T-Jay

Wow Jesse, what a great start. If the rest of your build goes the same way, this will become an exeptional blaster. Good work on the dovetail and really curious for your next update...

Hi Patrick, glad to finally see you joining with this wonderful armor. You really went the extra mile on this build and it was totally worth it. Hoping that blaster can keep up with the rest of your build. Great introduction text as well. Looking forward to your EIB and Centurion submissions and our first troop together.

When I registered here on FISD back in September 2013 and began posting, I had totally missed to start with the usual introduction thread. Because of that (and my recent basic approval) I felt the need to now follow Tim’s (DarkCMF) call and at least formally introduce myself as a Stormtrooper What started out in pure intention to build a life-size TK display for my home, turned into one of the most interesting adventures in my life so far. After a very time consuming research, I decided to go for the Troopermaster ANH Stunt armor (1.5mm ABS). Like many others here, I used the waiting time to build a blaster. Okay, in my case it was more than just one. Not because the BBB-day took that long, but I got deeper and deeper into that specific topic. This led to other, even more time consuming projects like the Completion Sets for resin blasters and the FISD E-11 Blaster Reference. Somewhere in between all this, the big brown box arrived and “a couple of hours” were spent on this, too. It all kept me busy and the trouble to find a suitable mannequin for the armor caused a long delay. During this time I was encouraged by a lot of friendly people to join a troop. It took a while but I did it and this later changed the game for me. Meanwhile I am officially approved as Stormtrooper of the 501st-Legion and also found a good mannequin. Seems like the armor will either get a busy life between troops and the display, or another armor is needed. Just kidding. The next steps on my list are EIB and Centurion so wish me some luck for that. I would like to thank everybody who ever helped me to get an overview, to find the best options and to do things right. Really thought about naming them here but I simply worry to miss somebody. Many thanks also to the FISD and the people here. Have never before seen an online community with such friendly members, willing to help. Let’s keep that up. Thank you

Thanks for sharing your technique here, Mike. I really appreciate this. Looks like building an E-11 more and more turns into making highly detailed display models

Sometimes even bad things can cause good things... Wishing you a lot of fun with this fine blaster.

Loving the weathering on your magazine with all those fine scratches. Makes it look very real - like the rest of your blaster. Congrats on completing this beautiful piece of art.

Your weathering on the power cylinders is just WOW Have used real rust and real dirt in the past as well but it never turned out as perfect as this one.

Perfect timing. Any schedules for the weekend? Skip them and start building

Hi Dan, glad to see you started a build thread Hoping you will receive your resin kit soon to keep us entertained here

Wow, that is a real challange with the TWO circuit boards and the limited space. Keeping fingers crossed for you, Mike.

Update #07 - Found a way When I came across this cabinet at work, there had actually been two of them. So I still had the option to use the backdoor from the second cabinet. Just had to get rid of the venting slots to install glass there. Used this opportunity to transfer some design from the gun rack onto the cabinet door… Bought a sheet of Polycarbonate (t=3mm) and glued it to the door with clear double-sided adhesive tape. Removed the protection cover, added the lock and a foam seal to close the gap between both doors and the cabinet. Then added front door, gun rack, 3 blasters plus some collector items and placed my TK mannequin next to it. Yes, the cabinet looks a bit empty and I am still thinking about ways to fill it. There is enough space to install 3 identical gun racks for a total of 9 blasters (like Bapty, real Sterling, ESB and ROTJ versions, maybe a Rogue One version and so on). Alternatively the dimensions allow the storage of 2 or 3 BFGs below that gun rack. Not promising anything now but maybe an update will follow in a few months (or years). Anyway, for the moment I call this project done. Thanks everybody for reading and commenting. Enjoy your weekend Troopers and Cadets

Hi Jesse, thanks for stopping by. It took a while but yes, I had an idea as you will see in the next posting... Thank you Michael. Glad to hear you like it.

Update #06 - A massive problem Got a RAL CLASSIC color fan and picked the cards with grey tones only. Out of 35 shades, I ended up exactly with the one I had. The last two photos highlight the difference between daylight and electric light. Both are taken on a background painted in RAL 7001. The paintwork was very time consuming. Each part had to be sanded, dusted off and painted twice - on both sides! With drying times of at least two days, this took a while… And the ventilation slots in the backdoor really were a pain. The cabinet itself got painted in the same color. And when all parts were ready, I finally began to complete the puzzle. Prior to adding the front door, I made wooden inserts for bottom plus roof and installed simple mounting brackets to support the gun rack. Fits like it has always been made for this Was pretty happy with the result and moved on to the last step, adding the front door. This update is named “A massive problem” because just when I thought I am done with this project, it almost made me cry out loud: that door was 5 mm (0.2 inch) too tall. Nooooooooo…!!! Even with all washers removed, it still was too high. Thought about cutting it to size, but the door is symmetrically to rotate it for left and right use. So this option would be lost. Have to think about a solution now…

Correct Nick. Already thinking about ways to do this. Need something durable, as the arms have to be moved for adding and removing the armor. Looking forward to soon find a solution...

Thanks for highlighting, Chris. Sounded interesting so I had a look. In that video clip the material seemed to be very soft and the full blaster weighs only 0.54 kg (resin blaster about 1.1 kg). Unfortunately the surface finish is not what I am looking for, so I will keep searching. Nevertheless, thanks again for mentioning it here.

Thanks Derrek. It wasn't that much work, just had to cut carefully step by step. Doing the same build again, I would now exactly know where to cut...

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Thanks for your service, Joseph. People seem to keep you busy Just wondering if there are any plans to replace the current FISD logo (symmetrically helmet) in the lower left corner with the new FISD logo (asymmetrically helmet)?

Not sure who did what, but sub-folders in the inbox are working again. Yipiieee Thanks very much

Thank you, Nick. It's been a while. The original mannequin was 1.89 m when I bought it. After cutting the legs it now is 1.84 m with full armor and boots. Sorry, don't have a measurement without armor. I just trimmed it to fit my armor. Let me know, if 1.84 m for a TK is wrong, maybe I can adjust it.

With this 2-part pistol grip, the rotary switch can be installed so easy - compared to the full resin pieces. Would be nice to have more blaster kits using this. Great progress Mike. And your folding stock looks very good. All resin? It does not seem to be supported like the one from DoopyDoo's, so any worries about breaking the thin resin walls?

Outstanding work Mike. Side-by-side photos from the scopes really make it hard to tell which one is real. Can't wait for your next steps. Following...

Man, you're spending a good amount of attention to every part so far. Well done. Your scope looks spot on. Must admit, I already liked your first attempt

Now the fun can begin Good luck

Update 07: - a mannequin to display the armor After a long research, I recently purchased this dummy. It consists of seven pieces and came with additional metal base and a chromed support for the lower leg, but so far I did not use these parts. Plug-and-play all the way. Now here comes the reason for buying exactly this mannequin: Bringing all armor pieces onto the legs, meant these had to get „modified“ heavily. A step by step process began… While permanently cutting and cutting I had asked myself if this would ever work. But when I finally had all armor parts on the mannequin, I was quite happy with the result. Tried to add a blaster, but even the 1.1 kg resin version requires some kind of support in the arms. I am also thinking about using a rubber blaster – just in case the E-11 drops accidentally. Time will tell… Thanks for reading and have a nice weekend