T-Jay

Just partially add black paint on the screw heads. Avoid the area close to the slot. That will make it look like paint chips from using a screwdriver. For Expert Infantry and Centurion the FISD focusses on your armor mainly. The only important thing on the blaster is the ring on the end cap.

Hey Jesse, great to see you and "Emmet the master builder" are back again. Awesome update, man. You went the extra mile on the magazine. While reading through your text, I wondered about the gun laws in your country. Because over here I can buy an original magazine for just 25 Euros and cut it. You must have spent hours into this crazy mod! Wow. Yes, I was about mentioning the same but Mark was faster.

The result of your wrinkle paint looks absolutely correct, Mark. You have exactly followed the instructions and got the same surface and glossy finish, that I once had. You can reduce this by adding a very thin layer of black paint.

Looks good. Don't forget to weather these screws. Otherwise they will be too shiny. If you want, you can place the two inner screws on the scope front a bit deeper, like on real scopes.

Thanks, Jose. The armor recently got approved to Centurion level. As you are aiming for that same level, you can always send me a PM in case of questions. Good luck with your build and great work on your black helmet interior.

How to proceed with that logo, if we should get another trilogy (episodes X-XII) with again different stormtrooper designs?!

Hats off to all the work done already. I am fine with almost everything so far and whatever will be chosen at the end, will surely look superb. The only thing that I am worrying about, is the design of the shown imperial cog: Not sure how to explain, the web is full of imperial cogs with many variations but there is only one correct design. The width of the six "inner spokes" and the six "outer slots" seem wrong to me. This affects every graphic, where this cog has been copied into. Sorry to mention that, it is not meant in any negative way. As you can see in my avatar picture, I just really love that thing and feel connected to it. Oh, talking about changing graphics on FISD: some of our smilies are still outlined with white pixels (from when we had the white background). Maybe this can get fixed someday...

Hey Mark, maybe try some ultra fine sand paper on that black paint of your test pieces. This could highlight the texture again and might lead to a satisfying result... If that does not work, I keep my fingers crossed for your test with the Tamiya paint. I found their type of spray cans to have different atomizers than other spray cans. Meaning, it provides a much finer "spray fog" than all other cans I ever used. This could help to get a very thin layer of black onto your textured surface.

Yep, the more layers you add, the less remains from the texture underneath it. That is another reason to skip the clear coat, Mark. My wrinkle paint turned out far to glossy and I had to dull it down with a layer of black. So I just added a very very thin coat to get this effect and safe as much as possible from the wrinkle texture.

A very nice magazine - and a cool way to safely carry your blaster. The longer magazine sticks out deeper into your transport case, meaning the risk to break it off is higher as with the shorter one from DoopyDoo's. But it looks like there is enough room inside your box and if not, you still have the 5 magnets to make a removable magazine.

Looking good so far, Freddy. Maybe check some reference photos regarding the front sight cage. That crosshatch pattern is different on front and rear side of the cage.

Ah, feeling better now. Looking forward to your build progress...

Was no green stuff in the kit?

Great updates, Mark. Have done model building at this age too, but luckily never experienced something like this. However, your paint summary will be very helpfull for many readers. As long as you are unsure if this really works, I would simply not risk anything and skip this step. Reasons: - the paint will also be fine without a layer of clear coat - no point to risk your paint job in one of the last build steps - you can add the clear coat anytime later, even after doing the weathering and seal this too

A very radical and unusual approach, Freddy. But who cares?! The result speaks for itself - and that looks good so far. Not sure if you have to paint the inside of the scope at all. I would only do this, if the resin is visible somewhere inside when looking through the lenses. Just my two cents.

Congratulations on this superb looking blaster, Wayne! You rocked this build including many parts from the completion set in less than a month (wow!) and yes, it is absolutely good enough for trooping. And more... Regarding the ring on the end cap: depending on how clearly your application photos will show this area, you might get away with it like it is now. If on the other hand you have a few minutes, I would suggest to paint it black too. Anyway, I wish you a really good time with this blaster and a lot of events to use it on.

Hi Mark. When running this build, I had only heard of that technique, but had not seen it in person before. Christian (DarthChridan) had informed me about this trick and it later turned out to come from Felice. So I did not really exactly know, what to expect when doing this. Regarding the hammered paint: You need to dab it while the paint is still wet. Don't wait, just spray and then slightly dab it. That will only work, if the layer is thick enough for the kitchen paper to leave some "imprints" on the surface. If you don't succeed with spray paint, maybe try a small can of the brush-paint (if available). This will surely result in a thicker coat (and maybe a longer drying time)...

Just a very minor thing to notice: the two small screws on your scope front could sit a bit deeper. On real scopes these two screw heads are placed about 1mm below the surface.

Well done Mark. In that latest update, you thought of everything and haven't left out a thing to modify.

Wow, this is filled up pretty solid. Curious to see how it looks after drilling...

From your description and the photos, I would go with the Rustoleum Hammered Black with Tamiya Matte Black overtop. If you are not happy with that structure, you can try a wrinkle spray paint (like VHT GSP201). But make sure to check the specifications (temperature, humidity, ...) before buying.

In a finished scope, the tiny engraving of the cross hair lens can only be seen clearly, when it has the correct distance to the big lens. Otherwise the magnification effect won't work and you will not be able to spot anything. A good distance can be derived from the assembled monocular. In other words, it's best to put your cross hair lens straight onto the small end of that conical cylinder, holding the big lens. Please see last picture below.

Reasonable thinking, Tom. Unfortunately the 2nd lens is to compensate pillow- / barrel-distortion. Here is that section, copied from my last build: Also thought about integrating the prism(s) but a convex lens turns the image upside down and left to right. Hoped that a 2nd lens (see arrangement in the monocular) would revert this effect. But these are used to compensate pillow- / barrel-distortion. Wasted several days researching and trying every possible combination with lens(es) and prism(s). No luck. As a last chance I grabbed some scopes plus monoculars and went to my eyewear optician. Result: with the given hardware, there is no way to get it working correctly and I was not willing to spend a little fortune to try and error. At least there is light shining through that scope and the lenses make it look somewhat real.

As far as I know, a few people (myself included) have tried this already but nobody ever managed to solve it - so far... A guy once fixed the upside-down-issue, but still had the image mirrored left to right. I also used the two prisms from the monocular but had no success. Went to an eyewear optician and he also had no idea. If you find a way, please let us know

Great job done on the folding stock, Mark. These modifications cause a lot of effort and you went through it all the way. Not an easy task, but properly solved. Sorry for being so late to answer this. You are correct with how the rail is being mounted in that photo. Your rail looks different, because you had taken one of the "fully finished and painted scope rails with pilot holes and separate counter bracket". These got reworked and improved just recently and they now look like shown in that photo. As Dan already suggested, you could cut the 90 degree bend off of the back end, drill a new hole and screw it straight down.