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Posts posted by Morgi
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Helmet Paint
As this is an ESB there weren't many areas that needed paint: the ears, the frown and the vocoder.
Due to a need for two layers of paint and the high air humidity we got right now this took me a bit longer than I anticipated, but still got done easily enough. As I already had my paint out, I also took care of the ear screws and gave them a coat of white paint.
Am 13.5.2022 um 08:13 schrieb CableGuy:As you’ve mentioned Centurion (so you are aiming for high accuracy), I thought I’d mention the ends of the brow trim. For both ANH and ESB, the ends of the brow trim is typically cut straight up and down, not at an angle.
Am 15.5.2022 um 12:49 schrieb justjoseph63:As for the brow trim ends, I would trim them flat as Dan suggested, Luca. You should have no issues for Basic or even E.I approvals with them being angled, but as he mentioned, for Centurion they will need to be trimmed. While not specifically listed in the CRL, it's one of those items we insist on as 99% of screen references show the ends being flat.
Am 15.5.2022 um 13:59 schrieb Morgi:I'll probably trim the other side of the brow appropriately for Centurion then and keep running around with the version that I like better.
I got the outside of the brow trim at the angled look you got to see in the previous pictures and as I had left the inside straight, it was a simple matter of putting the brow trim on the other way round to fix this issue and give it those straight edges. Hope this looks better
No full bucket pictures of this yet, gotta wait for me to add the green lens foil (and the fabric behind the frown) next. Almost done, this went quicker than I had hoped, even though I stretched the work out a lot just to have something to do for a bit longer
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vor einer Stunde schrieb justjoseph63:
While not specifically listed in the CRL, it's one of those items we insist on as 99% of screen references show
Does that mean, mesh behind the frown will soon be prohibited at Centurion, as that's not seen on a single Stormtrooper, but gaps between the teeth are very common to spot?
... asking for a friend
Back on topic: I'll probably trim the other side of the brow appropriately for Centurion then and keep running around with the version that I like better. Thanks for your input!
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vor 17 Stunden schrieb CableGuy:
“Text descriptions are only one part of the guideline. GMLs and costumers must consider both text and pictures (CRL and Reference) when reviewing the costume”
Lucky me found a few images supporting the angled cut
Any DO wanna weigh in on this issue?
Hovi Tips
Not exactly that difficult either, although the small patches of black paint did mean a bit more extra work.
Decals
Now, as Joseph so kindly pointed out in this thread my decals are FX/NE Trooperbay decals. Lesson learned: double check before you order -- just because you got the link from the FISD does not mean it's guaranteed to be the right decals. Also, do not just hand over the order to your parents, who will then notice that it's cheaper via e-bay. I do not know where the mix-up happened, but at least they're ESB Decals and they fit the helmet (can't say the same for the original tears on the helmet, so I'm lucky that I'm going for a slightly idealized build
)
Some references taken from Joseph's CRL Reference.
As there's a disturbing lack of info out there on how to apply decals, here's what I put together with the advice of TK-248 (Tommi) and T-Jay (Tino):
First get yourself some very soapy water, which you can use as a help to slide the decal into the correct position. Then dab said soap water onto your armor, making sure the entire area where you will place the decal is not only clean, but also covered. This allows you to correctly position your decal. Then carefully heat said decal with a hair dryer, which help it conform to the shape of your helmet and stick. If necessary and possible, cut the decal to size.
Here's the end result. I'm looking forward to feedback
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Once upon a time whilst scrolling through the FISD I found this very interesting thread about our beloved Mr No Stripes. Might be worth a read if you like this trooper
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vor 2 Minuten schrieb justjoseph63:
Well, considering that they're ESB Decals ordered via and sent from Trooperbay, I'd certainly hope so. Maybe theyve updated their decals or I chose a different option of ESB decals?
As they fit and look like ESB I think they should be just fine though, right?
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vor 4 Stunden schrieb TrickyT81:
I’m struggling find anything in regards to the stick in on decals for ESB stunt helmet. Is anyone aware of any threads around this?
