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Update - Folding Stock I spent the last few days getting waist deep in resin shavings from the folding stock. I have to say that the stock was one of the items I was most afraid of tackling. But they say if you are going to eat an elephant.....you do it one bite at a time.... I started by drilling out the holes on the underside of the stock. I used a drill for the four "full" holes and left the partial hole for later. Then I started on the top of the stock. I used a cutting bit in a dremel to cut and cut and cut and cut and cut and cut and cut until the center of the stock was hollowed out. I then switched to a sanding drum and smoothed out the sides and bottom. I went back to that "partial" hole in the bottom of the stock and completed cutting that one out with the dremel. I also cleared out the hole in the handle of the stock and tried to "tidy" up the nose of the stock a little. The very front of the Doopydoo's stock looks pretty bad, in my opinion. I tried to reshape it a little better. Next I used a drill bit to drill a recess in the front for the aluminum tube from T-Jay's kit. And drilled and sanded down the "arms" where the carriage bolts go. When I ordered some of the replacement 3D parts from shapeways, I also picked up the little "knob" that goes on the end of the aluminum tube. I had the file down the end quite a bit to get it to fit into the aluminum tube. Then I cut up the rod from T-Jay's kit to create the pin that holds in the aluminum tube. I used a round cutting bit in a dremel to cut a round shape into the rod ends. Then I drilled a hole through the 3D printed "knob" for the rod to fit through. Here I lucked out again. When drilling the recess for the front of the tube, I couldn't get a drill in there, so I ended up just trying to spin the drill bit in my hand. Even then, there wasn't much room and the recess hole was at a slight angle. This now worked in my favor because when I slid the aluminum tube into the recess, the "knob" end wants to sit "up" about 1/2 a centimeter. This means I don't need to glue the retaining pin in, I can just push down on the knob, push the pin through and the slight upward pressure keeps the pin from falling out. Cool. Next I drilled a hole in the aluminum tube and cut a channel similar to the actual stock. I'm not entirely sure this was the wisest move. It looks like a real stock, but there's a screw that holds the folding stock to the barrel, and by cutting out this shape into the aluminum, the screw now has nothing to screw into. Luckily, I could pop the aluminum tube out again and I ended up shoving part of a plastic pen into the aluminum rod so that I had something for the screw to grab later. Next I cut the last of the rod and drilled out the opening of the washers (both from T-Jay's kit) to create a new front pin. Lastly, to hold the stock onto the barrel you need a screw sized to just the right length. I slid the carriage bolts in temporarily and did a test fit with a screw. I cut the screw down several times until it was the right length where the stock wasn't sitting too far away from the barrel. Then I gave it a nice "jacket" out of heat shrink tubing. And that's my stock. I'm getting pretty excited. There's light at the end of the tunnel. I'm getting closer to painting. I've already hit a few items with primer. I think the bolt is one of the last items then I can begin some of the assembly. Woohoo!! Mark

While I'm working at making a few adjustments on the bucket, here are a few pictures of some stuff I did yesterday on my TD. I got an hacksaw to cut the tube to the good length, and it went pretty well : Then I sanded the ends of the tube and tried it with the caps. With the caps, I'm now at 7" 3/8, which is right in the required dimensions (between 7.25" and 7.5") ! After that, I marked the areas where the control plate and the clips would go to cover them with tape before I paint (following ukswrath's Anovos build thread). Tape on the central plate (centered right in the middle of the tube) and the end caps : I've done some paint tests on a piece of scrap before I actually do it on the tube for real. I put one coat of primer and one coat of paint and it looks pretty nice so far, so I'm probably gonna go and paint the tube soon!

Update! I started trimming the small parts and it`s getting better with every part! Although I have the feeling, that there are still so many parts left untrimmed but you can see that I did a lot of trimming this weekend... Maybe next time I`m going to build a Rogue One Trooper, so I don`t have to wipe away blood splatters from my armour But as my husband always says: where wood is chopped, splinters must fall

In a finished scope, the tiny engraving of the cross hair lens can only be seen clearly, when it has the correct distance to the big lens. Otherwise the magnification effect won't work and you will not be able to spot anything. A good distance can be derived from the assembled monocular. In other words, it's best to put your cross hair lens straight onto the small end of that conical cylinder, holding the big lens. Please see last picture below.

