Dark PWF

It is simply inspirational. Great stuff Steve, seriously.

One other exciting bit of news to share on Day 16: My monocular (about $6.00 on the bay of E) arrived from China today. It says so right on the box. Monocular. And, here it is! Should be a pretty good fit! Here, too! Anyway, I've got the inner barrel ready to cut, so I'm going to cut it using my trusty rotary tool. I'd advise anyone doing something similar to use a saw. LoL. Because of the shape/size of the rotary tool (I guess you could use the "pen extension" for the rotary tool also) it was quite difficult to cut this clean through. Preparing to put a mark on the wooden dowel that might become the bolt. The mark will be 3.75" from the end of the dowel. The mark is made - now to wrap it around the whole dowel. To do that, I placed the inner barrel in the blaster, and put the dowel in behind it/against it. I then put the pencil into the charging handle channel and turned the dowel until it had been marked all the way around. Finished marking. The reason that I said that this may become the bolt is because I'm still debating between using the dowel and another piece of the PVC "inner barrel." A look at the blaster as it appears right now, with the inner barrel and spring in it, and the end cap on it. Another view... Yet another view... And one final look at it. I intend to pick up some primer and paint this weekend. I'm pretty much at the point that I don't have much left to do besides paint it, before the actual blaster can be fully assembled. Of course, I've still got to modify the counter, and scope, and build the mounting hardware and the bolt. That's all for now. I'm pretty certain that the next few photos I post will be sculpting, followed by sanding, or cutting, followed by re-gluing. That decision remains to be made, but I just had another thought, instead of cutting it at the base (it IS pinned, afterall) I could just cut the head off of it and re-glue that with much less concern. Hmmmmmmm... One last time today, looking forward to your comments, questions, and observations, and thank you for reading along!!

I promised Day 15 pics, so here they come. Picking up where I left off last time, this is the next picture from Day 15. Just a look at the bottom of the blaster and the upside down bayonet lug (:/). Here, I've got the inner barrel ready for insertion, because I've got to be able to figure out where to cut it, and how to make sure that it goes in with the screw hole lined up for the pistol grip. What I've done here, is take the ruler and set it right down the center of the barrel, andd use the exacto knife to put a corresponding mark at the center of the bottom of the barrel so that I can see the center as I'm putting it into the upper receiver. Of course, I did a lot of work on the bayonet lug on Day 15, too. I took sanding files to the base of it to stop it from looking quite so boxy - because it does come that way in the kit. Another look at it, after some sanding on the base. Of course the camera is focusing on the barrel not the bayonet lug, so you can see the basics of the shaping that I've done to it. Other angle, same scope of work. Moving on to the front sight assembly... The aperture comes with a curve in the bottom of it that is not quite "tight" enough. It is a little bit shallow, and needs a bit of sanding to the proper shape. To make that easier to get to, I took sandpaper and wrapped it around the barrel where the assembly will be glued. I then placed the assembly on the sandpaper and used the barrel itself as a perfectly shaped sanding block, to get the front sight assembly sanded to the right shape. I put the coat hanger through the hole in the pistol grip, the barrel, and the inner barrel. This way, I can mark the center in the stock lock hole in the front of the barrel. I'm doing this because I'm going to have to cut the inner barrel and put it into the blaster before I put the trigger guard on. This will allow me to ensure that the half-barrel is aligned properly to begin with. A quick dab of red nail polish to mark the center. Once I have cut the barrel and put it into place, I'll be able to make sure that the screw hole is properly lined up with the pistol grip by using this mark. More gluing about to take place. Preparing to put the magazine well onto the upper receiver. Glue on both parts, note that I put the rubber bands onto the blaster before gluing anything, making sure that I will be able to quickly get the rubber bands in place. Magazine well emplaced... Applying manual pressure for three minutes to ensure that the epoxy sets properly. Make that SERIOUS manual pressure for three minutes. I said it was serious pressure. I'm like Darth Toht up in here... You could make a perfect cast of the end of my magazine out of my hand. You could even read the word OFF and the arrow in it - but you couldn't read the writing on the other side. :/ Somehow, I missed taking pictures as I prepped and glued the front sight assembly. Rubber bands in place, dry epoxy, dry. Here, you can see the nail polish on the right hand side of the barrel, and the "ring" around the screw hole. I did that by inserting the coat hanger in the hole, and turning the inner barrel while the hanger was pressed against it. Once it snagged on the hole, I pushed it through to keep it in place before making the nail polish mark. Feeling a bit lazy as I begin to start this bit, so I'm going to be using my Exacto knife to do the crosshatching, instead of the rotary tool. Here, you can see how it turned out. Epoxy applied to both parts. End cap in place with the freshly glued D-ring visible to the right (and the upside down bayonet lug to the left. sigh) It may be difficult to make out, but looking down the sights, you can see the light hitting the T-Track which leads directly to the front sight post. It's lined up pretty nearly perfectly. So that's the assembly as it has been completed so far. Please leave comments, observations, concerns, etc right here for sharing with the group! Thank you for reading along!

