kman

^^ Read the thread through, because recommendations change from the older posts in the beginning! Midnight blue is out, you want French Blue and Humbrol #5 grey. And I think coal black for the vocoder (that Tamiya may be their version of the same).

1) Real Sterling build. Most accurate, most money, and lots of hassle to collect the bits. But not impossible. Heavy as hell and thus not great to troop with. (some hardy souls do anyway, but they're a rare breed) 2) Pipe build with a doopy-doos completer kit. Popular and inexpensive, but the resin parts of fragile for regular trooping. Produces a very accurate, good looking model, though, albeit with a fair amount of work. 3) Hasbro / Rubies / Disney E11 with Doopy-doos conversion kit. Various amounts of work, from simple to elaborate. Not especially accurate (without an insane amount of work), but they can be made to look quite nice, albeit with a fair amount of work. Also explicitly excluded for higher level approvals. (see the CRL) 4) 3D printed E11 kits. Available on Shapeways, Thingiverse (if you have your own 3D printer), and probably elsewhere. 3D prints tend to look like 3D prints, though (usually), and they're also relatively fragile. 5) Most popular (read: most frequently recommended) option for trooping is the HFx Hyperfirm E11. Solid rubber casting, pre-finished and ready to troop, sufficiently accurate to quality for highest level approvals, lightweight, and nearly indestructible. Similar model made by THG Props on Etsy, in kit form. There's probably one or two I've left out, but this covers most of the major/common options, I believe.

The issue I'm addressing isn't so much the shoulder caps rotating "incorrectly" but rather for me, they need to be "over-rotated" forward (on purpose), to help close the gap of black showing due to my wide shoulders. If they're rotated forward, the amount of black exposed is considerably diminished. But without some way to hold them in that artificial forward-rotated position, they naturally rotate back to a neutral position (which is correct for a smaller-framed trooper, but problematic for me) I don't have great photos illustrating this, but this photo, from my EIB submission, looking at the left shoulder cap (right side of the photo), you can see it looks pretty decent. My photographer (read: wife) carefully arranged the shoulders for the photo, of course, cheating the shoulder cap forward to it looked it's best. (the somewhat larger gap with the opposite shoulder should be ameliorated by the new strapping setup I've been building, so don't worry about that) This work-in-progress photo, OTOH, which I snapped myself one evening earlier on during my build, using a timer, shows the shoulder cap in a more "natural" position (since I had no one to help arrange things): Simply cheating the shoulder cap forward helps the overall appearance considerably, but I haven't yet figured out a way to help it stay that way, once I start moving around.

Thanks! I tried on the full clamshell last night, and attached the shoulder caps, and everything seemed to be in place. I didn't put the rest of the arms on, that's true, but the spacing on top at least seemed to be correct. I guess I'll find out for sure when I put it all on for tomorrow's troop! As I mentioned, I often don't even bother connecting the shoulder caps to the biceps, so there should be no pulling. They stay in place without a need for that extra strap so I rarely use it. Is there a good way to keep the shoulder caps rotated forward? That's the #1 thing that seems to drift when you're active in the armor (when it's a tight fit, at least, like it is for me). It's pretty easy to have an assistant adjust things for a photo, but it's a lot harder to keep them perfectly in place when you're active and don't have someone continuously adjusting things for you. I've debated adding a supplemental strap across the front (essentially at the front edge of your shoulder socket, horizontally across), but it occurred to me that it might make your arms difficult to raise, so I tabled the idea until I had more time to think on it.

Things are progressing nicely. I took some time last evening, while the E6000 finished the balance of it's 24 hours, to attack some of the return edges that have been annoying me a bit, mostly the top sharp bits on the front and back of the thighs, plus a little in the bicep and forearms. I didn't really remove any of the exterior armor, just smoothed the inside return edges a bit. I'll take some photos at some point. Once I hit the 24 hour mark, I pulled off the magnets, clamps, and scrap plates, and here are the new shoulder caps. The only remaining Anovos Velcro is the connection from the cap to the biceps, down the outside, which frankly I've only used once since it doesn't really seem to be needed. (for me, at least) Last, I started sewing in buttons. I use the Dritz Size 10 sew-on snaps recommended in Ukswrath's build, but in black instead of nickel. I would have used nickel, but they were sold out, and the black should work just as well, since it's all on top of a black undersuit and can't be seen anyway. Anyway, one part goes on the little tab of elastic on top of the shoulder caps: And the other half gets sewn into the shoulder straps. To find the correct position, I put the main clamshell armor on so I could see where the shoulder straps actually lay across my shoulders. Then I put the snaps mostly centered, but cheated slightly to the front, to help keep them closed in tight. If it turns out I'm wrong about this placement, it shouldn't be a huge issue to snip the threads and re-sew the snaps in a slightly different position on the white elastic shoulder straps. Here are the shoulder strap buttons, sewn in. (mostly) I'll probably trim that little extra (and re-melt to seal the ends) on the one side, but otherwise we're in good shape with this last work. Next up, additional work on the helmet electronics. Gotta rebuild that switch before tomorrow's troop! I guess it's going to be a late night, since I have dinner and movie planned for this evening...

