Khazid

To make the conversion eligible for EIB you will have to remove that one track and drill out the holes. I haven't looked for them myself, but I am sure you can find some conversion threads here that have done that very thing. If it was me, I would mark the holes with a sharpie/pencil and then use a step down bit to slowly drill the holes to the correct size.

Very nice after action report. Ordered mine earlier this week and they are out of stock at the moment. Two weeks and they will be back in stock, the website is taking orders though, so you can queue up.

Most epoxies need a surface to bond too. Try roughing up the area that will be bonded with 100 or 200 grit sand paper.

Looking good!

Have fun Steve!

Most foams are going to have a lot of open cells which will hurt the final look. You could go with L200 foam, it has smaller cell patterns (rigidity), but is tough to source and pricey. I think this is why leather or the secondary market here or on the MIPD site is he way most go for their TD's and HWT's.

MTK on hand, build thread coming after I finish my blaster. ATA, on the waiting list, thinking of going TD with that build.

======================== There is, but with a hole for the mounting screw, plus a hole large enough to not damage the wiring, you wind up removing enough material from the scope rail that its integrity could be compromised over time; even when accounting for the thickness of the counter bracket. I don't want to risk that.

=======Thank you for the compliment. Digging is an option, but there are two 24 gauge wires to pull, plus you would still be exposes going to the bottom of the scope for entry. Covering that work would still need to be done. My thought was ditch the channel in favor of the straw method to avoid structural issues. I appreciate the input!

Could just be the photo, but the alingment on your left thigh looks off. Almost like it has rotated away from your body. The cover strip should be in line, like your right side.

I also have found it helpful to look at both the EIB and Centurion applications. The photos are consistent drilling of the details, and the feedback is invaluable.

Simon, you're in the right place. Make sure to check out the pinned threads in this part of the forums. I found them priceless for researching how and where to start. Good luck with your TK adventure!

That looks and sounds great. Can you share what specific model number you ordered and which vable is being used for the vox only? The website makes it look like the mic cable has the PTT incorporated.

Not a lot of progress over the last two days, but that is to be expected. Tomorrow, it is back to work so updates, as mentioned in an earlier post, will be slower to come. First was moving on to the next step for the bolt/nozzle. To help with assembly, once the electronics are done, I installed two stabilizers that run from the front of the bolt, to the back of the nozzle. I used 1mm styrene that was 3/8†wide. They are nice and flexible, but will allow me to achieve the results I want with final assembly. Next up is prepping the scope. I am going to use a jewler’s loop (Item#94364) from Harbor Freight. They come out of the main assembly with tiny screws. As you can see in the second picture, the thickest of the two lenses is not more than 0.5mm, so they are nice and thin. I hollowed out the scope on both ends, making sure I went deep enough from the front for the goal of installing the simulated 3-D sight. I will be using the following scope image (from Trooperbay, bad pic, sorry) as my inspiration for the targeting reticle design. It turns out that those lenses are very hard poly carb. It took nearly two hours of steady slow grinding to get them to this assembly stage. There are some chips along the edges, but there should be a way for me to clean that up in final assembly. The thick lens will be going in the front, which is not lit. At this point I cut and assembled my scope rail. The height from the top of the barrel to the bottom of the rail is just under 3/8â€. Here is a test fit of the scope to the barrel itself. The back part of the scope aligns with the post for the folding tock. The front of the scope is about half way through the mag receiver. I feel good about the placement. Here is my first question. In the end, I would really like to shoot for Centurion with my armor. However; to get the wiring to run from the scope and into the Counter and ultimately into the barrel, I have had to make a non-cannon modification. You can see it here in detail. There is another section of partial straw that will be installed to finish the “run†into the counter itself. The straw goes through the rail and into the bottom of the scope, creating a tunnel for the wiring to be pulled. Will I have an issue with Centurion for this mod? If so, any suggestions on how else to pull the wiring and keep it hidden from sight? I still have time to plug the holes in the scope and rail, but I don’t want to take the next step until I am comfortable with this. Honestly, I like the modification, but I am not the expert that all the vets around here are. I am now leaning on you for direction. Help me FISD, you are my only hope. LOL.

15/16 down the center of the bolt would be perfect Derrek. It would still leave the wall thick enough for working with, and enough space for anyone doing electronics to pull through.

