Peregrinus

My own interpretation doesn't always jibe with the official party line, so take what I say with a couple solar masses of salt. The black ribbed "chin" part for me is the p/a speaker grille. The tusks and the tube they're attached to are internal atmosphere systems, the tusks being attach points for air lines -- see the pilots and the vac-trooper to see what I mean. The blue tube stripes and black ear markings are some sort of personal notation*. The grey ear details are covers for the external audio input -- binaural hearing is important for situational awareness**. The grey traps and tears are tracking/targetting sensor covers***. And the "frown" is ventilation and outide atmosphere inlet (when safe), to reduce load on carried air supply -- the grey parts of the frown being sensors that close the vents when atmospheric conditions are unsafe. *Again personal interpretation, I view the ear marks as rank and the tube stripes counting combat drops. Between them, it establishes seniority -- that is, no need to come up with higher and higher levels of Sergenat, as it's clear the Sergeant with the most drops is the Old Man of the Company. **Filtered input feeds into ear plugs for the trooper -- the right one also containing the comlink (hence Luke tapping that side). ***In EU material, Mandalorian helmets maintain 360° area coverage for the wearer. Makes sense that something at leat a little bit like that would be at work with the troopers. At least that's my take. And not going into internal systems, or my rationalization for the different lenses... --Jonah

Trying to do the math here... Ten feet ought to do it for four helmets, yes? --Jonah

Yours, dude. --Jonah

Heck, if it's a pack you want, go with the zero-atmosphere Stormtrooper accessories. They're around on this board in a few places. Most recently in the ANH behind-the-scenes thread right below this one. --Jonah

Frosting is too soft. Try ganache... Or spun sugar. --Jonah

I think this would be a better inquiry for the Titan and Cloud City boards. Oh, and he's asking about specific costumes he seems to think should be present -- though I'm not sure why those and not others. --Jonah

Well, rotary tools have wire brushes that work well. ---------- --Jonah P.S. How do I get that to link to JUST the post, and not START at that post?

Yup. A trifle undersized, but makes a good reference. The biggest problem besides the closed-in eyeslit is the blunt brow. If you tip the helmet to look straight up along the face veil, you'll see where the centre front of the brow needs to be brought out to maintain the curvature. That's what I've been doing. It's minor, but tricky work, since it's right above the eyes, where people's attention is drawn. Oh -- hey, Wyatt? I've got a whole sheet of dark red theatrical lighting gel that I got for my new visor. Let me know if you want one for your bucket. --Jonah

I know the feeling. I am covered in epoxy dust from working on my damned Royal Guard bucket. Been reshaping the brow on a DP, and it's finally almost right. With luck, it'll be primed by Monday. --Jonah

Helps to have the right shape, though. There's a lot of minor variation. Most have toes that are too squared off or too rounded. Those Goulburns look just right. --Jonah

My recommendation. These are about the closest I've found to what was used in 1976. Use the tutorial elsewhere on the board here to buff off the finish, re-dye the leather white, and paint the elastic white with fabric paint, or carefully bleach it out first. The originals had the slick leather soles, but I prefer the traction on these. There are probably shoppes in the UK that import Baxter footwear, so check around. --Jonah --------

Ah. Quite a few, I believe. I have. --Jonah

I've been developing plans for the annual Chuck-Wagon Competitions down in Texas and Oklahoma. Complete with a persona who is former U.S. Cavalry Captain who got a medical discharge after wounds received in the Mexican-American Wars of the '30s. It's a long way off yet, though. --Jonah

And you would find info on officers' uniforms at the Imperial Officers Corps. --Jonah

Hm... Everything gets re-enacted, doesn't it? *heh* I mainly go for really past or really future. Contemporary wars have a little too much emotional baggage for me to detach myself. For modern-era stuff I have paintball. --Jonah

Always been my costuming philosophy -- "More Accurate Than the Film Version". That's what's been taking so long with my Royal Guard. I want to do more than unattached cape shell and lining, a rough smock for an inner tunic, and orange suede cowboy boots. There's a lot of leeway and still be accurate to what was seen onscreen. --Jonah

It depends on what you're used to and how long you'd be doing it. I've been fencing since high school, and don't really notice the weight -- but I probably have better-than-average grip strength by now. Also, for a few minutes between takes, I wouldn't have a problem. Not something I'd do to carry it for any distance, though. *heh* --Jonah

My persona within the Star Wars context -- without getting too far into übergeek territory -- is a Royal Guard. I've been hooked on them since my first viewing of RotJ in '83. And part of the developed story on the Guards is that they periodically rotate into active Stormtrooper combat units to keep their fighting abilities sharp. From this come my Stormtrooper and Officer costumes. ANd, thanks to Galaxies, I'm also creating the Royal Guard flight suit. Plus, I know there will be trooping events where only Stormtroopers are requested, and I don't want to miss out because I don't have the right costume. And by corollary, it is occasionally nice to disappear into the crowd. Help present the appearance of overwhelming force. --Jonah

Yes I have. Have you ever had to carry one for an extended period? *heh* It gets pretty tempting to let it dangle after a while. --Jonah

Totally off-topic, but ICON LOVE!! That yours, or did you gank it from elsewhere? --Jonah

Why weird? --Jonah

What kind of armour is that? If it's F/X he ought to chuck it in favour of something that runs smaller. Where's Dorsk? He's a rather wee gentleman, and had to deal with this very thing. My wiseass answer is a muscle suit and drywaller's stilts. --Jonah

Try ----- --Jonah

Because Gino and Matt (and their camps) disagree on that very history. Unless and until their dispute is settled to everyone's (except maybe theirs) satisfaction, the history of this particular lineage goes something like "there may or may not have been a complete or nearly-complete ROTJ suit that someone cast moulds from that ended up somewhere and may or may not have had something done to them and may or may not have ended up in someone else's hands and may or may not have been modified into something else..." You get the idea. There are two rough family trees forming out of this thread, mutually-incompatible, depending on who one wants to believe, and in the absence of proof. The truth is probably somewhere in between, but exactly where is probably impossible to determine without aforementioned proof. --Jonah

By all means, let us know the paint mix you come up with. Have you looked at Testors' range of military colors? Some of their WWII German blues look like they might be close... I fully plan to cut a frisket template and airbrush the buggers. --Jonah