Merugear

Dr. Martens Dr. Martens boots! Sorry, just reminded me of it .

Congrats!

She left Elstree Studios to go to Holland where she sculpted the helmet Does this mean the helmet mold is made in the Netherlands? Schweet! It's in my roots *chuckles*

Sandwiches: lettuce, cheese, ham & tartarsauce . I want burgers for lunch as well! (Though my girlfriend'll probably scold me for eating too fat (trying to lose weight to fit the armor better ))

IT guy so mainly t-shirts with witty remarks and/or videogame/popculture icons on them and cargo pants.

I'm a first-timer too, starting with ATA, though started on working on a blaster before handling the armor to get the gist of working with plastic and dremels. I have no idea if I mess up or not, but I am sure ATA can send me replacement parts with ease (and decent price) if I botch up. then again, measure twice, sleep on it, measure thrice and then cut . I doubt anyone would go circularsaw on their armor and score it across the chest. Then again, who knows? All in all it's just plastic and if you mess up a bit, make it a sandtrooper and cover the flaws with dirt . Vincent

problem with live chats like those is the vulnerabilities it adds to the website at hand. I've seen many a site being hacked by either a 'standard' forum chatroom exploit or by an irc exploit that makes use of bots.

Wow looks great! Shows that you've been working hard on it. Keep up the good work and good luck with getting your TK ID! Vincent

You take care and be safe now Smitty! Good luck with whatever's keeping you. Vincent

ATAboy (excuse the pun) This helmet really does look awesome .

Heck with an attitude like this even MY lenses are starting to bubble. People are trying to help you with something you requested and you backfire on them for sending you to 'this member' with 'incorrect lenses'. The way you describe all this I find quite disrespectful towards those that offer you a helping hand. Smitty is known to be a great supplier of lenses and all these people did were to try to push you in the right direction. Not everybody's hell bent on getting lenses 24/7 so pardon them for giving you a top-of-mind answer. It's good form just to help you out with it. And yet you still desire members to bring you a link to bubbled lenses on a silver platter and scold any of those who do not find you the right set of lenses. After reading up on lenses for a year I'd reckon you'd have found some acetate and cut it to spec. For what it seems no one else but you knows the perfect lens. Making your own lenses from green acetate or whatever is an easy thing to do. And information about it is widely available. And yes spoon and hairdryer are a perfectly good way to make those lenses bubbly. Just screw in your acetate and heat the plastic, then push it through the inside of your helmet. I say polish up your communicative skills before you polish up your armor. Disclaimer: This is not a bashing-post, but moreso a call to order. This is a close-knit community and far from elitist from what I've gathered. People are really trying to help eachother but sometimes you have to do the thinking for yourself. Seeing several people being scrutinized for trying to help out just rubs me the wrong way and such I react. If this post offends someone, feel free to modify it or remove it completely.

newbie of the month awards!! 'Oscars' shaped like stormtroopers!

Checked the boots, the black variant has black soles. With the boots being PVC might try to use the same paint I'll use for my HIPS armor to match up? masking the soles I reckon, but would that be a viable idea? Will check Smitty for gloves. Might wanna get some extra T-tracks as well cos I lost some . Thanks for all the feedback!

Hey there! Merugear here... I was checking out this forum cos I love the backpacks and the overall look of a sandtrooper but I like the stormtrooper details as well. Anyways... I was thinking of making the MiniMag PTL Missile Launcher eventually. With BFII being a 3d application and the screenshots not really showing much detail I was looking around for a 3d model viewer, and I found one! With these, you can import models from the game to check them out. I am currently at work, so really haven't found a way to test it out, but the site and reference looks genuine. http://sites.google.com/site/swbfmodding/swbf-tools OK here goes: He does have the O2 canister with the sandtrooperbackpack. somehow the backpack fits over the canister. The resolution's not as good as my example I got from a wiki, but basically it shows a nightvision image of a bulky mech or vehicle of sorts in the (transparant) reticle. At least the model'll help me out a bit with the sizing and general shape of it. And the tour gun, also from BFII! And a miniature from the SW miniatures game! Hope this helps some people out!

