TK-3437 Requesting ANH Stunt EIB Status (AP?) [963]

[Vengeance[TK]]

Gaines Tidwell

TK-3437

ISD Vengeance

Florida Garrison

 

Mandatory Information

• Armor = AP?
• Helmet= AP?
• Blaster= Demilled Sterling SMG

Optional

• Height = 6 ' 1 
• Weight = 170
• Boots = TK Boots
• Canvas belt = Homemade
• Hand Plates = Unknown 
• Electronics= Aker
• Neck Seal = Anovos
• Holster = Homemade

 

 

 

 

[Vengeance[TK]]

[Vengeance[TK]]

[Vengeance[TK]]

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Good luck Trooper!! 

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Hi Gaines, and thanks for your submission!  One of us will be with you shortly, but before we "move along" there are 2 items we need you to take care of, the first being to remove a bit of the paint at the top of the teeth as shown below.  As per the CRL for Basic approval, "Frown is gray and does not leave the teeth area".  Most are perfect, it's just the tops of the three shown below.  10 minutes with some mineral spirits and a toothpick should get you where you need to be.... easy fix!  (Check the bottoms of the teeth as well). 

                                                                                                                                                                                                       Reference images

   

 

Please also include a close-up of the ab-plate detail like this one: (no need to get suited up).

 

 

Since this armor can definitely get you to Centurion, while you have the mineral spirits out for the teeth you should go ahead and remove the paint from the following to get ready for Level 3:

 

The "Han" snap cannot be painted.                                        Reference images

                              

 

"Snaps are silver in color... and are not painted".                                      Reference images

                                       

 

There are a few other issues for level 3 (but nothing you can't take care of pretty easily) and we look forward to seeing the updated pics! 

 

[Vengeance[TK]]

Cool thanks! I can get working on that hopefully today. Working on getting all the photos together and uploaded.  

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Looking good Gaines, good luck on your application 

[magni[TK]]

Looking good! I would recommend cleaning up your ab buttons. A few could use more paint to help round them out. Also your large center control panel could use a little trimming on the left side. It's overhanging a little. With the way your pictures posted its hard to see but make sure your drop boxes align with edge of plastic belt. From the picture the one that can be seen looks in to much. A dab of E6000 could hold them in place.

 

Good Luck and look foward to you joining the ranks soon!

[Vengeance[TK]]

Thanks, the ab buttons have been a bit of a pain but I'm tweaking those. Got the paint off of a few spots though.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work.

You may  want to tighten the strapping on the sides, appears your kidney plate is sticking outwards on the front view as well as there is a gap on the side view.

Remove the paint on the ab side snap

Also try to bring your biceps down a little more, would reduce the gap at your elbows.

Appears one of your shoulder straps is sitting behind the back plate in the rear image.

Calf rear cover strips should stop below the top ridge.

Drop boxes do not appear aligned with the end of the plastic belt section

 

I would advise you look through some other applications as you appear to be needing a few other images

 

Could you also post a close up of your detonator front and clips as it appears to be quite long and has a large gap between end caps. Also appears the end caps are smaller than the grey tube or hanging off?

 

 

 

You could also add a little white around the tips of the hove's (mic tips) and also try to define the curves of the vocoder a little more

 

 

[shashachu[TK]]

Hi Gaines! Thanks for your application and the quick fix with your frown paint. I'll be doing your review. Before we can proceed, you will need to make one other very small change.

 

The L2 CRL states:

 

Correct 'Hovi mic' aerator tips are present. Screens used shall be of a wide type mesh, with the rim of the mic and the inside white or painted white.

 

Everything on yours looks great except you are missing the white paint on the rims of your hovi tips. Should really just be a couple minutes to fix.

 

 

Reference Image:

 

As a couple of other folks have mentioned you are also missing a few required pics for your EIB application:

 

* Closeup of the left side of your sniper knee (like the closeup you've already included of the right side)

* Inside of the thigh ammo pack rivet (to verify rivet type)

* Closeup of TD screws (to verify color + type of screw)

* Rear of blaster (to verify presence of D-ring)

* Action shot

 

Could you also include a couple closer photos of your gloves? I can't really tell what they're made of. The L2 CRL states that Gloves shall be rubber or rubber-like chemical gloves, in black.

