emile1138's Stormie WIP

[emile1138]

Hey guys!

I figured I'd start a WIP thread. I have had my NE armor for a while now and I'm just now really deciding to get started on it.

My work is slow, and I'm full of questions and worrying I'm doing things wrong, so bear with me here.

 

I decided to start with the helmet and the blaster:

 

The blaster is a Doopy-Doo's full E-11 kit. I've glued it together, given it three or four coats of metallic chrome silver, and a few light coats of matte black, then lightly scuffed some edges and areas of most contact for some light weathering.

I do not have the scope rail yet...I'm working on getting one or making one.

Here's the pictures:

 

The helmet...is looking pretty bad. It's a three piece helmet, and I did the best I could to get the smallest amount of gap between the cap and back, but it's still pretty obvious.
The gap where there's an edge in the mold on the helmet back is minimized by cutting a notch in the faceplate where the edge is. The gap is still there, but with the pressure that will be applied when attaching the ears, the gap is minimized to a point that I'm comfortable with (pictured below):

 

Here's where I start asking for input.

I'm pretty positive I seriously messed up the ears.The left one has been trimmed WAY small, and still doesn't fit right, and the right one isn't looking too good either.
They both already have WAY too much of a gap in them, even with legitimate pressure applied.

I may need to get new ears.

Pics:

 

And last but not least, I accidentally got a drop of super glue on the dome of the helmet, and it kiiiinda melted a dent in the finish...

Is there a way to buff this out or something?

 

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to reading your replies!

[SorenM[TK]]

Hi

Sorry but I cannot be of any assistance with the helmet ( or armour for that matter). The Doopydoos blaster on the other hand I know something about.:-)

I think you should try and improve a little on it to make it more realistic looking. The D ring in the rear should not be missing, the front sight should be "Dremeled" out some more, the cocking handle should be raised as it sits too far into the "slit". You could insert a dummy spring and bolt and change the cast M6 Allen screws in the muzzle and bottom of the pistolgrip to real ones. The pistol grip should be glossy in appearance as it is made from bakelite and the bolt should be steel coloured.

Feel free to ask, or take a look at my thread on my own build....:-)

[captsafe66[Admin]]

I'd have to see the helmet for sure because I'm not familiar with that brand but don't give up too soon, just don't trim anymore off yet.  Let's see if someone more familiar with this build will chime in with some ideas.

[emile1138]

Excellent work on your E-11! I'm very impressed!

Mine was just slapped together just to have something. But if I get another one, I may be contacting you to do a commission to assemble a more screen accurate one like yours.

If you'd be up to it, of course

 

And thanks Mark. You'd have to see it in person. I think I really messed up those ears.
I'll have to show it to you sometime 

Edited September 4, 2013 by emile1138

[SorenM[TK]]

Excellent work on your E-11! I'm very impressed!

Mine was just slapped together just to have something. But if I get another one, I may be contacting you to do a commission to assemble a more screen accurate one like yours.

If you'd be up to it, of course

 

And thanks Mark. You'd have to see it in person. I think I really messed up those ears.

I'll have to show it to you sometime 

Thanks a bunch:-).. Even if yours was done hastily, you can stille make the improvements without too much effort.

I will gladly make a comission, but I am afraid that the shippings costs would be astronomic......;-)...

[emile1138]

I will gladly make a comission, but I am afraid that the shippings costs would be astronomic......;-)...

 

Ah. I didn't see the "Denmark" there...

You make a good point, lol

[SorenM[TK]]

Ah. I didn't see the "Denmark" there...

You make a good point, lol

Yup:-)....I think including shipping and materials 200$+...and the one I built took at least 25 hrs. To complete....

[emile1138]

I've made a little more progress, but sadly, I haven't been able to post to the WIP here lately.

Regardless, here's my progress so far:

 

 

The legs aren't pictured completely above, but they are done as well:

 

 

And the thermal detpack has one cap glue in on the left, and the right cap is not glued. There is a bungee cord attached between the two caps, so I can open and close it like a container when needed without losing the cap.
This will come in handy for granola bars, fruit snacks, and extra batteries during long troops and comic-cons:

 

 

More to come!

[Tolo[TK]]

It might be me, but, your TD looks a bit long.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

[emile1138]

It is a bit long, but that's because I barely trimmed it at all from how it came.

It's still "Approximately 7.50in.", so it should be fine according to the CRLs. I've seen a few guys getting approved in these without trimming the detpack AT ALL, and if I try to fix it, I'll end up with ugly glue marks where the button plate was before it gets shifted over.

So overall, I'm not too worried about how it looks right now...

[emile1138]

So here's today's fun progress...

Got the big pieces trimmed up:

 

Got some snaps set up and installed in a few areas:

 

And now I'd like to take a quick moment to show how AMAZING the detail is on this NE armor, by holding a few pieces up next to another type of armor (MTK, I believe).
The MTK armor is on the left, my NE armor is on the right:

 

Aaaand the shop floor...
If you think this is bad, you should see my clothes! This stuff gets everywhere...

 

More to come!

[emile1138]

Today's progress...

Finished up the belt!

 

Notice anything strange? No? That's because you're not supposed to!

