news from 2006
12.31.06
new year's eve at dave dorman's
I've never been one to party it up on New Year's Eve, but this year
was different as my wife and I were personally invited to celebrate
New Year's Eve at Dave
Dorman's. This was an incredible honor, and we had a terrific time over
there. It was amazing to see all of his artwork in his own home.
12.09.06
art appreciation weekend
I've always been a big fan of Star Wars artwork, and probably one of
the best Star Wars artists out there has to be Dave Dorman. I had the
pleasure of assisting him during
Art Appreciation
Weekend at the Blick Art Materials in Wheaton, IL.
10.31.06
HALLOWEEN
I had planned on taking my son trick-or-treating today, but my wife
gathered her strength (she's been sick lately) and took him out for a
little bit. I, on the other hand, was tasked with holding down the fort
by providing rations (candy) to all those little troopers out there who
were trick-or-treating. Here's
two pictures of me guarding "the goods."
09.04.06
manhattan's labor day parade
The parade is over and done with, and even though it wasn't the
longest parade I've marched in I still had a lot of fun marching in it.
FULL STORY
08.20.06
brookfield zoo's "zoo stars" parade
It had been since my high school days that I made it to the
Brookfield Zoo, and I had the pleasure of marching in the zoo's "Zoo
Stars" parade on Sunday. I wasn't really sure what to expect from this
parade, but in the end I had a great time with all the other members of
the garrison.
08.19.06
connor's birthday party
What seems to be a busy couple of months, this trooper (TD1043) was
asked to attend another child's birthday party (yet another child with
the name of "Connor"). Luckily it was another
one close to my residence, so it was a piece of cake getting to. How did
this one compare to last week's birthday party?
FULL
STORY
08.12.06
SAMANTHA & DANIEL'S BIRTHDAY PARTY
Instead of having a birthday party at someone's house, this time it
would take place at a local YMCA facility. And how excited were the kids
when they initially saw us?
FULL STORY
07.30.06
connor's birthday party
I participated in a child's birthday party which ended in nothing but
trouble for me. Long story short, I fractured my big toe.
FULL
STORY
07.29.06
SITE HAS BEEN UPDATED
The overall look of the site has gotten an updated look. The banner at
the top of the site is the same, but I have added two new columns on each
side of the page. On the left side you'll see the navigation menu, which
should be fairly easy enough to navigate through. Below that are some
links that are directly related to Star Wars costuming and collecting.
Note that I didn't include
StarWars.com here,
only because that should be an easy link every should know by heart and
should be bookmarked in your web browser. On the right are some recent
photos of myself, and when you click on them you'll be taken to that
particular photo gallery. Beneath are the last five missions I have
completed. If a mission isn't linkable, that means the mission is
currently in progress. Hope you enjoy the fresh new look.
07.25.06
i'm on starwars.com!
I just recently discovered that I'm in a few photos in the Bantha
Tracks (online version). You can check out the following images
here, and read the Bantha
Tracks edition
here. You do have to be a member of Hyperspace to see this content
though.
07.10.06
new ammo pouch
I recently purchased an ammo pouch from fellow MEPD member TD2802, and
today I have added it to my armor. Check out the pics of it
here.
07.02.06
BARTLETT'S 4TH OF JULY PARADE
It was time to celebrate the 4th of July in style, and what better way
than to march in a four mile parade with members from the Midwest
Garrison?
FULL STORY
06.25.06
GENEVA'S SWEDISH DAYS PARADE
A weekend full of trooping in my sandtrooper armor, this bad boy is
totally exhausted after being on his feet for more than 15 total hours in
less than 24 hours. Today I marched in Geneva's Swedish Days parade, a
parade that I have seen so many times because of my living close to the
city.
FULL STORY
06.24.06
chicago hunger walk
Darth Spice and I ventured out to Chicago this morning to participate
in the 21st annual Chicago Hunger Walk. The purpose of this event is to
raise money to feed the homeless. It was the first time that both of us
ever walked on sand in our armor, so it was quite a cool feeling to do
that. Check out all the photos that were taken there and read Spice's
write-up
here.
06.13.06
WEATHERING COMPLETE!
Big thanks to Arturo Delgado (TK412) for helping me with my new
weathering job, which turned out incredibly well. My FX armor now looks
like a major contender to what the big boys wear! Check out the pictures
of the loose armor and
me wearing it.
05.23.06
HANGING OUT IN MY BUNKER
While I was having a photo shoot I thought it would be fun to pose with
my collection down in my bunker. Take a gander at the pictures
here.
JUST A QUICK PHOTO SHOOT
Well, I finished cleaning up all my armor, and it's now fully ready for
a new weathering job. Until that takes place, I thought I would suit up
and have my wife take some photos of me before the weathering gets
applied. I didn't feel like putting the backpack on and left my ammo pouch
out of the picture, because I wanted to see how all the armor pieces
looked while they're all cleaned up. It's not totally clean as it still
has some traces of weathering on it, and I think it looks pretty good just
the way it is. Check out the pictures
here.
05.20.06
PLAINFIELD WALK-A-THON
I had the pleasure of suiting up in my sandtrooper armor as I
participated in a fund-raising event at a local elementary school. With
the incredibly gorgeous weather that we're finally having, we couldn't
have asked for a better day to troop outside for a good cause. I know the
children who attended this had a lot of fun, but I think some of the
parents had just as much fun if not more than their kids.
FULL STORY
weathering to my armor
I'm currently in the process of re-applying the weathering to my armor.
I have a fellow Midwest Garrison member who has volunteered to help me out
with this, but before he can come over he's asked me to clean up my armor.
In the process of cleaning my armor I discovered that after wiping the
excess paint strokes that my armor looks way better than it did before.
