ZacMuleer

Do you have any strapping problems using nylon snap "plates"? It seems like a good alternative to plastic... I would just be worried about either the material fraying from the pulling going on or the snap pulling through the elastic. Is it just a personal preference or is one actually better?

Congrats, Paul! I'm right up the road from you and in the process of my first build as well. Garrison Tyranus has been a monumental help and a great support group through this process. Let me know how things are going!

Oh, I HATE this. I just placed a second order for more magnets, since half of mine did this and now I'll need more to make sure my thigh pieces glue together well. Oh, and when I was pulling the SHARDS apart, one of them dug into my finger. At least now I can say I put blood into my costume... :lol

The Hasbro doopy kit does come with more accurate power cylinders that you glue on top of the mag holder and Heungster (sp) that glues on top of what you circled - darksideemt didn't attach those. Not much can be done on the hasbro to get rid of the fake cylinders/counter.

I have a great method for the doopydoos resin kit- I bought a 5/8" (I think the measurement is correct: I'll double check) dowel rod from lowes and a roll of 14 gauge wire (near the picture hangar aisle from lowes as well). The wire easily wraps around the dowel and keeps it's form (but does not act like a real spring). It's also a perfect fit into the doopydoos full resin kit. EDIT: pictures added.

Amazing!! Those ladies sure love men in uniform, don't they? Definitely make it worth the investment.

Great job, guys and gals of GT!

I ordered both a Hasbro conversion kit and a full resin - and am looking forward to getting a DL44 from them. no problems, no correspondence needed, and would recommend them. Just needed to exercise a little patience. It is coming across the pond, after all.

Sweet!! I was hoping that that was the case! I will respect the squint. Thanks, everyone- helmet is re-riveted and solidified. Now onto those pesky ears...

Howdy, all - I've yet to construct a build thread, though I think I should for this reason. I am mostly replicating pandatrooper's builds, so I know you all have seen those before. But I've recently come to a problem. I think. I'm putting together an ATA helmet (again, thank you pandatrooper, for the amazing build thread). I make all the necessary cuts and clamp the face to the cap-n-back where I think it should go. Looks pretty good, eh? I'll work on finishing the teeth later. But looking at it from almost all angles it looks really freakin' good. The front (above) and both sides are lined up right in the center (the forehead traps line up with the eye sockets). And the other side... I put the helmet down to begin to work on the ears, and it looks like the face is kinda squinting at me. I know that the helmet is screen-derived, and that it isn't supposed to be symmetrical. But does this look normal? It seems that the left side sticks out farther than the right... In this picture, it would seem that instead of a straight line, the axis of the face is curved upward. If it is supposed to look like this, then I'll sit down and shut up, but did riveting the bottom cause this? I took one lower rivet out to see if it would fix the problem, but haven't seen a change. Would taking the other out as well (And leaving it out) fix the issue? And do the ears do a good job of holding the rest of the helmet in place (no swiveling)? Thanks, all!!

Congrats, Joe - very inspirational thread! your speed is impressive and has really lit a fire for me to get mine done. Cheers!

Hey Michael - what is the distance you used between the line you drew across the bottom edge of the pre-drilled holes, and the center of the holes that you drilled yourself? I'm not sure where to start the pilot holes. Thanks!

Absolutely awesome build. I'll definitely have this build up as I try to replicate your success!

This is a great thread! I'm just starting my AM/ATA lid build so please keep up the fantastic work!

I saw that thread and immediately thought of fingerpicks for guitars or banjos. So that's an option if you can't find it at a fabric store.

Do adhesives work on the plasti-dip in the helmet? (E6000, or industrial velcro?) Would scoring the plastidip help with this?

Is there a dowel rod or something that you use to put down the length of the barrel with a couple of caps/discs to keep the spring in place?

Hi, all - I was wondering if anyone could post a how-to on making the inner bolt and spring for the Doopydoos all-resin kit? While Martin has a fantastic build going over on----------- he included his how-to on a working bolt. What about a simple non-working one for those of us less talented folks? :-) Thanks in advance! Dan

LOL - My big brown box is clearly on its way, so I have yet to tinker with it. Thanks for the tip!

Right, I saw that - but it said that the armor makers AM was already made for the overlap method. I was just wondering what the "bit of ingenuity" was, since I have little to none of my own. I guess, the easy answer would be... Is the overlapping method just squeezing the inner halves of the thighs a little more than the outer halves? Thanks, D

Howdy, y'all - In the whitearmor main portal armor tutorials, there are some fantastic diagrams and explanations about the differences between overlapping and butt-joining the armor, and that usually the make of the armor will tell you which is easier to do. (For example, AM/FX armor has overlapping joints.) However, I noticed that many troopers (including the incredibly helpful pandatrooper) who are building AM armor prefer to go with a more screen-accurate butt-joining and top it off with a cover strip. I'm a little unsure how this is done without slicing off the overlapping section (what is essentially a connected coverstrip) throwing off the measurements... In the picture below (an example of AM thighs), where the arrow is pointing, if the outer piece is brought to butt join with the inner piece, the back of the thigh (in this case) would separate, correct? Just squeezing the two together would make it look weird, wouldn't it? If I'm worried about nothing, then feel free to just let me know. Maybe I'm overthinking. But I'd like to make my AM armor as slick as I can get it. I really appreciate the FISD's help. I know it's a basic question, but I think it'll help. Thanks! Dan

We don't want every slave leia to hear our comments, now do we?

So, are the bottoms of the eye pieces not glued in? Just along the neoprene?

Do any troopers have a preference between the Doopydoos full kit and the Doopydoos Hasbro conversion? I know the Centurion doesn't allow hasbro mods, but isn't it fun to have a blaster with noises and lights? That said, are both able to withstand the stresses of trooping (read: children handling)? Thanks in advance for the advice!