Just faced the same problem with my own ESB build and from what I can tell, this thread here is your best bet:
Here's what I did just this afternoon (build thread update to follow): had the decals from Trooperbay, used soapy water to help move them into position, then used a hair dryer to make them lay flush against the plastic. Worked really well
Alternatively you can also use decal fluid to apply them with instead. If there's any interest, I could go into more detail on this when I write my build thread update on this particular step. Hope this was helpful!
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vor 3 Stunden schrieb CableGuy:
Great progress, Luca.
As you’ve mentioned Centurion (so you are aiming for high accuracy), I thought I’d mention the ends of the brow trim. For both ANH and ESB, the ends of the brow trim is typically cut straight up and down, not at an angle.
Please see below from ANH:
From ESB:
From the original RS helmet:
Suggestions:
Keep up the good work.Thanks, Dan!
Awesome references, love especially how they show the curve of the brow trim. If I ever go for a fully-screen accurate replica build it'll be interesting to see how one can add that -- my brow always seems to be on the lower side
As evident with the S-trim as well, I've changed a few details from screen-accurate to more idealized, trying to find an in-between that I like. Therefore I think I'll stick to the angled cut at the edge of the brow trim for now. Still, given the current cut of the brow trim a change to more screen-accurate is still possible, so if this ever becomes a Centurion requirement (it isn't as of now, last I checked), I can still easily change it around, doing what you suggested.
Thanks for your feedback
vor 16 Stunden schrieb TKSpartan:You're completely right Luca, and the s trim looks nice. Helmet's ears are not the rock stars in building process
Glad to hear that, Mario! Thankfully I got the ears done for now, so I can move on to more interesting parts
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vor 7 Stunden schrieb revlimiter:
Those suits get worse the closer you look at them. One of the reddit threads had a really high res. You could see such thing as...
- The shoulder bridges being held on by white rivets in the middle.
- Huuuuuge ab buttons.
- ANH style helmets... maybe hero ones? But the whole bucket looks odd.
- White trim on the torso edges.
That's just scratching the surface.
The armor seeming like Rubies (RotJ Style with a messed up ANH-bucket seems slightly familiar) isn't the worst thing. They didn't manage to suit up correctly.
The one on the right has managed to switch his handguards and the one on the left has two left biceps
Not gonna look for more details, I'll probably be happier ignoring this
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Helmet Ears and S-Trim
After a few hours of work (gotta love fitting the ears...) I got to a point where I was fairly happy with the look and over-all appearance.
It's not gap-free, but neither were the originals, so that's alright. Truly nothing extraordinary about this part of the build except for the fact that it was very time consuming and sometimes a bit frustrating.
The S-trim in comparison was fairly easy and quick, a simple matter of wrapping the material around the bottom and squishing everything into a tight fit that will hold the S-trim in position without any need for glue.
Whereas the original helmets had the ends meet at the back of the helmet, I went with the option of moving this to underneath the vocoder. This simply helps to hide any potential gaps and, in my humble opinion, looks a bit better.
As always, I'd appreciate feedback. Given what's coming up soon, I'd also love advice regarding the application of decals, as I've never done so before
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vor 2 Stunden schrieb Sithping:
Thanks for the feedback Luca!
Do you mean the return edge at the neck?
That's the word I was looking for. Exactly, having that much of a return edge there seems pretty uncomfortable, so I'd take that off.
Aside from that I can only agree with Joseph and Andrew and I'm looking forward to seeing your torso put together
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That's some impressive progress! Looking good so far to me
Food for thought: have you thought about taking off the return edge at the top of the chest plate? Might make it a bit more comfortable
Additionally, there seems to be a gap between your thigh armor and leg. Maybe you could tighten that a little and/or add some padding for a better fit later on.
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Welcome to the FISD, Paul!
Seems like you got a good start already. Just mentioning it now: if you want to aim for EIB/Centurion (aka more accuracy) you should remove all of the return edge on the wrist openings of the forearms.
