Jump to content

Addertime

Imperial Attaché[TK]
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    488

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Addertime

  1. Adder's Something From Nothing E-11 Scratchbuild

    in ANH BlasTech E11

    Posted

    Several months ago I was looking for a project. I used to build things for a living and now I work in a more virtual environment. I was nostalgic for a hands-on, low-tech build of something... anything... and finally set my sights on an E-11 largely due to the amazing depth or resources available here on FISD. The criteria for the build were simple... create something cool with easily obtained materials and simple tools, build it with very little cost, have fun doing it and do it all without annoying the neighbors.

    I created a small shop in the corner of my basement storage and armed with a dremel, cordless drill and hand tools, began creating my new toy. I've been working on it for an hour here and an hour there since late January and it's about halfway done. I figured it was about time to unveil my progress. Sadly, I didn't look at my build photos along the way and a lot of them weren't very good so I'll just cover the highlights of the build up to this point and try to be more diligent as the project goes forward.

     

    I'm formatting each aspect with time, cost and a description of what I did.

    The "Time to build" does not include r&d or do-overs and the "Cost of Materials" is based on the amount of material used for the actual build and doesn't include tools purchased or failed experiments. These numbers are basically the, "If I had it to do over tomorrow, I could build for this." :)
     

     

    So... here we go...

     

    _______________
     

     

    The Tube - Part 1

    Time to create: 4 hours
    Cost of materials: €0.75

    I went with a standard pipe build using readily PVC electrical conduit. I wanted the appropriate wall thickness of a real Sterling and schedule 40 PVC seemed way too thick. I found a perfect tube on my first outing and purchased a 2 meter piece of tubing for €2.95

    Using a plans found on this forum, I imported the .pdf files into CorelDRAW and redrew them using the imported images for scale. I wanted the seam on the bottom instead of the top, as they were originally created, in case the seam didn't line up perfectly... and it didn't. There was a slight overlap and lining it up was more challenging than anticipated. I drew a line on the pipe (cut to length) and taped the plan along one edge to the pipe and spray glued the paper plan rolling around the tube after spraying and giving the glue a moment to tack up.

    I drilled the vent holes using the stepping technique and all went fine until I hit a snag toward the end... my drill index used to go with my 1/2" chuck drill press I used to use in my old shop and my 3/8" cordless drill wouldn't accept the last four sizes I needed to use...


    After a bit of thought, I decided to just try reaming the holes by hand to reach the appropriate bit size. I wrapped a piece of cloth around the bit and bore only took a few twists to bring it up to size. I advanced through the last few bits and got all the holes to the correct sizes. Granted, it took another hour plus and I felt it in my forearms for a few days bit, short of buying new drill bits (which I considered), it was my best option.

    7KjRlPx.jpggXeIbfv.jpg

     

    I scored through the plan with an Xacto knife to indicate the postions of the various other pieces such as the sights, ejection port, etc. and then cut the ejection port, and charging slot by drilling a starter hole and then repeatedly scoring the lines with an Xacto knife. I left the magazine side intact and would later drill a hole for wiring the electronics.

     

    __________________

     

    • Like 2

  5. TM, RS or AP?

    in Hard Armor (General Discussion)

    Posted

    I was in your shoes recently, Skye's Vader. I did tons of research but was still indecisive. It's a pretty big decision. After much soul searching, I finally asked myself the hard questions..."Why do I want this?" and "What are my expectations of the finished product?"  After I answered those questions, the choice was easy. 

    • Like 1

  6. Watching the Films Discussion

    in Off Topic

    Posted · Edited by Addertime

    It's interesting how opinions vary with age. Whichever film one saw first, as a child, seems to set a marker for them. I saw AHN in 1977. I was 11.  I waited desperately for the following two films and ate them up with a spoon. I loved VII because it was the story and style I knew and wanted. I despised Ep. I-III because I felt cheated and let down by something that was very dear to me but I've heard plenty of people over the years who saw I, II or II as children say it's their favorite trilogy. In fact one seemed to be popular with smaller children of the day probably because of the pod race and silly characters.

     

    I suppose it's all relative but even when I try to take my bias out of the equation, I still see Ep. I as an abomination and II and III as justifiable backstory but with little entertainment value.

     

    I agree with those who said to suggest IV, V, VI and VII in that order and omit I, II and III as they don't "feel" like Star Wars.

    • Like 1

    Long time listener, first time caller

    in New Member Introductions Archive

    Posted

    In the fall of 1976, my small town theater in California put up a poster. It was all black with white text that read, "In a galaxy far, far away... STAR WARS"
    I gazed up at that poster with wide pre-teen eyes and a little bit of drool in the corner of my mouth and said, out loud, "I MUST see this movie."

     

    It was a defining moment in my life as I was so smitten that I collected everything that existed at the time for SW and went on to major in film, hoping to be the next George Lucas. I discovered that I enjoyed building things far more than I liked filming them and went on to build scenery and props for many years before meeting the love of my life and following her abroad as she pursued her dream career.

    I now live in Europe and have a pretty uncreative second career.  I decided a while back to build a scratch-built E-11, just for kicks. Well, the combination of that and the newest film reignited my passion for all things SW.  I think I've always been a Stormtrooper at heart, so, here I am. :)

    I've done plenty of research and was at the last button click for an RS suit when the Anovos gear began arriving. It looked really good so I decided that would be my first kit. These forums have been invaluable and I've been here many times. I look forward to meeting other members and contributing within this great organization.

×
×
  • Create New...