Morgi's ANH Stunt Build (first build)

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

18 minutes ago, CT 1977 said:

Thanks, Glen. Below is a caption from that page and, sorry for continued questioning but I don't understand the difference between "s-type" and "u-type" neck trim profile and I couldn't find any specific photos. I want to make sure I'm moving in the right direction for Centurion. Thanks.

OPTIONAL Level three certification (if applicable):

•  
• Neck trim shall be of an s-type profile rather than a u-type profile.

There's never too many questions  

 

This is S trim, goes around the bottom of the helmet

 

This is U trim, goes under the brow on the helmet

[CT 1977]

11 hours ago, CT 1977 said:

Thanks, Glen. Below is a caption from that page and, sorry for continued questioning but I don't understand the difference between "s-type" and "u-type" neck trim profile and I couldn't find any specific photos. I want to make sure I'm moving in the right direction for Centurion. Thanks.

OPTIONAL Level three certification (if applicable):

•  
• Neck trim shall be of an s-type profile rather than a u-type profile.

Never mind...I was looking over your photos and saw this...

Shows a good photo of the "s-type". 

[CT 1977]

Just now, CT 1977 said:

Never mind...I was looking over your photos and saw this...

Shows a good photo of the "s-type". 

thanks, even better photos. That's the type that was included in my big brown box.

[Morgi[Staff]]

Having taken a short break to build my ESB helmet, troop, work on real life stuff... I'm back with some armor updates.

 

Replacing the Ab-/Kidney Rivets

 

Back in April, I got the following feedback after my EIB approval:

 

 

This meant, I had to replace the rivets. I started prying the rivets off, only to irreparably damage said rivets. Therefore I had to buy new ones. Cue hours of internet searches, only finding wrong or overpriced options everywhere, until I asked an acquaintance if he knew where to find such rivets. He gave me different keywords and on my first attempt I found correct rivets. (Tovetis Zweispitznieten 8 x 9,5 8mm, if anyone's curious. 38cts/rivet).

 

 

So here's what I did: I removed the existing strapping and rivets. I marked out a new cutline, cause I didn't like the old one. Cut to size. Marked up correct rivet placement. Filled in holes with ABS paste. Glued strapping back in.

 

 

Then I added in the new rivets, first testing the whole process on a piece of scrap ABS, because I could do without repeating this entire process again, just because I didn't know how to set the rivets correctly. The new rivet placement was set precisely according to this:

 

 

 

Afterwards I repeated the entire process on the abplate and then I painted the rivets white. I'll probably do some gentle colour corrections on the ABS paste in the future, due to the fact that my armor already yellowed a bit in comparison to the used paste.

 

Adjusting the Chestplate 

 

Maybe it's just me slouching, maybe it's just something that I'd prefer to change for no other reason than the fact that I spotted it twice on some pictures, but I oftentimes got the feeling, that my chestplate was sitting a bit low, sometimes even catching on my an plate buttons (yikes). So to fix that I had to bring the chestplate higher up. Now, one way of doing that could have been a more rigid strapping at the bottom of the chestplate, such as the original strapping, but I moved away from that for a reason (less mobility and easier to pack). Therefore I had to pull it higher up by shortening the shoulder straps.

 

 

Looks good, right? Had to heatform the shoulder bridges to conform to the new shape and loosen one of the elastic keeping my shoulder bell connected to the shoulderbridge strapping a bit, as the shoulderbells moved forward a centimetre, but overall I'm happy with the result, even if it was a lot of work that could have been avoided by having a better posture in armor 

 

Kidney-/Buttplate Strapping 

 

With me always sitting down in armor, it was probably inevitable that I'd get a crack in the return edge right to the screw, thanks to the original strapping in that part of my armor. Once it finally happened, I took out all the old strapping and replaced it with Glen's V-tabs instead. So functionally, I currently only have one plate of armor for both parts, and I got a pretty good gap between them thanks to it. Also, no risk of anything cracking -- worst comes to worst, the V-tabs will simply pop off and I'll have to reglue them.

 

 

Boot Repairs 

 

Piece of advice: Photoshooting in the middle of the Netherlands in nature? Awesome. Wild growth? Dangerous for your boots.