Now it was time for the bolt. Derrek, grab a bucket because you are going to be sick. Considering how much in the way of electronics I am installing, the bolt in the kit just doesn’t give me enough room. Just the LED’s and their drivers alone will account for 10-12 wires coming from the front of the barrel. Add in the power supply, and I am now up around 14 wires that need to pull through. I did a dry fit and made some marks on the bolt to ensure I knew where I was going and then, well, it was time to cut. After about an hour of working with “eater†and a few different sanding tools on the dremel, I was able get the bolt sufficiently hollowed out for space. Next I removed a piece from the dissected bolt so I could have my rear assembly still slide down the barrel. This was put back using two pins and epoxy. The silver dish you see in the above is the reflector from a head lamp. I found these at Harbor Freight (Item#45087) on sale for $1.99. The reflectors are plastic, so they are extremely easy to cut/sand to final shape. I like to use reflectors with LED’s whenever I can as it helps direct the light generated, making it seem brighter than it is. After cutting down the reflector to fit, the outside edge was filled with Magic Sculpt, along with the interior well. I can then sand this down and I will have a very stable piece to mount the barrel LED too. Sorry for the low light in the second picture, the reflector was doing its job too well. LOL And that is it for today. Up next is the scope (and its rail) and further clean up on the bolt. Electronics are coming very, very soon.

Next up is the first modification to the nozzle. I first found the rough center of the plug and drilled a pilot hole about ¼ of an inch into the back. From the front, I now drilled out the “business†end to allow for the LED’s dome to fit. This was a 3/8 bit. I would caution you to measure your LED before making this cut out. LED’s vary in size from manufacturer. It was time to hollow out the back of the nozzle to prepare for installation later on in the project. I started with a 15/16 spade bit and very slow dug my way down. The center tip of the spade bit will find the hole drilled from the front of the nozzle. This is how I knew I was getting close to final depth. Ok, you may be asking why I just didn’t cut off the back. Why go to all the trouble of drilling it out? Well, my ultimate goal with this build is to be able to have access to service any parts that might fail over time. This would mean being able to get to the LED in the nozzle. I also have a plan for hiding the wires running to the front of the barrel so that when firing the weapon the barrel itself will light up. Stick with me, I will reveal the plans as progress moves along. So it’s back to “eaterâ€, which I remembered to take a picture of today. I don’t know the official name of the bit, but “eater†fits. After some sanding and some test fitting on the LED, this is the final outcome. The secondary recess is needed to allow the dome to get as far into the nozzle as I am comfortable with, while not letting it be all that visible to a casual observer.

Ok…so turned in another seven hours today on the build. Sadly, my vacation is over so big updates like this will be few and far between now. Will only be posting once a week to keep you updated with what was accomplished over the week. Oh the joys of a 9-5, two kids (4 and 19 months) and my lovely wife. Today I started out with clean up from the filler that was put in during my last session. I started with the sight cover, sanding down the extended knurling so that it fades now properly just after the bend. The only other part that needed extensive work was the folding stock repair. Here it is in all its glory now. First picture is the profile, the second is a top view. Once this part is painted now it will take a close inspection to pick out the damage. I would be shocked if anyone could point out that nearly 1.5 inches is completely replaced. After some light sanding was done with the mag receiver and mag clip, I completed the installation of the receiver onto the barrel. Here is the view from outside perspective. You can see that I pulled enough power wire to go out the back of the barrel. When doing small electronics, like I am planning, it is always better to pull more wire than you think you will need and just trim back. Splicing increases the likelihood of shorts and power loss that is difficult to troubleshoot later on. Here is the inside shot from the ejection port. Notice how I had to drill a secondary hole for the wires to come in. I purposefully made this opening large to accommodate for the wires to turn and twist with minimal rubbing against the aluminum tube. Once the epoxy had set, I am using 5 minute epoxy to glue the permanent parts of this build. It was time to test this part of the build. First up install the battery. Now the mag clip goes into place. You’ll see here that I have some fine tuning to do on the mag clip to get it to sit right where I want it. I was able to moderately shake the barrel without dislodging the clip. A heavy shake though, and it came flying out. I might look to go with velcro opposite from the batteries to reinforce this, but we’ll see after some more testing. However; I am very pleased with this first modification to the kit.

You're correct, nothing wrong with green stuff. I just prefer the product I use now.

With Magic Sculpt just make sure the parts are clean and dry. I also lightly scuff any dense materials (metal, stone, etc) to give the epoxy something to grab onto. 150 or 200 grit should be good enough. Green stuff found my waste bucket after a kit basher I met in my Warhammer days introduced me to he Magic.

The filler I am using is an epoxy resin called Magic Sculpt. The link is in one of my first posts. You have 2-3 hours of working time with it and the product smoothes with water. I have been using it for some time and swear by it for modeling projects of all kinds as it can bond to multiple surfaces; as long as those surfaces are prepped properly.

