gazmosis

Way to go, Mark! Just a note, if you can't find matte black, mix gloss and flat together

Hey Kyle! Thank you so much for your application for Expert Infantry!! Let's take a look at your application and your armor!!! CRL and EIB Requirements: All required submission photos have been posted. You did a wonderful job with your build. Nice clean assembly lines. You should be proud. Your armor contains all necessary requirements for EIB. With that I would like to congratulate and welcome you to Expert Infantry!!! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly: This is the section where both myself and other troopers look over your build and provide suggestions for improvement towards the overall look of your armor. These are suggestions that do not affect your application. The first item I would like to bring up is your drop boxes. Typically, the drop boxes are positioned right up against the waist belt. I have always stated that a pencil width is as much as I would allow and you are there. I'd like to see them closer, but yours I will accept. I do want to mention the beautiful fit around your middle and the great alignment of your side seams. I wanted to touch on your thighs. They seem very roomy to me. Thighs are something that can really make a difference in walking and trooping comfortably. Too much room can make you seem "wonky". I know that you have brought down the thighs to limits of the raised cover strip ridges both on the front and back. It almost seems like you have enough room to actually trim off the ridges and glue the strip right to the flat surface of the thigh back. This is the reason I am pleading with armor makers to make this adjustment. The original armor did not have this ridge on the thigh or shin backs.Eliminating this ridge would be the solution to every fit issue that comes up and would allow perfect custom fitting to every set of armor. Back to your armor.....take a measurement around the largest part of your thigh. Note this location inside your thigh armor and measure there. If this measurement is larger than the ridge on the back, you might want to consider a trim. If not, no biggie. I would look into perhaps raising them up just a bit. The look of your armor is very important but your comfort ranks pretty high on the list as well. You mentioned that you clear coated your armor. It makes for an awesome shiny look but most clear coats are meant to protect a surface and make it more durable. Watch for yellowing and cracking. Aside from those points, I have little to comment on. Nice job!!!! Centurion Suggestions: You have gone through many steps on your details that lead me to believe we will see a Centurion application in time. There are a couple things you will need to do prior to applying. First, I would like to see your shoulder bells up a little closer to your shoulder bridges. I have seen this on other troopers in the past with stretched elastic which tells me they were just being pulled down. Flexibility is what the elastic is for. Yours, however, seem to just be laying off your shoulder bridge. If an adjustment here is necessary, I am sure you can handle it. You have the correct gloves but will need to obtain flexible handguards. You already have mentioned your plans for a Doopy build and that will address your blaster..... Nice work and congratulations again!

I wouldn;t worry about it too much. This blaster looks incredible!!! You did a bang up job and should be proud!!!

We'd really like to hear how they have handled this

Nice progress so far!,

That is gorgeous! Just round the sharp corners off the t-tracks and it will be fine. It will probably make it much more comfortable to hold. Those are heavy

I will take a closer look at your application when I get home today. Looks great so far! Nice and shiny!!!!

Oh gack

"Behind" ......cod talk.......thank goodness there is no possibility of any of us growing up. Awesome!

Are twinkies even made anymore?

I have always been a big supporter of MTK armor. This is one of the "smaller" armorers we have (not even on the list yet) yet he is risking the time to upgrade the look of his armor making it more accurate with little changes that make a big difference.....obviously! Keep it up, Mike!

Thanks for clearing up the "who built it" mystery. Well done on the build and I know your improvements can only make it better!

Woo hoo! Small, big, all brown boxes have exciting things in them! You will love this helmet when you are done!

I fully expected to see this application. Great set of RS, Twan!! CRL and Centurion Application Requirements: All required submission photos have been posted. Thank you for obtaining that charging handle for your blaster! Looks great! I have to say that you did some masterful trimming to make your sides look just remarkable. The way they should look. Nice work. Your armor meets all requirements for Centurion. Congratulations on your Centurion quality armor!!! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly: There were two things that I was on the fence about that I ended up just deciding to mention here as a suggestion to look into. First was your shoulder bells. The elastic seems to be stretching away, Some pics show them in the proper place, other show them away from the bridges a bit. But they seem to be stretched away from your bridges to me rather than just incorrectly built. The other thing was the point at the top of your right thigh. I know what you were going for here trying to angle the cover strip to blend in the misalignment of the two halves. The point, however is a bit much. This should be taken down just a touch. It was brought up regarding the drop in your thighs. In your EIB application, your thighs were up nice and close to the cod. But your shins were raised. Now your shins are down nice but you dropped your thighs. I think you are trying to keep the knee gap to a minimum but if the thighs were more comfortable up higher, by all means keep them there. The location of the outer rivet cover on your belt being closest to the outer edge is an ultra accuracy feature. I still don;t know if RS built your suit, but if they did, the rivet covers were installed with super glue not E6000. I have had little success removing a superglued rivet cover without breaking it. Unless you have replacements, I would vote against trying this. Welcome to Centurion , Sir!! Keep those shoulder bells up!