 

I must have gotten caught on a thorn or something with my boot during the shooting. Luckily, the local officers knew how to work with fabric of all kinds (shout out to ID-14445/Robin) and gave me the advice to simply go over it with some superglue. Worked really well, and with some additional help by a white outdoor marker, they look pretty spotless again.

 

 

Other stuff 

 

I reworked my padding a bit, repaired some other things and am currently working on a trading card box. This weekend I'll have another troop, and I hope I can get a friend to check my thigh armor position and what I can fix without having to cut away (much), as that is the last to-do on my EIB Application Feedback List. Obviously, there's another few things that I might work on as well, but hopefully I'll continue on to my Centurion application within the next two months (no promises, I've got a few busy trooping weekends ahead, am still working on applications and will move again soon).

 

Looking forward to any and all feedback!

[Chemi[Staff]]

Looks great Luca!!!

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Nice work, looking good

[Morgi[Staff]]

Am 14.6.2022 um 22:05 schrieb Morgi:

hopefully I'll continue on to my Centurion application within the next two months

 

So he said, naively, and continued to ignore said application for the next few months. In my excuse, I moved to a place where there's seemingly only the three other TKs in a 100km radius, so not a lot of people who could take pictures of/for me. Maybe I'll get around to it at some point, but it's actually not that much of a priority right now, as I'm hoping to get my ESB TK approval pictures taken soon and I'm about to start a Clone build. Also, I got to help a few recruits and if you're building a whole TK in six days, that's enough to keep me occupied. 

 

Trading Card Box 

 

Certainly not CRL-conform and I'm still facing a bit of improvement potential right now, but it's a good way to transport them and people just love trading cards. 

 

 

Additional Padding 

 

Always trying out new ways to improve the armor fit and this one might have been the most helpful in a while: thigh padding. I've got X-legs and some firm padding on the lower inside of my thighs helps me conceal that fact really well. It's not perfect, but it's a lot better. 

 

 

Butt-Kidney Strapping 

 

Yes, I'm back at it. Although I certainly liked having only the V-tabs, I found that construction to be too rigid for activities, such as sitting down. Therefore I removed the middle tab and replaced it with glued elastic straps. Holds just as well, but it's far more flexible. 

 

 

Knee Rivet Placement 

 

One of the details that doesn't get mentioned in the CRL but is constantly remarked on during EIB/Centurion Approvals is the placement of the knee rivet -- oftentimes it's too close to the edge, aimed for a perfection that doesn't exist with Stormtroopers. Unlike with other such fanmade perfections (eg ear gaps) this one gets called out regularly, so I decided to change this one in advance. Not sure if I like the new placement though, the other looked better in my opinion. 

 

 

Official Approval 

 

Why am I even aiming for Centurion anymore, if I have the approval by Brian Muir? The man who sculped the armor complimented mine and signed it for free. I'll wear this autograph proudly and am so grateful for this opportunity 

 

 

Weathering 

 

One year of trooping and 31 troops left their marks and I'm proud to say that I finally reached a point where I will have to clean some of the black marks as well, and not only all the colorful ones. Still, it just adds something wonderfully realistic. I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I prefer this to the shiny, polished armors you see on many TKs. Haven't seen a single polished armor in the movies, after all 

 

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

1 hour ago, Morgi said:

Why am I even aiming for Centurion anymore, if I have the approval by Brian Muir? The man who sculped the armor complimented mine and signed it for free. I'll wear this autograph proudly and am so grateful for this opportunity

Awesome !!  Keep it up !!   

[revlimiter[Staff]]

On 10/12/2022 at 5:14 AM, Morgi said:

 

Weathering 

 

One year of trooping and 31 troops left their marks and I'm proud to say that I finally reached a point where I will have to clean some of the black marks as well, and not only all the colorful ones. Still, it just adds something wonderfully realistic. I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I prefer this to the shiny, polished armors you see on many TKs. Haven't seen a single polished armor in the movies, after all 

 

 

As an OCD trooper who cleans his armor after every troop and polishes it about every 3 troops... your natural weathering is a thing of beauty!!! I love it.  And though it's probably best to give it a cleaning before Centurion application, it'll re-weather itself quickly, I guarantee.  Maybe even better... natural weathering in layers is far more real after all than just one go at dirtying.

