Dmian

Alex, my screen name is the same as here, Dmian. I'm a bit of a loner there. I'm in a one man corp called "Gallenterrorisme" doing mostly missions (yes, I'm a bit of a "carebear" right now ) I used to play with a US soldier in Afgahnistan, but he hasn't connected from a long time and I don't know what happened to him (TBH, I'm still a bit worried about him. I hope he's OK.) Lately I've been just training and improving my skills, because I want to do some PvP. Maybe we can meet there sometime. Cheers.

Spanish Garrison allows BlasterCore

Mmmmmm... thin and soft, like Philadelphia cheese...

Well, it depends. If you want to PvP you can join a small PvP corp. They'll help you get into PvP faster than if you do it alone. But EVE is a huge game, you can pretty much do anything you want. If you want to mine, then you mine. If you want to be a pirate, then you do that. If you want to do missions, it's easy. The main hurdle is that it's so complex that you have to read a lot before you even join the game.

It's looking really great Tim! What's so scary about forearms?

I play EVE Online, but not WoW. Looking forward to Star Wars: The Old Republic

That looks very nice, Chris. Nice work!

Probably. I'll ask my garrison about that.

Stukatrooper has a very nice tutorial about making your own counter. And Smitty also sells T-tracks. Cheers.

PM sent. Also, check the For Sale or Trade forum. From time to time an AP kit is available there.

I hope to see you around Terry. I always enjoy reading your posts.

AP, TM or TE2 will fit you well. And unless you want to make your own molds, it's not necessary to use a vaccuforming machine.

Or your ISP has a lousy proxy...

Hi Graydon! Well, I'm sorry to say, but, even in the case that you can get a bargain, this is not a cheap hobby. Also, you'll need a lot of patience. Some quick thought that come to my mind: The easiest and cheapest way to join the 501st is by wearing an Imperial Trooper uniform -------- You can get one from FleaBay, or better yet, join the Imperial Officer Corps Detachment and they will gladly help you get (or make) one. By rule: the more plastic the suit has, the more expensive. For example, a Biker Scout (TB) is cheaper than a stormtrooper (TK) and a Sandtrooper (TD) is more expensive than a regular Stormtrooper. It's not a strict rule, but it's handy to get an idea. Two big factors you need to know before getting an armor: how tall you are and how accurate you want to look. The taller you are, the more restricted to a specific armor (FX or TR-MOD). The more accurate, the more expensive it gets. Never buy armor from FleaBay without asking on this forums first. A complete suit is not only the armor and the helmet, you'll also need an undersuit, boots, gloves, neckseal and a blaster. You'll also need a few tools and supplies (snaps, maybe some velcro, etc.) Maybe you'd like to start with a simpler, cheaper suit (like a Scout, a Tie Pilot or even an Imperial Officer) and, as you get more experience and save more money, you eventually get your TK (stormtrooper.) But rest assured that you came to the right place! You'll find lots of info and great people willing to help here. Cheers.

Oh! OK

Wow, great work Pablo! I like how you matched the light sources. Are you using Photoshop? In the close up shots, your armor has a slight red cast, but the other troopers on the back have a blue/greenish cast (the whole "set" has a blueish cast.) Get the Hue/Saturation tool and change the hue using the Hue slider until your armor has a similar (albeit not as dark) blue/greenish cast. Use those two troopers on the back as reference. In that way you'll blend in more naturally. But the lights are perfect! It looks as if you were standing right there.

Much better now! I'm wondering why it has so much space between the teeth. Maybe you should think about filling the gaps a bit with some bondo and making the holes smaller before painting. But it's looking great. Good job!

One has to wonder, how did they moved from one point to the other on that huge battlestation? I now have my answer!

It sounds familiar...

Cool! The paint turned out nice! As far as I know, the bump on the back plate souldn't be there.

Well, the sandtrooper effect is done by rotating the dome at the ear's point. If you look carefully you'll realize that the line is high at the front, but is at the right point at the ears. Imagine that you put a rivet at the ears and rotate the dome up till it leaves the white above the eyes. In your case the whole dome is elevated, and the black line does not touch the ears at a satisfactory point, running parallel to the eyes line. Something like this: Look at the second picture you've sent (the one in the middle), and you'll see what I mean.

There you have it: If you know what you're doing, you can use a modelling iron to get rid of the eye bump. Or you can buy an MRCE, mod it and paint it. It's all up to you to decide which path you want to take. Personally, I'd try to mod the AP first, as trying to match two different pieces of armor and helmet could be very complicated (and also modding the helmets to meet the requirements.) I have a different view than Ryan, I believe most people won't notice the bump or the asymmetry. I think that people just look at the armor as a whole, and don't see most details. They see a white, impressive stormtrooper right there, in front of them, and that it's just cool! And those educated enough to notice the bump will know that it's because it's a screen accurate armor. The main person noticing the bump will be yourself. But I think it will be worse with two different pieces coming from two different makers. You'll need a lot of work to make them match. I think that when you build your AP you'll find out that the bump is the lesser of its problems, as it's a funky warped piece of plastic! So, it's up to you to decide.

All screen accurate helmets are asymmetrical, as all of them come from direct casts of screen used helmets. As you probably know, there was no CAD in the 70's so it was all done by hand, hence the asymmetrical nature of the helmets. Most modern fan-made helmets are made taking the asymmetry into acount. SDS, AP, TE2, Gino, TM and even RT-MOD are asymmetrical. Maybe the MRCE? You'll have to modify it a little, but I think it's a symmetrical helmet. I'm no expert, so wait for other people with better knowledge to answer. Edit: if it's only the bump on the eye, maybe the TM is a good option. SDS, AP, TE2 and Gino have the bump, as all come from screen used helmets.

Happy Father's Day for all the fathers in the FISD! (Unluckily it's not Father's Day in Spain, as it would be my day too )

Congrats!!!!! After helping so many troopers with your Flickr tutorials, I can only say that it was about time! A very important addition to the 501st.