gazmosis

Pictures also tell the details. Like Matt said, all ANH and ESB stunt troopers had 4 rank bars. Only the ANH hero helmets had 3. 3 total ear screws for the stunts. ATA comes REALLY close to color matching

Any mineral spirit based paint thinner will take it off without harm to the plastic. See it as an opportunity to practice!

I will erase my post

Sci-Fire (hyperfirm) is the only place I know still makes them. But I also know that they run in the neighborhood of $350

It is certainly not anything I have seen before. Not even a close likeness.

Andy hit it on the head. Never NEVER go anywhere near your armor with anything Acetone.

To Chris (Chills) I have adjusted ABS parts time and time again on ATA, AP and even Walt's Kids armor with hot water. I have actually immersed the part into the boiling water while still on the stove. Never had an issue. I think Jane may not have had the same results mainly because of the thickness of the pieces being tested. The RS thigh this happened on was very thin. Scrap or end parts trimmed off can be thicker. Maybe this was the deciding factor??? We may never know. RS has yet to contact me back on this matter.

They are completely different costumes The sandtroopers have a similar base armor with much different details. They wore a diamond shaped sniper plate on the shin, they had no ribbed shoulder bridges, they had no center ab button plate, the left side button plate they had only contained 3 buttons compared to the 4 on a TK, they had no drop boxes on their belts...etc.... The HWT's armor is a base TK and all the details that go with that style of armor although this costume has no drop boxes either. The weathering is slight and should NOT be the stained look as you see on the Sandtroopers. The backpack also differed as the HWT was based off the video game and not the Sandtrooper backpack. Best to look at the CRL's for these costumes to see pictures of the differences to clarify.http://www.501st.com/databank/Costuming:TK_hwt http://www.501st.com/databank/Costuming:TD_sandtrooper

This will be so worth the work!

I would not think that the coating would be too friendly to allow good adhesion to it for adhesive Velcro. Add some E6000 maybe. As for effects, the stuff stinks like heck upon initial application but quickly goes away after roughly two days of curing. Faster in the summer if you put it in the sun.

Your right calf should open towards the inside. Also if you trim off some of the return edge on the top of your shin armor, it might make it more comfortable to wear

Teeth adjusted! Alright, Hans. We are ready for this!! Thank you for your application to Expert Infantry!!! We have a lot to cover (Please don't freak out!!), so let's take a look at your armor! CRL and EIB Application Requirements: In reviewing your armor and application, all required submission photos have been posted and your armor meets all requirements to earn the Expert Infantry badge! That said, I would like to congratulate and welcome you to EIB!!! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly: In this section, I will summarize suggestions from myself and your fellow troopers that go toward improving the overall look of your armor. Unless specifically stated (usually directed to "Centurion" section below, these suggestions will not affect any application. First I want to commend you on your blaster. It appears that you didn't go straight to black but stayed a gunmetal or dark gray. Nice touch. Nice upgrades, too! I do think it would benefit the awesomeness of this weapon with a little weathering and silver details around the trigger group, but that's for another day. i pointed out where I mean here: As for your armor, I would either shorten or somehow adjust some straps so that your kidney and ab plates line up at the sides. As Germain has detailed, this is throwing off the alignment of you side rivets and probably affecting your overall fit. I read that you have already begun some adjustments that I am eagerly awaiting to see. But for the purpose of the application, I will still need to point them out. You could also dab a little black paint onto those Thermal Detonator screws. Centurion Suggestions: I hope that with all the details you have done so far, we will be seeing a Centurion application from you. There are a few adjustments you will need to make prior to this happening. You have a large gap between your biceps and forearms. We are all built different. Some have a longer bicep area; some shorter. Sometimes the bicep strap works being seen across the bicep and sometimes it doesn't. I know you probably did a fair amount of work doing your bicep straps and don;t blame you if you still want to use them. I do notice, however, that your bicep straps are mounted unusually high inside the bicep. They can and should be right at the bottom lip. Try lowering them and see where they sit after that. But that gap needs to be reduced from what is showing in the full body shot. Next are your thigh backs. I did not have the pleasure of seeing your build thread (though I looked for it) to see what exactly happened. You just mentioned that you trimmed a little too much off. This resulted in a cover strip that is 2 inches (50mm) wide. I would love to see a pic of the inside of the thigh to see if, in fact, this wide of a strip is really necessary. Hopefully, it is not and the strip can be reduced. I have negotiated in the past for wider strips to help out larger troopers as long as they were balanced with their calf closures. However, you are far from a "bigger guy". So before another ABS paste adventure or new thighs, let's see some pics to see if a solution lies there somewhere. Here is what I was going to mention regarding your side rivets. I totally agree that your side rivets need to be aligned. But, your belt also has a severe droop in the front. The lower most rivet was never seen leading me to believe that either your belt was just THAT low, your rivets were not located correctly or both. This was my diagram before Germain ruined it with his exact diagram. In it you will see a suggested trim line at the top and the path of the belt at the bottom that would would alleviate the need to relocate your rivets: But it sounds like you are already tackling that. I will need you to repaint the inside of the ear bars. In ANH, the black rank bar was never seen on the front; only in the rear most bars. You will need to incorporate the kidney notch in the lower front of the kidney plate You will need to change out your decals for hand-painted details or hand-painted style decals I know this sounds like a lot, but with a little planning and patience, you will get there. Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions. Congrats again on your EIB.

