ScaryGuy
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Posts posted by ScaryGuy
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I finished painting my scope. I started with a white primer layer, then painted it with humbrol brass spray paint. For my blaster I'm using Motip spray paint, and I can spray this quite generously but still get a thin sharp layer. I applied the Humbrol paint the same as the Motip, but it's a much ticker paint. so the text on the top of the scope was almost gone. When the paint was almost dried I removed the paint on the text area with some thinners. This removed the paint but also removed some depth/sharpness of the text.
I touched it up with some primer, skipped the brass and sprayed the text area with the black Motip paint. I had some trouble getting white paint sticking to the text. After several attempts I used regular acrylic wood paint, let it dry, then removed the excess paint with my nail.
White text is still a bit faint in the picture below.
In the last picture the white text is now more visible after my last attempt with the acrylic paint.
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Hi Tino!<br><br>
The outer ring for the small lens is a bit loose in my kit, the threading on the inner ring works perfect though. Also the lens is not located between in the inner and outer ring, but at the back of the inner ring, so there's nothing behind the lens to support it. I looked at the inner ring with the opague lens and I assumed it should be mounted at the back to give it the same appearance as the opague one. Therefore I have to glue the lens at the back of the inner ring.
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I received my M38 type 1 kit yesterday. This kit is really awesome! I can't find any defects on the outer or visible parts, other than the imperfections cast from the original. Excellent quality! Packaging is also excellent, it comes in a sturdy box made by Brian himself. It looked like a standard box to me, until he told me he custom makes them. A very nice touch!
Today I had some time to work on the scope. First I drilled the holes for the supplied screws on the smaller lens side. The holes were drilled 0.5mm less than the screw diameter. I replaced the two adjustment screws with the ones that come with T-Jay's completion kit. These fit perfectly inside the holes, whereas Brian's supplied screws need some work on the screw heads.
T-Jay's completion kit comes with a monocular that can be stripped for its lenses. I had to fit these inside the scope lens rings. The two large lense rings where a bit to big to fit inside the scope, so I had to sand down the outside of the rings (removing the threading) to make them fit. The diameter of the monocular lens was slightly less than 22 mm, where the lens ring had an inner diameter of approx 22.5 mm. The only drill that I had around that size is 20 mm, so I used that one. As you can see the drill was not perfectly centered. My drill skills aren't that precise so I'm glad I found Brian's scope project! Otherwise I had to attempt to hollow my doopy scope. I removed the remaining area with a sanding bit on my dremel.
My smaller lens is 11 mm in diameter with the inner ring being 10 mm. I drilled the inner ring with a 10 mm drill, then made a recessed area on the back of the inner ring to fit the lens in. After painting the lenses will be glued in the rings.
To attach the rings inside the scope I will probably use some E6000 to keep them in place.
The two feet came with a cast of threaded rod pieces, I cut them off as I will be drilling holes in the feet for the mounting bracket screws. I guess it's ready for painting now.
I highly recommend Brian's kit, a great upgrade for a doopy kit.
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I suspect I'm going to end up giving up on the self-contained helmet idea and falling back on my Pyle speaker (similar to Aker), if I can't get more volume out of the Hovis. They're not bad in a quiet environment, but troops tend to get loud and kinda raucous, especially outdoor troops with lots of people, so currently, they're not really cutting it for me, unfortunately.
That's too bad. I haven't been to large events yet, and the hovi speakers seem fine for the events I've been to. So you're gonna use the romfx with the Pyle? The romfx speaker also isn't loud enough?
Do you have any advice for somebody that needs to modify their thighs like you have? Now that it's been a while is there anything you'd do differently? Also, to clarify, removing these return edges won't affect Centurian status?
This is a great build thread. Lots of goodies in here.
