Cricket

Thanks, David! You're totally right about the screen used lids; the gaps are much more significant. As I read more and more build threads here, I'm discovering that ear gap preference depends on the trooper. And now I'm moving along ...

Thanks, Jason! It's so tough to tell what is acceptable when I don't have someone else's completed bucket in front of me. Thanks for the feedback! And so, with that bit of encouragement, I trooped ahead with getting both ears on. A little more sanding here and there, screws placed in the top and bottom of the ears, and they were done. Front right: Back right: Front left: Back left: And a lowbrow shot: Whew!!! So glad that hurdle has been cleared. (And can you believe that I still have one ear to spare? I'm sure I will need it for a backup...) I'm feeling quite chuffed right now. Next step: finishing up cleaning the eyes and detailing the teeth.

Okay, guys, opinions please!!! Is this ear gap too big? I can live with it if it's acceptable to y'all. If not, I will continue to tweak. (not twerk, I don't do that kind of thing...) Just to note: I don't have the second screw in at the bottom yet.

Ears. Stormtrooper ears. I hate them. I accomplished getting the right side one to fit first after a few hours of careful sanding. "Yay, me!", I thought. Easy! Then the left one. Oh, wow. Spawn of Satan piece of ABS. This was me: I was fitting the ear to the curve the entire time. Which made the top part that fit against the helmet sit too low. Gah! Now I know why Terrell includes two sets of ears for the helmet. Onward!

Yeah, I've been in touch with the GA Garrison (great group!). Everyone seems to live north of Atlanta, and I'm about 45 minutes south of Atlanta. Which would mean about a 90 minute drive each way just to look at some bucket details. Unfortunately, I can't invest that time right now for such a small detail. I will absolutely join them once my armor arrives, though! There are no armor parties scheduled as of now, but I'm keeping watch for one. I participated as a nerd herder at a troop event recently, and had a great time. Can't wait to meet more of the 501st in person! Ah, yes, you're correct on the bumps. I'll just have to make due with making the rest as good as I can then! Thanks for the feedback on the eyes! This is very helpful!!! I've printed out the RogueTrooper pages for reference, but after staring at the pics, then the lid, then the pics, then the lid... it became very difficult to see what details I needed to correct. I knew something wasn't quite right. I will get on cleaning up the eyes this weekend (between coloring Easter Eggs, dashing around Easter Egg hunts and recovering from a Easter candy coma...). Thanks everyone for the feedback!

Thanks for the feedback, guys! I really appreciate it. It feels a bit like I'm working blindly here since I don't have any other troopers in my area to bounce things off of. Since my Dremel was still out, I figured it would be a good time to clean up the eyes today. Despite looking at all the Hero diagrams, I'm still wondering if I should open up the eyes more. Or leave them? I would really love some feedback on what I've done with the eyes so far. I've attached a big photo so you can see the detail better. Be brutal with the feedback if necessary; I can handle it. Thanks in advance!

I tackled the teeth today. Do these look about right? I've been looking over and over at the ANH Hero Frowns diagrams. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/gallery/album/27-helmet-frown-a-new-hope-hero/ I just can't tell anymore. Did I make the holes too big? Kind of worried about this.

Yesterday I spent a few quality hours getting to know my bucket, trimming, sanding, trimming, sanding... "This is great!", I thought. But... Let me begin by saying that the cut lines aren't all too clear on my helmet. Everything is bumpy and lumpy around the edges, and it's very tough to see clearly where the helmet form ends and where the extra stuff begins. I've had to view the inside of the helmet with a flashlight at just the right angle to get an idea of where to draw my guide line to cut. And I discovered upon temporarily fitting everything together that I had been too.... uh... enthusiastic on the cap and back part of my lid! I had trimmed too much off the lower portion (facing left side) near the neck/cheek, and too much in one spot at the brow line. Gah! Crap. This meant that there would be a gap between my ear piece and the cap/back part of the helmet. My first thought was to just buy another bucket. That thought was quickly followed with, "Could I fix this? Maybe... how can I fix it?" Light bulb moment.... ABS paste! I have kept a ceramic ramekin of ABS paste on hand since beginning this project, and quite by accident. I had made a batch of ABS paste for filling in the teeth (see posts above), and forgot to clean out the ramekin. It had dried and hardened up to the point that I couldn't remove it from the dish. So I added more acetone to it, covered it with some plastic wrap and secured it with a rubber band so I could clean it later. I kind of forgot about it again (see a trend here?). When I checked on what was in the dish last night, I discovered that it was the perfect consistency to sculpt out a new edge. Yay! And I also discovered that if you dip your finger in acetone, you can gently smooth out the surface while the ABS paste is still soft. Kind of like wet sanding a drywall patch. It won't take out all the irregularities of the paste, but it helps to smooth out and blend it into the existing ABS plastic while it dries. The area that was over trimmed by the ear will be mostly covered up by the ear piece. But if I had not added the extra material, there would have been a visible gap of about 3mm. And the area along the brow that I've built up will be under the brow trim. The rest of my helmet is so bumpy that I should easily be able to blend the visible parts of my newly added edge without anyone noticing my build-up. So while it's definitely best to cut SLOWLY and ACCURATELY, I'm finding that all is not lost if you cut too much in some areas; ABS paste is the bomb. A few lessons learned for me!

