shashachu

CRL and EIB Application Requirements Thank you for making the corrections on your TD screws. All required photos are now in and, after review, we are pleased to welcome you to Expert Infantry rank. On behalf of the DO team and myself, many congratulations! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly In this area we review observations made by your fellow troopers and the DO team. Some observations may lead to suggestions to improve the overall look of your armor. Note that in this review I will do my best to use ESB troopers as reference images, but since ESB armor was mostly re-used ANH armor, I will be using some ANH reference images. Starting from the top, your decals are a bit small for your helmet. You might want to look around to see if you can find a decal set that fits the RS helmets better. Reference Images: . Moving along, your bicep pieces seem a bit large for you. It it's possible without damaging your armor, it would clean up your look if you sized them down a bit. Reference Image: As was already pointed out, the paint on your ab buttons is a bit large. It looks like you've already corrected the small button panel, so it would be great to fix the large button panel to match. Reference Image: On the back, you have quite a large gap between your back and kidney. We're recommending you try to close that a bit, and hopefully this should be a relatively simple fix of tightening the strapping connecting the two. Reference Images: Continuing on, your left side ab/kidney is overlapping a bit and tends to get misaligned while you're wearing it. You could consider adding a bit of padding to prevent the overlap and try to keep things in place. Also, it looks like they might be connected with elastic, so you could also consider swapping them out for nylon. Reference Image Ending on the lower limbs, great job aligning the sniper knee. It might just be the photos, but it does look like there's some extra return edge that could be trimmed off: Reference Image: Centurion Requirements In this section we prepare you for Centurion. More photos may be requested in the future that allow us to make better decisions on possible adjustments. If there are any areas of concern they will be discussed here. Because Centurion photos show much more detail than EIB, items to pertaining to Centurion might be seen there and not here. We try to point out all that we can from what is seen, but the final accuracy is the responsibility of the trooper. The L3 CRL states: There should be a minimal gap between the shoulder armor and the chest/back plates. Your right shoulder has a pretty visible gap at the top, and it looks like there is a small gap on the left. This should be a relatively simple fix of shortening the shoulder bell strapping, or if needed moving the snap on the shoulder elastic in further. Reference Image: Moving onto the belt, the L3 CRL states: Drop boxes are vertically aligned with the end of the ammo belt with minimal gap between belt and box. The corners of the plastic ammo belt shall be trimmed at a 45 degree angle that that meets the outer edge of the cloth belt. The top of the ammo belt should sit at or just below the bottom of the central and vertical abdomen button panels. As Glen already said, the drop box alignment is probably just a matter of putting a drop of glue on the drop box elastic to keep them from wandering: Reference Image: For the belt corners, it looks like you should be able to trim a bit of the plastic off the ends of the belt to get the corners close to the edge of the canvas belt: Reference Image: With the belt alignment, the CRL language is a bit unclear, but your belt is sitting a bit low. It should be touching or slightly overlapping the ab buttons: Reference Image: And that's it! Congratulations again - it's a really beautiful build. Get out there and make the Empire proud, and we'll see you at Centurion!

Hi Pascal, Thanks so much for your patience. We'd like to request a clearer (and ideally lighter) photo of the frown. It's difficult to tell with the black paint, but it does appear that you might have some overspray on the teeth: Per the CRL: Frown is painted black and does not leave the teeth area. If you agree there is some extra paint, you can clean it up and post updated photos. Otherwise, if you can post some clearer photos showing the paint doesn't leave the teeth area, we can proceed.

Awesome! We'll be with you shortly.

Hey Pam! Looking great! You totally look like a stormtrooper! Thebiggest issue I can see is the back/kidney overlap, but it could also be that the back is sort of just sticking out a bit. How is the back strapped to the kidney? I wonder if you could tighten the strapping some to bring the back closer to your body. On my kit I did bend the shoulder tabs at the top of the back more so that it sat a bit higher and didn't overlap the kidney, so that's also an option. Looking back at @Cricket's comments it could be that the chest and back are both a bit on the larger side - I wonder if both could be brought up a bit. I also think that some of it is just your body proportions - you seem to have a relatively short torso and relatively long limbs. Ultimately approval is up to your GML, but I'm not seeing much here that would block basic approval. Great job with the build!