You are correct. I plan to sand that off as I weather the piece. This way the pattern can fade out like we see in the reference photos. Appreciate the call out though, I failed to mention that in my "master plan".

Here is what I spent most of today on, repairing the folding stock. Derrek was going to send me a replacement as it broke into four pieces while in transit (see post#25). What the heck though, might was well see what I can do. First up, drill out the holes on the bottom of the stock to allow for insertion of a 3/8†styrene tube to simulate the Sterling folding stock mechanism. Not shown is the installation of that tube, the pictures were terrible. Needless to say the “eater†came to the rescue on the back side to dig out the channel for the tube and it went in nicely. I am going to skip a lot of steps here. Not because I don’t want to share, but I just got into a serious assembly rhythm and frankly just forgot. First I pinned the folding stock into the front piece and then clamped the sides to the stock while the epoxy dried. Next I used pop rivet shanks to pin the broken pieces. I had an epiphany and used pop rivets that I first attached to styrene and then removed to simulate the pinned sections on the stock. The rounded heads at the hinge that attaches to the rear of the barrel are simulated with 5mm pop rivet heads. They went perfectly around the shanks that I used to pin those two parts. That got me to here. Last part of the repair was to take some 2mm scrap ABS that I just happen to have on hand for my pending armor build. A small strip won’t hurt, so I cut it off and measured it to fit. This piece is not thick enough to fill the gap, but it will provide an excellent “bone†that I can layer magic sculpt on top of. It is installed using pins made from paperclips. I now took magic sculpt and filled in the gap completely, overfilling to allow me to sand down the piece once it dries. I’ll post pictures of the final result once I can get there. Looks like I won't need that replacement part after all! And that is it for now. See you all again on the weekend, I hope to have more updates then.

The power cylinders had a small bubble on the bottom that need to be filled. While doing that I noticed there were indentions for wires coming from the capacitors, so I took some solder wire that was of the appropriate width and set to work getting the wires installed. That just took it to the next level for me and the solder wire will paint well too. Now for proof of concept for one of my ideas to be able to break down the gun for any repairs needed to the electronics. I will not be able to glue in either the endcap or the nozzle, and there is not a reference to support me adding extremely small set screws. If you cannot apply pressure to hold an object with a screw, then compression is an option. Thankfully both the endcap and nozzle have the space to handle my idea. O-Rings. Specifically, Brass Craft 0525 O-Rings. They measure 1†inner diameter, 1-1/8†outer diameter with a 1/16†wall. I thought I would proof this out on the endcap. First I take a 1/16†diamond head attachment for my dremel to dig the trench around the end cap. The key here is to not dig too deep, just enough to help hold the O-Ring in place when you push the endcap into the barrel. Here goes nothing, with the O-Ring installed I go to push the end cap into place. It takes some force, but I am able to get the piece in. There is just enough free play to twist the end cap into place, but it is still very tight. Success! The following picture was taken on a steep down angle with the endcap going to the floor. It will not fall out without me applying quite a bit of force. Proof of concept proved. Now I can repeat the same process for the nozzle. This will now allow me access to both the front and rear sections of the barrel for installing electronics.

While all the filler was drying it was time to move on to other pieces of the build. Not shown are the folding stock clip, bayonet lug, rear sight and flash covers. These were all sanded down to remove flashing from the molds. I also taped a piece of 150 grit sandpaper to the barrel so I could sand down the parts to fit for gluing later on. First up was the nozzle. I sanded it down and filled in some bubble holes in the resin. I still have some modifications to add later on to allow for the front RGB LED. Next up was the front sight. I added a very small set screw and then sanded down the sight. Then I realized I sanded the sight down backwards. Well, I guess this E-11 was commissioned for a left handed trooper. I don’t think it will be a big deal that the set screw is on opposite side. The following picture shows the sight completed with a spare set screw to the side. <the picture I had for here is terrible, I will take a replacement soon> Next was for the sight cover. I sanded it down to remove the texture that was present as those details just don’t mold well. Then utilizing a method I picked up here on the boards, thank you to whomever thought this up, I looked for a tool that had a cross hatch diamond pattern. What I found in my tool box was a harbor freight pick. The following two pictures show you the resulting work in the magic sculpt. I first applied the magic sculpt and smoothed it down with water. Then after dipping the tool in some water I just rolled it over the sight cover. Voila, now it is patterned. Once this dries I can sand it down lightly to show the wear as referenced and then apply the rest of the needed filler to complete the bridges. Almost forgot, I also glued the endcap pieces together and filled them. You'll see why I glued them soon.