Hmmmmmm... Food for thought, definitely. Thank you. It will be considered.

Grrrrrrrrr... Thank you, Germain. Good catch indeed. Well, no time like Wednesday (after the Bondo I just bought from Amazon arrives) to add sculptor to my skillset! I'm learning a wide set of new skills already, may as we'll expand them a little further still. Unless anyone has another suggestion?

Oh, what the heck... Here's the first picture from Day #15. I took the rubber bands off of it. LoL That's the result of Day #14, about 18 hours later.

Previously in the build thread... I realized that I had not put the diamond pattern on the back of the front sight low enough, so I set out to fix that while I was crosshatching things... Here, you can plainly see the bottom of the pattern is not below the semi-circle opening in the aperture. It should be, so I'm going to fix that while I'm crosshatching stuff. Now, the pattern extends lower on the rear of the sight aperture. I'm still not really happy about that heavy line at the old bottom. I may go back and address that with a bit of putty at some point in time. We'll see, I suppose. The old line appears less formidable from this angle, but I know it is there, so it will always stand out to me. LoL GLUE!! That's right, I'm about to glue stuff. For this particular step, it will be the newly manufactured front sight post being glued into the freshly re-finished front sight aperture. I'm going to use E6000 for this, because I want to be able to turn it after I emplace it, to make sure that it is set straight in the aperture. Also, as the entire base of the post will be in between the barrel itself and the sight aperture, there is not much likelihood that it will somehow come loose. A little dab of E6000 in the bottom opening of the aperture... Insert the sight post. Make sure that it is straight, and let it dry! I really do like looking at it from this angle. Straight and centered. Let me hear about how TKs can't shoot. Just one time. From this angle, you can very clearly see the old "bottom line" in the pattern... So, the two part epoxy. A nice small bit of each side, and the wooden applicator stick ready to mix it up. Mix it until it looks good and cloudy. Apply a thin layer to each part, to ensure the best bond, apply manual pressure for two minutes or so, and then rubber band/clamp it in place to ensure that it sets properly. Here, you see that the bayonet lug has been emplaced in such a manner. Glue for the pistol grip, applied to the upper receiver. Glue applied to the pistol grip prior to emplacement. Manual pressure applied. Rubber bands around both parts to ensure that they stay put. I found that the rubber bands that come on produce (in particular Broccoli and Asparagus) work wonderfully for this purpose! Back to the E6000. Why, you might ask? Allow me to explain; Remember when I did my very first bit of gluing - putting the bearing into the end of the magazine with the E6000? Well, In the event that that bearing comes loose somehow, I'd prefer to have the option of removing the magazine from the well, and retrieving it, as opposed to allowing it to rattle around inside of my magazine for eternity. Using the E6000 will give me that possibility, should the need arise. Put the E6000 into the magazine well... Put the magazine in and push it forward, to allow space in the back for the clip that I'll be making sometime in the near future. Then, wrap it up with rubber bands to ensure that it stays where it needs to for the next 24 hours or so. Rubber bands for everything!!! Moving to the back end of the blaster, I actually glued my rear stock latch in place right here using the epoxy, and after about a minute or so panicked. It seemed to me that it may have been on backwards. Quickly, I ripped it off and wiped off the glue. What I realized is that during my test fits, I had somehow drilled my holes backwards. so I had to drill new ones. Unfortunately, I don't believe I have many pictures of this process besides this one, because I was running in damage control mode - which doesn't require a camera. :/ In the meantime, I glued the rear sight into place, and wrapped a rubber band around it to help it set properly. After getting the sight taken care of, I re-drilled the holes for the stock latch and glued it in place. Afterwards, I put a clamp and two rubber bands onto the rear to hold both pieces to the rear of the blaster. A small dab of epoxy placed into the hole in the bottom of the pistol grip for the cap head screw that I cut apart (I believe) all the way back on Day #2. Just a note... When you are using the two part epoxy, put only the amount that you need for the job of the moment into your tray for mixing. This stuff does indeed set within a couple of minutes so if you put a bunch of it down for use, you're really just wasting it. My process was to put a small amount down, clean the tips and put the cap back on before standing it upright again, then mix it with the stick and apply it to the parts for assembly. Cap head screw head in place in the pistol grip. Same thing in the front of the barrel. Emplaced both screw heads with two part epoxy. I looked for screws with flat heads for awhile, but did not find any and I don't want to hold up the blaster build for them. Perhaps sometime down the road. And a view of the front, from the other angle. Finally, the "project sheet" that I wrote up recently. You can see that there isn't much left to check: The cylinder bolts - still sourcing them I think, and the stock lock which has to wait until the whole thing is primed and painted, so I can then insert the inner barrel and cut the hole in it to support that piece. That's the end of day #14. I glued stuff - can you believe it? Finally, I'm gluing it together. Really very exciting stuff from a personal standpoint. Once I get Day #15 posted (because it happened already and that delayed the posting of this thread ) I'll be able to share that moment with all of you. It will be relatively soon, I can promise you that. That's it for posting tonight though... As always, I look forward to any comments/questions/suggestions that anyone has for me, and thanks for reading along!

