kiyotei

I run a fan and a sound system in my helmet (radio shack mini amp). The fan batteries (I use two 9 volts) die in about an two hours. It gets really frustrating and I have to carry a lot of batteries with me. I also use a 9 volt for the amp. Enough is enough. My fans died while trooping PAX in Seattle this past weekend and I had serious heating issues. So I looked online and ended up going to Radio Shack and buying a large Remote Control Car battery. It puts out 9.6 volts rated at 1600 mAh (milli-amp hours). A typical 9 volt battery is about 120 mAh. The fan I use is the 12 volt 120 mAh fan most people buy at Radio Shack. So in theory running the fan and amp off of this new rechargable battery pack means I'll get about 12 hours of fan use (1600/120 == 13 hours). I know you can buy ultra life 9 volts with 1200 mAh but they cost $13 apiece and you will always have to have a spare set with ya cause you never know when they will die. The RC car battery pack and charger were not very expensive. After about 3 troops it will be paid for in battery savings. I'll post photos once I finish mounting it in my helmet. I had to add a diode in line between the battery pack and the amp to drop the voltage to about 9 volts because the amp is rated at 9 volts. I couldn't find any documentation on the amp so I didn't know what max allowed voltage for it is. Now that I have lots of power I may add my second fan back into the helmet. I cut slots in the back of my helmet some time ago for better venting and so I mount the fan over the vent holes to draw air in. I find that works better because my head really blocks the air flow its sucking out (exhaust vs fresh air.). Plus having the fan pointed in helps circulate air in the helmet.

Ah my bad, didn't realize I forgot to add my photo link after posting the photos, here it is: PAX Photos

PAX (Penny Arcade Expo held each year in Seattle). A few of us trooped it for LFL promo stuff. 2 troopers and Darth got invited up on stage to play Rock Star. Some one in the crowd taped it and posted it on youtube. Here's a link to it. FYI, the bass player and drummer have never played this game before so were a bit lost (OK I admit I'm the drummer and was totally lost). [Edit] Here is a link to all the photos we took, sorry forgot to add this after posting the photos online: PAX Photos

Great troop, great pics.

great job, great thread, great pics. A PVC neck seal? Is that not really hot?

I saw it today. My boss took us to see it. I hate to admit this but I was falling asleep about 3/4 way thru it. I was really tired though so it was not the movie. I think it is better than the other animated star wars movies.

here is the link to it on their website: ---------- Model: 277-1008 Catalog #: 277-1008

Not a damn thing. Ok maybe finish the painting on my helmet. I cut vent slots in the back during the winter and now that its summer I've pulled the decals and am painting the area.

FYI AP is great armor.

Athrun, Check out this link, he shows how to build the armor out of Foamie Foam... http://www.tk409.com/tk409.html ...you want the MINI TROOPER section near the bottom. If you have any questions feel free to PM me. Some of the parts are tricky to make (shoulder bells).

Nice job Mike. I made a tk suit for my nephew as well out of the Foamie foam. FYI you can buy big rolls of it at Jo Ann's Fabric store. Michaels does not carry the big rolls (at least near me they don't). The two problems I had with it was that one it tears (boys are a bit hard on the armor), and you gotta find a strong glue. I found that the glue they sell for Foamie foam does not hold up at all. Make sure you reinforce any areas that are obvious stress zones.

very cool looking. I have one question, in your very first photo your helmet appears to be split in half vertically, was that how it came? I have not seen a helmet like that before.

Looking great. TK-TEX get started on yours. Its not that hard and there are plenty of tutorials to follow on here. I am not a skilled crafts man and mine turned out pretty darn good (ok I had to replace my ear pieces cause I over trimmed).

welcome back and good luck with your continued recovery...well it will now be more of a total life style change.

regarding attaching velcro...when I attach velcro to a cloth surface I add fabric glue to it. The velcro does already have an adhesive on it but I find that it does not hold well on fabric (canvas, strapping, etc). I find the fabric glue really helps hold it in place. You can get fabric glue at any art store or fabric store. It dries very quickly too.

What Paul says is very true about AP. I had a strap that went around the bicep piece except it kept slipping off and it was very hard to put the armor on with it. since removing it, I've had no problems and I am very happy with the fit and how it stays in place.

ah yes the classic armor bite...makes us look like a bunch of heroin users:))

On the one thigh I did using the butt seam, I found it much easier to first glue little tabs on the inside of the thigh pieces to hold them together and then glue the long outside strip into place. I'll get to do this to my other thigh because I just had a blow out on it. When I built my armor I with started butt seams but found the thighs were really hard to do so only did one that way. I overlapped the other thigh. If you look at the plastic you can see that the overlap strips are not straight down the front of the thigh on the AP.

Scott, please let your wife know that there are many of us around the globe pulling for her and keeping your family in mind and in our prayers.

I don't know about the helmet but the body looks like AP to me.

Great news, glad you are healing with almost Woverine speed:) Did the mouth injury result in the loss of any unwanted pounds??? I always figure if I'm gonna have a bad illness or injury at least I could lose some unwanted weight.

If money is tight you could do an officer uniform which you could then wear for trooping. We always try to have a few folks in officer uniforms to help handle the crowds, take the photos, and watch our backs.

one of the guys on GT posted this link, its really funny. Watch to the very end when you see the 2 troopers talking. The lift ride is truely funny. http://geek.videosift.com/video/Gnar-Wars-...-Star-Wars-Fans

when I watched the movies I didn't like the clones. But now that I have trooped with a few clones I want to build a suit. I'm liking it more and more.

Sorry to hear about your layoff. It really sucks getting layed off. I had it happen to me once. It really is tough emotionally and financially.