No, I wouldn't do it differently. I just would have cut the thighs sooner if I knew how it turned out
. I was afraid cutting the return edge would be really visible, but it isn't. Well at least if the thighs fit your legs correctly. I can move a finger around my thigh when wearing them. Because they hang on the front on my garter belt they tilt back so it closes the gap on the front. So put some painters tape around the top and mark a cut line using a compass. One end of the compass can follow the return edge, the other end draws the line on the painters tape. Start with only a little bit. I cut 10 mm and it was already enough for me. It's easer to cut multiple times then to put some material back.
Cutting the return edge on the top of the thighs doesn't effect centurion approval. What matters is how the thighs fit you.
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Thanks! Feel free to borrow my ideas, sharing is what this forum is about.
The black switches are "SCI R13-270 C-02", the red one is even a bit smaller in depth but I couldn't find a part number on it. They require a 15 mm mounting hole. Most others that I found need a 20 mm hole.
Ukswrath used a large powerbank with a dedicated 9 or 12V output. I will look into his hearing assist thread. I also found out that my powerbank uses quickcharge 2.0. This allows a device to request a higher voltage, like 9 or 12 V. The device has to put specific voltage levels on the D (data) lines. Then the powerbank will switch to a higher voltage. Might also be interesting to investigate, but for now the 9V battery will do.
I haven't trooped with this setup yet. I'm still deciding where to put the mic. It needs to be really close to pick up my voice. I already lowered the sensitivity level. Are you using the romfx supplied mic? Volume with the hovi speakers is turned to max. Output volume is ok if speaking difectly to someone, but no idea how that works in noisy environment. The romfx speaker has a bit more output, but it has to be mounted in the armor. Could be a fallback option if needed. The romfx setup is not as loud as an aker.
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After 3 troops I'm still happy with my fan solution, so it was time to make things final. I removed everything from the inside, and give the helmet the plastidip treatment.
I carefully taped everything but I didn't notice that the paint could get through the gap near the ears. So when I removed the bag there was some spray near the ear gaps. Luckily plastidip is easy to remove.
I also bought a rom/fx, and the hovi mic speakers from ukswrath. I like everything placed inside the helmet, with no cables attached to the armor. I added another switch so I can also switch the rom/fx on and off. Could be handy if it gets into a feedback loop.
Originally I wanted to power the rom/fx from my Anker powercore 10000. However, the rom/fx needs 9 - 12V and the powerbank is 5V so I needed a converter. I bought a 5 - 12V converter from Pololu (https://www.pololu.com/product/2577). The powercore can deliver 2.4A so I thought it would be more then enough the rom/fx. Here's the wiring with the converter.
This week I received my rom/fx and I tested it with the converter. Things didn't work as planned though, When turning up the volume the initial current when starting to speak is so high the powerbank is shutting off. With a USB wall adapter I measured peak current of 2.7A - 3A. Way too much for the powerbank. With a 9V battery the max current is around 1A. So I guess the combination with the DC converter is the cause of drawing so much current. I don't have enough electronics knowledge to solve this myself. I was hopig buying a standard converter would be enough, but I think for this to work something is needed that is designed specifically for the rom/fx / powerbank combination.
So for now I dropped the idea and I will be using a 9V battery. The 8x AA solution is too big to fit inside the helmet.
The results. The powercore is in the back of the helmet with the 9V battery on my right.
The rom/fx is on the left. It's larger then I thought but still fits next to the hard hat liner. I used cable management ties (double sided velcro) to mount them in the helmet.
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Very crisp and clean look, much better. I'm still working out the rom/fx mic placment. It has a very stiff bending wire. I think I'm going to attach it behind the vocoder area.
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Can confirm! I got a text message with the shipment number and a code for a website where I could pay the import fees in advance. The Dutch Garrison shipment should arrive here on Monday!
Woohoo!
