Dday

I've had the pleasure to own a TM myself as well as building quite a few for people around the forums and I can say that the TM should fit you well. As Aloha said, his XL shins are suggested to reduce any gaps on the legs. I've found that the key to wearing an unmodified (extra shimming) TM is your waist size. To get it to close fully without shims you need to wear around a 34W jeans. 36W is pushing it, but anything 34W and under is ok. I've got big thighs, am 6'5" and about 215lbs and wear a 34W jeans. I was able to fit into a TM and given that I'm so tall it looked pretty decent. In my signature the last link is for my previous builds. The first one on the list is my Centurion application photos, so you can get an idea how it fit on me. You're shorter, so it will reduce those gaps that much more. I can reliably say as long as you fit the waist profile, you're set.

You honor me Aaron, I'd hardly call myself a professional just yet, maybe in a few years I'll figure out what I'm doing.

If you're looking for a fully finished E11, I've got 3 I will start selling on Friday. One is already sold, and they aren't even for sale yet. They sell pretty quick (2-3 days and they are gone) as you will find they are the most accurate, detail oriented pieces you'll find without breaking some weapons laws. They are 350 Euros each plus shipping. Let me know if you're interested.

You could also not even worry about shims. If the one side is fully closed already, you could split the difference. Meaning about an inch on both sides, which is not ultra noticeable. Just make the elastic straps on the sides a little longer and you're good. In the photo you're wearing a polo shirt and a sweater, so the gaps will be smaller once you're wearing only the thin undersuit.

Aaron, as long as you close the resin containers after pouring and so on, it should last a few months. If you leave it open for an hour at a time, the life is dramatically lowered. Slush casting such a small part might be a real pain in the tail. It would probably be easier to make it a 2 part mold with the top half being a silicone insert that will displace the resin and create the hole in the middle. Interesting.. interesting...

Nope, you will make a fine stormtrooper. You should 100% go with the AM kits, you can make this fit you pretty easily, with likely almost no extra trimming needed as it's really made large to start with.

I'm of course a little biased, but as other have said before me, this is like comparing apples to oranges (in my opinion, maybe some others as well). The Hyperfirm blaster is an excellent trooping blaster, ready to go from the start. For a rubber blaster, the details are pretty good and the quality of the casts are top of the line. It's hard to find a rubber blaster thats looking this good anywhere near this price range. Most rubber blasters have a lot of unseamly .. seams and air bubbles and so on. The HFX ones have the standard seamline since it's a 1 part casting, but the HFX guys do a great job of cleaning it up as best as possible before painting it. The PP E11 is a different type of Animal. It's a blaster for someone who wants the details down to the wire and they want the ability to dig into it, modify it, swap out real parts or put it on a shelf. The resin is surprisingly strong and it's really down to the type of glue you use to connect the small parts if things fall off. If is' dropped, like any resin piece it can crack or break. I offer free replacement parts to those who have bought my kits to help with this. Generally it's the sights, charging handle or the flash guards that have trouble as they are small and protrude and can wing a wall if you're not careful. I offer the blasters also fully built ready to display or troop for an extra fee for those who don't want to build it themselves. It's really down to what you want. I know people who trooper with resin blasters and have not had any trouble, and aren't to worried about it. If you want full peace of mind that your trooping blaster is 100% and can never break and aren't going to be a super sticks about the details, I suggest the HFX blasters all day long. If you want to build, prod, modify, or are looking for the most accurate build available, then the PP ones are where you are looking. Nothing saying you can't own both like Steve and quite a few others out there. The best of both worlds.

The barrel came out really well! It will be interesting to see what you make of the bullets and the cup. I was talking with T-Jay about adding a cup to my kits and building it in a way that it can be added to my previously sold kits as a small upgrade. This part is whats missing from all resin kits at this point and is a welcome addition!

I wonder about this. Why make the undersuit a part of the L2 and L3 awards if the undersuit isn't even seen? With the TK the gaps you could see this suit. The EP7 trooper has gaskets and is fully sealed, I think the only place you see a suit is at the neck?

If you use a heat gun, be ready to scrap the entire thing and buy a new kit. When using a heat guy you go from ok to destroyed in the span of a few seconds if you're not careful. I would not suggest a heat gun on the face to any except the most advanced builders, and even then with caution. Agreed. The gaps are pretty decent. You can minimize them more by fine tuning the opposite side and the top caps, but you don't need to. Gaps are really accurate.

He means that the cost of the DD kit is basically materials and labor costs purely, there is almost nothing in there for profit at all. As someone who also makes E11 kits, it's astounding to me how they can offer them at this price. Each kit takes about an hour of work to mold, demold and basic trim, plus the cost of the materials. Their shipping is in line and in the end, it's a decent price for the kit you get.

I love it when people integrate this type of stuff into the blasters. It really eases peoples fears about making these builds and adding in new mods.

When you only need a little bit, it's a waste to buy a full setup for it. Much more cost effective to mix up some and brush it on.

What I did on some of my builds is to take a little black and drop in silver until I get the right coloration.

It is a fraglie ish piece due to it's limited surface. IF you use CA glue it will hold tight, since Ca doesn't allow any wiggle. To give it some additional hold after you can fill the holes with putty if you like.

Thanks Aaron, I've got him sorted out now.

Doing good, it really makes the piece pop when you add the weathering. Whats funny though is that you saif you'd probably not do as much weathering as Markus and ended up doing about the same amount Once you start, it's hard to stop.

It's great to see more and more people willing to go the extra mile to add these details into their kit. Each time someone documents their progress this well, it makes the next person interested as well. Hats off to you, well done.

Well, actually I do. I got the prototype master in the mail the other day. It still needs a few touch ups and smoothing in a few of the assembly areas but it looks damn fine. Because of the deal I made with the early adopters, I'm waiting until next week to post up the photos. I'll be on vacation and or out of the country starting the 14th until September 15th. Once I am back from this I'll start making the copies finally. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Your observations about what to weather are spot on. T-Tracks were plastic so no need to weather them unless you want to imagine what material they should have been in the fantasy world of star wars.

I echo the others comments, a little dry brush silver is some spots will go a long ways. Not much, just a few touches. As far as trooping, feel safe. If anything happens to it like the parts get broken during trooping I'll replace them for free. You just pay shipping. Your build looks really great! The one thing I would really say needs to be done is on the bolt. The bolt should not be fully silver. The original bolts were silver on the raised edges and a more gunmetal on the lower sections, giving the bolts a two tone look.

CRL says the lenses should be grey in the helmet, but I'm not sure this color really captures the color, black or smoke or something like this might be better suited.

Excited to see this come together!

reported to ebay for trying to sell a fake.

Awesome, glad you got the kit and it was in one piece... well about 30 pieces give or take, but those pieces were in the condition they should be