 

I'm particularly interested in this seam (or what appears to be a seam):

 

I've also attached a photo checklist to be sure that you (or I) haven't forgotten anything else.

 

EIB_Centurion Photo Checklist.pdf

 

Thanks a lot!

[Vengeance[TK]]

Thanks for the notes. I took a ton of photos and sorting them has been a pain. Trying to get them straight. I'll have to look into the kidney plate some more, but I did a suit up right after I noticed that darn shoulder strap got tucked. Didn't think that made it into my upload. I went and made several other corrections as well. More to come. Working on an Imgur album to hopefully make the photo uploads a bit easier.

 

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Vengeance

[Vengeance[TK]]

Edited April 7, 2020 by Vengeance

[Vengeance[TK]]

Edited April 7, 2020 by Vengeance

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

GREAT to see you getting on these requests, Gaines!  The TD screws need to be painted black (easy fix) but you have a lot more space on the left side between the end cap and plate.  Looks like it's glued on, but if you get in touch with Gary jr. at the TK Sweatshop I'm sure he can help you get this down closer to 7.5 inches.  I have every faith that you can get all this done so that we can add that EI badge under your name soon!

 

 

 

The total length is approximately 7.50"

 

 

Clips shall be attached with slotted type, flat or dome top style screws, and be black 

[Vengeance[TK]]

I wish I lived back in Orlando so I could link at one of the TK Sweatshop armor parties. Always missed them when I lived in Orlando. Thankfully up here we have 850 Armorworks locally so sometimes I can get in on a build part. Should make getting myself a R1 TK easy enough in the future too!

 

I got a chance to crack away at the thermal det and got it down to our 7.5 inch size on the dot. Had to slice off some and redo some screws' placement. I also had a chance to set upo an album to more easily view my photos. I've been wrestling with the forum's file size limits and that's made uploading tough. 

 

TK-3437

 

I also have my 3 glove options laid out. The two shorter ones are the dipped fabric gloves while the long ones are vintage chem gloves I got when I bought an old surplus gasmask. It's been nice to have options. The shorter ones make it a little easier to manipulate items since they are thinner rubber so they are typically my trooping ones.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by Vengeance

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

MUCH better on that TD, sir!  As for the rubber gloves, for EI the ones in the center are a no-go (cloth showing) but the other 2 sets are perfect.

 

Side note:  I remember that blaster...  When we did a troop at Disney for May the 4th a few years ago and kept having to stop for photos with our E-11s raised (for what seemed like ages) I recollect you wishing it was a lot lighter, lol.    We trooped onstage with Weird Al as well if I remember correctly.   Did you change Squads?

[Vengeance[TK]]

That's right! Brilliant event one of my most favorite ones! Yeah after that troop I removed the bolt and replaced it with some aluminum flashing. dropped a good pound or two, the demil definitely gets heavy as the day goes on. Really makes me wish single point slings were canon!

 

I did swap from Makaze to Parjai as I moved to NW Florida for a new job. Definitely miss Orlando and folks there but I've got a good group here too, just wish Disney and such wasn't 7hrs away!

[shashachu[TK]]

Awesome job, @Vengeance! Really glad to see you tackling all of these changes so quickly. I'll be with you soon.

[Vengeance[TK]]

Sounds great, just let me know if there's anything else needed. Having fun working on this. Been trooping it for years and have been meaning to do this. Glad to finally get going.

[shashachu[TK]]

Hi Gaines,

Thanks for your application and for all of the fixes! It's really inspiring to me to see a trooper bringing an older set of armor to EIB (and hopefully Centurion!). We're glad to see you here.

