shashachu

Hi Jesus! Thanks for your patience. Your armor is in review and since we all discuss every application together, it sometimes takes a few days for us to get all the feedback. I appreciate your enthusiasm! We will be with you soon.

Those photos look great!! Sorry for the trouble, but could you please also post new left and right side arms raised photos showing the fixed gap? You're almost there, Jesús!

I personally wouldn't let higher level applications keep me from trooping but it's a personal choice. As Joseph pointed out, mobility cuts are fine as long as they don't go past the ridge. From the CRL (L3 for shins). Any mobility cuts on back of piece do not go past raised ridges You can go and look at past EIB and Centurion approvals to see many examples of folks who got L3 with mobility cuts. And as you'll discover, armor is never truly 'finished'. You'll continue making small adjustments and improvements.

Hi Jesus! Great to see another ESB application. For EIB, the crl says: Any gap between the abdomen and kidney armor is no more than 1/2" (12.5mm) wide. It appears your ab/kidney gap is too large. Can you post updated photos showing a smaller gap? I think it may just be that you can get there by tightening your belt, or tightening up some of the strapping connecting the ab and kidney. Thanks, Sha Sha

You only ever get one EIB number. We set a goal of getting 1000 troopers approved for EIB a couple of years ago, so each trooper only gets one EIB number, no matter how many approvals they have.

Hey Ardeshir, I just want to be clear that the suggestions section is only that - suggestions. Not required at all, and certainly things like the helmet ears are more difficult than others. We definitely don't want you to be taking on anything that you're uncomfortable with. As far as applying for Centurion, the only required changes are the items under the Centurion section. Let us know if there's anything else we can do to help. -Sha Sha

Hi Ardeshir, Great to see you going up for another EIB! CRL and EIB Application Requirements All required photos are now in and, after review, we are pleased to award you another Expert Infantry approval! On behalf of the DO team and myself, many congratulations! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly In this area we review observations made by your fellow troopers and the DO team. Some observations may lead to suggestions to improve the overall look of your armor. Note that we consider both text (CRL) and pictures (screen caps/reference images) when reviewing submissions As always, let's start from the top. *Really* nice job on the helmet! You've clearly done your research. One suggestion I have is that the bottoms of the ears are a bit on the thick side. Ear trimming is one of those tasks that every TK builder dreads, but if you're up for the challenge, thinning out those bottoms will really elevate the look of your helmet. Reference Images: Moving on to the tube stripes, you pointed out that you're doing the 11-stripe variation, which is totally fine. However, when compared to screen caps, your stripes are a bit thin, making them look too far apart. It's a very minor detail, but if you made each stripe a bit thicker, they would not look overly spaced out. Reference Image: Next, as was already pointed out, the Hero helmets had just some white weathering on the rims of the hovi tips, but were not painted white on the inside. (I believe the text of the CRL here is actually incorrect, but the screencaps are clear.) Reference Images: Continuing on, this is just a minor dressing detail, but when suiting up, be sure the black gaps are even. In this set of photos, your left forearm is sitting too high, and is actually touching your bicep, leaving a larger-than-desireable gap at the left wrist. Next time you're out for a troop, just have a handler give you a once-over to make sure you're looking your sharpest. As your fellow troopers already mentioned, the corners of the ab buttons should be squared off, not rounded: Your butt plate alignment is a little wonky. This is particularly obvious in one of your action shots, so we're recommending you add or tighten the strapping in that area. You could also consider doing some heat bending to make sure it wraps around your body properly. Be careful too about your left thigh running into the left side of your butt plate, as that can lead to painful armor bites. Reference Images: Finally, as was already pointed out, you may want to double check your calf closures, as your left one appears to be sitting a bit open. The best advice I got during my build is to make sure my calves stay closed without any fasteners at all. I personally use Velcro, but I also did a bunch of heat bending to make sure my calves want to stay closed, even without the Velcro. Reference Image: Centurion Requirements In this section we prepare you for Centurion. More photos may be requested in the future that allow us to make better decisions on possible adjustments. If there are any areas of concern they will be discussed here. Because Centurion photos show much more detail than EIB, items to pertaining to Centurion might be seen there and not here. We try to point out all that we can from what is seen, but the final accuracy is the responsibility of the trooper. You did reach Centurion with this set of armor already (congratulations!) but after consulting with @msouza and @TheSwede, there are a few small corrections we're going to have you make before applying for Centurion with your Hero. Hopefully you'll agree they're in the interest of making you look your absolute best, and none of them should be very difficult to make.  First, we'd like you to trim off all of the return edge on the vertical ab buttons. While this is not an item specifically called out in the CRL text, we do consider reference images when doing application reviews, and it should be a simple fix. Pry off the vertical ab buttons, trim off all the return edge so they sit completely flat, then re-glue. Reference Images: Next, the L3 CRL states: Back plate shall have no, or minimal overlap of the kidney plate. The right side of your back plate is overlapping the kidney. I actually had to make the exact same correction on my own application, as I have scoliosis so my back is curved. I corrected it by adding some foam underneath the right shoulder bridge, bringing the right side of my back plate higher. In your case, it may even simply be a matter of how you're standing in the photo. Reference Images: This looks like something overlooked in your original Centurion application, but the L3 CRL states: No return edge on the inside of the front of the forearm is allowed. It's possible it's just the photo, but your forearms appear to have a few areas that still have return edge, so those will need to be trimmed. Reference Images: And that's it! Congrats on your second EIB award, and we shall see you very soon for your second Centurion!

