Yorkie Fett

Thanks for that, will give him a PM.

Can anyone give me a heads up on a replacement snout piece for Jimmi’s Helmet (his current version)? The one is supplies is great looking but a fraction too small.

I'm coming pretty late to the party, regarding Shoretroopers, but looking over the finished builds, I've decided to go for this as my next project. Been doing a lot of research, and it seems the builds aren't quite as trouble free as you might expect. First request, if anyone would like to PM me with their views on the main armour/helmet contenders, it would be much appreciated. Secondly, I contacted 850 Armor Works and had a great response. They offer a build up sevice which I'm seriously considering due to my below average building skills (have 850 sorted out some of the original issues the V1s had?). Has any one had a 850 built Shoretrooper, or knows of any one that has? Any help would be great.

Details of the Anovos are out, and up for discount till 23/7. Not all good, unfortunately. $600 for unpainted kit WITHOUT helmet. https://www.anovos.com/collections/star-wars/products/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-imperial-shoretrooper-armor-kit

I think now the problems have been sorted out, there is no doubt that the RS is now the best helmet out there. Owning a LW as well, I have to say it does come a VERY close 2nd (plus extra kudos points for being an original sculpt!).

Looking great. Nice to see they eventually came through. It's been a long journey! One thing I've learnt from all this is never jump on a V1 run. Go for the V2 run when they've sorted out all the teething problems.

Difficult question. Looking back, I think frustration has been the main problem. False timescales and promises, bad QC haven't helped. The experience would have been made easier if RS had just been straight with customers instead of all the bull we got. Although you might not think so, reading my posts!, yes I am (95%) happy with the helmet. It is a great looking piece (once the QC was addressed), and until Efx show up, your only chance to get a helmet with direct lineage to ROTJ. I think the rarity value make them more desirable, as well. If I could go back, I would still order this helmet as apart from Efx, it is very difficult to find a truly screen accurate Scout helmet.

I have to say, that faceplate fitting is the best I have seen on a RS helmet. Just goes to show, they can get it right. Unfortunately, I didn't get them to look in to the gap when I sent my helmet back (wish I had now, since they do appear capable of a flush fitting). Like I said earlier, mine's not perfect because of this issue, but it's just about acceptable, so I'll be living with it! BTW, Rob just refunded my shipping costs, so might be a good time to ask for that refund.

You'll probably have read all through the RS thread. I've posted a lot on there, and as you'll see, all hasn't been great up until now. The good news is, they seem to have sorted the problems out, and people are eventually starting to get what is a very nice helmet based on the real thing. The only problem you might have, if you haven't ordered yet, is the wait time. If you were to order today (that's if they are still taking on orders for this), you could be looking at a long time before you get it. As for the Efx, there is a long thread over at the RPF, which has a lot of details about what has gone wrong. No one has got their Efx helmet yet, and it doesn't look like it's going to happen soon. In fact, they have been giving waiting customers a free Vader helmet as compensation for the continued wait (although apparently only customers in the US are receiving these- that's another story!). As to which is the better helmet, only time will tell. Until someone has both versions in front of them and can make first hand comparisons it is impossible to say who is the best deal.

Hopefully, yours shouldn't be too long and at least you should get a good example now RS seem to be addressing the issues (They do say never buy a V1 of most new items like cars, electrical goods, etc. as these are the ones with all the problems!!) Glad you got the Vader helmet, but if I read it right, it seems they are not honouring this deal with customers outside the US. Apparently the shipping is too expensive, plus you would still be stung with import duty. I believe they were discussing this in a thread over at the RPF. I can't speak from experience as I haven't ordered directly from Efx on this one.

Not sure if I was clear when trying to explain the problem, but when I was talking about the visor, I was referring to the hinged faceplate and not the actual lens. Certainly it seems very much down to who put the helmet together at RS, but on quite a few, I've seen a big gap between faceplate and rear helmet section, where it should be flush (even when the faceplate is in the fully down position). I'm not sure whether this is down to bad moulding, bad trimming or bad construction. If you check out Bikerscout007's RS thread, you can see there is a gap from the side views. I think Jkno also mentions he wasn't happy with the gap on his RS (apologies if I misread that, Jkno). If you check out pictures of the actual ROTJ helmets (RS used an actual non screen used helmet as a mould), you will see there is no gap between faceplate and rear helmet, it's a smooth transition from front to back. To be quite honest, I wouldn't want to start messing around with a heat gun- too risky on what is very thin plastic. Hope that's a bit clearer. It's something that I'm not 100% happy with, but now this saga is over, I'm going to accept it (unless of course Efx nail it!).

OK, received my replacement helmet today, and they seem to have dealt with all the original issues that meant it had to be sent back. Upgrades include much better paint job with a clear coat to smooth everything off (no sign of all the bits of dust and thumb marks that were originally there). Lens has been reattached using a screen accurate method used on the originals. Snout that was full of air bubbles has been replaced. Black border round the snout has been repainted and is a vast improvement. Decal placement much better. So is it perfect? Well, there's no doubt this is now a very nice looking helmet. I still think it needs to be glossy, as there's still quite a matt finish (but at least the paint is now nicely done). Another issue that I think we'll have to live with (and I think it comes down to who put the helmet together, at RS), is the visor section and how it fits against the helmet when it's closed. The original (and indeed, Altman and LW helmets) all have a nice snug interlocking fit with minimal gap between the two sections. RS don't appear to have mastered this (despite it all being pulled from an actual ROTJ helmet), and I have seen a couple of examples with gaps so big, you can see the chin cup elastic even when the visor is fully closed. Mine isn't perfect, but it's just about acceptable. RS have definitely dealt with the issues, but it's taken a long time and lots of the usual false promises (still waiting to be refunded for my return shipping costs). Although I now have a great looking (but still not perfect) helmet, the whole experience has not been a great one. I feel it should never have got this far. Hopefully, they will learn from this experience and improve their business practices. Should be interesting to see how the Efx compares (but that's another story!!!).

This whole messed up saga just gets more depressing when you hear more and more peoples' bad experiences. Ironically, the stormtrooper customers seem more than happy if you go over to FISD. Go figure!

There is no doubt it is a great replica, and as long as there are no quality/build/finish issues, then you will certainly be very happy. Unfortunately a lot more problems than wait times have all been listed in this thread, and they don't appear to be isolated cases. Regarding waiting times, I did hang on a long time, but I'm having to wait a long time again, as they haven't sent me a replacement.

I can't really speak about a full helmet refund, but I have been waiting nearly 4 months to get a refund on return shipping costs, without any success. If you go back through the posts you'll see I had to return my helmet due to the terrible state of it, but despite asking about 5 times, they have still not refunded the costs. BTW, I was told my replacement helmet would be sent out on Friday, but have had no further contact or confirmation. Just keep seeing lots of pictures, on Facebook, of people holding the helmets appearing to be 'working' on them, but that's been going on for weeks, now.