pandatrooper

I checked Home Depot and Rona, (canadian home improvement stores) and no 1.25" PVC. I actually don't mind using ABS as it's a little more hefty. I've sanded the outside of the pipe and the end cap fits, I'll probably go this way. I guess it's time to start another blaster project!

Oh, I should have thought of that. I just got your hand plates! Thanks, but that seems like a lot of effort. Plus I'd like to build it in the next few days for an upcoming troop. I might try and take some of the 1.25" ABS pipe and sand the outer diameter so that the back cap fits. I don't even think we have 1.25" PVC in Canada.

Just wondering what size PVC pipe people use in north America for Doopydoos PVC pipe blaster kit? http://www.doopydoos.com/stormtrooper-e-11-pipe-blaster-base-detailing-kit-2068-p.asp They suggest using 40mm PVC pipe, but that size isn’t available here. The closest we have is 1.25” PVC which is slightly bigger. I tried using 1.25” ABS (same outer size as 1.25” PVC, just thicker inside) and the end cap for the back wouldn’t fit. Has anyone else built one? If so, what did you use?

Get some curved lexan scissors from a hobby shop they're used for cutting RC car bodies.

Wow, I hadn't noticed! Thanks guys, glad you find my contributions helpful. Here's to another 1000!

Very interesting thread, and great job troopers that are doing their best to not only lose weight for the looks / costume fit, but to improve quality of life and health as well! Just a small personal plug, I know Wii Fit is being talked about a lot. But the fact is, it's not as consistent and effective as it could be. I work on EA Sports Active and EA Sports Active More Workouts, as well as the new ones on the way. It's an interactive fitness product for the Wii. We did a lot of independent testing and even have a personal trainers on staff to help us evaluate the effectiveness of our workouts and ability to burn calories. You will sweat, you will burn calories. The results speak for themselves, check out the videos and testimonials here. http://www.easportsactive.com/home.action If you guys are serious about using an interactive fitness product in addition to regular exercise and changing your diet and lifestyle, you should really consider EA Sports Active. There's lots of testimonials out there. In fact, I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is. If there are 3 troopers on this thread that are actively trying to lose weight and get fit, (Tiffanie, I'd like to make you one of them as you've posted lots of great info to help people) I will personally send you a copy of EA Sports Active for you to try. Some catches: - you must commit to a 6 week challenge that has approx 3 workouts a week - must be in conjunction with diet / lifestyle changes (eg: eliminate sugar, fat, alcohol, etc.) - you must post your results here Whether you reach your goal with EA Sports Active or not isn't the goal. I've found that all it takes sometimes is something like this to show people the benefits, and hopefully other lifestyle changes happen. Hopefully, you will find it effective (I think you will!). *BTW: No I do not get games for free, I have to pay for them just like everyone else.

Use a hair dryer / heat gun on low to warm up the tape / adhesive to remove it. You can soften up the residue and use a fresh piece of tape to quickly "tap" the area, and the soft adhesive will stick to the tape. the rest can be wiped off. Personally, I would not use WD40. It's a solvent for grease, not plastic. I use alcohol or Goo Gone for adhesive residue.

Congrats Matt! Nice work! Another Canadian makes EIB!

Glad you like it guys, hope you find it helpful and inspirational in that you can do a lot of stuff on top of a basic build. The AM kit is a great "canvas" to start from, and just by adding in some details or customizing for a better fit will yield a great build that's a lot of fun too! I'll be posting a review of the AM kit after I'm done, I've already got a few things that I would suggest as improvements should Tupperware TK decide to refine the armor later on. Jason: Stukatrooper developed the "heat seal iron" return edge trick, he posted a great tutorial here: http://whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=2313&view=findpost&p=28829 I think I only have one edge left that I might do a return on (I'll probably need to cut the armpit area of the chest piece as it's way too wide for me). If I do it and decide to make a video, I'll post one up for you.

