Cricket

It was crazy there. I was standing right next to Daetrin (Paul) and Dark CMF (Tim) in the pics and had no idea... so we never met! I thought about yelling, "Hey, I'm Cricket! Who knows me?!" while in the crowd, but decided against looking like a madwoman in the crowd. I didn't think anyone would be able to hear me anyhow. So are you the one with the balaclava above Saddam Hussein? (sorry, but yes, that guy looks like him in this pic)

Looks great! Good luck!

Oh, the moving walkway was easy compared to the escalators!

We only went to one day of SWCO (Saturday), and we wished that we had purchased an additional day to see everything! There was so much going on, and just not enough time to do and see it all in just a day. Lesson learned for 2019! At any rate, this event was my very first extended trooping experience. I was in my armor for almost 5 hours! Once I took it off, it felt sooooo good to sit down. It's not that I can't sit in my kit, it just that there was never an opportunity to rest. The convention center is ONE MILE from one end to the other. I walked that length at least four times looking for stuff (don't get me started on how disorganized this convention was!). Too bad I couldn't get cell reception inside, because I would have scored some serious points on Pokemon Go. Armor Report and Review: My magnetic shins performed perfectly! They locked on and stayed locked. Never had a single problem with the shins coming apart. I can confidently recommend this kind of closure if you're looking for a clean closure alternative to velcro or bra hooks. My velcro securing method for the rubber glove cuffs inside the forearms worked perfectly as well! The velcro and cuffs stayed put the entire time. No armor bites of any kind. Review of my armor afterwords showed no cracks in any areas. Woo! I have 2 inch lifts in my boots, and they were surprisingly comfortable. My feet never ached- it was my lower back that was killing me afterwords! I found that it was more comfortable to walk around with my bucket on than off. After walking a bit with my helmet off, I was really getting tired of carrying my lid, and very hot as well. I was surprised to find that the circulation of the air by my fans worked to cool off my face nicely, which made me feel cooler overall. Didn't expect that! Still having issues with getting my blaster in and out of the holster without some assistance. I've got to practice getting that down. Okay, so pics! Patrolling the convention. Found these rebels, but they escaped. I can't run in this thing! Heeeeyyy!!! Can someone tell me who the half naked guy is in this pic and what his story is? Too funny! Do I look happy or what?! I really like this one. Very celebratory. And another group shot. Hey, Pretzel, nice legs! haha....

Awww! Thanks, Paul, for the consideration, but you already hooked me up, so it's all good! (I had the Centurion patches that you sent sewn on my TK backpack that I wore around SWCO after I took off my kit. Quite proud of those!) Surely another trooper is worthy of extra swag from you! I had really wanted to say hello to Tony, Sly, and others, but there just wasn't enough time. (We missed out on our Mark Hamill photo op while at the 501st Class Photo.) Are you the tall trooper on my right in the mass group shot?

Yep, those are good. I own a pair myself. I'm pretty sure that's what most troopers carry when you see the white ones. Aside from those who DIY them with PVC, that is.

I'm in the middle just below the trooper with the orange pauldron. See my all black egg head? These troopers are all women! I'm the trooper on the far right at the top. Very proud to be in this pic! Anyone who wants to have access to all the hi res pics my hubby/handler took on Saturday, they are all here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pal2tech/albums/72157682722868145/with/34059054666/

Yeaaaahhhhh! Congrats Frank!

Just in case you haven't seen a "convertible" cod, Pandatrooper did a nice one here (pics near the end of the post), with some additional pics showing internal strapping here (also at the end of the post).

Way to go, Frank!!!!! Looks great! Congrats!!!

Looks good! Congrats on finding gloves that fit. Smaller sized rubber gloves are often a challenge to spot in the wild!

:happy and cheerful birthday: :happy and cheerful birthday: Happy happy breath day to youuuuu!!!! And I hope you have many more years of successful breathing to come. Cheers!

Reports arrived that rebel scum had been spotted at a nearby park this morning, so off I went to survey the area. This area of the docks appears clear. I secured this area as well. Off in the distance I heard what I thought were droids. Look sir! Geese! How disappointing. Not a single droid or rebel scum captured today. Trying to look on the bright side, though. The area is secured! So let's party! Just don't lose your balance and fall in the water... My work today is done. Long live the Empire!