Oh, what was that? You want a Garrison business card, you say? Oh, well allow me to grab you one OUT OF MY FUNCTIONAL DROP BOX CARD HOLDER:

 

You can't even tell the difference. It still sits flush when closed to look identical to the other non-functional drop box:

 

Also, I finished the snaps and straps for the "shirt" portion of the armor. Fully fitted and wearable!

 

As always, more to come later!

[emile1138]

Got a little more work done!
 

Ripped apart and re-glued the cap to the back. This time I made sure to get MOST of the gap gone. It's not perfect, but it looks MUCH better than it did:

 

Also painted the inside of the helmet with Plasti-Dip. It makes it look good with a nice matte black finish on the inside, and the texture is fantastic!

 

A hard days work on the jolly old Death Star... Trooper Curt decides it's time for a coffee break...

 

More to come!

Edited December 14, 2013 by emile1138

[Cantina Security[501st]]

Nice work Caleb. Really digging the drop boxes. I am a firm believer in no wasted space.

[Cantina Security[501st]]

Hi

Sorry but I cannot be of any assistance with the helmet ( or armour for that matter). The Doopydoos blaster on the other hand I know something about.:-)

I think you should try and improve a little on it to make it more realistic looking. The D ring in the rear should not be missing, the front sight should be "Dremeled" out some more, the cocking handle should be raised as it sits too far into the "slit". You could insert a dummy spring and bolt and change the cast M6 Allen screws in the muzzle and bottom of the pistolgrip to real ones. The pistol grip should be glossy in appearance as it is made from bakelite and the bolt should be steel coloured.

Feel free to ask, or take a look at my thread on my own build....:-)

 

Soren built the most radical blaster, for sure....

[emile1138]

Nice work Caleb. Really digging the drop boxes. I am a firm believer in no wasted space.

 

 

Thanks! I was beginning to think my thread was invisible. I haven't been getting any feedback.

 

But thanks for the kind words!

[Cantina Security[501st]]

So did you get that three piece bucket straight? Didn't look too bad on your last picture.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Cantina Security

[Barcoder[TK]]

Hmmm, wish I would have noticed your thread before I did my drop boxes. I love that idea! (May just have rip mine apart and re-do them.)

I also really like the usable TD compartment. I haven't started on mine yet so.....maybe I'll give that a try.

 

Great progress so far.

[emile1138]

So did you get that three piece bucket straight? Didn't look too bad on your last picture.

Yeah, that's the reason for posting that picture. I ripped it apart, sanded it down, and it took two guys (four hands) to glue it together as close as possible, to get the least amount of gap between the cap and back...

It's still not perfect, but it looks good enough to help me sleep at night!|

 

 

 

Hmmm, wish I would have noticed your thread before I did my drop boxes. I love that idea! (May just have rip mine apart and re-do them.)

I also really like the usable TD compartment. I haven't started on mine yet so.....maybe I'll give that a try.

 

Great progress so far.

 

Thanks!

 

The plan is to tear apart an Aker and hook it up with an iPod shuffle with the 40 minute Stormtrooper radio chatter loop running out of the TD while trooping. When it's finished, I'll post a video of it running.

[Cantina Security[501st]]

 

 

 

 

 

 

The plan is to tear apart an Aker and hook it up with an iPod shuffle with the 40 minute Stormtrooper radio chatter loop running out of the TD while trooping. When it's finished, I'll post a video of it running.

 

Pure genius...

[emile1138]

 Pure genius...

Why, thankyasir!

 

I can't take full credit for the idea though, a HWT buddy of mine does the same thing with the Sandy loop in his backpack 

[gazmosis[501st]]

Nice work so far. Just to check, your drop boxes on your belt are sitting too far to the center. They need to sit even with the outside edge of the belt. On your photo series of the main torso pieces, make sure you connect the kidney with that little 90 degree nook at the bottom. You have it pictured upside down.

[emile1138]

Nice work so far. Just to check, your drop boxes on your belt are sitting too far to the center. They need to sit even with the outside edge of the belt.

 I've seen them mounted on approved costumes with the inside corners of the drop boxes mounted two different ways. In line with the inner corner of the first ammo box on the belt (like mine, pictured above), and in line with the outer corner of the first ammo box on the belt.

 

Is there only one way to do it? Because with what I've seen, they could go either way...

 

Plus, that's kinda how the belt looks in the CRLs...

 

 

On your photo series of the main torso pieces, make sure you connect the kidney with that little 90 degree nook at the bottom. You have it pictured upside down.

 

I've since mounted the kidney to the back plate (not pictured). I made sure to mount it with the nook at the bottom, as I've seen pictured in other build threads

[emile1138]

Made some more progress on the helmet today...

Decals applied to the frown:

 

Ears have been attached:

 

Some foam trim detail has been added to the inside of the helmet, as well as the s-trim. However, there is a problem. The addition of the ears and the s-trim have added too much length to the bottom of the helmet, and now I can't fit my big noggin throught the bottom of the helmet...

I'll be removing the s-trim and trimming up the bucket-hole (<-LOL), then adding new s-trim when it's big enough for my head.

So for now, enjoy the pictures of the inside of the helmet so far, ignore the s-trim, as it will be changed soon:

Looking good so far!

[Cantina Security[501st]]

Will you mount your lenses to the foam around the eyes? This looks like it will maybe let a bit of airflow around the lenses, possibly keeping them from fogging up? Not sure, but if you don't adhere them completely , it may do the trick. Or do you have another reason for the foam inserts?