 

With my recent HWT project, I've discovered the joy of wearing weathered armor. It has so much character and I get so many complements! It'll be hard to go back to being Death Star Clean™ after enjoying the dirty side. I may never be that clean again.

 

PS - loved finding your build thread! I never saw it before.

[Morgi[Staff]]

Am 12.10.2022 um 15:10 schrieb TKSpartan:

Awesome !!  Keep it up !!   

 

Thank you, Sir 

 

vor 2 Minuten schrieb revlimiter:

 

As an OCD trooper who cleans his armor after every troop and polishes it about every 3 troops... your natural weathering is a thing of beauty!!! I love it.  And though it's probably best to give it a cleaning before Centurion application, it'll re-weather itself quickly, I guarantee.  Maybe even better... natural weathering in layers is far more real after all than just one go at dirtying.

 

With my recent HWT project, I've discovered the joy of wearing weathered armor. It has so much character and I get so many complements! It'll be hard to go back to being Death Star Clean™ after enjoying the dirty side. I may never be that clean again.

 

PS - loved finding your build thread! I never saw it before.

 

Honestly, it's not just natural weathering-- there's a fair ton of artificial weathering with advice by @T-Jay, I clean certain types of weathering and it's wonderful to see the progress and know where certain marks came from... beautiful, gotta love some weathering! Not sure if I want to clean it for my application 

 

Glad you could be converted to the weathered side of the FISD, I hope you enjoy your stay -- oh, and thank you for your kind words, I'm happy you enjoyed the read-through!

[revlimiter[Staff]]

Also, YOU LAID DOWN IN YOUR ARMOR?!?!?!?! I can sit (barely) but laying down seems like plastic-suicide.

[MaskedVengeance[Staff]]

31 minutes ago, revlimiter said:

Also, YOU LAID DOWN IN YOUR ARMOR?!?!?!?! I can sit (barely) but laying down seems like plastic-suicide.

Haha - Luca is definitely very active in his RS armor, whose thinness has an added benefit of flexibility. Always climbing on things and pulling stunts in his kit. Find him on IG if you wanna see the action!!

[Morgi[Staff]]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb revlimiter:

Also, YOU LAID DOWN IN YOUR ARMOR?!?!?!?! I can sit (barely) but laying down seems like plastic-suicide.

 

Well, I layed down on a bench, beach chairs and swings, stuff slightly above the ground. It's easier than laying down on the ground. 

 

EDIT: just because I don't prefer to do so, doesn't mean it's impossible to lie down on the ground -- TK-71384 is famous for posing that way

 

 

vor einer Stunde schrieb MaskedVengeance:

Haha - Luca is definitely very active in his RS armor, whose thinness has an added benefit of flexibility. Always climbing on things and pulling stunts in his kit. Find him on IG if you wanna see the action!!

 

Yeah, RS armor is super sturdy -- my friend group (Chaos Division Fireteam) and I have done basically everything in those armors: Playing soccer, falling down, laying down, sitting down, running around, climbing stuff and so on... you think it, we've probably done it. Shout-out to my TK-sister @Swoby who's even more adventurous than I would ever dare 

 

If you're curious about my shenanigans, there's either my Troop Log or my Instagram ( @lucamorgi ) -- gotta recommend the second, there's way more shenanigans 

Edited October 14, 2022 by Morgi

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Getting down isn't the problem, it's just not that pretty getting up 

[Morgi[Staff]]

vor 8 Minuten schrieb gmrhodes13:

Getting down isn't the problem, it's just not that pretty getting up 

 

It's certainly a bit more difficult, but not impossible -- so far there hasn't been anything where we didn't manage to get up on our own and we've done a lot of fun stuff:

 

 

I think I'll call this "they said it was impossible" 

 

Honestly though: if you're reading this and thinking "Oh, that sounds fun!" please try it with another person who can help you, in case you get stuck halfway through. It took me one try to sit down and get up. One try to lie down and get up. But four tries and a cramp in my foot to kneel in armor   Also, just because it works for me and my friends doesn't mean other people won't end up with cracks in their armors. Maybe I'll take the time to write a "how to" in the future for sitting and kneeling in armor, but even then depending on the armor, fit and build you can still end up with cracks. 

