shashachu

Awesome! Congrats!!!!

Hi Ekapol, Thanks for your patience and for making the requested changes, as well as the additional photos. It's clear you have an eye for detail and built your armor with higher levels in mind. 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 myself and the rest of the DO team, 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. Starting from the top, while the Hero brows did sit lower than the Stunt brows, yours is a bit too low. I'd recommend lifting it, just a few millimeters. Additionally, as was already pointed out, the Hero hovi tips generally don't have the white rim, or it's very slight due to weathering. A few minutes with some black paint should take care of it. Reference Images Continuing on, *great* job on the ab button paint. If you're wanting to go the extra mile, on the screen-used suits the paint was actually a bit smaller. Notice in the reference image that the paint does not quite cover the plastic button. Reference Image As was already mentioned, for ultimate screen accuracy the TD clips should be squared off, not rounded (although I understand they come from Anovos that way.) Note that if you do decide to tackle squaring them off, they should still be flush with the TD panel. Reference Image Additionally, your canvas belt is a bit long. It seems like you're relatively small-waisted (except maybe on burrito days) but the screen-used armors didn't have any extra cloth belt showing past the TD, so you could consider trimming off the excess. Reference Image: Your posterior plate is popping out a bit from the kidney plate, but it should sit directly below. I can see that you already have strapping connecting the edge of the posterior plate to the kidney, so you might considering tightening that, or moving the strapping closer to the edge of the posterior. Reference Image In the lower limbs, a couple items that might just be dressing issues. It could just be the way you're standing in the photo, but the bottom of your left thigh looks a bit large. For the cleanest look you could consider sizing that down. On the other leg, when you're getting suited up for a troop, have a Handler make sure the calf closures are aligned as well as the thigh and calf cover strips for a super clean, uniform look. Reference Image Finally, there are a few areas around your armor where your return edge looks particularly wide. While many people like the look of it, these are all potential sources for painful armor bites, so once you have a few troops under your belt and get to know more about how your armor fits you, you can consider trimming those back. Reference Images Finally, for your blaster, incredible work! The only note I have is that the screen-used blasters tended not to be heavily weathered, so you should consider toning that down a bit. Reference Images Centurion Requirements In this section we prepare you for Centurion. Because Centurion photos show more detail than EIB, items pertaining to Centurion might be seen there and not here. We try to point out all that we can from what we see but the final accuracy is the responsibility of the trooper. Starting at the top, the L3 CRL states The plastic shoulder straps need to be held down in the back via a white elastic band to the white fabric that connects/bridges the chest and back piece. It's hard to tell, but it doesn't appear you have the shoulder strap tie downs. Your shoulder straps are sitting quite a bit higher than your shoulders, so the ties should help this. If they're still sitting too high, a quick hot water bath to relax the bend might get them to sit a bit lower. Reference Image The L3 CRL states There should be a minimal gap between the shoulder armor and the chest/back plates. Your armor has a pretty significant gap at the top of the shoulder bells as well as all along the length. You should shorten the strapping connecting the shoulder bells to the white shoulder elastic as well as make sure all return edge at the bottom of the bells is trimmed off. Reference Image The L3 CRL states Ideally there no gap between the abdomen and kidney armor. As you already mentioned, you're showing a slight gap between the right side ab/kidney. You should be able to tighten the belt slightly, or maybe lay off the burritos on the day you take your Centurion pics. Reference Image On the other side of the kidney, unfortunately your rivets are misplaced. They should be evenly spaced starting above the cod. (Note my circles are approximate - check the reference images for the proper spacing.) This is not an area we'll break out the ruler for and it's not explicitly in the CRL wording, but we do want it to approximately match the screen-used suits. You'd have to remove the rivets, move them, then fill the old holes with ABS paste. Keep in mind that the tops of the ab and kidney should be aligned, so be sure your rivets are aligned as well. Reference Images Lastly, the L3 CRL states The top of the ammo belt should sit at or just below the bottom of the central and vertical abdomen button panels. The wording is a bit confusing, but your belt should be raised. Reference Image And that's it! Congratulations again on reaching Expert Infantry! You do have a bit of work to do to reach Centurion, but I have full confidence in you. Now get out there and make the Empire proud!

