cjfive

You are correct to be movie accurate a sandtrooper does not have to wear a pauldron. However, to be awarded a TD ID the 501st and MEPD has set up criteria you must meet. Not all sandtroopers are seen with every piece of equipment at all times, and when trooping you can do pretty much whatever your garrison/event coordinator will let you get away with but as far as the legion is concerned you must have certain items to be awarded your TD id. In addition to the basics you then have a second set of criteria which is MEPD Deployed status which simply steps it up again.

for the shoulder bell I ended up buying a MP arm band and Traced it onto an old leather portfolio I had that was going to be junked. Cut it out and sewed up the edges. Just sewed a MEPD patch onto it. Its held on with Velcro. Its pretty easy but I am not real happy with the way it sits, doesn't follow the contours of the shoulder bell. Its pretty easy, hardest part was sewing up the curved edges.

5'8" 220-235 depending on the hour

I have the turning problem with my helmet too. Mine is caused by 3 things... 1)I have no neck...okay not really its just very short 2)my chest and back were glued together, and where not originally fit to me so that causes what little neck space I had to disappear 3)with a FX helmet it is a little big...and to be able to see out the top of my head is touching the plastic top of the helmet with all 3 issues I can turn my head...and the helmet pretty much stays looking straight ahead. To alleviate these problems I am in the process of... 1)getting an RT helmet 2)going to cut the shoulder straps off, and use canvass to lower my chest and back plate down just a bit which will allow the pauldron to lay a little bit flatter giving me more room to play with. Ernie

Spat Route? I added a...dont know what to call it. Bassically the same arm band that MPs wear to mine. I have two Shoulder bells so can pop the bell on and off depending on which look I am going for.

The helmet shot doesn't have a hole does it? If not looks good to go to me. Here is mine

Don't forget the mg-15

Heck I like the weathering...except the two big round black spotches... figure out how to remove/reduce those, without affecting the rest of the weathering and I think it looks great.

i use an alice pack on my TD. Its not too bad. It isn't screen acurate but I really didn't care all that much. For the straps I used a 1" or 1.5" webbing. Am going to probably change that out as it does tend to cut into the shoulders after a couple hours. The frame by itself isn't too bad, but if going for the full screen look it will add extra weight to it. Also on mine I ended up cutting out the bottom brackets as they didn't look right. I personally would go with the .5 PVC pipe frames, just because it makes it much lighter but the alice pack does work. Ernie

I am next to Florida Phil with my dang baclava covering my right eye. Ernie Parkin TD9984 from bloodfin

I'll be there but not in my TD. Going as Omega RC this year.

John, I am glad to see you are getting some of the bugs worked out, and I always felt it was more distribution then production problems. Unfortunatly haveing the best product out there doesn't mean a whole lot if you can't get it into your customers hands in a timely manner. When I ordered my MG34 back in 2005 I think Teamphippen seemed to have just taken over the distrobution and shipping. Every one offered said in hand ready to ship but it seemed like everyone took 4-8 months to deliver. Mine took 4 months to deliver, and I think it only took that long because Guns got involved, and I had to threaten teamphippen with my credit card company and mail fraud. Otherwise I might still be waiting. As way of compensating me I got a weathered/woodgrained one when I only ordered a plain black one and a tshirt. I love my hyperfirm, and would really be interested in a DC, but I refuse to waste any more money or time on teamphippen. John was very appologetic when he contected me about the probelm and I appreciated it, but unfortunatly, your sellers can kill your product in this hobby. If someone is advertising as your distributer as haveing an item in hand ready to ship, then it should ship. If you advertise it as, once we get it made it will ship, then I have no problem waiting. Things take time, but don't say you have it now if you don't. CJ five TD/TX/RC 9984

Seth, Sorry I wasn't clear, but I don't really know. My GML got conflicting requests/demands for my buddies armor. His first submited pictures where in full MEPD required TD mods. The LMO said he had the wrong ab piece on. He had to have the TD ab. My friend again took close up pictures of his TD ab. Then was told it had to be the TK ab. Took pictures of that. Went through the same thing with the knee. It seemed that there hasn't been an official ruling on what the requirements of the HWT are as far as armor and rather then just accepting the costume Thomas was trying to get him to just cancel his submission. Interesting enough, no one complained about his belt boxes...well except for me. CJ

Seth, Actually according to members of the LMO staff it does have to have all the armor mods. One of my garrison mates was told three times that he had to fix his armor. First the ab piece was wrong(he had the sandtrooper piece on) and was told it had to be the sandtrooper plate. He took a close up pic of it. Was told that was wrong had to be TK plate. Disconnected ab plate put TK plate on took pictures. Thats okay, but then went through the same thing with the knee plate. Would be really nice if since MEPD is getting stuck with the HWT if we actually came up with some standards instead of just deriding them. That being said I still think it belongs with the Spec Ops det(btw am a member with my TX there as well as being MEPD deployed) but if we are going to have ownership then I personally feel we should take possesion of it and treat it just like we do the Sandtroopers. Anyone want to come up with a set of requirments? If not I am happy to come up with them, though I do not have nor do I plan to have a HWT costume. CJ

