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BAZINGA

501st Stormtrooper[TK]
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Posts posted by BAZINGA

  2. Stormtroopers Are No Longer Largest Approved Legion Member Costume

    in Announcements

    Posted

    8 hours ago, tarok said:

    They can have their moment, in my state TKs get more high fives and cuddles than the NotVaders, and that’s all that matters emoji4.png


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    Well I can say on my first troop that I stepped away for a few seconds from the photo area to stretch my back and someone had to come and call me back because someone insisted the stormtrooper appear in the photo with him so I was kinda pumped by that!  Bart

    • Like 2

  8. Negative concerns about the 501st legion?

    in Off Topic

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Abdel said:

    There's been alot of amazing replies to this. And I'm sure there are interactions that didn't go in the best way. It happens. We aren't perfect. And to those people they may not appreciate us, or talk bad about us for that one experience. All we can really do, is try our best to always do what we can to show a shining beacon of goodness and continue to do the good works that we do do. We will never please everyone. No matter how hard we try. Just keep trying to better ourselves. So we can better everyone else!! 

     

    Now I am getting all those positive feelings again.  :wub: Bart

  10. Negative concerns about the 501st legion?

    in Off Topic

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Coolajxl said:

    t was defiantly intimidating to join. It seemed like something that was a "nice thought" but never something I'd be able to do.

     

    ^^ 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

    • Like 1

  11. [ 15 ] TK-23108 BAZINGA Troop Log [social media consent]

    in Field Training Exercises

    Posted · Edited by BAZINGA

    Troop 4: 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.

     

    aAcYwAZ.jpg

     

    I am not the selfie king but this was their theme.

     

    fq9ezQZ.jpg

     

    Two of the rebels travelled in from Saskatoon to team up with me and TK-55810 for this.

     

    poWE2V6.jpg

     

    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.

     

    tOLdQx4.jpg

     

    I'm in trouble.  Wrong book section.

     

    spqeaP0.jpg

     

    This one was better... I guess.

     

    EnvIiQB.jpg

     

    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.

     

    0DSRMtG.jpg

     

    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.

     

    KHWw4Sv.jpg

     

    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.

     

    JAR7wlz.jpg

     

    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

     

     

    • Like 5

  12. Negative concerns about the 501st legion?

    in Off Topic

    Posted · Edited by BAZINGA

    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.

    • Like 1

  14. glue for flexible hand guards that is actually available in Canada?

    in Boots, Soft Parts, and other Accessories

    Posted

    4 hours ago, Doggydoc said:

    Not sure if you got this sorted yet. This is the email that Mark from AP props sent me after I failed at several attempts to attach the silicone hand guards. The Lepage glue and promoter is available in Canada
     

    Hello Gerarld
     
    Sorry forgot to mention, you need CA glue with promotor that's the only thing that will work.
     
    Just apply a very thin strip all around approx 1 cm from inside edges, don't put any in the middle so when the gloves stretch there's less stress on hand plates.
     
    Mark (AP)
     
    OZW88Dp.jpg
     
     

    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

    • Like 1

  15. [15] TK-20209 Troop Log

    in Field Training Exercises

    Posted

    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

  18. 3D printed R2D2

    in Off Topic

    Posted

    54 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

    Some great files by Michael Baddeley on Facebook, you have to join his patreon but it's well worth it for the amount of files you receive

     

    Not an R2 but have done some larger droid builds, latest is an IG-12, 3/4 printed so far.

     

    Battle droid was my first project, all done on 2 x 220mm x 220mm bed printers, that took some time

    20200729_080237.jpg

     

     

     

    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

    • Like 1

  19. 3D printed R2D2

    in Off Topic

    Posted

    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

  22. TK-23108 reporting for duty

    in Newly Approved Members - Sound Off!

    Posted · Edited by BAZINGA
    spelling

    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

    • Like 2

  24. TK-23108 reporting for duty

    in Newly Approved Members - Sound Off!

    Posted · Edited by BAZINGA

    I wanted to save this for after my first troop.  It didn't seem real before that.  Perhaps still surreal.

