TikiTechie

2024-04-20, Boulder Country Day School Gala

2024-04-13, Wicked West Comic Expo 2024 (2 days) A fun little con with an unfairly low number of visitors. Oh well. I did get a chance to try out my updated sound-glove with a lot of positive feedback. The might of the First Order

I definitely like this solution. I've been experimenting a bunch lately to make cloth gaskets (getting ready for summer) that are integrated into a spandex top I can just pull on. (same with knees). I am trying to make thin neoprene behave but my sewing machine is having issues and my sewing skills are such that it is not so easy. Being able to loop around and not have to fashion the "tubes" would be helpful. Great idea. Please post your results!

Trooped 2 of the 3 days of this ultra-small con. I think our garrison outnumbered the attendees 2-1. Got a couple of cool pics anyway.

MiniCon 2024 (Landmark Comic Book Club) A fun little event. This is at a rec center, so it was as much fun interacting with the con guests as it was to surprise the people thinking they were going to go work out as normal. We had more photo interaction outside the front doors than inside the crowded floor. These events closer to Denver bring out a lot of garrison members that I don't see very often, so it's good to see some interesting variety in kits.

2024-03-09, Scouts Pinewood Derby Short troop. Entertaining kids escalated when they had a electrical problem for their hi-tech track system. But the troop leader was a fan of all the recent Disney SW content, so I appreciated the positivity. If there is a winner for theme, this TK car is it! A couple of good-looking troopers: Stay back at least 20 feet: All photo credits to Nommm683

Thank you for noticing! Closing in on 50

2024-02-17, Air Force Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program A fun event. The hardest part was standing around waiting for photographs while people are eating good-smelling food. Cool to see a rare Von Reg kit. I was wishing I had brought my FOTK, but having Vader it always looks great to have the OTTK presence and I was the only one there, which is very unusual. I don't sign many autographs. I always have to channel my inner-Disney character cast-member skills to figure out how to write "a name" with my gloves on. My handwriting is bad enough as it is. But I had include the photo of Vader signing autographs. I find I am sporting a blaster less and less these days. If it's a kids-only event I usually leave it in my trunk. It just gets in the way of interacting with kids and looks awkward in photos, in my opinion. If it's a primarily adult event, convention, military or law-enforcement, I'll usually bring it along. Given the name of this event, I didn't realize that we were going to be entertaining two rooms full of kids first, so I eventually holstered it.

2024-02-03, BrickFest LIVE Loveland 2024 - Day 1 & 2 Got some great outreach done working the table & costuming this weekend. Many many attendees, great questions and lots of very interested individuals that I hope will join our ranks. Day 2 One of the highlights was this little boy whose dad said they saw us, but I left to go on break before they could get to us to take a pic. In the last 20 min of the day they happened to make their way back in time to get to meet the trooper in White Armor. His dad was as happy as he was.

Congratulations! Well deserved.

Starting out the year strong with a decent amount of upcoming troops. Woohoo! First time event was really a great event with a lot of happy faces. A strong Rebel presence today. Putting a Jawa in jail is crossed off my trooping bucket list.

SRS - RetroMania Boulder/Longmont 2024 Smallish con with a lot of toys for sale. Love getting out the FOTK for these events.

Made it to 25

Finished the year and my 25th troop with the same event from last year, which had been my very first troop event. A bit light on attendance, which means we got a lot of silliness and photos. Some cool lighting courtesy of our local Jedi & ROTS Anakin. Sounding out some Santa stories. Group of white armors. The Tuskens make comfy chairs I hear. A little elvin trooper.

Children's Hospital of Colorado Holiday Parade 2023 It's been a full year that I've been actively trooping. This is my first repeat event and it's always fun (and cold). No sun this year made it pretty chilly but I like to provide a little excitement to kids who may be in the hospital or urgent care and not having much fun otherwise. (I would love to get to visit inside hospitals but those days seem to be long gone, or just slow to return.) Got the same repeat cast of superheros, Indiana Jones, 501st, Mandos & a velociraptor. Good company. I'm the TK with the out-of-control santa hat.

Thank you again. Looks very nice!

I've posted this elsewhere but I figured I'd also drop it here for anyone following this one. I was granted approved for FOTK at Basic level on Nov. 1. Thanks everyone who commented and reacted. I appreciate the support of this great community & forum. It helps a lot! Stay on target. For the First Order!

Thank you, folks. Got approved yesterday for FOTK! Very happy to join the ranks of the First Order!

Johnstown Trick or Treat Street I have discovered a lot of small towns in northeast Colorado since joining the Mountain Garrison. This was another. A great day and first troop in my First Order TK kit. For the First Order! One of my favorite photos. Serving with Lt. Galek Trying to keep warm on a 27 degree (-2 celsius). Darn cold whatever your unit of measure. That is the advantage of the FOTK over the OTTK kit I discovered. So much warmer. This will not be something to brag about when it's summer time.

Rocky Mountain Honor Flight 10-21-2023 My second Honor Flight. Always a fun way to give back to veterans who deserve a warm welcome and a day of honor. With my officers. The flights are usually delayed and this was no different. Waited an extra hour and got lots of photo op moments. Lots of different groups represented for the Veterans coming home.

No hate. I need to listen to my photographer better. Can you link to how you or others are securing the spat with velcro? Mine seem to want to inch up. The gasket may be too thick to stay down given the slight upward angle the shin has.

Ok, updated based on your recommendations. Thank you. Updated the TD to match the TLJ CRL. Straightened up the back and minded my posture. Added several changes to the upper gaskets to fit it better. The forearms are up as high as I can get them on the gasket sleeve without cracking. An elastic thumb strap helps pull it further down into the gauntlet and gives a little more space between that and the glove. Front: Reverse: Left side arms lowered: Left Side arms extended: Right side arms lowered: Right side arms extended: Helmet off:

First/Last Name: Jim Munro Garrison: Mountain Garrison Armor Maker: Imperial Surplus Helmet: Denuo Novo Premier TLJ Height: 5'10" Weight: 175 TK Type: TLJ Gasket Maker: Purchase second-hand. Unknown. Neck Seal: ImperialSeamstress [Etsy] Boots: KeepTrooping Blaster: Not submitting for basic. Build log: https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/53835-tikitechie-tlj-first-order-tk-build-thread/ Front: Rear: Left: Right: Bucket Off:

Well, this is a patent for something that looks an awful lot like a stormtrooper audio system. The setup is kind of outlined there. The details are generic, so I don't know there is a "brand" since it's likely not off the shelf. Maybe Disney Imagineering brand? If you find out though, please let me know. I'd love to get those details. For now I am reverse engineering what I see there and in videos. As I have mentioned elsewhere, I am working on producing for my own use a similarly triggered sound glove. This is for fun and not necessarily ever going to see the light of day, but I do have the components, and some of the skills, to produce it. Why not use a mic & amp, you ask? Good question. There are a few specific answers, mostly just that my voice _does not project_. It's a me thing. Trying to get it loud enough for me to be heard, and understood, has not worked: feedback, picking up breathing, etc. Until I actually build the sound system, I am just using the mic/amp though, since it's easy and I have all the parts. I always hope someone on the forums is a GE FOTK and will reach out to provide more info.

Yes, they were annoying me. Is there a recommended way? My OTTK has an elastic connecting to bicep but it seems like that might not work given the texture of the gasket material. I suppose I could velcro them up like the shins? Thank you! Yeah, my family can't wait to see me again. (I think.)