BAZINGA

Now I am getting all those positive feelings again. Bart

I know right? The resemblance is uncanny. Bart

^^ this ^^ That is a hurtle to get over for sure. How can it not be for most? I mean you are going to have to meet a standard and are going to be held to a standard whenever trooping. That's a lot at the beginning and finding the right members to coach you along is one way through that. Bart

Troop 2: Luseland reading at the library. Small town Saskatchewan. 27May23 I was much more relaxed for this one. This is the size of troop I thought my first troop would have been. I was generally comfortable in the armor but still taking note of a couple things to tweak. I still haven't got the bucket fitting just right yet with the glasses, but it is workable with just a bit of discomfort. The best solution, if I can ever do it without glasses, will be the hardhat suspension in there. This was a journey. Seven hours of driving in total and three hours of trooping. It made for a long day. The town has never had any kind of event like this before and despite a number of conflicting events in their area they were happy with the turn out they did get even if it did come up shy from their projections. They have ideas for next year to get more focus and participation perhaps teaming up with the local school as well. We had time to play around and the librarian wanted to get some fun shots to use locally and we were all happy to play along. I am not the selfie king but this was their theme. Two of the rebels travelled in from Saskatoon to team up with me and TK-55810 for this. That dude in the middle was cheating. The dice never rolled my way. I'm jealous of TK-55810 who has somewhat mastered sitting. I was standing for three hours but am getting more used to it. I wasn't in agony by the end and the boots were feeling good. I'm in trouble. Wrong book section. This one was better... I guess. The kids were all pretty quiet. Their parents were more excited at times. They got to play a game and get entered for a draw the library was doing. She told us she took her kids to Star Wars in 1977 when they were teenagers and if they weren't in the fields seeding they would have been at this. This guy was the highlight of my day. The four of us were talking with the librarian when no one was in the building when the door opened behind us. He walked in the doorway to see four Star Wars characters all turn and look at him. His jaw dropped to the floor and pretty much stayed there. He brought along all his Lego that he and his dad built so, of course, we had to get this photo with his TIE fighter. He's grinning from ear to ear. So am I. When we were ready to leave they asked if we would mind also walking to the pool which was just a block away. So, yes, of course we will go watch the caged in younglings. Then they wanted us on the pool deck for more photos with the lifeguards and kids. Small town fun. We might not have signed on for a pool shift, but that water did look tempting after the day. Bart

I can tell you from personal experience that it just takes one person (and in my case it was a 501st TK) to throw water on someone's hopes. Thankfully a lot has changed since then. I vowed that should I ever get to the 501st that I would never be "that guy" who dashes someone's hope. After that, for a short while, I had nothing good to say about the 501st. It was an elitist group that forgot what they were supposed to represent and were taking themselves far too seriously for walking around in plastic armor. My point is, not everyone is good at PR and should a 501st member be that someone it is better to defer to the member who is good at it. I spent many hours at the club table during my first troop talking to lots of people and no one was anything but excited about the 501st. Everyone got the idea of the bad guys doing good and were excited about it. When the day comes that a Karen or Ken is going to try and give us grief I'm prepared with the facts. You might not change their mind with those facts but you can deliver them and move on to the person who does want to see you there. I see no point in whipping a dead horse if their mind can't be changed or they just want to make trouble. Bart And, there is still nothing cooler than seeing lots of the shinny white armor together in a group. That is just plain cool and will never grow old.

Congrats! My one bit of advice is to get trooping ASAP so you don't miss any fun! Bart

That is what I purchased based on what Wook1138 also suggested. Seems to have stuck. I'll see how it holds up. What I found is that the glue stayed on the glove, but it pulled away at the latex which left little tear outs in the latex. Bart

Oh perfect. Thanks! I think it is 2 or 3 hours so finding things to do was going to be tough. We're going to have a rebel there too, Obi-Wan so I'm hoping we can have some interaction with the kids too if we can plan it out a bit before hand. My icomm is on the fritz so just the amp but I will make do. Hopefully it is repaired and returned to me sooner than later. Bart

Always fun to read your log! Bart

My second troop is going to be a library one too so that should be interesting. Any tips? Bart

I think a 501st member in Saskatoon. The same guy who has the R2, also did this. I'd be working with a 300x300x400 bed and single printer. Lots of forethought will be required before jumping in. Bart

For the last couple of weeks YouTube has been popping up with suggested videos of 3D printed R2 units. Some of them seem quite incredible. Has anyone here ever attempted a 1:1 print of this complexity? It's not like I went looking for a 3D printing project however since about 1977 I've wanted R2. I'd be more into the idea of printing over the traditional building methods. I'd also be more into the idea of just a random turning dome and lights over moving it around with R/C. Locally, if you count a 3 hour drive as local, one of our 501st members has a fully functional version he built. It gets out to a few events. This could be a back up more for photo ops as well. I'm just curious as to opinions before I even begin to research it in more depth. Bart

I'd eat the ears first. Bart

FWIW I was able to put the Aker amp in my chest with plenty of room. I don't even notice it there. I also could put in the icomm right beside it. Bart

Thanks everyone! I'm still glowing from that first troop a week ago. Regarding some of the comments. It is nice to know I am not the only one who felt it was all surreal. Yes, to me I love seeing large numbers of the shinny white. I'm automatically attracted to those photos and quite jealous if I ended up having to man a booth while some of my fellow TKs were out and about without me. That opening scene in ANH always stood out in my mind. I'm hoping in future troops here we can get more of us together for those theme type photo shoots and to troop around a con as the biggest group we can muster and harass interact with some of the attendees. Regarding EIB. Well, there is a big problem with my TD so I'm hoping I can find someone who I can commission to build me a new one to Centurion requirements then I can try for EIB again. Bart