Tiepilot1138

Let me take a pic and then I'll post an interest thread. You do lots of this stuff... what would reasonable shipping be for these? I assume they'd just go in a padded envelope.

I posted this on my local Garrison's page, but thought I'd let you all know if there's one of these close to you... I don't know if anyone needs them, but I just found black cotton gloves at Master's Costumes & Tuxedos. They aren't screen accurate, I guess, but might do in a pinch (or as spares). They are going out of business and only have a few days left (I think), but they were 75% off of about $7. They mostly had large and xtra large left. I know there are several locations, and apparently they are all going out. Pretty good deals to be had (especially if you need a cheap tux!). I picked up two pairs for myself and paid less than $4 after tax.

It's a slow morning here at work, so I thought I'd browse the 501st's webpage. I stumbled across the honorary members page. Does anyone know why Harrison Ford isn't one?

I've submitted my photos for basic 501'st membership. Hopefully in the time it takes that to process I'll be able to fix the strapping issues. Right now it's all elastic. That will be modified very shortly to webbing. Should the thigh be strapped both front and back, or just the front? I noticed the back of the knee isn't lined up just right. Some of that is how I had to trim it to fit, the rest is because it seems to rotate on it's own. I just noticed my boot soles are still white as well. That will need to be corrected soon too. The TD is held on temporarily with velcro, the Tandy clips are in the mail and will replace them upon arrival. I'll be removing the velcro off the back of the shoulder straps and heating them to stay down too. I need to restrap the bells, and will do that a different way too. I also noticed that the first time I put the chest plate on it scratched the paint off my top Ab button (brand new VaderDave's too!) How can I stop that from happening once I repaint it? Here are some more from different angles. Once I get the official TK and the strapping issues worked out I'll be applying for Elite. Damn, you can see the foam stuffed in my bicep too...

Almost there! It looks like I need to adjust the strapping on the left thigh, or it's sitting funny. The chest seems too high, lifting the straps and bells. I've since added the drop boxes and hand plates, as well as the sniper plate. I'm having trouble figuring out the positioning of the ammo strip for the right leg. The end of the belt still needs to be dressed up, and the top of the loops for the holster cut back. The blue tape was the cut line, but I think I want someone with a better idea of what they are doing to take a look at it before I cut it. Again, the chest and back are too high and the bells are wonky. (The socks are non-issue as well!) Please, comment away! (I had no idea this was so hot!)

Talk to VaderDave. I just got a set of Ab buttons from him and he had included his trading card in it. If he does that for everyone he must have done some up in bulk. I'd be interested in this as well.

Congrats! (I think...)

No, that wouldn't work. If you move the armor belt either way, it uncovers the other edge hole even more (and throws off the spacing for the drops and holster). It was all done before I realized the problem. I thought I could just flip the belt so the marks didn't show, but the holes are pretty big, and I can't figure out how to fill them without just replacing the top canvas layer (which I noticed gets dirty VERY easy).

That's what I thought I'd try. Unfortunately I think the holes in the belt now are too close to where the new ones need to be, so I might have to redo the whole thing. I at least need to redo the outer canvas layer so the old holes don't show.

I just test fitted my belt, now that it's completed, and it doesn't work. Everything attaches fine when laid flat, but when I wrap it around my ab & kidney plates, the snaps pop off. It looks like when worn, the outer snaps on the armor belt are now too far apart to stay connected. Have you experienced this? I think the snaps need to be measured out once it's wrapped around you.

Everything is nice and shiny now (and viewable)

Got a photobucket account now. It's mostly fixed, but I have to upload the other 2 pics once geocities lets me back in!

Stupid Geocities data transfer cap. Apparently you can only transfer so much data every hour. I need to find a new FTP/host.

