ItchyNutsDesign
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Posts posted by ItchyNutsDesign
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Thanks all for the warm welcome..I am learning a hell of a lot here. Never knew they were sandtroopers? I thought they were all called stormtroopers...LOL stupid newbie queston
sorry.I have tied contacting the 501st UK club got no Email back from them yet? Anyone help me on that one?
Hi Steve, and a big welcome
You are about to find that a whole world of episode specific detail will open up before you once you enter the world of costuming. The Sandtroopers (the guys on Tatooine at the start of ep. IV), had slightly different armour to the stormtroopers, but then again, the Stormtroopers from ep. IV, V, & VI all varied too, as did most of the characters (I have an ep V Darth Vader which is different to all the other movie versions).As far as the UK Garrison is concerned here's the link to their forum:
Your best bet is to get over to their forums and say hi, there are loads of people over there who can answer your questions about armour, and will be more than happy to help. You will probably have to wait an age for any response via email and there's a fair chance that it never got there with the wonders of spam filters.
Joining the 501st does require a little effort, but it is worth it, and well worth getting advice before you start putting your armour together.
Good luck, and hopefully we'll meet on the UKG boards too
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This one is going on eBay on Sunday evening (19:45 hrs GMT, item number 160188411766), if anyone is interested
Start price just £29.99
I'll post a link as soon as the auction starts
Thanks for the kind words guys
As promised, here's the link to the auction
Happy bidding
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This one is going on eBay on Sunday evening (19:45 hrs GMT, item number 160188411766), if anyone is interested
Start price just £29.99
I'll post a link as soon as the auction starts
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Man, and I thought I was surrounded with inbreds down here! Bet you make sure to lock your doors and windows each night
Good job I'm not Cornish, or I could have really taken that comment badly lol. Yeah, I keep getting funny looks 'coz my fingers aren't webbed and my eyes are at the front of my head
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Another UK member here, but being on the Isle of Wight I'm afraid I couldn't be much further away if I tried.
Yeah... Try Newquay in Cornwall lol
Welcome to the FISD Gary
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All of the above work just fine
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When it comes to painting a weathered effect on blasters, less is more. The best method to use is called 'dry brushing'. Take your brush with silver paint on it, and rub it over a dry sponge until the sponge has removed most of the paint (and the brush seems dry), then lightly rub the brush over the surface of your blaster to be painted. what Will happen is that the corners and raised detail will pick up a light coat of sliver which will look like wear. You can repeat this process with a copper paint for the sight and Hengstler. Also, don't be scared to paint some areas flat black (such as the 'T' bar and grip), as this will add the effect of different materials (such as rubber and plastic), used in the blasters construction.
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would love to, but it would be rarely as I'm in the UK
Don't let being in the UK slow you down mate, there's loads of costuming clubs here in ol' Blighty, not least of which is the UK Garrison (Click here), part of the 501st legion. There are troops going on constantly, pop by and say hello, you'll be made very welcome.
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Can you imagine, for you youngins, the thrill of seeing stuff like that on the screen? I mean, this was no Star Trek combat, but actual space fighters. Real alien-looking aliens that only had a vague humanoid shape (as opposed to blue face-paint and a white wig with antenna). Weapons that didn't make the pew pew laser sound...
Just imagine what people used to the movies from then must have thought.
It would be like comparing Halo 3 to Super Mario from the Nintendo!
And don't forget what a big deal going to the pictures was in 1977. Ths generation take it for granted, they've generally seen a movie on pirate DVD a month BEFORE it comes out at the pictures. Back in '77 we didn't even have video, so if we didn't get to see it at the pictures, we weren't going to see it untill the BBC showed it a Christmas three years (if we were lucky) later! It was a HUGE deal back then, it was the talk of the playground for ever! I remember strutting round with my 'Darth Vader Lives!' badge on
I still have it pinned to the curtains in my workshop Happy days! -
I guess in light of this I'm more in favor of dis-allowing it. The question is this: how to codify it? I mean, if someone scratch builds an E-11, how do we determine it's Elite quality as opposed to Hasbro quality?
That one's easy... On its individual merits.
The issue with the kenner isn't its finish (we've seen some lovely kenner blasters in this thread), it's the fact that no matter what you do to it, it's NEVER going to be the right shape and size.
Assess the blaster in exactly the same way as a costume would be assessed for clearance. If things need doing to it, point this out to the applicant in a constructive way, offering solutions. Maybe for elite status, you should have applicants submit a left and right close-up of their blaster too.
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Look on it as inside information Kevin
we know stuff that most Star Wars 'fans' didn't even know. I've been a fan of the move since it came out at the pictures, and a fan of SF my whole life, I considered myself 'Hard core', until I got into costuming that is I never knew there was a diference between Stormtroopers and Sandtroopers, let alone the variations between movies. My first costume was Vader and some of my revelations included: The suit being different in each film (who knew?), the helmet being two tone (I always thought it was black), the chest box never had lights in ANH (I could have sworn it lit up). You'll be amazed what you find out when you start to dig.Did you know that there are at least ten different variations of the E-11 Stormtrooper blaster? There are eight identified variations in ANH, a new one in ESB (plus some of the ANH ones were re-used), and it changed again in ROTJ.