If only they'd do a run with a hollow pipe running down the middle instead of a rod (or all rubber), they could be modded more easily...

The THG Props guy makes hard rubber blasters similar to the Hyperfirms. His new F11-D kits are built around a hollow pipe, specifically so adding electronics is a possibility. I've been trying to convince him to do a run of E11s with that setup, too.

Hey Will! Do you by chance have the link to the telescope you used? I'm sure it's there somewhere but I must be missing it. I hope to see your handiwork in person at the street festival this weekend.

Link?

Simple 3D prints, just find a mate who is local who has a 3D printer and print up one of the freely-available models. I'd run one off and send it out to you, but yeah, shipping international kinda kills it.

Clamps came off last night and the new snap plates are in position: The new Centurion-level white elastic straps appear to be working well: Here they are bridging the two pieces: Very comfortable, as well! Next up is the shoulder caps. (I can't really use the term "shoulder bells" anymore because that's just not correct armor terminology) I wrestled with various options for this, but in the end, I'm following Ukswrath's methods quite closely for this part. I used the Anovos elastic, as he did, separating it from the nylon straps and cutting off the Velcro bit at the end. Folded over the end where the snap will go and sewed it down. I had initially thought to use snaps to connect the new straps, but I'm getting a little low on them, and realized I really only need to be able to disconnect one end anyway, so I decided to glue them in, just like Ukswrath did. Lacking any solid reference, since I was using the same materials, I decided to copy his measurements as well. Since this is E6000, once I sew on the snaps and try this on, if it's really off, it shouldn't be too tough to peel the new strap off and reposition as needed. I used some scrap and the usual magnets to hold the straps in place while the E6000 cures. Since I was working on the shoulder caps anyway, I tore out the Anovos rigging for the strap that loops around the bicep, as well. Again, I cut off the Velcro and applied the glue directly to the straps. Since I've been wearing the armor for a bit now, I decided to make them just a little bit tighter than they had been with the Velcro, so they'll be attached about 1/4" more in on each side. I used clamps and some scrap strips of ABS to hold the strap firmly to the shoulders while the E6000 cures. That's it until the glue dries! I'll pick up the pop snaps I need tonight for the shoulder cap to shoulder strap connection, hand sew those onto the elastic, and it should be ready to wear again. Oh, one last thing, as long as I was working on Centurion modifications: The elastic retention loops for the shoulders. Cut two 6" strips, tie a knot, slip it on. Done and done! As far as actual modifications, I think the only thing I have left to do for Centurion is get to work with some ABS paste on the extra seam from my side shims. Oh, and I need to glue my latex hand plates onto the rubber gloves.

Not all fans, too. I got 9.5 hours for one fan with my 3000mah battery pack!

That's disappointing.

It's fairly prohibitively expensive for just one can. If you join the Anovos Stormtrooper Kit Building Group on Facebook, you can look for the custom paint post by BJ Browne and contact him about joining in on the next group purchase.

So, after kinda burning out on armor work for a bit after going for EIB, and getting distracted by other fun things (like my armor box, and 3D printers, whee!!!), I realized I have a troop coming up this weekend. It's my first troop, to date, that has not been indoors or outdoors in the evening, such that I haven't had to worry about excessive heat messing with my Anovos strapping yet. That lucky streak ends this weekend, so back to it. But first I printed some power cells with my 3D printer. I used themaninthesuitcase's models. These are the first two fullsize test prints, in red so it was easy to see how it was working: Here's the printer going, just for fun: This was for a Rubies blaster (the Rebels-style one, you can see part of it behind the printer in the pic above), which is about 10% smaller than a full size one (my Hyperfirm, for instance), and sure enough, after trying a couple of sizes, the 90% scaled print looks best. Tonight I sanded it a bit (really hard to sand things this small and detailed!) and sprayed a couple coats of paint on it. At some point I may add wires and screw tips to make it more accurate, but now at least my backup blaster is a bit nicer. Ok, back to armor. I got out my 2" white elastic and actually started to mess with this. I decided I wanted to reinforce the elastic with some 2" white webbing, in spots, and use the white webbing for snap plates in the shoulders, as well. First I cut 1" sections from the 2" nylon webbing, since I'll be using that for snap plates. I'm using Ukswrath's method of shoulder straps, modified with snaps. So I folded the ends over a strip of webbing, and sewed a line across to hold it all together. This gives me a nice thick sandwich to mount the snap into, and also gives a lot of extra strength to the mounting point where it will attach and detach a lot, and won't stretch out of shape around the snap. So the strips were sewn into folded over ends. I sized the elastic to copy the length I had been using for the Anovos webbing, less a little bit so the elastic can stretch a tad without being too long. Standard double snap plates would go into the other strips of 2" white webbing, and get E6000'd onto the chest and back straps. First up, I need this all to line up nicely, so I decided to punch them all at once, using the hot nail technique. I doubled everything over into a nice thick sandwich and laid snaps where I wanted them to go, and dotted the open center with a sharpie to mark the hole location. Then I heated the nail red hot, and stuck it through all the sandwiched layers in one push, quickly taking them all apart so they didn't fuse together badly. (some needed a little extra help with the hot nail where they stuck, no biggie since it'll all be under the snap anyway) Once the pieces were all separated and cooled, I re-sandwiched it all, and fed the now-cool nail back through the new hole through all the layers to make sure it's all exactly where it was. Then reheated the nail, and punched the other side. Sorry, no pics of that whole process (I wish I had!) but here are the finished elastic straps and some of the mounted snap plates (being test fit in the strap) I tore the Anovos Velcro out the shoulder (that was disturbingly easy!) and E6000'd the new snap plates in place: The usual. Tape the gluey plates in place so they can't shift overnight, and clamp the heck out of them. The backplate straps and shoulder fronts are both curing overnight, so I'll be able to test fit this tomorrow evening. Once I know this is all good, next up is the strap to connect to the shoulder bells either to the new strap, or to the chest plate, depending on what all is needed. I'll also do the arms tomorrow. I like the existing Anovos elastic, so I'll probably just cut off the attached Velcro and E6000 the forearms and biceps together, unless I decide to do snaps so they're separable. Then I'll have to decide if the back pieces are good enough with the Velcro for now, or if they all need to be converted to snaps as well, in fear of the heat. Perhaps just the butt plate, since the top backplate is now well secured to the shoulders, and the kidney plate already has solid snap systems connecting the sides to the ab plate, making the velcro connections among those pieces somewhat redundant. I managed to break one of my fan power switches in my bucket, on my last troop, so I'll have to do something about that, too, before this weekend, or live with only one fan. Tick tock...