     

    In 2012 at the Calgary Expo I first encountered the 501st "live" and of course I got in line for a photo.  At the time I was in love with their costumes and the detail and thought that it must be so much fun for them and maybe one day I could do the same.

     

    I had a couple false starts when I was ready to pull the trigger.  I was given some contact information for a local TK which was exciting as where I live there is not a lot of members and it is a very large garrison so vast distance between most of us.  Well, long story short, he shut me down before I even got out the gate.  I'm told he is no longer a member, but at the time he did manage to sour me on the idea.

     

    I had a hard time trying to make further contacts and life events always got in the way.  I didn't know at the time that I was suffering from depression and anxiety and that was putting the brakes on a lot of things that I wanted to do but just couldn't.  Once I got help with those I made advancements in my life and the 501st still was coming up in my mind.  In the summer of 2022 I woke up one morning and told myself that now was the time to either do this or forget about it for good.

     

    This time it was much easier to connect with the right people and finally get the information I needed.  @wook1138 must have answered a thousand questions and with each answer I got closer to the final decision which was, of course, to just do it!

     

    There were still a couple stumbling blocks along the way.  I knew I didn't have the skills or resources to do the build myself so I did go for the commissioned build then just worked with the strapping and fitting adjustments to tune it for me.  While that was still stressful it was still much easier to tackle those kinds of jobs over a scratch build.  @revlimiter and @justjoseph63 got me through some stressful times which may have ended up in bailing if they hadn't stepped in and sorted me out. Revlimiter still puts up with me when I need to evaluate what I'm doing.

     

    I got things fitting well within acceptable parameters and submitted my final photos on January 8, 2023 (TK23108) then sweated it out for at least 3 years (well maybe 10 days) until the approval email came down the pipe and the Garrison public FB page posted this:

     

    paZ2Qm0.jpg

     

    Then there was another big event.  Only a couple days after approval I had a sudden retina detachment in my left eye and emergency surgery to save the eye.  That laid me up for a number of weeks and it didn't heal as well as hoped so I ended up with complications, which are ongoing, and very imbalanced vision between the eyes.  I couldn't do any close up work without hours of struggling but there were things I wanted to do to advance the armor further so I worked in short stints and by feel a lot of the time and wondered the whole time if my journey was going to be over before it started.

     

    After struggling getting darker lenses in the bucket and fans I couldn't fit my head in with my glasses so trooping would have to be almost done blind.  That was a stressful reality as sight lines are already bad enough without that added complication.  I was finally able to get new glasses which helped correct some of the every day vision problems but I wasn't  all the there yet with the sight clarity and the first opportunity to troop was getting closer and closer.

     

    I flip-flopped on the first troop a dozen times in the week leading up but forced myself to go.  It was a three day event and much larger than I thought I'd want to do for the first one.  Luckily @GilesWoodward saw that there might be a way I could still wear my glasses with the bucket and YES, it worked with some bucket juggling so after the first troop, basically blind, on the first night I was able to see for the remainder of the event!

     

    The nerves were going strong on night one and I almost had to be forced into the armor and by day 3 I could hardly wait to get into that armor and troop!  The deep end of the pool was exactly what I needed and so was the welcome and all the fuzzy feels that negated that very negative shut-down years ago.

     

    Now I still feel like a guy with a plastic pail on my head and it amazes me that others see a Stormtrooper but damn it sure felt right and good!  I think that now after a troop that I really earned my TK number and really am a 501st member.  Thank you again to all those that got me here!

     

    WcpF7iM.jpg

     

    As for the side story from that photo taken in 2012 (left above).  I didn't know it at the time but the trooper in that photo was @Starscream3247and I met him last November at a 501st meet and greet but I didn't know that it was him in the photo.  Turns out my trip to Calgary got me a photo with one of the troopers who I'll now regularly troop with out of Saskatoon!  So at my first troop it seemed fitting to do a full circle and another picture with him but this time I'm in the armor!

     

    Bart

    • Like 8
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