kman

Interesting idea! I'm not really clear on what actually holds the E11 onto the mount, though?

Oh, I already have Uk's kit (with iComm), plus a ROM F/X (I still use Tony's speaker tips, but not the other electronics). Just looking at other options, since there's always room for improvement.

Ok, so you're using Ukswrath's hovi speaker tips? And you're pushing them with some sort of Aker amp? (which model Aker works with Tony's speakers?)

Very nicely done! A couple of questions: 1) Where is the speaker located? And the mic? 2) How do you charge things, or change the batteries? Looks like you have to remove a bunch of padding every time, is that right?

Anovos doesn't do discount codes the way they used to. Just advertised sales, such as black friday, con specials, etc.

Depends on who made your armor. Anovos, for instance, is nearly impossible to get spare parts from. Other vendors are usually easier to reach, and more willing to deal with one-off parts.

This is key. Also beware of cheap metal that just doesn't last, or rusts. There are snaps out there that LOOK magnificent, but the metal is such poor quality that a correctly assembled snap can literally fall apart unexpectedly. (I'm looking at YOU, Anovos!) Tandy is recommended a lot because it's a known quantity, and has proven itself over and over again to last the test of time. There are plenty of other manufacturers out there, however, and it's entirely possible that many of them are making snaps that are easily equal to Tandy, in terms of quality, but few others are as widely known and widely available as the Tandy are, so it's a safe recommendation. One guy who gets lucky with a no-name vendor, good for him! But it's chancy to recommend brands when you can't reliably know for certain that the next batch will be just a well made, and they won't have changed manufacturers/vendors, etc. So Tandy is expensive, but it's just well-known as a safe bet. Dritz has been used by many people with great success as well. Unfortunately, it has also had a number of reports of problems and failures. So I think there is a quality control issue there, sometimes. They're certainly widely available (in the US), and cheaper than Tandy, but given the occasional reports of problems, I tend to recommend Tandy instead, where those sort of problems are extraordinarily rare. I really don't want to recommend snaps to someone and find out after they bought snaps on my recommendation, they had problems after spending a week pounding the dang things together. I feel this is highly unlikely to happen with Tandy. I have yet to find another vendor I can make that statements about with the same level of certainty. I dislike the new branding all over the Tandy snaps, but on the bright side, the new flatter base is very nice for making snap plates that are going flat against the armor. I have a small hoard of the original snaps that I'll be using for the few externally-visible snaps, however. (the one male snap in the ab plate, and the crotch snaps)

I'm 6'3" and 220#, and I'm definitely pushing the limits of what the suit can handle, with minor modifications. Two suits that are made specifically with larger troopers in mind are AM 2.0 and RT-Mod. Those would probably be best suited to a trooper your size.

Outstanding! Is there a build thread for your pack here somewhere? I'd love to know where some of your parts were sourced.

Link to the plastic sheets on Amazon?

LOL, been there, done that. I spent over 2.5 hours in the Container Store the other weekend, trying to find the perfect boxes. And now I need to go back, since I've revised all the measurements that I'm looking for... *sigh*

Nice score on the cups! Where did you get them? Also, can I ask what juice (or whatever) the juice top radio dials came from? I haven't hit the grocery store yet, but I struck out at home. I need to find a store where I can pick up some black plastic sheets, too. I prefer actual final colors to paint, even if I'm painting it all anyway, so scratches don't show.

Rick, if you're surfing at work, you may have an over-aggressive firewall. Try it on your phone and I'll bet they'll come up normally. Most people have no problem, but for some reason there are a few firewalls out there that just don't like my server, even though it's been scanned many times and is totally clean. (They're just straight links to JPG images, no fancy processing, even!)