Yes, I use cloth gloves while trooping. The people I know who do use rubber gloves for trooping often wear a thin glove liner (I think they come in silk) to keep your hands from getting too sweaty. And thanks so much for the fixes and updated photos - I'll get working on your review tonight and do my best to get back to you before I leave for Celebration Wednesday morning! Also your burrito comment made me laugh!

Really going all-out with the blaster!!! Re: the clips it's true the screen-used had squared off corners, but this is not something we require. And take your time with the photos - we'll be here when you're ready.

I updated my request - could you actually post all new full-body photos (not just the action photo) since they're all done with the Stunt helmet. Thanks!

Hey Ekapol! Great to see you applying to higher levels. Hope to see you out at a troop soon. Can you add the following additional photos: Close-up of Thermal Detonator, including close-up of screws (we would like to confirm they are the correct pan-head type) Close-up of the inside of the knee ammo pack rivet Close-up of gloves Full pics of the left and right of your blaster Close-up of the blaster rear D-Ring Full pics of the inside and outside of the belt (not worn) All full-body shots wearing the Hero helmet From the photos that are there, a couple changes will need to be made before I can proceed with your app: The knee rivet will need to be painted white: Thigh ammo belt is attached to thigh with a solid head rivet, painted white, in the upper corner and fastened to the lower thigh ridge. While you have the white paint out, you may as well paint the ab/kidney rivets white, although this is a Centurion requirement, not EIB. As was already mentioned, please trim the thigh cover strip so it stops at the thigh ridge. This is something that is not explicitly called out in the CRL but it should be. Thanks!

It's something about how slim you and I look in our armor because we both chose to size down our kits quite a bit. You: Me:

You're welcome! And thanks for being my first ESB armor approval.

SITTING!!!! SHE'S A WITCH!!!! You are looking great! Super proud of you. Also, you and I look freakishly similar when suited up...

CRL and EIB Application Requirements Thank you for making the corrections on your TD screws. 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 in this review I will do my best to use ESB troopers as reference images, but since ESB armor was mostly re-used ANH armor, I will be using some ANH reference images. Starting from the top, your decals are a bit small for your helmet. You might want to look around to see if you can find a decal set that fits the RS helmets better. Reference Images: . Moving along, your bicep pieces seem a bit large for you. It it's possible without damaging your armor, it would clean up your look if you sized them down a bit. Reference Image: As was already pointed out, the paint on your ab buttons is a bit large. It looks like you've already corrected the small button panel, so it would be great to fix the large button panel to match. Reference Image: On the back, you have quite a large gap between your back and kidney. We're recommending you try to close that a bit, and hopefully this should be a relatively simple fix of tightening the strapping connecting the two. Reference Images: Continuing on, your left side ab/kidney is overlapping a bit and tends to get misaligned while you're wearing it. You could consider adding a bit of padding to prevent the overlap and try to keep things in place. Also, it looks like they might be connected with elastic, so you could also consider swapping them out for nylon. Reference Image Ending on the lower limbs, great job aligning the sniper knee. It might just be the photos, but it does look like there's some extra return edge that could be trimmed off: 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: There should be a minimal gap between the shoulder armor and the chest/back plates. Your right shoulder has a pretty visible gap at the top, and it looks like there is a small gap on the left. This should be a relatively simple fix of shortening the shoulder bell strapping, or if needed moving the snap on the shoulder elastic in further. Reference Image: Moving onto the belt, the L3 CRL states: Drop boxes are vertically aligned with the end of the ammo belt with minimal gap between belt and box. The corners of the plastic ammo belt shall be trimmed at a 45 degree angle that that meets the outer edge of the cloth belt. The top of the ammo belt should sit at or just below the bottom of the central and vertical abdomen button panels. As Glen already said, the drop box alignment is probably just a matter of putting a drop of glue on the drop box elastic to keep them from wandering: Reference Image: For the belt corners, it looks like you should be able to trim a bit of the plastic off the ends of the belt to get the corners close to the edge of the canvas belt: Reference Image: With the belt alignment, the CRL language is a bit unclear, but your belt is sitting a bit low. It should be touching or slightly overlapping the ab buttons: Reference Image: And that's it! Congratulations again - it's a really beautiful build. Get out there and make the Empire proud, and we'll see you at Centurion!

