Apollo

BF ARC troopers use blue sandy pauldrons, but I'd bet that the one you saw was just made because it looks cool. There's some garrison that uses blue pauldrons to identify themselves as well.

I think the FX should be made unnaccpetable, but I don't see why we can't grandfather those who have an FX and are already deployed

Much the same way that making any modifications to FX armor does not fix it, the mods would just cover up its flaws.

Actually Bernard, I would say that taking off the old hasbro hengstler and replacing it with the resin cast that comes in many mod kits would, in fact, fix the problem to which I was referring. Not just mask it

I agree with everything that has already been said

I only mentioned that because someone said that the hasbro should not even be acceptable for 501st acceptance

he 501st doesn't require any blaster for acceptance (at least they didn't for clones the last time I checked. I assume it's the same for stormtroopers)

I agree that the hasbro hengstler is pretty bad, but that's one of the things that the mod kits fix. Interestingly, that's the only requirement for the ANH Elite blaster, I believe. "Blaster must have a hengstler counter" or somehting like that

I love cushman for all the reasons you stated John. I was making that statement based off of what I have read from the mepd boards. That's why I used it as an example. Believe me, as far as I can see all of my arsenal will be cushman made

If you want another good example from other boards' standards; I'll build on what Paul said. The MEPD will accept a cushman MG-34 for deployment. Many people do not like that, but it still works. Also, they accept weapons that have not been modded at all. So many MG-34s that aren't DLT-19s and Lewis guns that aren' T-21s. No one is going to say that MEPD doesn't have high enough standards even with those leniencies (not to mention the pack).

It was good for discussion. Don't get me wrong, I would love it if I thought it were practical to upgrade those standards to have only exactingly detailed costumes. Maybe sometime in the future

Bernard, could you tell me what the difference between "screen accurate" and "screen correct" are? I'm not sure what you mean when you say that. Also, I'm glad that Huttman chimed in with the price for his blaster with the conversion. I had assumed that it was somewhere around there until someone said $75 (I forget who). 30 or 40 bucks is pretty cheap

The funny thing about a hasbro conversion is that it's not really all that convenient. You have to buy the blaster, buy the kit, put it together, and paint. If you just buy a resin one then all you have to do is paint, right? I like making my own so I haven't done either of these things, but I'm pretty sure that's the process. I think your attitude is great, Bernard. It's obvious from your statements and your work that attention to detail is what you strive for. Elite status is elite. I was not a member of this forum when it was voted on, but in every build thread that I see people are going out of their way to make those changes. In the same way, they mod their plain old Hasbro blasters to make them more accurate. You don't think it's good enough and have gone above and beyond, and again it looks really good. However, I really do not think that the difference between a well modified hasbro and a real smg or cast is big enough to set the bar there

I think I might have made something an issue here that isn't really supposed to be discussed. I mentioned the FX because it is an example (as Scott said) of how the Elite status is slightly lenient. If you want more examples: knicks and scuffs are not required, traps and tears do not have to be painted, super accurate brow trim is not required, etc. I'm not trying to bring these details into the discussion as to whether or not they're right, I'm just using them as examples. I do think that some leniency is good and I'm fine that none of the things that I mentioned are required. Bernard, your picture really does it for me. I can see the differences, but they are not really at all noticeable. Definitely less noticeable than the FX bucket (again, this is an example). However, you do make the fair case that larger people need to use that kit. CMNavy made TE work for him, so I'm pretty sure most others can as well.

Personally, I think if you're going to nix the hasbro conversion then the FX helmet should go first. it does raise a couple of questions though. What's the next step up from a converted hasbro? Sci-Fire, Galactic Industries, MR, real demiled smg? Doesn't the cheapest of those cost more than $250? Also, although in every side by side of a HF and a Hasbro that I've seen it's obvious which is which, I'm also impressed by how similar the two are. I guess taking the modded hasbro out would also make cushmans unacceptable. I know that Elite standards are supposed to be there to make troopers go those few extra steps, but after a point it might become way too cost prohibitive. I know it would keep my from Elite Status, at least for an extra year or so.

Would TM also have the same assembly difficulties as TE2?

Haha, I saw that and laughed. Although, I thought the bunny was on energizer. Maybe he got signed as a free agent

Also, there are no black stripes in the tears or traps

Haha yeah. I had been looking at your set up while doing mine and wondering "where did he get those boxes" because I couldn't find them at radioshack . They would be fun to play around with but what's practical is practical and this doesn't sound like it is for you

That is such a nice looking helmet. I really like how clear the screen is in the first pic

Easy solution for that is to put them somewhere else. Mine are on my frown

The ear things look a bit like glorified cpu fans to me. That would be a nice way to hide your cooling system

I know if I tried to do the inside of my helmet like that, the thingamajig in the chin would definitely get in the way

Finally got some batteries for my camera so here are a few more shots. I've added lenses, they're the green acetate that came with the helmet, doubled up, nailed to a piece of sintra, and held in with some fairly weak magnets. There are a couple of problems with this set up. I miscalculated the heat that I would need to heat the sintra up for molding, so when it cooled this plastic didn't exactly fit the helmet. This has caused the lens to sit back a little bit, which doesn't look too bad but is annoying, and the magnets aren't all touching. This makes the lenses fit even worse, and they fall out sometimes (not too much but enough to make me not want to troop with them). The acetate is also fairly thin and I've been told that my eyes are visible from about a foot away so if I'm talking to someone they can see me. Flash photography is a sure fire way to see my eyes, even after I installed a layer of screen mesh behind the lenses as per somebodies advice. Here are the pics. Flash No Flash This shows how far back the lens sits. Check out the left eye One of the lenses I made (now it has more magnets and screen mesh) I'm definitely going to need to change these lenses. They look really cool (kind of reflective) in natural light, but they are way too easy to see through and I did sort of a shoddy job of installing them

I so wish I had that kind of workshop. Of course, I couldn't really do much with it, but I still want it