thederek

By the way, wanted to say I finally found your build, and look forward to digesting yet another saga of epic builds. Even worse, I've hit the corporate firewall which means I can't even see the photos in the thread here. How dare I work. Meanwhile I don't think I'm going to start mine yet until I actually do stuff with the armor. It's just sitting in the box. I didn't expect to be getting it so soon so I'm woefully unprepared at research at this point, not to mention the blaster. I'm thinking I'll start with the helmet first which I'll order on Wednesday. It will most likely be more of an update/"oh god is this right"/what did I do thread. You all know how I roll at this point. Glad I found ya, I'll be lurking. Muhahahaa.

That's so Steve-ish.

God help me, I'm 6', 210 on a bad eating week and about 201ish after a good few weeks. Here's the kicker, I wear a 40" for "comfort" as a 38 can feel squished. When I'm on a weight loss kick a 38 feels a tad loose. Some of you guys are 50 lbs heavier and taller and SMALLER waist! I'd have to drop to damn near 180 to get a 36" waist (which I guess makes sense). I'll let you fellas know how this ATA kit fits. I finally got it in but haven't trimmed it. I don't even really know without more research and help from my squad of how it's SUPPOSED to fit. All I know is I really had to sandwich the piecesf to join the ab and kidney (?) but I have no idea if that's how it's supposed to look yet. Woo hoo. Until then, pizza week is cut out, walking regiment in place, and my goal is drop a damn waist size. I guess worst case I could re-sell this kit untouched and go for something bigger, but RT Mod is just out of my budget range right now. =|

This is true Tim, that's for pointing that out. I think it's looking good now. The bolt sits super snug into the barrel too, so I'm feeling good about that. Everything is coming together nicely! The only thing I need to be worried about now is drilling out the ejector part on the right side of the bolt, and what color to paint it. Now that I'm closer to being done (T tracks, then other pieces), I'm having more fun with it! I'll post some updates this weekend if anyone's interested.

Sounds good, thanks! Ill just have to drop weight and get to like 190

Ok, so I finally got the glossy grip out of the way. Move along, move along. When in doubt, redneck it (since I *am* a Floridian). I figured I would just add a few coats until it looks smoother. Keep in mind, I didn't cake it on there, just kind of lightly sprayed it, for a second or two ever other day. It really smoothed it out....not perfect, but I can live with where I'm at now. This is as good as it gets without sanding, filling the holes, etc. I think it came out satisfactory for me. You can really see the contrast between the primer and gloss. Silky smoove: This was the problem area, a lot more smooth now I think, compared to earlier (with 2 extra coats): I think the extra layers help with the durability also. That's why after I do a good layer or so of primer, I plan to to minimum two layers of flat black enamel, and go from there. Next it's bolt, spring, scope rail, and figuring out what mods/how much I want to do on the Heng, and I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the Imperial Tunnel.

Well, I did wash the all the parts in warm, soapy water. That was step 1, so I knew that. I also do that with all my resin model kits. The holes are actually....holes. I chipped a select piece down to the resin and they are all little pinholes. If anything I feel I should have bonded and sanded the grip before painting. So while I do agree it's important to wash your pieces and possibly even a 2nd time like time like Tim mentioned, I still got those little pinholes, it's a physical thing I didn't think would be noticed with paint on it. In other words, it's not a flat spot with release on it, it's a pin hole that might have release in it though. It kind of sucks, because any sanding now and repainting would probably make it look way worse. Ugh. Not happy.

Actually, after looking at Tino's build, he's got those same damn airbubbles on his grip too! The fated resin/doopys bubbles. In the outside painted shots on like the next to last or last page I noticed it. So I don't quite feel so crazy (besides my normal crazy). Damn he has a good build going on. There's about 5 or so going on that look really great. Has given me wonderful ideas. No wonder it's so quiet here the whole time....bunch of rockstars out there!