Hi Pascal, Thanks so much for your patience. We'd like to request a clearer (and ideally lighter) photo of the frown. It's difficult to tell with the black paint, but it does appear that you might have some overspray on the teeth: Per the CRL: Frown is painted black and does not leave the teeth area. If you agree there is some extra paint, you can clean it up and post updated photos. Otherwise, if you can post some clearer photos showing the paint doesn't leave the teeth area, we can proceed.

Awesome! We'll be with you shortly.

Hey Pam! Looking great! You totally look like a stormtrooper! Thebiggest issue I can see is the back/kidney overlap, but it could also be that the back is sort of just sticking out a bit. How is the back strapped to the kidney? I wonder if you could tighten the strapping some to bring the back closer to your body. On my kit I did bend the shoulder tabs at the top of the back more so that it sat a bit higher and didn't overlap the kidney, so that's also an option. Looking back at @Cricket's comments it could be that the chest and back are both a bit on the larger side - I wonder if both could be brought up a bit. I also think that some of it is just your body proportions - you seem to have a relatively short torso and relatively long limbs. Ultimately approval is up to your GML, but I'm not seeing much here that would block basic approval. Great job with the build!

Great, thanks for the glove pics. We do have a couple people who sell the correct TD screws through the forums, but I believe they're all US-based, so it's likely much cheaper and faster for you to find them locally.

Congrats, Josh!

For full transparency, a note to Zylo and anyone else reading along: Although we did originally decide as a DO team to not pass Zylo's original blaster for EIB, upon receiving feedback from some trusted members, it is evident that given the current CRL, his original blaster should have passed for EIB, although it likely would not have been allowed at Centurion. @zyloRN - I want to personally apologize for this mistake, but by the time we reached this conclusion, your new blaster had already arrived. One of the major things we strive for as DOs is consistency, but at the end of the day we are but human inside of our plastic space armor and we certainly do make mistakes. Unfortunately in this case, it resulted in a member spending extra money for a new blaster. Please feel free to reach out to me or any of my fellow DOs if you have any further questions/concerns.