So super excited about SWC next week!!!! Decided to test drive my kit today. The only times I've tried it all on were for my submission pics. Those times didn't include having all of the electronics powered up and running, either. My 7 year old son was more than happy to be my handler while we took a short walk outside in our neighborhood. With my trusty Hasbro e-11. Nothing more to see here. Move along. Of all the days to be outside, not a single car drove by on the street where I was walking. I was hoping someone would drive by and be like, "Whaaaa???" Ah well. After walking around for about 15 minutes, I'm happy to report that my kit is actually quite comfortable. No pinching or armor locking up anywhere. My biggest challenge is with the throat mic. I need to tape it to my throat in order for it to fit properly and pick up my voice. But I like it so far. My fans are running nice and quietly, and my hearing assist system works like a champ. I think I'm ready for Orlando! Woo!

Christine Lee SHA #66<br><br> *edit to add my name!

Good work, Frank! Almost there!!! Getting the padding in the lid just right has been a challenge for me and my little head. At first, I padded the heck out of it all over, and it fit me fine- when I didn't have my armor on. When I put on the armor, somehow it changed everything, and my helmet didn't fit anymore. Gah! While in my armor, the helmet suddenly was sitting too high on my head. Closer examination showed that I had too much padding in there, even though I thought it was perfect. I ripped it all out, and after lots of trial and error, I found that I didn't need as much padding as I thought. I now only have padding at the forehead, back of my head, and one pad on the left and right sides. I removed the padding at the top because I found that my eyes lined up better with the eye openings when there was no padding in there.

Congrats! Amazon is also a good source for miscellaneous supplies when you don't want to leave the house.

Good to know! I am a lefty, so keeping the blaster in my left hand isn't any problem for me. Thanks for that tip! I've been thinking about better ways to keep my gloves on my hands while in armor. I know that not many troopers wear rubber gloves while trooping, but I actually like how they feel. I wear glove liners under my rubber gloves, and they're comfy when worn together. I hated how my rubber gloves like to slip down my hands, though, allowing the cuff to pop out of the forearm. It's mostly due to the weight of the latex hand guard. Plus, when I'm wearing the glove liners, I can't feel the rubber gloves slipping down and off my hand. Yikes! I had read Pandatrooper's tutorial about mounting hand guards on gloves, and I liked the idea of using velcro to attach the handguard to the forearm. Then I thought about if the same idea could work for attaching the rubber cuff of the gloves to the forearm using velcro. Worth a try, right? So I cut off a 3-inch length of 1 inch industrial velcro and attached it to the cuff of the rubber glove. My first hurdle would be, "Will it stick?", because nothing likes to stick to those rubber gloves. Surprise, surprise... it stuck to the rubber. Then I added another piece of velcro to the cuff on the opposite side, so the glove will be attached on the top and underneath for security. I attached the loop side of the velcro to the inside of the forearm on the sides to match where I had placed the velcro on the gloves. Then I lined up the gloved hand guard to the forearm, making sure I had the spacing I wanted between the hand guard and the forearm. Once the spacing was correct, I then stuck all the velcro together. This essentially makes the bicep, forearm, and glove all connected together nice and secure. No need to fuss with getting the gloves on now- they're part of the arm, and just slide on! This pic shows what it looks like all together. Having those 'dead hands' attached to the armor is a little creepy to me! Not only does this keep the gloves in place, but it keeps the gap between the forearm and the handguard consistent. I had read that a good "gap" rule is to try to keep the gaps between the forearm/bicep and forearm/handguard about the same. So if the gap at the forearm/bicep is about 1/2", then you should aim to have about 1/2" gap between the forearm/handguard (when extended down, of course, not bent). Mr. Accuracy Hag, could I get your input on this? Now I know someone is gonna yell, "But rubber gloves are the WORST! Never wear them! You'll get all sweaty! EEEWWWWW!". So before anyone gets upset, I'm still getting my Nomex gloves together as well. You see the little clump of tan and black behind and to the left of the hanging arm? Those are my ABS handguards, I'm gluing elastic to them. Those will fit over my Nomex gloves.

Hey Lindsey, Love how your little TK is already dressed in black and white! Congrats! You've received a lot of good advice so far. Nothing to add from me!

I had read a while back that Ukswrath had recommended the 3M 39008 Headlight Lens Restoration System as a way to easily polish up armor. I bought the kit last summer, and it had been sitting in my stockpile of "I'll Need This Someday" items. Yesterday was the first chance I had to use it. Holy shininess! Wow! The kit is essentially a bunch of little sanding and polishing discs, along with a squishy foam pad and some polishing compound. I only used the little foam pad, paired with some Novus 2 and my power drill. It made my armor shine like a mirror in no time at all. I don't even think my armor was this glossy when it arrived on BBB day. I would share pics, but I couldn't find a good way to show off how epic the shine is now. Not an April Fool's day joke, y'all. This kit rocks.

