TK-5258 Requesting Elite Status.[74][FX]

[Ironclaw]

Ok, a long story short:

 

Got the armor 2+ years ago or something, but the problem I had with my thighs put me off all the time so months could go by before I did ANY work. I tried hairdryers, for 5-15 mins even, and it wasn't enough to keep the new shape I held them in. I even boiled the thighs, but then the edges CURVED, ARGHH!!!... did everything I could to bend the back but nothing worked. Then 2 months ago, I got back to the armor, and once again used a hairdryer on my thighs in hope of reshaping them, and THIS time the new shape stayed (yay). The problem all along was that I couldn't get my things high up enough because of the shape, no matter how much I trimmed at the back (which I've read here should work, but didn't for me). The original shape of the FX things are oval horizontally, and that's not how most human thighs are shaped, but now they are oval vertically and went up with ease. But all the trimming I desperately did at the back in the past has been too much, so I now had to use pretty big shims to cover the gap. Velcro and glue didn't hold it, so I HAD to rivet. I also riveted the front of the thighs cuz there are constant tention everywhere. I'm a pretty big/muscular guy.

 

Anyway, here's the required pictures I took about 2 weeks ago:

 

 

A: Front (duh....)

B: Side

C: Back

D: Helmet off

E: Lower view

F: Holding blaster

G: Don't know

H: Putting a finger on my butt and saying "tssssss", like it's burning

I: .....

J: Showing buttcrack

K: Blaster left side (3 stripe/line thingies)

L: Blaster right side (sort of) (3 stripe/line thingies)

M: Showing green lenses

N: Canister

 

Here's a couple of before pictures for a laugh :

 

 

The guy who handles the picture processing for my 501st profile needed one pose with helmet on and one without, and as I told him that I'm not satisfied with the ones I've taken above, I took new ones some days ago and sent to him. So, soon my profile should have pictures. I'll post some of the new pictures I took:

 

Uhh, I'm so sweatty from wearing the helmet.

 

A couple of not so shiny/sharp ones:

 

Not elite required, but the scope and ammo on the blaster has been moved to their correct locations (no new pictures of the blaster though).

 

Pick whatever pictures you want for my elite picture on the elite page... if I got everything covered that is

 

Finally it's over. I've never had a project of this size before and that took so much time to finish. Been test fitting stuff 100s of times, on and off with the entire armor so many times. Only thing remaining which I'll do sometime, is the chest mod. I hate that I had to resort to riveting, but what's done is done, and it holds. According to the elite requirements, only the shoulder strap thingies aren't allowed to have rivets/bolts/screws etc... so I should be safe.

 

[EDIT]

Some general info:

 

I'm 178 cm tall (5.84 feet)

My weight is 95 kg (210 lb)

[/EDIT]

[firebladejedi[TK]]

There are a lot of pics there Kent, but i noticed that you need to

 

1 get a pic that clearly shows the colour of your helmet lens and hovi mic tips

 

2 get a pic that clearly shows the colour of the ab plate buttons

 

3 your E-11 has rotj style greeblies on the right hand side that do not comply with ANH standards

 

Apart from that the armour looks great, you did a great job

[Ironclaw]

Ok, thanks . Will get those pictures, but I don't know what the greeblies of rotj is. What things on my blaster should not be there? The right side gap that is silver colored? I havn't seen any info on what is ANH blaster standards, except:

 

* T-tracks on blaster (total of 6)

* Ammo Magazine

* Folding stock (does not need to function)

* Scope

* D-Ring on the end

 

And I have all those.

[firebladejedi[TK]]

These parts i cirled in red that look like cocking hamers shoud not be on a blaster for anh

 

[Ironclaw]

Ahh, those thingies. So, no elite approval if they are there?, they absolutely have to be removed?. Seems like they are a part of the mold and nothing I can simply break off.... need to file/sandpaper it down then.

[firebladejedi[TK]]

Sorry they will have to be removed for your elite application.

[Ironclaw]

Sorry they will have to be removed for your elite application.

 

Aight, np, will post a pic tomorrow ... and of the lenses/tusks...

 

Thanks for the fast replies.

[Irishtrooper]

Armour looks great m8, get the things sorted that Mark said and you should be fine

[Ironclaw]

Ok... took some shots, they are here: http://img248.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=dsc00166r.jpg

 

Sorry about the quality, but I don't have the camera I used for the ones anymore, returned it.