CRL and EIB Application Requirements: All required submission photos have been posted , thank you for making the requested fixes and now I am very pleased to announce your armor displays all the necessary elements to qualify for ANH Stunt Expert Infantry. On behalf of myself and the entire D.O.Team, Congratulations! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly: In this section we review observations made by your fellow troopers and ourselves. Some observations may lead to suggestions to improve the overall look of your armor. Starting at the helmet, as was mentioned by some of your fellow troopers, the mic tips should have a bit of white on the edges. While you're working on the helmet paint, you may also want to update the shape of the vocoder to more closely match the screen-used examples. Reference Image: Continuing with the helmet, the screen-used stunt helmets tended to have the ears aligned with the edges of the traps. Your left ear is nearly perfect, while the right is a bit more off. If you're feeling ambitious and could do it without damaging the helmet, you could consider tackling repositioning them. Reference Images: Moving along, your right shoulder strap is floating a bit high. You could try scooting the elastic back a bit, or you could consider a hot water bath to increase the curvature a touch. Reference Image: It's nice to see you already have your Centurion-level rubber hand guards. However, they're not sticking to your gloves as well as they could. You should see if you can re-glue the edges to get them to follow the curve of your glove/hand better. My own hand guards were a bear to get glued down. Reference Image: Continuing on to the torso, just a small detail that your kidney piece sticks out a bit when viewed from the front, so you should see if there's anything you can do it help it sit more flat. I Reference Image: Your back armor is also sitting a bit high, even in the arms-down photo. You should see if you can tighten the strapping between the back/kidney and/or lengthen the elastic connecting the chest and back. With your TD, thanks for replacing the screws. Just a couple small details. First, the panel corners should be squared off, not rounded. If you do decide to trim them, make sure the clips are still flush with the panel, though. Second, you could move your TD screws closer to the ends of the clips if you really want to go the extra mile. Reference Image: Some small suggestions with your ab button panel. First, the corners of the ab plate should be cut square, not rounded. Not a dealbreaker by any means, but worth mentioning. Second, most of the button paint looks great, I've just marked one that could be a bit smaller. Finally, the smaller button panel could use a bit of a trim if possible. Reference Image: Closing on the lower limbs, a very small detail is that your thigh cover strip correctly ends at the thigh ridge, but that has exposed a bit of of a gap between the thigh pieces. Some troopers fill the gap with ABS paste; you could also just glue a small square of ABS behind the gap so that the black undersuit doesn't show through. Reference Image: Finally, nice job aligning the sniper knee to the shin ridges. This has left your sniper knee a bit crooked, though. Since this is highly dependent on the armor maker we don't require perfect alignment, but you might see what you could do to straighten out the sniper knee without compromising the ridge alignment too much. Reference Image: Centurion Requirements In this section we prepare you for Centurion. Because Centurion photos show more detail than EIB, items pertaining to Centurion might be seen there and not here. We try to point out all that we can from what we see but the final accuracy is the responsibility of the trooper.  The CRL states: There should be minimal gap between the shoulder armor and the chest/back plates. There are a couple things you could do. First, there is a visible gap between the tops of the bells and the shoulder straps. Hopefully this should be a simple fix of shortening the strapping connecting the two. Second, you should trim all return edge off the bottom of the shoulder bells to bring them closer in. Reference Image: Moving along, the CRL states: Drop boxes are vertically aligned with the end of the ammo belt with minimal gap between belt and box. The corners of the plastic ammo belt shall be trimmed at a 45 degree angle that that meets the outer edge of the cloth belt. The top of the ammo belt should sit at or just below the bottom of the central and vertical abdomen button panels. Your drop boxes were connected too far in. You'll likely need to drill out and reposition the rivet connecting to the belt, or instead of riveting it to the canvas belt, just make a loop of elastic around the canvas belt. Many troopers also add a drop of E-6000 to the strapping to ensure they stay in place. Reference Image: For the belt corner requirement, that's a bit of a delicate dance. I believe that you should be able to just trim the end of the plastic belt to make it so the corner hits the edge of the canvas belt. If you do trim, do it a bit at a time to avoid overtrimming. This is not an area we are extremely picky about - just do your best. Reference Image: Finally, your belt is sitting just a hair too low. On my own kit I added a couple strips of velcro to my belt to keep the front from sagging: Reference Image: And that's it! It might seem like a lot, but most of the Centurion requirements are relatively simple changes, so we hope to see your Centurion application soon! Congratulations again!

Hi Pascal, Thanks for your patience. @gmrhodes13 is correct that the TD screws will need to replaced for us to continue with your application. Could you also post some close up shots of your gloves and hand plates? The ESB L2 CRL states: If rubber gloves are worn the hand plates are affixed via an elastic strap over the palm. If silk or satin gloves are worn, the hand plates have the correct visible stitching pattern using black cotton, with a five point/star pattern, equally spread out with 2 on each side and 1 in the middle front, and needs to be double stitched at each point. So I just want to check the material of your gloves as well as how the hand plates are attached. Thanks!

I'm so sorry for your loss, Lorelei. Real life first, but we're glad you're back.

Hi Josh! Thanks for making all of these changes, but they aren't actually required for EIB approval. (Although your armor looks great!) Mike was super eager to jump into reviews but hasn't yet been familiarized with our process. We will get this sorted out. Thanks, Sha Sha

Awesome!! Fast service from Praetorian, too.

Hi Shaun, Keep in mind that the suggestions with the helmet are just that, suggestions, but not required for Centurion. We know that things like repositioning the ears can be extremely difficult, if not near impossible for some bucket builds, but we like to mention details like that for those troopers who wish to do everything they can to match the screen-used suits. Ultimately, we are a costuming group, not a prop-replica group, so although we'd love for everyone to take every single suggestion, I'd hate for you to think we're asking you to spend money for a new bucket when it's not required. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any further questions or concerns.

