JSmails

Would this be EIB acceptable, as is, for an ROTJ TK? The extra cut of leather down the sides is a bit off, maybe, but I love the white soles for ROTJ. No need to paint!

Hello, What silver should I use for the chamber? Some Testors or mask it off and use some sort of spray? Which spray? Thanks for any help. This E-11 needs some color.

Great job thus far! What paint are you using to paint the ab plate, armor and such? If you need any ROTJ reference pics, I can email you a ton of screen grabs if need be.

Awesome, just awesome! If they don't let you take photos, the photos Bill posted are the best I've ever seen. Remember to bring your color book! Just match the swatches with the color you are looking at. I know we'll all trust your eyes as you are looking at an original and know what to look for. As said above, if you could check the frown and chin for glossy or matte, that'd be just excellent. Finally, are you going to bring these decals out with an MRCE cut? I'd surely appreciate that. Now I am officially excited.

I didn't know I was on the MEPD. Isn't this a TK board? I think the lines TK's should be worried about are on the Tantive raid. "There's one, set for stun" etc. I'll have to re-listen to the TK lines in ANH. I know ROTJ TK's don't have static burst or clicks.

That is exactly it. The undersuit, as in your post in the other section, should be 3XL for someone 6'5" like myself. In actual trooping, I'm just going to try not to raise my arms like that. It also wouldn't do that if I didn't have the stirrups secured under my heels. It is really stretched to cover my body.

BUMP for updated pics in first post. Thanks for the continued help gents!

Bill, How wide is that TD? I love the pic with the tape showing 7.5". How about a pic of the width? TIA!

Those were the ones. Thanks for fixing the link. The ones that you link are the boots I was going to buy for $45 delivered I believe. The item you linked doesn't have my size. (13) I'll keep looking. Off on a tangent..... Does anyone know where to get leather dye to dye the boots? I was stunned when Michael's said they don't have any.

Well, the Equestrianconnection emailed me today to say that they are out of stock in my size and discontinued. Grrrrrr. How about these. CHEAP! ------- I know they have that weird toe. But would it be enough to keep you from Elite? No zippers, and correct elastic, but just a weird cut to set off the toe. I'd like to know before I buy. I'll keep looking. I would buy the Barnstormers for $52 delivered, but they only go up to a 46. My size 13 Nike says 47.5 on the tongue, so I don't think a 46 would work. EDIT: I found Tuffa boots in the UK. Which of their styles is most correct? --------- Lots of different styles of Jodhpurs there. I just don't know which is the "correct one" to get from someplace. They seem to have my size though. Where oh where did those hi-res boot pictures go?

I just ordered these in a size 13: --------- I think they are the same as TK-1287's. They are based in the US so you don't get killed on shipping. These will be $46 delivered after using the coupon code "NEW" for $5 off. Andy, let us see what/how you turn those white. I will be doing the same thing it looks like.

Michael, I am TOTALLY in the same boat in a lot of this. In so far as the shins, you have to ask yourself if you are going to sell the costume in the future as "same as factory" or if you are just going to work on it, customize it, and keep it. If you plan on keeping the armor and just fitting it to yourself, then cutting and glueing etc. is in order. If you are on the fence, industrial velcro goes a LONG way. In your new post, on your bottom pic, that is how I currently have my oversize forearms. This stuff is very flexible and tough, so you CAN just overlap as you have and industrial velcro it in place. That calf on the right, with the knee plate, looks SOOOOOO much better than the left. Now I am thinking I will need to mod mine. So if you are planning on keeping it and wearing it, don't be afraid to mod it. It's YOUR armor, make it fit YOU. Besides, if you can get the armor 501st compliant, which it most certainly IS NOT out of the box, if you eventually decide to resell, having 501st compliant armor the buyer can step into has to be a positive selling point. Also, hot glue really holds foam to the armor. Almost too good.

I was in Toy-R-Us yesterday and they had girls pink batting helmets on closeout in a bin for $5. Lots of padding inside too. Where was that sale when I was doing the internals of my MRCE?

Thanks for those pics Jez! ROTJ really is a grab bag of what LFL could throw together to get the trilogy completed. I think I saw a TK with an ABS belt.