Reggie promised!

Hi Malcolm! Just wanted to check in and see if you needed anything from us. Let me know if any of the requested fixes are unclear, or if you need some extra guidance. We'll be here when you're ready.

Hi Malcolm, Apologies for not noticing this earlier, but we'll need another correction before we can proceed with your application. You are using shims on your kidney piece which is totally fine, but for EIB, those shims need to sit flush. Unless I'm mistaken, yours are sitting behind the kidney: If you'll bear with my poor illustrations, I've tried to show what the end-goal is. The visible shim (blue) should be flush with the kidney piece, and you'll use a backing piece of ABS (red) to connect it to the kidney. When you do correct the shim, be sure to try to minimize any ab/kidney gap that remains. For EIB the ab/kidney gap should be no larger than 1/2" (12.5mm), while for Centurion there should be no gap. Additionally, a visible seam is passable for EIB, but if you'd eventually like to go for Centurion, the seam between the shim and kidney will need to be filled. Here are a couple examples of shims that did pass EIB: Please let us know if you have any questions. You're almost there!

Hi Malcolm, No that should be good. We'll be with you soon. Thanks!

Hi Malcolm! Thanks for your submission. We don't see a lot of ESB TKs, so I was happy to see your application. Before moving forward, the L2 CRL states: Two male snaps are present on the lower center tab of the Posterior Armor. Snaps do not need to be functional. Snaps are silver in color with the bottom of the snap facing outward and are not painted. A split (bifurcated) or single cap rivet is present on the lower tab (cod area) of the abdomen armor. Rivet does not need to be functional. Rivet on must be brass or silver in color, approximately 5/16" (8mm) in diameter and is not painted. So before we proceed, you'll need to remove the white paint from the outside of the butt plate snaps and cod rivet: And like @TKSpartan said, please add these additional photos to your application: * Close up of where the shoulder bridges connect to the chest (to ensure they are not riveted) * Close up of inside *and* outside of the thigh ammo pack rivet (to check the type of rivet) * Straight-on photo of the sniper knee (to check alignment) Thanks!

Locking this thread since Malcolm opened a new one:

I do have the kit but I haven't started building it yet. I got it #1 because of the price, and #2 because the KB kit is massive on me, esp the chest and back. If/when I finally finish my build, I'm planning on a mix of KB and 850. I received my kit within 1 week of payment, in black ABS. I have guessed that maybe the kit is from 3D printed molds, because there are some really strange decisions like: * The forearm pieces have the inner bumpy greeblie molded in, but he also includes a resin cast of the greeblies. Why not just put a flat surface there? * The TD panel comes as part of the kidney plate, but he also includes a kidney plate. I messaged him about it and apparently you're supposed to cut the panel out of the kidney plate. Why waste all that plastic? * The yoke bridge also includes the upper part of the back, with half of the "O II" detail in it, too. Why? Misc details: * The ABS is much thinner than my KB kit, and details are soft...ish, but not much softer than the KB. * The chest/back is *much* smaller than the KB, which for me is great and is almost worth the price of admission. * The spats come as flat pieces - you're expected to heat bend them to roll them into shape. Pretty weird but I guess he did it so that people can size them down. * The version of the yoke I have has the wings as 2 separate pieces. Apparently he's already updated the molds for the yoke so it's a single piece, and I think there's no bridge piece now either. He gave me files to 3D print the TD which is pretty cool but also includes an ABS TD. I do not have his helmet, so I can't comment on the quality of it. All in all, I don't see anything that would obviously block approval but I also haven't seen many (or any?) approved 850 FOTKs. Hope this helps! -Sha Sha

