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kman

501st Stormtrooper[TK]
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Posts posted by kman

  1. Pauldrons

    in Boots, Soft Parts, and other Accessories

    Posted

    The aforementioned are considered canon because they were actually seen in the movie, cartoon series, video game, etc. Since OT stormtroopers (not counting sandtroopers) were never seen with pauldrons, having a ANH/ESB/ROTJ stormtrooper wearing a rank pauldron is not canon.

     

    Agreed.

     

    But they're so cool... LOL!

  5. No sew snaps pulling through elastic straps - Help!

    in ANH (Stunt and Hero)

    Posted

    Soldering irons are great if you have one, and it's not like they're expensive, but I went even cheaper. Heat up a nail on the stove to red hot (hold it with pliers, obviously!) and it goes through elastic and webbing like butter. No new tools needed. :) (I like new tools, especially if they're cheap, but then you also have to store them forever...)

    20160430220520-24a5381c-me.jpg


    For snaps that were going to get a high amount of use and stress, I would fold over the end of the elastic (as is standard), but I ALSO cut a little square of webbing and folded the elastic over it, just to give some more beefiness to the connection.  I didn't take many photos of this, except this one on the shoulder elastics, but I did it on all the black strapping as well.  Note that I sewed the fold over, but you can also just put some E6000 in like you're making a sandwich and it will hold it all together nicely, as well.  Once the glue is set, punch holes and set the snaps as usual.

     

    20160622023211-089e3aa2-me.jpg

    • Like 1

    Another Newbie from SoCal

    in New Member Introductions Archive

    Posted

    Hello! Been a lurker for awhile and decided to join seeing so many helpful people. I mean really helpful. It's pretty unreal how detailed all of the complete suits are. Thought my original Don Post Vader and Stormtrooper helmets I got in the late '70s was awesome!!! Flash forward to see all the great stuff everyone can get there hands on. What a great time to be a fan!

    Welcome! Given that you're in L.A., you'll likely be in the same squad I am. (LA Squad) If you can, set up an account on the SoCal Garrison forum as well, and you'll find the information for the next squad meeting, in February. See you there, perhaps. Or swing by the 501st booth at Long Beach Comic Expo, if you're going.

  9. Accessory continuity

    in Heavy Weapons Trooper

    Posted

    I'd suggest shock trooper (the red new Battlefront guy) be a different CRL. As for HWT backpack variance, I'm not sure what best to go by... Probably original BF?

    I agree. Different name, different setup, different CRL. Or at the very least a "partitioned" option (no mixing bits from each) in the main CRL.

  12. Accessory continuity

    in Heavy Weapons Trooper

    Posted · Edited by kman

    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/

  13. undersuit acceptance

    in Build Threads Requireing Maintenance

    Posted

    I really appreciate the thorough answers from both of you, and no worries about taking your time. I'm just grateful people take their time to answer a question I understand has been answered plenty times already =)

     

    You are correct that it's cotton. I was focusing hard to find an all black solution and never really considered the material to be a problem, until now that is.

     

    I've seen you mention acetone to remove logos and such before, but is it necessary if the logos are covered by the armor? I understand the problems with the neck area and contrast stitching in the provided examples, just want to get it all right from the start =)

     

    I did some quick looking and found two possible alternatives that I think would do the trick. Would these suffice or am missing something? I imagine the logo by the hip might be a problem...

     

    https://postimg.org/image/vhy6bpntf/

     

    https://postimg.org/image/gxxtn0toj/

     

    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.

    • Like 1

  15. undersuit acceptance

    in Build Threads Requireing Maintenance

    Posted · Edited by kman

    Kman! A friendly face =) You're a frequently helpful in the anovos group on facebook. I hope you don't mind me asking since this has been quite the headache for me... what about stitching that is black? Is that acceptable? I'm having a hard time how to interpret the CRL on that specific point, and the picture is too low res to be certain.

     

    Finding an undersuit with no logos and no textures was harder than I expected but I finally came across a two piece that met the criteria no logos and no obvious textures, but it has these stitch lines that I imagine will be visible.

     

    For example I have one line running approxiamately across the black area between the chestpiece and shoulder. https://postimg.org/image/p7za7bvr3/

     

    And another on the lower part of the arm, that will be visible between the bicep and the forearm. https://postimg.org/image/bkpej2jnx/

     

    These lines also run across the inner and outer legs.

     

    Is this a problem or am I overly picky? (seeing as people seem to say "it's fine as long as you use a sharpie")

     

    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):

     

    6958102_w.jpg

    Or this UnderArmor top, covered in the stuff:

    71rdE7zN41L._SY450_.jpg

    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)

  18. Let's talk glue

    in ESB Stormtrooper

    Posted · Edited by kman

    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)

    • Like 1

  24. Photobucket vs. Facebook

    in Forum Help & Support

    Posted · Edited by kman

    For what it is worth, Facebook is not reducing the quality of my images. It uploads everything at high resolution when I insert it into an album. That being said I am still going to use Photobucket since it has no issues with any of the forums for any of the countries.

     

    Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

     

    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.

    • Like 1

  25. Photobucket vs. Facebook

    in Forum Help & Support

    Posted

    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!

    • Like 2
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