Also, if the image in my scope is flipped at least I’ll have an excuse for not being able to hit anything like any other Stormtrooper [emoji23][emoji23] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think I managed to make the ears sit better on the sides of the bucket. Mainly for the "upper" section of the ear, as I know the originals had some gaps in the "lower" sections of their ears and so I don't mind if mine have some too. Anyways, I think it's way better than this afternoon! Here are some comparison pictures : And here is a picture of the helmet from the front. I also put the brow and, to my surprise, I kind of like it when it's not too too high. Maybe I could leave it like this? Or just make it a bit higher? How would it fit for Centurion? And here are some pictures of the sides, just for if anyone has any more comments to give... So... any comments or suggestions? Thanks a lot! ^^

Hey guys, until I`m waiting for BBB day I`m starting with building the rest of the accessories and want to share some pictures with you. If you have any ideas to improve something, please let me know, because this is my first Trooper and I never did anything similar before Today I painted my shoes: I was not so happy with the surface after painting it but with the help of nail polish remover I could get a really nice finish with no damages! Now I just need to clean them a little bit and paint the rubber parts

Beautiful! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Always cool to see my 3D parts being used on a quality build. Looks like you're really going for it!

Thank you Daniel! It is reassuring that I haven't mucked it up...yet Although I have ultimately decided to make it more equal halves. I removed the coverstrip on one side and trimmed a small amount from the lower half to make the havles more equal. Once the E6000 is fully cured I'll get some better pics up. Test fitting with the one side taped together after trimming resulted in a slightly more snug forearm but still fits and feels good.

Nice work, sir.

Scope hollowed out! Got a bit too close to the bottom wall with the spade bit so will need to sort it with green stuff when it arrives. Also dig a hole out of the top to drop the cross hair lens in. Just need to paint the inside now then all being well I can put it all back together [emoji4] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi Fredrik, You’re correct. If you’re aiming for EIB and Centurion, the teeth paint will have to be cleaned up a little. (CRL quote, “Frown is painted gray and does not leave the teeth area”) You might be able to gently remove some of the excess, depending on what paint Anovos used, with a wooden toothpick. Hopefully some other members with Anovos lids could expand a little on that. Also, for L2/L3, the mesh on the front of the mic tips would have to changed for something a little more accurate as the Anovos mesh is very fine. Here’s what I mean; Best wishes, Dan Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

All set Alban!

Congrats! Welcome to the addiction! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Alright, thanks for the replies and help everyone. I can't wait to actually pick it up next weekend!

Thanks for the replies guys! When I chopped the monocular down one of the smaller lenses dropped out anyway but I decided to keep the other in the housing for ease of fitment. I’m not planning on using any of the prisms...way too complicated for me! I suppose at the end of the day, if I get a view/light thru the scope it won’t be too bad a result? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Reasonable thinking, Tom. Unfortunately the 2nd lens is to compensate pillow- / barrel-distortion. Here is that section, copied from my last build: Also thought about integrating the prism(s) but a convex lens turns the image upside down and left to right. Hoped that a 2nd lens (see arrangement in the monocular) would revert this effect. But these are used to compensate pillow- / barrel-distortion. Wasted several days researching and trying every possible combination with lens(es) and prism(s). No luck. As a last chance I grabbed some scopes plus monoculars and went to my eyewear optician. Result: with the given hardware, there is no way to get it working correctly and I was not willing to spend a little fortune to try and error. At least there is light shining through that scope and the lenses make it look somewhat real.

A massive improvement, great work

Great job done on the folding stock, Mark. These modifications cause a lot of effort and you went through it all the way. Not an easy task, but properly solved. Sorry for being so late to answer this. You are correct with how the rail is being mounted in that photo. Your rail looks different, because you had taken one of the "fully finished and painted scope rails with pilot holes and separate counter bracket". These got reworked and improved just recently and they now look like shown in that photo. As Dan already suggested, you could cut the 90 degree bend off of the back end, drill a new hole and screw it straight down.

I think you are spot on, Dan, and good eye on catching that angle! The pieces have not been trimmed at all, so you should be good to go, Ian. At 5'9" you will probably end up needing to trim some of the length off, so don't worry about losing the return edge, (leaving that on can chafe your, uh, "cod" area anyway). And yes, it is screen accurate. Below is a pic of a set of screen used thighs showing this. Just follow the existing curve at the top which is a bit different on each thigh

Great job on the ears. Brow looks very stunty, too.