Wow thanks for all the replies! I'll snoop around for the nomex ones around the netherlands and stalk the horse-riding site to see if the soles come in black as well (guess they would with the black variant). Right now I'm on the list for ATA armor and from what I heard it won't take long before I can get my hands on it (think a week or two, a month perhaps due to shipping?), so understandibly (if that's a word) I'm looking to get the deals on the rest of the armor items. I'll keep you posted (and hopefully provide you with the first ATA buildup post . Vincent

Just a quick question. Would these boots (dyed right) be acceptable for Elite status? They're 30EUR instead of 70 dollars (without the shipping taken in mind) from CAboots, so I thought it'd be worth checking out. ---------- neoprene gloves with leather handpalm, comfortable & breathing, velcro closure & reinforced fingers + palm. Just let me know! Merugear

Three weeks worth of vacation near a safari park!! WOo yeah! First time me and the missus are going caravaning. This little beaut's coming with us since a touringcar-accident prevented me from earning my drivers license *sob*. (were on our way to spain, then the driver fell asleep... fill in the blanks. guy one seat behind me died ) It's decent enough to make a fair road trip across the Netherlands though . Crashed the thing a while back, spraining both wrists... It was in the repairs and was afraid the repairs would cost me losing the money I had reserved for my armor (*hears gasps across the room*), also the repairs are finished juuuuust before we go on vacation so it's a bit of a stress-job. Thankfully all the repairs cost me about 50 to 85 euro's so I'm in the clear on a possible ATA armor . Apart from that... Three weeks in the sun with my pretty girl and a whole lot of adventuring to do (too bad she doesn't allow me to bring my MRCE and E11 with us, ah well ) Time to don the apron: Time to play scrabble: And fiddle around on Viking Fests, provoking LARP-ers with latex troll masks! Anyways, all of you people have fun this weekend (and the other ones as well) Vincent

This would solve a lot of my fears of breaking armor! Just a query, is that bendable plastic cheaper or more expensive than the ABS or such you used before? Feel free to answer it or not, but just to get an estimate if it would affect the costs significantly or not. Also, it would mean that you'll start making armor again opposed to the PM I got a while back? Vincent

Wow I work from 8:30 to 5... only half an hour lunch break, though most of the time it's continuous workday . Ah well, serves me right for being an IT-geek, 3/4 of the worktime I'm on FISD Sweet shirts by the way!

Man that sounds like an argument I'd tell my mom if I had to clean up my room! Mom, every thing I own is in my room... You just need to know how to see the tidiness. Just kidding here, but I mean... Yes the information is at hand. But couldn't we just streamline it a teeny bit? Heck the Alexandrian Library'd be the hub of information in the Old World, but an Index would be handy to sort out the information. Now I've looked around and it's really not some covered up: Show me where the goods are. For me, I just want a shot by shot comparison of armour, and their dimensions so I can check up with my own to see which one's to my liking. Now I think it would help a lot of people here. Now in what way are we illegaly profiting from Star Wars by putting up that little comparison chart. Also, are the casters illegally profiting from Star Wars? If they just charge ABS costs, production costs, design costs etc. to people for items they buy for PERSONAL USE... Isn't that a loophole or just my naievity? I believe Shepperton got sued cos he claimed he was the one who made the original armour etc. Though there were some LFL designers and sculptors who begged to differ. But we're deviating. It was just an idea and the ball got rolling. I'll just be wise, shut up and see where it rolls .

I understand, and it could be seen as a sort of separating the crops from the chaff (or however that proverb goes) to see if someone's truly determined to his or her cause. Now I'm partial about this as I understand the FISD and 501st would surely like to stick with a sort of exclusivity, hence the reluctance of some people to post information regarding the acquirement of white armour. And then there's the legal issue. But what I'm proposing is nothing more but a... catalog I reckon to see what kinds of armours are for sale and what would be the best choice for each individual person. I mean this is an expensive hobby and how many have bought either a recast or a suit they're not so happy with and had to stick with it mainly because of monetary reasons? I know people could just PM the respective creators of the suits and ask for a pricelist or whatever they want (heck, most casters can tell I did. But there are so many people on the boards here that ask the same questions. (I know about not posting prices here, so no worries, it was just an example). Now pointing them to the Search option's not going to solve anything. Every time there's a new person out here someone has to regurgitate the information that's quite common knowledge around these boards. And the thing is, there are some crazy sods who're looking for a cheap costume to go as stormtrooper without any intention of going to join the 501st or whatever. Some just go Dur hurr white armor and you'll never hear from them again. My idea was that if we'd categorise those armours, people'd be quicker to find their match be it for accuracy, comfort, price or whatever. I just think it saves a lot of people a lot of time, and in these times... Time is money. And (enough) money's a new stormtrooper gear . Visuals help too! I mean you could read about FX having a big noggin' but if you could actually see them systematically compared to other buckets or the bibs.... front chestplates... I think it would help out a lot of people. And heck, put it in a protected newbie forum with a disclaimer and register-only for all I care . Just my 2 cents :ewok1: . Vincent.