Hey there, Thierry!! Thank you for your application for Expert infantry. There are never too many sets of nicely built RS suits. Yours is yet another! CRL and EIB Application Requirements: All required submission photos have been posted. Your armor meets all requirements for Expert Infantry. With that, I would like to congratulate and welcome you to EIB!!! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly: This is the section where your fellow troopers and myself give suggestions to further improve the look of your armor. These suggestions will not affect your applications. A lot was covered here. All were good points. You have done a great job addressing many things right away. The strap to keep down your shins to the top of your shoes is a good idea. Please see "Centurion Suggestions" to see where I will mention this further. Your paintwork on your helmet is dynamite! I agree that you could shape the ends of your frown to a point. It would really make that frown pop. As for Ron's suggestions regarding the front and rear trap being a bit small.....perhaps they could be slightly enlarged to meet the edges of the indents but it would be so slight that I won't make an issue of yours. It was a good observation, though. Did you make the folding stock on your blaster functional?? If so, NICE! IF you wanted to, you could replace the phillips (criss cross) head screws for slotted ones for more accuracy. Centurion Suggestions: I would suspect with such a nice set of armor that you intend on shooting for Centurion. I know that you have already addressed several issues that were brought up like the drop box alignment, raised shins, and painted crotch rivets. Make sure that any Centurion application pics are re-taken if they show any of these points. I would like to see the clips on your thermal detonator adjusted to touch the control panel. As for the topic of your shoulder bridges, it would be a difficult task to heat bend them with them glued in place. I wouldn;t worry about them. However, if it bugs you, you can always glue the 1/4 inch white elastic to the underside of the back plate near the shoulder. This will keep it from moving and hold down those bridges snug. Very nice work on your armor and congratulations again!!

Alright Adam!!! You made it back!! I have to say, you have done some outstanding followup and put forth an incredible effort to make your armor everything it can be. Let's take a good look!!! CRL and EIB Application Requirements: All required submission photos have been posted. The only real issue with EIB before were the lack of bicep straps in the shoulder bells. With your upgrade, your armor meets all requirements for Expert Infantry!! Congratulations and welcome to EIB!!! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly: This is the section where myself and your fellow troopers give suggestions to better the overall look of your armor. You have already addressed all of these suggestions with open arms and made them great! I have nothing further to add here. Centurion Suggestions: I only have one thing that you should be aware of. If you are going to continue the use of the fabric gloves and decide to apply for Centurion, make sure you install the correct 5 star, double stitch pattern on each glove. One set of stitches in front along the knuckle line and two on each side. You can see three of the five on this trooper's glove. Congrats again!!!!!

Hey Markus!! Sorry for the delayed response here. It was for no other reason than my real life got in the way and work called me away from home without the proper time to sit down with your application. I am sorry!! You have done some marvelous work with your FX armor here! You have some real talent and attention to detail. Perhaps if you decide to make an upgrade in the future, I am certain with your talents, your armor will look stellar. So let's look at your armor and your application!! CRL and EIB Application Requirements: Your application was perfect. All required submission photos have been posted! You armor meets all necessary requirements for EIB. Congratulations and welcome to Expert Infantry!!! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly: This is the section where myself and your fellow troopers make suggestions to better improve your armor. These are suggestions and do not affect your application. Like I mentioned earlier, you have made some nice upgrades to improve this FX set. New ab buttons, an AWESOME helmet, nice belt, bicep hooks, ab to kidney hardware, nice holster with good placement to name a few. Make sure that your biceps are turned a little further inward. The molded ridge on the bicep should match the one on the shoulder bell. I would also look into placing a bit of foam into your shins to keep them from rotating on you. A tighter undersuit shirt will prevent the gathering of material at your elbows and will look sleeker. Laslt, great job with the scratch build on your blaster!! I would find a way to black out the wires coming out of your counter. It looks like you have electronics in your blaster so replacing them is probably not an option. I would also black out the nut/screw combination on your folding stock so that isn't so noticeable. I am not sure what the silver lever is on the underside of the blaster near the butt cap???? If I was to suggest changes, it would be to lower your scope rail a bit and to trim back the T-track so the track and the scope rail do not end in the same vent hole. Look at this blaster below. Centurion Suggestions: ​Due to the nature of the FX armor, it is unfortunately not eligible for Centurion. But that doesn;t mean you shouldn't be out there making people smile and making your Garrison proud. I would troop beside you any day!! Congratulations on EIB!!

plus its too wide for ROTJ belts

Who did you buy your armor from?

It should not be excessive. Depending on what armor you have, you may not have a choice. Let's start there. What armor do you have?

Steve, please edit the first post of this thread to reflect the changes, when you have the time. I recommend the strike for marking the old text obsolete. Done

Here here, Andrew. I pains me to think something like this would hit so close to home.

ABS for the sole reason you will most likely need to paint the HIPS. ABS you can leave as is and it is gorgeous OR polish to a glorious sheen

The only real black and white ratios that are considered fixable is thigh to cod/ab and bicep to forearm. Shoulder bells drooping away from the shoulder bridges should be noted here, too If you are super tall, there's not much that can be done about a little extra space between leg parts unless you want to go to other armor makers with larger parts. TM also has shins for taller troopers

Contact CFO. His armor is R oTJ specific