Ok, thanks again, Dracotrooper. You're a lifesaver. A cherry lifesaver... Mark

. . Finally local GML approved, just waiting on the 501st for Wife's TK ID Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I thought I would add a few pictures of me trying to decide on what to do with the electronics. First I removed the mic from the headset that came with the Aker 1505 amp. Then mounted that right in the helmet. It was hard to squeeze my head into the helmet with extra things attached to it. Then i wanted to reduce the noise from the fans. I added foam to the backs and to the edges. Remove old Velcro Cut out foam backing. Bought at Michaels. My 5 year old son proclaimed Michaels to be a “girl” store and questioned our presence there. I glued the backings on with this. I’m sure E6000 would work but I wasn’t sure about gluing the foam. Foam backing on Added foam weather stripping to the edges and covered the back in Velcro. Next was mounting the amp and USB power source. 2” nylon and 3/4” elastic glued to the inside of the chest. Add Velcro Aker amp in place USB power source on other side and iPhone will get attached to inside of ab behind small button plate (nice flat spot the right size). Amp will be facing out. I can reach the volume for the amp for TrooperTalk and the power for the USB power (if I need to turn off the fans for some reason). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the input! It's good to know it gets easier. I like the idea of keeping them snapped together, and then pulling it up, it's a nightmare. I also watched a few people suit up at the armor party and they had the same struggles. #validation So, my phone's dead that has all my pics, but just wanted to update that I'm back from the holidays (and busy season from work) and in action. There was an armor party last weekend and I got up to a good place. We got the ammo pack on the thigh, button plates cut out. The detonator pieces cut out. I'm re-doing a LOT of the strapping. I actually broke the side strapping where I had put elastic in with the rivets for a "permanent" closure and it broke on a fitting, so I'm going snaps on both sides now. I had 1 or 3/4 inch white elastic for the front to back shoulder straps, and am now using a wider piece where two snaps can fit instead of one in-line. I also got rubber hand guards that meet centurion requirements. hmm... I think I'll be doing the sniper knee this weekend and finishing up the re-strapping. Then I'll work on the belt, weird shoulder things (my b... o.O) and arm strapping. I guess I'm basically doing everything I can BUT the bucket. I'm afraid of the bucket. Hopefully progress pics tomorrow. I took a REALLY awesome pic of me all suited up (minus accessories) and it looks waaayyy better than some of my previous ones. :3 My goal is to now wear it for Megacon in Orlando in May.

I actually contacted Kevin through his Facebook page it’ll be under KWDesigns Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks, Dan. That description and photos helped a lot. I couldn't find anything the right size so I bought a 5/8" wooden dowel for $3. It's the right size for the spring to fit over the end of my marker. (Doing something similar to T-Jay's build, using a marker for the bolt end). I've got another question: the end cap clip is built using the aluminum channel from T-Jay's kit.....what do people use to attach it to the receiver tube? E6000? Because it doesn't have a curved bottom, it doesn't make good contact for glue. It's also kinda too thin to even think about trying to sand a curve into the bottom. Mark

Very nicely done!

Idealy the halves are equal, the way yours are shouldn’t be an issue though so from what I can see you’re good to go

Brothers in arms...and....speaking of limbs, it looks like both got their hands cut if by some Jedi...oh well, spare body-parts are inbound

You should be fine. Just make sure coverstrip is even on both halves to keep everything snug for many troops to come. Keep up the good work!

I already corrected that and went buy the good paint - satin black.

Well spotted mate! Never noticed the gap tbh. I’ve got some more green stuff on the way as I ran out...I’ll sort it once it arrives...thanks for pointing that out [emoji106] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know the feeling! Power cylinders are looking great. Is the the "A" shape you've gone for? Just one thought though, if you've got some green stuff left you could fill in the gap around the 3 Alu cynlinders (where they slot through)... if that makes sense. I used a wet flat head screwdriver to get into the tight places and smooth it out, then did the rest with a file when dry Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

Congrats on your BBB day! Looking forward to seeing your build!

I started on the other pack. I have most of the parts ordered

Hello Randy! Awesome that you are building a Commander! I really love it! Do you have some pictures? Love to see your commander :D. The plan is to re-do the strapping on the inside, make it better. I have to order some black elastic and buttons . I'm really excited to start on this project, hopefully it will suit better for me!

Congrats! It can seem overwhelming...but it slow and you'll do fine. Enjoy the day! -Dana

Awesome! Happy BBB-day

Today is BBB day!!! So many parts, oh my g**, I`m not sure, if I really can build this stormtrooper! I`m glad, that the helmet is ready... It`s a pitty that you can`t see my big smile under the helmet

Thank you!

I use a belt and suspenders and they work great. The suspenders are clipped to both the belt and the thigh elastic straps to keep them in position — works awesome. I also glued black elastic over the metal parts so they wouldn’t be seen as easily and blend in with my under armor. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sounds like we have a possible Attache in the making

Got my armor in! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow, every time I come back to this thread I'm blown away! The Helmet & Armor look incredibly accurate Jim! Amazing Job, you've outdone yourself yet once again. And you did some heavy modifications to the BS before casting, so in a way that sculpt is somewhat yours. I really wouldn't worry too much about that, there's no need to reinvent the wheel when we all know the general shape and size of the BS is accurate. But you really made some much needed improvements that actually make it screen accurate! Namely the Chin Bulbs being extended inwards, More Accurate Brow and Vocoder, and last but not least removing the ugly Speaker Grill/Battery Compartment. Just look at the back of that beautiful helmet now! And those photos of the raw cast before painting REALLY show off your modifications to the sculpt! Definitely unique to YOUR kit and much more screen accurate than a BS.

