stasz

Yes, I think to the pencil line on top, just be careful not to get too pointy on the bottoms of the "eyes". The curve follows that first contour around the lens pretty closely:

Looking good, Brother! Man... I gotta make me one of them duct tape dummies...

If you'd rather not mention it here Tim, would you pm me about it? I used retrobright on my bucket and some old, very well played with Stormtroopers from my childhood and I was really happy with the results. I'd be curious to know what alternatives are out there. Though I'm sure you'd be fine to mention it here. The Pathfinders are - dare I say - more civilized than the Facebook crowd

I've done some reading on it, and apparently it's a flame retardant in the ABS itself that leeches out and yellows when it's hit by UV light. "The yellowing of ABS when exposed to Ultraviolet light is the result of a flame retardant added to the plastic during the manufacturing process. The most common of which is tetrabromobisphenol –A, or TBBP-A. When exposed to UV light the TBBP-A degrades allowing Bromine to become a free radical. The bromine forms a bond with readily available oxygen and causes the yellow color." - from an instructables on retrobright.

Lighting makes a huge difference in how it looks. If you have an LED or CFL bulb I could see that touching off a blueish/purplish hue to the armor. To me, what it looks like in the sun is what it is.

Hmm. Purple is interesting. Can you post some pics? I know that my bucket and armor are slightly different shades, but it's more pronounced depending on the lighting.

Them be Scout gloves. Suede on the thumb and first two fingers? Looks like it.

Looks good Brother! Shouldn't jam up approval, but some Velcro or a snap connecting your right boot to your pantleg will help with the boot sag. Overall, nice Scout!

I don't *think* gluing the tank and then gluing a cosmetic rivet would be unacceptable. The pop rivets and gun are pretty easy to use though. If you use PandaTrooper's tank attachment trick you can shoot the top rivet right through the greeblie, tank, back armor hump, and L shaped plastic "bracket". It works well and is very secure. Then the bottom rivet just goes through the bottom of the tank into the angled lower part of the back armor. If you pre-drill your holes the same diameter as the rivet shaft you shouldn't have any cracking issues.

Brown Box Happy Dance!

KS is a good bucket, and can be approved as is, but really needs some modification. Snout greeblie, decals, bolt covers. It's a solid option, fairly easy to get ahold of. The general consensus is that it's not really worth it to pay to have them build it for you. the kit is decently priced and there are lots of build threads in the helmet forum that will show you tips and tricks, do's and don'ts... I'm not trying to steer you away from the NI. It looks like a nice lid. Honestly, the KS needs more tweaking right away. My thoughts: NI - fiberglass. heavier, more robust. correct snout detail and (possibly) bolts. I don't like the way the visor joins the faceplate (nit-picking). Pricey KS - abs. lighter. needs at minimum snout detail replaced. Kit form is relatively cheap, but work. Assembled form isn't put together particularly well and pricey.

Remember: "Approved" is the wrong way to think of it. "Approvable" would be a better way to put it. No Maker is approved, endorsed or otherwise by the Legion. Yes, the NI is approvable - as in it wouldn't jam up the overall approval of your entire cosutme's fit and finish. The KS is "approvable" - but needs modification to really push it over the top. That being said, I'm more and more intrigued by the NI the more i look at it. It's a really nice looking fiberglass lid.

That's correct, no pockets, zippered or otherwise. The RedKap, for example, needs to have butt pockets removed (The material comes in handy for the mandarin collar mod) and the front leg pockets as well as pocket slits (that let you access your regular street clothes pockets underneath) sewn or Velcroed shut. There are chest pockets also, that arguably could be left on since they're covered by the vest and chest armor.

Well done, Brother! I agree, scootch up the shoulder bells a touch if you can, and turn your forearm armor out to the sides a bit more. They should sit on an imaginary centerline down your arm. Looks great overall!

Agree ears looks good. Your pencil line on the bottom of lens "eyes" looks a little too pointy to me. I think what you've got cut out looks good. Maybe a touch more off the top, but the shape overall is good. Nice job!

I was hesitant to do the boots without my knees, but was too excited to get started so i went for it. Luckily it worked out. You should be able to get a pretty good bead on it just from the different pre-clearance pics.

If your armor is SC, here's their knee dimensions if it helps:

Hyperfirm is on Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1669859386576227&tsid=0.4376292370725423&source=typeahead And Darth Voorhees does sweet rubber blasters, though I'm not sure if he has a run happening now.

I have a HiTG and I'm really happy with it. It's a little on the heavy side and I did have a couple very small bubbles right near the emitter, but an easy fix. Eric was great with communication. Mine took a little long to ship, as he was redoing his mold and had a couple conventions at the same time, but he was upfront about it. Nothing I wasn't expecting. Decent price too. I did a silver primer and then matte black so it shows some realistic weathering now that I've trooped with it and it's been knocked around.

Looking good! I agree, I would take a touch more off the inside of the visor perimeter, and a hair off the top of the lens opening. These lids are soooo sweet. They deserve a slow and steady hand. Nice work, Man! Someday, an LW will be mine. Oh, yes.

Maybe it's the camera flash, but the fiber weave really "pops". I wonder if this would be acceptable? The marine vinyl has that faint shallow cracked texture but this pattern looks really pronounced. At least in the pic.

Hahaha! Oh man. Biker Scout Problems I used the patch templates in the gallery and tweaked them quite a bit to fit my weird ass proportions. I was trying to lay them out with the legs spread wide open and it just looked completely wrong until I had the "Aha" moment of them butting against either along the crotch seam and extending like Barry said up along the zipper. ...If any of that makes sense.

I would also try to level out the belt a bit. I originally had my Scout belt where I wear my civilian regular belt and it was way too low and pitched forward in front. I had to hike it up to "grandpa pants" territory to get things to look better.

Flap width looks good. Middle of the back of the thigh. Man, you kicked on the turbo boosters lately. Coming along nicely, Wook! In the above pics, I think the boxes could go back a little, but if you ran the belt straight through this is something that can and will be tweaked every time you suit up.

Buddy, you enjoy your family! We'll hold this bunker till you arrive