You've entered a bigger world my friend
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It's not even a question of expense as you can put a screen accurate blaster together for under £20
I really don't understand this unerring loyalty people hold towards this wldly inaccurate toy gun?
Why would anyone use a kenner when there are so many better alternatives avaliable?
Light weight- Cushmans/Pipe blaster
Cheap- Cushmans/Pipe blaster
Unbreakable (nearly)- Cushmans/Hyperfirm
Move accurate/Realistic - Pipe blaster (especially the ones I make
)Displayable- MR/Pipe blaster (again, mine look nice lol...
)Inaccurate plastic toy (with stupid sound effects) ........... Errrrrrrr...........KENNER!
Sorry to be quoting myself, but I think a more pertinent question would be: 'Why is the Kenner even acceptable for 501st clearence, let alone Elite Stormtrooper?'
I think that a Kenner should be heavily modded, just to get into the 501st! It should be an absolute no-go for the Elite. Maybe then, less people would waste their money on them in the first place, and would start with a cheap but more accurate weapon (Cushmans/pipe), instead
An unmodded (and I don't really consider spraying it black to be moddng it), kenner should not be an option for ANY costume cleared by the 501st. I don't know how this acceptance of the toy as a valid addition to our £1000 costumes came about, but it's time it was re-evaluated.
As a costuming club, do we not pride ourselves on our costuming excellence? Would you be happy trooping next to an 5'6" Vader, or a Rubie's Chewbacca? No? How about something the public wouldn't spot, like a TD with ab buttons and the wrong knee plate? Or what about an ANH TK with ROTJ hand plates? They'd be asked to change them before they got 501st clearance. So why go to all that effort when you're going to then try and pass off a naff looking toy as the 'real thing'
I am not expecting the 501st to change policy on my say-so, but there's nothing wrong with us as costumers setting this standard for ourselves.
Advise noobs aganst the kenner, show them the alternatives before they waste their money and set the bar high for the Elite! Show everyone how good a squad of troopers looks with decent hardware. As the Stormtrooper forum, you reach more TK's here across the globe, than any individual garrison could. It could start here.
I don't know about you guys, but I felt kind of empty when I finally fnished my first costume (it was Vader), to find out that I could keep working on it, mods I could do to make it even better, was great news. For a lot of us, working on costumes is as much fun as trooping (which is why many members have more than one costume). From my point of view, seeing a truly great costume is an inspiration to get mine closer to the mark, and that should be part of the responsibility of the Elite.
Say NO to kenner, we're the best and it's just not good enough for us!
Feels better to get that out of my system for another day
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I have seen some lovely Cushman and Sci-fire blasters, and some poor ones, and each should be judged on its own merits. However, they at least share the E-11 blaster as a starting point, and are at least the right shape!
The Kenner does not!
The kenner looks like it was designed by a bloke who had never seen one, just had it discribed to him, to the point where even a very well converted one (Kahler's beng a good example), still looks wrong.
The question isn't 'How much work/money/love?' has gone into the blaster, but 'How good a representation of a screen used blaster is it?'
I am also a member of the Sith Lord Detachment, and I can tell you now that there is no way in hell they would ever accept a toy lightsaber as an option, even for basic 501st approval, so why on earth would you accept it for an 'Elite' stormtrooper. I understand that the 'Elite are there to guide members to a more accurate costume, but surely this is the very reason why the Kenner should NOT be acceptable. There are plenty of tutorials and experts who would be more than happy to help members achieve their screen accurate blaster and 'guide' them to a higher level of costume accuracy.
It's not even a question of expense as you can put a screen accurate blaster together for under £20
I really don't understand this unerring loyalty people hold towards this wldly inaccurate toy gun?
Why would anyone use a kenner when there are so many better alternatives avaliable?
Light weight- Cushmans/Pipe blaster
Cheap- Cushmans/Pipe blaster
Unbreakable (nearly)- Cushmans/Hyperfirm
Move accurate/Realistic - Pipe blaster (especially the ones I make
)Displayable- MR/Pipe blaster (again, mine look nice lol...
)Inaccurate plastic toy (with stupid sound effects) ........... Errrrrrrr...........KENNER!
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Unless I'm mistaken, elite status is just that right, a status, it's not a reward for having spent x amount of time or money on your costume right? Although at the moment we only see less than a dozen members having attained or requested elite status, I know that figure is far from being an accurate assessment of how many TKs that are out there that have accurate armor and blasters.
It's true that not everyone can fit into an accurate kit, and not everyone can afford to spend the amount of time, money and energy to get their kits up to a higher standard, but that's what elite is all about is it not? I would think that a row of elite troopers all gathered together for a photo should all look uniform, otherwise there's really no point in having an elite status to begin with. At the moment it's just a way of being able to pat someone on the back and say great job, you've gone the extra mile and shown some genuine interest in your work. What exactly would be the point in having a rank or status that requires accuracy, but doesn't have the integrity it needs to truly be what it claims to be. The blaster is the smallest factor in that it seems to be the easiest to obtain an accurate version, so why not up the bar at least with that. The next step would be to up the bar on helmets.
