Darth Aloha
-
Posts
6,562 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
79
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Articles
Media Demo
Posts posted by Darth Aloha
-
-
For the LED, I cut a small bit of plastic screen protector (like you might buy to protect the screen on your smart phone or ebook reader) and put it over the LED. Then I closed up the blaster and sprayed everything. At the end of the spraying process I used a pair of tweezers to pull off the screen protector and it worked like a charm.
Brilliantly clever! Hopefully I can find someplace nearby that sells screen protectors at a reasonable price. Here on Hawai'i island you get one or the other. Close by or somewhat reasonably priced. Rarely both at once. I wonder if a bit of saran wrap might do the trick.
In other hasbro blaster news I was able to grind away just a little bit of the screw tab under the barrel as to fit the folding stock over it. I didn't have to grind the screw at all, just plastic.
Thin files have been my friend in cleaning the plastic up. I have small triangular and a round rasps that do the trick inside the front sight and scope rail.
I think I just need some final sanding on the barrel before I drill holes (without splitting the body.)
Aloha and thanks again for your help.
-Eric
-
Well it seems that everything is easier when you split the blaster in half. My scope rail is torn up now after jabbing it repeatedly with a dremel. I doubt anyone but me will notice all said and done. Now I'm sitting here with an exacto cleaning up a mess that I could have prevented... so it goes. Sometimes being impatient takes way more time.
This process is fun and cheap enough that I might just do two hasbros.
Luckily the orange tip and the rail I ground off where the holes will go went more smoothly. Although I need to put a couple drops of solder on the LED on the front for good measure.
I'm going to try and drill the holes today without splitting the blaster. I'm hoping that a slow drill press and good clamping to the press table will prevent the bit from wandering around.
One more question Michael (this post)... how did you end up masking the LED from getting sprayed?
Aloha!
-Eric
Thanks for the compliments, Erics 1 and 2.
Hawai'i Eric, I didn't use a dremel for hollowing out the scope rail. Instead, I used an x-acto knife and scored all the way around the inner edges repeatedly until I was able to snap the inner plastic out. It took a long time, but I felt like I had more control that way than with the dremel. This process is much easier if the blaster is split into its two halves first. Once it was hollow, I sanded down the rough areas and then used bondo to fill in the seam once the halves were screwed back together.
Hope this helps!
-
Hey Jorran,
Great looking hasbro... I hope mine comes out as half as good as yours.
Would you mind describing your process to hallow out the scope rail? What dremel bits did you use etc?
Mine is rapidly becoming a mess. I had to walk away from it today after the dremel got away from me a few times.
Aloha,
-Eric
-
Use a Dremel and grind off the lower t track. Dont go too deep. Try and retain the round shape of the barrel. Mark the position of the holes by copying the spacing fron the other barrel vent holes.
The new row of holes should be staggered to the ones above it. Its easier to separate the blaster halves before drilling the new holes.
Use your Dremel to gring away any plastic obtrusions on the inside where the new holes will be. These can throw your drill off. Mark your centerpoints for the holes on the outside. Drill a small 1/8" pilot hole. The final holes are about 10mm in diameter (By memory). Try not to use a big drill bit for this as you will likely tear the plastic because its thin and it will make the holes uneven and off center. Use a unibit to enlarge the holes.
Funny... I've seen this suggestion from you about removing any plastic innards from behind the holes numerous times but it never sank in. I got impatient and filled my screw holes with bondo. I have noticed that the bondo doesn't stick very well to the plastic so maybe I can easily just dig the bondo out.
I wonder if I use a slow speed and use a drill press that the stuff inside wouldn't be an issue. That way I can clamp the gun to the table for better hole placement. Anyone ever tried using a drill press to drill these holes?
Or I could just forgo drilling the holes and move on with life. Or... maybe I buy another blaster and kit and make two?
Thanks for the help Panda.
Another option would be cutting the extra plastic "nub" off the Hasbro itself so you wouldn't need to cut a notch in the resin piece. The nub is helpful for lining things up and holding the piece in place for gluing though, so this is just a suggestion for if you don't want to mess with carving into the resin part.
I did notice an indentation in the folding stock but no notch. I thought about just taking the screw out and cutting off the tab. Still an option.
