Dday

Interesting that this thread is brought back up. Given that I started this particular thread (but most definitely not this topic!) I'd like to chime in 2.5 years later. I really like this quote by Lady... screen vs set. I completely agree They do all make sense, and they make a heck of a lot of sense. I like the original strapping now that I have used it in almost all cases of building an accurate type of armor. You have to go with the snap/strap for the thicker armors though. I'm working on a set of thicker armor now and It's using snap/straps... but I put in the bracket screws for the look. I think my sentiment is pretty much the same 2.5 years later. and I echo Ladyinwhites' quote. "off the screen vs off the set." When I build armor I make it as accurate as possible while maintaining the knowledge that it should still look like a stormtrooper and not a like the suit is a falling apart stormtrooper. I could do a set accurate prop forgery though, just to play on the other side, but my personal vote is to stick to screen vs set.

No problem! 5mm Tall, and 19mm long... but only 13mm of that is showing when the bolt is forward. This is what it looks like with the firing pin in:

I think at 6'3" 215 slender, you'll fit into any TK armor pretty much. If you've already budgeted about $900 for the armor, then you're set for most sets of armor as well. Your options are pretty open at this point.

The younger generation coming up into the SW world will know who these guys are first.

One thing to remember when doing your belt. Do not mount the ABS belt to the cloth belt layed out flat. The rivets will not fit right and will eventually pop out if you did them flat. The belt sits at a curve so you need to mark the locations based on a curve. Put in the center rivet, then wrap the belt around your armored waist as normal. Lay down the ABS and mark the hole location on both sides. Once you rivet it together, you will see what the belt curves a bit when layed flat. Then you know you did it right.

The key to determining which are which, is the curve should go backwards (towards the back of the helmet. If you look at the lower part of the ear where it curves slightly, it curves in a certain direction. The center of the curve, the highest point should point towards the back of the helmet.

I'm pretty sure the place I got this one did the deactivation. They welded the inner barrel and did a spot weld and a grind over the trigger mech inside. On the inner barrel near the welding and drill holes they put in it is their metal stamp. Granted they might have put it in later. It would be fairly simple to get the parts moving again... if that is what you wanted to do

ooo, whats the tell you're using to know the old spec vs new? Does this mean the deactivation spec?

So up to now, I've been cleaning this thing and cleaning some more. I'm finally happy with it though. The previous finish after degreasing as dull and sooo very blah, it made we want to paint it. I didn't really get a photo in this condition as it just didn't photograph well. But I took it apart again, washed it with soap and water to get the remaining dirt and nasty away. Note I didn't wash all the parts like this, mainly the main body with a damp tower and long bristle scrubber. Once the stuff was clean again, I fully dried it all off then sprayed it down with WD-40.... which is a serious no-no for a functioning gun, but completely workable for a deactivated weapon. Once the WD-40 finished cleaning off the remaining gunk, it started to get a little more rich in color vs super dull. I put some oil in the lower receiver to keep the trigger mech from freezing up for some reason then I took a cloth that was lightly coated in rapsoil. About the same as Canola oil of other natural flower derived oil. Now it looks beautiful! I'm ready to start forming the tracks and getting the rest of the parts ready for assembly.

photos please

I'm not sure about this... I think the middle trooper is a mirror of the left trooper I only say this because the middle trooper is so fuzzy, it was obviously fudged when they mirrored it.

Word is, that the KW Jes costumes are approved as long as you have a helmet, the comic style backplate and sensible boots (?). Like the one Michael posted:

Also, I've found that if you Type some Text like MY LINK HERE, then you highlight what you want to link, then click the URL button up top and paste the URL in the URL block of the pop up, it will then turn the text you highlighted into the link. It won't show the link but rather the text you typed and highlighted.

Ok, so I've done most of the clean up required, and without the oil all over it, the finish is rather dull. I'm not sure if it's best to repaint the thing or leave it as is. I don't have the hammered crinkle type of paint available... that I have seen here in Germany. I think it's pretty rugged as is, where as a new paint job will give it that out of the factory look. Were the sterlings used in the film painted prior to film use? My thoughts from seeing the sterling now is the counter, scope and tracks are going to stand out a lot since they have nice paintjobs.. Here is a photo dump of the cleaning, full disassembly and so on. I've gotten a contact in China and worked with them for a few weeks now perfecting the design, but I"m going to get a lot of bolts that match this head pattern. They won't be original lengths but rather 15mm total length, with a 6mm head. It very closely matches the original head height and the pattern is good as well. I'll start putting these in the kits I'm offering as well as selling them on the side. Rust spotted! Was easily cleaned up with a wire brush and the damage wasn't into the metal so no worries. Mostly disassembled You can see the innerbarrel here. They cut a hole in it and filled it with weld inside and drilled several holes in the barrel to ensure it can't fire, even if someone managed to clean out all of the welded steel inside in the front and back. I hit the bolt with a brillo pad, then some nevr dull, then more scrubbing to help bring up the shine. I think it worked. It's still dirty and used up, but it's shiney where it counts It is missing the firing pin though. And you can see where the ship that did the deactivation put some flags there under the numbers. Following this great tutorial to modify the magazine. Cut a Sterling Magazine (If you google this search term, it will lead you there, first option.