The ab buttons have been primered Painted the buttons using Humbrol colors 5 (grey) and 15 (dark blue) I cut a small piece of leftover ABS to create the side buttons panel. Tupperware TK says to just install the buttons straight on the ab, but I will glue this panel down to the small vertical button panel before installing the painted buttons. The AM shoulders are HUGE! Here's a comparison of my current screen lineage shoulders on the left, and on the right is a straight out of the box AM shoulder. The middle one, I heated up the shoulder and re-shaped it to try and match the screen look. I know AM is fan sculpted, but during the build I try to do little things to match the kit a little closer to the film look, at least in terms of proportions. While I was at it, I decided to cut an inch off the bottom since the AM was too long for me. The AM shoulder on the left is heated and narrowed, has an inch removed from the bottom, and a return edge added and first pass sanding. The one on the right has had an inch cut off. Again, I leave about 3/8" plastic on the end for doing the return edge. The arms took a few hours, but I made all the snap plates and glued them in, and sewed new velcro / elastics for assembly. Completed arms (sorry about the flash / no flash). Pretty happy with the results, much more tailored fit for me!

Glue the shoulder straps to the chest if you want screen accuracy, and then bend the straps with a heat gun (gentle heat, keep it moving) to conform to your body shape.

I wear a US 8.5 and I got a pair of 8's, they fit fine. The toes are a little long, so they accommodate for that half size. I was int he same boat as you and actually bought a pair of 8 and 9 to be sure. keep in mind that TK boots are a slightly narrow fit, but they will stretch as they are leather.

The AM armor is actually taller in length than the previous FX. When I compared the FX pieces to my AP derived armor, each piece is a half inch to an inch longer. They are wider too, but can be trimmed. I'm 5 foot 8 inches, and just under 150lbs and I've been able to trim it to fit in height and width so far. If you're in the lower budget range, I say go for ATA, and AM. Mid budget, go for AP and TE2 Higher budget, go for TM. All of them can be made to fit you. The original troopers were 150 lbs and around 5 foot 10, so you're not far off from that at all. It depends on your budget and intended use, there's lots of threads discussing the merits of various armor types.

Thanks Mason for the offer! I already disassembled and soldered up the Aker amp for this blaster. I used your tips from that other post I made asking about how to wire it up and it works, and it's LOUD! Just the way I like it! I already bought another Aker amp from Jim for trooping use, so I don't mind using this one for the blaster. Thanks again!

Thanks Adam. Actually, I didn't use much in the way of power tools. I used a hacksaw and a mitre box for the PVC / ABS cuts, I just drew guide lines and cut carefully. I use a cordless drill a lot, and do a lot of "Dremel-fu", but it's a lot of filing, and hand sanding mostly. The styrene was cut mostly with score and snap method, or scissors. Just shows that you can do a lot with little!

Thanks guys, glad you like it! I've moved this to the Blasters forum, where it should be.

Thanks guys, glad you like it. John, this isn;t the exact one, but it looks like this http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXB364&P=7 You can buy them online from any hobby store, they are used for sealing heat shrink material on RC airplane wings. I got mine from a local hobby store.

I used 4" corrugated drain pipe. It's not 100% screen accurate, but prefer it since it;s more durable. It's believed that the screen accurate approach was to use rubber tubing with a "D" shaped profile, and it could have been adhesive or glued into place. There's several threads on MEPD discussing it. Here's a good one http://forum.mepd.net/index.php?showtopic=6282

saving for completed weathering images.

More to come! Currently working on the internal structure for the speakers and electronics.

Primering parts Primer is good a revealing imperfections. Decided to fix a few spots with bondo before another coat of primer Silver. I will weather these later Primered the grips and sprayed them dark brown Painted the cooling fins gold Test fit I used a 3" to 2" taper to create an inner bezel for the barrel tip. Some Dremel-fu created the shape I needed Internal view of the electronic for the trigger After painting the black, i decided to dust on a few light coats of gunmetal metallic Masked off the stock and painted it brown Aker amp disassembled so that I can configure the speaker and board to fit inside Trigger half finished. You can see the internal wires threaded through the receiver. You can also see the paint detail

The rear stock lube container area needed the holes enlarged, so I used a drill with a Uni-bit Test fit with sprinkler parts I created "knurled" grip marks with a file, just eyeballed the cross hatching Starting to bondo various gaps, etc I created seams with a flat chisel Bondo the transition for the barrel Starting to primer parts. Before painting, I'll sand the parts and wash the parts to remove oils, and if I can't submerse the part in water, I at least wipe it with alcohol, let it dry and use a tack cloth to remove dust before painting. Barrel primered Satin black Krylon While the paint was drying, I assembled the ribbed section using the drain pipe, cut to the same diameter as the main barrel. I used 14" zip ties to attach the drain pipe Oh yeah... Main barrel locks onto the receiver via a retention bolt Rear sight assembled using a chicago bolt. the sight will "lock" into place using a small magnet The sight stops on the little block of wood I added, I will blend it in with Bondo

