NegativeEleven

I bought a few 40mm fans from China. They're designed for use in a PC, so they are supposed to use 12v. You hook them to a 9v battery and you'll get about 2 hours out of em. I used 2 screws to attach to the dome, just below the visor, so it is a little overlapping the lens, but not affecting my vision. Blows right on my forehead and clears the lens. The 9v holder is in one of the ears, with a flap of black duct tape hiding it from view. I also put a switch in there so I don't have to have it on all the time. Last week, I pulled the 7.2v battery out of an airsoft gun, which I got on eBay almost 2 years ago and have pulled the trigger on a couple of times to see if it still worked. I've never loaded it, as I only wanted it for a costume. Before DragonCon, I hit some hobby shops to ask about rechargeable batteries. A charger and battery for RC car/plane would be over $100. This airsoft gun was around $40. It is an NiCa battery, but I just decided to give it a shot. I think it spun an 80mm fan for about 4 hours sitting on my desk before I had to recharge it. A remote control car specialty shop opened up next to Hancock Fabrics and I asked them about how to wire this up. They sold me 3 connectors for the battery for $4. I wired up this so I wouldn't have to update anything in my various helmets. I flipped the +/- so it'll snap onto the 9v holder I've already got in each helmet. I figure I'll run this cable with my mic down to the pouch on the scout, front pocket on my Cobra Viper and probably thigh on my Boba Fett. I believe this is the gun it came from: http://www.ebay.com/...470399906&rt=nc It took me a year and a half to figure out where the battery was and how to get it out. You twist the ring where the barrel attaches to the receiver. Then the top half of the barrel will come up (if you have nothing on the side rails holding it together).

Why did you cut off the bolt? Get some matching nuts and get rid of the little bolts that came with the KS helmet. Then use the elevator bolt to hold visor to helmet. They'll sit flatter against the visor. Autozone has pinstripe. Did you not get that with your SC armor? He included it with mine. I sent you the black barcode for the helmet. Already cut and correctly spaced with transfer tape to put it on.

Sent it this afternoon with some spare decals. Darth Voorhees hooked me up when I bought 2 helmets and wasted a lot of money getting started. Time to return that favor.

Send me a PM with your address. I have 3 of the fighter pilot helmet lenses I got from the army surplus store. 2 are gonna be used for lenses in my darth Vader, but i can send you the 3rd. It's what I used in my KS. It's half the thickness of the one that came with it. Not quite as dark though.

Check an army/navy surplus store. I found a fighter pilot helmet lens for $3.

If you'd read a little more before ordering, you would have seen lots of people saying that KS is fine as a kit (mine was also 2 different whites, but I painted it), but you don't want to pay double for them to put it together because you're just gonna have to take it apart. It is one of the bigger helmets out there, but I know what you mean about the chin showing. That's why we do the balaclava. I can't do a chin-cup because it would bang against the snout (and I trimmed the underside a lot more than my friend who had his assembled by KS). For bolts, elevator bolts from Lowes (1 inch diameter) painted with whatever paint you use on the snout greeblie will work if you don't want to order the 3M bolts. You gotta rip off that decal under the snout greeblie. Paint it black and get a DVH (or whoever he gave that mold to) to replace it. The decals can pass, but I'd eventually replace the traps on the back. You can get a sign shop to cut those out for you and just paint black underneath. Don't feel too bad about making a rookie mistake. It's not as bad as my first purchase, a StarFortress from Ebay. The SF is about as tall as that NI, but it has an awful pointy snout. The NI is definitely too big and the visor is a little more square than it should be, I think. I'd definitely work on the KS if I were you. Use the NI as a display piece at home or on the 501st table at troops.

Oh yeah, forgot about the bolt covers. Most of my decals are still KS, except the traps. Had to replace those when I repainted.

If you're still on the fence, KS and SC helmets look the same in pictures. I've worn both and can say the KS is slightly bigger, but SC has better molds, so the kit is easier to assemble. KS will also require you to swap out the snout (or they did 18 months ago) for a more accurate one, while SC's snout is fine. I am wearing glasses in my KS, which I would have a hard time doing in SC. So that's the only deciding factor I needed.

