Leaderboard

Hey Tom - it looks like you're good to go and have been granted appropriate access! Linking to your Legion profile is just to ensure that your suit has been officially approved by your local GML, so welcome aboard.

YouTube video link is on page 2. 4 videos in a playlist. Commentary is last and longest one.

Some excellent advice/information from Justin there, John. To elaborate a bit, a few other things you need to take into consideration are: 1. Accuracy- If you are just looking for armor to wear at cons and such this is not so important, but if you are hopefully looking to join the Legion there are lots of details that must be screen accurate (or very close). I am not sure where you got the files, but note that the end product must meet these requirements. Either way we we are here to help! 2. Flexibility- Certain parts of the costume must be able to bend during normal use in order not to crack. This is especially important on the parts like the lower leg (calf) pieces and exterior "ammo" belt as they must flex quite a bit when putting them on. Unless you have a 3D printer that can print large items, pieces like the chest, ab plate etc. will have to be printed in pieces and be joined together. Bondo type products (at least those I am aware of) dry rigid, do not flex and will crack under even the slightest pressure. 3. Sanding- All parts of the exterior must be sanded not just somewhat smooth, but perfectly smooth. Considering there are lots of small ridges/crevices/angles, even with fillers/filling primers you could be looking at weeks or even months of sanding. 4. Painting- Not the biggest of deals as there are a lot of high quality products out there, but if (when) you should have any scratches/cracks these cannot be buffed out in many cases like ABS can and will need re-painting. Please don't think I am trying to dissuade you from continuing with your build, sir. 3D printing is perfect for many items like weapons, accessories and maybe even a helmet, but I'm not so sure it's practical for a complete set of armor that is intended to be worn. As Justin mentioned, getting a kit from one of our vetted armorers will not only save you an insane amount of work, but you will know that they are durable, flexible, and have met the criteria for 501st approval (when assembled correctly, of course)!

Backstage place a nice indent as to where the blaster base mounts… I used CA glue to attach it. I believe there are screws that will go through this part and the metal base and bolt on the inside of the thigh.

We'll do our best to help whenever you have questions, but be aware that it's very likely that the time and expense of printing an ANH suit will be far more than purchasing a vacuformed ABS kit, and still yield an inferior product. We try to replicate both the accurate processes AND materials around here, so all print lines would need to be removed so we can't tell it's been printed and it appears accurate to the films, which is a tall order. Holy bondo, Batman. As mentioned, there is no "step" ridge under the cover strip for biceps like there sort of is on the forearms, so those will need to be removed from your file or sanded flat, then with a coverstrip added on top, or the two halves overlapped to simulate one (less accurate).

great advances , keep it up !

Looks AWESOME, Garrett! As you mentioned, there are a few places where some more glazing putty is needed, but it turned out fantastic! Depending on how detailed you want to get on your next build, one thing I would suggest is to go to Ace hardware (there are several in the Portland area) and pick up a few odds and ends. The cool thing about Ace is that they sell specialty screws (thousands more choices than Lowe's or Home Depot) and you can purchase them individually! I would go for a star-head screw in the side greeb For the muzzle they have the hex-head bolts (hundreds of sizes) and Carriage bolts to attach the folding stock (which you should be receiving tomorrow).

First troop as a TK at a Make a Wish event with the Air National Guard 142nd. Armor held up pretty well despite having to climb into and out of a pickup truck twice (with the help of three other people)! Since I needed a blaster, I decided to try to finish an ESB promo pipe build that @MoSc0ut had very kindly printed the parts for and started for me back in 2020. I set myself the goal of finishing it to a troopable level in 48 hours (including paint dry time) which for my usual pace is unheard of… Monday: Pieces Bending and installing the printed t-tracks (ignore the bottle of umeshu in the back - this was a sober build). Assembly/filler primer on some bits + a few hours of researching placement for everything Tuesday: Pre painting Wednesday: Final pre troop (temp approved by our GML for one troop only!) (Ignore pup in the BG) Post mortem: For the short timespan it came together pretty well. Unfortunately I ran out of satin black and the closest thing I could get at short notice was semi-gloss, so the finish is way too shiny. Aside from a repaint/clearcoat, some printed bits need more glazing putty and filler primer, especially t-tracks and stock. The scope rail should be filled in as well. A few bits just need more sanding, but no more than a couple evenings worth of work at most. And as @justjoseph63 will know, I’m already looking towards my next ESB build with an original stock At the troop:

Update: I had to de-solder the wire connections for the scope display, main display, and laser in order to feed the wires through their respective holes. My soldering skills aren't the best, but I managed. Once done, all the components were re-attached and tested. I then found out my speaker wasn't working. A quick check revealed that the wire connection had snapped....yet again... for like the tenth time.... I have mentioned it before that the BlastFX kits are amazing, but I have had a bugger of a time with wire connections snapping from simply manipulating components around the blaster. This is understandable as the wires are very tiny due to the components used, but none-the less very frustrating. When it comes time to install everything and glue the bits-and-bobs on, I will probably use E6000 instead of superglue. That way I can probably pry off stuff to get to wires if needed. In this picture you can see the red/black wire extensions with connectors that I made that go the muzzle lighting effects. This was so I could take the blaster apart into two main parts: Barrel and Receiver, for transport. I really want this to fit in my TK transport case lid so I don't have to lug around a big rifle case and get stared at suspiciously... I'll have to see if this is still feasible as the barrel is very hard to slide into the receiver, and as this is simply printed plastic I don't want things cracking over time. You can also see the battery (yellow) and at the far left, the white rectangle is the bottom ejection port cover plate and will hold the on/off switch plus the 3 mode fire selector button. (Single shot, rapid shot, stun). I will still be using the kit supplied rotary fire switch that is part of the pistol grip and replicates the MG34 selector. However, if this craps out, I have an alternate mode. Everything is now fed through the holes, and I am GENTLY starting to re-assemble the blaster. In earlier posts, you see how I cut out the barrel near the receiver in order for more light from the LED string to show through. After looking online I saw a video made by 3D Props (maker of my DLT) showing the lights more toward the muzzle. It looks great! Also, the spacing of the T-Tracks at the muzzle gives more hole openings. I'm not sure how he is accomplishing this with the metal support "barrel" than runs through the barrel jacket. There is no room between the barrel and barrel jacket for the LED strip. Hmmm.....? I was considering moving mine towards the muzzle, but I would have to extend the wires, an possibly drill barrel holes again, which is a pain. I'll just have the lights at the receiver and worry about it at another time. I've also painted the new printed components, and have to wire in the On/off slider switch for the power.

Hi all, As the actual accuracy of the armour kit itself is not really considered with EI and Centurion, it’s almost possible to clear anything. As mentioned, SDS has its share of accuracy issues in terms of the actual moulded plastic parts (helmet, chest piece, moulded ab buttons, overlap construction on the limbs, belt, thigh ammo pack shape etc.), yet it can still be taken up to Centurion (with a lot of hard work). This is because centurion is more about having the correct screws, the correct alignment, minimal black gaps around the kit etc., not about the plastic parts themselves. In this sense, this is quite “fair” towards armour kits from all different makers and price groups. On the other hand, those that want to make the most accurate and realistic suit of armour will choose the most accurately moulded kit within their price range. :-)