Richmond,VA Introductions

So it dawned on me as I was posting, I don't know who half of you are and sure you don't know me either. Thought it would be cool if we left this thread open to post introductions and said a little bit about each of ourselves.
So I'll start....

My name's Paul. I work at the Va Museum of Fine Arts and do freelance illustration on the side.
I love doing Star Wars art and have a had a chance to do some stuff for TheForce.net and small game companies.
Here is my fan art thread

My main interests in Star Wars are centered around the OT. I love all the concept artwork and design influences from art nouveau to Mongolian dress. I also have a thing for weird Star Wars stuff. Weird liscensed products or foreign knock-offs. Everything from Mexican SW bottlecaps to foreign SW comics.

I'm currently building a lightsaber, post prequel era, and have too many SW projects on burners to list here.

I think that's enough of an introduction, don't want to get in to long walks on the beach and turn-offs...etc.

Hope to hear next from you guys and gals.

 

I'll go next. My name is Joe, Im 39 (gasp), married with 2 kids (6 and 3). I came down to Richmond from NY about 5 years ago. Worked in Manhattan for 13 years, and I was done with the NY lifestyle and wanted a better place to raise kids, so we decided to move to the murder capital of the US, Richmond. Ha, actually, Chesterfield isn't that bad. The only gunshots I hear are from the hunters.

I am a Process Design Engineer for a major Bank. I'm still trying to figure out what that is also. Basically, we take a look at processes and use statistical analysis on data to determine what works and what doesn't and what we should change to make it better, faster, stronger, basically the same process they used on the Lee Majors (do a google search, you young'ens). I am a telecommuter, which means I work from home, which also means I work way more than I should since its so damn convenient and there is always a ton of work to get done.

I got into collecting in the 90's with all the new action figures, and have a large collection of figures, some ships, and some various things like the RD-D2 phone and stuff like that. Since I have kids, I now open and play with all the new stuff we get. Who knew that a train table actually makes a better Utapau landing platform? We get alot more use of the train table now than we ever did with the wooden train sets.

About a year and a half ago, I started making custom EL lightsabers, and now have started getting into Luxeon LED lightsaber building. I converted a Master Replicas (MR) Darth Vader lightsaber to Luxeon that looks awesome, and working on a few custom sabers and some more MR conversions. Also spent some time replicating the MR lightsaber blueprints to hang on my wall, they came out nice.

What's next? I want to get myself a set of Stormtrooper and/or Clonetrooper armor and join the 501st, since the idea of doing events, particulary charity ones, really appeals to me. I'd like to build a vacu-form table and make armor sets to defray my costs and so I can have a few different sets to display and troop in (clean and dirty Stormtrooper, and the various legions of clone troopers). Of course, I'm hoping to win lotto first. I'll be happy to host some armor making parties once I am set up.

That's enough about me, who's next?

 

Yea what the heck.

35 married with three little ones running underfoot. (2,4,6) I actually grew up in this town and moved on at first chance shortly after High School. I did an assortment of places living to see what other areas are like. I am an electronics technician that is currently staying at home with the kids while my Suga-Momma brings home the bacon. I am also working on my Bachlors while playing homemaker so when I get back out in the field I will have a paper that says I can do what I have been doing for over 10 years I coach kids soccer and for the past six seasons have been at the Manchester YMCA but am now looking at Chesterfield United. The boy and I are pretty much in to all sports and we try to make it to as many races as we can at RIR. I have dug Star Wars since I was a kid and it was just called Star Wars and have a small collection but all of my original toys were either destroyed by my brothers and sister or gone with age. I have really got big into building EL and LED lightsabers after years of doing PVC sabers. I also would like to suit up in some cool trooper armor and do the 501st thing. It would seem they are the hardest to get in to so I reckon it may be time to get on the treadmill and lose a pound or 70

Oh yea, Our family likes to throw parties especially in the summer and invite everyone and anyone and have a great time. Themed parties are somewhat of a specialty of my wife's.

NEXT!

 

"Hey, you there!" - Stormtrooper

What, me? Ah okay...

