ObiHahn

Maybe spray paint? Go for either flat or satin black. And leave the inside unpainted (white or yellowish).

I'd go for an all out accuracy award! With side gaps, jodhpurs and the whole shebang... But the Centurion is also a nice idea - allowing TKBoots (scuffed and weathered) should be a-okay for example. The proposed centurion requirements seem good to me. Here's a few thoughts: # Question: should we specify which bumps are painted? - No, not really. I think they were kinda all over the place. # Question: Should we say anything about the type of neck trim? - Yeah, should at least be S-trim # Question: Should we say that tears/traps must be hand painted, or use decals that emulate hand painting? - Do encourage hand painting. Still beats the look of hand-painted style decals any time, if you ask me. # Question: should we state that straps must be connected to the white under strap with an elastic band. - Sure, should be a must. # There should be little or no overlap of the bicep armor. - No overlap and massive overlap were seen in ANH, so both should be accepted. # Should we say no return edge on the insides of the fronts? - Mandatory, yes. # The ab plate and kidney plate should match together at the sides with no gap, just a single visible seam line. - Gaps were seen in ANH, allow minimal gaps I say. # Question: should we specify one snap must be visible on the bottom tab of the ab plate. - I don't quite get that one...what snap? There's 2 in the back of the butt plate. But either a brad or a split rivet in the front. None of them painted. # Question: Should we specify snaps must be visible on the tail end of the butt plate tab? If so, would a decal be OK to look like one? - Why decals? No, do not allow substitutes. # Should we mention that the sides of the belt should be angled?. - Definitely, should be mandatory even for EIB. # Question: Should we make it a reqirement that no visible rivets may be seen on the ammo belt? # Question: Should we indicate exaclty how the ammo belt corners must be trimmed? - Ammo belt must not be riveted but affixed by brads/split rivets, an the corners must be rounded. # Question: Should we indicate that no visible rivets are to be used? - Yep, no rivets or brads or whatever - just glue. # Question: shoud we specify that boots should be scuffed. - Yeah, clean boots don't really scream ANH, do they?

The average seem to be 15-16 stripes for stunt helmets. But as was already mentioned, no definite number can be given, it's more of a guideline than a rule. The hero helmet had generally a few less stripes on the tubes, AFAIK.

That's a nice idea, it kinda looks like Vader's TIE fighter wings. Interested if affordable.

I just superglued my original Hengstler onto the body of the gun, that's the way it was probably done on the prop guns. A lot of times glue residue can still be seen where the counters fell off during production. Accuracy all the way!

A little hard to tell when not worn, if you ask me. Depends on the length of your arms.

No problem, John. Seems some ANH suits had the snaps on the shoulder bridges, some did not. I installed them on my suit for easier access.

Thanks, Paul! Losing weight really helped to better fit into this baby. I really thought I need to shim the leg parts at least, but to my (pleasant) surprise, turns out everything seems okay as is. Yay! Thanks for pointing out those details as well, some of these must've slipped by me - damn you, "Mr. rushed build" ObiHahn! I already repositioned the faceplate since the above pics were taken BTW. 1.: Damn - after I placed the male snaps on the torso, the belt would not fit to my liking with the female parts centered...guess I can no longer fix that one. 2.+3.: I used female snaps here because the male ones already were on my holster (a completed one I got from a fellow Garrison member) - laziness on my part since I wanted to use the snaps already attached to the holster. But this might just be fixable, adding pop rivets instead! 4.: I never knew that! All my reference pics do not really show what was used. Thanks, I'll add screws in the near future (drill out the pop rivets I guess?) 5.: Yeah, Paul - definitely your fault :D - where were the ear trim lines? JK, of course. That can be remedied! Leaves room for more improvement for the fourth set of TK armor, tee hee. Might just be another TM...

No, it's all one colour - I'll leave the TM helmet the same ABS colour for regular trooping but am already working on a painted (and chipped ) helmet to go with it, for special occasions. Thanks guys! @John: what about the popper?

It's in the making, bro!

I feel like a TK at last!

Here's some detail shots of the individual parts: And the helmet, with all handpainted details: Thanks go to Paul for the armor, to Mark for the strapping, Pete for the brackets and my German TK bro R2Dan as a general partner in stormtrooper crime.

I just finished building this baby and want to share the pics from my first test fit. It's very easy to put on unassisted thanks to the SA strapping, and man do i love the flex of this beauty! I'm wearing TKBoots with it and could not be happier with my new suit and gun. Here's me in my TM with my all metal E-11 with real Eagle Hengstler: My gut really want's to show side gaps - well, what can I say, I love my beer and Schnitzel and Wurst!

All decals AFAIK. No hand-painting in tears and traps save for ANH lids.

Looking great! I'll be building my own TM 1mm very soon, and have almost the same dimensions like you. TM fits the bigger boys, yeah! And welcome to the EIB ranks!

No, AFAIK the ESB MK2 did not get re-used directly as ROTJ lids, but were the base for the squished puppy dog look. But I might be misinformed since the whole "new helmets/suits for ESB" thing seems to be mostly theory. There's one pic of a trooper in the Carbon freeze chamber that looks suspicously like a ROTJ trooper - that's where that theory came from, plus some handwritten notes from John Mollo to produce the so-called MK2 suits as additional, new costumes next to the re-used ANH troopers, complete with drawings of an improved internal strapping system. Those repainted ANH helmets are the ones most often seen on screen (like 99%) and are the iconic ESB stormies. On starwarshelmets.com there is a page discussing these MK2 troopers, and the pics in question. Always a good read!

Yeah, Tom, that's an easy touch-up. That still is a nice ESB helmet! Maybe dirty it up a bit when finished?

Yeah, that shows it pretty well. First: the tapered ends are missing, and second: you painted the areas above/below each frown hole (looks like that anyways) when the black paint should not actually leave the teeth itself for ESB (at least not for the refurbished ANH helmets uses in ESB).

The left and right ends of the frown. Well, the above pic (of your helmet) only shows the left end, but there's the pointy part quite clearly missing.

It sure looks squared to me in that picture...perhaps take a better pic, Tom? Looks like the tapered end is missing.

Humbrol always takes an eternity to fully set. Gotta live with that.

In short: ANH background/stunt helmet is the first model, the mould changed/deteriorated after 50 lids were pulled and gave birth to a tweaked hero helmet for 5-6 pulls with slight cosmetic changes (new ears etc.). The ANH stunts and some heroes were re-used/redetailed for ESB, and allegedly new helmets and suits were produced (the so called ESB MK2 stormtroopers) which had quite a similar look like the ROTJ TKs. Seems they didn't have enough stormtrooper suits for the Carbon freeze scene and the chase through cloud city afterwards... Then, obviously modeled after the ESB MK2, the ROTJ helmets were pulled - by that time, the original moulds from ANH were either deteriorated or resculpted enough to explain all the proportional differences between ANH and ROTJ. That' how I always thought the "evolution" went. Please correct me on any wrong assumptions or missing links.

Sell the extra stunt faceplate, buy a good hero faceplate. That is hands down the best option, all other options are only half-way decent... Got any pics of your stunt helmet collection, Karin? Always nice to see the line-up .

Pics or it didn't happen.

"Fill the jawline" refers to the MR/efx helmet problem that those are made from multiple sections, unlike the original helmets. The "chin/jaw" is a seperate piece and the seam is more than visible. A lot of tutorials can be found here for the MR CE ANH helmets, where people filled this seam in different ways to different effects (MR's an efx's helmets are exactly the same, save for some paint/decals).