Tino, can I have your address? I want to send you my blaster to finish

Yea I'll probably just go with what he did, or at least attempt it and see how it goes. It doesn't have to be perfect for me. What do you think about the grip/paint? I'd hate to have to sand that all down again to deal with the bubbles and repaint. :\ I actually scraped a teeny tiny "problem"/bubbly section down to the primer, and sure enough it is air bubbles in the resin. Not sure what to do at this point regarding that. The back side of the grip looks so good! I'm going to have to spot spray the sampled sections again anyways. Wonder if another coating on the section will help fill it in? I'm just nervous about sanding it down through the top coat, through the primer, to the resin. Then what, prime it back up, then do top coat again? Would that look even worse? I can always mask off the area to sand and paint into a big rectangle, but still. Anyone have experience doing this and how it would look?

Thanks for the recommendations Aaron, and I'm doing all of the above, minus the "round charging handle". I squared off the base a lonnnnnng time ago, so It's going to fit right through the slot into a square hole. =P Tino did a VERY nice mod on his ejector, I think I'm going to try that, doesn't look too crazy hard. Does anyone know though, in his build he mentions "don't want to push the round part all the way yet, I'll never get it out" then a few posts down it's already in and painted. Is that "round part" supposed to be seated way further down than how it shows in the preliminary pic? He never showed an "in between" shot on that. The Hengstler I covered I think in my LONG diatribe/manifesto. The back is just really rough, and while most will be hidden, not sure how much, just a bit concerned about that.

Ok, so today I glued the wooden dowel to the DD's resin bolt, to make the "full bolt". I'm going to let it cure overnight. I'm going to putty and fill the gap where the two join as best as I can, but luckily, it's right about where you won't really see the two join too much at the position it will be in the barrel. However, I will still putty it and sand it all down. I will also need to expand the "square" slot a bit more into the wooden dowel with a dremel where the charging handle will attach.The dowel is already pretty smooth, but I will also putty the vertical slot where I plan to make the ejector part. So this will all be sanded down, and painted before going into the barrel. Just wanted to show the (truly) rough draft beforehand. This is the exact size of a real bolt per Aaron's measurements. You can see what I mean how it took off some of the primer on the inside of the barrel when I put it in to get a position/fit check. I have a gray primer I will most likely spray over this whole assembly. I will then put the "final" coat of paint in, and slide the bolt in. Then I will have to do touch-ups as I'm sure some of it will scratch off when I have to tap it into place. Then I'll place the plastic for the "diagonal" and paint that as well. I also decided to mess around with paint today. I went ahead and painted the grip with 2 coats of gloss black. I really like the finish and how it came out. It's drying right now. Then I'll tape off the grip for most of the rest of the build when painting (more primer for the whole gun, 2 top coats of flat). Really pleased with it. Also, you'll notice, on the part of the grip that faces away from your palm (on the left side of the screen) there are some bubbles/rough texture. I believe this was from the molding process, as the gloss everywhere else on the grip looks flawless and uniform. Do you all think I should leave it? I kind of think it leaves a rough/used character to it. Or does this just look crappy and need to be sanded down and repainted? With masking fully removed so you can see the contrast between primer and gloss. Here's a close up of the part I'm kind of not sure on. I think this is the way the grip was with the little bubbles from molding; these first became visible when I put the primer on but didn't think it was a big deal. Here it has received two coats, and I didn't want to do more to coat the heck out of it or possible get drips. Hey Tim, how's that for an unintended "crinkle finish" =P This is also just baffling, because I painted this part the EXACT same time/way/method/duration/conditions, etc, like 10 seconds apart, and look how smooth the back side came out: (That cross-hatching/scratchy texture towards the top is just part of the grip, it was visible before I painted it, but I don't mind it). So that's that for now. At least it's progress, in it's most technical sense.

Good to know, I'll do the same.