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I also have an order in John's current batch. I asked him about the possibility for an audio input and it was not possible. Maybe someone with some electronics knowledge could find the input of the onboard amp and add another signal into it. But no standard feature on the romfx classic. I believe there was a romfx pro that could play 3 different pre programmed sound bites. These could be controlled with 3 buttons in your glove with a cable running to the romfx pro. Not really a TK chatter option.
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Congrats! Well done!
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Congrats on your first troop! It's amazing the effect TKs have on kids (and grownups!) isn't it? So much fun!
Thanks! Yes, walking around with just TK's was amazing. Hearing "oh look, stormtroopers!" all the time (next to "it must be hot inside"). I don't think many other costumes have that same effect. If you're into star wars that obscure expanded universe character is totally cool, but unknown to the general public. But everyone recognizes a TK, and loves to see them. Apart from the totally scared kids, but hey we ARE the bad guys
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Just before my first troop there where two things still bothering me: the foam padding wasn't tight enough, so there was still too much wobbling when I move my head. And I didn't like my self made bracket solution. It wasn't strong enough to keep it in place when I toggle the switches, and all the duct tape gave it a sloppy look.
First I decided to replace the helmet foam with a hard hat liner. I used duct tape to find the best mounting position inside the helmet, then I glued the helmet clips with E6000.
This feels so much better! Now the helmet follows my head movement, even with fast turns. Because there's more air around your head it doesn't feel like your wearing a helmet.
I ditched the bracket and decided to go for a static solution. I made some abs brackets for mounting the switches. These are glued to the helmet with E6000. I also glued elastic bands to hold the power pack. I used wire tubing to hide the wires. These are currently only held by the bracket and power pack.
I glued some foam on the back of the fans and cut it a bit round. This makes it easier to glue/stick the fans to the curved part of the helmet.
I'm pretty happy how it turned out. A much cleaner look and it takes less space then the bracket. After that I was all set for my first troop!
My first troop was at the "Stripdagen Haarlem" , a comic festival mostly focussed on european comics. It was really awesome! People didn't really expect cosplayers (it's not a comic con) so we drew a lot of attention. A lot of people and kids wanting to take pictures with us (3 TK's and a commander). It was pretty hot but I had both fans running and they worked great. I also have quite some room at my sides, so sometimes there was some cool breeze running through. I really had a lot of fun.
We were asked by a local toy store, the "Toy Boys", here's us posing with them. I'm on the left.
Everything went great. I even walked some stairs. It was a bit tricky but I managed to look a bit through the frown watching the steps. The only issues I had were my feet: I had some blisters because the TK boots are a bit tight and still brand new. We made a few rounds walking around the festival, and by the last round my feet really started hurting. I already stretched the shoes a bit by putting bags with water inside the front of the shoes and putting them in the freezer for some hours. When the water freezes it will expand and strecht the leather a bit.
I also found a crack in the hard hat liner. Not sure when this happened but I glued the crack and put some tape around it. I might have to replace it already.
After a few upcoming troops I'm gonna strip the inside of the helmet and give it the plasti dip treatment. I also ordered a Rom/FX and ukswrath's hovi mic speakers. Everything will be mounted inside the helmet after the plasti dipping.
But first, more troops! I got two more upcoming this weekend. Woohoo!
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After the E6000 had cured I could test my valuables bag solution. I found one that was almost the same size as the O II plate. I stuffed everything that I normally carry around in it (wallet, iphone, keys) and put on the armor.
Well, that didn't work. It's too thick so the backplate was more then an inch from my back. Searching through my closet I found an old travel wallet which hangs around your neck. Very thin and a bit smaller.
It has enough space for my phone, ID / ATM card, some cash and a car key. Not enough space to bring my entire wallet or the prison guard key
set I normally walk around with. So I have to let some stuff at home when going to a troop.
I cut the neck cord from the wallet and applied some more snaps.
So for now I'm pretty much done for my first troop.
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Mouse droid FTW!
Didn't think of that. Hmm, tempting ...