Heeeey Martin! So does this mean you're still building your TK?! I've only tested the throat mic briefly, and it works great so far. My throat is small, and I do wish that it could be adjusted smaller because it's loose when worn on its own. (I suppose that I can always tape it in place before I put my neckseal on.) For your average person, though, I'm sure it will fit just fine. When I wear my neckseal, everything gets snugged up over the mic, so the audio comes through without problems. I think the newer models of this are adjustable for larger necks (mine was not). It picks up my voice without any issues. No problems between the throat mic and my iComm. I will be testing a bit more extensively next week as I prep for SWCO, so I will keep you posted how things go! Ah, that totally sucks! But I'm glad to know that it's not just my black stuff that doesn't play well with my ABS. Just a quirk of TK life, then. I'll have to accept it and be diligent about keeping everything separate! BTW, I also noticed that the black rubs off on the edges on my kit, too- and I haven't even trooped yet! I shall call it battle damage.

Good tips, Jim! I need to make some "wraps" for my armor. I have a half-sized and a full-sized bin, so I know about that little tray at the top of the big bin. It's very convenient! The half bin is much easier to travel with, though. I have a small bag for my black stuff, as well as a separate helmet bag. I wish the half bin was just a little bit bigger to fit an extra tray in there!

I've had my kit stored in my 'half bin' while I've been getting my lid fine-tuned and ready for SWCO. I had kept all of my black soft items stored outside of the bin because when I had stored the black items in with my armor, I had been noticing little purpleish marks showing up on the armor. I would get so annoyed when a new mark would show up! Fortunately, a little time sanding with 400 grit sandpaper (followed up with some polishing), and I was able to remove the marks when they appeared. Goo Gone or paint thinner won't remove it because the stain isn't just on the surface of the ABS. I could never find the culprit for what was making the ink transfers to my kit- but I figured it was something from my black fabric items. So I made sure to keep all the black stuff away from the white stuff. Problem solved! Or so I thought. Okay, so yesterday I pulled out my armor to do some final adjustments on it, and surprise! There was a 1"x 0.5" and a smaller additional purple mark on the flat part of the square "frame" of the OII on my back. WTF?! That wasn't there when I had put it in the bin a few days earlier! Then I looked inside the bin and found the culprit! It was Darman's neckseal. I didn't see it when I was clearing out my bin for the armor- it just blended in, and was laying on the bottom of my bin where my back plate had been. The dye in the fabric had transferred into my ABS. I can't blame moisture or water or whatever else to have caused this to happen. My bin, armor, and the neckseal all were totally dry when I closed up the bin. Truth be told, I love Darman's neckseal. It fits great and is very comfy! But as a heads up to other troopers out there with mystery purple marks on your armor, keep your black stuff away from the white stuff when you're storing it. It's much easier to keep them apart than to have to do extra sanding/polishing later.

The green acetate that RS provides is screen accurate, but I wasn't a fan of it. I picked up a green welder's shield (181542 on Amazon), and cut it into a rectangle shape (one welder's shield yields two sets of lenses), making a notched area in the middle for my nose. Then I pressure mounted the whole thing inside across the eyes. The lenses are anchored by the ear screws- just put one hole in each end of the welder's shield and secure with a nut. I left a gap at the bottom of my lenses to allow for air flow and reduce fogging. This mounting setup isn't nearly as tricked out as I've seen, but it's quick, easy, and it works. Oh, and the bucket painting looks great!!! Nice work!

Two suggestions: 1. Try on your armor with your undersuit on when fitting. It will fit you very differently with the black stuff on! 2. I highly recommend taping the kit together from inside, not the outside. It simulates how your kit will eventually be assembled better. Or you can do what I did: throw caution to the wind and just install the flippin' brackets (even if that means you will need to remove and rebuild returns later). You're gonna end up installing and removing them a gazillion times when you're making adjustments, so you may just as well get comfortable doing that now. Looks like you will need to give the ab plate more of a curve to fit around your waist. Wiser troopers than myself have told me that the belt should be there more as 'decoration', not as a structural piece to pull in the plastic. Don't make any trims to the sides of the ab until you get your curve right. And the kidney looks a little tall to me. But I can't really tell until you've got pics with the undersuit on. Those purple rims are killing me. Damn!