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Firedog

501st Stormtrooper[TK]
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Everything posted by Firedog

  1. Although I have mixed feelings regarding the sequel trilogy, I really like the look of the FO troopers. Once I finish my ANH TK and recuperate from the expense of it, I had considered this build next. May I ask which vendor you chose? It's never too early to start researching...
  2. I cleaned up the frown and finished painting the ears and added the screen behind the frown, held in place by a few drops of CA glue on the back of each tooth, which was also done after I took this photo. Here is a photo of inside the bucket. What I did here for mounting the lenses was cut down and angle some dowel rods and pre-drill for mounting posts, attached in four points around the eye with CA glue. Thinking that a good idea, it was difficult to see where to mark the lens and I probably missed the predrilled holes anyway, but it appears to have worked out. I will likely touch the bottom posts up with a little black paint. Ears painted... I began some fitting of the forearms late yesterday evening. I cut away all of the return on the bottom but forgot to cut out the return on the rectangular portion, which I will do this evening. I cut out nearly all of the return edge on the upper forearm and biceps as well. I hope to have these fitted and one inner strip glued on each tonight. Here is a photo of the right forearm. The bottom is barely large enough for me to squeeze my hand through and the top should have maybe finger thickness of play when I get it glued up and shaped. I tried to mark where my arm is in relation to the armor, since the under suit didn't help the photo much. What is the general consensus on the snugness of these pieces? My son's helmet is pretty much complete as well. He really wanted to handle the painting on his bucket, which involved some trial and error, but I believe he's in good shape now. I will try to post some pictures of that progress tonight.
  3. Thanks Glen! My first painting looked more like those and then I second guessed myself regarding the amount of white in the gum line, so I extended the gray a little more. I should have left well enough alone.
  4. Here are the shots for those. It is amazing what a blown up high resolution image will show. I can see that I need to do a bit of work on the teeth for sure.
  5. So, a little on my progress. Yesterday was a good day as we had a nice little package awaiting us when we got home. I tried on the size 13 I ordered, and while they are great in the length, they are a bit snug on the sides. I'll be investing in a boot stretcher to hopefully loosen them up a little. On to my helmet. I had no idea how tricky this assembly would be. I was very confident going in, as watching videos of others assemble them made it look much easier than it actually was. One of my concerns is the alignment of the ear screws. I thought I read somewhere that they had to be in line with the back of the front traps for Centurion. If this is the case, I may have to disassemble the helmet and trim it back some more to push the ears back. I trimmed a little off the bottom to get the angle, but I may need to trim another quarter inch off of the cap on each side if the current state of the ears will exclude me from lvl 3. The following image shows the ear screws in line with the back of the traps on the ANH Stunt helmet. However, this Stunt helmet on the same page has the screws a little more forward. Here's what I have. My main concern is that if I have to move these back, I will potentially be exposing the rivet hole in the face piece, so it may be a moot point at this juncture. Here is a frontal shot as I also have concerns about my brow height. Any comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
  6. That’s good advice. I had thought about a paint pen as well, if I can find one in enamel semi-gloss black. I would like to have all hand painted and may tackle this in the future.
  7. After I painted my traps and tears, they looked pretty decent. I was going to hand paint everything, but when I got to the point of trying to paint the lines on the traps, I quickly realized my hands weren't steady enough, so those decals Dave provided started looking better and better. Needless to say, I removed the paint and took the easy route. The decals he provides look really good on the helmet.
  8. I just received my kit Sunday. I have a lot to do...lol.
  9. Wow, I was hoping to get in on this, but it’s getting down to the wire and really ramping up. Great work all! Is there something like this for Centurion as well? I likely won’t make first 1k EIB, but perhaps I could shoot for that.
  10. I picked up a bottle of Model Master Semi-gloss black for my helmet details only to realize that after I had started painting, it was the acrylic. It looks good now, but your comment has me concerned. Should I remove it and redo the vocoder in enamel or wait and address it if I have issues later? I guess my concern is paint chipping off during a troop and looking sub-optimal.
