Pilot trooper[501st] Posted May 16, 2015 Report Share Posted May 16, 2015 (edited) OK guys and gals. Here are a few things I've learned about probably the earliest armor out there, Marco Enterprises. I have had a few chances to try on the whole armor set and a few weeks to digest this armors interesting quirks. First off, I don't think it looks that bad. A lot of similarities with FX and even AM. That can be a good or bad thing depending on your "certain point of view..." Centurion or even EIB are probably not in this armors future but I think it can be 501st approved. Differences to most quality fan made kits... Thickness - Right off the bat, the first thing you notice about the armor is its thickness. It is probably twice as thick as anything else I've seen on these boards. Not sure if its ABS or something else (PVC?). The plus is that it seems virtually indestructible. The minus is that it is kinda heavy. Hand plates - They are a non-standard true pentagon vs the ANH "rough pentagonal shape". Helmet - this is not the old goofy one on stormtrooperhelmets.com. It seems to be some sort of recast. Its details are very very soft and its put together pretty sloppily. I think a new helmet is in my future but in the mean time I will be cleaning up the sloppy paint job getting som new decals and replacing the "clear" lenses with dark green ones. Interesting size pieces - a lot of the armor in this set seems a bit oversized. This is great for me as I am 6'3" 190lbs. the large shoulder bells seem to work on my frame although they could be modified to get rid of the straight 90 degree angle at the bottom. the forearm armor is way too thick for me. I will most likely cut this down. Thighs and lower leg armor had a bit too much room for my skinny legs but padding was added to keep things snug. Rather do that then trimming to keep the armors proportions better. Everything seems geared toward a bigger trooper except in the waist. I have a 34" waist and this area is tight for me. I swear Marco must have designed this part for a stick figure. you could probably have a 30" waist and there would still be a gap between the ab plate and the kidney/posterior piece! That brings me to what is probably the most "interesting" piece of the armor. The butt and kidney piece. I still don't really know what to make of it. It is one piece which is fine for now. It and the ab plate are also super tall. They both can stand to be cut down substantially. but what makes it "interesting" is the odd shape. It seems that Marco has modified it since the picture in Stormtrooperhelmets.com (I like to call that the storm trooper g string) but its still not quite right. still trying to figure out how to rectify this or if it even can be... anyways... Here are a few pics. I'm still not sure which direction to take this armor (TK or TD). It will be a fun journey either way. Please post comments tips or suggestions. Like I said earlier. I'm a newbie. ---------------- Edited January 10, 2021 by gmrhodes13 link not working, removed gmrhodes13 2021 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilot trooper[501st] Posted June 6, 2015 Report Share Posted June 6, 2015 (edited) Hi all, I have been working on mods to my Marco armor. Things are going well. Plenty of work to do but its getting done. I have pretty much decided to turn this set into a TD. It came with some TD gear and just seems suited for getting sandy. I will post a few more updates here for anybody who might be interested in seeing this old armor get cleaned up. I pretty much finished the helmet. Compare this pic to the one above. - removed old pant from frown, tears and traps. - cut out frown teeth - repainted frown, traps tears with testors 1138 - replaced clear lenses with trooperbay dark green - added s-shaped helmet seal - replaced cheezy black tube stipes with standard medium blue - added trooperbay hovi mic tips ------------- Edited January 10, 2021 by gmrhodes13 link not working, removed gmrhodes13 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilot trooper[501st] Posted June 30, 2015 Report Share Posted June 30, 2015 (edited) Hello all, I have been diligently studying both FISD and MEPD in an attempt to modify what is probably the earliest armor out there. It has been frustrating at times but also a lot of fun. Starting from scratch with a more accurate kit would have probably taken less time than all the mods I have done but I believe there is something special in taking this old armor and turning it into something the 501st can be proud of. As you can see from the pics below, I am turning this armor into a TD. This will be probably be my final post over here on FISD but I thought some might want to see a bit of the work I have done. I will post a better update with pics on MEPD soon. This is probably the last time this armor is seen nice and shiny clean work performed to date: Helmet: - removed old pant from frown, tears and traps. - cut out frown teeth - repainted frown, traps tears with testors 1138 - replaced clear lenses with trooperbay dark green - added s-shaped helmet seal - replaced cheezy black tube stipes with standard medium blue - added trooperbay hovi mic tips - removed ears and detached face plate from rear plate to try my best to "stretch" the helmet a bit. - replaced ears in better position Armor: - did major cuts on posterior armor for better screen accuracy - cut top of kidney armor. was way too high. about a 3" overlap. - cut top of ab plate. it was literally a straight line across and way too high (even for a 6'3" guy) cut to mimic the angle of the bottom of chest armor. - detached thigh strapping from cod/ab. now use nylon belt. - re-strapped entire torso section. Marco's was decent but need to do this to detach thigh armor from cod/ab piece. - replaced plastic belt pieces with off white canvas. - trimmed sides of ammo belt to 45 degree angles. - removed droid caller and holster. - fashioned three square buttons for belt using extra ABS and the "heated up dime" method for the dimples. - shimmed ab/kidney gap using plastic belt pieces. used homemade ABS paste to seal cracks. - cut cod piece for better accuracy. - replaced inaccurate hand plates with flexible pieces attached to gloves. - trimmed forearm armor for fit. - trimmed ends of shoulder bells for better accuracy - trimmed parts of thigh and shin armor for both fit and accuracy. - permanently attached small ammo belt to bottom of right thigh with rivets (was velcro before) and trimmed curve into back of small ammo belt. - permanently glued thigh, bicep and forearm armor (instead of Velcro). tried to glue fronts of shin armor but the armors thickness and lack of flexibility made it impossible to spread the armor apart to get leg in before glue cracked open. it is staying Velcro - removed sniper knee plate and Velcro which attached it in preparation for TD plate. TD mods: - removed plastic ribbed shoulder straps. using only white elastic for attachment. - cut ab plate to remove button panel that was molded in. - used drop box to create "blank square" panel to replace button panel. used homemade ABS paste to seal cracks - fashioned three button panel on left side of ab plate with extra ABS and used the "heated up dime" method. - replaced and permanently fixed diamond sniper knee plate. - replaced inaccurate pauldron with trooper1 variation. BEFORE ---------- AFTER -------------- Edited January 10, 2021 by gmrhodes13 link not working, removed gmrhodes13 2021 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted August 28, 2021 Report Share Posted August 28, 2021 http://www.ketzer.com/starwars/frameset.html?http://www.ketzer.com/starwars/marco_ent.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted August 30, 2021 Report Share Posted August 30, 2021 Marco A Herrera TK1622 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishgoh0nk[TK] Posted August 30, 2021 Report Share Posted August 30, 2021 Wait, mods are being made to a link in the armor history chain? Oof, I'm sure it's not my place to say, but if it were me, I'd build it the way Marco had intended, goofy, inaccurate, but definitely a nice display piece for preservation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted August 30, 2021 Report Share Posted August 30, 2021 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly11[Admin] Posted August 31, 2021 Report Share Posted August 31, 2021 Wow necro post lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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