justjoseph63[Staff] Posted February 1, 2019 Report Posted February 1, 2019 Let's see those approval pics!! 1 Quote
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted February 2, 2019 Report Posted February 2, 2019 Looking sharp trooper, know where's those photos 1 Quote
MakeNoiseMan[TK] Posted February 4, 2019 Author Report Posted February 4, 2019 On 2/1/2019 at 1:09 PM, wook1138 said: Looks good! As for the back of the thighs - if you can get up stairs and you want to keep them untrimmed - then don't trim them. You can always trim them down the road if you want - it is much harder adding the plastic back in. For your approval pictures, make sure you keep your leg pieces and arms lined up nice - in other words, get someone to help with the pictures who can spot these things for you. Make sure your shoulder bells are pretty much touching your shoulder bridge and there is minimal black (within reason) showing between the shoulder bell and chest. I can't see anything in the picture above that would hold you back from basic approval - the armor appears to fit your body well and that is the most important thing. You can always post in the pre-approval section to be sure. Good luck! On 2/1/2019 at 2:30 PM, Frank75139 said: Looking good! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk On 2/1/2019 at 4:36 PM, justjoseph63 said: Let's see those approval pics!! On 2/1/2019 at 7:55 PM, gmrhodes13 said: Looking sharp trooper, know where's those photos On 2/2/2019 at 6:53 AM, Bud Spaklur said: Brendan- you banged this build out at a fast and furious rate, and at a high-level of quality. Very nicely done and good luck with the approval, buddy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thanks so much, guys!! I hope you've all had a great weekend. I just posted my Pre-Approval Request thread! It'll be a short little wait until I can get my TKID, but then after that I'll be starting towards L2 and L3! I'll be sure to report back here after my first troop next week, too. :-D 2 Quote
MakeNoiseMan[TK] Posted February 9, 2019 Author Report Posted February 9, 2019 Hello everybody! Thanks for all of your input on my Pre-Approval thread! It has been an exciting time indeed as things wrap up and I transition towards membership. :-D Yesterday I had my first opportunity to troop as a TK. It was a BLAST. The event was called Radiothon, and it was held at the Children's Hospital in London, Ontario (and I'm told it raised $172,352 CAD for the Children's' Health Foundation! It was wild). Several costuming groups were invited, and throughout the day characters ranged from Disney princesses/princes to Star Wars to Superheroes. Members of the Canadian Garrison attended, and though I'm not yet approved, I got to stand with them for the afternoon (except for a few 501st promo shots, which is totally understandable). The officer and the pilot in the image above have been friends of mine for some time and they have been helping me greatly on my pathway into the 501st. :-D This shot is a combination of 501st, Rebel Legion, Heroically Ever After (our local hobby group) and of course, R2. I have done plenty of costume outings before, but none quite like this one. It was the first time I have been in a movie-accurate costume, for one. Also, standing as a TK next to a 501st Vader, with his breath and voicebox booming, was chilling. And no costume malfunctions! That was a relief, given it was the longest stretch of time I have worn the suit so far. Here are my takeaway notes from the first troop: - Helmet fans are AWESOME. I highly recommend them. I'm using Henry's Helmet Fans. I have now experienced trooping with and without them, because ... - My fan battery lasts just over 2 hours. The troop yesterday was 3 hours. As soon as they flicked off, my lenses almost instantly fogged up and I could feel the heat rising inside my bucket. I'm using a Duracell 2600 Mah portable phone charger, and I have a couple of extras, but I think I'll look into a bigger power supply rather than count on swapping them out mid-troop. - Although I can walk fine, my left leg made a clicking sound when I stepped unless I was careful. I'm reconsidering trimming cutouts behind my knees to prevent this and increase mobility. I don't know when my next troop will be, but I expect it won't be until after Legion elections are done and (hopefully) I have been assigned a TKID. Joseph sent me some stickers for my bin (Thanks again!!), and I'm waiting to put them on until I'm an official member. I'll post back here as I continue tinkering. Talk to you soon, troopers! :-D 1 Quote
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted February 9, 2019 Report Posted February 9, 2019 Congratulations trooper, you could start a troop log in the Field Exercises section, if you also post separate troop reports they may be added to the monthly newsletter. 1 Quote