Thanks for your help everyone. I'll post pictures as soon as I get my hands on another dremel
-Eric
-
After two months I finally received my droopydoos v2 kit. Today was my first day with the hasbro blaster on the workbench. I went into work today to get the dremel and all the various attachments but sadly someone burnt up the motor without telling anyone. I guess I should just buy one for myself eh?
I have two questions (For today. There will be more I'm sure)... first is about getting rid of the track on the port side to be able to drill holes. How do people deal integral track below the preexisting holes in the white hasbro. I was going to just grind it off with a dremel sanding drum. If someone has some tips or can point me to a thread here on FISD (I did look... a lot) that talks about getting that area smooth for hole drilling I would really appreciate it.
Below is the area in question:
Next question is about the little screw tab thing that gets in the way of the folding stock. I've seen some kits pictured here on FISD with a little notch for that screw tab thingy. Do people cut that themselves? My idea was to just take the screw out and dremel off that little tab and just glue the stock on. Does that make sense?
The screw tab folding stock interference:
Aloha and many mahalos in advance for your help,
-Eric
-
I'm 6'5" and thinking about RT-MOD for my armor as I save my pennies. From my laytrooper's perspective the thighs and shins are really far apart... so before I forget this thread exist when I get my armor and want to ask... is there anything a taller trooper can do about that? Or will that be fixed once everything is strapped?
Aloha and thanks,
-Eric
-
-
There's padding in there?
-Eric
I have to admit, the padding on the inside of the helmet is very poor quality for the nice helmet you pay for
-
Hey Folks,
In my life I have seen many star wars items pass me by. For example the life size han in carbonite at some shop at the mall for $1,000 or so? Countless helmets and masks I wish I had purchased (riddell mini helmets anyone?). I couldn't let the $109--------go by. It's troopable and when I finally get a real lid this one will look pretty good on a shelf with other starwarsaphenalia. At this time I do not intend to get my bondo on and mod it.
So far I have a D-ring, a hasbro blaster, a holster (on the way), and droopy doo kit (on the way). I'm debating between AM and RT-MOD being 6'5" and 240... I'm still combing through the tons of info for armor for bigger troopers.
There have been -------------of this helmet, but I thought I'd share the funny copy written on the box.
FEARLESS AND UNSWERVINGLY LOYAL TO THE EMPEROR, STORMTROOPERS ARE THE MOST RECOGNIZED SYMBOL OF IMPERIAL MIGHT IN THESTAR WARSSAGA. ENCASED IN WHITE ARMOR OVER A BLACK BODYGLOVE, STORMTROOPER MAKE UP THE BULK OF PALPATINE'S GROUND-BASED ARMIES AND SPACED-BASED IMPERIAL STARFLEET.THEIR FEARSOME LOOKING HELMETS ALLOW THE STORMTROOPERS TO BREATH IN THE HARSHEST ENVIRONMENTS, INCLUDING THE VACUUM OF SPACE. THEY ARE ALSO EQUIPPED WITH LONG RANGE COMMUNICATIONS, ENSURING THAT THESE ELITE SHOCK TROOOPERS CAN BE DEPLOYED WITH SPEED AND EFFICIENCY TO QUELL INSURRECTIONS AND MAINTAIN ORDER ACROSS THE MANY WORLDS OF THE EMPIRE.How dumb.
------There are many reasons why I cling dearly to the Star Wars movies. Without getting out my forum therapist couch, I'll just admit that it makes me feel like a kid. A 39 year old kid.
----------I might as well send it back because Santa gave this bucket to a child... of any age. And what... not a toy?
And seriously where am I going to put an eFx sticker? I have enough shame posting about the thing here on FISD. There is no reason for me to advertise to the world how lame I am.
------------What I didn't expect once I put the thing on is how close my eyes are to the green lenses. My face is quite pressed up against the front. It was a little disorienting at first.
With aloha,
-Eric
----
The rest of the photos---------
-
From the same youtube user... White Trash Stormtroopers... which is not a bad collection of reference material in between all the trooper deaths.
-
Mele Kalikimaka and Hau’oli Makahiki Hou from the Big Island of Hawai'i to the FISD-verse
-Eric
-
Argh. Getting things shipped to HI is very very frustrating at times. Nothing can make me lose all my Aloha like trying to get something mailed here.