Hooray! Doopy restocked this morning, so I was able to get everything I was looking for.

Your mom so totally rocks! Happy early 40th to you!!!<br><br> I'm about to start on my hero ears. You've given me a good idea with that contour gauge!Gotta have one now (yay, Amazon!). Thanks for sharing.

Thanks! I've learned that you need to be patient when sanding it, going gently rather than trying to buff it aggressively. If you buff it with too much pressure, it just comes off at the edges, and you have to feather out a new edge. Yay! Short troopers unite! I have to admit that I've purchased lifts for my boots, though. So I'll be more like 5'7 when in full gear. Not the tallest out there, but certainly not the shortest, though! My biggest worry is my width size more than my height. I'm thin-framed, so I think my challenge will be tapering in everything. I'm sure that if I'm patient enough, I will be sure to make it work. I know I would be up a serious creek with this if I didn't have you all here at the FISD to follow!

You guys are way too kind! Thank you. Oh, I am going to just put everything away for today now. This just arrived, and I don't think my day could get any better. Quitting while I'm ahead!

Yes! Because I need that extra push over the cliff.

Thanks, Aaron! I'm following your build. So much work, but you're doing a great job! You're giving me some serious motivation.

Thanks, Jack! I need all the luck I can get at this point.

Hey Preston, thanks! Please be sure to let me know when your BBB arrives. I'm excited to follow your build, too!

Thanks, Aaron! It's very encouraging to know that I've got support here!

Thank you!

Hey, look, new post! Hi everyone! I forgot to mention another thing that I have done since the whole bucket-build has commenced. Magnet sachets! Thanks to Khazid's fantastic tutorial for saving my fingers from certain death due to these things. I didn't glue them in like he does, but rather just wrapped them up all quick and dirty like with a zip tie. Easy, easy, easy. I've got 20 sets of these, so I think I have enough for once my armor eventually arrives. Here's the tutorial if you want to learn more about how to make 'em: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/31701-how-to-assemble-magnet-sachets/?hl=magnets That's my husband being a goofball with the bucket. Looks like he's been shot in the head with some fabric. Okay, so now back to the build! I tried the heat sealer method to pop out the teeth divots, but found that it wasn't working as well as I had hoped. I'm sure it was just because I didn't have patience for it. So begins my adventure into ABS Pasteland! When I first heard of ABS paste, I thought, "Okay, cool, trip to HD, and I'll pick some up." Uh, nope. Further travels within the depths of the FISD, and I found out that it's just acetone and scrap white stuff. Ohhh, paste-yyyyy..... From what I remember about repairing drywall holes and icing buttercream on cakes (never thought I would talk about those two things in the same sentence), a smooth, seamless look is best achieved if you apply a layer of product, followed by smoothing, followed by more product, then smoothing out, etc. I didn't think this would be any different. I dabbed the paste into the teeth holes with a toothpick and waited a day for it to dry. Here's the helmet with the first layer of ABS paste inserted into the teeth divots. I was nervous to sand the next day, I don't know why. What if I totally gouged up the faceplate? And I realized that I was suddenly afraid of moving forward. I took a deep breath. "F" fear. If I gouged it, then I would figure out a way to fix it. Let's do this. So with a teeny tiny piece of 400 grit sandpaper, I got to work. Everything was coming along nicely as I sanded until I realized that there were bubbles in the paste. Dozens of tiny, tiny bubbles in my teeth holes. (I had a fleeting vision of Don Ho singing "Tiny bubbles... in your teeth...") Gah!!! I had made the paste too thin, and it allowed for the bubbles to form and set as it cured. Dammit! My holes had holes. Sorry, but I was too embarrassed to take pics of the devastation. Onward. Okay, no worries, I told myself. I never expected perfection on the first layer anyhow. More ABS paste was made- this time I made sure it was dough-like in its consistency. I kneaded it to make sure that the stupid air bubbles were nowhere to be found, and then I smashed it onto my bucket's teeth. I was a little aggressive with it because I wanted to be sure that all the paste filled in my tiny bubbles. And I was a little pissed off, too. There! Take THAT! Next day, I armed myself with sandpaper ranging from 400- 2000 grit, and sanded again. After about an hour of careful sanding, here's what I got... Left side. Messy, yes. Not finished.... Right side. Please be kind. Not done yet. If you look closely at the top, you can see some of the bubbles from the first layer. Then a few more hours of patient sanding, and here's what I'm with now. Left side. Not polished, so please ignore the scratches! And right side... And from the front: I'm going to do a third layer today. If you look at the bucket from a normal distance, or even a little close up, you can't see any of the imperfections. Some would say it's overkill to keep mucking around with this to get it perfect. I seriously doubt that anyone would notice it but me (and most of y'all, I'm sure!). But I am totally obsessed with getting this smooth as buttah. It's very scary for me to put this out there, flaws and all. But if any of you have some tips/constructive criticism, I can take it!

