maj_hassel

I'm pretty much going for the "I'm a lowly private (black pauldron) so I get all the s--t jobs" look. I might put a small blaster mark (a.k.a. carbon scoring, a.k.a. black paint) somewhere on the armor. A hit between the eyes would be too embarassing--even for a private. So to answer your question I'm basically applying what I like to call "utility grime." The shiny parts are still slightly annoying. I was pondering hitting certain areas with some artist's matte fix. This might protect the paint job from unforecast rain as well. Any opinions or insight on this? Here's the helmet as it stands now, after I went back and touched some things up.

I'm assuming you're talking about the eye ridges. I was thinking that too. I also might tidy up (funny choice of words) the area at the top of the nose bridge, something's just not quite right. Back to the muddying boards for me!

Well, after spending a few days trimming, painting and assembling my newly delivered A-Props helmet I had let it sit in its pristine state for one entire day...then came the dirt! I haven't even trimmed the flash off of the rest of the armor and here I am, griming up my bucket. Oh well. Anyway here's a pic of the first "mud" application. It's about 80% done, I still need to touch up some annoying clean spots. Apart from this, the general spatter pattern is complete. This is my first attempt at going dirty so please feel free to critique.

I think doubling up would be the best solution. Thanks!!

When I received my ANH based helmet a strip of green acetate-like film was provided for the lenses. This material is the same as seen used for the SDS helmets. To me it seems a little too transparent. If I look at myself in the mirror while I'm wearing the helmet I can see my eyes. On my other helmet, which came with the same material, I used the green film on top of a smoke colored strip of plastic I had left over from an old RT-Mod helmet. This afforded me the right level of opacity but, unfortunately, I don't have any more of the smoke colored plastic. I'm curious, how transparent are the lenses on other troopers' helmets. The helmet I'm building now is for a Sandtrooper and I'm wondering if their lenses were lighter than the rest of the ST's. When I look at the movie, all of the lenses look black.

Thanks for the tip! Alas, my frame came without a kidney belt but I'm sure I can rig something together. I think I'll follow your steps and put snaps on my straps as well. Thanks for posting a pic as well, it will help me out when I put mine together. BTW, is that an anvil-type suitcase mounted on your frame?

Now I know. The only history of the armor out there I got off of the Star Wars Helmets site. I had already picked up a "AP" kit by the time I found all of this out. While I'm happy with the kit and how it looks, I can't help but think I should have saved my money and spent it more wisely. At least I would have known that the money was going to the right person. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20. If I remember right, the ROTJ armor was a complete re-sculpt and had a "softer" look than the ANH or ESB suits. Whenever I see any documentary of LFL's I always see the ROTJ suit. Does anyone know how many--if any--of the ANH or ESB suits are still out there? I'm surprised SDS went with a re-cast as opposed to using a more original source. I wonder if they still have the molds.

I just bought one of the "Alice" pack frames as recommended in a previous post and am not quite sure what modifications should be made to it. Obviously it needs to be painted black (flat black I presume), but does any additional work need to be done? Are there pieces that should be removed? I'm trying to build a backpack from scratch that looks as canon as I can get it. I know that the backpack frame is, for the most part, not very visible with all of the boxes hanging off of it, but any glaring non-canon features that would stick out I would probably want to remove, so if anyone could point them out that would be great. Also--here's a newb question--does the curved part of the frame go at the top or bottom of the frame when worn? Thanks for any advice given. For reference's sake, here's the frame I bought:

True enough. For instance, if you wanted to wear your shin pieces on the opposite shins then, technically, that would be canon (a confused extra put them on that way in ESB), or if you wanted to omit the blue stripes on the sides of your helmet, or if you wanted to wak around with your shins popped open in the back that would be canon too. You could also run around with an ice cream maker and say you were a citizen of Cloud City...canon as well. Okay, I'll stop now. can·on Pronunciation: 'ka-n&n Function: noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin, from Latin, ruler, rule, model, standard, from Greek kanOn 4 a : an accepted principle or rule b : a criterion or standard of judgment c : a body of principles, rules, standards, or norms d : a strict adherence to movie-accurate details created with the sole purpose of driving costume enthusiasts to the brink of insanity

Just out of curiosity (I'm not in the market) is TE's armor ANH based? Is it a custom sculpt or is it a re-cast of a screen used kit? How does it compare with another infamous, now shut down, armor creator (hint: G.F.)? Does TE just make entire suits or is he/she in the spare parts business as well? If these questions are too nosey or indiscreet, my apologies. It's just that I like to know what's out there in case I need to go shopping.

