Dark CMF

18 more pictures of some minor work (paint, glue... things like that) coming soon. Very nearly done. God's honest truth: I could probably be finished (except for waiting on paint to dry) if I were to take about four hours of time and commit it to nothing else except doing this. I've just been busy this weekend, so I snuck in a bit of it here and there. The biggest work that I still have to do: Finish my bolt. Pics will be posted here within the next 48 hours or so.

Yeah. I definitely was. Not sure how I missed the responses to your thread man. You seem to have a good handle on what I was getting at. I did mean that I'd attach the grip before painting it. I also do think that you should have some paint on the inside of your barrel tube. The magazine and the cylinders... Keep in mind what type of finish you want this E-11 to have. When I was originally making the case for separate finishes, I intended to make my Doopydoo blaster look like a Sterling SMG basically. After a lot of thought on it, I decided that I wasn't building a replica Sterling, but a replica E-11 so it should be screen-accurate, not life accurate. With that decision, everything should (for the most part) be the same color not different, and as a result the masking was only necessary to keep the textured finish from getting on the other parts (the magazine and cylinders) and no separation of colors is necessary.

Definitely looking good Aaron. Can't say the same for my current paint situation, but this is neither the time or place for that. Can't wait to see your paint application!

Forearms are looking good!

Anything else would be uncivilized.

Definitely not a Hero faceplate. Looks to include the parts for either TK, or TD (Diamond Sniper plate and "Cheese Grater" are both there), but I have no idea which maker it is. As has already been mentioned, you're here, so you're a step ahead of the game. Check out the getting started section of the forums for the vetted armor makers, and good luck!

Yeah... I know going forward on any further rails I make, the bend will be done first. There was a bit of a question after cutting the back of the rail about "Will the bend make it too short?" So word to the wise... Make the front bend(s) first. As for locking the scope rail, the cutout in the inner barrel will "lock" it in place in the manner that you described. The bottom bend fits just about 3/8" into the inner barrel, beneath the Doopy's resin barrel. There won't be any need to use any sort of bolt/screw/etc to hold the front of the rail in place. I'm really happy with the crinkle. Thanks Steve, for sharing the VHT with everyone. It is awesome for our purposes here. I did have some spots that didn't get a very good crinkle, but quite fortunately, they are areas that would receive considerable handling so it will simply look used, when finished. I'm almost fully decided to go with a more screen-accurate looking paint finish at this point in time. I suppose if I were doing a TD, I'd feel a little bit better about making it more "real" and weathered more heavily, but I think with the shiny TK I'm going to go basic black.

Ugh.... That sucks, but massive props for the share brother. Good looking out!

Greetings Tom, and welcome to the FISD!!! As for buying accessories, go ahead and look at the build threads and the EIB/Centurion application threads. You'll be able to see a lot of the different options that are available for use (and generally available in the for sale threads here)! Good luck!

Looks like you're off to a good start, Bryan! Slow and steady, you'll get there. I'll be following your footsteps quite soon. I'll be building in between chasing my two year old, and trying to get done before the new one arrives in August! LoL Good luck.

TrooperMaster makes the Grappling Hook box also. Good luck!

This could be another reason for their popularity.

Granted, I don't have my armor yet (soon, though!!!) but I've been a handler at a few events. I'd think that should be enough space if you pack it sensibly. Many troopers wrap their shins, and place them inside of their thighs, then the same with the arm parts. It definitely makes a difference if you pack it smartly. See if he has one that you can look at, or at least has a picture of it. A picture might help people answer a little bit better, knowing the dimensions. For a comparison, the Stanley box in the pictures above is 37 x 23 x 23.

Indeed... On every count. R.I.P.

Very cool stuff, Clamps! I'll be keeping an eye on your build. I expect to be embarking on a similar project in the next few weeks.

That's actually the first thing that came to mind as I was reading it... Just cut it, and re-shape it. LoL I suppose it COULD be that easy.

THIS.... THIS is awesome! Looking forward to seeing it. It makes perfect sense though, if you're going to do it!

Generally speaking, there is only the one row, yes. Mine will have two though, occasionally. I do like the extra bit of weight that it will have, also.

Ian, thank you. As for the inner barrel, it wont' really be very visible at all, when everything is assembled. I'm using a piece of PVC that fits perfectly inside of the Doopy for both the inner barrel and the bolt, that keeps everything looking better, and more importantly, held together tightly and properly. That's really a big part of why/how I'm doing it that way.