No need to apologize fellers! We all have lives. I've been working like a mad man this week, close to 60 hours, but should have that armor "pre paid" in another 2-3 weeks. I'm just getting impatient, waiting on 2 blaster pieces that are taking forever from the vendor (for different reasons) and waiting to see if I'm on the next run for TK Boots (says he gets them in Monday, and I better be on this run, since I was added two months ago). I'm just getting frustrated on many things at the moment, but I digress............ As far as the bolt, I'm going to take Aaron's advice. I have a plan in place already. As Aaron said, if I push the bolt too far up for the vertical slot, it not only obscures the "charging handle slot", it almost brings the bolt way too far up and leaves a gap! Aaron gave me the measurement for the real bolt, and I cut a dowel to size. Amazingly, that's not even the problem. My "extended bolt" dowel's piece will equal the real length of the bolt. In terms of texture and quality, that remains to be seen at this point. Here's what's going to HAVE to happen: 1.) Glue wooden dowel to doopy resin bolt, let cure. 2.) Once cured, extend/slightly widen the square slot (I'm going to do mine "backwards" from most builds) between the resin piece and dowel piece to seat the charging handle. It'll make sense once I post a pic. 3.) Putty up the vertical slot, sand it smooth, and then create the ejector feature like Tim, others, et al. Not going to go all crazy, just recreate something to make it look similar. I'm worried though, those "small", "easy" details always get eff'd up for me. (Like when I tried to add teh grooves on each side to the front sight :| ) 4.) Sand the wooden part down a bit for extra smoothness. Primer it. Then paint it with my tank modeling gun-metal grey. Wait to dry. 5.) Tap bolt and dowel into barrel and hope for the best. Will somehow have to add glue to secure it, but once in place I can probably add epoxy with super long sticks/q-tip riggings. Also thought about a small dowel piece vertical from the other side to secure it also, by tapping it in there (this E11 should NOT ever get hit really hard, if it does, I have more to worry about than the bolt). I am not drilling anything into the barrel at this point. 6.) Once bolt is in final location, go back with paintbrush (I have micro/tiny ones for modeling) and touch up and bolt paint that might have scratched the barrel primer loose. 7.) Cut garage sign diagonal strips for the bolt design. Secure to bolt face. Paint that part a bit lighter (right?). 8) Once dried, satisfied on look, and secured/epoxied in place for good, I am going to mask off and re-prime inside barrel (since the bolt scrapes it off). That's half the battle there. Then I can add spring, cap off butt end, add on smaller pieces, T tracks, barrel plug front, and I'm almost done with the whole assembly. Once scope rail/Heng bracket arrives, it's securing all that to gun. Mask off scope completely (since it's weathered already), prime whole gun at once, two top coats, and a gloss on grip. Of course this sounds easier than done, but I think I can do it. As you know, this will NOT go as planned at all Ohhhh!!!! Of course, my charging handle is not round I've squared it off like a rectangle. I know, I know. Well that's the problem with doing a pipe build I guess. In retrospect, I think my charging channel/slot is a bit too small, so there's no way anything round would EVER fit through the outside, to the inside. If I I want it to go through the outside, I had to "rectangle it off" (square it off) so it would fit through the channel. It doesn't matter though, no one will ever know, except for people with PhD's in blaster building. It touches the bolt, makes contact, and fits in the channel. I'll show a bunch of pics tomorrow. Let's just say, my Hengstler has a rough back side (lol). It's not horrible, and it's not the side that faces people, but still will require some work so it doesn't look so rough. All in all, love the black resin, and the details that matter on the front are really sharp. The part that stresses me out the most is trying to find a way to modify the numbers/window area. Everyone does it different, and I'm not so handy with tools for that part like some people do. Not to mention, I'd like to have it show my TKID one day (how original, I know), so I guess I'll wait until my armor is done anyways. However, devising a window has proven to be the tricky part. Most of this gun will be done except for that. That will really bother me. Anyways, thanks for weighing in. I have a ton more research to do on the Hengstler, and some other parts, hence the delay most likely unless I have a moment of clarity. I haven't decided if I want to drill in real brass screws or just paint the tops, heh. Easy way out?