It seems like what we're truly after is a secondary level or intermediate level that would allow a higher rank or status to those using less accurate parts modified to resemble more accurate parts. Is it really fair to the individual who spent so much time and money and patience to get their gear as screen accurate as possible, only to give just about anyone the same recognition, even though it's clearly obvious the differences and discrepancies. If it's true that other detachments have a higher standard than us, then I'd have to ask, why?
This whole issue kinda reminds me of when my kid played soccer for a league that did'nt keep score. I know that the intentions are to keep anyone from feeling bad about themselves, or left out, or whatever, but last I checked, we're all more or less grown men here. If we can't handle the fact that we can't all be on the same level in everything, then we all have some growing up to do.
Sorry guys, but I'm gonna have to vote for a uniform standard when it comes to indoctrinating an elite status system.
There's nothing wrong with modified toy blasters, but we should keep a certain level of consistency when it comes to being "elite". I know it's tough for some of you guys, but like I stated, a group of elites should all look the same, blaster included.
Exactly
And let's not forget... We are the 501st legion, we are the BEST, let's not rest on our laurels when it comes to our Elite, they should be something really special.
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I agree, that's a great conversion. However the blaster still suffers from having a funny shaped 'toy' handle, the mag cylinders (or at least Kenner's aproximation of them), on the top of the weapon, the front sight too far back (where you've had to extend the barrel to get it closer to accurate), the funny square 'lump' on the back underside and in all fairness, you've altered a lot more of your blaster than most people do (replaced the sight, barrel fins, extended the barrel etc).
Like I said, top conversion, but f you are going to go to that much effort, why not just build an accurate blaster from pipe? You would only need a couple of other components and some pipe. Why use a Kenner at all? I can't see how it would be any harder to build a 'screen accurate' blaster for Elite clearance?
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As a blaster builder, I thought I'd throw my opinion into the mix
Firstly, I don't see what the problem is with setting a very high standard for 'Elite', surely that is what the word means, if everyone had it, it wouldn't be elite. Secondly, the harder somethng is to achieve, the bigger the reward when you achieve it. It would really 'up' the status of those who have qualified, giving them a kudos that others could aspire too. There's too much mediocrity in the world as it is, there's nothing wrong with making something difficult to achieve.
After all, this has absolutely no baring on whether a person is allowed to troop or not, these aren't 501st standards, no one is saying that they have to be met straight away, they are something to strive for.
I do a toy conversion
But I generally guide people towards my pipe blaster because of the accuracy issue, the Kenner is wrong in almost every way.
I think that even with the best intentions, the toy still looks like a toy (especially with the 'donkey down a well' sound effects). This isn't a financial decision either, I charge more for the toy conversion because I have the added overheads of the toy blaster on top. I understand that the Kenner conversion is a cheap alternative for people to do themselves, that's great, get one, go troop, but if you have the skills to convert a kenner, you could get much the same parts, stick them to a bit of pipe and have an accurate blaster for less money (no toy to buy)!
I think there's nothing wrong with expecting more movie accuracy for your 'Elite' troopers than the kenner can offer. I don't think we should be equating the Kenner blaster with the FX lid, a better comparison, would be someone turning up at a troop in a Rubie's lid!
Just my opinion
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PM sent mate
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If the folding stock is Resin, once it's gured, it's pretty much stuck in that position, although you might be able to slowly prise the ends appart, a little at a time over a period if days (if you try and do it too fast it will snap).
The top piece in your photo goes at the back underneath
I'm not sure what the other two pieces are, I've never seen them before (and I make blasters for a living, and own a real Sterling). My best guess is that one piece may go at the back of the folding stock as the hinge rod
The only other thing they may be, is the twin cylinders that sit on top of the magazine in some ANH versions of the blaster
Best of luck with the build, and feel free to shout if you have any more questions.
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I've had several of these tools in a variety of different brands as I use them constantly and have burnt out several. In my opinion the Dremel is the superior tool by far, my current one has lasted me twice as long as any of the other brands I've tried and is still going strong.
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Hi there buddy, there's a few of us from the UK here (unfortunatally mate, I'm about as far south from you as I can get without falling off the country). Big welcome anyway
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Hi there Matt
I've not got any of the things on your wish list unfortunatally, but I'd like to offer you one of my blasters as a trade
Click to enlarge
My ANH Deluxe model E-11 retails at $360 with P&P $54 (insured airmail, I'm in the UK). I'd like to propose a straight swop for one of your made up helmets if you're interested mate.
I look forward to hearing from you
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Nice work Dave
I've built three sound systems myself but none of them were ever really up to the job. I wish I'd seen this a month ago before I bit the bullet and spent ?130 on a ROM FX system, I'd have give it another shot. The ROM FX is a great system, I'd just have prefered not to have splashed out ?130 
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Hi Dave, forget 'puter games buddy, once you get involved with costuming nothing else comes close
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Hi David, welcome
E-11 off of ebay !!!!!!!!
in For Sale - Archive
Posted
Bump!
This finishes Sunday night