Cricket

Looking sharp, trooper! Nice! (make sure you swap those shins next time... )

Just a suggestion, but you might find that Lexan scissors cut much more easily through plastic than regular scissors do. They really are time and effort savers! Might be worth getting another pair.

Hang in there, Alexandra! When I was feeling less than motivated to do anything on my kit, I told myself to do just one little thing on it. Nothing was too small. A trim of 1cm. One pass of the sanding block on an edge. I tried to do one super small thing a day... and more often than not (and if I had time), I would end up doing a little more than I had planned. And if I didn't, it was no biggie. You got this!!!

Let the printing (then endless sanding) begin!!!

Damn! You look amazing! Great job (and please don't punch the baby... hard...)!

Are you missing the skinny straps for the shins (seen on the bottom of the shins)? I don't see them there. I see the buckles for them, though.

Welcome, Risa! Don't let the strapping intimidate you. It's pretty straightforward once you get it all assembled. And easier than a TK!

Okay, I'm trying really hard to figure out what this means, because visualizing it is really... weird?

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that you put the gloves on after putting on the forearm. It should be kind of smallish around the wrist (if I've read right).

As far as I know, the shirts made by DSC all meet current CRL requirements for the 501st. Ask him for some pics and you'll see. Mike is a good guy and is great to work with.

You were much kinder in that review than I would have been.

Hey Alex, Looking at how you've got your shins on, they appear too long to me. Maybe it's just the angle of the photo, though? The tops of the shin armor (not the outer detail) should be somewhere at the bottom of your kneecap when your leg is straight. It looks like the entire top part of the shin armor covers your entire knee. In the pic below, the green line represents roughly where the top of the shin armor is. Look closely, and you'll see that it is slightly below the center of where the diamond knee patch is. This is where the knee bends. Another reference shot. Again, it could be the pics, but compared to the reference images, your breeches look really big, like the legs could be taken in a bit. Maybe someone else could chime in here? Please don't get discouraged!!! You're doing great- we're all here to help you look your best.

Be glad you're not 3D printing your kit. 😆 (also a card carrying member of the I Hate Sanding club)

You got this! Every little thing you do on your kit is good work. You'll be in the painting stage of the build in no time. Keep it up!

Ah, yeah, the listing for that lid looks questionable. 😕 Is it too late to cancel the order? If not, it'll be interesting to see what you receive. The pics posted from his other ST lid sales don't look right to me. For example, the visor is mounted in a way that makes it recessed relative to the visor rim below it. The visor would, in theory, be able to pivot down and over the eyes to protect them. So it should look like it floats over the edge above the eyes, not sit on top of it. The visor looks kind of squished to me, making the entire top part of the helmet seem too narrow. See just a few of these lids for comparison: This is just something I'm observing from my admittedly untrained eye. It jumps out at me for sure. Maybe yours won't be like this? 🍀

Hope you're okay, Christina! Sending good vibes for a quick and uncomplicated recovery. Looking forward to seeing you back when you're feeling better.

Those pics he posted... I see that the blaster is missing the cocking lever on the barrel (I don't know the actual name of the part, sorry!), and the counter looks... weird? I don't know if that would need to be swapped out or not. It's not a Hengstler counter that is typically seen on the E-22s. Maybe someone with a little more blaster knowledge can chime in here. It's not mentioned what print files are being used (i.e., who made them). On the finished blaster pics, I still see a ton of print lines. If that's the "best work", I'd be cautious. So keep in mind that if you buy the DIY assembly kit, you're going to need to do a lot of sanding/finish work on those parts. But if you don't mind that kind of work, then no worries! Full disclosure: I printed my own E-22 and I didn't get too picky about print lines on it! However, if I was paying someone for the parts- especially what that kit is being sold for in PLA- I would expect more. And if I was selling kits for that price, I certainly would make sure that the print lines on the parts were much less.

I would ask for some actual photos of the printed parts before buying. I'm always a little wary of those who don't share images of what they have on hand or of previous builds.

Hey, do you own any magnets for your build? They can make all the difference when it comes to clamping parts together with e6000. You can never have too many sets! E6000 is the only stuff I've ever used to build armor (my ST is kit #5 that I've built!).

Hey Paul, I can't seem to locate the "full reveal" of how you attached the spine plate to the TD mount here in your build thread. It looks like it's secured with Chicago screws, but I would like to verify before I begin drilling into my hard belt cover. Any help appreciated!!! Thanks! EDIT: Members over at Shoretrooper Fam clued me in. Disregard the question, thanks!

I think that this is what the CRL is referring to... This is the view from underneath, so think of the helmet turned upside down and looking down as if you were looking inside the helmet. The image is showing the left side of the helmet upside down above the lens. The green circled area is the recess curve (it goes all along the front), and the yellow circled area are the 3 oblong shaped recesses (it's the same on the opposite side).

Congrats on pushing through this challenge! The latest prints you shared look great. I had the same thing happen (air printing) with my Prusa once when printing out a part with a lot of small retractions. I ended up repositioning the model (and doing a cold pull to clear the nozzle), but I know that sometimes that's not an option. I do frequent cleanings on my printer with a cleaning filament, including cold pulls every week or so for maintenance, especially when I'm printing 24/7. Often I'll see that weird clump at the end of the pull above the nozzle. It's not nearly as large as the one in your pic, but it's definitely there. Thanks to your detective work, I now know what that is! I think I'll get an upgraded heatbreak ordered now. I'll bet that you feel quite comfortable with the whole "hotend rebuild" process now. Treat yourself to a big bag of gummy bears! EDIT- You can also print out those collet clips (print in ABS preferably)! https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2585970

Also, something I've noticed on the few times that I had some very minor delamination issues.... I've ever only had delamination when the parts wouldn't stick to the bed, namely around the corners. This caused lifting at the very base corners, causing the entire print to warp slightly due to the corners curling up. Anyhow, the delamination (small splits, if you will) tended to happen in the areas above where any slight lift from the bed was occurring. It's like the bottom lifted corner was a weak part of the foundation, which caused the rest of the structure to also be weak as it printed because the base wasn't flat. Does that make sense? Since then, I always use a glue stick on my bed (Elmers washable glue stick, purple), 12 line skirt around the base, two layers, 110 bed temp 1st layer, 105 after that. Nozzle runs at 237. 150% first layer, 30% speed for first layer. Normal speed for print is 40mm/sec on the powder coated bed. Never had a warp/lift since using these settings.

I know you mentioned that you've printed with ABS before. What are your print settings? Is your LACK table fully enclosed? What are your print speeds/temps? Maybe heat it up a little, and slow down your speeds? Also to Theo's point, check your nozzle. Are you underextruding, possibly? I've never had to use such dense support on Nico's helmet parts (I had far fewer, TBH!); I doubt that the supports are the cause of the delamination. I love Simplify3D! Let me know if you'd like my ABS profile in S3D for what I use with Hatchbox black ABS. I have great luck with it.

According to the CRL: "Text descriptions are only one part of the guideline. GML's and costumers must consider both text and pictures (CRL and Reference) when reviewing the costume." And the pic of the boots in the CRL show a boot with seams. It also says "Similar matching style brown boots are acceptable." It wouldn't be a leap for a GML to look at the boot in the CRL with seams and expect a boot with similar seam locations, even if it's not explicitly outlined in the text of the CRL. Just my 2 cents, though.