I was born January 26th, 1987 in Camden, New Jersey. I spent my infant years in Maple Shade, then eventually my family moved to the northern suburbs of Wilmington, Delaware. Both parents were born and raised in northeast Philly, and considering I grew up around in the Philadelphia Metropolitan, it's simplier just to say that I'm from the "Philly metro area". I've spent my high school years in the "South", 9 months in Wake Forest, NC (while our house was being built in VA), and I now live in a very small town in south-central Virginia (I live 10 miles south of South Hill), right near the VA/NC border in the Lake Gaston area. Been down here for about 5 to 6 years now, and I still can't get used to some of the cultural habits.

I've been a Star Wars fan since 1995, during when the Special Editions of Star Wars were released in theaters; however, my fandom excelled with the release of Episode 1 in 1999. I've known about Star Wars beforehand, and seen it in my itty-bitty years (heck, I played with the classic SW vintage figures), but I never fully realized how awesome it was till it was re-released on the big screen. I'm now 19, and I can proudly say that I'm a huge Star Wars fanatic (or, "geek"). I'm not that good in explaining my personality or what I'm "into", since I ramble a lot in that area. To keep it short, some of the things I'm into are: PC gaming, film & television (the arts), SW collecting, and Catholic apologetics. I'm going to stop there, since I have difficulty discerning between a "hobby" and an "interest".

Right now, I'm saving up for Celebration IV, and seriously thinking about purchasing a Scout Trooper kit and go the whole nine yards, including enlisting in the 501st Legion. Right now I work for Applebee's as a server, and the tips are crap (which I heard, is pretty usual in rural communities), but I love the work, my co-workers are fun, and my managers are great. I love my job, even though the pay sucks.

In the future, I will be enlisting in the U.S. Army sometime in 2007 (definately after CIV). If I score well on the ASVAB test, I'm going for 25V (Combat Documentation/Production Specialist) and will apply for Ranger school (which will also include Airborne school). I'm not planning to make military life as a career, but if I deeply fall inlove with it, I might consider it. The reasons for wanting to enlist are few, one being that I want to serve my country in this particular way (even if it's for a few years, or for 20), also to get the experience and training, and let's not forget college (G.I. Bill)! I'll be doing something that I'll enjoy, while at the sametime, raising money for college. After all this, I'll be heading off to college to major in Film, a passion of mine.

I feel like I'm missing something, but I'll just end it here.


"Move along, move along..." - Stormtrooper


NEXT!

 

Figure I should formally introduce myself over here. Excuse the earlier post... I'm Allen and I live in RVa. I'm 33 and have been a SW fan since as far back as I can remember. I work in law enforcment for the state and as you might guess I stay pretty busy. SW is a great diversion from the usual grind and stress. I am currently a member of the 501st here in Va. where I currently do a sandtrooper and imperial crew impression with a couple new ones soon to follow. Look forward to meeting folks. Thanks.

 

Awesome, I'm thinking about joining the 501st once I get my Scout Trooper costume all put together. My older brother is seriously considering law enforcement.

 

Ok so now that I have gotten a break from kitchen renovation and other assorted projects I will do my intro. My name is Jim im 29, married and have one daughter age 3 and another daughter due Aug 15. And both are dogs are female so I am the only male in the house...except for the beta fish. I'm getting more fish to make up for the lack of testerone I live in Quinton...thats in New Kent. Before that I lived in Newport News for a little over 3 years. And before that I lived in Pittsburgh...born and raised. I have always liked SW but I think my real love of SW came a few years ago when I read my first book. It just brought me back to the SW universe and I dove headfirst and havn't come back up for air yet. I am an Audio Engineer by trade (although I havn't had a recording session since BBY) and a stay at home dad by choice. I am a begginer saber smith. Currently have made 1 el saber for myself. I am in the middle of an led saber for a gift for a friends wedding. And have another one on order to make for a friend to give to the ring bearer (is that the correct spelling) in his wedding. Oh..I am a terrible speller. I also make my own costumes. I have made 3 jedi costumes to date although I don't think i will ever wear the first 2 again. My most current costume is a bit untraditional Jedi in that I have black pant and books. It reflects the character that I have created. I have an entire back story to go with him..ask me about it sometime. Although I completely respect the people that make costumes of specific characters I am more into taking the basic ideas the george laid out and making my own little corner of the SW world. I don't feel that every Jedi has to wear brown and natural colors..if they did it would have been a uniform and they all would have been the same. It was just a style that they wore and everyone had their own tastes. I am also a musician and play guitar, bass, sing and a bit of keyboard. As for collecting I don't collect anything in particular just if I see something that I like i buy it. I think the oldest SW items that I have are some stuffed ewoks from 1983. I have 2 wickets, 1 Princess Kneesaa, 2 Wiley (baby ewok) and 2 Nippet (another baby). I guess that is it for now..if I think of anything else I will add it in.

