neck trim. HTH.

A friend bought this armour prior to joining the UKG a few months back.... the armour was so so and defo FX recast, but the helmet looked absolutely terrible...was a very, very bad recast. In all honesty, it should live in Jez's Room of Doom...

Nothing like sucking on a fisherman's friend.....lol.. Matt, be great to see that email....

Welcome from me too Eric.. You're doing the right thing by asking for assistance first.. Many guys just jump in and buy the first thing they see, and soon regret it. A whole heap of knowledge here, so you won't go wrong. There are 2 main eBay sellers of 'recast' FX armour here in the UK, and both are hugely overpriced, and the quality of the armour is a big issue. If you search around the forum, you'll find 3 or 4 guys offering various high quality kits.. either genuine FX or movie accurate.

'IF' you ever have to paint anything TK related, the best paint available here in the UK, and most commonly used is Halfords Appliance White.

And you could imagine the lawsuit the fans would put up against Lucasfilm if they did shut your site down...lol.

Beautiful armour... Would absolutely love a set myself one day... just gotta convice the missus. <_<

Play.com still have the MRCE in stock, but the price has gone back up to £70 ! Hopefully they might drop the price again soon.

Trade secret.... Looks great Paul, glad you like them. And yes, Scott's chrome stripes would really set it off.

You'll need to slightly countersink holes into the ears, so the screw heads sit reasonably flush. Machine screws can either be M3.5 or M4 thread, and will have a head of 6mm. HTH.

Eggsellent pic mate... Cracking stuff.

Contact Deckard, he 'might' have some spare.

Andy, I personally wouldn't bother looking for the sticky foam stuff the FX lid has... go with the correct rubber trim instead... It will look much better, and last longer too. I've seen a few members offer it on here in the past, so hopefully they can chime in to help... or post up in the for sale section on here or 501st board. HTH.

Hot glue is probably the best and most common way out there of fixing them in. A dab on both ends, then top and bottom is usually enough to hold them in place. Others seal the lenses in all the way round. HTH.

Don't worry about the helmet not matching the armour... they didn't match in the movies !! My MRCE is done in Halfords Applicance White, and the armour has a reddish tint... hardly noticable TBH.

Cheers for that Paul... I stand corrected. I knew the UKG built their own standards for this bucket, but didn't realise the 501st took it on too... good show. Now... if only we could get rid of that FX lid.....lol.