[Swoby[TK]]

Am 14.10.2022 um 23:24 schrieb Morgi:

 

It's certainly a bit more difficult, but not impossible -- so far there hasn't been anything where we didn't manage to get up on our own and we've done a lot of fun stuff:

 

 

I think I'll call this "they said it was impossible" 

 

Honestly though: if you're reading this and thinking "Oh, that sounds fun!" please try it with another person who can help you, in case you get stuck halfway through. It took me one try to sit down and get up. One try to lie down and get up. But four tries and a cramp in my foot to kneel in armor   Also, just because it works for me and my friends doesn't mean other people won't end up with cracks in their armors. Maybe I'll take the time to write a "how to" in the future for sitting and kneeling in armor, but even then depending on the armor, fit and build you can still end up with cracks. 

 

I love this collage of us sitting or laying in our armors 

 

[Morgi[Staff]]

2022 Reflection

 

 

My first full year of trooping ended, counting 34 Troops this year. I had so much fun, got my EIB and ended up forming the Chaos Division Fireteam with my Trooper buddies. Thank you to all, who made this year so special! And as long as we still have a few days left in this year, it was finally time to tackle the last big challenge for my ANH Stunt TK. I can sit, kneel, lie down. I got my EIB. What's left? Obviously the one thing still on my to-do list since September last year. Let's see if we can get this done in 2022 as well 

 

Centurion Application 

 

Well, finally the time has come, and I've submitted my Centurion Application . I'm very happy that I finally had an opportunity to take these pictures and tackle the last modifications with the help of my TK-sister @Swoby. Thank you, sister! 

 

Last Modifications 

 

One of the modifications I've struggled with the most was my thighs not being a similar shape. The difficulty was, that I had no way of controlling how the back shape of my thigh looked without someone to help me out. Now, with someone to look everything over, I managed to find a good mix between cutting the armor to size and adding padding. 

 

 

Aside from the regular paint and repair work, I had one more challenge: getting the ab and kidney gap to line up. I'd accidentally managed to have an angled cut at the top, so I had to put a filler ABS piece there and fill the curve up with ABS paste. 

 

 

I'm very happy with this one, as you can't even notice it anymore 

 

Now, I've still got a few things on my to-do list, but I'll keep those secret as long as my Centurion Application is ongoing. Don't wanna give anyone ideas 

 

 

Enjoy the holidays 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looks like a great first year of trooping, especially with covid still around, well done.

 

Looking forward to seeing that centurion banner on your profile  

[Morgi[Staff]]

 

Nah, just kidding, there's always something to improve. And this isn't even for Lvl 4 (whatever the criteria might be, aside from "sitting in armor"), but for the upcoming Troops -- and fixing the two remarks on my Centurion Approval 

 

Crack Repair

 

 

Now, the first remark I got, was that I need to repair my cracks. And I do. Always. Now, a lot of these cracks simply come from one bad movement or continuous stress in some areas. Usually, I fix them with poor man's fiberglass -- a thin fabric soaked in superglue -- putting some light scores over the end of the cracks in the hope of preventing them going any further inwards and maybe going over them with ABS paste and/or Acetone in order to hide them.

 

However there have been a few cracks that appear again, and again, and again... and not even a third layer of poor man's fiberglass is helping anymore. So I needed something stronger.

 

I took some of my leftover coverstrip ABS, cut it to shape and glued it into the armor. This is a lot more sturdy and the fabric and will hopefully ease the stress on my armor. 

 

Hand Guard Paint 

 

 

This might as well be a regular feature by now -- for unknown reasons my handguards always yellow and whilst it makes for an excellent marker to recognize me, it doesn't look as good as some white handguards and therefore got a mention in my Centurion Application. Although it takes me several coats of a white paint of my choice (anything works, I've used everything from wall paint to enamel paint), I still prefer this over the admittedly simpler choice of buying myself some nice white latex handguards.

 

Holster Repair 

 

 

During a private troop at the end of February, my Holster Chicago Screw came loose. Although I did manage to find a screw (notably not my screw), I didn't manage to find the small black leather square cover. 

 

Luckily I still had some fake leather lying around from a different project, so I simply had to cut a square, punch a hole into said square and I had a new cover. Then, to prevent such a thing from happening again, I put a small drop of E-6000 on all my Holster screws. I do need to order myself some Chicago Screws and properly replace the square, but it's a good solution for now until I can properly rework this. 