Hey Everyone! So I'm finally taking a deep breath and jumping into this: posting a type of blog of me stumbling along trying to build my very first TK. I'm just 5'4", so I have my sights set on building a Luke suit, because I am, after all, a little short for a stormtrooper. There. Now... that's out there, it won't stop me, dammit. And I'm building for EIB, followed by Centurion. Yep, that's me. Go big, or go home. So, let's do this. I am on a wait list for my armor, so I ordered a bucket from the awesome Terrell at ATA to keep me busy during the wait. I asked for Hero ears, and he delivered, with an extra pair to save me if I totally screw up. Which I might. Nah, I probably will. Anyhow, the helmet kit is beautiful and comes with all the bells and whistles for assembly. Wish it came with bubble lenses, but I can always find those later, right? So while I was waiting for the white stuff, I got to work ordering all the necessary under items and other assembly doo-dads. I splurged on a Hyperfirm e-11 elite and am currently awaiting arrival of my grappling hook and Comlink setup (yay, Dennis!) I ordered a complete iComm kit and Ukswrath's hearing assist system (thanks, Tony!). I've ordered three different neck seals because I wanted to be flexible on that kind of thing. My super-supportive hubby even surprised me with one of those massive black Stanley Port-a-Trooper storage bins on wheels. Then the day arrived when my not-so-big brown box arrived. I flailed and screamed like a 12-year-old fangirl. My dog thought we had an intruder, and went beserk, barking and lunging at the windows while I jumped up and down at the sight of my box at the doorstep. I waited to open it so I could share the awesomeness of the moment with my husband. The glow radiated from the box and angels sung as I sliced the box lid open.... well, not really, but you understand what was going on in my mind. Here's everything laid out... white shiny goodness! Then I went from excitement to... fear. Suddenly I had the realization that I was terrified of screwing things up. Despite the hours upon hours of reading the forums here (which convinced me that this would be a piece o' cake), my confidence was shaken. I put everything back in the box. And there it sat. Until I decided (with some encouragement from Ukswrath) to get out there and meet other troopers. And whaddya know.... it worked! Despite being a lowly Nerd Herder for a day, I had a blast. Georgia's 501st rock! When I got home, I decided to begin work on my soon-to-be Hero bucket. I whipped out my tin snips and trimmed the ears a bit (not too close to the edges, though! That will come with sanding...). It was easier than I expected. I then trimmed outside edges of the helmet, and conservatively rough-cut out the eyes. I was feeling quite heroic at this point. So I had the three-bump-ears for Hero, but I soon realized that had to deal with modding the teeth. Ugh. The thought was enough for me to reconsider Hero altogether. But I don't give up easily- which can be a good (and bad) thing! If you're still reading, you'll see what I managed to do in the next post. Cheers!

This is also good to know! Doopy is my first choice, just looking for a backup source in case the drought continues through the end of the summer.

Thanks, Aaron! This is good to know.

So I've been rooting around the internet while stalking Doopydoos for a Hasbro e11 conversion kit, and I stumbled on this site selling Hasbro Conversion Kits. I'm a little dubious about buying from this site, so I figured I would see if anyone knows who is selling this or can report on quality. http://www.tk-4416.webplusshop.com/product.wml/productid/361564/Petes-Place/STAR-WARS-STORMTROOPER-Hasbro-E-11-Blaster-Conversion-kit.htm Thanks!

Has anyone had luck ordering an E-11 skin kit recently? Wondering if I should be stalking the site. Thanks!

I picked up a neck seal from Trooperbay as well as a neck seal from an ongoing sale here. Sharing some pics so you can see some additional detail. Ongoing sale neck seal top, Trooperbay neck seal bottom. Trooperbay neck seal left. Ongoing sale neck seal right. Trooperbay neck seal left. Ongoing sale neck seal right. Trooperbay neckseal left. Ongoing sale neck seal right.