MakeNoiseMan[TK] Posted February 9, 2019 Author Report Posted February 9, 2019 Congratulations trooper, you could start a troop log in the Field Exercises section, if you also post separate troop reports they may be added to the monthly newsletter. Awesome! I will definitely check that out. Thanks! :-DSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted February 10, 2019 Report Posted February 10, 2019 25 minutes ago, Bud Spaklur said: Glen- at first glance, the officer in the first pic looked like you. I had to zoom in. The guy is your stunt-double. Oh I'm much prettier than he 1 Quote
justjoseph63[Staff] Posted February 10, 2019 Report Posted February 10, 2019 12 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said: Oh I'm much prettier than he I thought I recognized that face you handsome devil!! Mos Eisley cantina, last June.... that was YOU dancing on the bar??? Seriously, though, thanks for that. I literally laughed for 5 minutes. 1 Quote
MakeNoiseMan[TK] Posted September 25, 2019 Author Report Posted September 25, 2019 Hi, everybody! Hope you all are doing well. The time has come for me to stop procrastinating and submit for L3. I have been having so much fun trooping, I sort of forgot that my suit wasn't quite finished yet! Seriously, though, I am thirteen troops in and am having SO much fun. This whole journey from construction to costuming has been one of the greatest rides of my life so far. Without further ado, here is a compiled list of the feedback I got on my EIB application. General suggestions: Remove excess paint from one frown tooth Move right ear further back and correct screw alignment of ears Move tube stripes closer to cheeks Extend paint job on tears Make sure forearms aren't twisted in submission photos Remove excess paint from ab buttons Squeeze D-ring on E-11 to proper dimensions Raise Hengstler on E-11 Centurion-specific suggestions: Swap Ukswrath's hovi-mic speakers for AP-supplied mic tips Bring shoulder bells closer to chestplate/shoulder bridges Correctly align drop-boxes to the edges of the ammo belt Pretty manageable! A few have already been taken care of, even. However, there are a couple of items that I am going to remove from the "general suggestion" list for now and hope that I can still qualify for Centurion. The first is the placement of my ears. As detailed throughout my build, my ears were a real struggle-point. Because of this, my bucket isn't super pretty underneath them. Changing or moving my ears will be a pretty complicated endeavour, and I think I will save that for a last resort. If they are a hold-up from L3, then I'll get er done, but if they are acceptable as they are, I'd rather leave them be. The second is raising the Hengstler counter on my E-11. The whole blaster came as a resin-cast one-piece, so I am reluctant to start cutting it apart. If it qualifies for L3 already, I'd rather not compromise the integrity of the construction. If not, I will cross that bridge when I get to it. With two items set aside, I am ready to start tackling the remainder! Remove excess paint from one frown tooth Here is the tooth in question. Presto! Move tube stripes closer to cheeks Here we can see my previous tube stripes sitting too far away from the cheek (Shame! Shame! Shame! Ding ding ding). Washed them away with mineral spirits and Q-tips (they look like my tears). And boom! Quick wipe with paper towel and the tube is squeaky-clean once more. It looks so naked now. My new stencils, correctly spaced a No.2 pencil's width from the cheek, and with the "leaning" stripes near the chin. A coat of white paint to seal the edges (which I forgot last time—not a fatal mistake, but will save a ton of time cleaning them up!) and then some tastey Humbrol 14 Gloss Blue. I still have a couple of coats to do, I'll cross this one off once it's %100 done. Remove excess paint from ab buttons Donezo!Swap Ukswrath's hovi-mic speakers for AP-supplied mic tips Easy switch. I will re-install Ukswrath's speakers for trooping because they are awesome. AP's mic tips are great, but needed the white paint along the rim. Correctly align drop-boxes to the edges of the ammo belt This one I corrected a while ago, as seen here in this photo with my hero Weird Al. And that's where we are so far! More to come. TO-DO LIST BEFORE L3 SUBMISSION General suggestions: Remove excess paint from one frown tooth Move tube stripes closer to cheeks Extend paint job on tears Make sure forearms aren't twisted in submission photos Remove excess paint from ab buttons Squeeze D-ring on E-11 to proper dimensions Centurion-specific suggestions: Swap Ukswrath's hovi-mic speakers for AP-supplied mic tips Bring shoulder bells closer to chestplate/shoulder bridges Correctly align drop-boxes to the edges of the ammo belt 1 Quote
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted September 25, 2019 Report Posted September 25, 2019 Nice work, you could also trim your smaller ab plate a little more and get rid of the rounded corners 1 Quote