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Two smaller batteries, each on one side in the helmet, would also balance the helmet. Most battery packs are pretty long, don't know how they would fit in the curved side. Well, at least we get to keep tweaking our armorAfter thinking about it, I'm actually considering stashing an extra USB battery at the front of the helmet which would help even it out.
I didn't even think about getting a larger bag for the back plate - maybe I should do that too. Although I'm starting to get too much stuff stuck to the inside of my armor. I already have an Aker/icomm strapped to the ab plate since I had a lot of extra room in there. Sometimes I think I should just go HWT or sandy so I can have a backpack to store stuff.
.Lol, a backpack would be nice
, but I agree you don't want to put too much stuff inside. Or join the rebel legion and have a R2 unit follow you with your stuff 
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I can notice the tilting with the lenses, they are a bit higher then I would want them to be. It's a tiny bit, so I haven't taken any counter measures yet. I have a lot of magnets from my build, they can act as counter weights by sticking some near the hovi mic's. Plenty of room there.I have the same problem with the helmet tilting back due to the weight of the battery at the back. Have you come up with any ideas for how to counter it? I was going to add something of similar weight to the front under the frown, but I don't know if I want to add something that doesn't need to be there.
Concerning somewhere to store valuables, I picked up a cheap camera pouch at the dollar store and velcroed it to the inside of my chest. It's big enough to hold my wallet but still small enough so it's not taking up too much room. My phone is too tall to fit (iphone 6s) but a smaller phone would fit.
I'm going to mount a small bag in the back plate. I found one almost the same size as the O II plate. I'm mounting it with snap plates and snaps. Plenty room for my iphone 6s, wallet and keys. Pics will follow, the E6000 is drying
.I'll want the front to be free if I want to mount an audio system. I already have an aker to be used with the tk voice app.
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The 5V fans have arrived, so it's time to continue working on my fan brack solution. I used foam tape around the edges and back of the plastic bracket. Hopefully this reduces any fan vibration. It also made the bracket a bit sturdier, so it will keep the bracket in place. Without it the bracket was too flexible. The fans are attached with a piece of velcro.
After the first test I already noticed the fans where spinning at high speed and create a lot of noise. Now I understand why some people use hearing aid systems in their helmets
. But that doesn't solve the problem that others can hear the noice too. So I needed to reduce the fan speed. I first thought of using a resistor in series with the fan. The value would depend on the amount of current running through the fan. The resistor also has to be big enough for the power that is being generated (voltage x current). After looking for some better solutions I found a remark to use diodes instead. A diode has a voltage drop around 0.7V, but does not affect the current running through the fan. I used two diodes in series with the fan to reduce the voltage to around 3.5V for the fan. Be aware that diodes have a polarity, the side with the band (silver in this case) is the negative side.
Here are the fans inside the helmet. There's still a bit of vibration, but not to bad. Eventually I hope to upgrade to bracket from echo, but this will do for my first troops.
The battery adds weight to the helmet. Because it is in the back the helmet tends to tilt back slightly.
Now I just need something to store my valuables (phone, wallet, keys) in my armor.
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Thanks for your thoughts Jeff. I'm working on getting my own blaster, just for private use in my collection. So eventually I will reapply for EIB and beyond!
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Well done Chris! All the hard work finally pays off!Just got passed at EIB!
.....So basically all thats stopping a Centurion application is the waiting list I'm on for new hand plates which is quoted as "mid May".
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For a more accurate look the mesh in the Anovos hovi mic tips should be replaced with something more coarse. I decided to go the easier route and bought a new set of hovi mic tips from Mark (CfO / Sskunky). Here's a comparison shot of the two:
The CfO's come with the bolts attached to the mic tips. They were a bit long, so I cut them using a dremel. Because the abs around the mic tips is really thin I cut reinforcement pieces from a larger scrap abs piece. They are glued with E6000. This gives the mic tips a more solid feeling.
Result:
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Congrats Chris!