Project is kind of dead in the water for now. Trying to figure out what to do with my Hengstler and my bolt. Will hopefully have an update in a few weeks. =|

Ok, so Aaron and I were conversing via PM, as I had a question for him. Before I start winding down this project at the halfway point, I wanted to start to get to work on the bolt which is the half of the pain in the butt for me (the other part will be the Hengstler, but that's another issue). I was looking at the bolt, and realized that when I looked at the bolt in most builds, the slot on the right of the bolt is horizontal, and more square. However, I thought that spot is actually where the charging lever should go. So, using this logic, the horizontal "square cut" is to the left easily accessibly through the charging channel by the charging lever, which made sense to me. However after doing that, that meant there was a vertical line/groove on the right side of the bolt. Confused by this and why no one else has touched on it really (at least from the builds that I have seen), I asked Aaron what he thought. We had an interesting conversation. I'll relay some of the information, and I'd really like the community to chime in, besides the 2 or so who really read this thread. So here is what I was talking about: My finger is covering up the "diagonal" pattern btw. Also chatting with Steve, I was like, "why in the hell did Doopy mold his bolt like this?" "Do I have it backwards? Should I putty this up? Why do other people have their square on the other side?". It's as easy as flipping the bolt around, but I wanted to know why. Since using my tank/mini modeling background, I thought on the day I received this and messed with the parts the SQUARE is where the charging handle glued to, makes sense for it to grip to something especially when you save down the cocking lever (a round peg won't fit through a long, slender charging channel, right?). So here are some of what Aaron was thinking, and he said it was ok to share this: "I checked my Doopy bolt and I have the same vertical groove, so it's probably not a casting mistake or an air pocket. I haven't watched this detail closely on Doopy builds, but I get the impression that people are installing the bolt backwards. I can see how it might be easy to make this mistake, and I seem to remember a lot of people completely sanding off the raised strips because they were thought to be cast in the wrong position (too high). I think you have your bolt in the CORRECT position." "Here's what I think is happening: People install the bolt backwards thinking the horizontal slot is meant for the ejector. The ejector is a spring loaded arm that grabs the lip on the bottom of a spent shell casing and pulls it out of the chamber. Some may think Doopy did them a favor by casting the "slot" for an ejector. When the bolt is installed this way, the diagonal strip is in the wrong position." Doopy backward: Doopy correct (in the orientation I have it) Notice the diagonal design is in the "right" position, and not high like when you reverse it. Aaron and I finished the convo with basically if I wasn't going to make the ejector on the right side, just putty up the groove and make it smooth. Most likely I'll still use the "garage sign" plastic to make the diagonal (since I had to sand down my bolt pretty well to fit in the tube, and messed up the "diagonal"). So what say you guys? I want to start working on the bolt this weekend. I've worked like almost 60 hours this week, so I'd like to use my precious time on the weekend to really knock this bolt out, but kind of stuck in a holding pattern mulling over this. Tim, Steve, Vern, or anyone else out there I'd like to know. Or, feel free to show me some links if this has been discussed before. Thanks!

That's not true, there a guy in our squad who's about your size who I think wears MTK and it looks fine. There are a ton of other armor makers, I'm sure you've searched? http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/12693-which-armour-is-better-for-a-bigger-trooper-read-here/page-2?hl=%20sizing (Page 1 sticky). Steve knows his stuff, he's seen many a TK. I think I'm just in that gray area where I could wear ATA or RT-Mod, but there's a big price different. I just don't want my leg pieces looking too short/too much black with an ATA kit.

Crap. Well it depends on what I'm wearing. Most of what i wear is 38", on the rare occasion I might have to wear 40", but most of my jeans and work pants are 38". So what armor would be better then?

