Dark CMF

Impressive, deebo. How'd you finish?

Thanks, Brian! Thank you for the kind words, Ian and yes, the screen-used ones were all pretty much just flat black. I think that Steve and I simultaneously and independently decided to go for a more "realistic" finish as opposed to a screen-used one. Since the weapons aren't required for approval, I choose to have one that lends realism to the presence of the Stormtrooper in the room. Aaron, mine does look slightly different than Steve's but go and look at page 6 in his build thread. At this stage in the game (if you can compare it to my final two pictures) you'll see that they are really very similar. The top coat... That's the learning curve I'm facing right now. LoL. Wish me luck.

Heh... If it reaches 9001, I'll post a special GIF to commemorate it. LoL I promised pictures, so here they are: Here I have hung the inner barrel near the blaster and the counter which had just received a second coat of paint. It was hung there, so it could receive it's own coat of paint. This is the paint that I'll be using for many of the "internal" parts: The inner barrel, the bolt, the trigger, and the charging handle. It is Rust-oleum metallic and the color is Flat Soft Iron. Here, it has been painted and is drying - nothing more fun than watching paint drying, right? Dry, paint.... DRY!!! Top to bottom: the Blaster, the Inner Barrel (both painted) and the bolt - unpainted - which is the same piece of material that the inner barrel comes from. Since everything is dry now, I began masking the blaster for the application of the crinkle finish paint. Other side... All masked up and ready for paint! Thankfully, I was asked about my sight rail by Derek before I went out to paint. That made me realize that I needed to cut my scope rail template before I paint the texture paint on it, if I want to get that done today, so I grabbed the cardboard box that I intended to cut the template from, to make sure that it is the right size. It is indeed the right size, so I grabbed the aluminum bar that I got at Lowe's for about $3-4 (it is 1/8" by 3/4") and used it to mark the width of the template with a Sharpie. I then used the exacto knife to score the top of the box. After that, I bent the template down and used the knife to cut through the back of it. Checking again to make sure that the template is the right size. Used the Sharpie to mark the size of the rear sight mounting area. Then I used the aluminum bar to mark the corners that will need to be cut out. With the rear of the template cut out, I give it a quick test fit. With the rear mount set, I align that end so that I can mark the front sight mounting area. With the length of the template already marked, I move it back to mark the width of the end that will be bent into the barrel. Here, as always, when I am working in the house, Feliks can be seen supervising my work. Final cardboard template for the scope mounting rail. Looks like it fits pretty well, but as the front is sitting a little bit low, I'll be sure to cut the front longer than the template, ensuring that I have enough material to cut it down to the right size. Remember, you can always remove more material but you cannot always put it back if you take too much off. The template has been transferred to the aluminum bar. With the template complete, I can take the blaster outside and apply the crinkle finish paint. I have rigged up my paint lab to keep the blaster more level than I had previously done. This will allow me to apply the paint more evenly and reduce the risk of runs forming. Just as I did before in the paint test procedures, I applied the first coat of paint, and waited for five minutes. After the five minutes lapsed, I applied the second coat and waited another five minutes. At this point in time, the third coat is applied. The crinkle finish will begin to form after about two hours. It will be dry enough to assemble after 48 hours (according to the directions on the can). I'm going to wait a few hours and move it into the house so that no dew or humidity messes with the finish overnight. During the two hour wait, I took the hacksaw to the aluminum bar. Now, I have my scope rail ready for cutting with the Dremel, bending, and having a hole drilled for the rear sight mount. Two hours have passed, so I am about to take it in the house for two days of drying/curing. Here you can see a little bit better, that the finish has started to form on the blaster. Even outside, I've got supervisors hanging around... Sheesh. Hanging inside the house, so that it can safely dry over the next 48 hours. And the other side... Time lapse photography is now in effect!! BOOM! Two days have passed - gotta love the time lapse photography, eh? Here's a look at the right side. closer look at the finish on the left side. Now, I have a job ahead of me. I have to learn to use the airbrush effectively, and to mix the paints in a manner that will give me the proper color to bring the crinkle paint's color down to what it needs to be. As it stands right now, it is far too black, and far too shiny. I'm going to aim to match the color of the blaster to the folding stock as best as I can and will have to leave the T-tracks, the pistol grip, the ejection port, and the magazine masked in the meantime, which is killing me. I can't tell you how badly I want to un-mask this puppy and get a look at it, but even more so, I don't want to have to re-mask the blaster. LoL It was kind of a pain in the buttocks, Forrest Gump style. As always, thanks for following along. I suppose that the next/remaining things to do are to build my bolt, paint the remaining parts (counter cover, trigger, guard, selector switch, bolt), airbrush the colors properly, finish the scope rail and cut the counter bracket and assemble everything. Somewhere in there, I have to cut the stock mounting bar, and find counter numbers. Comments and questions are welcomed, as always! More to follow.

Looks real good, Zach. Well done indeed!!

I'm currently a Cadet/Recruit in the Alabama Garrison, my armor kit should be here within weeks finally. I'm expecting to get my TKID here, and then transfer to the Star Garrison. Ultimately the plan is to retire to the Florida Garrison, and somewhere along the way, to get EIB and Centurion. Preferably sooner than later

You can use a for sale or yard sale sign from Lowe's.

