Darth Aloha

Ha well.... I think I'll probably stay on island and work on my build the weekend of HEXXP Wait what!? Waikiki has nothing on Waimea... do you have a dog costume contest at your farmers market? I think not! They do close off the Ali'i drive in Kona every year with a couple stages and bands. It gets pretty nutty... but this year we're staying closer to home in the cooler weather. Maybe next year the pac501st should come to Kona for Halloween Aloha, -Eric

After further googling I may have been thinking of phpbb not ipb. I don't think the [table] tag comes out of the box. Sadface. -Eric

This creeps me out... in all the right ways.

Crap. It just dawned on me that due to the lateness of my RT-MOD order (Rob promises next week) I won't be able to join you guys for HEXXP as I had hoped I'm bummed. Here's hoping for more trooping events in 2012. Aloha nui, -Eric

Aloha 324, A modified hasbro is indeed 501st acceptable. You can even get your Expert Infantry Badge using your hasbro. What you might have read is that a hasbro with the resin modifications is not acceptable for the Centurion level of costuming standard. The base 501st costume requirements read that your E-11 must be: "Based on a real or replica Sterling sub-machine gun, scratch-built, or a modified commercial toy Stormtrooper blaster." Hope this helps, -Eric

You may want to check out the forums at http://www.forcepike.net/ Aloha, -Eric

Check out this thread for contact info for all armor maker type people. Aloha, -Eric

While I find it really annoying that Lucas insists on pooping all over my childhood by changing the OT (as covered in a session with my therapist back in 1997) I still pre-ordered the full bluray set. Why the heck not? It is still Star Wars even if Han didn't shoot first, there are more dewbacks than before, mos eisley is busier, alderaan explodes more spectacularly, Biggs might show up, the hologram of the emperor is different, the ghost of Anakan keeps changing, naboo celebrates the fall of the empire, Boba Fett's voice gets a makeover, and womprats seem to be freaking everywhere. I'll watch the bluray movies, once I get a player, and I'll hate the differences and love every minute of hating it.... so will you... because everything is proceeding as Lucas has foreseen. We'll buy it even if we're mad at him.... maybe especially because we're mad at him. Aloha nui, -Eric

I had the exact opposite problem where the droopy mkII counter seemed a bit big for my hasbro. In fact I couldn't quite figure out how to place it.... It even slid around when I applied clamp pressure and is now kinda crooked. Aloha, -Eric

Honestly... I love the FISD forums because.... sometimes 0.875 mm is the difference between total crap and screen accurate... just not in this case.

Oh no no no no that's 0.875 mm too much! Aloha, -Eric (please don't ever take me seriously)

Interesting! The hasbro kit I got had a molded d-ring that I thought looked cheezy. So I plucked it off and put one of Karin's d-rings in. I didn't open mine up, but I wish I had gutted my hasbro first. It would have made modification easier... such as: Preserving the LED light. I drilled through one of the wires. Drilling the extra set of holes evenly Hallowing the scope rail Sanding the body smooth including lettering Painting the inside black Priming the outside Have you seen either Pandtrooper's build or Jorran's build? They were the largest inspiration for my build... which I need to post more photos of. Hope this helps. Aloha, -Eric

Look here man there's only so much change I can handle in one year ok? What is this stress you speak of? I think it probably started yesterday.... at least I noticed it this morning after not really checking FISD since yesterday afternoon (GMT-10) Aloha and thanks, -Eric

I suddenly feel like the guy who is always complaining about something... which I hope isn't the case because I heart the FISD forums more than I'm willing to admit... at least to my boss and coworkers who think I'm here in my office actually working.... not obsessing about my upcoming TK build. I was wondering what happened to the circle dots or stars for each thread on the left of a list? They showed you if a thread was unread (dot), was something you posted to (star), and allowed you to click to the most recent page/post. Aloha and thanks, -Eric

Congrats man!

After wandering around today trying to find something to spray silver into to paint the ejector port of my hasbro.... I ended up wasting a plastic cup or two. Tinfoil. So simple... duh! Thanks man. Now when I finish touching up the blaster I'll just use the same spray I painted it with. Aloha, -Eric

Fun photos Thanks for sharing them with us. Aloha nui, -Eric

Would it be possible to get the [table] tag enabled? Aloha and thanks, -Eric

You can always tell when I have a ton of work to do... my post count per day goes up. I have been wondering about searching on FISD since the upgrade. The search form that appears in the upper right of every page does not seem able to find what I'm looking for. I noticed that its only seems to search on the title. I can search for "elastic" using this form and all the threads that come back have the word "elastic" in the title. For example I know for a fact there's only one post with the word "Jervis" in it. I posted talking about my trip down under. If I put the word "jervis" in upper right search box, no results are returned. If I click on the cog icon and used the advanced search page and seach for "jervis," no results are returned. It isn't only until I use the advanced search and click on the radio button "Display results: As Posts" will my post show up in the results. I wanted to get a photo recently of the right side snap. Here's what I tried until I found what I was looking for: Using the advanced search form I searched for "right snap," no results Change "Match" to "Search title and content," no results Change "Match to "Only search in content," no results Change "Display results" to "As posts" and boom... a post with the right side snap appears. I was also wondering if there was a way to turn off the search flood control for logged in users. That way anons can spider and search flood but if you're a valid user you won't need to wait the 20 seconds before searching again. Mahalo nui, -Eric

Behold the power of your local hardware store... I found thin elastic and snaps with a setting tool. I have tons of black snaps from tandy but the silver ones will come in handy for the crotch and the right side snap. Also after reading Jorran's saga about his vario pliers not doing the job, I'm stoked to have the setting tool.

If you have the cash now, contact Rob right away. He just fixed up his molds and is getting ready for another run really soon. He travels for work and is away from email for long stretches (let's pitch in and buy him an iPhone) so better to email sooner than later. I ordered my armor in July... So it could be a while if you don't catch Rob at the right time. Aloha, -Eric

You guys look incredible!

There's always the----------- Aloha, -Eric

FISD peer pressure?