I screwed up with getting the wrong type of crystals. But my test erupter works fine now I replaced with stock xtal. Now I await a new shipment of xtals.
On the resistor front - damn I wish jaycar stocked them instore

Also I found with the xtal's - either flipping them and using a fine tip iron to add a little solder (or putting a little on the pads) then placing them on the board and using a heat gun to melt the solder works great.
EDIT:
An idea about getting enough power to a stick:
Anyone tried using those dual USB cables commonly found in older external 2.5in HDDs? Obviously your USB hub would be then out half their ports - but maybe a neat way to run it without screwing about with more indepth modding.
And to the person who posted the melted PSU - how random! I just had a dream last night where my pi's case melted like that!
Jaycar? you must be aussie.
im in Melbourne and have spare resistors and a few spare crystals. but RSonline sells packs of 50 resistors for $2 delivered if you can find the right brand. I think they were listed as 4c each min 50 units.
delivery built into the price and they were here in 2 days. cant complain.
as for powering I find im just putting less per hub atm till I can get new power supplies. so instead of 5 I might get 4 etc.