CloseTheBlastDoor

Aw, thanks!

I don't think it will ever leave my house! Dare I say that I'm ready to submit for EIB approval? It's a different process from basic, right?

OK! Besides some spots that need to be touched up because the Bondo is exposed, and a few other rough spots, I'm hoping that I'm pretty done. Here are too many photos, hope you like it!

Ah, thank you. I'll reprint the front piece (again ). You are the master of finding the right photos!

Quick question: Is there supposed to be a gap between Hengstler halves here?

Got it, thank you! Servo linkages, eh? You are a man of many hobbies (like me)!

OK, I’m getting pretty close. Looking back, I must say that any frustration was with 3D printing everything, and on the other end of the spectrum was great pleasure in seeing how precisely and cleanly this model comes together. It’s really satisfying! Such a great design! There are two questions that I have that perplex me: I am unsure of what I can make the clear lenses out of. How thick are they? I would guess maybe 1-2mm? What is “craft wire?” Is it just sturdy wire? I see it used in a few places, the least understood one being on the Hengstler counter. In the instructions, part 65 is referred to as a “rod,” but in the list it’s “craft wire.”

Oh wow, I didn't see these!

Thanks. Aside from the smell, I've come to enjoy the process ever so slightly. It's nice when everything comes out smooth. When it does . I am a bit concerned about how thin the main tube is. I think I'm going to use E-6000 to glue on the other parts, just in case it breaks. But I'm thinking I'll leave this at home for troops, and take along my toy one instead. I certainly have printed at least two blasters' worth of material by now!

YESSS! I scored the proper TK boots from a friend in my garrison! And, more progress on the E-11. I need to do a bit more painting, form the spring, and glue it all together. Everything fits together so well, it’s quite satisfying! Overall, printing the parts with fine resolution goes a long way towards eliminating print lines, but it took several tries with the proper orientations to strike a compromise between where they showed up, and utter print failure. The stinky bondo continues to work well, and I've gone through an entire can each of filler primer and flat black paint already. Sanding the bare part was from 80 grit to 120 to 220, then after bondo it was 220 or 400, and after filler primer it was 400 or nothing. I think it just takes experience to know when to stop sanding, and when Bondo can take over and get you to the glasslike smoothness you want. It was hard to orient certain parts so as not to have print lines where it mattered. Applying the Bondo here was tricky, because of the debossed text.

Thanks, Glen! Actually the only place I've seen high speed PETG is Bambu, which is tuned for their printers. Maybe most other printers are not fast enough that it's a concern? The PETG HF does require 8+ hours of drying before use, so it's a bit harder to deal with. I think spray putty would be easier to deal with than Bondo, honestly. That stuff stinks to high heaven, and brushing it on is less than ideal because it creates uneven surfaces. For flat stuff, that's OK, but everything else is a pain to sand. Thanks for confirming that those are actual pen springs! I understand what you mean about the "O" at the end.

Just posting some progress (or lack thereof). Certainly I’ve had a number of spaghetti failures for different reasons, and I’m learning a lot about my new printer that way! I did not make much headway with PETG, so I decided to go with PLA+ and had much better results. Then, as I found out, for my Bambu X1 Carbon 3D printer, there is a special PETG HF that is also made by Bambu which prints better at high speeds than regular PETG. The Bambu was most likely simply too fast for regular PETG, as my biggest problem was stringing, followed by bubbling. Overall the Bambu results are great! I’ve set print layers at 0.08mm High Quality. I’m generally following @justjoseph63's post previously mentioned, plus something recommended on YouTube by @shashachu: Both methods use Bondo, but the YouTube one uses Bondo diluted with acetone and brushed on in addition to full strength, depending on severity, and then a coat of automotive filler primer. There’s still sanding, but overall less of it. The PETG HF experiment is forthcoming. I will report back on that. In the meantime, here are some photos. There are still some print lines here and there, but not all of those areas will show. A test assembly will reveal where there is more work to be done. And there’s still prepping the main tube, and overall much more painting left to do. One question: the E-11 instructions call for a “pen spring” and a “half pen spring.” Are these the actual springs from a ball point pen that match the 4.25mm x 27mm measurements? And is the “half pen spring” just a pen spring cut in half? Okay, that was two questions .

Yeah, definitely stringing, single layers gone bad for no apparent reason, and really ugly surfaces left by supports. I've tried several temperature settings, and with and without the enclosure open. If I figure out anything, I'll let you know.

Wow, yeah, I really can't tell the difference between the metal and the plastic! I've not gotten such a good finish like that before, even with the Bambu X1C or the Carbon M3 Max (industrial resin printer). This is very encouraging, thanks for sharing!

Thanks for all of that information, it was a mouthful! It sent me down a rabbit hole a bit (which was fun), and It's good to have that historical knowledge. It looks like there's some leeway in how the blaster can be constructed, alright! I was just so impressed by Bryan's files that I started on them a little while ago. I have both a resin and a filament 3D printer (I used to work at a 3D printer company, too) so hopefully I'll be OK. I followed a link in trooper96's thread to JustJoseph's notes on sanding and finishing, and those tips seem very useful. Postprocessing is really the hard part when it comes to 3D prints. Printing itself is easy! Hoping to get some PETG prints nice and clean. So far, no luck.

