Darkside2276 Requesting TK Pre Approval

[DarkSide2276]

Well here's my build. I'M hoping all's good for basic so I can move on to level 3.

1.Rodney Garcia

2. Star Garrison,Texas Gulf Coast Squad

3. WTF(Walt's)

4. WTF(Walt's)

5.Stormtrooper Store

6. MazCave

7.Trooperbay

8. 5'7

9. 185

 

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[ukswrath[Staff]]

Hey Rodney looking good brother and welcome. Your garrisons GML may suggest you get larger shoulder bells, they look awfully small on your body frame, and try to reduce some of the bap between your biceps and forearms. Lastly, not sure how you have your side shims attached but the right side looks a bit loose. Let's see if anyone else has suggestions. 

 

Good luck sir. 

[wook1138[TK]]

Hi Rodney.  Looks good.  I pics are a little fuzzy for me, but I can see a few things you might want to look at:

You will need a holster.

You are going to want to pull your shoulder bells in so they are almost touching your shoulder bridges.  And you might want to secure the back of your shoulder bridges down with some elastic.

In the upper pictures, you are wearing a Black Series R1 helmet (if I'm not mistaken), but there is a different helmet in the lower pics.  You will have to use you built helmet for all the shots.

Some of the stripe detailing in the tears and traps appear to be more ESB looking than ANH.  I assume you are going for ANH.

You have some return edge around your drop boxes - you may want to give those a little trim.

 

[TKSnake[TK]]

Things I notice:

 

• The bucket being worn is definitely different than the more-accurate bucket in other photos, although I'd have to see the bottom gasket to be sure.
• Not sure how I missed the missing holster when I first started looking at these photos. It's a must for either ANH CRL. I assume you're doing the Stunt CRL, so it will need to be attached on the left side of the belt with two rivets or Chicago screws.
• It looks like the codpiece is coming too far away from your body. This might be because of the shims. If the shims are simply inserted, they're not necessary for basic approval; if they're causing too many issues, you can get approved without them and then add them back in if you want to pursue EIB or Centurion.
• The shoulder bells look small. In the front, it looks like the undersuit is getting caught on them; in the back, they don't cover enough shoulder and show too much black. You can try pulling them in, but you may just need to source bigger bells.
• Dropdown boxes do seem a little thick, but I'll leave this up to your GML.
• It's hard to verify the button colors without close-ups. I can't tell if the ones that are supposed to be blue are painted blue.
   

That's what I have. So far so good though

Edited May 17, 2018 by TKSnake

[DarkSide2276]

First I'd like to say Thank u for all the positive feedback. 2nd thanks for settling the bet and argument my wife and I have been having about the bucket. So thank y'all ( I was right lol). Where or how do I find bigger shoulder Bells and the shims r fixed by Velcro but if I can get away from using them that's great

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[DarkSide2276]

By the way the bet was I said the difference between the buckets were that one's a toy and the other is one u had to put together and that the black series wasn't approvable. So thank u guys. The problem im having with the cod piece is once I connect the cod and butt plate the butt plate takes almost a 45° angle.

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[lucnak[TK]]

Think most things were covered by others. Definitely need to reduce those drop boxes to be shallower (15mm). It looks to me like you may have done the closure the wrong way on your left shin. It appears to be closing right over left instead of left over right. Your mic tips seem to be pointing in different directions so a little tweak there will fix that.

[TKSnake[TK]]

17 hours ago, DarkSide2276 said:

Where or how do I find bigger shoulder Bells and the shims r fixed by Velcro but if I can get away from using them that's great 
(...)

 

By the way the bet was I said the difference between the buckets were that one's a toy and the other is one u had to put together and that the black series wasn't approvable. So thank u guys. The problem im having with the cod piece is once I connect the cod and butt plate the butt plate takes almost a 45° angle.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N915A using Tapatalk
 

For shoulder bells, there are plenty of makers in FISD that can make larger bells. I think Walt might part some out if I'm not mistaken. Look up Walt's Trooper Factory on Facebook; he's an approved FISD armor maker. You can also look in the Ongoing Sales and Hard Armor forums for more info.

 

For the shims, it will be up to your GML's discretion. I think as long as they don't detract from the overall look, and aren't causing your armor to fit oddly, it should be OK for basic approval, but more veteran members might have more input.

 

And yes, the Black Series buckets are definitely not approvable. They're a nice toy and collector's item, but not ANH screen accurate.

 

As for the cod piece and but plate, it sound like the connecting strap just needs to be longer. If your stomach is pushing the cod piece out, that's fine, but using a longer strap to connect the butt plate will help eliminate the strap pulling the butt plate under your groin. If the strap is already secured to the cod using a split rivet like most kits, you could simply cut the existing strap in half and sew a longer piece of elastic in between the two parts, so you wouldn't even need to set a new snap or split rivet. 

Edited May 18, 2018 by TKSnake

[TKSnake[TK]]

18 hours ago, lucnak said:

Think most things were covered by others. Definitely need to reduce those drop boxes to be shallower (15mm). It looks to me like you may have done the closure the wrong way on your left shin. It appears to be closing right over left instead of left over right. Your mic tips seem to be pointing in different directions so a little tweak there will fix that.

That's a good catch. The opening for the shin cover straps should open towards the center of your body, not the outside. That being said, it could  just be that you have your shins swapped. You could try swapping them, but you'd need to move the sniper knee over to the other shin, If it's secured with E6000, you should be able to firmly pull it off if done carefully, and glue it to the other shin. If it's secured with CA glue, that's trickier.

Edited May 18, 2018 by TKSnake

[magni[TK]]

Nothing more to add that fellow Troopers haven't noticed. 

 

I see you have Walts kit. He now makes a bigger set of bells that should help you there.

 

Thanks for running through the gauntlet and letting your fellow Friends help point you in the right direction.

 

You're almost there!

 

 

 

 

[DarkSide2276]

Ok I took what everyone said and fixed the issues. I know there's a few things but I fixed already like therm det crooked fixed that already. Had the snaps for Shoulder Bells in the wrong spot. Plz lmk if im good to get

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[Commander Gree[501st]]

On ‎5‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 5:37 PM, DarkSide2276 said:

Ok I took what everyone said and fixed the issues. I know there's a few things but I fixed already like therm det crooked fixed that already. Had the snaps for Shoulder Bells in the wrong spot. Plz lmk if im good to get

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N915A using Tapatalk
 

Havent seen anyone chime in after you posted this, nor have I seen anywhere else were you have been approved so not sure if you have already gotten your answers, but in reference to the shoulder Bells, no, those still wont be approved on the higher levels. You will need larger ones. what is looks like you did was rotated them backwards to close the gap in the back, but by doing so, have created an even larger gap in the front. I wish I could post the reference pic here but cant. The bell should have not gap about the entire way around it. Hopefully you can find a member close that will be able to help you out a bit more in person and allow you to look at their kit. Keep up the hard work and you will get there

 

[SgtGarand[TK]]

Hello Rodney, looks like you're getting closer to basic approval. 

My question is if you are going for ANH Hero or Stunt?  The helmet looks like a Stunt build but your holster is connected with 4 screws which would be the Hero method. 

I also noticed on the small ab button plate with the 4 buttons. The blue button is at the top, when it's suppose to be at the bottom. Hopefully you used E6000 and can flip it around without much trouble. 

I linked a thread that should have some helpful diagrams when it comes to building a TK. 

 

 

 

Edited June 26, 2018 by SgtGarand