Great, thanks for the glove pics. We do have a couple people who sell the correct TD screws through the forums, but I believe they're all US-based, so it's likely much cheaper and faster for you to find them locally.

Congrats, Josh!

For full transparency, a note to Zylo and anyone else reading along: Although we did originally decide as a DO team to not pass Zylo's original blaster for EIB, upon receiving feedback from some trusted members, it is evident that given the current CRL, his original blaster should have passed for EIB, although it likely would not have been allowed at Centurion. @zyloRN - I want to personally apologize for this mistake, but by the time we reached this conclusion, your new blaster had already arrived. One of the major things we strive for as DOs is consistency, but at the end of the day we are but human inside of our plastic space armor and we certainly do make mistakes. Unfortunately in this case, it resulted in a member spending extra money for a new blaster. Please feel free to reach out to me or any of my fellow DOs if you have any further questions/concerns.

CRL and EIB Application Requirements: All required submission photos have been posted , thank you for making the requested fixes and now I am very pleased to announce your armor displays all the necessary elements to qualify for ANH Stunt Expert Infantry. On behalf of myself and the entire D.O.Team, Congratulations! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly: In this section we review observations made by your fellow troopers and ourselves. Some observations may lead to suggestions to improve the overall look of your armor. Starting at the helmet, as was mentioned by some of your fellow troopers, the mic tips should have a bit of white on the edges. While you're working on the helmet paint, you may also want to update the shape of the vocoder to more closely match the screen-used examples. Reference Image: Continuing with the helmet, the screen-used stunt helmets tended to have the ears aligned with the edges of the traps. Your left ear is nearly perfect, while the right is a bit more off. If you're feeling ambitious and could do it without damaging the helmet, you could consider tackling repositioning them. Reference Images: Moving along, your right shoulder strap is floating a bit high. You could try scooting the elastic back a bit, or you could consider a hot water bath to increase the curvature a touch. Reference Image: It's nice to see you already have your Centurion-level rubber hand guards. However, they're not sticking to your gloves as well as they could. You should see if you can re-glue the edges to get them to follow the curve of your glove/hand better. My own hand guards were a bear to get glued down. Reference Image: Continuing on to the torso, just a small detail that your kidney piece sticks out a bit when viewed from the front, so you should see if there's anything you can do it help it sit more flat. I Reference Image: Your back armor is also sitting a bit high, even in the arms-down photo. You should see if you can tighten the strapping between the back/kidney and/or lengthen the elastic connecting the chest and back. With your TD, thanks for replacing the screws. Just a couple small details. First, the panel corners should be squared off, not rounded. If you do decide to trim them, make sure the clips are still flush with the panel, though. Second, you could move your TD screws closer to the ends of the clips if you really want to go the extra mile. Reference Image: Some small suggestions with your ab button panel. First, the corners of the ab plate should be cut square, not rounded. Not a dealbreaker by any means, but worth mentioning. Second, most of the button paint looks great, I've just marked one that could be a bit smaller. Finally, the smaller button panel could use a bit of a trim if possible. Reference Image: Closing on the lower limbs, a very small detail is that your thigh cover strip correctly ends at the thigh ridge, but that has exposed a bit of of a gap between the thigh pieces. Some troopers fill the gap with ABS paste; you could also just glue a small square of ABS behind the gap so that the black undersuit doesn't show through. Reference Image: Finally, nice job aligning the sniper knee to the shin ridges. This has left your sniper knee a bit crooked, though. Since this is highly dependent on the armor maker we don't require perfect alignment, but you might see what you could do to straighten out the sniper knee without compromising the ridge alignment too much. Reference Image: Centurion Requirements In this section we prepare you for Centurion. Because Centurion photos show more detail than EIB, items pertaining to Centurion might be seen there and not here. We try to point out all that we can from what we see but the final accuracy is the responsibility of the trooper.  The CRL states: There should be minimal gap between the shoulder armor and the chest/back plates. There are a couple things you could do. First, there is a visible gap between the tops of the bells and the shoulder straps. Hopefully this should be a simple fix of shortening the strapping connecting the two. Second, you should trim all return edge off the bottom of the shoulder bells to bring them closer in. Reference Image: Moving along, the CRL states: Drop boxes are vertically aligned with the end of the ammo belt with minimal gap between belt and box. The corners of the plastic ammo belt shall be trimmed at a 45 degree angle that that meets the outer edge of the cloth belt. The top of the ammo belt should sit at or just below the bottom of the central and vertical abdomen button panels. Your drop boxes were connected too far in. You'll likely need to drill out and reposition the rivet connecting to the belt, or instead of riveting it to the canvas belt, just make a loop of elastic around the canvas belt. Many troopers also add a drop of E-6000 to the strapping to ensure they stay in place. Reference Image: For the belt corner requirement, that's a bit of a delicate dance. I believe that you should be able to just trim the end of the plastic belt to make it so the corner hits the edge of the canvas belt. If you do trim, do it a bit at a time to avoid overtrimming. This is not an area we are extremely picky about - just do your best. Reference Image: Finally, your belt is sitting just a hair too low. On my own kit I added a couple strips of velcro to my belt to keep the front from sagging: Reference Image: And that's it! It might seem like a lot, but most of the Centurion requirements are relatively simple changes, so we hope to see your Centurion application soon! Congratulations again!