ETA on the boots is unknown at this point, so what remains is the optional stuff. E-11 Blaster: Folding stock (does not need to function). A real or replica ammo counter - based off of a Hengstler counter - shall be present. D-ring mounted on the rear. Sterling based blasters have the correct M-38 or M-19 style scope. Two power cylinders on the magazine housing. Scratch-built or cast blasters shall have a total of 6 T-tracks on blaster (leaving the lowest row on the magazine housing side uncovered). If using the Hasbro E11 toy blaster, it is modified to have the correct number of T-tracks (6 total), with a lower row of open vent holes on the magazine housing side. This is accomplished by covering the pre-existing rows of holes with T-tracks, then grinding off the lower integrated T-track on the magazine housing side, and drilling a new row of holes in its place. 3-D printed blasters can not contain visible print lines, and must be sanded smooth for a more realistic appearance. No ESB/ROTJ greeblies are allowed on the blaster. I have an E-11 blaster that I obtained from someone on eBay who claimed that it’s 501st-approved. But I have my doubts, as several things don’t look right to me. This is where I am most concerned. I found this great post here: Shall I assume that that one is approvable for EIB/Centurion? What I have now looks nothing like the photos in the post. The files are most up to date on printables.com: https://www.printables.com/model/162480-sterling-smg-mk4-l2a3-and-anh-e-11-conversion It’s a lot of pieces, but I have two 3D printers that can do the job! Here are photos of what I have right now:

I checked with my garrison, and all fingers point back to Keep Trooping as well. Someone actually has several sets of boots at his house from KT that are brand new, and my size, too! I could be in luck! I can only imagine how crazy shipping is where you live!

Oh no, guys! I had no idea . Any suggestions on where to get them in the US? Shipping itself was $45 from where I got them overseas

Continuing on... Kidney Armor: <nothing specified> Posterior Armor: Two male snaps are present on the lower center tab of the Posterior Armor. Snaps do not need to be functional. Snaps are silver in color with the bottom of the snap facing outward and are not painted. The snaps are functional, with a strap running between the posterior and ab plates Belt: There shall be three square buttons, one centered in the middle and one on each end of the plastic ammo belt. Thermal Detonator: Clips shall be attached with slotted type, flat or dome top style screws, and be black (two per clip). V head screws are not permitted. Thermal detonator belt clips are positioned with little to no gap between the clips and the end caps. The vertical (straight)section of the clips do not extend past the bottom of the canvas belt I completely redid the clips on this, because the long panel of buttons had been facing more to the top than to the back, and I needed to unroll the TD to a great extent. The unrolled clips did not look good at all. Good news is that I'm getting better at making the clips! Thigh Armor: Thigh ammo belt is attached to thigh with a solid head rivet, painted white, in the upper corner and fastened to the lower thigh ridge. The rivets used shall be single cap, double cap or split rivets. No pop rivets allowed. Rivet should be approximately 5/16" (8mm) in diameter (exterior). I think the rivet is a tad larger than 5/16", so I'm relying on the word "approximately." Lower Leg Armor: Sniper knee plate must be aligned with the ridges on the shin. Sniper knee plate must not have visible rivets or fasteners attaching it to the shin. I probably had the most trouble with this one. Getting it to align properly was a great struggle. Boots: There is no seam present on the front of the boot. Boots have a black sole The boots are from KeepTrooping: Holster: <nothing specified>

Thanks, Glen, it's always nice to hear from you! Yeah, with the WTF bridges, I didn't have a lot to go on. The chest plate had some issues where I had to cut off more than I wanted to because of vacu-forming defects. And I couldn't move the bridge down any further without running into the pectoral area: It was probably upon your advice at the time to remove the back large tabs, which I did (back side is to the right in this photo): Anything else from my last post that I should adjust?

I ordered some perfect screens from @ukswrath to touch up the helmet, and it’s looking good! Onward to some of the next sections in the CRL: Neck seal: Black with horizontal ribs, fitted to the wearer, and extending from the base of the neck to conceal the entire neck. Here’s the neck seal from KeepTrooping: Shoulder Straps: No visible rivets are allowed. Shoulder Armor: <nothing specified> Biceps: <nothing specified> Forearms: <nothing specified> Hand Plates: <nothing specified> Gloves: Gloves shall be rubber or rubber-like chemical gloves, in black. Chest Armor: Chest and back shall be connected with a white fabric or preferably elastic strap at the shoulders. Back Armor: <nothing specified> Under Suit: <nothing specified> Abdomen Armor: Any gap between the abdomen and kidney armor is no more than 1/2" (12.5mm) wide. Any shims used to achieve this effect are of a similar material and color as the abdomen and kidney armor. Shims fit flush and seams are allowed. A split (bifurcated) or single cap rivet is present on the lower tab (cod area) of the abdomen armor. Rivet does not need to be functional. Rivet on must be brass or silver in color, approximately 5/16" (8mm) in diameter and is not painted.

Thank you Terry! Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry, Chris, no idea. I don't know that this thread gets that sort of attention, so maybe there's somewhere else to post that's more appropriate? I Googled a bit and found this as well: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235135589-we-need-to-talk-about-dark-admiralty-grey/

Thanks, Sha Sha! I'll go find one.

Thanks, Glen!