I wish I could have found the base boots from my first build. They have a steel toe and single color sole. I feel like the others are more comfortable, too. Same price at Walmart a year and a half ago. I'll probably consider the ones I just completed with this base-boot temporary and rip up the old ones to start again in a month or two. I have too many works in progress, but i did take pictures as I built mine and plan to post a build thread when I can slow down. I did a couple of things differently.

Good job. I'd still round the stock a little or it's gonna be uncomfortable.

I'm almost done with my 2nd boot build, using these same base boots because the ones I got at walmart last year aren't there any more. Does the command staff see a problem with the 2 color sole?

You're in San Diego... you sure you want to go with thick canvas? It's gonna be hot. You talking about for the vest or cummerbund? I used t-shirt material for chest/back of vest (one layer) and twill for the sleeves (two layers, padded). My bund is flag nylon on the outside and cotton on the inside. I used padding for the first one I made, but a thin canvas inside for the second one because I was having problems with the padding bunching up after washing the first. I know you said you're ordering a new one, but for anyone thinking about trying it, dying coveralls is tough. They're synthetic material and don't take dye very easily.

You didn't show much of the most difficult part: filling the seam down the middle. I think the KS and SC kits are a better choice for someone who is not experienced at building stuff because their seam is on top and doesn't necessarily have to be filled. That is a great looking helmet though. It's gotta be the best visor/face fit to bucket I've seen.

The SC armor doesn't have that huge return edge that MC and KS have, so it's easier to trim if smaller if needed. KS has the biggest hip boxes, MLC has the smallest, but I believe that SC is the most versatile and easy to build.

I like that barrel. If I decide to go back and revisit the sniper (after deciding mine is gonna just be for my merc), that's the way I want my barrel to look. I might do a smaller flash hider though, and I know the reference material is a video game, but I like a more rounded stock. It'll feel better when you actually try to push it to your shoulder. Can you get your face close enough to "look" thru the scope? Where'd you get the bipod? Does it fold up?

That looks great. Good job! I saw a lot of DLT's at DragonCon this weekend. The only MG-42 I saw was during the parade. I marched with G.I.Joe and noticed our B.A.T. was carrying one. It was the heavy, expensive electric airsoft one. I held it for a minute before we started marching. I think I got mine pretty close. The Mandalorian Mercs seemed really impressed by mine. One guy in the food court did ask me why I had a scope on a WWII machine gun, which makes me think I did it right.

If it helps, I thinned the sleeves by ripping the seam about 8 in up from the cuff and brought em in with snaps so they fit in the gloves better. I'm tall and even the "long" sizes have more torso and less leg than I would like.

I have suspenders hanging from the shoulder bridge that hold up the bund in front. It also snaps to the vest in front and back. Pouches hang from velcro in chest armor. I had such a problem with sagging cummerbund, I kinda went overkill on the solutions!

I'm a little busy prepping for DragonCon, but I can make you one in 3-4 weeks. Lou's will be more accurately sized though because mine is the 3rd mod of a Kenner recast (5-10% larger than screen accurate). That's why I sell mine for $50.

I was typing while working... fixed it. I meant wider elastic. I didn't do rivets because I wasn't going for lancer. I've got sticky velcro (soft side in the armor, hook side sewn to elastic... basically same as shoulder armor strap) for both straps and on suit/middle of knee armor (hook side on armor, soft side on suit).

I've got magnets instead of velcro to keep my face closed. It doesn't mess with the aker amp at all.

I have wider elastic for the upper strap (not lancer) and that was mostly doing the job when I attached it tight enough. I added velcro later. Get someone else to help you position the velcro for the suit. If you do it yourself, you won't get it in the right place!

I hate Krylon Classic Grey so much. I bet it works fine for this, but I painted a 16ft long, 8ft high section of Death Star wall with it. Every spray was a different shade, every can slightly different. It's so inconsistent.

That's great. Looks just like the 1 inch elevator bolts I used on my KS. Someone should tell KS to just send out those instead of the furniture feet they package with the helmet. What color did you use? Mine are rustoleum winter grey... one of my favorite colors back when I did graffiti, although it's probably a little too light and too blue.