Morgi

Thank you all so much for the congratulations! They make for an amazing start in the day! Haha, I'm not surprised. Thanks Glen! Although I get a feeling that the EIB will take me at least as long as my ANH Stunt EIB did As always, I'll keep all of you updated on any and all progress. Thank you so much for your interest and support

As predicted by Glen, luck wasn't needed -- I got my ESB TK approved yesterday evening without any remarks. On to EIB? Of course I hope to get this to the next level eventually. Here's what I need to do to achieve that: - Adjust Ear Position - Fix Brow Position - New Canvas Belt + Ammo Belt Snaps - Get an ESB E-11 Additionally there's a few things that I want to redo in general and will document those in my ANH Stunt Build Thread. If you notice anything, feel free to let me know

Congratulations! I'm sure you'll head on the Centurion soon

Yeah, also the belt is a little crooked and I haven't gotten around to replacing my shoulder bell connections... Additionally, I'm not really happy with my holster position. Alas, we had like 10 minutes until sunset, so we were too hurried to do more than having me stand in the correct position and take the picture, so there were no adjustments to any parts once stationary. Definitely stuff to look out for in the future though, so thanks for your feedback! Very kind of you to say that! I'm cautiously optimistic for this one, but if you say I don't need any luck, I'm sure I'll get an easy pass

Thanks, it means a lot to hear that! Yeah, I thought it was too terrifying, so I didn't choose it. I'm already regretting that decision though Although the (definitely spot-on) Spider-Man pose in the fourth picture is a strong contestant

Approval Pictures I met up with one of the local recruits to have a small photoshooting with his scout and towards the end, we used this opportunity to take the Approval pictures for my ESB TK. Remember to use a contrasting background, unlike myself (Glen has an excellent guideline for this) and to take the pictures with good (natural, indirect) lighting and with the camera at face height. Here's the classic front, left, right, back overview (if a bit trimmed due to the collage). Then there's the buckets-off picture, a close-up on the holster and similar important details, as well as the action shot (all cropped differently for the collage!). Since I don't have an ESB E-11 yet, I went with this pose instead. Don't forget to try out different poses, so you can find one that you like All done, I submitted the pictures to the GMOs/GMLs and am now waiting for feedback. As always, thanks for reading along!

Oops, I did it again~

I- I love this

I'm back Well, it's been a while, but here's the last few things I have to do. That is an excellent point. A few things are a bit off on this helmet and I got a list with things that I'll either re-do or fix when I build a new helmet in the future. For now this is the best ear-fit I can get based on the shape of the back-and-cap, so I'll leave it as-is for now. As long as I don't have an ESB E-11 I won't have to worry about higher levels after all, and I'm sure it won't be an issue for basic Holster Well, although Caleb already brought up the wonderful idea of simply switching the straps, a wonderful friend and fellow Trooper (TK-70815) took it upon him to craft me an entirely new holster as a gift. Due to... reasons... I decided to stick with my old belt for basic approval (not acceptable for higher levels!!!), so I simply took out my ANH holster and added the ESB one. Looks and fits nicely. Gloves and Handguards Despite some really excellent reasons as for why I should sew the handguards onto my gloves, I decided to go with rubber gloves and an elastic strap for now. I'll probably change this in the future, but as of now both versions are acceptable for higher levels, so this is easier at the moment. I bought the gloves online (heavy duty chemical gloves), removed the print with acetone and went over it with a black permanent marker to fully hide the lettering. It turned out really well and as I repeated the process with another pair of gloves as well, I now always have a spare in case my gloves (ANH or ESB) rip. For the third time. Yay. Trimming the handguards was a matter of a few minutes, simply removing all extra material and return edge, before cutting it to size, as they were a bit too large for my hands. Then I glued an elastic strap from one end to the other, so I got a tight hold. I'm currently considering gluing some velcro into the handguards and on to the gloves, so there's even less of an opportunity for the handguards to slip, but this already holds very well. Next Up My next step will have to be taking approval photos. For that I will need to repair one or two things on my armor and I'll need to find the time and space to actually take pictures. I'll keep you updated on that. Thanks for reading!

One? I'll raise you two It's 1:20am, what am I even doing?

Reasons why I haven't applied for Centurion yet: A ) after a troop, I need to repaint the rivets B ) after I've repainted the rivets, I troop By the time I apply for Centurion I'm gonna have used up my white paint

Thanks for the inspiration just now Also, it was about time that I made another meme with a TK in it

It's certainly a bit more difficult, but not impossible -- so far there hasn't been anything where we didn't manage to get up on our own and we've done a lot of fun stuff: I think I'll call this "they said it was impossible" Honestly though: if you're reading this and thinking "Oh, that sounds fun!" please try it with another person who can help you, in case you get stuck halfway through. It took me one try to sit down and get up. One try to lie down and get up. But four tries and a cramp in my foot to kneel in armor Also, just because it works for me and my friends doesn't mean other people won't end up with cracks in their armors. Maybe I'll take the time to write a "how to" in the future for sitting and kneeling in armor, but even then depending on the armor, fit and build you can still end up with cracks.