 

I guess I can be next. My name is Eddie and I've got 4 kids(6,6,8,14). I've been into SW since it came out. I own an autobody shop for my day job. I also enjoy building sabers and making costumes. I am currently building a Vader and have just started tinkering with a Boba Fett. I am hoping to join the 501st as well. I collect Stargate stuff as well as SW. I have made sabers for each of my kids and have saber duels right regularly. Looing foward to hangin' with you guys!

 

Figured Underpaid said hello to us so i thought i would say Hello back. Im 30 Live in up state VA. I have my own fanforce. Been a big fan since the original came out in theatre. I remeber seeing ESB in theatre and been in love ever since. Im married have 2 kids ( 4 and 3) lets see. Hope to one day meet you all for an event some where. thats it for me i guess.

 

Hi David,

Thanks for stopping in for a hello! We are working on some things in the near future, y'all are always welcome down here.

 

Being one of the first people in the group, you would think that I had already posted here¡KBut I am slow ?¼

My name is Stacy, but typically answer to Amaunet or Red.

I have been a Star Wars fan for as long as I can remember. I grew up in Ohio with Star Wars crazy parents (the whole reason we owned the first VCR was to record Star Wars when it came out on HBO). I was one of the original people who pushed for the Richmond FF following the disbanding of the other SW fan club in the area (11/02), and have been a semi-active member/City Representative for the last 3+ years.

I work for a trade association as Administrative Assistant/Meeting Planner/Procurement Officer/anything-else-they-feel like that day lol. This is by no means a dream job for me, but things are never boring and it gives me time to work on things and monitor my website. Outside of work, I am the Webmaster for our RPG group (www.holocronproductions.com) and GM for the games (Star Wars, Star gate, Eberron, Mutants & Masterminds).

In the Star Wars universe, I participate in the RPG (duh), I own 3 costumes that I made for Celebration 2 (I also made several for other people), own 2 Lightsabers I made for C2, I read the books (currently making my way into Betrayal), sometimes read the comics, and collect items that interest me when I see them---mostly figures of character I like or base RPG characters on.

 

I've already done the bsaic introductions, but here is information on my latest saber making. It is an MR Anakin AOTC hilt conversion to LED. I had gotten this a while back and it was dead. I removed the guts and took the working guts from a broken LED Anakin ROTS MR saber and put them inside. I had to extend the internal length of the guts another inch or so using some PVC so the battery pack reached the bottom of the hilt.

The inside emitter is the ROTS Anakin emitter, you can see the top in one of the photos. I wish it stuck out more since it is a nice looking piece, but thats as far as it goes. A groove was cut in the internal emitter to allow the wires to go to the original switch. The space under the switch is very small, can barely fit the soldered wires.

I had to widen the external emitter head hole with my dremel to get the internal emitter coming through it until it hit a larger lip to get stopped.

The heatsink was homemade with washers and a bolt. It is a white 3 watt Luxeon LED with a color change disc, currently purple. I am currently using a leftover MR blade in it.

http://www.deviantart.com/view/34708772/

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/34708804/

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/34708696/

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/34708818/

 

Are ya bringing that with you on Tuesday? I would love to see it and I am just fasinated with the heatsink.

 

I will bring it but they way I put this together its not so easy to get apart to see the heatsink. I will tell you its not as clean as using one of the LED holders from TCCS but it was much cheaper. Just a bolt, bunch of washers 1 big, 3 small, 1 big, 3 small, etc, and a nut on the end. Sanded down the top of the nut to smooth it and used some thermal paste on the back of the luxeon, and used nylon screws from lowes to attach it to the large washer right below the bolt top. Drilled a channel through one side of the washers for the wiring to go up. It's not the prettiest but it seems to work.