I contemplated this issue as well. If shoulder straps were to be omitted then what would be the best way of connecting them. It would probably be a black strap running underneath, but what would be the best way to attach it? On my clean FX kit I glued the front part of the straps and used white industrial Velcro in the back. I'd like to use this configuration on my new kit because of the adjustability it affords. The perfectionist in me wants to go pure canon but in order for my body to be canon (i.e. match the physiques of the extras in the film) I'd have to lose about fiteen pounds. IMHO canonical details should only really be stressed when creating display pieces.

I see "TE" armor referenced fairly frequently and am not entirely sure what it is. My guess is that it means the ANH (i.e. GF-based) armor as opposed to the popular FX kits that everyone has. I have no idea what TE stands for. If it's someone's initials then their name obviously shouldn't be revealed. Please forgive the newb-osity of this question.

I've seen quite a few sites that offer the canvas MP40 pouches - army surplus sites mostly. I think this happened to be a one-of-a-kind item, but it definitely helps to broaden your search criteria. Instead of "MP40 pouch" try "military pouch" or maybe just "leather pouch." You never can tell how some people decide to list their items.

I second that. Goo Gone works wonders at removing those "boo-boos."

5'11.75" - almost made 6' but not quite.

NOW I READ ABOUT THIS... I was in a hurry to finish up an imperial officer costume last year for my girlfriend and ordered a black officer's hat from this guy. I have to say that I am less than impressed with the craftmanship. It's floppy , unproportionate, and of a cheap material. I had to use thin cardboard to shore up the front so that it doesn't look like a beanie witha greeblie stuck into the front of it. Now I find out that it has pedophile vibes on it....ewwww.

Is this what you're looking for?

I'm just getting started on my sandtrooper conversion and, while I was hunting down ammo pouches, came across a rather strange looking pouch which I thought would be great for holding all of my stuff while I troop. I've seen people use sunglass cases and cases made for portable game devices to hold onto their keys and phones while they troop. While this is an obvious necessity, I was looking for something that looked more...official. What I found was an ammo pouch from, I believe, Finland circa WWII. It was in good shape but the leather definitely needed to be maintained. I oiled it and stuffed it full of plastic shopping bags to help it regain it's original shape. I also cut out some of the leather dividers inside to give me more storage are for my things. Here's some pics: http://home.earthlink.net/~tk7708/New%20Pouch/ I still need to do something with the long strap and need to figure out how to make it attach to my utility belt on the costume. Any suggestions?

Oops! I guess I forgot to sign in

I thought I'd use my first post to answer this question and introduce myself as well. I'm 36 and recently (within the last year) became a costuming nut. A friend of mine showed me the Troops movie short and I remembered how much I wanted to be a stormtrooper as a kid. Within a week or so I had an FX kit on order. Admittedly, I am not a fan of the recent trilogy - or ROTJ, for that matter - but I saw the first movie when it came out and the enthusiasm and the sense of escape it gave me as a kid is still with me. I'm not a member of the 501st, but would join if the invite was extended. I have taken and given costuming advice on the Midwest Garrison's forum and plan on trooping with them when I get the chance. Unfortunately, I live in the city (Chicago) and they're all out in the burbs. *sigh* My girlfriend and I went out last Halloween (I wore the FX kit and she had an improvised Imp. officer costume) and we caused quite a stir. We got more than a few free drinks and were constantly attracting crowds. Which reminds me, if you drink and troop DEFINITELY install a codpiece drawbridge. I currently have a FX kit (clean), a GF helmet (clean), an RT-Mod helmet (it was cheap and had Hovi mic tips), a black pauldron, resin E-11 and resin Lewis gun, a set of MP40/38 pouches and misc hardware (static board, speaker, mic etc). I have a full GF kit on it's way which is what I plan to convert to a sandtrooper. This is definitely a very compulsive hobby for me, but I am REALLY enjoying myself. It's a hobby that has all the qualities a good hobby should: crafting skills, collecting, and plenty of outdoor activity...plus other people really get a kick out of it. So to finally get back to your question, you're only too old if you allow yourself to be. I think trooping actually slows down the aging process but that's just my theory. Sorry for the long winded post, just thought I'd say hi.