Steve, Do you have a Hi-Res of that frown picture that you could email me? Or a new, closer Hi-res pic? I love that look for sure. I'll PM you my email. Thanks for the help, as always.

They are not a Halloween item only. They may or may not be at your Wal-mart. If they WILL be getting them in, there will be a "stick" post with $5.96 Voice Changer on it. It is located in the CHEAP TOYS section with the stick-on glow in the dark stars and the $.99 army guys. They are usually a row or two over from the bikes. If your WM doesn't stock them, or they are out of stock, and you don't have any more wal-marts, I can get you one, or two if you'd like. PM me. But check the cheap toys section first. And if you have more than 1 wal-mart in your area, and they are out of them, have a worker scan it to find out where they'll have them in stock.

Thanks for the advice Bernard! The forearms are actually quite flexible. So I have just increased the overlap and put in some new velcro to hold it in the new spot. They are MUCH tighter and look much better IMO. I didn't think of the foam in the thighs. I have it in my calves and forearms. I suppose if I put it in the thighs also, it'll tighten it up and not let them rotate around the leg as easily. I will definitely look into that. I would like to make my frown ends look rounder. I am just not sure on how to do that. Does the upper part of the frown black out out over the top lip? From what I've seen and the design of the MRCE, it makes it very hard to stay within the level of the upper lip, but also to round the end with any kind of consistency. Thanks!

In ROTJ, Endor specifically, it really is a crap-shoot what the TK's are wearing. Most don't have the Det tubes, but some do. Some don't have holsters, some do. Because of all the upcoming hand-to-hand physicality I imagine LFL made a decision that the guys who would actually be doing the stunts won't wear the extra stuff so it doesn't get broken. Or they didn't bother to make extras, something like that. But the TK's on the Death Star when Vader arrives are all uniform. Det. tubes and holsters.

For ANH? From doing my ROTJ Rubies there are really a lot of differences between ANH and ROTJ and the Rubies. Most all of them are nit-picky for sure, and your average passerby would never notice them. Especially kids. But living up to 501 standards is what joining garrisons is about. Here is a small list of differences between the Rubies, and an ANH suit. 1. The ridge around the armor pieces is only seen in ROTJ armor. Unless you are doing ANH/SE TD which is actually ROTJ. 2. Shoulder straps are riveted on. I don't know the ANH CRL that well. 3. Shoulder straps DO NOT have the flat piece at the ends. 4. The belt boxes DO NOT have the raised square button in the middle or on the ends. 5. Rounded shoulder bells. 6. ROTJ hand plates, not ANH. 7. Skinny belt. The ANH belt is almost as wide as the belt boxes, right? 8. Chest plate hangs too low because of the rivet and shows too much black at the neck. 9. Butt and kidney plate are connected in one piece. 10. The drop boxes are held by black elastic. Don't know ANH CRL that well. 11. Belt is plastic, not canvas. Can cover it in canvas. 12. Buttons are just black stickers. They aren't grey and blue. That is a list of things that I have seen different between the Rubies and an ANH suit. Maybe I am confusing Elite status with 501st approval. But that list I have made is definitely things that would be lacking for an ANH suit. Nit-picky? Yes. I guess. Here is the list of things he could change to make it an ROTJ suit instead of ANH. The list is much, much shorter. 1. Get an ROTJ helmet. Need to DIY as there really aren't many/any for sale. 2. Clip the rivet in the shoulder straps and replace with white industrial velcro. 3. Replace the drop box straps with white strapping. 4. Cover the belt in webbing or canvas. I am looking for the type of webbing for my own suit. 5. THE HARD PART, flip those ab buttons. 6. Change the ab buttons to 6 black, 3 blue. That's about it. The hand plate, the rib around the armor, the belt boxes, the skinny belt, the rounded bells, and the connected butt plate are all ROTJ. I'm just posting the reasons why I had to turn mine to ROTJ. There are just too many differences that I'd never be able to look at it and say, "Wow, nice ANH! Except for the ribbing around the armor, the bells, hand plates, belt, belt boxes, drop box straps, shoulder straps and buttons." It's just too deficient in the little details that make an ANH suit an ANH suit. At least, too deficient for me. Just my opinion.