MakeNoiseMan[TK] Posted September 26, 2019 Author Report Posted September 26, 2019 Hello again! I accidentally left something off my to-do list from my EIB feedback: General suggestion: Remove excess plastic from ammo belt Remove excess plastic from ammo belt Trimmed that puppy down, sanded, and we're good to go. Squeeze D-ring on E-11 to proper dimensions This is the smallest I can squeeze it—I think it is now good enough, though. It used to extend wider than the butt of the gun itself, but now it's within the dimensions. Bring shoulder bells closer to chestplate/shoulder bridges I had previously made shorter elastic straps to connect my shoulder bells to my shoulder straps: In addition to that, I sanded down the inside of my shoulder bells further so that they would sit closer against the biceps, and by extension, reduce the gap between them and my chestplate. Here is a comparison (the inner bell is updated, the outer bell yet is not): Happy with the result! That just leaves a bit more painting. Almost there! TO-DO LIST BEFORE L3 SUBMISSION General suggestions: Remove excess paint from one frown tooth Move tube stripes closer to cheeks Extend paint job on tears Make sure forearms aren't twisted in submission photos Remove excess paint from ab buttons Remove excess plastic from ammo belt Squeeze D-ring on E-11 to proper dimensions Centurion-specific suggestions: Swap Ukswrath's hovi-mic speakers for AP-supplied mic tips Bring shoulder bells closer to chestplate/shoulder bridges Correctly align drop-boxes to the edges of the ammo belt 1 Quote
TKSpartan[Staff] Posted September 26, 2019 Report Posted September 26, 2019 9 hours ago, MakeNoiseMan said: I had previously made shorter elastic straps to connect my shoulder bells to my shoulder straps Hi Brendan, i think you can reduce the elactic strap a little bit more to have a better look. Cheers 1 Quote
MakeNoiseMan[TK] Posted September 27, 2019 Author Report Posted September 27, 2019 (edited) Hey everybody! Move tube stripes closer to cheeks The paint dry, I peeled the stencils off and cleaned up the messy bits. I think my first tube stripes were a little nicer, and I may return to these and fiddle with them further, but at least they are the correct distance from the cheek! Extend paint job on tears This was a quick one! I just painted some extra black around the edges, and then filled in with some grey afterwards. Done! And .... that brings me to the end of my list! Now of course, we all know a kit can always be improved further. I appreciate the continued feedback you guys provide. It is my intention to implement these additional tweaks, however small, down the road (like when I have the cash for more snaps. ). For now, though, I am excited to get my L3 application submitted, so I'll photograph my suit as it is now. But I do still welcome the input and critique! Even tiny steps toward greater screen accuracy help sell the magic at a troop. TO-DO LIST BEFORE L3 SUBMISSION General suggestions: Remove excess paint from one frown tooth Move tube stripes closer to cheeks Extend paint job on tears Make sure forearms aren't twisted in submission photos Remove excess paint from ab buttons Remove excess plastic from ammo belt Squeeze D-ring on E-11 to proper dimensions Centurion-specific suggestions: Swap Ukswrath's hovi-mic speakers for AP-supplied mic tips Bring shoulder bells closer to chestplate/shoulder bridges Correctly align drop-boxes to the edges of the ammo belt My goodness, it is satisfying to cross items off of lists. No matter what the list is! With my to-do list completed, I added a final step and cleaned/polished my armour up for submission photos. After all the work, may as well look our best! Submission time! I am going to visit my parents this weekend and they are going to help me take the photos, so my application won't be in until Sunday. All the same I am very excited to finally be reaching this "last step" of TK armour creation (again, though, as if it's ever really finished). As always, thank you EVERYONE who chimes in and supports build threads. From beginning to end you troopers have made this such a wonderful experience. Rock on TKs!! Edited September 27, 2019 by MakeNoiseMan Quote
CableGuy[TK] Posted September 27, 2019 Report Posted September 27, 2019 Tubestripes look really good - great job. :-)Best of luck for L3, and well done for returning to it and making those tweaks. Centurion is not far away. :-)Best wishesDan 1 Quote
TKSpartan[Staff] Posted September 27, 2019 Report Posted September 27, 2019 Great Work mate!!! 1 Quote
MakeNoiseMan[TK] Posted September 27, 2019 Author Report Posted September 27, 2019 11 hours ago, CableGuy said: Tubestripes look really good - great job. :-) Best of luck for L3, and well done for returning to it and making those tweaks. Centurion is not far away. :-) Best wishes Dan 9 hours ago, TheSwede said: Great mindset 4 hours ago, wook1138 said: Love it! Great work! 3 hours ago, TKSpartan said: Great Work mate!!! Thanks guys!! 1 Quote
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