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On 4/28/2016 at 8:56 AM, Sly11 said:
Yes they should run to the top, but not curve over. If you are considering to shorten the thighs, yes that will also fix the problem.
Your thighs do look a little long, but I wouldn't take off too much. The return edge is not necessary at the top of them any way, so you could fix too problems in one, the length and the cover strip shortness.
Have you spoken with your garrison regarding the Blaster, I hope someone can help you with one for the photo, you don't need to troop with it if you can not.
I decided to take the plunge and cut 10 mm from the top of the thighs. This fixes the cover strip being a bit short, and the thighs are now clear from the cod and kindey plates.
I haven't decided yet how I want to proceed with the blaster issue. I'm having several thoughts on this. I think it's relatively safe if I can get a blaster kit inside the EU, so phoenixprops, doopydoos are an option. Both can take quite some time to acquire. PhoenixProps has stopped taking orders at the moment. For doopydoos you have to be very quick when they become available. Others in the Dutch Garrison have bought a SDS blaster and received them without problems. Within the EU custom checks shouldn't be much of a concern.
However, I would only be getting or building a blaster to get my EIB/Centurion approval. I wouldn't risk bringing a blaster to an event. At some (more closed) events people bring their blaster, but you do it at your own risk. There's always a risk of meeting that police officer who's going by the book.
I appreciate the offer allowing me to use someone else's blaster for the pictures. It feels a bit like cheating though, like I'm getting an easy pass. Maybe it's an option to process my application as an offical approval but not assigning the EIB/Centurion rank/badges. That would be fine with me. The reason for me to get EIB/Centurion approval is to know I build my armor up to spec and get the approval of my fellow troopers.
So these are the thoughts I'm considering. I think I will bring it up on my garrison's forum, see how they think about it. If I'm going to use someone else's blaster I don't want anyone to have an issue with it.
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Only a small update, I finally took the plunge and started cutting the tops of the thighs. This solves two issues: the cover strips were a bit short at the top, and the thighs were pressing against the cod and butt plates.
I was afraid for loosing the return edge, but after looking at many pictures with similar cut thighs and I decided to go ahead. Loosing the return edge is not an issue for Centurion approval. I used a compass to trace a line 10 mm from the top. Then I used lexan scissors to cut the abs. It was a bit harder to cut through the (inner and outer) cover strips. After that I sanded the top smooth again using 180 grit.
Without the return the thighs have a sharper look:
The thighs are now clear from the ab and kidney. It did not change the mobility because the bottom of the thighs are still at the same position. I'm gonna wait until I had some trooping experience to see if more adjustments are needed.
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Looking good Chris, almost there!
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I agree Li-Ion catching fire is very rare, I just don't hope to be that "lucky" guy while wearing a plastic helmet. There a lot of things around that have a higher chance of hurting you. I'm fine with wearing one in my helmet.While I respect your point, "catastrophic" failures are hardly commonplace. I've had many a white box battery pack for phones over the years, and never had a "catastrophic" problem. The "catastrophic" failure I alluded to was more that one of the cheap batteries simply decided not to work.I'm comfortable using these as they are. Over 100s of 4-5 star reviews on Amazon, for this particular battery pack, would tend to agree with my stance.
I understood you were referring to a fan power failure, that really can be catastrophic too
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Suitcase Props 3D Printed E-11 parts
in ANH BlasTech E11
Posted
Hi Chris! I ordered your 3D parts for my doopy build.
Front sight block and pin:
Stock cube:
End cap clip:
I bought your 1.0 power cylinders, but when you upgraded it to version 1.1 I couldn't resist getting the new one
. I first gave it three coats with humbrol aluminum, sanding it with 500 grit or higher after each coat. Then switched to humbrol satin black repeating the process.
In the end I didn't use your flashguards, the doopy ones worked better for me. A big thanks for making these parts available to us! It makes my blaster a better one!