  11. I cannot express enough how valuable this resource will be to me. I was unaware of your build thread until I noticed this post under the New Posts tab. I've begun a build of two AM 4.5 kits and have been pouring over this thread for an hour now. The work you put into the PDF document is professional quality and will no doubt be used by many troopers to come. Thank you!
  12. All of this noted, and to the untrained eye, it likely won’t make a hill of beans. Am I correct to assume these minor differences won’t affect the ability to reach Centurion level with the kit?
  13. I believe I will be removing nearly all of the return edge on the biceps prior to fitting. Joseph has a great thread on that here.
  14. I am using Imgur. It is very easy to use and provides you with a bbb link for the boards. Just copy and paste that link where you want the photo and you are golden! Congrats on your BBB. We received our 2 kits this weekend as well.
  15. We received our kits from Dave as well, but as a novice who doesn't have any previous experience with building a TK, I got the impression of a really good pull in comparison to some of the other kits I have seen on the boards. I'll look a little more closely at these small parts later today just out of curiosity. I will say that the ABS is very sturdy and clean. It takes some effort to trim with the small Lexan scissors I purchased. It looks and feels like a kit that will hold up well for quite some time.
  16. So Today was BBB #1. Although both boxes were shipped on the same day from the same place, one of them was somehow delayed and won't arrive until tomorrow. FedEx came pretty early this morning and I was awoken by a knock on my bedroom door from my son for the unboxing. It didn't take long for me to get out of bed...lol. I decided to get started on the bucket so I could get a few coats of Plasti-Dip on the interior. Please let me know if I need to do any more trimming on the teeth. I masked off the eyes, teeth, and the hovi holes that I drilled and proceeded to coat the inside. I then cut my brow to fit and loosely placed them together so I could get a clearer view of the teeth cutouts with the black background. . I planned on painting the hovi tips but then realized I had purchased gloss black instead of semi-gloss black. The painting will have to wait until tomorrow. I believe I may try painting prior to assembly as the bucket may be easier to maneuver while painting. Any suggestions and tips are appreciated.
  17. I second the links on the body suits. I purchased these same ones the other day and had them in hand quickly. I ordered a size bigger so there wouldn’t be too much stretch but still a comfortable fit. I read that if they are too tight, they won’t be as dark due to the stretch. When I tried them on, they fit great and were very comfortable.
  18. Hi Erina! Good luck on your build! You’ll do great, especially with all these fine folks backing you.
  19. Thank you for the clarification. If I understand correctly, he would have to be a member of the 501st seeking to achieve EIB for my assistance to credit? Apologies for seeming pedantic. My biggest flaw is being an overachiever.
  20. I will be double snapping shoulders with white elastic for sure.
  21. I will be working with my 19 yo son, who should be joining the boards soon, as I have discussed him being very proactive in the build process. I can imagine that I will be doing a sizable amount of work on his build. Given the circumstances of the times in relation to social distancing and the lack of armor parties, can any my work on his build be counted toward Master Armorer?
  22. As I've mentioned previously in a couple of other threads, my son and I are beginning our journey to 501st approval. I think we're going to be following the 80/20 rule. I'll end up doing 80% of the work, or more...lol. We ordered the AM kits from Dave at Dave's Darkside Depot and should be receiving them very soon, along with our boots from IB. I would like to give Dave a shout out. He's very responsive to questions and seems like a super great guy. I've also ordered my E11 from Quest Design. Only thing left for me to purchase will be neck seals, holsters, belts, and my son's E11. I may take on the belt project myself, although its been a while since I've had my hands on a sewing machine. The holster project looks doable as well, but I have to weigh the cost of material and time versus purchasing them completed. Another thing that I am torn between is building these simultaneously or focusing on mine first as an attempt to get into the first 1k EIB and then using that expertise to build his. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, but I imagine I will start with both and let my rate of progress be the deciding factor. That being said, in preparation for BBB, I got a start on some snap plates. I put together 20 for each kit per UKWrath's AM 1.0 TK build. I started out using a punch for the holes in the 1" nylon, but quickly learned that using the soldering iron was not only faster, but also gave me a nice cauterization around the hole. This is also the E11 I ordered from Quest. I have read that they make a good product. Does anyone know what, if any modifications I will need to do to it to be lvl3 compliant? E-11 Product Listing
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