Cricket

I've sent an email off to RS with a pic. Hopefully I'll hear back soon.

Hey Troopers, I'm just beginning to trim my RS TK kit. I suddenly realized that both inner forearms (labeled as Left Inner Forearm and Right Inner Forearm) are identical. Identical, even down to the bumpy imperfections in the molds. I believe that they're both Right Inner Forearms because the flat part of the forearm is topside when worn on the right arm. The flat part of the inner forearm is facing down when worn on the left arm. I've looked at lots of RS builds, and I can't see any pics clearly to know if this is how the RS kit really is or if it's a mistake that was sent to me. Help me, fellow RS TKs- you're my only hope! Thanks!

This is very good info that I will need to refer to later in my build! It makes total sense to trim off some of both pieces to keep the look of the armor balanced. It's great to get confirmation from Tony about this, though! I'll be following your build and watching how you fit your armor. Petite troopers unite!

Amazing paint job there!

The plastic is definitely thicker than my ATA and RS helmets. Here is a cutaway view. The RS is on the left, the kid's lid is on the right. And it's very flexible, not brittle or prone to cracking. I'm squeezing it pretty good here: If you remove the velcro (using mesh and some sort of bondo to attach the halves permanently), the halves should sit together better. Hope these pics help!

The Rubies child's 2-piece helmet is bigger than the piggy bank head. The Rubies lid will need a little work to make it more 'accurate', but it is definitely larger. I found mine on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Awakens-Stormtrooper-2-Piece/dp/B00TU53GO8/ The Rubies kid's lid is on the left, the bank on the right. Your son looks amazing! Sending positive energy to him. What a brave trooper! He rocks!

Hey Emma Sure do, the build is right here. Hope it helps you.

NOTE: I will pick this thread up again once my ATA kit arrives sometime in December. The ATA will still be built as a Hero, complete with three ear bars, six teeth, grappling hook, and doubled up forearms and shoulder bells. It's time! My Hero build has begun!!! http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/41502-crickets-wtf-hero-build-even-more-tk-for-the-vertically-challenged/

Hey Emma, Another vertically challenged TK-in-training here. Just 5'4" and about to begin on my RS kit. I'll be following your build for sure! I think your helmet cuts look fine. I feel your pain when you worried about it, though! When I was working on my first helmet (ATA), I ended up cutting too much off of my face plate, and had a gap near the ears when putting both pieces together. Even with the ears on, there was still a gap. I thought it was a total loss until I realized that ABS paste might fix it. I used it to build out a new edge. After some careful sanding/buffing, you can't even see where I over cut now. I now do what pewpewpew mentions above: make very conservative cuts and sand the extra off slowly. Hang in there!

Okay, so slight change of plans recently about my TK kit. Bad news: I obtained a refund for my TM kit. Long story, but feel free to PM me for details if that's your thing. Good news: I ended up placing an order with RS Props for my TK kit on July 11. Also recently confirmed my place in line for my TK with ATA (it's looking like a December TK for me, yay!). Best news: My first BBB day is TODAY! Yep, just a little over 2 weeks from placing my order, I now have armor!!!! If you feel like following my RS Props build, it's over here. I'll be building that TK as Stunt.

Run, don't walk, away from that site. Go here and purchase something from the vetted sellers list. It will save you time, money, and lots of headaches! http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/11538-the-various-types-of-armor-and-where-to-find-them/ Good luck on your search!

My coin arrived today, and it's beautiful! Nice weight to it and superb detailing. I feel so honored to own one of these coins. Thank you TK4205 for hosting this swag toss and for the super quick shipping!

Hi Mark, 1. I've asked the admins if I can list them here. 2. I wasn't aware of the PM disclosure problem. I have edited the post to remove them and condense the timeline. 3. There is no mudslinging. This was my experience, and I was asked to share. 4. The money listed was an error I missed. I have removed it. I suggest that you do the same. 5. I never said that I don't care that he's broke. I said that it's not my fault that he's broke. I don't manage his finances, and I do feel sorry for the guy.

Several admins here strongly suggested that I post about this experience so others may know what to possibly expect when purchasing. I would not have put this review here without their support. The best way I could keep it objective is to put everything out there. (All pricing and names have been removed.)

