Darth Aloha

Looking forward to the pics as I sit and wait for my very own RT-MOD kit to arrive Aloha, -Eric

Ah yes.. the Expert Infantry browser... I hope it works with this skin

"Ah I hate it! It sucks. It sucks. It sucks. Change is bad. I hate change. Anything new sucks!" That was me this morning. After using it all day I have to say that I dig the new skin and especially the new editor. Also the options for viewing new posts are really handy: The pop ups when you mouse over a username kinda freak me out but I'm sure I'll get used it like anything else. Just don't change it again because change is really really scary. Aloha and Thanks! -Eric

I'm 6'5" but 240 and I just ordered a kit from Rob of RT-MOD. His armor is made for taller and bigger troopers. All of his parts have a little extra length to them. I'm fairly long in the torso and his ab section is the only one that will fit me. If you're long legged RT can make longer thighs and shins for you if you fear large swaths of black undersuit showing (as I do) You may spend way more time trimming your armor to fit your skinny limbs but you'll be happy to have the length. RT-MOD is a fan sculpt and not screen accurate but who cares if its fits? I would check with your local garrison if you haven't already. There may be a trooper who owns a set of RT-MOD you can go check out. Aloha, -Eric

(anyone we know?)

Hey Darren, Do you also have a set of plastic armor of your own? If so.. what do you wear? Did you have a helmet on hand to base this one off of... or did you do it all from photos? Aloha, -Eric

All, No real progress to report other than one coat of primer. Once the primer is on I can see every single little imperfection on the gun and droopdoo parts and its driving me batty. There are also globs of glue under the barrel where the folding stock is glued on. Oops! I hadn't noticed that at all. A couple dremel dings seem even bigger now. This means I'm going to spend some extra time weathering my blaster. I paid quite a bit of attention to sanding down the toy itself but not as much with the resin parts. Not only are there tiny pin holes from air bubbles, I should have taken care of some of the more rough parts from the mold. Has anyone had any luck with filling the air bubble holes in the resin? Lesson learned: Sand, fill and generally prep the resin parts before gluing them on the hasbro. Who has a hyperfirm they want to sell? As I was typing this I heard from Rob about my RT-MOD kit. It looks like I may have to wait until late August for my armor. Maybe I'll get the full droopy e-11 kit to keep me occupied. Got any other TK related project suggestions? Aloha, -Eric

I've been to Australia, I know just how drunk you are. I'm headed there in a few weeks and plan to take two days off when I return to factor in the hangover. Aloha, -Eric

Oh whew. I'm glad you don't plan on trooping in an actual wetsuit. I spent part of my morning wondering how I was going to say "ARE YOU MENTAL?!" with some amount of aloha. I know a lot about wrangling neoprene but looks like the drunken ZeroRoom has all the advice you need. I will add that when gluing stuff onto neoprene it is common to put the suit on and trace a line around the thing you're gluing on. If you do decide to sew velcro onto lycra you might want to put your suit on and draw a line around each velcro patch. Once you go to sew your velcro on you'll know just how much to stretch it out. Once the velcro wears out I could imagine a funny scene where you take a good deep breath and all of your armor pops off and goes flying. Aloha, -Eric

DirtyD... Is your undersuit actually a squishy neoprene wetsuit material or made from nylon spandex? Aloha, -Eric

Just ran into this ebay listing for this Donald Duck statue. If I were a Disney minded guy I'd be pretty stoked to own one of these. Aloha, -Eric

Right on! Everyone is looking great. The hallway prop looks super fun. My armor is on order. I'm going to try and get it together quickly as I can and come over for HEXXP. Wish me luck Aloha nui, -Eric

Well... this thread is turning super pic intensive isn't it? I resized these most recent ones so hopefully it won't take so long to load. I glued my last part onto my hasbro before I clean and paint it. I put one of Karin's D-rings on using the droopy doo hardware. Here's how I did it: This dremel router foot came in handy finally. I installed a spiral bit: I cut off the molded D-ring and drew a line across the back of the mount: Clamped the thing in a vice and routed a channel: Insert D-ring And glue it on: Voila! I'll start sanding and then painting later this week. Aloha! -Eric