So anyway, back to the main topic, I managed to swing by Home Depot and pick up the ABS pipe and caps, so that's one more thing off the list. I pulled everything together and actually laid it out on the oil pan backplate. Having done so, I'm a bit puzzled at some of the dimensions recommended, especially comparing things to the actual screen shots of the real thing. In fact, comparing the dimensions LISTED on the Pop-It "tupperware" containers to the ACTUAL dimensions of the pieces, it's kind of no wonder things aren't right. Now that I've laid them out, I've assembled some more idealized dimensions, based on looking at the layout and comparing to the screen shot thread. In doing so, I'm really pretty sure that a lot of the pieces in the reference build could be improved, in terms of accuracy in matching the screen shots. I also dug my lockbox out of the closet, but it turns out that the dimensions are really not good for this. I'm definitely going to need to keep shopping for some parts. So here's the photo with everything laid out as best as I could manage, given what I had on hand: The lock box dimensions are huge: 12.5" x 8.25" x 4". It's noticeably too wide (by 3/4" compared to the reference build, so it either hangs off the left edge, or shoves the box on the other side too far over), and WAY too long (12.5" compared to the 11" length in the reference build). BUT: The recommended cardboard Photo box (for bottom left radio): 11 x 7.5" (per Ukswrath... I don't have one to confirm)? This is just too long, as well. Looking at the screen caps (above), and looking at the reference build, the box is noticeably too long. It clearly should end at or just before the bottom of the pack, not hang off the bottom by approx an inch as the reference build does. I think the "ideal" length measurement is probably more like 10", so it doesn't overhang the bottom of the pack. (making the lock box dimensions that much more unusable) Further, the reference build has the box cut down to 2.5" deep. This is convenient for streamlining the pack, so all the boxes are nearly the same depth, BUT every screen cap shows the radio box CLEARLY sticking out of the back of the pack quite a bit farther. I think it should actually be more like 3.5-4" deep. (Per Ukswrath the photo box is 4.25" high, which may be a little tall, but I think not by much) The lockbox's 4" depth works well, but since it's wrong in every other way, that's out. The hunt continues... with revised dimensions in mind. As for the button box on the upper left, the small tupperware container used in the reference thread looks good in the pack photos, but compared to the screen caps it's WAY too small. It should be the same height as the baby wipes cylinder in the middle top row, which per Ukswrath is 8.5". The box I found (in the photo above) is 9" long, which would probably work, but at 5" wide, it's way too wide, so back to the search. I think the ideal width is probably 4" (similar to the center cylinder), so the ideal size for that left button box is 8.5" x 4". Quite different from the 6.6" x 4.75" Xe 041 tupperware that the reference build used. (even though the actual measured measurements of Xe 041 are more like 5.75" x 4") Moving onto the upper right vent panel. The reference build calls for the Xe 051 tupperware, which the specs state are 8" x 5.6" (but I measured it at 7" x 4.75"). Again, though, comparing the reference pack to the screen caps, that box is WAY too large. It should be much smaller. Interestingly, the Xe 041 originally slated for the button box seems to work pretty well there. I measured it at 4" x 5.75". As for the upper center cylinder, I haven't found anything better than the baby wipes container used in the reference build... YET. The container I had on hand is smaller than the one in the reference build, about 3" x 6.5". I used it in the photo just to have something there, but I'll need to locate one that's the wider 3.5", and the taller 8.5-9" (again, ideally matching the height of the button box to the left). Lastly (for now), we have the center right box. The reference build calls for Xe 061, stated as 9.1" x 6.6" (tho I measured much smaller), but that's huge and just doesn't seem to fit well. A better fit appears to be the Xe 051 box (which was originally slated for the vent panel, right above), which I measured at 7" x 4.75". I'm still not sure how to address the angle of the panel, so I may well end up going a different route entirely for this. Obviously I have not yet begun to work on the cup/cone setup on the bottom right edge. And I still need to find those juice lids for the radio box knobs. Baby steps, I guess. I'm hoping once I have more of the final parts that center circle that's part of the base back will be covered? Else I'll need just put a flat sheet of plastic over it to hide it somehow, maybe.