Hi Pascal, Thanks for your patience. @gmrhodes13 is correct that the TD screws will need to replaced for us to continue with your application. Could you also post some close up shots of your gloves and hand plates? The ESB L2 CRL states: If rubber gloves are worn the hand plates are affixed via an elastic strap over the palm. If silk or satin gloves are worn, the hand plates have the correct visible stitching pattern using black cotton, with a five point/star pattern, equally spread out with 2 on each side and 1 in the middle front, and needs to be double stitched at each point. So I just want to check the material of your gloves as well as how the hand plates are attached. Thanks!

I'm so sorry for your loss, Lorelei. Real life first, but we're glad you're back.

Hi Josh! Thanks for making all of these changes, but they aren't actually required for EIB approval. (Although your armor looks great!) Mike was super eager to jump into reviews but hasn't yet been familiarized with our process. We will get this sorted out. Thanks, Sha Sha

Awesome!! Fast service from Praetorian, too.

Hi Shaun, Keep in mind that the suggestions with the helmet are just that, suggestions, but not required for Centurion. We know that things like repositioning the ears can be extremely difficult, if not near impossible for some bucket builds, but we like to mention details like that for those troopers who wish to do everything they can to match the screen-used suits. Ultimately, we are a costuming group, not a prop-replica group, so although we'd love for everyone to take every single suggestion, I'd hate for you to think we're asking you to spend money for a new bucket when it's not required. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any further questions or concerns.

Oh, that's a bummer! On the bright side it should be totally okay for every day trooping, so at least he'll have a backup.

