kman

I've been extremely pleased with my HyperFirm B-grade. My sole complaint was that I managed to snap off the counter, but that's hardly their fault, and I was able to epoxy it back on, with some wire nails for reinforcement, and it's all good again.

I'm not one for videogames, so I'm not really familiar with all the variations. Is Shocktrooper just a variant of the HWT we've been emulating? Or is this planned to be a brand new CRL for a totally different character? (shock trooper, presumably) Those backpacks are dramatically different from the ones in the two HWT screen shot threads that are stickied in this forum: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/15272-high-detail-hwt-screens/ http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/6484-screen-caps-post-em-if-you-got-em-boys/

Only visible logos are an issue. Those two you linked look like they would be fine. Depending on exactly how your armor sits on you, the logo on the chest MAY be visible. If the hip one is, just remove it with Acetone. Even Sharpie will cover up logos nicely, if temporarily... you generally have to reapply every 1-2 washes. Not a big deal for a small logo, perhaps, but a huge pain for contrast stitching. Again, though it's pretty simple to remove MOST logos with some acetone. (It doesn't seem to hurt the fabric on any of the ones I, and others, have worked on.) Some of the UnderArmor logos appear to be an exception. I don't know how they welded those suckers onto the fabric, but some of the "disc" shaped logos absolutely will NOT come off. At least, I completely gave up after a couple of fruitless hours! But once the logo is off, it's really nice because you never have to worry about it again.

I don't think anyone is talking about an "official ban". Merely a FISD member adding his opinion of why a vendor should be approached with caution, and why.

Sorry for the delay in responding, life and work have been crazy lately and I haven't been on as much as I'd like. Black is perfectly fine. We're not asking people to wear seamless garments, just have it all blend into black while you're wearing it. "Contrast stitching" is when they use stitching of a purposely contrasting color, like these white seams around the crotch area and all down the inside of the legs (compression pants from EastBay which used to be ALL black and a popular affordable option): Or this UnderArmor top, covered in the stuff: That stuff is a bear to cover up. (Also note the thin grey strip at the back of the neck, which is similarly extremely difficult to get fully black) Contrast stitching absolutely ruins an otherwise great option. That said, I agree with Joseph that the cottony material, if that's actually what it is, isn't best for this. You really want the springly compression that synthetic fabrics supply, for these purposes, simply because it stays in good shape longer. All natural fabric will get stretched out and kinda baggy in a relatively short time period, not to mention the fading. (of course, the fabric is by no means inherently non-approvable, so if you need to wear cotton due to allergies and such, by all means, just be aware that there are drawbacks) FWIW, I've personally been trooping in DrSkin compression clothing from Amazon. All black except some logos that come off with Acetone and some elbow grease. There are other options, too... I've been seeing a lot of recommendations for suits from Kohls lately, but I haven't tried them personally, since the DrSkin was cheap, easily delivered to me, and quite nice quality. (My UnderArmor was nicer but I think it was literally 4x the price... and they no longer sell the exact ones I have, unless you stumble across a cache of old stock)

Actually, it's Rob Kittell, but his username here is tkittell for some reason. Easiest way to buy is from his website at www.imperialissue.com Excellent belts. Love mine!

There are a few guys in my garrison who have entire suits of armor in pink. They wear them on troops for Breast Cancer awareness.

E6000 all the way. E6000 forgives mistakes like they never happened. CA glue mistakes mean serious prayers are required to avoid needing to buy new parts to replace the old, destroyed parts, or potentially hours of work to re-finish destroyed surfaces. There's no issue cleaning up E6000 on the outside. Use a cloth to rub, for extra friction. (make it white so you don't stain your armor, rubbing colored cloth on white plastic) Comes off just like rubber cement does, as long as you don't wait a week to clean it up. (I find the next day is best, before it hardens completely) Use more glue, not less. It's relatively simple to clean up excess, but having to re-glue because you didn't use enough really sucks. Best of all, 2 years down the road, you can STILL remove E6000, if you find you need to re-size something (or replace something, or sell your armor to someone sized a bit differently). CA Glue, again, is done once it sets. The ONLY downsides to E6000 are the vapors (use in a well-ventilated area) and the 24 hours cure time, which needs to be clamped (usually with spring clamps and rare earth magnets) for the duration. So progress is slower. But you can end up saving time, compared to if you would have made a single semi-serious error with CA glue. As always, treat the surface before gluing. (sand lightly and then clean with rubbing alcohol for the best bond)

