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Here is a shot of how my teeth look before the black paint.

I picked up my bucket and most of my armor from the painter last night. I decided not to have them clear coated, I am happy with the shine and will polish out everything with some auto body polish he gave me. I am in the process of masking out the teeth and vocoder for paint. I hope to get the bucket finished tonight. I will pick up the remaining pieces of armor tommorrow, then hope to suit up and make adjustments. I have installed the decals except the tube stripes, so far. I ended up with some air bubbles, but none of the screen helmets were perfect anyway so I think they look alright. Here are the shots Decals are 4510, only the best for my bucket! Thanks Mike hope to have more progress shots later

I had my hovi question answered by Firebladejedi, so I have pressed on and finished them. Thank you Mark for taking the time to respond to my inquiry. I first painted the insides, I used testors #1180. I bent the screens around the edges slightly to allow me to pop them in. I have not glued them yet, but they fit well. Now, I must wait on my painter. He is family and doing this for free, so I can't really rush the issue. The other set back is the rain and cold weather we are experiencing. I pray that my armor will be done by the end of the weekend, so I can submit for my TK ID. Hopefully, I will have my bucket to finish in the next day or so.

Thanks for doing such a great job! This is very helpful for my ESB bucket build. I reviewed your thread before I started, but now that I am getting down to painting the details I have found an even greater appreciation of your hard work and nice pics. Thanks Christaan

I just reviewed my build thread and realized that I actually used a L shaped pick tool to run around the seam after doing the x-acto and prying. This is where I rushed and this pick tool and the wrong angle created the small crack. It has been awhile since I finished my blaster that I got foggy on the details. Here is a pic of the scope, end cap and pick tool. This pick tool is really good for many projects in one way or another. I can't believe I forgot. I hope this is more helpful now.

Congrats on your fast build! I am gunning for an ESB elite, as well

*excellent job on the detonator christaan, Make sure you make the ends rounded where you trimmed the clips. Otherwise they'll scratch up you kidney plate everytime you put it on or take it off. Good advice, Eric! Thanks, the ends are no longer sharp but I plan to wet sand them and add some painters tape to the armor side to aid in preventing armor scuffing. *Looking great! Thanks again Matti I have painted my hovis with a satin finish Question: Is the vocoder and hovis supposed to be satin or glossy? I have read of both, I can always repaint. I purchased the Hummbrol paints that Billy so kindly mapped out in his thread, in addition I picked up a satin black and a silver that I used on my blaster. Am I correct that the inside is completely silver and outside all black? I would like to get these finished, so I am ready to install when i get my bucket back from the painter. Please let me know! Thanks

On my hasbro I sanded the edge where they apply the glue, left side of scope. I then took an exacto #11 and cut around the ridge of scope. I then, carefully, pried at the end cap with small screwdriver. Once I got it to loosen up, I again used the exacto. I pried again, but rushed it and cracked the cap slightly. I was able to remove it and keep the little tab area intact. I then sanded the inside of the cracked area and applied a coat of epoxy, then sanded that smooth. I sanded the outside of the crack and then used a little bondo. It is best to use the hasbro cap, it looks cleaner and allows you to insert a lens and re-install. In my build thread you can see pics of the cap and the ESB lens I used. I think a lot of guys rush and cut or snap the scope. Just take a little time with it and you will be successful. My 2 credits

Congratulations on your EIB, Eric! Nice work

*Thanks for that, thats exactly what I was looking for. I've been looking around the site but there is so much around I had real trouble finding the specific ones I need, with pics The thread is excellent and it confirms what I thought I needed to do and I nbever thought of using pliers lol Thanks again Anne, I am happy to help! I am glad you found it useful.

A very interesting idea! That is a lot of light those little bulbs put out.

I have a detailed installation of my clips in my build thread, I hope you find it useful! Not trying to plug my thread just thought of your question when I was building my det tube and decided to take picks and add a little how I did it. There are similar posts out there which I reviewed, some time ago and don't recall exactly where.

The install 1/8 rivets and washers( rivet length up to 1/4 ) Place both rivets inclip and tube Rivet first hole w/ washer,leave second rivet in place Rivet second hole, use rivet gun to hold back clip and hold washer with other hand Installed clips Using pliers with both hands, bend right side down Bend side view Place on belt and mark excess, then cut with sheers and dremmel ends front and back view

*Something tells me you wont have a hard time getting EIB status. Good luck! Thanks Hayes! Much appreciated I have assembled my det tube, the base that clips on your belt. I will share step by step, I think mine sits close to where it should. Please let me know if it looks off. This is nothing new, but a lot a guys have been asking about the table cloth clips, so here is my version of it. My tube painted Making the bend- used pliers to squeeze flat and straighten Marked and drilled holes in clips and tube Clips side view, ready for install

Nice work there! I kind of like the well used look, it gives it character.