Since I like reading other people's build threads I thought I'd post the progress I'm making with my FX ANH build. This is my first build (but probably not my last). Here's the box when it showed up. It's an FX kit (minus helmet) from TupperwareTK. and the box opened, very nicely packed Here's some work on the forearm. I started there, and followed Dave's Garage on Youtube (excellent tutorial, BTW) Working on the biceps, forearms are done here Here's the abs and kidneys, shimmed with the included ABS from the kit. I glued the shim onto the Ab, and velcro'ed to the kidney. The crotch is snapped with some elastic, and the whole kit is held up by contractor suspenders (sown in the back to shorten). You can see the belt I'm working on, using FirebladeJedi's tutorial. Here's the chest armor, test-fitted. It's velcro'ed to the suspender straps My scratch built left-handed holster (the one I got in the kit was a righty) My scratch built neck seal. I might wind up replacing this with something that covers the chest as well. The boots. These started as black, had 5 coats of white leather dye and 2 coats of gloss white spray paint. I used white fabric paint to do the elastic. and last but definately not least, my modded MRCE helmet. I added the walmart voice changer and a fan, painted the inside with a rubberized black paint, added batting helmet pads, filled the crack, inserted the ear screws and replaced the lenses. The shins are complete as well, but I forgot to take pics of those. I'll post again when there's more!

Looks pretty good. I'll bet it leaves an interesting pattern on your head when you take it off!

No biggie. Nothing some heel and toe dressing won't fix up.

It's actually labeled Master Replicas on the bottom of the grip, so it's probably similar. I have heard the Force FX sabers are a bit bigger than 1:1 though. I've never seen one of the prop replicas firsthand, so can't say for sure.

Awesome results! Here they are after just one coat of fabric paint. The before pic is after 5 coats of white dye, and 2 coats of gloss white spray paint. Are the soles supposed to be white or black for ANH? -------

Here's what I built to replace the FX. Thoughts? ----------

I replied to a post on craigslist last week to someone selling a Force FX saber for $50 due to a moving sale (no more info available). A few days went by with no response and I forgot about it. Sunday I get an e-mail saying that it was still available, but the people were moving the following day. If I still wanted it I would have to get it that night. I asked if it worked, they said yes, I left the house. I get there to find an apartment completely barren of any furniture or decoration, but piled high with 20+ suitcases. It turns out the family is moving back to Pakistan and getting on the plane first thing in the morning! In the corner is the saber (Anakin's blue one). I'm not too impressed. The blade is all marred up, it looks like someone's been hitting a wall with it and the paint has transferred. I can scratch some off with a fingernail, so I figure it will come off. I fire it up and it lights and sounds, so I take it. I get it home and realize it's not lighting very well, and it flickers. I'm not happy. I take some windex to it and can't get the marks off. Now I'm really not happy. The marks are REALLY visible when the blade is lit in the dark (it was light out when I picked it up). I think, let's try the magic eraser. It took my tube stripes off, this should be no problem! Sure enough, 5 minutes later and a little elbow grease and the blade was pristine. I then noticed that the lights flickered when it made noise, so I decided to change the batteries. The result was a much brighter constant blade. Very happy now. I guess the moral of the story was that I thought I was getting a good deal, was disappointed when I thought I got shafted, and was that much more pleased with it when I made it pretty again! I know it's a good guy's blade, but it's still going to look good on the wall and swatting at the kids (and Anakin wasn't all good, you know!)

I wasn't overly happy with the right handed holster I got with my FX kit, so I made a left handed one out of a softer material. I think it looks pretty good, I'll post a pic when I get home tonight. I have some questions about attaching it and finishing it though. The FX one has what looks like snap tops where rivets might go (meaning they are closed off like mushroom tops, not hollow like donuts). Is that acceptable, or should I use rivets? Also, when attaching it to the belt (ANH style), is the front of the loop cut off, or just hidden behind the belt? I've seen some of the elite pics of belts, and they seem to vary as well. Some have what looks like rivets, some snaps, and some don't seem to have any attachment when viewed from the outside. Preferably I'd like to use snaps to secure it to the inside of the belt (2 per loop). Will that be acceptable?

I just realized this should have been in the boots section. If a Mod sees this, please move it to the appropriate section. Thanks

How do you get the elastic on the side of the boot to change from black to white? I've tried both leather dye and white spray paint, and still no luck. It just sucks the color out of it!

I was able to cut mine with kitchen scissors (the big ones you use to cut bone with).

Has anyone put together a video with JUST the stormie scenes in it. It would be a nice reference, and each one shouldn't be too long (ROTJ might be longer because of that whole ewok fiasco).