Rear sight supports cut from sheet styrene Glued and clamped. The H shaped frame next to the supports is the sight itself, made from square styrene tubing The adjustment dial is made from a long 3/16" rivet, a washer and 3 Canadian dimes glued together. Dry fit Glued into place. You can make it permanent or movable. Mine pivots on a long chicago bolt Rear sight cover cut from a section of black ABS Cut the notch, drilled a center hold, sanded the surface Insert glued under the cover (will paint it silver inside later) Front and side profiles glued into place Cut some brackets from a flat aluminum bar. I'll hot glue these inside. Filled the inside to make it more solid Dry fit of rear sight cover Front sight detail. I just drew this by eyeballing reference images. Cut it out Screwed and glued into place. I added a "bolt" detail using a rivet, I slotted it with a Dremel. Didn't want to use a real screw in case I split the wood Lining things up. Who likes Spam? Back to that round detail, added the knob using a strip of wood and a screw I'll fill the hole with Bondo later Opposite side is a screw, also bondoed later

I've notched the back where the "curvy" details are. Just used a cone shaped bit on the Dremel to carve it out I cut panels of styene to glue to both sides of this half circle part. One side has a flat knob / dial, the other is a screw / rivet Glued in place using E6000 Added rivet detail and Dremeled the contours I glued inner shims inside the main barrel, which allows the smaller barrel tip to fit snugly inside and centered For the taper from the main barrel to the barrel tip, I found lots of solutions. Bubble tea cups, slurpee cups, flower pots, funnels, etc.. Just use what you can find. I convinced my wife to sacrifice a plastic picnic glass - for the greater good of the Empire! Marking the line indicating where to cut the cup in half by placing the smaller barrel tip inside the main barrel. I glued a ring part way down the smaller barrel so that the taper will stay concentric. I ran a bead of construction adhesive around the barrel so that when the taper is pressed into place, it will remain secure Test fit of the smaller barrel inside the main barrel with taper in place This step is for later (electronics) but I wanted to feed the wires through the chamber pipes before they were glued in place Chamber pipes glued in place This outer connector for the 3" ABS pipe will be cut to create flanges for the main barrel Feed plate is screwed and glued in place. I used screws in "visible" locations, and areas where people wouldn't see them (inside the drum post, under the rear sight, etc.) I also applied glue to both surfaces before assembling Feed plate assembled Simple ring cut from PVC for the smaller barrel tip I cut some grip panels from wood, sanded the edges. I won't glue them in place until after the blaster is painted, to make them brown.

I've used 2" PVC for the main receiver section where the chamber is. I've drawn some parallel lines down the length of the 2" pipe. I'll glue the sides of the pipe onto the receiver so that it looks like the chamber is really "part" of the wood. To draw the lines, simply lay the pipe on a flat surface and hold it up against a piece of wood to draw the lines Discard the scraps This is where the pipe will be glued. You can see that the pipe meets the surface of the stock almost perfectly. I've cut a small section of the pipe at the front so that it will be easier to assemble the cooling fins I've cut out the ejection port. I simply glued a section of pipe inside the port, and elevated it slightly with scrap plastic. I'll paint this silver later. Here's the cooling fin section, I've drawn a circle using the barrel profile. Cut it out and glue it to the pipe section I've cut out 10 cooling fins from sheet styrene, 5 fins per side. Glue them in place with Plastic weld Just a dry mockup (not glued / screwed in place yet) I forgot to cut out the trigger hole, so a little jig saw action and Dremel action will clean it up I started rounding the edges of the stock. I didn't have any fancy tools so I used... a knife. Seriously, I just whittled the edges to get the rough shape, used a file to clean it up, Dremeled a bit, then sanded it smooth. Here's a pic of the sanded stock, as well as some greeblies. This will work for the tube that's inside the real stock which is some kind of container and screw top brush which i assume is for gun oil or something. I used some sprinkler tuning parts, a short threaded tube and a couple end caps. One area I didn't get quite right was the area just behind the rear sight. It should extend from the stock to just below the sight. I just glue a small block of wood here and bondo it later I created the receiver detail by transferring the template drawings to sheet styrene of various thicknesses. Adding more detail. Gluing with Plastic Weld Finished receiver details. I glued them to the wood using E6000