752. https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/47386-tk-52743-requesting-anh-stunt-eib-status-anovos/ Posted by jkarge 10/06/19 Hi Jason, Thanks for your application! I appreciate the fast turnaround with the frown paint cleanup as well as the additional photos. CRL and EIB Application Requirements All required photos are now in and, after review, we are pleased to welcome you to Expert Infantry rank. On behalf of the DO team and myself, many congratulations! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly In this area we review observations made by your fellow troopers and the DO team. Some observations may lead to suggestions to improve the overall look of your armor. Note that we consider both text (CRL) and pictures (screen caps/reference images) when reviewing submissions Starting from the top, although there is certainly a lot of variation in brow height, the ANH Stunt brows were a bit lower. Yours is closer to the 'Move along!' Sandtrooper. So while it's up to you, we're suggesting you lower the brow a bit to get that classic Stunt look. Reference Images: . Finally on the helmet, your vocoder paint could be sharped up. A little bit of time with some paint thinner and cleaning up the edges would really improve the look. Reference Image: Continuing on, a minor dressing issue. When you get suited up for a troop, have a handler double check that your arm coverstrips are aligned. A minor detail for sure, but it really helps you look your best. Reference Image: Moving lower, the right side of your butt plate is sticking out some, causing a small overlap with the thigh. You can either add or tighten the right-side strapping, or you can heat bend the right side to help it wrap around your body. . Reference Images: Additionally, while ideally we'd like minimal black gaps showing between armor pieces, when there are gaps, it cleans up the look to have those gaps evened out. In your case, you have a nice small gap between your ab and thighs, but that leaves a large gap between the thighs and calves. We understand that everyone's body proportions are different, but if it won't affect your mobility a lot, you might consider dropping your thigh pieces a bit. Reference Images: Next, great job aligning your sniper knee. The screen-used sniper knees had a more angled cut to the top return edge, so if you'd like to go the extra mile, you should be able to take care of that in a few minutes. Reference Image: Finally, another minor dressing issue. When you're getting dressed, just ensure your calves are closed cleanly with no gaps or misalignments. Reference Image: Centurion Requirements In this section we prepare you for Centurion. More photos may be requested in the future that allow us to make better decisions on possible adjustments. If there are any areas of concern they will be discussed here. Because Centurion photos show much more detail than EIB, items to pertaining to Centurion might be seen there and not here. We try to point out all that we can from what is seen, but the final accuracy is the responsibility of the trooper. The L3 CRL states: Ear bars shall have only one bump painted in black (rank stripes). Since you have two bars painted black, when you apply for Centurion, you'll need to paint over one of them. Reference Image: Moving along, the L3 CRL states: There should be a minimal gap between the shoulder armor and the chest/back plates. Yours actually look quite good, but there's still some gap to be minimized, particularly in the front. Some strategies include: shortening the strapping holding the shoulder bells on, making sure all lower return edge on the shoulder bells is removed, rotating the bells while wearing the armor, and even relaxing your posture. Reference Images: Continuing on, the L3 CRL states: The top of the ABS ammo belt should sit at or just above the bottom of the central and vertical abdomen button panels. Your belt is sitting just a touch too low. I see you already have velcro on the back of your belt to keep it in place, so it's probably just a dressing issue. Reference Images: Notice how the belt touches or slightly overlaps the lower buttons. And that's it! Thanks again for your application, and we'll see you at Centurion!

Congrats!

Actually saw that someone posted a tutorial here:

Great work! And FYI for the future, when images are hosted on imgur you can still embed links to them in your posts. In your imgur link if I go to an image and do right-click -> Copy Link Address (in Chrome; text may be slightly different in other browsers) then I can paste the link here and the forum software will automatically embed the image:

@jkarge Now taking a closer look at your submission photos, there is one item that needs to be addressed before we can continue. Anovos helmets tend to have quite a bit of overspray on the teeth, but the CRL states Frown is painted gray and does not leave the teeth area. The image is a bit low-res so I can't see all the teeth clearly, but I've indicated a few areas where I can see overspray, but you should check all of the teeth (top and bottom). A few minutes with a toothpick or q-tip and some paint thinner or mineral spirits should clean it up. Here are some reference photos. Note that you can even err on the side of under-painting the teeth. Finally, I can see you are hosting your submission photos directly on whitearmor, which is probably why they're a little low-res. I highly recommend you upload any new photos via imgur.com or some other free image hosting site so that they're easier to review. Once you submit photos of the corrected frown paint, we can proceed. Thanks!

Hi Jason! In addition to the photos that TKSpartan pointed out, can you please include close up photos of where your shoulder bridges are connected to the chest, as well as the connection between the chest and back armor? This is to check the L2 requirements for the shoulder bridges No visible rivets are allowed. and chest Chest and back shall be connected with a white fabric or preferably elastic strap at the shoulders. Thanks!

Hi Pam! Great to see you getting ready for Centurion. You shouldn't need to do any reshaping of the top of the knee. I did remove all of the bottom return edge on my sniper knee.