Well, I layed down on a bench, beach chairs and swings, stuff slightly above the ground. It's easier than laying down on the ground. EDIT: just because I don't prefer to do so, doesn't mean it's impossible to lie down on the ground -- TK-71384 is famous for posing that way Yeah, RS armor is super sturdy -- my friend group (Chaos Division Fireteam) and I have done basically everything in those armors: Playing soccer, falling down, laying down, sitting down, running around, climbing stuff and so on... you think it, we've probably done it. Shout-out to my TK-sister @Swoby who's even more adventurous than I would ever dare If you're curious about my shenanigans, there's either my Troop Log or my Instagram ( @lucamorgi ) -- gotta recommend the second, there's way more shenanigans

Thank you, Sir Honestly, it's not just natural weathering-- there's a fair ton of artificial weathering with advice by @T-Jay, I clean certain types of weathering and it's wonderful to see the progress and know where certain marks came from... beautiful, gotta love some weathering! Not sure if I want to clean it for my application Glad you could be converted to the weathered side of the FISD, I hope you enjoy your stay -- oh, and thank you for your kind words, I'm happy you enjoyed the read-through!

I'm very slim myself and face a few difficulties with my armor due to that, so I might be able to help at least a bit. First of all: it's more than okay to work with padding and not have the armor as close to your body as possible. I know everyone says otherwise, but it's just gonna look weird if the proportions don't work for a TK. So try a bit of a looser fit with padding first and work yourself down from the broader measurements, if you find that looks better. Especially as that helps avoid the second problem: the thighs not looking similar. If you cut your thighs the way they are right now, you'll be left with a shorter thigh in the back on the right than on the left. Currently something I'm still having issues with regarding my Centurion approval, as I got told they have to have a symmetrical curve in the back. Honestly, that is only possible with slim thighs if you either add a shim to the right thigh or cut off more on the left one. Especially if you're taller, even shorter thighs might look a bit too short. Same hight in the back Do I have a good solution outside of this rant that's been a pain for six months now? Not really. Try bigger thighs to avoid extra work, improvise with padding and remember that you can always take away more if you're not happy, but adding material because you don't like the TK-stickfigure look is gonna be a lot more challenging than adding padding everywhere. I personally have padding at the top of my thigh for a good front-back gap to my body that's fairly unnoticeable and I've got padding at the bottom of my thighs for a good lineup with my shins. Here's a picture from my most recent troop, where I've added in the lines of my body. If you position your padding correctly and have the thigh in a realistic position, most gaps are easily hidden due to the dropboxes, the holster or simply the first impression matching what people want to see. Hope this helps at least a bit and good luck

So he said, naively, and continued to ignore said application for the next few months. In my excuse, I moved to a place where there's seemingly only the three other TKs in a 100km radius, so not a lot of people who could take pictures of/for me. Maybe I'll get around to it at some point, but it's actually not that much of a priority right now, as I'm hoping to get my ESB TK approval pictures taken soon and I'm about to start a Clone build. Also, I got to help a few recruits and if you're building a whole TK in six days, that's enough to keep me occupied. Trading Card Box Certainly not CRL-conform and I'm still facing a bit of improvement potential right now, but it's a good way to transport them and people just love trading cards. Additional Padding Always trying out new ways to improve the armor fit and this one might have been the most helpful in a while: thigh padding. I've got X-legs and some firm padding on the lower inside of my thighs helps me conceal that fact really well. It's not perfect, but it's a lot better. Butt-Kidney Strapping Yes, I'm back at it. Although I certainly liked having only the V-tabs, I found that construction to be too rigid for activities, such as sitting down. Therefore I removed the middle tab and replaced it with glued elastic straps. Holds just as well, but it's far more flexible. Knee Rivet Placement One of the details that doesn't get mentioned in the CRL but is constantly remarked on during EIB/Centurion Approvals is the placement of the knee rivet -- oftentimes it's too close to the edge, aimed for a perfection that doesn't exist with Stormtroopers. Unlike with other such fanmade perfections (eg ear gaps) this one gets called out regularly, so I decided to change this one in advance. Not sure if I like the new placement though, the other looked better in my opinion. Official Approval Why am I even aiming for Centurion anymore, if I have the approval by Brian Muir? The man who sculped the armor complimented mine and signed it for free. I'll wear this autograph proudly and am so grateful for this opportunity Weathering One year of trooping and 31 troops left their marks and I'm proud to say that I finally reached a point where I will have to clean some of the black marks as well, and not only all the colorful ones. Still, it just adds something wonderfully realistic. I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I prefer this to the shiny, polished armors you see on many TKs. Haven't seen a single polished armor in the movies, after all

Every 501st Interaction right now: For those curious what I'm talking about: The Census™ is completed once a year to make sure all your data is up to date and to show that you've trooped at least once during the last year

This made my day If you happen to troop in Germany, feel free to contact me -- or maybe we'll get to meet each other at the StarWars Celebration in London next year?

Not sure if this is a popular way to do this, but I hand-sew my patches. Just gives it a bit of character and makes it a bit more personal, so I like it

Welcome to the forum, Flo! So glad we managed to convince you of the joys of being a Stormtrooper and once again, congratulations on your approval! Very hot number and I've heard those troopers are really cool Can't wait to troop with you again next week, now officially as a Fireteam. It'll be awesome! TK-66744 signing off

Honestly, I'm in awe of how far this has come, thank you to everyone who contributed and appreciated Next step, get these onto the FISD Instagram (maybe? possibly?)

Not counting Mr No Stripes or any that aren't strictly TK, such as Spacetroopers or Sandtroopers Soooo... about that one Lvl 3 modification? I'm sure I'll get around to it eventually

I'm back Honestly, I don't blame anyone for not voting in the CRL Polls. If you aren't sure about the armor details, there's no need to vote on them. Is being known for memes better than being known as the one trooper who invites everyone to play limbo in armor? Asking for a friend