kiyotei

Brian you are gonna have carpel tunnel syndrome after signing all these books for us:)) But thanks very much! I can't wait to read it. Should we send you a PM to sign up or is just posting here fine?

Nice find. I may have to upgrade mine to these. With ROMFX you have to make sure you don't exceed 12 volts. I got the ROMFX amp as well. I could use three of those batteries in my helmet. That would cut weight. I would have to make sure I can find battery holders that work with them. They might be fatter than standard AA batteries and not fit in that type of holder. I had this problem with another set of rechargeable AAs I bought for my Rock Band guitarre. The batteries wouldn't fit in it.

Hey MiDri thanks for posting the mAh ratings. I'm sick this week and didn't have the energy to look it up again. With today's battery chargers using 8 AA batts is a great way to go. The cheap chargers today show you when they are recharged, don't over charge the batteries, and charge them quickly.

I see you are in HI, did you get TE2 to do a special pull of his armor modified to femtrooper specs??? LOL.

I'm a kinda short AP armor guy at 5'7". I had to trim my thighs and shins. The thighs I trimmed on the top side. The length I went with was more related to me being able to walk properly in the armor. Since you have not actual worn the armor for an event you most likely will find that you will have to retrim it later on. That's fine and is expected so don't fret over getting it just right. As everyone on here says, "trim a little and then trim again if need be". The shins I had to trim from the bottom to shorten them. Trimming the shins will also affect how much you need to trim the thighs so keep that in mind. I realize I'm not actually answering your question but giving you some advice. OK so for how it should look, best think is to look at some photos from the movie and see how they look. The shins should not touch the thighs. Remember when you look at photos on here of members in their armor that the taller guys will have a bigger gap between the shins and thighs but that's because of their height. The original stormtroopers were 5'11" tall.

check out my thread on throat mics... --------- I found that I like and dislike the PPT cable. Its hard to fit inside the glove which I prefer cause it hides it. Its a bit of a pain running the cable down the arm INSIDE the underarmor shirt. I also found that it can be inconvenient to have to push the button to talk. Sometimes I find I have my blaster in the wrong hand so my fingers are not free to push it, etc. I recently bought a ROMFX amp and so I have not been using my throat mike.

YES!!!! Run the 8 AA rechargeable batteries. The 9volts have a very short life. You get maybe 2 hours out of them running small fans. You get a lot more fan time and amp time using the AA batteries. The 3 extra volts also gives everything a bit of a boost. I find you can mount the two 4 battery packs in the the curved rim of the helmet and wire them in series using the snap connector. Make sure you check your wiring so you don't accidently reverse the power to your amp. I'll post some pics with I get to it. Yes the 8 AA's are heavier but the battery life is well worth it.

this is awesome, sign me up for one personalized signed copy. It will be a great xmas present to myself.

I was worried he went Jedi on us!

Ok I am so gonna get crap for admitting that I watched the movie 17 Again, but it was pretty funny. What made it great was the geeky side kick who is a big star wars fan and had a land speeder bed. Anyone else see it and find him really funny? His character could be the best ueber geek in a movie.

You'll want to switch to industrial grade velcro anyhow. Have fun. Its hard figuring out where to start. I recommend starting with the arms. Leave the helmet for last. That way you can learn how to work with ABS on the easy parts and hone your skills before tackling the harder parts. Butting the joints is hard work but looks best in the end. I should mention I am an AP guy. It was my first set (and only set) of armor. You'll love it when its done. Don't sweat little mistakes, only you will see them.

dare I say you now have a nipple ring:)) I'm not sure if that's cannon.

Zam and I enjoyed meeting you as well. Looking good.

I had a great time and enjoyed meeting everyone. I decided to go as Bavarian Trooper...down with kilts!!! LOL I also tried out Bavarian Bossk:

that's good to know. I wasn't sure I was recalling it correctly from my childhood. I do recall wondering what the "colonial" wars were. That was what I thought he said. But after so many years I wasn't sure I inserted that thought after seeing the edited release of ANH.

In the original release of ANH is the term "Clone Wars" used by Obi Wan when he tells Luke about his father? I don't have a copy of the original release of ANH so I can't check it. I do know that in the edited version Lucas released later on he does refer to the Clone Wars.

wow great stuff. I can't wait for the first run of vinyl thighs.

not sure if this photo has made the rounds...

On AP you just paint them. Do NOT try to install Vader Dave's buttons on AP. They do not fit and are not made for AP. THe fx buttons are completely different from the way AP buttons are made. AP buttons are part of the large plastic piece. You cannot remove them. Simply paint the buttons, that's it, your done. THat said its not an easy paint job cause you they are round and its hard to mask them off. Use Humbro paints and a brush. Humbro paint spreads better on ABS than Testor. FYI the buttons show in Bigturcs post are hand painted. Those are not add on buttons from Vader Dave.

Long delay on this thread. I drilled out and then sanded the area. I started with very small drill bits and drilled four holes. I then re-drilled the holes several times using larger and larger drill bits. FYI, you need to increase the drill bit sizes in small steps. I took photos and will post them. I've mounted the electronic switch behind the trigger (no pics yet). I've also made the clip out of wood. I've kinda gotten stuck because I just didn't know how to make all the parts out of metal, it just looked impossible. So I decided two things: 1. I am gonna use wood and plastic, 2. I'm gonna just skip certain parts for now. For instance, since I don't think I have the tools/ability to make a folding stock, I'm just not gonna do it for now. I want to get the blaster working with electronics before the end of May and so I'm gonna just skip the stock. I already have a movie accurate blaster so I'm gonna make this one my "custom" blaster. ----------

It would help if we knew what helmet you got, FX, AP, TE2, or the EBay surprise package.

is that an Ewok fur rug you are standing on?

Vac Trooper, what paint did you use on your mouth? It looks very silvery vs Grey.

I checked with them about the odor and they will now be charging an extra fee for the odor.

After reading another thread on here regarding CAboots not making the trooper boots any more, I contacted them to try and verify this information. The rumor is false. Caboots has no plans to stop making them. So no worries. Which is a big relief because their boots work great. I realize in the other thread that the rumor was corrected but in case someone does not read the whole thread I thought it would be wise to post this information in a new thread.