This troop was to much fun! It was great to meet so many new members I hadn't gotten the chance to troop with. Can't wait to do it again next year!

Brandy Smith, the wife of 501st member Dan Smith. is a the art teacher at Farmington Woods Elementary in Cary. Farmington Woods Elementary is one of the top Elementary Magnet schools in the country and received the award as the National Magnet School of Distinction earlier this year! They hosted members of the 501st to kick off a Star Wars themed Space Day that featured Space Themed curriculum for all of their third grade classes.

501st Troopers present:
Dan Smith - TD 44834
Seth Bosecker - TK 22298

We arrived at 8:30 and suited up to kick off an assembly that laid out the days activities. Then we oversaw Mrs. Smiths art class while the kids drew collaborative 'create a Universe murals'. Before leaving to prepare for a mission at the Marbles Museum in Raleigh that evening, we conducted a tour of the school to make sure it was up to proper Imperial standards. Seeing the faces of the kids as we entered their classrooms for the surprise inspection was priceless!

Personal thanks to Seth for joining me on my first official troop for the 501st, it was a great one!



The Office staff and Principal of Farmington Woods Elementary.

Mrs. Smith's art room number!! Awesome!!

topgun wrote:Hi Dan!
Were you at the NC Comic Con? If so you may have spoken to me. I live in North Raleigh, but i'm currently away for school elsewhere.

I was! It was great to meet you guys. Im looking forward to trooping with you guys!

Hey all, I am Dan Smith and I live in Apex, just to the Southwest of Raleigh. I am a Wake County Sheriff's Deputy, professional freelance illustrator/sculptor, and I am married with two active teenagers. I am a longtime fan of the 501st and have always wanted to build a set of trooper armor. Last year I completed a large art project and used some of that money to buy an ATA/ANH kit off ebay. I also bought all the extras goodies and supplies I needed to assemble the armor as a Sandy. It is made from ABS and pretty good quality. It sat in my garage, neatly packaged for over a year while I worked on an even larger book illustration project. Now, I have finally started to assemble the armor.
Unfortunately, I believe my excitement got the better of me last year and all the research I have done recently has lead me to regret my purchase. Not so much for the quality of the product, but the source it seems was recaster that no longer exists on ebay. That being said, I have forged forward and hope to turn the situation around by modding the armor into something I can wear proudly.
I have already completed the E11 blaster using a droopy doos kit and it came out real nice. I believe it will pass 501 standards. I started on the armor with the helmet and have completed the basic construction. I ran into some trouble with the bottoms of the ears because the casting lines were not clear but I believe I can fix that. I started on the forearms last night. I have been using many online sources for construction and assembly advice including Trooperbay's youtube series. I found after constructing the forearms, that the front of the pieces is really wide for my wrist. I have seen alot of videos where armor uses velcrow on the forearm and calf armor pieces to insure a snug fit. Is this advisable? (the Trooperbay series does not use velcrow on those pieces.)
Basically, I know I am going to run into alot more questions as I continue forward. Are there any members in or around Raleigh/Durham that have Sandy armor that would be willing to help me along? I appreciate any advice and look forward to meeting as many NC Garrison members down the road ahead as possible.