 

When I removed the scope I dropped it and the right side shattered into 5 tiny pieces, which I carefully glued on, and then later sandpapered and painted a bit. I placed the scope as far to the front as possible (needed to go further, but the rail stopped there).

 

I removed the stuff on the side, sandpapered and painted... just a tiny bulge left that I didn't bother to sandpaper all the way down... then I took some shots from different angles, just in case.

 

Think I've read in other people's elite request threads that they have to wear the armor showing the buttcrack, after they made the required mod, and not just a picture of the armor on a table with the buttcrack... anyway, I took a picture of the buttons... do I have to wear it when the shot is taken?... was hoping this rule only applied to the buttcrack .

[firebladejedi[TK]]

Im copying your img codes to make this thread easier to read.

 

Ab plate buttons

 

Hovi mic tips

 

Helmet lens

 

Im guesing the pic showing the left side of the blaster i the missing image?

[Ironclaw]

Im guesing the pic showing the left side of the blaster i the missing image?

 

Yeah, was gonna post that one here now as I saw you posted the others, but imageshack is dead atm, at least for me.

 

Edit: now it works...

 

 

 

 

Ok, took some more lousy shots of my neckseal as I don't think the ribs can be seen on ther other shots:

 

 

This is just the one I got with my FX kit, so not very movie accurate as I believe theirs are leather/shiny looking, and mine isn't. But I'm not so fanatic about movie accuracy (as you have seen ). Also I apologize for the lame mugshots, but the dude over at NordicGarrison who handles the pictures for my profile over at 501st wanted several to pick from.

[SuperTrooper]

Sorry for the late update. EIB granted, congrats trooper.

[TK:TK]

Congratulations...

Looks great, fits great! Well done!

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Status updated! Welcome Kent #74 EIB

[ThayNerd[TK]]

Congrats on making EIB Kent, glad to have you in the ranks.

[firebladejedi[TK]]

Well done mate

[Ironclaw]

Thanks guys !

 

Hope to see a picture soon on the EXPERT INFANTRYMEN page

[Dargas[501st]]

Congratulations!!!

 

great job there!!

[Ironclaw]

Ok, to make this thread more complete, I'll post some more pictures. If you are like me, you LOVE threads/posts with pictures (maybe add "picture intensive" to the title?)

 

Ok, as you can see in the previous pictures I've posted, my thighs still have a bit of the "barrel" look, but that's the best I could do. After all, they looked like this before. And as you can see, they were very oval-shaped horizontally, giving the insane barrel look. If I added more shimming so they would go up further, the thighs would be even wider than they are in pic 3. If I adjusted the back and moved it closer inwards, so I got a good shape, then they would have like 6 inches or something left to get all the way up. My only option was to heat them and reshape them (which I tried several times long ago), making them oval-shape VERTICALLY.

 

 

So, after I successfully reshaped them, they became like this:

 

 

Now the barrel look is greatly reduced, and I can get them almost to the top.

 

My first attempts to reshape them was with boiling water. Just a few seconds was enough for them to "warp" (think that's the word you guys use)

 

 

Here's a couple more pictures I took when I took my latest shots for the preference pictures for 501st and for use here on the Expert Infantry (elite) page. I didn't include these two among them as I don't like these ones that much, cuz they were taken with flash on, so lots of the nice shadows were gone, and you can more easily see the color difference of the helmet compared to the armor. But I like the front pose as from that angle, my left thigh's barrel look isn't so obvious (maybe these weren't so bad after all and should have been included?)

 

 

Here is another picture that was taken the same time I took my first pictures in the top post. Didn't include this one because it's a lame pose. The guy who takes the pictures told me to do a cool pose... meh.... I didn't know what I looked like so couldn't do a cool one. Should have gotten a huge mirror to pose infront to find a good one .. oh well.

 

 

And finally some pictures of my gear. These were taking before I did the final required changes to the blaster:

 

 

The elastics in this pic isn't used... I just had them in the pile anyway.

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Everyone *loves* posts with pix - these are great! You did a fantastic job on the thighs and this is one great looking suit - you should be very proud.

 

[Smitty]

Wow here I am late to the party as usual. Your armor looks great Kent! Excellent work on those thighs!