and just to make it MORE perfect

UGH!!! Just DREADFUL!!!! I will be PM-ing you my address so you can send it to me for immediate disposal---RIGHT ONTO MY BACK!!!!!

Well Germain beat me to that. Full review post after I get back from my daughters orthodontist appointment

There is no actual measurement as to how wide they should be. You just don't want too much flat plastic outside of the raised ribs. A mm or two at most

At last Lee has arrived! Thank you for your application to EIB for this wonderful TM build. CRL and EIB Application Requirements: Although one photo is missing regarding the cod and butt plate attachment hardware, I can see the details I need to in other shots. Every other required photo has been submitted and Your armor represents all necessary elements for Expert infantry. That said, I would like to congratulate you on earning your spot on the EIB charts!!! NOTE: for anyone that didn't read the entire thread, Lee's original submission post has the side seams just a little too close to 1/2 inch (13 mm) on the one side. Lee was cool enough to suit back up and make the armor give him a loving hug and re-shoot those pics. Now all is perfect. Other-Armor Fit/Assembly: This section here is a place for me to summarize suggestions from myself and your fellow troopers regarding the overall appearance of your armor. These suggestions, unless specifically stated, will not affect any application. This was just nailed from top to bottom. Little details make my socks go up and down! Your helmet contains some of the best paintwork I have seen. The slight weathering and other silver details on your blaster really make it pop. If I was forced to make any comment, it would be regarding your center ab button plate. The buttons are a little big for my taste. I have always used this as a guide:That is all I see. Again, I am happy with your side seams. this armor fits you extremely well. I now there was another mention regarding your active drop boxes. They are pictured properly, and some a tad proud of the belt end. With the loops they wander sometimes but I can see they are positioned properly. I bet that neckseal is nice and cool to wear! NOT!!!! Centurion Suggestions: Now that it has been established that the armor is capable of being worn with no side gaps, please make sure if you decide to apply for Centurion, that the first photos are NOT the top ones from this EIB application. Congratulations and very well done!!!

You are going to concentrate on removing the diamond knee plate, right?

Yeah.......I would avoid that. There are sooooooooo many reference pics to guide you better. I mean, that picture shows an "x" head screw on the side which was NEVER used.

I know, I know which is why I am soooooo jealous. Other armor makers could learn so much from this armor

SOOOOOOOO flipping jealous!! Nice work so far!! Did the parts in your first few shots come pre-trimmed or did you trim them out?

Brilliant!!! Nice recovery on the tears. For the future, the paint outlines within areas like tears and teeth are, for the most part, self guiding. You just need to get the pencil settled into the valley between the "walls" and the bottom. AAAAND, you used a minimal amount of gloss black as the base for your outlines!!! I bet it was pretty easy to fill the gray in without all that black infusing into it!!

Hey Chris : Please don't think I am picking on you or singling you out. I just don't want to see you make 4 steps forward just to take 5 back. When scratch building something as prominent as the blaster, or anything, there are details that "close" is good enough and others that need to be right on. The Hengstler counter is one of those details that needs to be very close. The first thing I suggest to get are a couple good reference photos like these:. This way you can move your eyes quickly between your work and the picture to see if you nailed it or it needs adjusting. A couple things stick out to me. First, the rear cover, as you have it, is either too small, the screw is way too big or both. You can see on the reference pic that this tiny screw is to the one side but is dead center in the middle of the cover. I measured my screw at just over 3mm so this is tiny. The next thing is the step down in size between the rear cover and the front portion. On the reference pic, you can see this difference us minimal at best. The other thing are the two vertical channels you have on the side of the rear cover. I have no idea what these represent??? Scratch building is an art. Stick with this!!!! You have a great start! But have your reference photos close so you can train your eyes to pic up the small details. Sometimes, those are the most important ones.

Excellent!!

Did you get all the glue off for sure and you're just left with a "burn" Mark?