Apropos of this post... I was buying something from a guy on forum.501stsithlords.com today and he ended up charging me $5 more for shipping to HI. It was fair thing to do and he felt bad but that's just the way it goes. I was telling him about how much I want to reach through the phone and choke someone from Amazon. There are whole categories at Amazon they won't even ship here. Diapers for a timely example. I tried to sign up for Amazon Prime (the free shipping club they have). Amazon was happy to take my yearly fee, but then still charged me shipping to HI. I tried to order something from a website recently that did't even list AK and HI in the address web form.... which is common.
A friend in NYC sent me a couple boxes parcel post. Not only did it arrive 6 weeks later, but the boxes were beat to hell. I can't agree more with Julie. Do not ship anything you care about parcel post here.
Priority mail is the most reliable way to send something to Hawai'i. It's even more reliable than FedEx or UPS. Rarely will UPS send anything to the Big Island overnight. They'll charge you overnight but it typically takes 2 days. Anything sent FedEx from the west coast will come overnight here but typically 2 day from the east coast. I once had a package come from Canada, hit the Honolulu customs hub and was promptly sent to China for no good reason.
The priority flat rate boxes are the best and arrive quickly and without hassle. Scuba diving lead is stupidly expensive here on island. I had a friend buy some for me in Seattle and stuff it into a flat rate box and it saved me tons of money. We've made other friends and family go to Trader Joe's for us and stuff a flat rate box full of goodies and it still comes out to be a good deal.
Hawai'i is the most like living in a different country you can get without requiring a passport.
With Aloha,
-Eric
Just an FYI for everyone out there:
Shipping to Hawaii is not that hard, we are a real state, and have US Mail just like you mainlanders
You get insurance, delivery confirmation, all of it...I really disliek when sellers will only ship to the lower 48, it is not like we are third world in Hawaii LOL! USPS is the best option. UPS is very expensive. The flat rate boxes are the best way to go!The reason why I bring this up is the Juno tailor sent it parcel post. That goes to California, they wait for the boat to fill up, and then send it over. A flat rate large box would have been like $15, I would have happily paid for two, and it would be here in five days. Parcel will take 4-6 weeks.
Patience is not a virtue that I have! <_< Here is the best info I can share for shipping to HI:
-
Hey Julie,
I've cruised the pac501.net website... and emailed Tory and a few other members to see if there was anyone on the Big Island. Bummers no? There's only about 150k people on a rock the size of Connecticut so I suppose its not a surprise.
For sure I'm going to try and make Kawaii Kon. If I don't have my armor sussed out by then I'll just come dressed as Darth Aloha. I'd love to get some photos of DA and a bunch of troopers.
I'll certainly be on Oahu for meetings between now and then. I'll try and hook up with the Pacific Outpost folks the next time I'm around.
Aloha and thanks for the warm welcome.
-Eric
Aloha to you! The outpost guys are amazing! You'll have to catch a hop over to Oahu for Kawaii Kon in April! It is the biggest event in Hawaii.
If you are on facebook, the Pacific Outpost has a group, they also have a page (www.pac501.net), if any of the local guys could help at least the postage would be better.Julie
-
Aloha Eric! I'm surprise there are no members on the Big Island. I know there are a good number on Oahu, and I'm sure they'd be happy to touch base with you and help you. Make sure to sign up on their forum to make contact there.
Yep. I've been in touch with the Oahu crew
Thx! I'll be on the Big Island for a vacation in a few weeks. My wife and I love Hawaii and we have visited a few of the islands. We even got married in Maui!Drop me a note if you have questions about the Big Island or if you scuba dive... always looking for dive buddies.
Aloha,
-Eric
-
All,
I'll mostly be lurking until I can get my hands on some armor. I just wanted to say hi and say that I'm rather grateful for the crap-ton of information in this forum. Trying to understand the world of stormtrooper armor on the interweb at large can make your head spin.
Unfortunately there are no 501st members here on the Big Island o Hawai'i. The next time I'm on Oahu I'll be sure to go seek out the good folks from the Pacific Outpost.
Aloha,
-Eric (Darth Aloha)
Pacific Outpost Photoshoot
in Build Threads Requireing Maintenance
Posted
Maybe Darth Aloha will try and get over his cheap rubies costume embarrassment and find a way to get to kawaii kon. I mean when you're wearing board shorts and a lei, who cares how inaccurate and chintzy your getup is?
Great photos.
Aloha!
-Eric