 

My name is Luke - that's right, no joke and I always got to be Luke when I played Star wars on the playground - my mate Andre had to play C3P0 everytime(he was french). I'm originally from England and I saw Star Wars in 1977 at the Brighton Odeon. Queued up the street so long we had to eat our lunch while standing in line.

I've lived in Virginia since about ROTJ (Fairfax Circle and Springfield theaters.) I have amassed a collection of Star Wars items with a bit of everything, Statues, Figures, Vintage, Comics, cool Japanese stuff, costumes etc... The Holy Grail for me and the #1 item I want is a mint on card Star Wars Palitoy Stormtrooper. I have my eye on an ANH Obi-Wan saber parts right now. My favorite characters are ANH Ben and Luke, no stripe Stormtrooper, "Stop that ship!" Sandtrooper and ESB Boba Fett.

I don't fire it up very often anymore but if anyone wants to play Battlefront or any other PC game let me know...

 

I own the following multiplayer Star Wars titles:

1) Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight
- Mysteries of the Sith (expansion pack)
2) Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
3) Jedi Knight II: Jedi Academy
4) Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
5) Star Wars: Battlefront II
6) Star Wars: Republic Commando
7) Star Wars: Empire At War
8) Star Wars: X-Wing VS Tie Fighter


... and the multiplayer non-Star Wars titles:

1) STEAM client (which includes all the Half-Life games and mods)
- Half-Life 2: Deathmatch
- Counter-Strike
- Counter-Strike: Source
- Day of Defeat
- Team Fortress Classic
- and etc...
2) Age of Empires II: Age of Kings
- Age of Conquerors
3) Halo (PC)


... those are most of my multiplayer games, the others are either extremely old, unpopular, or lost complete interest in them. Right now I actively play Counter-Strike, Half-Life 2 Deathmatch, and Star Wars EaW.

 

I know I am not a member of your Fanforce, but seeing as we are not that far apart in distance I though I might be able to post.

My name is Jason, I am the Chapter Representative and Founder for the Tidewater Alliance. The Virginia Beach FanForce. I started the group back in 2001 and we have been going strong ever since. I have been a fan of star wars ever since I was a wee young apprentice at the age of 5.

My interest in star wars is in Costuming, Replica Props, EU, and everything else that is star wars. I hope to see you all out and about the galaxy!

 

Welcome my fellow Virginian Star Wars fanatic!

 

Hi Jason. Feel free to pop in anytime and shoot the bull with us.

 

bump

 

Thanks for the welcomes....I actually found out about the Commonwealth Cantina from a post that Underpaid_Soldier posted on theforce.net site stating that he was in Richmond and I did a search for fan clubs in the area and came up with the Commonwealth Cantina. I have been a Star Wars fan since 1977 when I was 7 and my grandpa took me to the first movie. I collect(religiously) the figs and such. I have an extensive collection of OT figs as well as vehicles, and then there are my 4 HUGE bins of figs from EP 1 - 3. I even have one of the photo mosaics of Darth Vader signed by David Prowse as well os a red carded fig. I unfortunately dont have any of the homemade costumes or such but if someone isnt going to Celebration IV that does have one and they are 6'1, 195lbs I would be happy to wear it there in May. Thanks again and looking forward to May and Celebration IV.
Joel

 

Glad I could be of help.

Welcome to the Cantina my friend, have a drink!

 

Hello Everyone! My name is Ria (Joe knows me as Jess though)... I am 26... with a 6 year old boy... I actually work with Joe I stay busy between working two jobs, school and my son. Most of my time now is spent working on the yard at my new house... it's a bit overgrown... I have contracted poison ivy quite a bit here recently.... I digress...



I always enjoyed watching Star Wars as a kid... my father always got me nifty star wars toys... some of which I wish I still had I got into Star Wars again when the special editions were released in the theaters... since I was too young to see the originals. I still have the original record from the movies courtesy of my father... and some silver Christmas ornaments that I got recently ... most of the star wars accessories I have now are courtesy of my son

Anywho... just wanted to introduce myself I look forward to meeting and speaking with you all

CHEERS!

Ria

 

Welcome Ria! Glad that you are here. I know my 6 year old son was a big influence in getting me back into Star Wars the way I am.

Hope to see you at the meeting on the 17th.

 

Thanks James! I hope to be able to make it out that night as well Look forward to meeting all you guys