Looking forward to your build
Remember to have fun and that it's better to measure twice and cut once, ask before cutting and gluing and to check your references
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Helmet Back and Cap and Face
Well, before I got to the assembly, I trimmed the outside following the lines in the plastic and then trimming the eyes and teeth:
Personal choice, but I think, adding the U-trim before assembling makes the most sense. I also cut the edges of the rubber to run along the traps. Just looks a little sleeker.
Then I assembled the the two helmet parts:
Most people use rivets for this, but as I don't own a rivet gun I went with these things that I could always remove and reassemble. Makes things a little easier, I'd like to believe.
This was the result. Right now I'm working on fitting the ears, so once that's done you can probably expect another update. If anybody would like to share some feedback in the meantime, I'd look forward to it!
FISD Resources Used
Most helmet assembly resources can be found in MaskedVengeance's Resource. I did not refer to any particular source.
I used this image from Cableguy's Helmet Alignment Thread as a rough guideline for the alignment, as well as my ANH Stunt helmet.
ZitatLet’s start with the basic premise - the majority of reference photos show that if you draw an imaginary line (shown here in green) from the rear molded line of the back and cap, this will sit just above the eyes; or to put it another way, it is very unlikely that the eyes will sit HIGHER than this imaginary line;
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Well, well, well... how the turntables... from making memes about everyone else, here's a few about myself. Once again a reminder that this is not "Morgi's Memes" and everyone is welcome to join the fun
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[11] 29/04/2022 -- "Star Wars in Concert : RotJ" Oberhausen
Just over fourty members of the German Garrison trooped for the Star Wars in Concert in Oberhausen. Having met up in the afternoon, everyone was ready and in costume by evening and got to spend the next fourty minutes or so goofing around as we waited for the visitors to be allowed to enter.
We were available for pictures (no chance to walk even a few steps without being stopped for photos, it was amazing) and for fun interactions with the visitors.
Not only that, but we also got to walk up the orchestra two times -- once before the beginning of the concert and once after the concert -- so people could take pictures with and of us not only during the break and before the concert, but also in front of the stage with all troopers assembled. In between that we got seperated cubicles where we could stand and watch the movie. A huge thank you to the people in the lounge right next to ST-72603 and I for the constant popcorn and soda supply!
Having started the troop by walking up five flights of stairs in the wrong direction, we prefered to use the elevator afterwards to move us from the changing area to the main floor and back down for the wait backstage as the second Death Star exploded and we were about to appear in front of the audience one last time.
All in all it was a very cool evening with amazing guests and very fun troopers. Special shout-out to our trooper with the camera: TX-75555! Also a huge thank you to his girlfriend. Without those two this troop log entry would be a lot more boring.
TK-66744 signing off
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Same goes for a lot of words that make more sense to underline constantly, such as EIB
Not that it doesn't make sense with this one, but it just always cracks me up when spotting it in a random text, underlined, without actually meaning the staff
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Firstly, please let me know if I've forgotten someone, I've only ever known Andrew as the DL and couldn't manage to find a comprehensive list whilst researching this meme. If there's anyone I should add, I will do so as soon as possible
EDIT: thank you, Caleb, for providing me a complete list!
Secondly, thank you all for all of your work, time and effort keeping this Detachment going. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it
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Am 11.4.2022 um 21:50 schrieb Morgi:
10 Troops for me, thanks!
Second try, I still seem to be missing that badge
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vor 54 Minuten schrieb masterx244:
I know which event and where that pic was taken... (was at that con. too)
I know, I'm fairly sure you were the one TK I was talking with towards the end of the event in front of the German Garrison section
Anyways, that was one spacious changing room, perfect for silly TK photos
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Lots of love for everyone mentioned here, you help keep the FISD alive and going! Also, shout out to MaskedVengeance for inspiring some of these - I appreciate the inspiration, Caleb
All assignments to a character were completely random. Complaints can be lodged in the comments or my DM's. Please do not notify my Captain, he's sponsoring my concert tickets.
