Kredal

AM2 kits come with a jar of Weld-On 771 ABS plastic pipe cement. I never opened my jar, since I really like being able to fix mistakes. There were a couple things in my build that would have been absolutely unrecoverable without E-6000.

Thanks! Couldn't have done it without your help!

Fitment changes to make it better: Internal chest-ab strap. Here it is unstretched, and you can see where I put the snaps on. And attached, pulling the chest down significantly (really, applying pressure against the other strap inside. I wonder how far down it would go if I took off that strap? Hmm...) And here it is being worn. Full range of motion without exposing my midsection, unless I reach up to the sky, and even then, it's just a tiny little bit. I also SIGNIFICANTLY shortened the strap between forearm and bicep. I noticed on almost every picture, this strap was loose and it did nothing to hold my forearm up when my hands were down. Before and after. (I just added another snap to the strap, so it's movable, just in case) The black marks on my right arm are from the tail end of the blaster. Need to give the end cap a good layer of clearcoat. Another thing I need to fix, once I figure out how... The neckseal bib keeps riding up and getting trapped between my neck and the shoulder straps. I may need to add velcro or snaps to the bottom of the neckseal bib and my duty belt that holds up my thighs. That would keep the belt up, and the bib down, hopefully. Thoughts? I also took my first completely-suited-up test of the iComm and Aker box with my throat mic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An11Lv1D33M I really can't tell how much audio is coming from the Aker other than the clicks. Need someone else here to help. (:

Here's a picture from the shoot that the photographer may have manipulated a tiny little bit.

Seriously: soldering iron for punching holes in elastic. It works like a light saber, cauterizing the wound as it cuts, to keep the elastic from fraying. (:

I'm approved by the local Garrison! Just waiting on my TK number now. Hoping for 44678, or "GHOST" to go along with my other major obsession. (: The only comment the GML had for me was the chest-ab separation. I added another strap between the two, with a 6-inch elastic strap and snap plates about 9 inches apart, so it'll be under constant pressure. That BETTER be enough to keep it from riding high. Once the E-6000 sets, I'll take a few more pictures.

Initial Garrison approval pictures emailed! I have an Imgur album with all of the pictures taken today here: http://imgur.com/a/I4gEK Not gonna post them all here until I need to for level 2 and/or three approval. Stupid chestpiece is riding high still, even with electronics. I might have to just strap it down in place with an extra strap and a couple buttons, if it's not going to behave on its own. On the other hand, it didn't hurt to stand still with my knee plate today, so that issue is fixed at least. Anyway, fingers crossed I get to be part of the 501st soon!

There's a bayonet lug there. There's always been a bayonet lug there. (We've always been at war with Eurasia) (sanded down to the resin where it goes, superglued, and painted) Also, when I was sanding, the word "lug" appeared in the paint. I wondered why there was a gap in the holes there. It all makes sense now.

Um. 79%!

And it's done! (For some value of done) Put a quick clearcoat on it, that's why it's hanging by the D-ring. Good chance to take a few pictures though!

Ah, I did weather the T Tracks. I'll un-weather them. (: I can dirty up the bolt some. That picture is pure metallic silver. A wash of thinned black should do the trick. Thanks for the feedback!

You can trim the inside edge of the forearm (opposite side from the ladder detail) and cut out a crescent moon shape, to give your wrist more mobility.

After that, I kind of stopped taking pictures, and kept working like a madman. I drilled out the counter, and added the number wheels from a hand counter, and drilled out the scope front and back and added lenses from a monocle. Both additions courtesy of Twnbrother's wonderful build thread. I wrapped the steel wire around a half-inch pvc pipe to make the buffer spring. Perfect size! Then I gave everything another wash, to get off the resin dust. Dried everything, and started gluing! I used superglue for everything, very thin coat, and hold and press for a 30-count. I painted the whole stock and body and everything with Testors metallic black paint, gave it a couple good coats. Once that was dry, I used the edge of a brush with a tiny amount of silver paint, and brushed that along edges to give the impression that it was showing through the black paint. I did the same thing with the scope, but using brass paint. I'll give the scope rail and things until tomorrow to dry completely before screwing everything together and finishing the blaster. I know, not much of a build thread, sorry. I'm going over to a friend's house tomorrow to take the Garrison acceptance pictures, and wanted to be able to take the EI and Centurion pictures at the same time, so I NEEDED a blaster. So yeah. Now I have one. (: I'll get some better pictures tomorrow once it's all dry, and I can actually pick it up. (:

OK, back to the build. I put a pin in the grip and mounted the selector switch with glue, locked in the R for Repeating position. You never see a Stormtrooper firing in full auto, and safe is boring. (: I drilled out the folding stock... Don't worry, I cleaned it up with a file after I took this picture. I made sure to keep the illusion that the other piece of the stock is visible in it. I added pins to where the folding stock mounts, and drilled holes in it so they would hold on. Gives something besides glue to keep the connection stable.

Yeah, I got T-Jay's name wrong. The 80% accuracy started in the topic. (: So the foot pedal: All it does is control the voltage getting to the tool. Any motor that runs off AC can be slowed down by it, it doesn't have to be a Dremel, and it doesn't have to be variable speed itself. This is an older version, it was given to me by the sewing machine repairman since I was so excited by the prospect of a foot controlled Dremel. (: (Also, the fact that we were commissioning hundreds of dollars of service probably didn't hurt.) The extra arm on top of the pedal is so you can mount it under your workbench and operate it with a knee. I plan on drilling out the rivet holding it on, since I don't sit down to work in the garage. This is how it works. The sweeper arm moves as you press down on the pedal, and the further along it gets, the less resistance coils the electricity has to go through, until it's a straight shot, and full speed. One end of the plug goes to the wall, the other end goes to the pedal. In the middle are two outlets. One always has full power, it's for a light or something. The other is controlled by the foot pedal, you can plug in any tool you want there. Here is the same thing, but slightly newer: http://www.sewingmachinesplus.com/FC-143_cord.php Totally worth it!

