Orall

Well I was admitted membership into the 501st this Friday while attending Emerald City ComicCon. My favorite picture of me this weekend was this one. The little Vader came to get my picture, and it turned into this. A definite good memory.

Weekly update! I spent a few hours talking with my team about how to create D0G and we made some real conceptual progress. Extend hips portion out, to give the illusion of the character being hunched, while still maintaining an upright posture for me. Less emphasis on weight bearing forearms. Lighter materials only were stessed to me. Buying used external frame backpack today to begin shoulder construction. I'll post initial build pictures soon. BTW MEPD is the site where all my progress will be shown. Exclusive!

Now that my sandtrooper is nearing completion, my brain is going...what next? For this next PAX, I want to be very ambitious, and I would love input and assistance. I want to create D0G from Half-Life 2. For those that are not familiar, its this: I want to do a near-scale model (7 feet) standing. I plan to run tension cabling to animate the six fingers, and I plan to have a welded steel rod in the forearms to support my body weight, with sticking out handles. Primary components will be PVC piping with pink foam body. The back will be mounted to a large camping backpack, with an A frame to support the arm connections. The head will be a "helmet" for me to animate with head motions. Legs will be foam and PVC. To top it all off, I'll install a red LED for the eye. Drawing: With operator: Challenges: "Ball" joints for the arm shoulder parts. UPDATE: solution reached Running tension cable. LED wiring. Anyone want to help or give input?

I wish I could share some inside knowledge of this toy and others...I heard about this morning too.

Amazing. This does not simply raise the bar. It rips the bar off, attaches it to the antenna of the Empire State Building, arc welds it, and then hangs an Imperial flag from it.

Unfortunately, producers don't see creativity or enthusiasm, they see $$$. I have no idea why they would cap it then fill it, but it is sad when they have blinders.

Oh of course I meant the rubies! The others are great.

http://www.spike.com/shows/ink-master/collections/64r4dl/x6k3xy Link to the clip. Oh god those suits are horrid.

How do you know I'm not Popeye...yeah no sweat. I'll trim them down.

I'll shoot for that after PAX. I'll be the fourth

So here is what I decided on "stripemegedon". I ordered move along stickers from trooperbay today. If I'm very lucky, I may get them mid next week. Dirtyboy's comments spoke true for now. Until they get here, I'm not going to touch it for now, because I want it still viable for PAX. If they show, I'll attempt it. @darthaloha That's funny, because that is the same reference photo I went to. What is the calling for shoulder bell lips on the "move along" trooper? It's not a hard alteration by any means, but if it isn't broken, I don't want to fix it...yet. What is the viability of removing the hand plates after being zap gapped? With it destroy the rubber?

I'm house sitting all next week, which means I have plenty of "just me, myself and armor" time. I'll try it then. Does Testor's come off with soap and water, or with paint thinner/goof off?

I so love free weekends from the girlfriend. I already made some slight adjustments, after snooping more. Belt - 1" straight corners, sanded. Thigh Ammo Belt - 1" rounded corners, sanded. Here is a close up on the helmet damage. I can reprime and paint the helmet after PAX. I am not going to try and rush/redo it in 6 days. What is the thought on stickers vs handpainting? I wanted the painted look, but my hand isn't steady enough I feel. What are people's experience re-priming sections of the helmet? The rest I feel looks well enough. Just the tubes are really irritating to me. Last question, because honestly I've seen several ways. Shoulder bells still have a bit of a lip on the edge. I have seen no edge, and some edge. Is there a calling either way? I'm worried how it will sit on my should if I alter it. Right now, with the lip, they are sitting great.

@iconoclasta_88 I'm actually irritated at myself with the helmet. Quick backstory (and a bit embarrassing). I painted with a non-testors paint initially, using a template. Well lucky me, the template came undone halfway through painting, and the stripes became garbled. Stupidly, I let it dry. After a few days seeing my botched attempt, I began to remove the paint. To my horror, the paint didn't come off clean, but actually began staining the nearby white ABS. Badly. It looked so horrendous on the nearby area, that I had to end up sanding the tubes down to remove the paint. I lost the sheen, and no amount of buffing could bring it back. I tried to repaint the tubes with Testor's this time, and still did not like my results. Chock up to a few other irritating factors (to me) on my helmet, I will probably end up buying a new ATA helmet in the future to redo it. Sob story over. On the belt, I had never noticed that until just now for closer inspection. Evening project! I'll wait for your reference on the thigh ammo belt. I think I understand what you are saying, but I'm having difficulty finding reference. I learned about the hand plates being backwards after I had zapgapped mine a few weeks prior. If I pull the rubber plates off, it would probably destroy the rubber gloves, correct? Not a big deal, but for the time being I am going to let it slide...for now. @Dirtyboy I owe you thanks. Your pack looks so much better. For laughs, this is what I was going to roll with originally. I made it while I was waiting for my ATA armor to arrive, and looking back, I don't know why I thought the "extra" stuff was a good idea. I salvaged what I could use, and the rest is in the recycle. @Scribbler I'll be shacking up with Garrison Titan (Seattle area). I live about 20 miles outside of Seattle proper, but it's definitely the closest. I'm actually debuting my sandy at PAX Prime next week. I've submitted my approval to my local garrison, and hopefully it's enough time. If not, I'll be happy blasting Rebel scum by myself.

So I've been haunting the forums for weeks now, and I've finally "finished" my build. I'm looking for everyone's constructive criticism. I can provide additional photos upon request. I'm going for a "Move Along" stormtrooper, for your reference. The armor is ATA-based, and it is a Dirtyboy pack. Does everyone else dirty up the gray traps? I had to repaint the lines better, but I did this after the weathering. Should I get them dirty again? I will also retake photos for application with a flat background. Disclaimer: Hip pouches are to be replaced with a special run of leather MP40 pouches. Biceps have can be easily lowered down the arm (if too far up). Front: Sides: Back: Backpack: Helmet: Inside Helmet: Ab Plate Button: Shoulder: Left-Side Ab: Gloves: No bucket and a happy me!