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Zitat
Starting with the stripes on the rear traps- the height is spot-on, but they need to be thicker to match the screen references as seen below. If you don't feel comfortable using a paintbrush, you could try a paint pen (link here).
Reference images
Tackled the first Centurion modification:
And because I was already at it, I not only broadened the rear traps, but also the stripes in the tears. Don't want to wait until my Centurion application to get those pointed out. Again, all wobbly hand-painted lines, only a little more paint. If any DO could comment on whether this is good enough for Centurion, or if I need even more paint on there or something, I'd appreciate it!
Those of you following my new ESB conversion build will know that I'm currently waiting on some tools to get delivered. Until I get those I won't be able to do anything about the rivet placement on the ab and kidney. The new shape of my thigh is something that I've been procrastinating on, due to the fact that cutting that is quite frankly scaring me, but I don't see a way to fix it just by repositioning the thigh with either changes to the strapping or to padding. In other words, Centurion might take me a while and not just because I don't find the time for working on my armor
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vor 5 Stunden schrieb gmrhodes13:
Nice work the only downside is you can see the ridges of the elastic which is quite noticeable, I found doubling over the fabric quite a few times helped stiffen it ( from memory I folded 5 times) also using a stiffer fabric can help.
I've noticed the same but wanted to try out the actual result as-is first. I can always layer more canvas on the outside of the belt, but taking some away could be difficult. Thanks for pointing it out!
vor 5 Stunden schrieb gmrhodes13:I also add a piece of plastic in the section the belt will be hung on, not as important with an ESB as you use the loops but can help any sag when the blaster is holstered.
I actually added such a piece of plastic already:
vor 11 Stunden schrieb Morgi:Weekend over, access to sewing machine lost, access to ABS scrap gained. I inserted a slightly bent piece of ABS scrap roughly the width of the holster into the right side of the canvas belt in the hopes of this providing additional stiffness where I'll put the holster. A safety net to prevent creasing or sagging, so to speak. I'd read about that sometime ago on this forum back when building my ANH Stunt and remembered about it just in time for this build.
vor 5 Stunden schrieb gmrhodes13:Here is an image from the How To Belt thread, notice how close to the edge the elastic is, also the stiffness of the fabric when compared to yours
Oh yes, that was the post I was referencing earlier. Glad to see it again and have a more direct comparison of what we did than just my memories of what I read a few months ago. My elastic is similarly close to the edge of the elastic, I just sewed closer to the inside of the belt and not at the fabric edge directly, as this was very similar to my ANH belt from RS
Thanks for your feedback, Glen, always a joy to hear from you and your ideas!
vor 5 Stunden schrieb justjoseph63:SO, you want to go ESB, huh? AWESOME! If you are considering building a 3-D printed E-11 to go with that costume I can help.. I am also in the middle of an ESB build but due to lack of space (going on 10 months now) I was forced to concentrate on the weapon first. I used Bryan's @trooper96 incredibly accurate ANH E-11 kit and (IMHO) it turned out pretty danged nice.
I have a complete tutorial on how I did it here, and just hit me up via PM if you need help or any of the greebs I created. Despite the work, it honestly was a really fun build!
Thanks for the offer, Joseph, I really appreciate it!
As my focus right now is on the armor (I do have a lack of space as well, but considering its only about some soft parts and the helmet I can make it work) it might take me a while to get around to the E-11 but I'll keep your words in mind once I get to that part.
Thanks again for the feedback so far, I hope to get my tools delivered next week so it might take some time to get around to the next update.
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Am 19.4.2022 um 17:28 schrieb MaskedVengeance:
Haha, love the image at the top! My plan is to implement the same conversion in the future, and it looks like you have your task list ready to go. The only thing I'll add is that you may be able to get away with using the same holster and simply replace the tan straps with the black loops. I acquired black straps from my holster maker for the easy swap out with chicago screws. Looking forward to following your completion of this next project!
