Darth Aloha

Warning... nudie photos contained in this post. I am now officially one blaster away from Centurion. The decals that came with my RT-MOD bucket were peeled off today and replaced with the handpainted style decals from Trooperbay. The original decals left a ton of glue goop residue. I followed the advice in this thread and used WD40. I didn't follow all of the advice or I would have smeared sandwich fixins all over my helmet. Peanut butter? Mayonnaise? Is this some sort of FISD hazing to get new troopers to get them to dig around their kitchen and stink up their helmets? The sticky stuff went away like so: Rub a WD40 soaked soft cotton rag (or old infant onesie in my case) vigorously over the residue. Try using windex to get WD40 streaks off and fail. Wipe grease off with rubbing alcohol. I watch Mike's about 6 times this morning. Here's the naked photo as promised: I took this to remind myself which tube stripe went where... i suggest you do the same before you cut it in half. Centurion ready bucket: Did I screw anything up at all? Aloha, -Eric

Looking good! Braddahs need blades.

Congrats bro. I know it'll be difficult, but try and keep it this armor clean and shiny would ya? Aloha, -Eric

Um Igrid? I think by mistake you posted a photo of a helmet with decals... instead of one hand painted Aloha, -Eric

When I grow up I want to wear my biceps like the trooper on the left... ----------

Rob! So great to see you here. I have a few other suggestions to make your helmets even better... all minor things... Decals that have the hand painted-esque look (see trooperbay.com) S-trim rather than the black u-shaped gasket around the neck opening Green lens material A third screw at the bottom of the ear instead of a rivet Flattter head flathead screws for the ears Thanks man... I love my RT-MOD armor so very very much. Aloha, -Eric

Hau'oli makahiki hou! (in four more hours) May your 2012 be totally suck free and full of Aloha. -Eric

And Hawaii'i natch.... In spite of all the fireworks freaking my dog out. -Eric

I had an ESB efx and had to turn the helmet to get it on. Same with my current RT-MOD which is slightly bigger than a TEish helmet. Is it possible to assemble a kit yourself in such a way that it would have more room? Or maybe use thinner or less padding to create more space for your squash? Are there some folks in your local garrison who might be willing to let you try on a few different helmets to see what fits? It might be worth doing so before spending the cash for a helmet that looks funky with an ata kit. Aloha and good luck. -Eric (null)

Whew! Thanks again man. Aloha, -Eric

Hells yeah! Thanks Mason.... and everyone else who have helped along the way. I know, right?! My shoulder bells are an ongoing battle. When snapped to the shoulder elastic they pull down on it so much you can see a big white blob poking out from under the shoulder bridges. I have a strap between the two that once went across my back but that pulled the bells toward my back too much. In these photos I put the strap across my chest but still can't quite get them high enough, but at least they're tilted forward not back. Yep. RT-MOD comes that way. I have the belt going over the seam between the two to cut down on trooper booty. A pic from my build: Thanks man. Kind words from a fellow RT trooper. The world needs more of us! I already have the hand painted decals from trooperbay waiting to be adhered, s trim is installed, and there's a half glued droopy resin E-11 on my workbench and that should be it for centurion. See above my about my shoulder bell woes... it's in process. I'm already using actual split rivets in those photos for my thigh ammo and the sniper knee is glued. Is there something else up with my thigh ammo that would warrant a replacement? Oh and yes... yes.... I'm one big mothertrucking vader sized TK Aloha and thanks everyone.... Best Xmas present yet -Eric

Alooooha! Here's hoping for the first Pacific Outpost EIB.... Name = Eric Brager TK ID = 9674 Garrison = Pacific Outpost Armor = RT-MOD Helmet = RT-MOD Blaster = Hasbro mod Height = 6'5" Weight = 240 lb. Boots = Totally Killer Boots Canvas Belt = TKittell Hand Plates = Karin Gloves = Karin's Rubber Chemical Gloves Electronics = iComm/Aker Neck Seal = TK409 Holster = TK8280 Mic Tips = Trooperbay Green Lens = Trooperbay Sorry for the sucky at night lighting... daytime hours for this type of activity is scarce. Thanks! -Eric

Looking great bro... even for a clone trooper addict That TM armor fits you like... like ... like stormtrooper armor that fits you really well. I'm continually impressed how many different sized troopers can rock the TM so durn good. And the details you've added are awesome inside and out. Congrats. Aloha, -Eric

As usual... I'm sure you'll make many many nerd boys very happy in that outfit this coming Kawaii Kon What's your plan for a shield? Make? Buy? Borrow? So it looks like this year its the same weekend as St. Patrick's Day... what's up with that? Aloha, -Eric

When does the airing of grievances begin? Before or after the feats of strength?

Thanks Kevin/Ray. Yeah I was a little worried about the thigh ammo. If you look at the other RT EIBs and centurions you can see that's sort how it sits. I wrestled with that stupid thing and a heat gun for a few days trying to make it sit right. I settled on getting the very front lined up properly and just dealing with the fact that the sides are higher up the thigh than I want. If I lowered it anymore the top edge of the ammo pack would sit below the bottom edge of the thigh. The TD is only .375" or less shorter than the Jesse TD tube. It may look too long because it is smaller diameter than his. I'm hoping it will be ok for EIB. I think most RT EIBs used their RT TD (also... PDQ LMNO) Aloha and thanks again guys, -Eric

The football loving monkey is an idiom that never ever fails to make me laugh in an out loud manner. Also accurate when it comes to holstering while helmeted. Aloha, -Eric (null)