Steve, Best wishes and luck to you on your AP build!

I have a few shots of my armor drying, after wet sanding with 320 and 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper. I should have my bucket back Monday, I dropped off all the parts of my armor to the painter today. If everything goes right I will be ready for my 501st submission at weeks end. TK# =FISD merchandise! Then I will try for EIB!

*Good idea! Build is looking good. Cute kid. Looks like youre the idol! Thanks Matti, she's my little princess who plays dress up but also likes Starwars and Batman. *That paintjob looks superb! Great idea with modifying the suspenders like that, wish I thought of that before I made my own from scratch. Arafinwe, thank you for liking my suspender mod. I am glad the paintjob looks good in the pics! *Your making great progress. Thanks Terrell,because of you I will have a TK id soon. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and making this build possible! *Coming along REALLY nicely, Christaan. You're doing a fantastic job! Great idea with the suspenders as well! Dang, we have some clever guys in our crew! Thank you Doug for the kind words and support! *Great build thread man! If I ever do another clean TK I will be looking back on some of these ideas... really good stuff! No'l, I am glad you have found my build useful. I decided to do a detailed build thread to reaffirm great ideas from other builds that helped me and to provide some new ways to do things. The more we do this the easier we make it for new troopers to achieve their goals. We don't all think the same, some of us are stuck in the box and some are outside or some both. There is no instruction manual for an ATA build, so I think it is one of the more challenging builds. Hopefully my build thread is beneficial for the next guy/gal!

I bought some suspenders that had metal clasps with plastic grips to hold up the ab plate and kidney butt plates. I used 1/8 inch rivets to attach my snaps suspender snaps The mechanism cutting off the plastic grip removed plastic grip 3 part construction open the hole to 1/8 1/8 rivet Suspender snap I will try to get some more pics up later, my rig and armor shots before paint.

Thanks Eric, I'm trying! I was able to get some supplies and advice from a local IE detachment menber, Tim. He was very gracious to let me use his belt sander. He also hooked me up with my undersuit, strap material,foam pieces and the paint for my det tube. I am most grateful! I have been scrambling trying to get my armor finished for paint. I have to wet sand everything today and deliver to the painter tommorrow. I am happy with the paint, but I am having it shot with clear to add to the longevity of my bucket and armor. Here are two shots of my lid before clear coat A look at my gloves,leg snap belt and suspenders Making snaps using a countersink to bow the tab, when rivetted My det tube Sanded edges of tube to allow for caps to fit assembled tube before paint gluing snaps

[*]Is there a way to strenghten the weak spot at the hovimic? If possible, invisible repair? I used an old sock and superglue gel, it is not invisable but strong. Clear epoxy might work.

That DL-44 looks pretty cool! I some how missed that when I ordered my hasbro e-11 kit. I have a non functioning luger I have been wanting to mod. I found where to get the parts, but a little out of the budget. Good luck on your assembly!

Thanks for the input guys! I have a lot of work to do today to get ready for paint, it looks like another long night ahead. I had my wife take some pics today while I did a test fit, so I know where I still need to Dremmel. My daughter is so excited to have a stormtrooper daddy, she is a princess at heart but has a soft spot for the empire. I apologize for the blur in the photos, I was not at the helm. I took one shot of some armor pieces, I think I did alright with the assembly. It has been a nice learning experience for me. Please keep the comments and suggestions coming as I near the end. I still have to decide how to hold everything together. There are so many great build threads that cover this I am having trouble making up my mind. I will probably end up borrowing a bit from my favorite threads and maybe doing something new, as well. I had better get back to it. Thanks again

I have finished gluing all the arms and legs, here are some pics of the legs and my ab plate. I will be making my snaps next and working on my det tube, chest plate and prepping for paint. I tried on my calves with my boots to make sure they were good before gluing back strip I then decided to see how the legs looked Here I have clamped the back strip on calves My ab plate fully assembled I will try to get some more pics up soon! Question: Does the knee and sniper plate go on before paint or after? I was thinking of installing the sniper plate before paint and installing the ammo pouch on knee after. I would really like to hear thoughts or suggestions. Thanks Christaan

Wow! Paul this is amazing. I guess I had better start saving now.