 

Celebration Prep 

 

 

This is something that I maybe should have done a long time before, but with Celebration coming up I finally had a good enough excuse to go through with it. I wrote my ID into/onto every single piece of Armor that I own. That way, if I loose or misplace something, everyone knows who it belongs to. Whenever possible I tried to put my ID somewhere where there would be no staining should the ink bleed through the armor, such as underneath cover-strips. Luckily, there was no bleed-through anywhere. 

 

Phone Thigh Pocket 

 

 

A chest pocket is good, but a place for my phone that I can grab without showing everyone my chest is better. So it was time for a thigh pocket. 

 

First I cut a square piece of canvas fabric. The fabric itself does not matter, but white or black are better hidden inside the armor. The fabric was about an inch (3cm) broader on each side than my phone and two centimeters longer on the bottom. 

 

I marked the position of the fabric inside my thigh, making sure to keep a slight distance to the top (just far enough to be more hidden, but still reachable), whilst checking that my phone would actually fit in there. I then glued the fabric on the sides and bottom into the armor, leaving the top open. 

 

If this works as well in practice as I'm hoping it will, I might add another pocket to my left thigh as well. For more security I intend on adding a few extras, but I need a second phone case for that, so it's only on my to-do list for now. Once I get everything ready, I'll be sure to share the final part of this project with you 

 

As always, thanks for reading and I hope I'll see some of you at Celebration 

[Morgi[Staff]]

Whoever says that you're done with working on your armor once you get approved is lying. So here I am, once again!

 

Aside from the usual clean-up and crack repair, it was time for something more unusual:

 

Bleaching my armor

 

Now, if you've taken a look at my troop log, you might have noticed that every since June last year my armor color hasn't quite matched up with that of my fellow troopers. Long, long hours of trooping in the sun can do that to ABS.

 

After a bit of looking around and researching, I stumbled across the fact that you can bleach your armor. Here is a good tutorial.

 

First things first, I got rid of everything that didn't need bleaching or that might make the process more difficult. Just look at this part of my helmet: you can clearly spot which parts were covered by the ears and which had some sun exposure!

 

 

By taking my helmet apart I could more or less guarantee equal sun exposure during the bleaching process, as well as making sure the screws, the lens foil or the rubber parts wouldn't get bleached by accident. The paint however won't be impacted by the bleach. Similarly, I made sure to remove padding and strapping wherever possible. 

 

 

For bleaching the armor I used this hair bleach. I put a dollop of it onto the cardboard and painted a layer onto my armor. I then wrapped the armor in clingfoil and sealed it as airtight as possible with see-through tape. Remember to only use bleach whilst wearing skin protection and being in a ventilated area -- I forgot the gloves at first and my skin got really itchy and a bit spotty.

 

 

Once I had everything wrapped up, I put the armor parts out in the sun, making sure to give them the most sun exposure they could get. Originally, I had planned on leaving them there the entire afternoon whilst I relaxed inside, but it was a rather windy day and I instead spent the next two hours playing catch with it in the garden. 

 

 

After those two hours I decided enough was enough -- at this point it was fairly likely that all the tumbling around would mean risking cracks and there were storm clouds coming up anyways -- so I carefully removed the cling wrap and wiped off all the bleach with water. 

 

 

Since I was already dedicating that day towards armor maintenance, I decided to give everything a good clean up as well, getting rid of some of the scuffs with a magic eraser. 

 

 

At a first glance, my armor certainly appears to be less yellow than before. I didn't get around to bleaching the whole armor, but only the more yellowed parts -- shoulders, helmet... anything with sun exposure from the top -- so we'll have to see just how well I will fit in with my fellow TKs at the next troop.

 

[Sithping[TK]]

Well done Luca! Looks like this has been a very successful task. 

[dblcross[TK]]

On 10/12/2022 at 6:14 AM, Morgi said:

Yes, I'm back at it. Although I certainly liked having only the V-tabs, I found that construction to be too rigid for activities, such as sitting down. Therefore I removed the middle tab and replaced it with glued elastic straps. Holds just as well, but it's far more flexible. 

Interesting!