Marc, If the legion is going to put HWT in with the TDs as they have done, then based on the comics there is visual refrences to support them. If I remember correctly the comics have a TK with backpack and pauldron. At least one of the Dark Horse Comics pictures of the HWT shows Ab buttons and drop boxes as well as haveing a backpack, pauldron, and ammo pouch on his shoulder. However you are right. You shouldn't clear TKs wanting to become a Sandtrooper. However as HWT are covered under TD designation then according to the legion Membership officer that is what they are to be labeled as. If at an event people do not wish to troop with a TK with a pauldron then I guess the only thing I can say is...don't. I suit up and troop with my fellow members regardless of how screen acurate or perfect their kit is. I know mine isn't perfect, but frankly the attitude of "you must be exactly screen acurate" is getting really old and starting to suck the enjoyment out of trooping. Its suppose to be about spreading the joy and magic of star wars to everyone. Its not a competition on who's costume looks better. Yes we set up standards. Great. But if the standards starts to get in the way of what the legion is suppose to be about then I say the standards should be changed. I love how accurate some of my fellow MEPD brothers and sisters look. I also love the guy who is 5'6" 240lbs in his TK that is shimmed to high heaven, wearing a pauldron, and is out there making kids smile and bringing joy into the lives of other people. That is what the legion is and should be about. CJ

Is it me or is that going to be a real pain to carry during the Rose bowl parade? J/k It looks great. Good job CJ

I cheated...My pouch is attached directly to my breast plate with a snap. Hot glued on half to the breastplate the other is attached to a piece of leather on the pouch. Then a dap of hot glue in between. If I need to remove it I can, just have to add some heat to the situation, but otherwise it stays pretty well. I was just useing the snap without the hot glue but found that it still comes undone. I need to reattach the onese on the belt the same way because they still try to fall off. cj

well finnally got it complete(mostly) Have an event tomorrow so its going to have to be good enough as is. Not happy about the weathering...will redo it after tommorrow. Its missing the radar dish(which i have just not paintied yet) the 5 little tubes on the right and the tube on the left side. Also my speakers and amp seem to have died during the final assembly. Worked great for about 1 minute...unhooked the battery...and it all died. So may have to yank the speakers out and slap a new set of speakers in later. anyway let me know what you think PS btw when useing your dremel...wear saftey glasses...or perhaps your helmet. Those cutting wheels do a number on your face when they break. Thought I was going to have to drive myself to the ER...luckily the blood stoped flowing after about 15 minutes.

while it is recomended that you have an e11 it is not required. The BFG however is required to be deployed. Unfortunatly you don't get a choice on that...."BFG. MG34 (DLT19), Lewis Gun (T21), or MG15 (unnamed in SW galaxy). These weapons may be scratch-built, resin cast, hyperfirm rubber cast, vaccum-formed, or real demilitarized guns" The DLT19 really isn't that hard to scratch build. Mine is about 90% finished...but I bought a hyperfirm so haven't worked on it for...about 4 months now...

only issue I saw was that the pauldron has the patch on it. With the exception of that and needing a BFG I think it looks great. BTW Welcome to the legion! cj TD9984

Also just added my speakers system to it. Took a pair of powered speakers from an old computer and gutted them. Have one mounted behind the speaker plate on the radio face plate and one on the right side of the frame(the holes will be covered by the tube) then just plug in the 9v battery(not sure yet if I need to add a second battery or not. Don't know what the volts suppested for the sound board is and 1 seems to run it okay, just wondering about life expenctancy of 1 9v) and plug in the mp3 and viola the imperial march. And not much weight.[/img]

Well after two days of trooping with my old pack I decided a new pack was in order. The original is made of the battery boxes from walmart, and doesn't look a thing like the screen used packs and weighs a ton. The new pack looks similiar to the screen(not any where near exact) but weighs almost nothing. I used an alice frame for the base, two litter boxes from walmart, couple of boxes, and two bottles. Let me know what you think Old pack new pack It still needs a couple of attachments, most notably the straps to wear it and the mortar tube. but I like it a lot more then the old one. CJ[/img]

so my question is...Is he dead or slow?

now here is my question. Since it is taken as fact that Stormtroopers/sandtroopers can't hit the broad side of a barn from the inside of the barn, how did you ever qualify with that blaster on your side for the HPD? Of course I am one to talk...last time I qualified for work I scored a 9 out of 30 o the rifle range CJ

its not but it looks like my electric leash...err pager. Old fashion style, but didn't exist "a long time ago" cj