bluehickey

Yes, you are correct, I have not yet obtained a holster. Haven't thought about doing the side plates yet, (I'd like to lose a few pounds first personally!)

Well, I just finished assembling everything last week. All I'm missing is my blaster holster. I modified the brow and frown on my MRCE, also filled in the seam and applied new tube stripes. Here are the pics...

Chris, you look awesome in your armor! How was your first troop?

That's awesome Chris! Very funny!

Here is my opinion as to why it is awesome to be a stormtrooper when trooping: - There can always be lots of troopers at an event. Unlike the "hero" costumes where there can't/shouldn't be two Darth Vaders or multiple Boba Fett's, you can always add more white armor and it only gets sweeter looking the more there are! The guys with the 'hero' costumes always have to coordinate who is going to be at what event so there isn't any overlapping. We can just show up and will always be welcome! -We can talk to people, and it is perfectly fine to use our own voices - we don't have to sound like James Earl Jones, like the guys wearing the Vader costumes. My son has a Jawa costume and basically doesn't speak the entire time he's in it, because he can't do an adequate "hootinee" yell. Our characters talk in the movies, so people aren't shocked when we talk to them. It also makes interacting with the crowd much more enjoyable. -Recognizability. The general public always knows who Vader and the Stormtroopers are, beyond that, they quickly forget the names or get them wrong for the other characters. -When trooping, Vader always gets a lot of love from the crowd, but the poor guy is wearing all black, with a black cape. We get to wear light, white armor, with plenty of open areas that can catch a breeze. Our costumes are easier to live with temperature-wise. Those are some of the reasons I could think up off the top of my head. Anyone else have some other good reasons why stormtroopers are the best?

I wouldn't say that everything on ebay is bad quality, I have seen many members of these boards with nice sets of completed armor, sell their stuff on ebay because they needed the cash. That being said, for a newcomer it's hard to tell the good stuff from the bad stuff on ebay.

Congrats man! I too have an FX and MRCE combo and I am almost done with it. I'll be trooping in it this Thursday night for the first time. Let us know if you have any questions as you work on it.

Just have someone who is coming to the armor party bring their boots that you can slip on temporarily.

Eeeek! Looks like a repainted Rubies helmet... stay away!

And that is exactly why I can't bring myself to mod my MRCE ears; too many horror stories vs. success stories when doing the mod.

Gorgeous!

What happened to your MRCE ears that requires you to get replacements?

He's also missing his hand plates as well as his drop boxes.

I'm still putting together my armor, but so far, I have a combo of snaps and velcro. I was looking for an alternate method of attaching the thighs since I didn't feel the snap method was adequate. (I borrowed someone elses armor for an event who was using only snaps and I took one step going up stairs and the snap to the thigh popped out instantly.) I did the method where I took an old belt (it gets completely covered up by the rest of the armor) and hung black webbing off of it on each leg with a patch of industrial velcro riveted to the end. I then lined the inside of the thigh pieces with the opposite velcro. All I have to do is put the belt on, slide the thigh pieces up and press the velcro together inside and it is a solid connection! Unfortunately I will probably have to redo it because I put the 'hook' side of the velcro inside the thighs when it should have been on the end of the straps instead. So right now, I have the scratchy 'hook' side of the velcro constantly scratching and slowly ripping up my under armor leggings.

I agree, those dictionaries make stuff up, left and right just for effect. Think about it: if you were a stormtrooper and you always walked around with a thermal detonator clipped on behind you, you'd get a little freaked out every time you bumped into a wall or something. If they really were bombs, it would have been interesting to see in the movies, a trooper get hit by an Ewok, fall backwards onto the ground and then explode!

I like that explanation. I'll continue to call it an 02 canister (unless someone else has a more convincing argument )

Good to know. While we are on the subject: is it an 02 canister, or a thermal detonator? I've heard it referred to by both names, is there one name that is more accurate?

Got my FX kit and it comes with the mylar, reflective tape that you put on the edges of the O2 cannister when you are building it. I've noticed that other makes of armor don't come with the reflective tape. I just looked in the gallery at the reference photos, and I don't see anything reflective about the cannisters, just the white/grey combo. So what's up with the reflective tape? Is is particular to a specific episode in Star Wars? I'm tempted to take mine off, since I'm still in the building phase.

I think this is awesome - great job! Is there anyway to make it in .pdf format for those who don't have Microsoft Word? Or, would that make it so the links don't work? Would be great to see a section on adding fans and mics to the helmet.

Thanks everyone for the thoughts, they have been helpful. I have not done all of my connections with snaps yet, and I am more than willing to try some alternate methods in different areas.

I was watching Ep. II yesterday and there is some specific music the moment that Obi-wan looks upon the clone army that is assembled, but technically speaking, that music was for clone troopers and not stormtroopers.

Oh great, I still have that to look forward to...

I'm still using the post and hammer method, I just couldn't bring myself to spend $25 on an item that I was only going to use a couple of times. That being said, I have spent so much money on supplies for this costume, that seem to be the right thing only to not work and need to get replaced. The money is flying out of my wallet quicker than I can handle!

Yeah, I've been thinking about doing two snaps each on the legs since if you only have one and it pops off, your in a bit of trouble. I like the idea of having two just to be safe.

So I'm almost done assembling my FX armor, all that is left is the snaps and straps. I must say that the snaps alone have given me the most trouble so far. First the snaps I found locally were crap and everytime I'd hammer them into the plastic pieces I'd cut out, they would fall apart. Drove far away to get the good snaps, which works, but now gluing in the plastic pieces with the snaps is torture. I've got great glue, but the trouble comes when trying to get the ends of the pieces of plastic that the snaps are in, flush with the piece they are getting glued to. The snap raises up the plastic, so it's a royal pain to get them to stay down and secure when they are being glued. I'm not really looking for answers, because I'm getting them done - slowly, but just wanted to commiserate. Sucks that the snap system is the best way to go, because assembling it is not for the weak (which apparently I am).