Hi Shuan, Thanks again for your patience, and for submitting the additional photos. Great job already applying some of the suggestions made by your fellow troopers. As I said before, this is a really terrific build and if fits you great. CRL and EIB Application Requirements: All required photos are now in and, after review, we are pleased to welcome you to Expert Infantry rank. On behalf of myself and the rest of the DO team, congratulations! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly In this area we review observations made by your fellow troopers and the DO team. Some observations may lead to suggestions to improve the overall look of your armor. Starting from the helmet, we do have a few suggestions. First, the paint. It's hard to tell if it's just the lighting in the photos, but the gray on your helmet seems quite dark. This is not a blocker as the CRL does not specify a specific shade of gray, but it might be something to look into. We recommend either Humbrol #5 Dark Admiralty Grey or Testors #1138 Grey Gloss. Secondly, the tube stripes on your helmet seem a bit far away from the cheeks, especially the left ones; they should be about a pencil-width away. Lastly, if you were keen to tackle repainting the tube stripes, you should double check their orientation; you'll notice in the reference photos that they lean forward, while yours are leaning back, so if you used templates, it's possible you had them reversed. I did also want to note that your vocoder paint shape looks fantastic. (Although the screen-used helmets did use satin black paint.) Reference Image: Onto the ears, as you might have noticed us mention on many EIB and Centurion apps recently, ideally the ears should follow the edge of the traps. On your helmet, your ears are sitting more vertically. It's certainly a challenging correction to make, but we mention it for troopers wanting to go the extra mile. Reference Images: Another small paint detail worth mentioning is that the ab button paint should ideally not quite cover the entire plastic button: Reference Image: Thank you for correcting the screws on your Thermal Detonator. Just a couple suggestions in that area. First, one of your TD clips seems to be sitting a bit far away from the cylinder. You might try to see if you can tighten the screws down. And if you're going for ultimate screen accuracy, the upper TD screws should be closer to the edge of the clips. Reference Image: Moving along to the lower limbs, as was also mentioned by your fellow troopers, your right thigh sits a shade lower than your left. I added extra strapping on the rear of my right thigh for the same reason. It may also just be a matter of twisting your thighs and shins inwards slightly so that they're all more forward-facing. Reference Image: On the fronts of your thighs, it looks like the cover strips might be a hair too long. It should be a quick fix with a pair of scissors or dremel. Reference Image: Finally, on your blaster, although some weathering is desired, there are a couple areas where yours appears overly weathered. On the scope we're suggesting you tone down the brass weathering. I had the same issue on my blaster, and a couple passes with black spraypaint fixed it up. It is also worth mentioning that the t-tracks and grip on the original blasters were plastic, not metal, so those should not show metal weathering (although in your case it could just be lighting/reflections.) Additionally, your D-ring, while present, seems a bit misshapen. Reference Images: Centurion Requirements: In this section we prepare you for Centurion. Because Centurion photos show more detail than EIB, items pertaining to Centurion might be seen there and not here. We try to point out all that we can from what we see but the final accuracy is the responsibility of the trooper. The CRL states: Drop boxes are vertically aligned with the end of the ammo belt with minimal gap between belt and box. Your belt boxes have a tendency to wander, as they appear misaligned in this photo of your belt: But are perfect in this photo of you kitted up: As was already suggested, a drop of E6000 on the elastic connecting the belt boxes should ensure they stay in place. Reference Image: Additionally, in reference to the ab/kidney cap, the CRL states: Ideally there no gap between the abdomen and kidney armor. Great job aligning the tops in your second set of photos, but unfortunately a gap appeared. I'm confident this should be a simple dressing issue or a matter of tightening your belt a bit before taking your Centurion photos. Reference Image: Lastly, although the CRL doesn't specify the size of the rivet holding the thigh ammo boxes on, yours appears very oversized compared to the screen-used suits. This is one of those areas where we're going to rely on our screen reference to determine that this should be corrected for your Centurion application. Reference Images: And that's it! We'd like to congratulate you on achieving EIB, and we'll see you at Centurion!

Yes, Praetorian are approvable all the way to Centurion. I believe actually Hyperfirm are no longer made, and one of the Hyperfirm founders now owns Praetorian.

Hi Zylo! Sorry for the delay. Unfortunately after discussion with the DO team, we agree that your blaster will not be able to pass EIB approval. In general we don't get too picky about blasters because there's a decent amount of variation between makers, but in your case it's missing several major details that normally appear on an ANH blaster. I know you said it's a Hyperfirm, but it doesn't look like my Hyperfirm that I bought a couple of years ago. 1. Rear sight too tall 2. End cap clip is the wrong shape 3. No inner bolt opening/appearance of spring. 4. Handle inset wrong. Should have letters, not grooves, and center should be a screw head. 5. Trigger is wrong style. 6. No charging handle. 7. Ejection port is wrong shape and too small. 8. No ejection port guard. 9. Lower T-track too long. 10. This rivet does not belong here 11. No flash guard. 12. Front sight wrong shape. 1. Missing bayonet lug. 2. Rear of folding stock is wrong shape. (Strange, because the other side is correct). 3. Wrong type of fastener. Here are some reference images: And photos of my own Hyperfirm B-grade: (Note that my own blaster is a bit incorrectly weathered, but it does have all the proper details.) I'd suggest you checking out the E11 forums for sources of other blasters, or looking through past EIB applications. Don't hesitate to reach out if we can be of assistance.

Sorry, yes you're in the queue, Zylo. I apologize for not acknowledging the updated photos. We will be with you as soon as possible.

Thanks, Shaun! We'll be with you soon.