So, now that the weekend (and the hockey game, and The Walking Dead) are over, I'll "un-pause" the build thread and get back to posting pictures - so Steve believes. After grinding up the front sight stuff, I switched back to the fine point tool in order to do the crosshatching of all of the glue points on the parts. I started with the bayonet lug, as it is a small piece that I figured would be easy to glue into place. This nice smooth surface needs to be roughed up, to assist with the epoxy bonding process. All roughed up and ready for assembly! The big piece... (Well, one of them anyways) The pistol grip glue location needs some love. To the rotary tool I go... So I roughed it up a bit. Shouldn't have any issue getting a good bond now! Of course, since I'm using epoxy, both sides need to have a nice even coat of the glue applied, in order to get the strongest bond. A little fuzzy... Because the camera likes my hands, apparently better than it likes parts, every now and again. Anyway, I decided to NOT rough up the "smile from England" that arrived in the mail awhile ago. Each time I capture a rebel spy, find a droid that I've been sent to find, or stun a princess, I'll smile a little, knowing that my blaster is smiling on the inside. The rear stock latch will receive the same treatment that all of the other parts are getting tonight... Here it is, all roughed up. Rear sight aperture with its newly drilled holes, ready to be roughed up and glued in place. Like the previous parts, it is now crosshatched and ready for glue Getting a little grippy surface on the end/bottom of the magazine. Doing the same to the inside of the magazine well in order to ensure a good bond between them. What good is a laser rifle without the magazine? This area was already a little bit rough, at least on the front side, due to my cutting into the front edge so it didn't require much work up front. Bottom of the cylinders... Much like the pistol grip itself, the magazine well has a large amount of text etched into it, so it won't require as much crosshatching, and like the pistol grip, I'll leave the text alone and etch around it. Cylinders are now ready to glue. Magazine well is also ready to glue. Two for the price of one. Both the Magazine well and the spot on the upper receiver where it will be glued, prepared for crosshatching. The magazine well, ready for glue. Upper receiver location also ready for glue. Eventually, I'm going to have to start gluing pieces together, right? LoL Okay. A lot of pictures here now, so I'm going to get this posted before continuing any further. Please as always, leave your comments/questions/concerns/snide remarks, etc... and thanks for reading along!

+1 on both counts. Amazing work, Troopers.

Left hand vice grips, right hand rotary tool. Left foot, green! I wear my safety glasses, make sure that the wheel is spinning any debris downward, away from my face, and I get far closer than OSHA would probably allow me to do in any factory.

Maybe you have higher standards than I do. I really love what you're building right now, but I'm not about to drill out the inner barrel to fit the bolt more accurately. LoL.

Okay. I don't expect to finish all of these in this sitting, but I'm going to start uploading pictures. If for no other reason, just to quiet Steve. This is where we begin tonight. A Doopydoos E-11 kit that is test fitted with pins, a box of parts, some two-part epoxy, and some E6000. This is the two part epoxy. The clear side is the epoxy/resin, and the yellow part is the hardener. If you've never used this before, you should stand it like this for a few minutes to allow any air in the tubes to rise to the top so that you can ensure an even mix of the two parts when you start using it. Of course, I got ready to do some grinding on the front sight aperture and realized that I can't glue it to anything because I don't have a front sight post yet. I had been considering using some ABS as Germain had suggested early on in my thread, but I still had this nail sitting here, and I really wanted to take a crack at doing this, because I'm starting to get more comfortable with the rotary tool and the techniques available to me while using it. In order to keep it from falling out of my hands or anything worse - I've managed to bleed twice already using a drill after all - I put the nail into a set of vice grips. After a test fit in the sight aperture, I marked the spot to cut the nail with a pencil and used the cutting wheel to cut it to size. My first order of business was to put the slant of the top of the post there at the "top" of the nail. After getting the top cut to shape, I took the shape of the grinding/cutting wheel and used it to grind the nail into a sight post by grinding down both sides of it. A look at it with both sides underway. One more time on this side, to get it closer to the shape that I want it to have. And the other side after another grind. A couple of pictures of the test fit now... Very happy with how it looks! Switching over to a grinding wheel, I need to countersink the nail head a bit in order to be able to glue it in place on the barrel. Grinding - WIP. Still needs to be a little bit lower in order to fit. A little more grinding, and a much better fit. I'm going to pause now to celebrate Patrick Kane making a beautiful pass to Kris Versteeg against Pittsburgh in the Stadium Series in Soldier Field, Chicago. Queue the Dagger! (Also, that's the last picture of that bit of work, so I'm going to post it before I lose it somehow.)

