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Ok, so I've been meaning to post about a couple additional mods I've made. I just have struggled with time management lol... which is also a reason my build progress has been so slow. Alignment keys on the Tears and Traps: So the first mod was adding additional alignment keys to the tears and traps. I did this to make it easier to align the parts in the center of the recess, as well as add some additional surface area for adhesion. Also I'd heard from a source that they were used on production helmets and have seen an image of key holes where a back trap was missing. I printed up these test pieces to make sure the mods work. I painted the recesses black so they appear to have a deeper recess. ________________________________________________________________ Teeth: The second mod is on the teeth. I made several attempts at correcting the teeth, specifically trying to get the teeth to intersect into the edges of the chin whereas now they currently just touch. Unfortunately I wasn't able to successfully make it look right. I may continue to fiddle around with it... we'll see. BUT... I did still feel that I could improve the teeth a bit without having to also modify the chin. Therefore it'll work with my current build. So similar to what David Os did to his remixed teeth, I angled the center tooth to lean back a bit further and angled out the flanking teeth slightly. Here is with the original mod on the left and the new mod on the right: And I made some comparison gifs because the difference is pretty subtle.

12/2/23 - Carrie Tingley Foundation Cookies With Santa 89th TK troop, 44 for 2023. Official event selfie! Four of us attended... ... and TK9-Mabel. She got to troop also. This event was Festival of the Trees in years past, but the organizers did cookies with Santa this year instead. More personal, more time with the kids, and only Santa and the 501st. Most of the garrison was preparing a float for a local Christmas parade, so it was a light turn out for this event. But it was still fantastic. The personal time with the kids was... well, I don't wanna say "great" but it felt like I was doing some actual good. Spreading smiles. Helping. Like I was at my post or something. Mabel spread a ton of smiles too. She was the star of the show. Santa took a break from his big chair and hung out with us Bad Guys for a while. He suggested we MIGHT be on the good list this year. We didn't stay on the good list very long unfortunately. Mabel and I couldn't resist. After 2 hours, she was pretty tired and ready to stop trooping. We all agreed with the tiny dog that our tanks were empty. This is her post-troop happy face. On a somber note, we discovered that Mabel has cancer in her little snoot (the puffy spot on her right side). That's been causing health issues for all her little life. She's only 2 years old. It may be a treatable kind and we have a vet oncology visit this upcoming week. Until then, I'm trying to make each of her days as good as possible, full of treats and trips out.

10/28/23 - Boo at the Zoo 86th TK troop, 41 for the year CREB 5435 - 27th troop and 12th for the year BOO AT THE ZOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! I love this troop. Always such a good time. We had lots of TKs, lots of Jawas, lots of rebels, and lots of fun. Mandos don't like spiders. It's a thing. I rode the carousel! I didn't break my butt! We met some REALLY tall people. Really, my daughter and I are standing. ... We trooped for like 5 hours. My daughter and I were the last standing. She went back to change and I realized I didn't get to see the elephants yet. The elephants in the ABQ zoo are in a back corner and they have a huge habitat. It's apparently one of the best in the nation (or possibly THE best one). Lots of happy elephants. Acres and acres to play in, most of which is visible around the huge habitat. There was no one at all present. Just this adorable little lady and her snack box. (I think this is Rosie) She and I hung out for a good 5 minutes all by ourselves. She ate nom-noms out of the treat cage. I took some pix, then removed my bucket and just existed with her. So peaceful. One of my top 3 zoo moments in my life at any zoo.

10/27/23 - Rice/Laforce Wedding 85th TK troop, 40 for the year, and I wore my HWT! Wedding troop!!! And this one was extremely fun. The bride and groom were Jedi and TK. The groom received his armor just days prior to the ceremony. Master Kai kept her eye on me. Fellow honor guard. And the TKs with the groom. He's VERY tall for a TK but looked great for his first suit up and the ceremony.

Okay, I'm SUUUUPER behind on updates. I'm gonna have to phone some of these in so I can get caught up. 10/26/23 - Make a Wish Spooktacular Trunk-R-Treat 84rd TK troop, 39 for the year CREB 5435 - 26th troop and 11th for the year Mandos are friendly, right? They certainly like TKs, right? TKs aren't good at stealth. Or hot-wiring police cars. Don't ask me how I know. Fortunately Mr Pool helped me out of that tricky spot. And then I helped my daughter get some candy. This WAS a Trick-r-treat event after all and her bucket needed some tribute poured into it.

Hi everyone, So excited to announce my TK number! I've always had a fascination with stormtroopers and that amazing outfit. Nobody believed this was actually a thing when I told them about it, and I seriously doubted if I could do it too, but here I am! I knew I wanted to do this build with someone, and I was lucky enough my good friend James, who also lives in the Toronto are, and for all intense and purposes is my twin (yes, we were even born on the same day), was thrilled to sign up with me. The journey started as a 40th birthday gift to myself. Originally, it was going to be a trip to Disney Star Wars with the family, but COVID got in the way that, and since I have plenty of time to research things, I stared searching for ways to buy/build a stuit and stumbled upon the FISD website, so here we are. James is really close to submitting as well. We are so excited to get out and start Trooping, especially charity work when it comes around. We are thrilled to be wearing Dark Side Dave's armor. Being so thick was tough to work with initially, but it fits us "huskier' troopers really well, and (as with all armor makers) looks amazing. Dave was always standing by to give a guiding hand, and I also want to send a huge shout out to all of those who helped us on our build thread, for giving us tips, and even picking us up when we thought all hope was lost and they we had either screwed up royally, or felt it was never going to pull together for us. We felt so welcomed into this community, and I have been raving about how supportive this group is. I can't wait to start paying it forward with other future troopers, and I can't wait to get out there and meet all of the amazing people Star Wars brings together. Almost as soon as I got approved, gmrhodes13 hooked me up with Nairy, who helped teach me how to make these awesome banners and play around with Photoshop, after he made my first banner for me!). Everyone just seems so generous. I wish more people could experience this. I'm honoured to be called Trooper with all of you. I've currently started my EIB submission and have the ultimate goal to make Centurion status. Once again, thanks to all for welcoming me and I look forward to seeing you out there. TK-13239 out

11/18/23 - 2nd Annual Toy Drive for Haven House (1 of 8) 87th TK troop, 42 for the year We don't have much in the calendar for November, but there's EIGHT of these toy collection troops for Haven House. It's a fantastic cause. The first troop was extremely rainy. I was soaked after 15 minutes. We called it shortly after I arrived to work the 2nd shift. heh 11/25/23 - 2nd Annual Toy Drive for Haven House (3 of 8) 88th TK troop, 43 for the year This troop was frigid. Almost freezing and we're all standing in the shade the whole time. I brought something warm. Jedi cloak!!! It looked pretty decent and in-universe. I stayed a bit warmer. But man... so cold. The hand warmers I taped to my chest and the ones I shoved in my gloves didn't help a lot. We called this one early too.

[56] 12-2-23 Mad Hatter Parade Vallejo, CA

Holy crow, Marc, that is one truly magnificent looking weapon! Your attention to detail has paid off in spades, sir, and I would not hesitate one bit in recommending this for anyone who wants to have a screen accurate ROTJ blaster! I hope you don't mind me throwing in one tiny detail... As seen below in 3 different screen caps there is a (cap?) rivet that runs through the stock, which prevents it from opening. I have no idea why they did this, but it's just one of those weird things that caught my eye. Keep up the great work, and please keep supplying these awesome blasters!!!!