Done! If i were taller i would probably pull off a kneeling shot and be a lot more mobile. I can sit down though:

Hmmm. That's interesting. I guess just a clear coat would work, especially if you're going for a weathered version. This material yellows over time though so best option might still be primer, paint, and a clear coat Here's the unpainted kit all rigged up! Some notes: I'm 5'9 and a bit on the wider spectrum in the pics. So for taller folks, there will be more of the abs backplate cod and butt exposed. Lots of built in allowance for height and girth all over too. Back plate and TD is on a bit crooked (dressed myself) I can probably lower the cod and butt a bit more. Movement is awesome. If i were a bit taller i would be able to sit, kneel, get kicked around by Chirrut Imwe. Material is flexible fiberglass Not sure if you can see it in the pics but i'm also wearing the correct undersuit.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW Expert Infantryman status is not required for members of this detachment. It should be viewed as an optional set of requirements for those who wish to take the accuracy of their costumes to the next level, and be recognized accordingly. We're a costuming club - think of it as an award for costuming excellence and you get the picture. The requirements will not replace or supersede 501st standards, but only serve as an inspiration for the level of accuracy that can be achieved. The standards are meant to be high but achievable, and any changes to the standards will need to be approved by a majority vote of this detachment. REQUIREMENTS OVERVIEW Because the stormtroopers vary in details between each movie, Stormtrooper Detachment EIB (Expert Infantryman Badge) Requirements are broken down to include base Requirements that every stormtrooper must attain, plus movie-specific Requirements. This allows for a higher level of accuracy than can be achieved through a single standard. Troopers achieving this distinction will be listed on the Expert Infantrymen page. RELATION TO THE 501st Legion Costume Reference Library (CRL) Standards Ideally the 501st CRL would capture the EIB requirements in the "SHOULD HAVE" sections of the relevant CRL entry. However until the CRL's are 100% confirmed, we'll continue to break them out in their own area. BASE REQUIREMENTS (ALL) Base Requirements are applicable to anyone wanting to achieve EIB status in the FISD. They cover the basic costume and in essence cover what is required for Legion Requirements. NOTE: On 21-Mar-08 FISD has ratified that FX helmets are no longer acceptable for Expert Infantryman qualification. ANH REQUIREMENTS (CANON) In addition to complying with all base Requirements, stormtroopers wishing to attain ANH Expert Infantryman status must also complete the ANH Requirements. Unlike ESB and ROTJ, there are two different helmet options: the Hero and Stunt. Troopers must choose one or the other. Lastly, troopers may choose among several different options, such as replacing the thermal detonator with a combination of grappling hook and comlink. ESB REQUIREMENTS (CANON) In addition to complying with all base Requirements, stormtroopers wishing to attain ESB Expert Infantryman status must also complete the ESB Requirements. ESB Requirements are very similar to ANH but with some small differences, notably in the handplates, helmet, and holster / blaster. ROTJ REQUIREMENTS (CANON) In addition to complying with all base Requirements, stormtroopers wishing to attain ROTJ Expert Infantryman status must also complete ROTJ Requirements. ROTJ Requirements are quite a bit different from ANH and ESB as they entail numerous changes to the armor as well as helmet. HEAVY WEAPONS TROOPER (HWT) REQUIREMENTS (EU) Heavy Weapon Trooper (HWT) Requirements In addition to complying with all ANH Requirements, stormtroopers wishing to attain HWT Expert Infantryman status must also complete Heavy Weapons Trooper Requirements. Essentially a HWT is an ANH trooper with accessories: pack, pauldron, ammo pouches and of course a large weapon (BFG). They can be clean or have minor weathering. STORMTROOPER COMMANDER (TKC) REQUIREMENTS (EU) In addition to complying with all ANH Requirements, stormtroopers wishing to attain TFU (The Force Unleashed) Stormtrooper Commander Expert Infantryman status must also complete TFU Stormtrooper Commander Requirements. Essentially a TFU Stormtrooper Commander comes in two variations: 1. An ROTJ trooper but with the following ANH details: split butt plate, trapezoid hand plates, left side mounted holster, ANH Stunt helmet. 2. An ANH Stunt trooper with paint and scuffs. This is based on the action figures. Both of these must be painted in accordance with established visual references.