Hi Eric, Thanks again for your patience, and for submitting the additional photos. Beautiful photos and very nice build! CRL and EIB Application Requirements: All required photos are now in and, after review, we are pleased to welcome you to Expert Infantry rank. On behalf of myself and the rest of the DO team, congratulations! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly In this section we review observations made by your fellow troopers and ourselves. Some observations may lead to suggestions to improve the overall look of your armor. Starting at the helmet, although there was a lot of variation on-screen, the Stunt helmets tended to have their brows a bit higher than yours, so we're suggesting you scoot it up a bit. Reference Image: (Ignore that guy on the right ) Continuing with the helmet, the mic tips should have a bit of white on the edges. And while you're at it, you could slightly update the shape of the vocoder, although what's there now is nice and sharp as it should be. Reference Image: Finally, with the Stunt helmets, the ears tend to line up with the edge of the traps on the screen-used helmets. Yours are actually very close, especially the left, but if you're aiming for ultimate accuracy and you can do it without damaging your helmet, you could try tackling repositioning the ears. Reference Images: Moving along, as was mentioned by your fellow troopers, ideally we want to have minimal black showing on the armor, but for taller troopers such as yourself, gaps are inevitable, so it at least cleans up the look of the armor to even those gaps out. So we're suggesting you raise your forearms a bit, which should hopefully be a simple matter of shortening the strapping between your biceps and forearms. This should also prevent the forearms from running into your hand plates. Reference Image: Continuing on down, ideally the corners of the ab button plates should be squared, not rounded. Also the smaller button plate should be a bit smaller, although it's not clear to me whether you'd be able to trim it down much without running into the buttons. Finally, the paint on the larger plate is perfect, but the smaller button paint is just a shade large; ideally the paint should be just smaller than the plastic buttons. Reference Image: Around the back, as was already pointed out, ideally the corners of the TD panel are squared off, not rounded. However if you do decide to make that correction, be careful to keep the clips flush with the edge of the panel. Reference Image: Tackling the lower armor, your thighs are a bit high; this is especially evident in the back where the gap between your thighs and calves is much larger than the gap (or lack thereof) between your thighs and posterior armor. You did mention that dropping your thighs caused the sniper knee to get caught under the thigh armor; I know that others have handled this by putting some foam on the front of the shin and/or the back of the thighs to prevent that. Finally, it appears that you might be able to heat bend up the bottom of the posterior armor some to keep it from overlapping the thigh armor. Reference Image: Great job with the left and right ridge alignment on the sniper knee. Unfortunately, this has left your sniper knee a bit crooked. It looks like you may have a bit of room to bring up the left edge to straighten it out a bit. Since this is just the way your armor is made we won't require a correction, but you might see what you can do to split the difference to even everything out a bit. The sniper knee positioning is the perpetual thorn in the side of any TK armor builder. Reference Image: Finally, this is definitely a dressing issue, but when suiting up be sure to have a handler take a quick look at your calf armor closure. The right one is perfect. Reference Image: Finally, with your blaster, there are a few suggestions. The grip, t-tracks, and rear or the Hengstler counter were all plastic, so they would not have metallic weathering showing. Additionally, the scope was originally brass, so any weathering showing through should be brass colored. It's a matter of personal style, but I'd also say that overall your blaster has a bit more battle damage than typically showed on-screen, so we'd suggesting you tone down the overall weathering. Reference Images: Next, it appears your charging handle is a bit shorter than we're used to seeing, or it could be the angle of the photo. If you do decide to apply to Centurion (and we hope you do!) we'd ask for a clearer photo. Reference Image: Finally, the coils connecting the power cylinders to the Hengstler counter were actually only shown in promo images, but we do allow them. However, yours do seem a bit long and saggy, so I'd consider cleaning them up or even just removing them. Reference Image: Centurion Requirements In this section we prepare you for Centurion. Because Centurion photos show more detail than EIB, items pertaining to Centurion might be seen there and not here. We try to point out all that we can from what we see but the final accuracy is the responsibility of the trooper. The L3 CRL states There should be a minimal gap between the shoulder armor and the chest/back plates. This is a tough one because you are a bigger trooper. I would see if it's at all possible to shorten the strapping between the shoulder bell and the shoulder strapping, as well as trimming off all the remaining return edge of the bottom edge of the shoulder bells. In the worst case, you may need to order bigger shoulder bells from some of the bigger armor makers such as AM, and I believe WTF has also started recently offering larger shoulder bells, but the color match could be an issue. The L3 CRL also states: Drop boxes are vertically aligned with the end of the ammo belt with minimal gap between belt and box. The corners of the plastic ammo belt shall be trimmed at a 45 degree angle that that meets the outer edge of the cloth belt. The top of the ammo belt should sit at or just below the bottom of the central and vertical abdomen button panels. There are a few issues here, some easier to correct than others. For the drop box positions, that should be a simple fix - shortening the strapping holding the drop boxes on, and adding a dab of glue to the strapping so they don't wander. The belt 45-degree corner is a tougher one, because your canvas belt just seems wide compared to the plastic. It does look like you do have some room to trim back the plastic some so that it might align better. Finally, for belt position, this is a correction I also had to make on my build. I saw that you said you have your belt low to cover the kidney/posterior gap, which makes sense. However, it looks like from the photos you might have a bit of room to scoot just the front of your belt up to keep it in place. I actually added a couple small strips of Velcro to keep my belt from sagging in the same way: Reference Images: Finally, the L3 CRL states: Ideally there no gap between the abdomen and kidney armor. Your ab/kidney gap looks particularly large in your arms raised photos, but it is still there in the arms down photos: Hopefully this should be a relatively easy fix of tightening/adding the strapping between the ab/kidney as well as tightening your belt. On my own build I used nylon to connect the left side rivets, and on the right I added an extra strap to help close that gap. Note also, that the tops of the ab/kidney should ideally remain aligned. This is really only evident in the arms raised photos. Reference Images: And that's it! Congratulations again on reaching EIB. I know it seems like a lot to get to Centurion, but it's clear from your build that you're a skilled armorer, so we have full confidence you'll be able to make the necessary corrections to reach Centurion. As always, reach out to us if we can be of help.

