T-Jay

Hi Jake, sounds like you made your homework and have exact knowledge of different weathering techniques. Can't wait to see you starting this project. Following...

Hello Jason, glad to have you joining the FISD. Do you have any plans to aim for level 2 or 3 with your stormtrooper armor?

It should work without damaging it. When having it in hands, you can unscrew the black retainer ring (with a knife blade or something). When the retainer ring is removed, the two small lenses and the spacer ring between them should fall out. If not, gently push something through the front end. No, the picture you are referring to is from a build with Brian's (@Bulldog44) scope with hollowed core and shows two casted resin pieces holding the small lens in place. This is slightly different to what you are building. According to my research back then, the two small lenses with spacer ring are used to compensate the pillow- and barrel-distorsion (see the graphic from my earlier comment), which is useful for real telescopes. In our resin builds we do not get them to work like that (believe me, I tried hard). We just want both scope ends to look real. From that point of view, it is absolutely up to you if you want to install just one small lens, or both of them with that spacer ring. As for the orientation, I would always install the domed side facing the outside. Real telescopes have it that way and you want yours to look real. Not sure on this one, as it never had any impact on my builds. Give it a try and play with the parts you have, try various combinations and check if one changes anything...

Maybe this helps:

Welcome Alex. Nice photo and happy trooping.

THIS is a crazy cool idea, Marko. Very nice. May I just kindly suggest to use countersunk screws for this?! The power of the magnets is limited and you will need to bring them as close as you can. Otherwise you risk losing your magazine. If you do not have such screws, you could also drill 4 holes into the bottom corners of your magazine to make room for the current screw heads. No matter which way you go, just try to eliminate that air gap between the magnets in the magazine and the ones in the housing.

Whaaaat??? I was worrying about what could have went wrong and it was just the glasses. Basically yes. If you look at the first image below, this effect depends on a specific distance between the lens and the point where all the arrows meet. You are using that metal part from the monocular and this will ensure the correct distance for a good magnification without seeing the engravings of the reticle lens upside down. Just tested it. Works with and without glasses.

Correct. I would like to, but unfortunately have to skip this. Maybe you can make it to the Reads Day in Bergheim a week earlier (Sa. 10th of Nov.). If not, I am sure there will be opportunities in the future to meet again.

Congratulations Jim. Do not forget to request 501st access with your new TK ID to find some new sublevels at FISD. Edit: oops, you already did

Hi Jesse, from what I can see, you already found the exact same pictures, I just wanted to send you. Your setup in this photo seems absolutely correct and you should get a proper magnification of the engravings in the reticle lens. You said it is blurry. Hm, that is strange. Okay, try the following steps: 1. Flip the reticle lens. Maybe the wrong side was facing the big lens and the thickness of the reticle lens distorted the distance for a good magnification. 2. Check the installation of the big lens in that housing. It has a plain and a domed side. Plain side should point towards the reticle lens, domed side towards your eye. To flip it, just unscrew the big retainer ring and it should drop out of the housing. 3. Try playing with those two lenses. Change their distance and check if you need more or less distance than what you currently have with that metal piece of the monocular. Had no such issue yet and keeping fingers crossed...

Positions of scope and counter are looking good, Marko.

Welcome to the ranks, JC. Any plans to go for level 2 and 3?

Congratulations Freddy! Guess you will have the Centurion badge when we meet on our next troop...

Hi Freddy, welcome to the ranks and congratulations on completing your first troop - without any damages as far as I can tell. It was my pleasure meeting you in person and I am looking forward to both, your applications for L2+L3 and our next troop.

Not bright enough? What you ended up with, looks perfect to me. Like the Terminator's eye. Seriously, you are not installing a laser pointer. You just want red light inside your scope. And it looks superb on that photo.

Easiest to discuss this on the upcomming troop next Saturday.

Good luck Freddy, hope you will be joining the ranks soon.

Sorry Marko, looks like I missed to reply earlier. You can align the rear foot of the scope to sit above the folding stock hinge. In other words, just move that scope 3cm closer to the rear sight. Great idea with the red light inside the scope. Excited to see this working...

Hi Jesse, congrats on your latest progress. Using a coloured primer, always changes the game. It not only hides the green stuff, but also shows the last few weak spots - in case there are some. Very small issues can even get fixed simply by sanding that area. Maybe it is just the photo, but in this picture your rear sight sits critically close to the end cap. Looks like maybe 2 mm got lost because of that cut through the receiver tube. I understand you want the locking mechanism of your end cap clip to work. But do not forget the end cap needs a little gap to the rear sight, so you can rotate it for removal. By the way: this reference photo is from our Blaster Reference pictures straight out of photobucket.com. Seems like their 3rd party hosting service works again...?!?!

Whaaaaat??? Maybe I have seen to many photos where hot glue was used for such cases, but I never expected that. Sorry Jesse. The same would have happened to me.

Good looking armor, can't see anything wrong at the moment. Maybe you get asked for a photo of your TD from a different angle, showing the top button. Not sure... On your blaster I noticed the magazine being inserted the wrong way. Didn't it take a lot of pressure to get it in that way?

@Scalawag Thanks Paul for sharing that knowledge about the crinkle paint with us.

Hi David. Your 3D-printed T-track seems to be accurate from what I can see so far. Not sure if you have come across this thread from Henry (@SlyFox740) but he really did a great job with his R1 Blaster Reference. As for the counter, this topic is also covered in his thread and there is Dennis @TK-50101 Blue Snaggletooth who built a very nice R1 replica here. Dennis also offers Hengstler counters on ebay, including a R1 version. So your R1 blaster could get completed soon.

Same for me. Haven't received a single email since the server move. Anything I can do?

Your latest progress looks really good, Marko. As mentioned by Dan, I also would suggest to move the scope a bit towards the rear sight. Your completion set contained the earlier version of finished scope rails with this flaw. The new rails got improved and the mounting holes repositioned. You can fill the wrong holes with green stuff and drill new ones. Good job done on the end cap clip as well. If not yet installed on your receiver tube, you might want to trimm the edges a bit to look more like this: Can't wait to see your dovetail mod for the front sight.