Well, no need to keep us waiting for an answer I mean if it is to prevent recasters from copying details. Ok I get that. But just dimensions? Like: The max dims for people wearing AP without shimming is XX" (fictional number, not the Roman 20 )

Ok, now I'm still a very young TK wannabe who's looking for some armour . Just finished my E11 blaster up to spec (check the Blasters and BFG forums ). I've spent the past half year checking this forum out for armour and I guess I got a pretty solid vision on casters, recasters and whatever. Now I don't want to start a flamewar, but maybe get a list of known recasters (might need staff approval on those verdicts...) based on the people selling armor right now. Just to protect the peeps from buying 2nd-grade bantha poodoo instead of freshly baked ABS or HIPS from the real deal. So that if someone finds a recast, it can be added to the list. Armor History? It does not matter! Not for me. I'm like that nasty little Toydarian on Tatooine... I only look at money and...podraces?... Well you get the gist. We can generalize on the more darker areas in the armour history, but what I'm trying to say is... I see so many people wondering: "Can I fit this armor?" "Which one is more screen accurate?" "What are the sizes?" "Do I need shimming?" Heck, I asked those very same questions, and I sure a lot of newbies here do the same! So why hasn't there been a master list with dimensions, level of accuracy etc. of armours? That way some troopers here could choose for their own if they go for comfort or for accuracy. I mean, I can find RT-mod dimensions just by browsing the forums, but it takes time. I'm not doing this to spike out some of the casters here on the forums, it's just a sort of... Ombudsman It would really streamline the forums a bit, I reckon. Anyways, it is just an idea. Albeit ambitious, I think it'll help a lot of people in the long run. I am sure a lot of the casters would like to help out with this incentive? Have some standardized pics of different sets of armour pieces all put next to eachother (be it a collage or an actual photo with all of them on it) with dimensions so people can actually see what they're buying. I for one, am still at a crossroads on what to buy for my birthday this December. With most of the armours across the Pacific I want to think thrice before I purchase one of those! I know starwarshelmets.com has a database on this, but I am not sure if it contains TE2 or whatever. Either way I think this should belong on the FISD, especially if we're here to help the new troops get in their armour. Well, do with it what you want. Merugear signing off, trying to make the FISD a better place for all of us (which is pretty much the best place for all of us allready )

maybe clearing your brouwser cache might help?

Maybe some armor-by-armor pages that sorts out the inconsistencies with the screen used armors and the 'crafted' ones? For instance, I managed to scrape some info on the FX inconsistencies/inaccuracies, but it took me some dear time. The info surely is out there, but had to sift through a lot of posts to find out exactly why FX armor was inaccurate (most comments were on the helmet, and me having an MRCE it's not really something I care about ) Maybe have some sort of mannequin stand there with the armor, arrows pointing to points of interest, with links to topics where those mods have been done, maybe re-write those in a pictorial (a picture-tutorial )? Would also give a great reference to check if something's a recast or not, with most of the armourers on the boards, I am sure we can get accurate armor pics? I for one can hardly see the difference. Aaaand... I dunno just indexing things a bit more, like having a picture of 3 pics of E11 blasters, the ANH, ESB and ROTJ ones. Then a dropdown with different ways of obtaining one like Hyperfirm, MR, hasbro conversion, PVC build etc. And then a link to tutorials of people who did those, and/or combine them all into one main tutorial with small deviations to seperate parts. Just throwing something in here. Apart from that, it's a friggin' awesome site