I ran off the new 1.1 (version A) file to see how it came out. I doubled the resolution to .1 mm (vertical layers, from .2), and here's how the new one came out (The original print, pictured alone a post or two above, is behind it for continuity's sake): The higher resolution actually did help a noticeable amount! Moreso in your hand than in photos. The model needs more cleaning, too. And I need to do some more tweaking on my printer (I've only had under a week), but this is good enough to actually be useful, at this point. Here's a shot of the printing process, just for kicks. Also, my black PLA finally came in, so last night I decided to try scaling it, because the full size version definitely looks large to my eyes, sitting atop a Rubies E11 (the Rebels one, which is close to the ANH E11). Here is the 1:1 scale model (red, of course), sitting on top, next to a Hyperfirm for comparison: It looks large to me (moreso in person than in the photos), so I decided to scale it to 80% and try it again. Here is the 80% model (this time in black): Closer, but no cigar. This is actually a little TOO small. Again, this is a little more obvious in person than these photos are showing. So I tried once more at 90%, and here's what we have: That looks pretty good to me, right out of the box! A little sanding a coat of paint and it'll be quite good enough, I think, for use as a backup. I haven't tried printing it in a vertical orientation. I might at some point, but I'm happy enough with the 90% model that I'm not feeling rushed to, unless you're really really curious. Let me know, Chris! Excellent models, again, Chris. Thank you so much for this!

Fingers crossed! Dark CMF mentioned the ability in this thread: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/36260-questions-about-romfx/

The new pairing (the taped set) looks correct. I can't really tell about the older set, since they're not lined up straight. When you attach the sniper knee to the new set, do your best to get the plate flush with the cover strip. Ideally they should touch in the center.

I think this is the thread you're referring to? http://501st.com.au If not, US or UK may be your best bets.

While I can't swear to it, I'm pretty sure that I read the Hyperfirm guys do ESB runs periodically.

I could swear I read the newer revision of the RomFX boards DOES have an audio in function so you can add TK Chatter.

Looking good, Matt!

I have an order in the current batch as well. Not sure why he's been having website issues lately, but AFAIK they're definitely still in business. Note, however, that as I understand it, he does ROM/FX orders in small batches, and he's wrapping up one batch now. He (normally) only does 2-4 batches per year, so best case, it'll likely be a few months before he does another batch. So if you need something up and running ASAP, I'd look into the iComm or perhaps one of the iPhone app options.

Nice! I wish I had seen that one. I saw the listing in the search results, but only the smaller one was shown in the list, with no indication of other sizes available. I ordered a 12x24" one here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AVEG2RY/ No prime shipping, so it's going to take a couple of weeks to arrive (grr) but at least it's a little bigger. I wish I should have found something 14" wide, but so be it. Glass would have been easy, but I was terrified at the idea of opening a case and finding broken glass covering my armor (and my soft goods are usually on top!)

I could give it a try just for fun. Ironically, the "supports" in the front would need supports, printed vertically. I'm not sure about the bumps at the far end of the cylinders, though. That would be an obnoxious support to clean off. It'd be interesting to see how clean the back part of the bracket comes out, since that would need so much support to be perfectly flat. I'm waiting on a shipment of black PLA before I run the final model, but I might knock out another red one at higher detail, and flip it, since it's nice and easy to see the detail in this color. Since this is for my Rubies blaster, I'll also scale it down for this test. It definitely looks large on it at full size, certainly compared to the PCs on my HyperFirm.