LoL... Yeah, I have some co-workers who are Star Wars fans, and have discovered that I'm on the path to joining the 501st. The conversations typically go about like this: CW: Is it true that you're going to join that 501st thing? ME: Yeah, the 501st Legion. CW: What character are you going to be? Like Han Solo? ME: No. The 501st is the Imperial characters. The Rebel Legion is the terrorists. CW: What? ME: Terrorists, rebels. The ones running around and attacking expensive government facilities from hidden bases using plans that were stolen by spies. You know, the rebels. CW: Never thought of it that way I guess. So who are you going to be? ME: A Stormtrooper. CW: Oh man! That's freaking cool! How much does that cost? ME: I've spent about $xxxx.xx so far. CW: What? They all kind of look at me oddly after the conversation, but they still ask about my armor. LoL I only own bedazzled weapons in Call of Duty: Black Ops games. LoL That's actually how I refer to them, too.

The color thing has become an insane internal debate. It has seriously slowed me down. Regardless of the paint debate, I got some work done today. Honestly I expected the Dremelling of the aluminum to be a breeze. It was quite a hair-raising experience and one that (for the first time in this build) had me second guessing my considerable laughter directed at the face of OSHA. The Dremel and it's cutting wheels didn't have any problem with the aluminum, in fact it cut through it easily, but it would occasionally "grab" the aluminum and run under the piece that I was holding at which point in time it propelled itself towards my fingers on the underside. This happened repeatedly. Nerve-wracking is an apt description of the situation. Fortunately, I escaped unscathed - though barely. On to the pictures: I started with the cutting wheel on the Dremel to cut the excess out of the folding stock retaining bar/pin. Doing this will allow my bolt to be charged to the rear should I desire to do so - even if an energy weapon doesn't really have a need for such a mechanism. Halfway through the process, I decided that this was a: taking too long and b: destroying the cutting wheel (it was working though). I switched to this grinding bit, expecting that it would work faster and more efficiently than the cutting wheel, but afraid that it might be too soft. This time, it only took a moment for me to decide that the bit was indeed too soft, as it was being destroyed faster than the steel bar was. So, I immediately switched over to this grinding drum, expecting that it would do the trick. And do the trick it did - quickly, and efficiently. This piece is ready to go! Going back to my cutting wheel on the Dremel, I cut the rear corners off of the aluminum bar that was set aside to become the scope rail, and gave it a test-fit - which you can see here. As I mentioned earlier, getting to this point was a serious pain in the.... (Fill in the blank on your own). The wheel just kept running under the bar towards my fingers. After getting it basically shaped properly, I went to the file and did a bunch of work with it to get it ready. I took the Dremel cutting wheel and put this notch in at the point that I intend to make my bend. While bending the aluminum, I would only bend it a little bit at a time. Each pause was so that I could take the file to both sides of the bend to ensure that there was no extra material there preventing a good clean bend. Thankfully, it did give me a good, clean bend. I used the pliers to bend the aluminum, and set the long piece of the bar on the counter I was working at. First test-fit, looks pretty good. I can still make some improvements, but I'm happy to have it cut and bent and done with that part after the crazy experience that I had cutting the aluminum (maybe I should be wearing gloves for this. LoL). I put the rail's barrel end into the charging handle channel to mark how thick the resin is, so that I know where to bend the front tip forward into the barrel. Using the same technique as before (Bend, file, bend, file) I bent the front tip forward to go into the inner barrel and keep it stabilized after assembly. I marked a sharpie line a little bit forward of the bend, to ensure that it stays locked into the inner barrel and used the Dremel cutting wheel to cut it. Inserting the inner barrel to mark the location for the scope rail tab opening. Marked the location with the Sharpie. I switched over to the Dremel cutting bit to cut the hole into the inner barrel. Cut is complete and the tab fits just fine. This picture is a little difficult to see all of the details, but if you look at the left-side, (the bottom of the barrel) you can see that the inner barrel is indeed in the blaster. Looking to the right side, you can see that the scope rail is in place, with the tab in the inner barrel. The inner barrel is clearly visible here through the vent holes in the bottom of the blaster. All it needs now is a few holes to be marked and drilled before it heads off to the "paint lab." Speaking of paint, the selector switch, trigger, and charging handle are ready to receive some of it! Just like the inner barrel, they will receive the flat soft iron rustoleum metallic. Once again, watching paint dry... That's it for now. Thanks as always for following along. Questions and comments are welcomed. Getting pretty close to done. I have to build my bolt, make some counter numbers, paint about three or four pieces, and decide on a finish. After that, I've just got to put it together. and with my armor kit's shipping looming (2nd - 3rd week of May, Rob said!!!) I've got to get it finished soon!

Very nice, Aaron! Especially loving that they're Bedazzled! LoL Well done.