May I suggest reviewing Jorran's TK Shopping List. I found it super helpful. You may not end up buying the same stuff as he did, but it does give you an idea of how much non armor crap there is to buy. I've been collecting my TK trinkets for about 6 months now and I finally just sent the money for an armor kit. Patience is the only way to make it happen faster Aloha, -Eric

Thanks for the kind words everyone Does anyone else see the irony of playing with a toy star wars gun for hours a day making me a men among boys? Here's today fun. Getting closer to cleaning and painting. One D-ring away from getting it dust and grime free. I dremeled off the heads to two bolts found in that bin of random hardware that every shop has. No one likes sorting bolts when they're done with a project... no one. Cut off and filed (yes I made lots of sparks next to that O2 bottle in the corner) Freshly dremeled socket head screws Socket heads sitting in a bed of E-6000 I finally just bit the bullet and glued the cylinders on where I thought they looked good. I was spending too much time looking at other hasbro builds to figure out where the best place to glue them was. I was a little too liberal with the E-6000 but it cleans up so easily even when its dry. Another lesson learned was to use an exacto knife to cut away the scope rail. I used the dremel for most of it and I managed to ding the crap out of it. After making a huge mess with various dremel bits I spent a very long time filing the jagged plastic away. I might have spent less time and energy if I just slowly cut it away from a halved gun. I may get some putty and try and fill in some of the mess... or just leave it and save my energy for the next hasbro build. That's all for today. I'm going to try and modify the droopy doo D ring on Monday to accomodate the one I got from Karin. Aloha nui, -Eric

Aloha troopers, Yesterday I sent Rob funds for a RT-MOD kit. I can't wait to be the first TK on the Big Island. In the mean time I've been working on my hasbro little by little. I have a folding table in my office full of e-6000 drippings, plastic shavings, glue brushes, sand paper and dremel bits. Even before I picked it up my hasbro at Target I had been reading and reading the hasbro mod threads. Jorran's and Pandatrooper's were a great source of information and inspiration for me. Many mahalos to them and every one else who took the time to write up a hasbro build. When I got the toy home I threw away the best piece of advice from all the build threads. Halve the blaster first. I went a little bonkers and started applying bondo and sanding the lettering off. Everything would have been easier if I had separated the two halves of the gun. Here's what would have been easier if I split it: Preserving the LED light. I drilled through one of the wires. Obviously drilling the extra set of holes Scope rail Sanding the body smooth Painting the inside black But alas I didn't, but it went well enough keeping it in tact. This is a tough tool list so far: Center punch Drill bits Imperial unibit Clamps clamps clamps Rubber bands E-6000 Dremel Foam sanding blocks med/fine 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper Bondo Caliper Metal ruler Hand drill Drill press This is how I drilled holes in a whole blaster. Step 1: Measure where the holes go. Much time was spent with a metal ruler and a caliper measuring the spaces between the existing holes and the new holes. Drawing on a curved surface with a rigid metal ruler was a little silly. I have a small flexible ruler that I could have used but I was so focused it never occurred to me. Step 2: Punch holes. I used a center punch to create a landing pad for pilot holes. I was nervous about this but this plastic so forgiving and soft that I barely needed any pressure. I could have made little dents with a dull awl and it would have been just as effective. Step 3: Drill pilot holes. This went really well. I drilled these with a hand drill and I was really satisfied with my accuracy. I used a bit slightly smaller size bit than the smallest diameter of my unibit. This allowed the unibit to center itself in the pilot hole. I didn't use the unibit to drill the holes as the photo below might suggest, it was just the best photos of the holes I took. Step 4: Drill holes. I put the gun in my drill press vice padded with some random rubber sheeting. It took a whole bunch of time to make sure that the drill was perpendicular to the tangent of the hole. Tightening the vice I was a little afraid of breaking the fins of the existing "t-track." I suggest getting a metric unibit because the holes in the hasbro aren't imperial. Step 5: Be annoyed at yourself now that the LED no longer works The drill press allowed me to go slowly and accurately. It also prevented the bit from wandering when it encountered the material behind the hole in the way that Pandatrooper warned me would make the bit wander. However the holes did not come out as nicely as I wanted. The first hole I drilled is off because I misjudged when the unibit was centered. The force of pulling down on the drill press, the sharpness of the bit, and the softness of the plastic allows the bit to go right in ignoring the pilot hole. The next few holes I was more careful to center the bit. But the last hole... I have no idea what happened. I was rushing I'm sure. Now that I have the stock and all the other crap glued on I can see that no one will notice...but my A double S is still chafed. Crooked end holes (boo!) A few weeks ago the droopy doos kit was sitting on my desk in a box. A coworker (who works in a different office of my company) came in and was playing with my folding stock as he chatted. After he left I looked and I realized that he broke one of the pieces off. I was well teased for being mad at him for breaking my toy gun. It took me a few tries to glue it back together and it came out a little funky. Don't leave your parts around where any doofus can touch and break it. Some random clamping This droopy t-track is shorter than the other side. My counter is crooked. Ready for bolt heads The best advice I can give to anyone is to check and double check your parts after you apply clamp pressure. They move and often you can't tell how much when there's a clamp in the way. My scope is a little cockeyed and the counter is a bit askew. I could remove the counter and re-glue but really no one but me will ever notice. I'm thinking of doing another one of these builds just to apply my lessons learned. If I do try this again I think I'm going to get some better t-track. The droopy track is really crappy looking. And the two tracks that came with the kit were two different lengths! Meh. I'll take more photos soon. I only have the D-ring, muzzle bolts and the power cylinders left to glue on. I plan on using one of Karins D-rings by modifying the droopy doo part. I'm leaving the cylinders last because I'm really not sure where to put them. There isn't much room for wires but I'm not sure I want a little bit of it hanging over the edge. The cylinders do look different than other people's build kits. I'm guessing this is MKIII? I'll grab a few more photos as I spend time avoiding my job and sanding plastic. Aloha nui, -Eric