Check out the pics here.
04.23.06
new look to the site!
TD1043.com has another new look to it, and I hope you like
it.
04.09.06
CODCON AT COLLEGE OF DUPAGE
It had been almost a month since my last mission with the
Midwest Garrison, and the newest mission was given to me which was to head
out to the College of DuPage CODCON event.
FULL STORY
04.01.06
FLAT GREEN LENSES
It's been a long time coming, but I finally have flat green
lenses installed in my helmet. Thanks to the help of a fellow trooper, I
now have them instead of those stupid smoke colored bubble lenses that
came with my armor. It's hard to see the green color in the pictures, but
they truly are dark green in color. And let me tell you how much better
they are to see out of, versus those bubble lenses. Check out the pictures
of them here.
03.11.06
TRADING CARD SHOW
After I was all finished with the St. Patrick's Day parade, I
was determined to make another appearance in my armor. I wasn't ready to
pack things up for the day, and remembered that there was a trading card
show going on in Joliet. Since I designed the person's website who was
running this show, I thought it would be cool to show up there wearing my
armor.
FULL STORY
ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARADE
Naperville had its annual St. Patrick's Day parade on
Saturday, and of course the Midwest Garrison was invited to bring a little
"Imperial terror" to the locals there. It was nice only having to drive
fifteen minutes to get to this event, so I knew that this wasn't going to
be a stressful trip for me. Plus, the forecast was calling for bad weather
and it ended up being a pretty nice day.
FULL STORY
03.04.06
GAME ON AT MSI
Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry needed the assistance
of a "few good men," and several members from the Midwest Garrison
(including myself) showed up for the cause. We had to assist them with a
new attraction called "Game On," which would be running in March and
April. Even my good friend Chris Spice was able to make a late appearance,
and in the end we all had ourselves a great time.
FULL STORY
02.25.06
ABE TURNS FIVE
I had the pleasure and honor of taking part in a young
child's birthday party today, and it was for someone who was turning five.
I read over in the Midwest Garrison forums that there was going to be a
birthday party for this boy in Winfield, and I had to volunteer to take
part in it since I grew up in that town. Even though the party only lasted
two hours, I still had a terrific time there and was happy that I was able
to participate in this event.
FULL STORY
02.11.06
Surprising a 40-Year-Old
I read over in the Midwest Garrison forums that there's a birthday
party going on in South Elgin for someone who is turning 40 years old.
This person is supposedly a huge Star Wars fan, so there will be the
following Imperial soldiers showing up about an hour after his party is
set to begin: biker scouts, sandtroopers, stormtroopers, TIE pilots and
Darth Vader. There will be about six of us there, and if this guy really
likes Star Wars he will totally be floored when he sees us there. It
should be a good time.
UPDATE - The party was a total success, and I would have to say
that the birthday boy (Mike) was pretty damn surprised when he saw us
standing on his front doorstep. His party was a lot of fun, and it was
quite the honor to see his huge Star Wars collection. I thought my
collection was pretty damn big, but his put mine to shame. Check out the
pictures from his party here.
02.09.06
Suited Up Before the Battle
Got suited up in my armor tonight to see how the new paintjob looks,
and it looks much better on then it does sitting in my plastic storage
tub. However, during the process my helmet rolled of my bench in my
basement, and all the metal clips that hold my 9-volt batteries broke off.
Well, they're not broken but they fell off. So, that means I'm going to
have to warm up the hot glue gun and see what I can do to fix it. I might
try using velcro instead, because the hot glue sucks and it just doesn't
want to stick to the plastic. Click
here to see pictures of me
suited up in my armor.
02.05.06
Weathering Re-Applied to My Armor
My armor never had enough weathering done to it to the point where I
was completely satisfied with it, so I decided to add much more weathering
to it today. I used acrylic paints, applied them in large amounts, let the
paint dry a bit, and then wiped the excess away with a big wad of paper
towels. I didn't want it to look like I was rolling around in the mud, but
I did want it to have that look as if I had been out on patrol for quite
some time. In the end, I think it turned out quite well, and I am pretty
satisfied with how it now looks. I can't wait to suit to see how it looks,
when it comes time to kicking some Jedi and Jawa ass! Click
here to see all the pictures
I took of my armor.
01.16.06
A Better BFG is Now in My Possession
This past Saturday I hung out with friends from the Midwest Garrison at
the Walton household, and we worked on costumes and armor for the evening.
There was even a little bit of pie throwing going on (SAVE THE PIE!) that
brought lots of laughter in the air. I helped a fellow trooper who needed
assistance with his new bucket, and by helping him he gave me one of his
very well made BFGs. It's another T-21 blaster (aka Lewis), but this one
is much better than the one I bought on eBay. Now, don't get me wrong, I
really liked the one I got on eBay, but the stock and handle need much
detailing added to it. If I had all the tools that are usually found in a
wood-working shop, then I wouldn't have any problem fixing it up myself.
What will I do with my first BFG? At this point in time I'm not quite
sure. Click here to see
some pictures of my new gun. Thanks again Ed!
01.03.06
Ammo Pouch
Not too long ago I purchased an ammo pouch from Bob & Mary Walton,
which of course will be used with my sandtrooper armor. Unfortunately it
was green leather, and that meant I was going to have to dye it black
since the ammo pouches in ANH were black and not green. After applying
several coats of USMC black leather dye my ammo pouch is complete.
FULL STORY
My Helmet is Now Home
It had been an entire month that I had gone without have my helmet in
my possession, but I wasn't too worried about it as I knew it was in good
hands. John Duffy was had been working on my helmet, so that I could have
better ventilation in it, and also helped in a big way so that you could
hear my voice thanks to the new amplifier/microphone that was installed.
FULL STORY
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