Correct on all accounts! I've watched every TK scene in the movie, frame by frame, multiple times. The butt plate is all one piece. And my Rubies back plate is miniscule as you are saying. From the CRL, the belt is 2.5 inches. Like an idiot I bought the "full screen" version of the DVDs. I don't even get to see the TK holding Han's blaster. So that is the guy he goes after to flip him? The TK in the second pic down is where I got the idea to take the drop box strap out from the rivet toward the back of the belt boxes, and then down. Instead of just straight down from the rivet. If you zoom on that pic, you can see that is what is happening. Unfortunately I eyeballed it wrong and left a bit too much slack as the top of his drop box is actually touching the bottom of his belt. It's really cinched up there. Both TK's in the bottom pick, on the far left, you can see this also. Great screen shots!

Thanks for the great pics, Mike! Great captures too Nathan! Believe me, I've been pouring over my own screen caps time and time again. Notice the trooper 1 up from the bottom in Nathan's post. His ab plate is totally hosed. I think maybe the film negative is reversed, as he's holding his blaster in the right hand. Both of the TK's in the bottom pic are holding it left handed. Half of the TK's are holding left-handed in the pic above that, and I think ALL of the TK's on the death star are holding left handed. So I think the wonked-out trooper in that second to last pic must be a negative flip. Some of the "stunt" TK's on Endor actually had on a hiking boot of some sort I believe. One of them goes feet up in one stunt and the sole of his boots goes right across the screen. Looks like a hiking boot. Of course, they were in the woods. In the pics of the SE suit Mike posted, the straps are (white) riveted on. But in John's screen ROTJ (the top of the forum) it is clearly white velcro. One last thing that I have been really worrying over is the placement of the belt. In almost every screen shot, especially in the TK's lined up in the death star when Vader steps out, the top of the belt boxes covers up at least the bottom, offset button. I "was" going to do that with my belt when I had it unriveted. I was going to move it up just that little bit, essentially moving down the ab-plate, but I really didn't want to cover up one, or even two, of VaderDave's beautiful buttons. Anyone have any idea on the kind of webbing for the belt? Oh, and when is Lucas going to release the OT on Blu-ray? Just after the end of the useful life of the format, I am guessing, which seems to be his MO.

Thanks for the replies! ST, this is exactly why I posted. To me it looks good. Then I get a better set of eyes, or 3 or 4 or whoever looks at this post, to look at it too and see what they spot. Now that you mention it, those forearms DO look WAY too big. Not length as you say, but too wide around. I don't know what I'll do about that. I'm a bit leery of taking the heat gun to it. About getting the forearms higher, how do you all do it? Originally they were connected via elastic with the bicep. Is that what I should do? Just so they have some resistance to sliding down when my arms are down. The elastic is still in there, I'd just have to put some industrial velcro on it and in the bicep. Maybe snaps? Thanks for the advice all. Those pics would be great Mike! I have a ton of screen caps, but any semi-hi-res closeups would be great.

