On a journey to a galaxy far far away...

[Syntax error]

That's one sweet costume. I'm a Star Wars fan myself, by the way (as hinted by my user name). 👍

I figured as much! haha thank you for the kind words.

The building alone was phenomenal. Topping it with a Special Needs event? Stellar. Well done, SE.

Cheers @TB Bringing a smile to sick kids faces is what it's all about. A lot of my friends think i'm nuts or that I'm just being silly playing dress up so I often refer them to this picture that the 501st put up onto their facebook page recently, I think it really drives home what it's really all about:

You, I envy your skills. Nice job!

Thank you. The clone trooper is probably the most difficult of all the builds. The Stormtrooper I'm doing next should be a breeze in comparison as there is no putty/sanding and painting required

Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?


Armour looks amazing Syntax!

Would you believe that I'm actually the right height? hehe Thanks buddy

While we do have some gun crime, it is not as bad as the U.S ao our cops are less likely to shoot.

Our cops also have tasers and will draw them first before they use their gun.

But if you see a guy in a starwars getup holding a "gun" you can assume it is a toy.

But we aussies never had an issue like the one in the US a while back so it is hard to say how it will really go down.

It's not an issue for us. As you said, gun crime is low and the blasters are easily enough differentiated from real weapons. Even the Stormtrooper E-11 blasters which are basically Sterling submachine gun with a few extra bits tacked on to look more futuristic have never presented an issue. The 501 has a very rich history and are well know so we don't get hassled about the weapons. That said, we do carefully review each troop and discuss if it should be a weapons free event or not depending on numerous circumstances.

👍 Since I very, very rarely visit the 'in' field myself I would have missed this completely. I like talking to the 'general population' myself. This is mind-boggling stuff!

Too awesome for words.

May the Force be with you?

Gosh, would I have loved to be there . . . My second kid and I take part in something like this - 'Nerf Wars' - actual battles staged in various environments (mostly schoolyards that provide us with the venue) and it's a lot of fun, sometimes as much as 60 - 100 people taking part from all over the city. Various battles are staged, and of course we have a variety of NERF weapons in use, though there is not much role-playing via costumes - just the occasional guy in camo.

Thank you. Canada has quite a large 501st garrison. I would encourage anyone who is interested to go check out the main 501st website. It's not as hard as it looks, some sell kits like this prebuilt as well so if you don't think you are handy enough with tools, that should never be a stopping point. And there are so many characters in the Star Wars universe to do as well, so there is plenty to choose from, old trilogy, new trilogy, expanded universe, animated series, the list goes on.

Your kids would love it. My 12 year old brother in-law loves telling anyone and everyone that I'm a stormtrooper.

Man, this thread turned out even more awesome. I missed the announcement of the new Error, she's a breaut! That picture of you in full armor holding her and with your kids in helmets and stuff is pure gold. And of course the charity event pics are also awesome.

Thanks buddy. So far she's the best behaved of my girls.... but at this age they don't do much but drink, poop and sleep. haha

 

[Brett]

Cheers @TB Bringing a smile to sick kids faces is what it's all about. A lot of my friends think i'm nuts or that I'm just being silly playing dress up so I often refer them to this picture that the 501st put up onto their facebook page recently, I think it really drives home what it's really all about:

So much win! 👍

 

[RacerTed]

I don't know what your day job is, but if ILM has a location in England I'd be surprised if you don't head it up! I have two kids with autism, so thank you and your friends for what you do! My kids might only get a mild chuckle out of it, but it swells my heart anyway!
God bless you all!

 

[TB]

I don't know what your day job is, but if ILM has a location in England I'd be surprised if you don't head it up!

While working for ILM certainly sounds cool, that would be one hell of a commute for @Syntax error as he's in Australia.

 

[Syntax error]

I don't know what your day job is, but if ILM has a location in England I'd be surprised if you don't head it up! I have two kids with autism, so thank you and your friends for what you do! My kids might only get a mild chuckle out of it, but it swells my heart anyway!
God bless you all!