Well, you derailed my HWT pack build thread with options for my HWK pack build, so it's all good in my book. FWIW, I posted in the thread with that pic, asking about the E11 mount, and was told that they only used 1 strap. The strap is identical to the shoulder strap material and wraps around the pack. It slips in between the crevasses in the pack and around the blaster. No permanent attachment so it can be easily removed. I'm still not entirely picturing it, but I have a couple of ideas that might work, now that I know roughly how it was done...

Are you referring to this image? (Sorry to anyone not on FB, but it's not my pic so I don't want to rehost it just to embed it here from my server) ------------- (I think that link should work for anyone with a FB account) Not sure exactly how they mounted it, but I can't imagine it would be THAT difficult to rig something up.

If I have time this evening, I need to lay out all the boxes onto my oilpan backpack base, so I can eyeball all the proportions together in one place. I'll take some pics, for sure. I haven't gotten around to buying the PVC tube yet, but obviously that's simple and easy. I did pick up some shoulder straps from WTF so that'll be very straightforward once I make it to Home Depot to get the pipe. I have the pop-it tupperware Ukswrath recommends, I just don't like the size on the upper left bumper box (it's clearly longer to my eye, looking at the screencaps thread), and I want something better than a cardboard photo box for the radio, especially since it's in the bottom corner and is going to get banged up a lot. The only other major reservation I have is the middle right box, which I have the pop-it for (per Ukswrath) but I really want it to be angled like in the originals, and doing that major modification on the tupperware kind of defeats the purpose, to me. Finding prefab boxes in the right size is supposed to eliminate that level of work. And finally, there's the wet wipes container in the upper middle, which doesn't seem quite right to me, either. It clearly has a flat surface in the originals. I'm less married to replacing that one, though, unless I stumble across something perfect. I might go the wet wipes route at first, but make it detachable so I can upgrade that part later without messing anything else up. Once I get these last bits dialed in, I can buy a sheet of plastic from somewhere, and start cutting the outline shapes to overlay, and the real assembly can begin.

Slow going, but progress is still happening. Biggest hold up has been finding the right size boxes. I found one for the top left box (with the bumpers) that might work, at the Container Store, I just have to lay it out and confirm. Biggest issue has been finding the radio box, the big one on the lower left, since I don't want to use cardboard. I was tipped off about a metal security box that I might give a shot at, so we'll see soon. (I actually own one! Just have to dig it out of the back of the closet, and if the size works, I'll order a new one to use on the pack) My orange pauldron from Trooper1 should be here in a week. And yesterday, I received a lovely box from Blaster 8266. So progress is slow, as promised, but things are indeed happening...

The side one is good for when you want a nice 90 degree flat surface. I used it to square off my TD tube, which was a little bit too long from Anovos. Cut it down with a hacksaw, and squared it off with that side sanding disc. I have the Ryobi benchtop belt sander from Home Depot. A little more expensive than the Harbor Freight model, but same basic idea. A bit more durable, in theory, but who knows. Absolutely fantastic tool to have for armor builds... but optional. I don't think a handheld model would be as useful, since they're harder to control. A handheld belt sander is great for sanding a fence, notsomuch for sanding armor, IMO.

LMAO "You purchased this item on July 22, 2012." I own one of these. Just have to dig it out of the closet. I'll need another if I decide to use it, but at least I can check without worrying about return shipping! They're a little heavier (weight-wise) than I was planning, IIRC, but that may not be a big deal...

Any chance you have a link to the metal box? (or price?) I'm also not thrilled with the idea of cardboard, so I was about to go with Styrene as well and just make one, but metal would be so much better!

Aw, thanks, but no worries, man! As I said, you earned it.

Man, I wanted that patch. But good for you, actually making cookies to get the shot definitely warranted the win, even if it was random.

Hey Joseph: Something to perhaps add to your list: The Green welder shields (or similar) that people are using to make replacement lenses for their helmets. Or whatever you may have that's comparable. I've been trying to nail down a link to a specific product, but I've been striking out so far.

I've read several people say that Testors makes a gray paint pen with the same paint as 1138. Might be worth looking into.