Depends on how hard you throw them at the Rebels. LOL

Good... I'm gonna grab one, while they're cheap and available, just in case they stop selling them in a few years when I actually need one. I can't imagine paint would not eventually dry. Might take a while, but paint doesn't stay wet in open air. As long as it's paint designed for plastic, at least.

Following for my own son's conversion (although I have a few years)

Imperial Flavor Flav FTW!

Scott raises a good point, Andrew. When are you going to shoot another one? Or are you going to let Jameson get all the new glory? LOL

It's merely an intellectual exercise, at this point, but I would challenge you to try my comparison, above, uploading that high resolution image with details that make the change very obvious. It's not always apparent that Facebook is lowering the resolution, but I have yet to find an instance where it's not.

For what it's worth, another reason to consider skipping the FB route is the fact that FB crunches the resolution of all photos, degrading the quality. It may not matter for pics of you and your friends out on the night on the town, but for detail shots (and especially EIB/Centurion submissions where the judges want to be able to zoom in for maximum detail), it can really screw things up. It's especially hard on on things like small text in a photo. A rather dramatic case in point: The photo that someone did for Rogue One, annotating that high res promo shot of Stormtroopers crossing the water, with text pointing out all of the changes from the OT TK armor? I've seen it shared on FB a number of times, and even if you click on the image and use the "Download" option, which supposedly gives you the highest resolution image, the text is unreadable. They do the same thing in FB Messenger, btw, just FYI. The ONLY way to get the original image is via a link to the photo hosted elsewhere. Link to FB pic, shared via the OP's method: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155155602903072&l=ef54a45ae2 Link to original high res image, which I've hosted elsewhere (click to open): http://www.kppix.com/piwigo/upload/2017/01/09/20170109102512-d07fcd4b.jpg I always assumed you could download the original, if you took the time to navigate, until I was trying to share this pic, and people complained. Then I tried to PM it to people, and they still complained. Once I realized what was happening, using the hosted link fixed the problem, but the moral of the story is: Facebook screws up your pics, so don't count on them for anything important!

The contrast stitching is obnoxious and requires ongoing maintenance to keep it covered. Logos are relatively simple to remove (usually), or at least cover, but stitching that runs the entire length is way more hassle than I want to deal with on an ongoing basis, for me personally. I have one that I touched up three times before deciding to stop using it. There are other options that are fully black that are much simpler.

WOW.

Thank you.

Try online, for the regular boots. Just choose a place with a decent return policy due to sizing issues.

Congrats, Shawn!

Your only option is to contact IB (Imperial Boots) and find out if they'll still do custom sizing, or buy the black Chelsea boots in your size (available all over the internet) and paint them white with good leather paint.

This video demo of Score and Snap may help:

Nice job, Jon! Your experiences pretty much echo what I've learned. There are people who are hardcore Dremel PROS and want to use it on everything. They're so good with them that most of the issues you noted, they would easily handle. BUT for anyone who does not work with a Dremel DAILY for years on end, and definitely anyone new, I really don't think a Dremel is a good tool for the main armor cutting. (detail work here and there, it's great for, but not really the main trimming job) I continue to maintain that the traditional Score and Snap method is best. For thinner armor, and the seriously timid, Lexan scissors work reasonably well, too, but score and snap is still best in my book. (The Lexan scissors may be best for the accident-prone with 4 left thumbs, too, but I don't know how well it fares with thicker armor) I did a quick how-to/demo video at one point on FB. I should upload that to YouTube and post it here at some point.

That second method is exactly what the big diagram I posted above shows how to do. (And the first method helps in a pinch, but it's hardly a long term solution)

Interesting. The photos don't have to be set to Public?