Hi Henry, Thanks again for your application, and especially for being so patient as we worked through the reviews. CRL and EIB Application Requirements All required photos are now in and, after review, we are pleased to welcome you to Expert Infantry rank. On behalf of the DO team and myself, many congratulations! It's clear that you really did your research when building your armor. Other-Armor Fit/Assembly In this area we review observations made by your fellow troopers and the DO team. Some observations may lead to suggestions to improve the overall look of your armor. Note that we consider both text (CRL) and pictures (screen caps/reference images) when reviewing submissions First, a very minor dressing issue - your TD is sitting too high off your belt. When you're getting ready for troops, have a handler double check that it's sitting securely, or it could actually fall off while you're trooping. Reference Image: Another very minor detail is that the TD clips should be square off, not rounded. Not a big deal at all, but worth mentioning for those who want to go the extra mile. If you do decide to tackle this suggestion, be sure that the ends of the clips are still flush with the TD plate. Also, the TD screws tended to be closer to the ends of the clips. Again, a very minor detail, but I thought I'd point it out. Reference Image: Moving along, your butt plate is popping out a bit, but it should sit right below the kidney. We're suggesting you tighten the strapping on the sides, or add some if there isn't any. Additionally, if you look at the reference images, the rear of your belt is sitting too low; it should sit above the kidney/ab split. Reference Image: Centurion Requirements In this section we prepare you for Centurion. More photos may be requested in the future that allow us to make better decisions on possible adjustments. If there are any areas of concern they will be discussed here. Because Centurion photos show much more detail than EIB, items to pertaining to Centurion might be seen there and not here. We try to point out all that we can from what is seen, but the final accuracy is the responsibility of the trooper. Starting from the top, the L3 CRL states: There should be a minimal gap between the shoulder armor and the chest/back plates. From the front your shoulder bells look *perfect* but from the rear there's a significant gap. I'm actually fairly confident that if you relaxed your arms for the rear photo, you could get most of that gap to disappear. If not, you can try rotating the bells back slightly, or making sure there is not bottom return edge on the shoulder bells. Reference Image: Moving along, the L3 CRL states: [Shoulder straps] shall free float in back. While I like the idea of using magnets to hold them in place, the straps should just be free-floating and not held down or attached in any way to the back plate. Continuing on, the L3 CRL states: Back plate shall have no, or minimal overlap of the kidney plate. Your back plate is overlapping the kidney plate: Since I'm quite short, I had to deal with this with my own kit as well. You could try shortening the strapping between the chest and back to bring the back higher, or in my case I heat-bent the rear shoulder tabs some to force the back plate to sit higher. There is also a great tutorial about how one trooper helped bend in the 'wings' on his back, eliminating the overlap: https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/40831-ajs-of-am-20-build/page/10/?tab=comments#comment-656482 Reference Image: Moving on to a couple fitting issues. I can see that you're a slender trooper, and while you've done a fantastic job with your build, your forearms and thighs don't fit you as well as they could. Your forearms are very wide, particularly at the elbow end, and the tops of your thighs are big for you as well, causing overlap between the thighs and butt plate. While forearm and thigh size isn't something stated specifically in the CRL, we do consider reference images when doing application reviews, and we think it will really help you look your best to have them more proportional. Additionally, the thigh overlap can cause painful armor bites and is probably also affecting your mobility. So we'd like you to size down both the forearms and the thighs before applying for Centurion. It won't be simple, but I have the utmost confidence in your skills. This is something that I had to deal with in my own armor build as I am also slender. The forearms can be particularly difficult due to the built in ridges, but I was able to size mine down significantly. You can see how I approached them in my build thread here: https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/42868-sha-shas-wtf-anh-stunt-build-complete/?tab=comments#comment-574130 Reference Image: Reference Image: Finally, a couple pieces that will need replacing when you apply for Centurion (and we hope you will!) The L3 CRL states: Hand guards shall be latex or latex-like, solid white or painted white, and affixed to rubber gloves with no visible strapping or stitching. Since you have plastic handguards, you'll need to get latex ones (there are some forum members who sell them) for your Centurion application. Reference Image: The L3 CRL states: Bapty-style, Hasbro and Rubies blasters are not allowed, even conversions. Unfortunately your Hasbro blaster (which you've done a great job with) will need to be replaced with one that's more accurate. I personally troop with a Hyperfirm rubber E-11. And that's it! Based on the quality of your armor build so far, I have full confidence that you'll be able to tackle these issues. As always, please reach out to us if you need any assistance, and we hope to see you at Centurion. Congratulations again, now get out there and make The Emperor proud!

Hi Henry, Very sorry for the delay - real life has been extremely busy so I haven't had a chance to do your review. Rest assured I have not forgotten about you. I appreciate your patience.

Apologies - I realized I'd accidentally left out the photos from the Centurion Requirements section - updated to add them. Congratulations again.

Hi Henry, Sorry for the delay - I'll be starting your review. In the meantime, can you post two additional photos: * closeup of where your shoulder bridges connect to the chest piece (to verify there is not rivet) * closeup of the inside of your thigh ammo pack connection (to verify the type of rivet) Thanks!