This is truly a pimped doopy build, every step you take makes it a crazy step forward. As you work, I would put some black wash in the creases of the bolt plate. From looking at the sterling bolt I have, the metal on the raised part is more polished then the main body. I imagine it's because the raised section it constantly in touch with the metal in the barrel and chamber and the main body doesn't touch anything.

There are various threads on shepperton design studios who does this stormtrooper. He was the guy thermoforming the suits in the original movies as far as I"m aware but there are questions as to his legitimacy in actually owning the suits and lies and lots of scandal and so on. Do some searches and you'll find the threads on Shepperton. Also, when you really get into the details of his suit isn't as outstanding as if first looks. It's a nice suit, don't get me wrong, but if he was the original makes.. shouldn't his suit be exactly like the originals? It's not. All that aside, he is a great thermoformer and knows what he is doing in that regards.

It might be that people don't want a TK that looks like a woman vs a TK that looks like a man. This is not a femtrooper suit, but a real trooper and in the stormtrooper line. So it's hard to discount it out of hand like the femtroopers. They do need to stop dragging their feet and let it go, there are sooo many other types of costumes out there, and there are more to come... whats wrong with this one.

So I was blessed with being able to convert this for someone. It started as he wanted to make as accurate a E11 as possible with real parts and so on. So I started to research parts kits, buying the small pieces and so on. I mentioned the most accurate way to do this would be to just buy a deactivated sterling and convert it into an E-11. He already has the real scope and counter on an aluminum rail, so all thats really for me to do is prep the Sterling, add the power cells, T-Tracks and cut down the magazine which is a pretty straight forward operation. OR so I thought..... I got the deac today, and it's heavy, like heavy heavy. I'll put it on a scale and tell you how heavy. I handled the sterling for about 5 minutes and my hands were caked with gun oil. they really had this thing in perfect storage mode. So I'll have to take it apart and soak it in degreaser first before I do anything to it. Once thats done, I will re-oil specific parts that move and such so that you're not slimed when handling it. As far as the deac part, all I really could see is that the selector switch doesn't move, the inside of the inner barrel is welded and the trigger doesn't move all the way, just a little bit. Not too bad, and nothing is visible so it will be a perfect display where you can't see anything marring it's surface like weld marks and so on. The finish is is pretty good shape, with some of the crinkle finish removed in places but no rust or hard damage. So some photos.... Black is HARD to photograph... I'm going to have to work on that. The question for people and the site admins... before I really make any modifications, are there photos we need/want to get to add to the gallery, or measurements and so on? My next step is to get this thing degreased and clean up the parts and shine up the bolt. I've got a better understanding now also of the way the parts work and work together, how the stock works, locking and so on, how the inside of the spring mechanism works and the list goes on.

What you can do to help flatten the tracks a bit is wrap them with some rubber bands in near the middle to they are pressed down flat some. Then very carefully take a heat gun and run it over it (always moving) to slowly heat them up. Stay away from where the rubber bands are so they don't warp the track. What will happen is as the ends heat up a bit the pressure from the rubber bands will help to flatten them and get the bends right. I stress, carefully, it cal all go wrong badly if you aren't. Another option would be to use tape vs rubber bands. Just make sure you put the tape on upside down and as tight as possible. If it's right side up and the glue is on the tracks, it will stick onto the tracks something fierce due to the heat. You're good by the CRL though, I think.

Interesting. the helmet is straight up TK and most of the armors, with modifications of course.

Mark, I ran across something that might help with your bubble problem... http://mynocksden.com/how-to-videos/ I'm not sure how rubber changes the process vs resin, but since you have a 2 part mold, something like this might be doable... Another way that I saw on Mynocks website was relating to when he is making molds, but can be easily used here. Instead of using a pressure cooker to work the bubbles out, when you're pouring, have the mold on something that its vibrating, like the spin cycle on a washing machine or dryer. This should help dislodge the bubbles as you pour and as the item cures. I"m considering doing that in my kit as well to remove some of the little bubbles that bug the crap out of me.

Hi Aaron, Thanks first for helping with a few questions I had on the side regarding parts and measurements! I like what you did here and I was thinking of a similar jig to bend the tracks. One thing I was thinking of doing is making the jig out of a piece of pipe, in a similar fashion to yours. The reason I was thinking pipe vs the steel bar is the pipe is rounded like the barrel and maybe the bends will fit and bend more exactly. Based on your photos it doesn't really matter though, I think Thanks again!

The armor isn't rubies.... but I'm not too sure about the helmet. Doesn't look to be rubies, but there is something off about it, seems small.

Hi Tony, I make a centurion level blaster however in a kit form... so not technically out of the box. I also offer to build the kits for an additional fee, but I'm not 100% sure about shipping it internationally due to it looking a LOT like a real firearm. Check the links in my signature for more information on the sale and a build thread of this blaster.

Where the EFFFFF, are the approvals, or status updates on approvals? Hasn't it been long enough for us to know what the deal is?