 

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 Joseph 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 we consider both text (CRL) and pictures (screen caps/reference images) when reviewing submissions

 

Starting from the top, the painting on your vocoder is a little soft compared to the screen-used examples. It would improve the accuracy and look of it if you make the outline a bit sharper. 

 

 

Reference Images:

   

 

Next, as was already pointed out, just be careful that your shoulder straps aren't tucked underneath your back plate when you're kitted up:

 

And I'll mention is simply as a note of accuracy but I don't think it's possible due to your height - on the screen-used suite, the rear part of the shoulder strap did not have the large tab. If you were shorter I'd suggest you remove it, but as it is, it would likely make your straps too short.

 

 

Reference Images:

 

Finally, your thermal detonator clips should be flush against the plastic panel. This won't be blocking since it's not visible while you're dressed, but if your TD can take any more tweaking, we're strongly suggesting you replace and reposition your clips.

 

Reference Images:

  

 

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.

 

Starting at the top, the L3 CRL states:

Ear screws shall be slotted, flat topped, countersunk and painted white.

 

The lower screw on your right ear is sticking out just a bit. Should be easily fixable. You can lightly turn a large drill bit in the screw hole if you need room to countersink it.

 

 

Reference Image:

 

Next, the L3 CRL states:

There should be a minimal gap between the shoulder armor and the chest/back plates.

 

Yours actually look quite good, especially from the front, but it does look like you may have some room to bring them in. The right shoulder bell especially looks like it could have it's strapping shortened to bring the top of it closer in. You'll also want to double check that you've removed all the lower return edge of the shoulder bells. This isn't an area that we're extremely picky about due to the wide variation in troopers' body types, so do your best.

 

Reference Images:

  

 

 

Moving along, the L3 CRL states:

 

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.

 

I'm not sure if it's there and I can't see it, but it doesn't appears you have the elastic in place. It should be about 1/8". Unfortunately elastic is extremely difficult to find these days due to folks sewing masks, so you may need to wait a while if you don't already have some.

 

Reference Image:

 

Next, the snap on the ab plate (the 'Han' snap) should have the white paint removed. This isn't specifically called out in the CRL, but the reference photos are clear.

 

 

Reference Image:

 

Moving on, the L3 CRL states:

Ideally there no gap between the abdomen and kidney armor.

 

You do look like you have room to close that gap on both sides of the ab/kidney. 

 

 

Viewed from the front, I actually wonder if you could close the left side gap with a bit of a hot water bath on the kidney to help it curve around your body better.

 

 

Reference Images:

  

 

Moving on to the belt, the L3 CRL states:

The top of the ABS ammo belt should sit at or just above the bottom of the central and vertical abdomen button panels.

 

As compared to the screen-used suits, your belt is sitting a bit low. You can see that the top of the ABS belt can even slightly overlap the bottom ab buttons. On my own kit, I added two thin strips of velcro to my ab plate to keep the belt from sagging.

 

 

Reference Images:

  

 

Next, the L3 CRL states:

Canvas belt must be firm / sturdy in appearance. No creasing or sagging 

 

I'm not sure what material you're using for your belt, but it definitely seems to be creasing. I'm not sure if it would need to be completely replaced for Centurion, or if you might be able to open it up and put a layer of sturdy canvas or other stiffer material inside.

 

 

Reference Images:

  

 

Finally, regarding your blaster, the L3 CRL states:

 

The blaster may have minor weathering or base metal exposure however, T-tracks and grips shall have the appearance of black plastic.

 

Since the T-tracks on the screen-used blasters were made of plastic, they shouldn't have any metal weathering on them. Just a few minutes with some black paint should fix that right up. 

 

 

Reference Images:

  

 

And that's it! It's a number of fixes before you can apply for Centurion, but I hope you'll enjoy the process of making your armor even more screen accurate. It really strengthens the idea that our costumes are never truly 'done.' Please accept hearty congratulations from me and Joseph on achieving EIB! 

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Congratulations gain, Welcome to EIB. 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Congratulations and welcome to the EI ranks trooper

[Sly11[Admin]]

Congratulations Gaines, well done.