mikedwelle94

Sorry for the double post, but as someone who printed and finished a helmet, I do NOT recommend printing the entire suit. It is just way too much work and will never look as good as vacuum formed plastic. Maybe someone can do the files better justice than I did, but you can't get around the fact that you'll be spending dozens upon dozens of hours of filling, sanding, and painting. Not only that, but Stormtrooper armor is meant to flex. Encasing your entire body in a rigid plastic shell does not sound like a good time. Maybe not what you wanted to hear, but you'll save yourself tons of work just saving up and buying an armor kit from a vendor.

Oh hey! That's me. The only part of my costume right now that's printed from those files is the helmet. Here are a couple closer shots of it. ATA natural red ABS (left), CTPG 3D print, painted with International Harvester red (right)

I'm half kidding but also half serious about this post. With the recent release of the Hasbro Carbonized Stormtrooper, does that "technically" give us a source to use as a reason to approve a chrome Stormtrooper for 501st? I know this is some hardcore reaching but a man can dream, right?

Been thinking about building this one for a while, and finally got around to it. The costume is very nearly done, or at least we thought it was until we did our first test run. My partner is a little short and skinny for a Stormtrooper at about 5'8'' and 110 lbs. There is still much trimming and re-sizing to do on this Anovos kit (thank goodness for E-6000), but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. This costume is basically a TK Commander but without the blue stripes. No one's done this one before (to my knowledge), so we'll need to make a new CRL. Most of it should be an easy copy+paste of the requirements from the Commander, and I'll provide the CRL pictures once we're ready to suit up for approval pics.

Okay, I see that now. I wasn't aware the actual 3D model was missing that detail up to this point. Knowing this, I still may try to get my armor approved the way I have it now and supply my screenshots with my app. Most of my kit is a Rubies with a few WTF parts, so the ridge is built in. I'd have to take a cutting wheel to the armor, and I'm hesitant to do that until I'm told I have to!

My initial app was denied because of a minor issue with fit and strapping. I still haven't gotten it done yet because my most recent troop resulted in a broken belt rivet and two broken LED strips which are a pain in the ass to fix/replace. And then all costuming and building came to a halt when I moved in with a new partner (tinyyyyy apartment) and wound up throwing all my costuming stuff into a storage unit. Fast forward a few months and we're in a bigger place and I finally have the room to work on it again. I ordered some new lights on Amazon today. I'll see about getting those installed in my armor pieces this Saturday and maybe getting my costume done? I'm sorry it's taking so long ?

Can I be a pain the rear end about one more thing? ? "A metallic silver, flexible U-shaped gasket or molded lip is present around the sides and top of the abdomen plate but does not extend around the cod plate." In the a few of the screenshots I took on my Xbox One, you can see the molded lip around the cod. In some of shots we shared here, you can't see it - but it's an older game running on an older console so some details are probably going to be missed at times depending on how zoomed in the model is. Thanks for the write up, 5-0. I'm looking forward to seeing this get the green light.

I recognize these are all fair points, and I don't disagree with anyone about any of them. My biggest issue was that of us taking a different direction from the FISD's troopers, and that someone wearing a TKC/Saber setup can have their troop count officially while a Shadow has to ask for permission first (and possibly get told no). My garrison is pretty chill about this kind of thing, but I can imagine other garrisons are pickier about what kinds of extra accessories are considered okay to add onto a costume. I just want to make sure everyone gets treated equally across the board and the easiest way to "force" that is by including the accessory in question into the CRL (as long as visual evidence exists). Whether it goes one way or the other, it won't affect my desire to submit and troop the costume. I prefer, like the rest of you, that the costume is represented accurately in public. But I'd also like to see consistency across detachments when it comes to similar costumes. Should we ask the LMOs to take lightsabers away from the FISD? I don't think that would go down without a heated debate. I will withdraw my argument, but I'd at least like to see an LMO team member chime in.

The enemy AI Shadow Trooper and the Starkiller skin are identical in every way, no one would know otherwise until they see the weapon. While Finn, Han, and Luke aren't 501st approvable characters, Starkiller himself happens to be. If someone wanted to be cheeky and apply to the 501st as a "Starkiller ShadowTrooper," the source material technically exists for it. That would be silly, of course, because it would require a totally separate CRL. I hope a fair compromise would be to consider allowing the saber as an optional accessory for those who want to play pretend Starkiller on the occasional fun convention troop, and still have it count officially. No one seems to mind whenever a TK Commander shows up with a saber, at least not in my garrison. I imagine those members of the public who played the game get a kick out of seeing it. If the majority would rather troop with an E-11, they are still free to do so (I was planning on doing the same 90% of the time anyway). I don't think it will hurt the detachment or detract from the costume in any way to toss in an extra option for some folks - it may even prove to be an added incentive for some to build the costume in the first place. It was for me. I do appreciate yours and the detachment's open-mindedness and I'm glad to see the costume is still being discussed. Whatever the official decision comes to, it doesn't affect whether or not I decide to submit this costume. ?

While I understand the argument against lightsabers being allowed, the fact of the matter is that there is visual evidence of this trooper holding and using one. It doesn't matter if it's a player skin or if it makes sense canonically - if you can see it in the source material, it should be fair game for costuming. If you don't like the idea of wielding the saber, leave it as an optional accessory and carry an E-11. But I implore you to not lock out the option to those of us who took the time to build this costume with the hopes of being an undercover Starkiller in disguise. It's not entirely fair to the rest of us who want to do so alongside the rest of legion's TFU troopers.

Aw, sorry to hear it. Hope you can pick this up again soon! Mine is pretty much done - just need to replace a couple LED strips and adjust my strapping.

I apparently didn't notice that when you sent it! I did find it just now after scrolling through my inbox. I'll get suited up again and take those pictures once I make shorter straps and replace the two LED strips that broke during the con. Should be about a week - gotta get those LEDs shipped. Thanks Izzi!

Hey peeps, figured I'd update this thread for anyone who hasn't seen my stuff on Instagram. My armor is basically there, save for a couple minor strapping issues and a couple dead LED strips. Once that's sorted out, I'm gonna send a new round of pictures to our LMOs and hopefully get this approved. I took this out for its first test drive this past Saturday at a local convention in Portland, Maine. Biggest issue I had was my powerbanks falling out and swinging around outside my kit, but I have a fix in mind for that. Also need to chop an inch or so off the tops of the thighs to improve mobility. Had a lot of fun though, and the armor was a hit. It was nice to be the very first TFU Shadow a lot of people have ever seen! Hopefully more of us start popping up once we get that CRL green-lit!

Updated post with new pictures. I sent my application to the LMOs earlier tonight so I'll let you guys know what happens with that. If this gets approved as is, the CRL should be pretty much good to go. Just need someone to photoshop out the background from my pictures. If they request changes, I'll update this thread again with newer pictures.

Well done, guy. Enjoy it!