TheLorelei

Why yes, there is. Stands for Padmé. If she's good enough for Lord Vader, she's good enough for me. You sure will I'll be replacing my ab/kidney before submitting. Decent bit of work there and much busy-ness resulting in no timeline. Looking forward to it, though! Thanks for the congratulations, everybody! It's a real party over here in my head In fact, yesterday is now a recurring event on my calendar - TK Day!

TK-72363 Lorelei Burger requesting 501st access. https://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=30325

Thanks guys! TK-72363 reporting for duty.

So yes, I just got my approval email, applied on the legion site, and I'm really hoping my top ID choice remains available... now to sign up for Brickfest (and a few more troops, let's be real!) and start those Centurion upgrades. This thread will remain updated with those improvements so don't consider this a closing or anything but... THANK YOU to everyone who helped me get this far. Every reply was and is appreciated, with the exception of maybe Frank. You guys are the best and it's a privilege and an honor to join you.

They must just not like you any more.

I'M IN!!!!!

...the waiting is killing me.

Thanks, @A.J. Hamler ! I hope so! Did you get a confirmation of the receipt of your photos? Nobody replied to my email. @shashachu Uhhm.... yeah, that's a little surreal. Hey, we could flank a short Vader and everything would look perfect Haha, thank you! I'm trying! *phew* You'll have your chance soon, I promise. And thanks!! I'm SO pleased with Smudge's brow line in particular. I initially wanted it much lower but I consider that a distinct Stunt-Hero difference so raised it against my wishes and whaddya know, now I love it that way. Thanks, @gmrhodes13 ! My garrison has notoriously long approval times but I'm hoping you're right. Thank you, Adi. Well done on your build, too! I go away for a bit and come back and here you are submitting for EIB!

Hey Phil, I think "No, it's 1.5"" is the short answer, but here's the whole explanation... I've got a variety of straps on my shoulder bells - the shoulder straps (chest to backplate) are 2" white nylon, with sew-in snaps connecting to 1.5" black soft waistband elastic that snaps into the tops of my shoulder bells. There's more of that 1.5" glued into the mid-top of the bell which snaps into the inner top of my bicep to keep the bicep from sliding down my stick figure arm, and further 1.5" wrapped around the outside of the bicep and snapped near the lower edges of the shoulder bell to keep the bell snugly against the bicep. That strap ended up being a lot more necessary than expected! The bells flap around without it. Confusing enough? I'll get a picture of my interior strapping on here soon.

Thank you, @ukswrath ! Your threads continue to be invaluable. @Frank75139 if I'm there, I'll be there in the afternoon but I'm sure we'll run into each other. Thanks Kyle! I actually just showed my dentist a picture of me "in uniform" - this is getting out of hand haha. And the sitting is totally fab, if I do say so myself. I'll be reinforcing the butt plate with fiberglass tape to help any cracks from spreading as a result of the extra bending, but it honestly doesn't seem to be putting much strain on the armor... I think I'm so limb-y, there's just extra room at the joints or something. Who knows. Whatever it is, I'll take it!! Also your FOTK looks great. That much painting - and the maintaining thereof - is beyond me. Well done.

Right? Why did I even bother. And yeah, I'd heard it mentioned before that it's always a work in progress but I'm really understanding it now! Here's to approval by Brickfest. I weigh the same as a duck, too, and even float. Case closed. and thank you! Hey, fire team Slanted Shoulders has to have some degree of uniformity. that's funny though, I'll have to look back at your pictures. Thanks!

Thank you all. Your kind words are appreciated more than you know. So yesterday I realized I was sick of being *almost* basic-approvable at the end of yet another month, and with a decent push I finished half a dozen strappings, put the mesh in the hovis (after a delightful "I LOST MY HOVIS WITH THE SPEAKERS INSTALLED" scare), mounted hovi mics and ears, did a handful of other nitty gritty things, and suited up for pictures. It was cloudy out so they're not as clear as they could be, but trust me it's better that way. I do NOT consider this Centurion-grade for a variety of reasons - bear that in mind when browsing! I will be replacing and refinishing several parts. And I forgot the thin elastic ties on the shoulder straps. Sigh. But for now, I do look rather like a TK... ...and then I *really* had some fun. So yeah, there's that. Plenty of work ahead, but if I can start trooping as is, I'd love to be able to.

Love the contrast of the periodic table on a black tee. And a coupon, to boot! In for one. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks again for all the input, y'all. Things got more than usually crazy around here with my grandmother (with whom I lived) being in and out of the hospital for the past month+ and passing away this week. Post-funeral I took some time to sit outside in the lovely weather and breathe in some toxic fumes-- I mean, work on my armor. (and really, I always wear an OV-grade respirator as I'm not about that fume life.) No pics as I had to dash off to a dinner, but I started wiping the buttons clean of paint (which is STILL not done after probably an hour of swabbing with mineral spirits and scraping with a corner of ABS - there's gotta be a better way and if somebody knows it, please spill), glued some elastic into the shoulder bell (which will have a snap on the other end to attach to my bicep), glued Velcro onto the inside of the back of my left thigh and the padding that goes there to keep the thigh behind the sniper knee (PS this padding is so nice, a high density foam supposedly for weatherproofing), glued white marine vinyl onto the kidney as part of my new (temporary) kidney-ab closure (I say temporary because I really do just need a new kidney and ab and will replace these soon but likely not before initial approval), and glued elastic to the lower cuff of my rubber gloves (which will also have a snap on the other end to attach to my upper inner forearm). I also painted part of my mechanical keyboard's case, which you'll most definitely get a picture of when it looks as Imperial as it eventually will. To-do list, assuming revisiting/finalization of previously mentioned recent accomplishments, looks like: Make elastic boot top cinchers (got the elastic!) Reshape lower calf openings (more hot water baths...) Repaint tube stripes with new brushes (not looking forward to getting all that paint off either) Mount ears, hovi mics, pad bucket Paint various hardware white (at least thigh ammo pack rivets today) Address td brackets Polish kidney repair seam Longer-term: Replace ab and kidney Finish helmet electronics Refinish blaster There you have it. My highly paranthetical update. (P.S. Missed you guys.)

Hey Luc! Thanks! No shoulder bell strapping was in. The long black strap running down my back was attached to the tops of the bells and sorta stuck under my chest-to-backplate shoulder straps, but the "underarm" elastic wasn't on the bells and neither was the bell-to-bicep elastic. Speaking of which, someone recommended I just put a popper right on the ridge of the bicep and on the underside of the ridge of the bell and stick 'em straight together, no strap. Anyone have any success doing that?