Making Preparations for EIB Ok... I'm setting a goal for myself to be EIB before 2012. Heaven forbid the mayans or the incans or the scientologists are right and the world ends, I want to go down with my EIB badge. I'll be suiting up some time this week as time and wife allows to take my application photos. In the mean time I would like to run a few things by everyone to ensure I have everything tight and right. Obviously I'm listing some centurion requirements below.... just because I'm headed that way. I need to build my droopy blaster and put on the hand paintedesque stickers on my bucket. Aloha and thanks -Eric Helmet Ears shall have three screws per side, one above and one below the ear bar and one at the base of the helmet. Ear bars should have four bumps only, not three. Traps/tears and tube stripes shall have the correct ANH TK details. Correct 'Hovi mic' aerator tips. Ear bars shall have only one or two bumps painted in black (rank stripes). Neck trim shall be of an s-type profile rather than a u-type profile. Tears/traps shall be hand painted or use decals that emulate hand painted (with correct ANH TK details). Rob of RT-MOD uses two screws on the ear that have a more rounded head. I added a third screw at the base of the helmet where he put a rivet. Does this look acceptable? I can't say I'm stoked on my vocoder paint job.... but I've seen worse. Those are Trooperbay mic tips. Shoulder Straps No visible rivets are allowed. These shall free float in back. These shall be glued in front. The plastic shoulder straps need to be held down in the back via a white elastic band to the white fabric that connects/bridges the chest and back piece. It seems to me that the shoulder strap centurion requirements for ANH Stunt could easily be moved into EIB. Please ignore the velcro holding my shoulder strap on. Re-gluing is on my todo list. Abdomen, Kidney & Butt Plate Ideally there should be no gap between the ab and kidney plates, just a single visible seam line. Rivets on the left side of the ab plate: a total of three rivets equally spaced out along the depth of the armor and about 10mm from the edge. They may be painted white, or not. A single male snap on the top right corner of the ab plate shall be present. A single split rivet or brad shall be present on the crotch tab of the ab plate. It does not need to be functional. A separate kidney plate shall be present, split from the butt plate. 3 rivets shall be present on the left side of the kidney plate, equally spaced out along the depth of the armor and about 10mm from the edge. They may be painted white, or not. A separate butt plate is required, split from the kidney plate. Two male snaps shall be present on the crotch tab of the butt plate. They do not need to be functional. Belt Belt shall be canvas or canvas covered, leather and vinyl are not acceptable. There shall be three square buttons, one centered in the middle and one on each end of the plastic ammo belt. Drop boxes are closed in the back. The corners of the plastic ammo belt shall be trimmed at a 45 degree angle Thermal Detonator The thermal detonator needs to be attached via metal clips approximately 1 inch wide, and shall be all gray without silver stickers or silver paint. I'll be applying for EIB with my craptastic RT-MOD thermal det. I have a Jesse TD that I haven't found time to paint. I'll have it done for centurion.... but is this thang acceptable for EIB? Thighs The thigh ammo belt shall be connected by brads/split rivets only – but not by standard rivets. The bottom corners of the thigh ammo belt shall be rounded off. Lower Legs Ideally there should be no visible rivets or brads used to secure the sniper plate to the left greave. Holster Holster shall be worn on the left and be attached to the belt from behind instead of front, with no loops covering the outside of the belt. The holster will be affixed with two fasteners at the bottom of the belt instead of none or four. These may be rivets, snaps, or Chicago screws. (see belt photo above) Forearms No return edge on the inside of the front of the forearm is allowed. Too much return? This is how they came from RT.

In looking at the INC CRL... the centurion entries for the ROTJ and ANH E-11 and the SE-14R state the following: An E-11 is not allowed, only a flamethrower. For consistency sake, should the TKC CRL also explicitly state that neither the ESB E-11 nor the SE-14R are allowed for centurion? Yes... yes... yes... I am that bored and/or procrastinating. Aloha, -Eric

Gotcha. Thx! (null)

I am totally bored at work and combing through the CRLs.... and feeling über nit picky... I just noticed that there are no centurion requirements for the ESB Style E-11 in the TKC CRL. The ROTJ E-11 section states: Folding stock shall be in the extended position. Hasbro blasters are not allowed, even conversions. I'm assuming this is an omission? Or is an ESB-11 not allowed at all for a centurion TKC? If it isn't allowed I suppose it should say so? Aloha, -Eric

Heh I just logged in to post about this Funny. -------------

Something else to bear in mind is that the more than being larger.... the RT-MOD bucket is idealized and not derived from a screen used helmet. That means that it is smooth and uniformly shaped. Helmets with screen lineage are wonky, bumpy, and not at all symmetrical. I didn't know it when I ordered my RT-MOD kit with helmet that I would fall in love with the wonky look of a stunt helmet. If I had to do it over I would buy an MTK or TM to go with my RT-MOD... and probably will eventually. So if you care about accuracy (you may not know you do yet) or you love the way an accurte TK helmet looks... skip the RT-MOD helmet. But if you're lazy like me... getting a pre-built helmet from RT-MOD was one less thing to worry about. But I still had to buy green lenses, s-trim, new mic tips, and the hand painted-esque decals. Aloha, -Eric

If you're less than thin, like the troopers seen on screen, you would might want a fan sculpt kit like AM or RT-MOD. Armor with screen used lineage might be doable. It could require extensive shimming or expose large fields of black undersuit making your kit look oddly proportioned. There was a thread recently where a german guy wore a TE who was over 6' and thin. He looked fanfreakingtastic. You would probably be fine with either AM or RT. I think (correct me if I'm wrong) AM has larger diameter parts where RT's are a little longer here and there (yet still larger around) That may translate to more trimming for the AM. To me RT looks nicer out of the box than AM. Some of the AM parts like the chest, thighs, and shins may require work to look good. Both kits use the over lap method of construction but can be trimmed to use cover strips over joints. Good luck and let us know what you decide. Aloha, -Eric (null)