Oh, that's a bummer! On the bright side it should be totally okay for every day trooping, so at least he'll have a backup.

Hi Shuan, Thanks again for your patience, and for submitting the additional photos. Great job already applying some of the suggestions made by your fellow troopers. As I said before, this is a really terrific build and if fits you great. 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 myself and the rest of the DO team, 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. Starting from the helmet, we do have a few suggestions. First, the paint. It's hard to tell if it's just the lighting in the photos, but the gray on your helmet seems quite dark. This is not a blocker as the CRL does not specify a specific shade of gray, but it might be something to look into. We recommend either Humbrol #5 Dark Admiralty Grey or Testors #1138 Grey Gloss. Secondly, the tube stripes on your helmet seem a bit far away from the cheeks, especially the left ones; they should be about a pencil-width away. Lastly, if you were keen to tackle repainting the tube stripes, you should double check their orientation; you'll notice in the reference photos that they lean forward, while yours are leaning back, so if you used templates, it's possible you had them reversed. I did also want to note that your vocoder paint shape looks fantastic. (Although the screen-used helmets did use satin black paint.) Reference Image: Onto the ears, as you might have noticed us mention on many EIB and Centurion apps recently, ideally the ears should follow the edge of the traps. On your helmet, your ears are sitting more vertically. It's certainly a challenging correction to make, but we mention it for troopers wanting to go the extra mile. Reference Images: Another small paint detail worth mentioning is that the ab button paint should ideally not quite cover the entire plastic button: Reference Image: Thank you for correcting the screws on your Thermal Detonator. Just a couple suggestions in that area. First, one of your TD clips seems to be sitting a bit far away from the cylinder. You might try to see if you can tighten the screws down. And if you're going for ultimate screen accuracy, the upper TD screws should be closer to the edge of the clips. Reference Image: Moving along to the lower limbs, as was also mentioned by your fellow troopers, your right thigh sits a shade lower than your left. I added extra strapping on the rear of my right thigh for the same reason. It may also just be a matter of twisting your thighs and shins inwards slightly so that they're all more forward-facing. Reference Image: On the fronts of your thighs, it looks like the cover strips might be a hair too long. It should be a quick fix with a pair of scissors or dremel. Reference Image: Finally, on your blaster, although some weathering is desired, there are a couple areas where yours appears overly weathered. On the scope we're suggesting you tone down the brass weathering. I had the same issue on my blaster, and a couple passes with black spraypaint fixed it up. It is also worth mentioning that the t-tracks and grip on the original blasters were plastic, not metal, so those should not show metal weathering (although in your case it could just be lighting/reflections.) Additionally, your D-ring, while present, seems a bit misshapen. Reference Images: Centurion Requirements: In this section we prepare you for Centurion. Because Centurion photos show more detail than EIB, items pertaining to Centurion might be seen there and not here. We try to point out all that we can from what we see but the final accuracy is the responsibility of the trooper. The CRL states: Drop boxes are vertically aligned with the end of the ammo belt with minimal gap between belt and box. Your belt boxes have a tendency to wander, as they appear misaligned in this photo of your belt: But are perfect in this photo of you kitted up: As was already suggested, a drop of E6000 on the elastic connecting the belt boxes should ensure they stay in place. Reference Image: Additionally, in reference to the ab/kidney cap, the CRL states: Ideally there no gap between the abdomen and kidney armor. Great job aligning the tops in your second set of photos, but unfortunately a gap appeared. I'm confident this should be a simple dressing issue or a matter of tightening your belt a bit before taking your Centurion photos. Reference Image: Lastly, although the CRL doesn't specify the size of the rivet holding the thigh ammo boxes on, yours appears very oversized compared to the screen-used suits. This is one of those areas where we're going to rely on our screen reference to determine that this should be corrected for your Centurion application. Reference Images: And that's it! We'd like to congratulate you on achieving EIB, and we'll see you at Centurion!

Yes, Praetorian are approvable all the way to Centurion. I believe actually Hyperfirm are no longer made, and one of the Hyperfirm founders now owns Praetorian.