At the suggestion of a few admins here in the FISD, I’ve decided to post a review of my recent experience with ordering a TK kit with Paul/Troopermaster. My intent is not to throw Paul under the bus. Rather, it is to make other people aware of what to expect when it comes to customer service when ordering from Paul. I am sure that he is undoubtedly a nice guy in person, and certainly immensely talented with what he does. I am still a fan of his work, but I will not attempt to purchase any armor from him in the future. I paid on Apr. 21. He said it would be 3-4 weeks after payment that the order typically ships, with an additional 4 weeks for a completed lid. Okay, fine, so I sent the funds for a kit w/ completed lid. First there was a delay due to his kitchen remodel. Then a few weeks later he said he was very busy, but my kit was done, and he was about to start my lid. A few weeks after that, he said the lid was done, but he was waiting on new lens material (of which I had requested that the lenses would not be installed). A few weeks after that, I heard that he'd broken his foot, so I contacted him for an update. He said that he would provide everyone refunds if he could, but he didn't have the money to do so. He wrote that he honestly didn't know when my order would be ready at that moment in time. That was on July 6, and I told him to take care of himself, and I would check back in a few weeks. Four days later, I noticed that Paul had put up two helmets for sale in the FISD forum. One was a Hero helmet. I was actually excited to see this because I figured that Paul had received the lens material he had told me that he was waiting on. I sent a message to Paul politely asking for a status update. I thought that my kit must be ready, and I was excited about it! He responded rhetorically with, "Am I not allowed to work on helmets for myself while working for other people?" I responded as follows: Cricket- Sent 10 July 2016 - 05:52 PM No, that's not it at all. First thing, email sucks for communication. The tone of it can be totally misconstrued. I hope that you didn't read any sort of snarkiness in my message, because there was none. And there is none now. Second, I don't know how you fulfill orders. I assumed that you processed commissions in the order in which they are paid (first in- first out). If this isn't accurate, please let me know so I'm clear on what to expect. Third, I had also assumed that you were completely laid up due to your foot injury, and thus unable to complete any work. I am truly sorry about your foot. I see you're able to ship items, so it's not unreasonable for me to assume that something might be going on with my kit. Fourth, you had told me that my kit was ready and the only item pending were the lenses (of which I had requested that the lenses not be installed). I'm just asking you to see this from my perspective: I'm seeing a completed lid for sale, and all my fully paid kit needed was a completed lid. So it wouldn't be unreasonable for me to at least ask about what's happening with my kit, wouldn't you say? And lastly, my only sister passed away very unexpectedly a few weeks ago. When you told me that my kit would be shipping soon, it was the first time I had felt a glimmer of happiness since her death. I was very disappointed when you recently said that my kit would be delayed, but I've been trying to be understanding for your situation. As you might expect, I was excited when I saw you listing your helmets here. I thought there might be a chance that you'd be shipping my kit soon. It seems like that's not the case. Sorry if I've come across as anything else but curious about my kit. (end message) I saw that he read my email. I expected at least some sort of reply. But he did not respond to it. After thinking about it for a few hours, I had a huge fear that my kit would never arrive. Especially since just 4 days earlier on July 6 he had written that he feels like giving everyone refunds if he could afford it but he couldn't and that he honestly didn't know when my order would be ready at that moment in time. This was after he had told me that my kit was already done and we were just waiting on lenses on June 18. He had told me two entirely different things about the status of my kit. Now it was July 10, and I was inclined to believe that the kit would not be coming at all. I had paid via Friends and Family on April 21, and I had no recourse via Paypal. I was angry at this point because I have been nothing but patient with Paul since April, even when he didn’t communicate with me. I was left feeling like my only choice was to make the very difficult decision to get my money back. I opened a dispute with AMEX on July 10. On July 11, since Paul had sent me a refund of (redacted), I canceled my dispute with American Express. However, on July 13, I received notice that Paypal had opened a claim based on the AMEX dispute. I was confused about this, because I had canceled the dispute two days before. As soon as I received the Paypal notification, I sent Paul the a message about the mix up. He said that his PayPal account was suspended until the case is resolved. He then said that if I had only asked for a refund without going over my head, it would have been much easier. How much easier would it have been for him to say my kit was boxed and ready to go? I was very polite with my question regarding the status of my kit, and I had been 100% understanding of all the delays he complained about. I said before that I was willing to wait, and I wasn't trying to be pushy. Paul then added that my kit was boxed and ready to ship the day I asked for the refund. He continued that the hero helmet he was selling was one he assembled by mistake for a customer who I later found out wanted a kit, so it was going spare. If my kit was ready to ship, then why did he respond with, "Am I not allowed to work on helmets for myself while working for other people?" Had he told me that, I would have never opened the dispute in the first place. He was saying two different things. By asking for a refund, I am out four months of waiting and almost $300 due to the exchange rate and non-refundable fees involved with using my AMEX. None of this would have happened if he had communicated with me in a straightforward fashion. I asked for an update to my order, and he virtually bit my head off. I would have gladly canceled the dispute if he had just let me know what was going on. I made things very clear that all I wanted was the kit and that I was a huge fan of his. For those of you who may consider purchasing armor from Paul/Troopermaster, please take my experiences here under consideration. I know that we all go through tough times in our lives, so this may have all taken place during a rough spot in Paul’s life. I feel badly for him, actually. Still, it’s no excuse for unprofessional behavior. Bottom line: Proceed with caution. If you decide to buy something from Paul, be sure to use the Goods and Services option rather than Friends and Family, and be prepared to wait in silence. Never once did I receive an update from him without me asking him first what was going on. And sometimes I would not receive any reply at all to my questions. I am sure that Paul is a very nice guy in person, and certainly quite talented. However, his lack of professionalism and poor communication leave a lot to be desired.