Hey all, after much deliberation, I am more confused than ever. I met with my local garrison a while back for an armor party and to get some ideas about armor. A few people sized me up and thought ATA would fit. Now that it's months later, I'm still wondering if I made the right choice. Not that I want to double-guess what people tell me, but I'm curious as to what other experienced people int he community think. The more, the merrier, right? I'm 6', and my weight honestly fluctuates between 205-215ish (currently 208), depending on how well I'm eating and sticking to my healthy diets, haha. I think my proportions are fairly "normal", I'm tall, a slight belly but not largely obese. I'm currently on a waiting list for ATA armor. I don't want to sit on the list for 6 months to find out I've chosen the wrong armor, or didn't do my research. Others have told me MTK, and some RT Mod, etc. With all this info, it's nerve-wracking and contradicts each other. Please pardon if this thread has "been done" before. I've honestly used the search function and I just come across a lot of build threads. Shopping for clothes is typically an anxiety-induced affair with me, and this magnified that. A LOT of money, and CAN'T try anything on! Any insight?

Lookin' really good Tim, really good! You show off.....haha. Hey, did you ever solve your sealer coat woes? I too know the horrors of scratching. Hopefully 2 topcoats help, but any idea on sealing it?

Thanks Aaron! Slow coming, but basically now I'm waiting on things beyond my control. My sight rail & H. brakcet is enroute from Evil boy (my original attempt at this failed, I didn't even bother documenting it heh). My Hengstler is coming in next after that from Pete, but I've yet to decide how much I want to mod it. I did like Steve's mods to his. I don't think I'm going to worry about the button on it though, just perhaps the plastic counter cover? The final piece will be the power cylinders from Andy whenever he gets them completed. After that I can have it all done in about two weeks after that. Pretty excited about everything. Thank you for the advice. I'm glad you agree on the bolt, makes me feel like I'm in the right place on that. I also had that other issue, which I PM'd you on. So you think I should putty that seam on the stock huh, it's noticeable? I think I could probably sand it down and put some in there, see how it looks. I might give that a try. Also, the graphite is a GENIUS idea! Come to think of it, I have exactly what I think I need. When I was building model tanks, I used a woodless graphite pencil to rub on the edges of the tank tread wheels, to make it look like polished/weathered steel. That makes sense to use it as a lubrication, and it will also give it that polished steel look. I'll have to toy with this idea, and get back to you. (Here's a cool pic to show what I mean) My only fear now is trooping with this thing. After spending a lot of time and money, I'd literally cry I think if this thing broke! Thank Aaron, good hearing from you.

Oh yea, and since I'm extra-crazy, I did this unlike most people. I sprayed all kind of crazy angles as opposed to hanging it by wire like others ;P I also used a portable fan to quickly air dry. As far as for the FINISH, I will most likely hang it, as now you're talking about the whole plaster and the tube, not just one area. Flipping it like a burger to paint sounds like it wouldn't come out well for all the pieces and the finished product.