(8/3/21: Many pictures have been updated since originally being written in 2009. I’ve changed text to align with the newer pics in some spots and have moved all photos from photobucket to Imgur as required to get this WIP out of purgatory. Enjoy the updated WIP!) This is my story. I hope you enjoy it. All comments/criticism is welcome. My story is a typical story. I saw a "beautiful" set of LFL licensed TK armor and wanted it. I got a lightly used set off of Ebay for very cheap. I loved it. I just didn't like the fit that much. To find out how to make it fit better, I did some googling. That is how I came upon the FISD. Upon reaching here and reading how hated/disliked/inaccurate my armor is, I was shocked. It looks like a stormtrooper to me. And most anyone else. http://forum.whitearmor.net/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif I then read about the differences between the armors. And helmets. When I found out that my armor had its best shot at being ROTJ, and after reading Bernard's thread, I figured I'd give it a shot. IMO, there just isn't any decent way to turn this LFL armor into ANH. This is a list of what I've done and why. I admit it totally isn't fit yet. I need a new belt to hold up the legs, and I'm STILL trying to find suspenders for the ab and butt plates with ZERO elastic in it. EDIT: MAR 23rd... Thanks for the comments etc. Here is my updated suit. It looks a lot like the original pics I posted, of course. Here are the changes: I changed the frown to rounded on the recommendations. I added a holster. (thanks Bernard!) I tightened up the forearms a bit. I tightened up the calves also. I brought the drop boxes up a little so they are closer to the belt. And Rubies actually sent me the left thigh, so that is better also. As always, thanks for any comments and help. I would like to go ROTJ Elite if it is at all possible, so critiques are helpful and necessary! (EDIT 1/15/15:) (I have lost all of my old photos. Former website, former computer, forgot this was here, etc. etc. I will try to keep most of the original writing intact, but I'm taking new photos for the most part. Pardon the disjointedness.) Here is my full photo. Old then new. This was a Day 1 blurry photo with all Rubies original. Here is where I ended up. Here is the holster attached from behind with 2 rivets and the drop box higher than in the original pics. Thanks for any comments and help. Now back to the original post...... OKAY, OKAY, that's not the Rubies helmet. I am modding the Rubies right now, but I doubt it'll ever be as nice as the MRCE you see pictured that I modded. My link to that mod is below if you don't get to the helmet forum very often. http://whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=6033 As you can see, that left thigh looks much better. You can see the buttons are flipped correctly. Yes, I actually cut into my armor. Here is a closer photo of that: Those are buttons from Vaderdave. 6 black, 3 blue according to my PM's with Bernard and his emails with John who has the original rig featured in the sticky at the top. It looks okay, especially from a couple feet away. At least it's technically "accurate". Though there are a bunch of wonky setups in the actual film. Next up is the top half. UNLIKE most everyone else you see wearing the Rubies, I've modded mine so that you don't have that TON of black under the neck. I did this by removing the rivets. Then trimming the straps. Then adding new, white, rivets. The straps provided with the Rubies don't have the flat part that you'd need for ANH, so ROTJ is a much better fit for them. I may have hiked this up a bit too high, thus pulling my ab plate a bit too high in order to stay under the chest plate. I may "let it out" a rung or two to show a little black under my helmet. Finally the belt area: You can see that I changed the drop box straps to white strapping instead of black elastic. I also covered the plastic belt in white canvas (though ROTJ I am learning "may" have been some sort of webbing? Any help where to buy?). I still need to paint the rivets white. I put white/industrial velcro on the back of the belt and on the backside of the straps. I am going to have to take some "around the world" pics when I get the strapping totally figured out. Things left to do.... I have an O2 piece on the way from Vactrooper. (THANKS!) I need to get a holster. Neither of those two are required in the Elite CRL. I do need new boots I guess. Anything else you can spot that I should work up? I am fairly certain I won't be applying for elite status anytime soon. As I said above, my left thigh is actually just a right thigh without the right knee boxes on it. It can look okay from the front, but it does look a bit wonky from the side as the undercut isn't where it should be. I have no idea why a previous owner didn't complain to Rubies about this. Especially if he paid full price. I did write them an email, and they said they'd send out a right thigh, no charge. It hasn't come and most likely won't. I have sent out another email, two I believe, asking to follow up on this. No response. What can you do eh? Another thing that gets me about the Rubies is that in all the pics online that I have seen, the promo pics have the buttons the correct way on the ab plate and the helmet is ROTJ with the black frown and no buggy eyes. I don't know how they went from that, to the suit they sent out. Correct buttons. Black frown. Non-buggy eyes. What happened? But I digress..... The button plate flip was the worst mod and I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone. If you do, cut with your hobby knife at a 45* angle. Not 90* up and down. It'll make putting it back in quite easy. Thanks for looking. Sorry for the long post. Any comments are appreciated. I'll have more pics once I get the armor back on AFTER I have a dedicated belt that won't slip and some better suspenders that don't creep everything up. Don't hold your breath though.

I am doing the exact same thing, though trying to get a little closer to ROTJ elite. I am coupling my Rubies with my MRCE that I ROTJ'd: http://whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=6033 I'll post a build thread with pics in ROTJ tomorrow. Same boots though.

Let me know when you get the ROTJ T-track in stock Tony. I need to make an ROTJ blaster next and that'll work nicely. I already have your grip for it.