Congratulations, Manny!! I plan to join you one day!

Google would probably tell me that it can be done. LoL I can't think of all this stuff on my own. ROFL... Troopers helping Troopers!

I'd go for the M19 actually. I think that a big reason that you see so many M38s is because that is what comes with the Doopydoos kit, for starters. Secondly, if people are casting Hyperfirms, or just scopes in general, the smooth lines of the M38 are probably a little bit simpler to deal with. The extension on the right side of the M19 (this is all rampant speculation, as I've never pulled a mold) is probably slightly more difficult to deal with in that regard. My .02, for what that's worth.

I read that. LoL I was just trying to help you out, since you said you couldn't remember who it was. Thanks, Brian... I've been trying to figure out how to do this myself for awhile now. I have a fun idea to go along with my scope mod(s) so far! Maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh...

Very, very true. Just like some armors are no longer allowed for use, at one point in time, they were the cream of the crop. Certainly, as time goes on, better ways of doing things will come along! Thanks for the reminder, Germain! Anyway... I just wanted to let you all know that there will be about 35 more photos being loaded up in the next day or two. Mostly paint - the textured varieties - and the beginning of the fabrication of the scope rail. I know that Aaron hates the cliffhanger posts, so this one is all for you, buddy! LoL

Bazinga!

Can those be printed on a clear sticker?

Looking good, Derek. For the bolt extension (not sure if you did this or not) I would take a piece of the dowel that you have, and just cut/dremel one end down to the size of the hole in your resin bolt, and fit it inside of there to help secure it. You could simply glue it, or drill a hole into the bottom/opposite side of the resin bolt and run a screw into the wooden dowel from the other side, and that would help keep it in one piece. Then, just put some putty in the gap. That's just my thought on it. You may have done it. I don't know, but that's the approach that I'd take to do what you're doing. I am pretty sure that the CD idea you used (which looks very nice, by the way) has been around for awhile. I am pretty sure that if you troll the weapons forums, you'll encounter it sooner rather than later. I'm almost positive that Glen (gmrhodes13) did one like that. Hmmmmm... I may have to go and search it out now myself. LoL EDIT: Glen did indeed do it in a pipe build for Centurion approval (http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/20729-e-11-blaster-for-centurion-standards/page-3), but it has been around a few years prior to that also.

LoL... Noooo...

You're fully correct about the screen accurate vs realism, but personally, since a weapon is not a requirement for approval, I'm on the side of realism, to support the realism of the Stormtrooper in the room. . Either way, that blaster, sitting in the mannequin's hands will be fully impressive. It looks great!

Meh... I don't know. Boring conversation, anyway.

Something to keep in mind is that RT-Mod overall (armor and helmet) is sculpted at a 4% increase in size. The increase in helmet size is proportional to the increase in armor size so that the trooper doesn't wind up looking like they have a shrunken head. Also, not all armor makers use the same ABS, so ordering armor from one, and a helmet from another might cause a color difference between the two.

Looking good, Zach!! I have a similar paint lab. LoL

Looks good, Eli, but I agree with Ian - larger pics would be cool. As far as I can see though - it does look really good! Congratulations!

Ahhhhh... Thanks, Ian. You'd have to drill/cut out the rear sight aperture for the iron sight to do that. Definitely not something I'd do, personally.

I read Steve's comment and went back to the drawing trying to find the bend. I thought I was losing it for a moment there, but eventually I read "Drawing corrected" and went... Oooooohhh, nevermind. LoL I have my scope rail cut to length, and I'll be dremelling it tonight, I believe - we'll see what Mrs. Dark has to say about that! Crinkle paint is drying (2 hours into it now) on the blaster. I was very excited to get it dried, and rip off the masking tape, but I've got to figure out the airbrush bit so I can put the proper color on while those other parts (T-Tracks, Pistol Grip) are still masked. LoL I'd hate to have to mask those T-Tracks again. That was such a pain in the... Yeah.

LoL... All good, Aaron. I'd have had to go and search out the counter bracket template if you hadn't shared it here. Now, I'm good to go, after I get done watching paint dry. :/ Thank you, very much!

Derek I haven't built my scope rail yet - but a cardboard template is planned for production this weekend while the crinkle paint dries (that's about to happen, actually - the whole thing is masked up right now and waiting for me to decide to go out and paint it). As for the dimensions of the aluminum, after a conversation with Vern about the rail, I have a piece of aluminum that is 1/8" x 3/4" which I bought at Lowe's for about $4, if I remember correctly. The one that you've got is probably too thin. As I mentioned earlier, I'm going to make a cardboard template of the scope rail - actually, I need to do that before I paint the crinkle finish, I'm glad you asked about this now - and use that to mark off my aluminum before taking a combination of the Dremel and a hack saw to it. Naturally, I'll take a few pictures along the way.

Tino, if I were building a TD, I'd be out searching for rusting metal in order to harvest some for my paint job. Very nice effect!! Blaster looks even better than before, but it should, you made improvements to it and that's the whole point of improvements, right? Great job my friend!