OK, stating right up front for the record: this is not going to be a massive 20-page, 100% accurate, super realistic, moving parts (well, except for one) build. I'm making a blaster to the level that I feel comfortable trooping with, that I wouldn't be crushed if something happened to it, but also to the point that anyone looking at it would say "hey, that's better than a Hasbro toy gun." With that caveat out of the way... Step 0: Get yourself a flexible arm for your Dremel, and the most genius idea ever, a sewing machine foot pedal! The foot pedal has two cords coming off it. One plugs into the wall, and the other has an outlet that you can plug your Dremel into. Do that, and turn on your Dremel all the way, and then as you press your foot on the pedal harder, it spins faster. Take your foot off, and it stops. Never have to fumble around with the speed switch or anything like that ever again. Saw that setup at a sewing machine repair shop, guy had his multitool set up to a foot switch, and I was like "HEY!" Alright, take all the parts out of the box, inventory, wash with soapy water, and then get to sanding. I used 160 grit sandpaper for this first step, removing flashing, extra resin, all that fun stuff. Then I basically started attacking parts at random. Bottom holes in the barrel: A 3/8 inch drill gets it almost all the way there. I may clean it up with the Dremel later, but since they're all covered by the stock, no biggy. Free/Lock screw: Using EJay's kit as a guide, I drilled out the molded in screw head, then drilled straight down enough for a little bit of the screw's shaft. Bolt at the bottom of the grip: Used an appropriate-sized drill bit to take out the molded in bolt, then drilled enough for the shaft of the bolt, and dropped in the replacement. No glue needed here, it's tight like a tiger. (and out of focus, sorry) Gazmosis's magazine: Cut off the last inch of magazine, then trimmed around the inside of the magwell until it fit together, down to the cutouts. Front sight: I Dremeled out the side windows. I'll stick a flattened screw in the middle later for the actual sight pin. \\ Trigger: The one moving part (well, other than the D-ring, I guess).. Fit the trigger in, penciled where it fits in its well, then transferred that mark to the outside. Drilled with a 1/16th bit through both at the very top of the trigger... Took it out, found a sacrificial ballpoint pen, measured the spring, and drilled a hole at the bottom of the trigger into the grip long enough for about 2/3 of the spring, so the rest would compress. It does the thing! So yeah, that's where I'm at. Also vacuumed 17 lbs of resin dust, because man, that goes everywhere!

Eric, are you going to be mounting any sound hardware in your chest? Cause that seems to help counteract the elastic forcing the chest up.

Rub your thumb over where you can see the glue (once it's dry) and that part should start peeling up. Then you can get it mostly clean. (: If you think you can get the halves joined closer, by all means pull them apart, clean off ALL the glue, and start again. It might be helpful to put some strips of blue tape on the top piece, gluing them together, and sticking down the tape on the back piece before going for your magnets.

Chest: I put in the Aker and iComm with blue tape, and put on the torso. Just that little weight was enough to bring down the chest to at least overlap the ab. It's not down really far, but I'm a little tall for a stormtrooper, so any amount helps. As long as you can't see daylight (or my undershirt) between the plates, I'm happy. I'll get those semi-permanantly attached with Velcro later. Sniper knee is done, and should be way less painful. (: Also, looks a lot closer to the pics posted earlier in the thread. Anyone see any possible complaints against the level 2 CRL here? Oh, regarding foam. Wouldn't I want the foam in the front, right below the knee, to push out the front end more? I would think putting foam in the back would draw the front into my knee and under the thigh plate even more?

The button plate is on the correct side. The picture is upside down, looking towards the bottom of the ab piece. You can see the cod area at the top left of the picture, and the Y-shaped raised edge also at the top of the picture (detail is at the bottom of the ab plate)

I trimmed down the sniper plate this morning, and set it to gluing. It's much closer to vertical, and the return edge at the top doesn't stick back into my knee quite so much. I drew a line where the bottom edge of the knobbies were before, and that line is completely obstructed now. Also, the giant gap under the center is almost gone, which is probably a good sign! I put a coat of paint on all of the rivets that call for it. Gonna do another coat this evening... The ammo belt rivets really need it because of the damage I inflicted on them while putting them on. (: Regarding the belt, the CRL for both the hero and stunt uniforms are silent about belt placement with regards to the the ab button plate. It's talked about a lot in EI and Centurion approval threads, I know... Shrug. I'm going to leave that alone for now, since moving it to halfway between where it is now and where it used to be will require removing at least one of the snaps from the ab plate, and drilling more holes. Work on the 90% fixes first, then zero in on the super-accurate things that aren't on the CRL! (: Didn't get to the snaps last night, but looking more closely at my pictures, there's a lot less un-stretched movement that I need to make than I thought. Maybe one Dritz snap-width... Easy fix is putting another Dritz snap in the strap right next to the current one, and trying it on.

It's interesting how low Luke's belt is here.

I think so. Of course, I haven't actually trooped in them, so...

Re: shoulder bell straps, I took the measurements from snap to snap, then shortened it by about 20mm from there, knowing it would stretch out... Guess I didn't know how much it would stretch! I'll bring it in another 25mm unstretched, and that should be enough. Hopefully!

I have the Imperial Boots, and love them. (: Oh, and you should have your rivet covers Friday!