Now that's a good idea, love it! As those are already held up with Chicago Screws, all I'd need would be some black leather -- sounds do-able. Thank you, Caleb, glad to have you following along on this, I'm sure it'll be fun
The Canvas Belt, Part One
Quick warning, this will be picture-heavy. If you know my troop log or my love for memes this might not be a surprise.
For my canvas belt I used slightly off-white canvas fabric and some 40mm white elastic, as that was the most fitting size available. As this would have to be compatible with my current armor, I simply measured my current canvas belt (105x7.5 cm) and used those measurements for my new ESB belt.
I cut out a strip of canvas fabric a few centimetres longer and broader than my measurements and pinned the elastic to the canvas. The elastic is supposed to provide extra support as the canvas fabric on its own is rather thin and wrinkly and I did not want to sew seven layers together just to get a belt strong enough to hold up the heavy holster without sagging.
I then sewed the elastic on one side only to the fabric. One side only as I was a bit lazy and my sewing skills meant that the more exposure the belt had to the machine, the higher my chances of accidentally destroying the belt. It also made the entire thing a bit more flexible in terms of wrapping the belt around my body without wrinkles, so that's nice.
Now I cut it to the proper size, making sure to keep the distance between the top of the elastic and the top of the belt at around just under one centimetre, so that I could sew the belt together, have the elastic right at the top and still have those looser parts of fabric that line the edge of the belt.
Afterwards I basically hit the copy-and-paste button for my belt and cut out the outside of the canvas belt.
I then sewed both parts together, with the elastic now neatly hidden inside the belt and the seam from sewing the elastic into position hidden on the inside.
Weekend over, access to sewing machine lost, access to ABS scrap gained. I inserted a slightly bent piece of ABS scrap roughly the width of the holster into the right side of the canvas belt in the hopes of this providing additional stiffness where I'll put the holster. A safety net to prevent creasing or sagging, so to speak. I'd read about that sometime ago on this forum back when building my ANH Stunt and remembered about it just in time for this build.
Afterwards I neatened the edges and went over everything with fabric glue to prevent excess fraying. Without the glue I would have probably had the entire belt fall apart in a few months...
I then added velcro and hand-sewed the sides shut. Shout-out to my third grade sewing instructor, without her I would have been lost
The belt fits so far, once I get the proper tools and a slightly longer break from trooping I'll have to add the snaps for the ABS belt. Before I risk that one, I would prefer to have my Centurion approval with the ANH stunt (better safe than sorry in case I end up damaging the ammo belt and risking said lvl 3), so that's all in regards to the belt for now.
Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to receiving your feedback!
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Morgi's ANH Stunt to ESB Conversion
in ESB Build Threads
Posted
Thanks Glen, and with an important addition as well:
Don't know Frog Tape, but in Germany we got this awesome stuff called "Kreppband". Multi-purpose, essential and on top of it painter's tape! I've used this tape for painting and fitting and it works super well for either. Never had a single spot with paint bleed and it was strong enough to hold parts when fitting.
Something that helps would be balaclavas. I don't know about you guys but here in Germany almost everyone wears one of those, hides everything up to the nose, so nothing is visible through the frown (not guaranteed with mesh, unless you have a lot of layers one can often spot the skin underneath) and, more importantly, nothing is visible from underneath. Those kids are small enough, they don't care about our frown, but they can and will try to get a glimpse into our bucket from below and unless you got everything blacked out well enough, a balaclava would be your best bet. Just look at this photo above, even used those in Rogue One
Guess that's just one of those preferences that can differ. I prefer to have a teeth gap visible, as for me that's just part of a screen accurate stormtrooper. I found a good solution that will have neither face, nor mesh showing, but still allows for that gap for my ANH helmet, so I'll be replicating that with this helmet as well.
Side-view picture from my ANH Stunt build-thread
As always, thanks for the feedback and the opportunity to talk about stormtroopers