Martin, I'm in the middle of a hasbro build and while I have lots of clamps, I don't have all that much patience. I have tried the following glues along the way: West System Epoxy 3M Scotch-Weld DP605NS Generic 5 minute epoxy Quality CA cyanoacrylate super glue The Scotch-Weld DP605NS does a GREAT job but I can't keep using work's applicator tips. At $20 a cartridge plus the expense of the gun and applicator tips... that's too spendy for me to buy myself. Some people steal post-its from work... I mooch adhesives Even with good clamp pressure all the brittle glues (including the CA made specifcally for bonding plastic) created a really crappy weak bond. After scraping dried glue globs off, I've had to go back and re-do my hengsler and folding stock with e6000. E-6000: It's worth the wait! Aloha, -Eric

Hey everyone... I've got another quick hasbro related question.... Does the alignment of the power cylinders in this photo look right to you? There isn't much room behind them to add wires without having the the base plate extend past the clip housing. I wasn't sure if I should slide it closer to the body of the gun or keep it more on the outside edge near the clip. ---------- Aloha and thanks, -Eric

I sees a "search" link at the very bottom of the page from my iPhone.... Both from ipb app and mobile skin. Aloha, -Eric

Have you tried using an awl or a metal punch to make a dent first? If you smack the punch with a hammer you'll make a little hole for the pointy tip of your drill bit to sit in. That way it won't wander as you apply pressure on your dewalt. Any sharp bit will do. Aluminium is pretty soft stuff. Good luck. Aloha, -Eric

If you email Rob (RT-mod) your measurements he can make custom length limb pieces. I sent him my thigh and calf lengths and luckily they're not too long. I fear large swaths of black undersuit showing Aloha, -Eric

A wire bending jig thingy would help. I have one that always seems to be missing whenever I need it. -Eric

17" Aloha, -Eric

I wear a 12.5 EEE (one less E than I thought) and my size 13 TK boots that arrived today fit great. They're a little narrow but they're soft enough that it probably won't matter. The 13's are a little long but who cares? I think if I put a set of gel insoles in them I'll be good to go. Boy did my wife laugh and laugh when I put them on. I can't actually repeat some of the things she said, but she was funny. I struck a quick Saturday night fever pose that got even more laughs. After settling down she had that near facepalm "what did I get myself into when I married you" look Oh but she knew... she knew. Aloha, -Eric

I couldn't agree more about TK Boots. I ordered them and they arrived 5 days later. Quick (but brief) response to questions. I'd certainly buy from TK Boots again.... if they sold more than boots... or if I lose mine... or the off chance I go TD someday. Aloha, -Eric