Thank you. Trooping and seeing how excited kids (and adults) get when seeing their favorite star wars characters come to life is fantastic.

haha as @TB said, that would indeed be quite the commute! That said, the UK garrison along with being the largest international arm of the 501st, has some supper talented individuals that would put my work to shame. I'm almost certain a few of them will be called in for when it comes time to film Ep7.

I've got some updated photos coming hopefully in the next few days so I'll make sure I post them up here.

I'm also currently doing a 5km walk in my armour (no mean feat as movement is extremely limited) to raise money for suffers of multiple sclerosis. I'm a bit rusty on the old rules of what links can and can't be posted (@TB feel free to step in and remind me, it has been some time since I did mod work here), but if it's okay, I will post up a link to the donate page.

Also here is a little infographic with respect to some of the charity work the 501st has done over the last two years:

 

[RacerTed]

While working for ILM certainly sounds cool, that would be one hell of a commute for @Syntax error as he's in Australia.

I totally mistook that flag!

Thanks!

 

[Cano]

little infographic

Those ammounts are amazing.

 

[Syntax error]

Had a photo shoot last weekend. Here are some of the results:

 

[TB]

Bad. Ass. 👍

 

[Grayfox]

Why do I have the urge to yell this out if I saw you.

 

[Syntax error]

Why do I have the urge to yell this out if I saw you.

I'm okay with that. I'm totally comfortable with myself and my obsessions.



Latest troop was for my daughters community based pre-school which that were holding a walkathon to help raise money. The preschool relies heavily on donations and community input to operate. Fun was had by all the kids and I think we were actually even more popular with the parents than the kids

On the notice board the next day when I was dropping my daughter off at preschool:

I have a fair few charity events lined up for this year to attend but none as big as this one that I've been working hard to drum up some support for, The MS walk/fun run in June. As many of you probably know MS is a debilitating disease of the central nervous system. Anyway I will be shuffling the 5km's in this extremely hard to move in (and quite hot and uncomfortable) armour. I'm pretty happy that I'm so close to hitting the target. Anyway I thought I'd share. http://register.mswalk.org.au/2014-MS-Walk-and-Fun-Run-Sydney/Waffle

My stormtrooper build is starting to ramp up now as I slowly gather all the bits and pieces needed for the build. I've also decided that a tusken raider outfit is something I would like to explore, primary as it would be easy to transport to events and get changed into. My Clone armour requires an entourage to help put it on and takes up 2x 200 gallon containers for transport plus I still need to carry the helmet and boots separately.

 

[Grayfox]

I'm okay with that. I'm totally comfortable with myself and my obsessions.

Funny thing is I am not that much different.

 

[Syntax error]

The Awesome news is that I met my $1,000 target to raise funds for MS. The Walk is on the 1st of June and should be lots of fun.

Anyway I can never sit still for long enough so I started to build a more recognizable character to most people.... the Stormtrooper.

Here is the fun unboxing stage. There is going to be a lot of cutting and gluing before this resembles a trooper of any sort.

Helmet was missing due a parts supply issue but that arrived a few weeks later.

Coming together well. The hardest part of this entire build I've been told are the ears of the bucket. Took me close to 4 hours of dremeling to get it as right as it's ever going to get in my hands. Cut out the holes for frown as well as the eyes. Removed the access plastic around the helmet. Riveted the front and back part of the helmet together, and then drilled and bolted the ears into place. After that I started painting parts in black. These will be bloack outlines to grey areas on the helmet. Starting to look sort of like a stormtrooper helmet:

And this is where I'm currently up to. The helmet is nearly finished. Added the mic tips, installed the visor and did some painting.

I'll be doing a second pass of the grey painted parts tonight, then just need to add the stripes into the grey areas and paint some blue stripes along the tube, then I can pop the black brow on. Then the internals like padding, voice amplifier and fans will be added.

 

[Cano]

I'm not that much of a Star Wars nerd but I loooove seeing this stuff. Love your builds dude 👍

 

[Brett]

The Stormtrooper build looks like it is going to be awesome.

May the Fourth Be with You!