Thanks, Rory. Looks really good. Going to be continue watching this one!!

Well played, good sir! EDIT: Pictures have been uploaded to photobucket. 76 of them, I believe. I'll get to work moving them this way some time in the relatively near future.

Looking good, Josh! With time, you'll get more comfortable with the tools. I'd never used a rotary tool of any type before beginning work on my Doopydoos kit either. I came to the same conclusion that you have - it's easier than expected. Keep at it!

Having not touched any armor yet, as I'm still on my waiting list, I'd advise you to go and look at the Centurion applications. Pay attention particularly to the ones in the same style that you intend to build. Do you know which style of TK you're going for yet? In the Centurion applications, you'll see the armor type, helmet type, etc... listed in the thread. If you stick with any of the vetted armor makers that are listed in this "Getting Started" thread, you can't go wrong to begin with. You'd also have to read through the requirements for EIB/Centurion though, to make sure that you know what you should be buying/not buying in order to meet your goal of Centurion. I'm doing the same thing right now, and although I know that I'll wind up spending more money than some other people have by the time that I'm completed with my armor, I know that I'm aiming for a Centurion-level build on my first attempt so spending a little bit more up front will save me from making costly upgrades later. As Glen said, any of the vetted makers can be brought to EIB/Centurion level build quality. Some may just require a very little bit more work than others. At your size, you shouldn't have any problems with most of the kits that are available, I'd say.

Okay. Day 14 complete! Not a LONG night of work on the E-11 tonight, but man... Progress! Tonight, I built my front sight post. Fixed the pattern on the front sight aperture. Did the cross-hatching for just about all of the glue points. Correction, I did the cross-hatching for all of the glue points that were used tonight. That's right. I glued things together tonight. All of that up there = roughly 85 pictures, so I'll see which ones make the grade, and post them here sometime this weekend. Of course, Day 15 will also be happening this weekend, but it will be a little more glue, I believe. D

Beautiful work, Steve. I can see that any successive builds that I do are going to require some more "workshop" upgrades in order to attain the standard that you're setting with this build!

Looking good, Rory! Can you snap a shot of the scope straight-on from the front/rear, showing the bore all the way through it? Really impressive stuff!

Here you go... Just one thread on the subject. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/23392-wwworiginalstormstroopercom-hit-or-miss/?hl=%2Bandrew+%2Bainsworth

Thanks, everyone! Yes, Aaron - I believe you get what I'm hoping to achieve with those relatively minor cuts. I expect to be mixing epoxy this weekend, after a very small bit of grinding. I'll probably be doing some research into using the epoxy as I've never done so, and I want to make sure that I use enough that it will be solid without causing it to seep out of the seams all over the place. Wish me luck, watch for pictures!

If you go to Hobby Lobby, or Michaels or any other craftsy sort of store, you can probably find hobby files of some sort. They'll be quite small and really allow you to clean up a lot of the fine tuning spots in the resin pretty easily. Just another thought since Glen mentioned the idea of using files.

Ian, at the FAA actually. I'm pretty excited about it. I received an "All-but-a-confirmation" this morning from my Brigade Command Sergeant Major too, so it is looking more definite now even. Scott, I'm not familiar with a Trello board. Is that a type of spreadsheet, or is it something different? I'm intrigued now. LoL I don't have a good indoor workspace either. My Doopy has been built at the bathroom counter for the most part, in the kitchen on occasion, and one time in the living room!

Ian, my spreadsheet is strictly for tracking (and reminding) purposes. There are no limits of any kind built into it anywhere.

I was exactly where you are now, not too long ago. Started with the very same two holes, I believe. Keep at it, I'd stay away from markers, they may stain the resin and affect how your paint or glue stick to it later. Use a pencil and make your marks. You can always erase it later. I have been drawing all over my kit with pencils as I have been building it. My whole approach to the process is what you're showing right now. Do a little bit of work, take a breather and look at it. Figure out how to attack the next bit of work that you're going to do. That bottom hole makes it look to me like you'll be alright, just stay patient, and don't panic. It's all fixable!