Hi Sven, Thanks for your submission, and thanks so much for the updated photos. Beautiful job on the ab/kidney alignment and evening up the gaps on your limbs. Very tall troopers such as yourself have to make as many modifications as very short troopers such as myself. CRL and Centurion Application Requirements All the required submission photos are present and on behalf of the DO team I'm pleased to congratulate you and welcome you to Centurion rank! Other-Armor Fit/Assembly: In this area we discuss any areas still needing some improvement. Although they did not hold you back from Centurion, at this level it's all about the small details that will really make your armor look its best. Since you already acknowledged the eye return edge and ear position, I won't mention those again. One small nitpick on your helmet: the left lower ear screw seems to be slightly out of place, causing it to be very close to the ear bumps. If you're feeling adventurous, you could reposition it and fill the hole. Reference Image: Another small suggestion I have is to watch your neck seal getting bunched up during dressing. Having a handler take a final look or even tucking it into your undersuit could keep it from trying to escape. Reference Image: Lastly, your sniper knee is well-aligned. Our only suggestion would be to trim both sides of the return edge a bit to match the screen-used examples better: Reference Image: And that's it! Congratulations on a really beautiful build and welcome again to Centurion! Now get out there and make The Empire proud!

Sorry, my reference image was small. Here's an annotated diagram: Basically a little handle that sticks out near the scope. I believe the thing that makes the "ch-chink" sound in action movies. Since the ANH blasters were made from actual Sterling machine guns, they retained most of the parts from the actual guns.

Pointed out here:

Eric - does your E-11 have a charging handle? It's hard to tell from the photo. Maybe it's just a bit shorter than I'm used to seeing? Reference:

Hi Eric, It looks like you have some sort of decal on your blaster, which unfortunately we're going to have to ask you to remove. This is one of those rare areas where trooping and screen accuracy collide a bit, but the L2 and L3 approvals are all about achieving the highest levels of screen accuracy. If you look back at some submissions from the UKG, you'll see they've been asked to remove the decals from their shoulder bells, for example. I know you said you're going out of town tomorrow, so if you're not able to get the new pics up before you leave, we will be here when you return.