Ok, here are some minor updates. I literally thought in my head steps and processes for painting for over two weeks. I finally said heck with it, stop over-thinking and jump in, which NEVER works out for the worst right? Ha! Even with my crappy luck and less-than-stellar crafting skills, it did come out ok. I will share a few "hmm's" and a few afterthoughts for other folks considering a build. I decided to go ahead and attach the grip and sights before everything else. My goal at this phase of painting: since I'm close to the point where I am working on and permanently securing the bolt, I wanted to paint the inside of the barrel that's visible through the charging channel and ejector port. I also wanted to prime the grip and see how well it hid my blemishes, putty, and bleep-ups thus far, as to see how I may have to modify other parts before painting. Some notes to follow: - The whole body of the gun is currently masked. When I put on all the smaller parts, etc., I don't want to have to worry about gluing to primed surfaces. Therefore, I was only priming the grip, trigger area, and sights. - The folding stock is not actually attached yet. I just put it where it should be for the photo and to get an idea of how it would look. - This is only 1 coat of black primer. Pros: - I think it all came out ok. Hard to tell from these pics, but everything is primed, and details are still sharp. Allows for a good painting surface. - I painted the folding stock separately as I did not want to worry about drips and getting the tough inside area of the folding stock "fork". - Painting some of the parts by pieces allows for better priming and painting in general, especially when you can cohesively prime it when pieces are attached. - After all of the miscellanea is added (the scope rail, the flash/muzzle guard, lug nut, Hengstler, Power Cylinders, T-tracks. etc) I will hit it all up with primer to get a uniform prime coat. Then I can hit everything with one or two top coats. Then (like Tim has covered) time to find a good sealer as this paint scratches really easily, which is highly frustrating. Cons: - The "carved out area" in the folding stock is "rougher"/dented looking on this side vs. the other side. I kind of forgot about this until it was too late. I can either choose to sand it down/putty, etc, or leave it alone and rely on my good miniature modeling skills and weather it to make it looked fairly dinged up there. I think I'm going with the latter at this point. - You can kind of see where the folding stock comes in two pieces for a pipe build (you full-resin guys just don't know the horrors...). I thought it was fairly smooth and seamless, but apparently not. The excess epoxy was sanded down via dremel and really didn't think I needed to putty it to achieve smoothness as it felt really smooth. However, you can see a bit where it joins. What do you all think? Will a few more coats of top coat hide it better? Is it even worth trying to sand it down, puttying it, and re-priming? Sounds like a royal pain to be honest. - The trigger, after primer, now sticks sometimes in the trigger well. I am far past the point to widen the channel out, so I'll have to be creative on how to make it move better. Have to remember paint, even a small layer, can change a good/accurate fit into a snug/pain in the.... Afterthoughts: - Now that the barrel inside is painted, it makes it really difficult to get the bolt in place and move it. It also scratches some of the primer inside off, therefore defeating the purpose. I had a feeling this exact thing would happen, but don't know if you don't try. I'm forced to be creative now. I'm going to have to get my bolt ready, paint it, insert it into the barrel where it needs to be (it's "final location"), and make the plastic strip mod to it to get the diagonal on the bolt I need (that's in a lot of threads). Then I will need to mask every piece of the bolt in the barrel off, and really quickly touch up the charging slot with paint (because of all the paint that was removed by the bolt moving into it's final place). Then I will keep the bolt masked until the whole paint job on the blaster is done. I will then go back and touch-up by hand any spray paint that leaked through onto the grey-painted bolt. I think that should work well. then just add a spring and cap off the end. - In retrospect, I might have just assembled the folding stock along wtih the trigger group and hit it all with primer at once. Don't see a lot of benefit doing it this way, that's just my opinion. -I hate painting, period. I'm now approaching two months on this build, but hey, life gets in the way sometimes. I hope my post was clear and concise and didn't get too technical/confusing. Always easier to explain in person than writing I feel. I hope all are doing well. I can only hope mine turns out as well as some of you fine gents. As always appreciate the help and encouragement from all fronts.

It wasn't threatening anything, except any skill that I had. Being as that's pretty much nil anyways, hmmm....lol. More pics to come soon. Been busy lately working the two jobs. Primed the trigger and all of that - new set of problems. My pin that holds the trigger, started to work itself out of the putty that dried and stuffed the "pin hole" that kept the trigger in place in the trigger well. I ended up just putting a small drop of epoxy into the hole on each side and that seems to hold it, and I still get movement. I plan to just spray primer over the epoxy holes, at this point I don't care. My only issue is since everything got primed, the primer is causing the trigger to stick a bit, and I haven't even added the 2 top coats yet. ;( This does not bode well for the future. Today going to try and work on the bolt some. Wish me luck. :\

Hey thanks Gaz, FINALLY got it looking good. Only you know the true debacle .Thanks again for the awesome mag! The details are awesome on the mag and love the holster. Thanks for moving and renaming this too!