Possibly the Boonta Eve Classic?

Yay, Jorge! I'm so excited for you. You're gonna have so much fun. I'm totally jelly. ☺

These are awesome, and definitely help a lot. Thank you for sharing these. Great work!!! For the helmet, are the lenses transparent, or did you have to replace the lenses with something?

If you have any photos of this, please share! Would love to see it.

I'm so gonna do this for my 6 year old son now. I just bought one of these figures over at Kohls.com for a little over $50 with a 15% off coupon, and they're on clearance, too! Go now if you're wanting one! Halloween is going to be so awesome this year!

This might help.. ----------

Looks great! Good luck, Jorge!!!!

Yeah, gmail already moves whatever makes it to my inbox over to Social. I've created an additional filter to mark all incoming email from the FISD as important, so maybe that will help. It's odd because I can't see a pattern as to why what few FISD email messages that make it to me are getting there. There is nothing in Spam or Trash from the FISD. I don't receive the notifications on the site for all the threads I follow, either. I have checked the boxes for Notification List and Email for everything. I can work around these little issues on my own, but thought you'd like to know that something glitchy seems to be afoot!

I am using Gmail already. I used to receive messages without any problem from the FISD. Not sure what happened to change things.

Now that I’ve completed the electronics in my blaster, I have shifted back to wrapping up my bucket. Using a stencil purchased from Trooperbay, I sponged on the stripes on the back of the helmet. Easy, easy, easy. It took me less than 15 minutes, and I didn’t even need to do any cleanup work for these. Here are some pics of the completed paint job. I made some grill thingies to hold the black mesh around the frown. I can’t remember which thread I found this idea on, sorry! In hindsight, I would opt to make one large piece versus two smaller ones. Trying to fit these in was a pain. I tried to install bubble lenses using Velcro, and I just didn’t like how they were sitting. So I opted to use some Green Stuff and make some screw posts so I could easily swap them with flat lenses. It’s not the most beautiful setup, but it works. As they fit now, they are secure and there is enough space around the bottom edges for air flow. I might modify the posts so the lenses fit a little more snug in the eye holes, though. I’m on the fence about this. Any opinions on this kind of thing would be appreciated! And the finished lid! I still have to get the s-trim applied on the bottom, but that’s a minor thing. My 6 year old decided to wear it around the house for almost an hour. It took a lot to get it away from him! Is it just me, or is it normal to feel a little sad once this kind of project is complete? I’m so happy that I did this ATA Hero helmet, but I’m also bummed that it’s done. My TM armor should be shipping soon, so for now, it’ll be a waiting game until I get to work with more white stuff. Can’t wait to get my full TK going! Oh, and any suggestions to improve the looks of this lid are always welcome!