pandatrooper

Thanks Adam. Actually, I didn't use much in the way of power tools. I used a hacksaw and a mitre box for the PVC / ABS cuts, I just drew guide lines and cut carefully. I use a cordless drill a lot, and do a lot of "Dremel-fu", but it's a lot of filing, and hand sanding mostly. The styrene was cut mostly with score and snap method, or scissors. Just shows that you can do a lot with little!

Thanks guys, glad you like it! I've moved this to the Blasters forum, where it should be.

Thanks guys, glad you like it. John, this isn;t the exact one, but it looks like this http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXB364&P=7 You can buy them online from any hobby store, they are used for sealing heat shrink material on RC airplane wings. I got mine from a local hobby store.

I used 4" corrugated drain pipe. It's not 100% screen accurate, but prefer it since it;s more durable. It's believed that the screen accurate approach was to use rubber tubing with a "D" shaped profile, and it could have been adhesive or glued into place. There's several threads on MEPD discussing it. Here's a good one http://forum.mepd.net/index.php?showtopic=6282

saving for completed weathering images.

More to come! Currently working on the internal structure for the speakers and electronics.

Primering parts Primer is good a revealing imperfections. Decided to fix a few spots with bondo before another coat of primer Silver. I will weather these later Primered the grips and sprayed them dark brown Painted the cooling fins gold Test fit I used a 3" to 2" taper to create an inner bezel for the barrel tip. Some Dremel-fu created the shape I needed Internal view of the electronic for the trigger After painting the black, i decided to dust on a few light coats of gunmetal metallic Masked off the stock and painted it brown Aker amp disassembled so that I can configure the speaker and board to fit inside Trigger half finished. You can see the internal wires threaded through the receiver. You can also see the paint detail

The rear stock lube container area needed the holes enlarged, so I used a drill with a Uni-bit Test fit with sprinkler parts I created "knurled" grip marks with a file, just eyeballed the cross hatching Starting to bondo various gaps, etc I created seams with a flat chisel Bondo the transition for the barrel Starting to primer parts. Before painting, I'll sand the parts and wash the parts to remove oils, and if I can't submerse the part in water, I at least wipe it with alcohol, let it dry and use a tack cloth to remove dust before painting. Barrel primered Satin black Krylon While the paint was drying, I assembled the ribbed section using the drain pipe, cut to the same diameter as the main barrel. I used 14" zip ties to attach the drain pipe Oh yeah... Main barrel locks onto the receiver via a retention bolt Rear sight assembled using a chicago bolt. the sight will "lock" into place using a small magnet The sight stops on the little block of wood I added, I will blend it in with Bondo

Rear sight supports cut from sheet styrene Glued and clamped. The H shaped frame next to the supports is the sight itself, made from square styrene tubing The adjustment dial is made from a long 3/16" rivet, a washer and 3 Canadian dimes glued together. Dry fit Glued into place. You can make it permanent or movable. Mine pivots on a long chicago bolt Rear sight cover cut from a section of black ABS Cut the notch, drilled a center hold, sanded the surface Insert glued under the cover (will paint it silver inside later) Front and side profiles glued into place Cut some brackets from a flat aluminum bar. I'll hot glue these inside. Filled the inside to make it more solid Dry fit of rear sight cover Front sight detail. I just drew this by eyeballing reference images. Cut it out Screwed and glued into place. I added a "bolt" detail using a rivet, I slotted it with a Dremel. Didn't want to use a real screw in case I split the wood Lining things up. Who likes Spam? Back to that round detail, added the knob using a strip of wood and a screw I'll fill the hole with Bondo later Opposite side is a screw, also bondoed later

I've notched the back where the "curvy" details are. Just used a cone shaped bit on the Dremel to carve it out I cut panels of styene to glue to both sides of this half circle part. One side has a flat knob / dial, the other is a screw / rivet Glued in place using E6000 Added rivet detail and Dremeled the contours I glued inner shims inside the main barrel, which allows the smaller barrel tip to fit snugly inside and centered For the taper from the main barrel to the barrel tip, I found lots of solutions. Bubble tea cups, slurpee cups, flower pots, funnels, etc.. Just use what you can find. I convinced my wife to sacrifice a plastic picnic glass - for the greater good of the Empire! Marking the line indicating where to cut the cup in half by placing the smaller barrel tip inside the main barrel. I glued a ring part way down the smaller barrel so that the taper will stay concentric. I ran a bead of construction adhesive around the barrel so that when the taper is pressed into place, it will remain secure Test fit of the smaller barrel inside the main barrel with taper in place This step is for later (electronics) but I wanted to feed the wires through the chamber pipes before they were glued in place Chamber pipes glued in place This outer connector for the 3" ABS pipe will be cut to create flanges for the main barrel Feed plate is screwed and glued in place. I used screws in "visible" locations, and areas where people wouldn't see them (inside the drum post, under the rear sight, etc.) I also applied glue to both surfaces before assembling Feed plate assembled Simple ring cut from PVC for the smaller barrel tip I cut some grip panels from wood, sanded the edges. I won't glue them in place until after the blaster is painted, to make them brown.

I've used 2" PVC for the main receiver section where the chamber is. I've drawn some parallel lines down the length of the 2" pipe. I'll glue the sides of the pipe onto the receiver so that it looks like the chamber is really "part" of the wood. To draw the lines, simply lay the pipe on a flat surface and hold it up against a piece of wood to draw the lines Discard the scraps This is where the pipe will be glued. You can see that the pipe meets the surface of the stock almost perfectly. I've cut a small section of the pipe at the front so that it will be easier to assemble the cooling fins I've cut out the ejection port. I simply glued a section of pipe inside the port, and elevated it slightly with scrap plastic. I'll paint this silver later. Here's the cooling fin section, I've drawn a circle using the barrel profile. Cut it out and glue it to the pipe section I've cut out 10 cooling fins from sheet styrene, 5 fins per side. Glue them in place with Plastic weld Just a dry mockup (not glued / screwed in place yet) I forgot to cut out the trigger hole, so a little jig saw action and Dremel action will clean it up I started rounding the edges of the stock. I didn't have any fancy tools so I used... a knife. Seriously, I just whittled the edges to get the rough shape, used a file to clean it up, Dremeled a bit, then sanded it smooth. Here's a pic of the sanded stock, as well as some greeblies. This will work for the tube that's inside the real stock which is some kind of container and screw top brush which i assume is for gun oil or something. I used some sprinkler tuning parts, a short threaded tube and a couple end caps. One area I didn't get quite right was the area just behind the rear sight. It should extend from the stock to just below the sight. I just glue a small block of wood here and bondo it later I created the receiver detail by transferring the template drawings to sheet styrene of various thicknesses. Adding more detail. Gluing with Plastic Weld Finished receiver details. I glued them to the wood using E6000

Here’s my T-21 blaster tutorial. There hasn’t really been many clear T-21 tutorials, so I thought I would document my build and share it with the Empire! Keep in mind that this is not a “millimeter” exact replica, it’s the best I could make using many reference photos of actual Lewis guns, screenshots from ANH, and scaling all of the photos in Photoshop to create a template. I preferred not to use photos of T-21’s since most are interpretations, or cast copies of a real Lewis anyways. For any given part, I would gather at least 3 images, and then scale them in Photoshop to the same scale, and take the measurements from inside the software. Don’t worry about getting every measurement and detail exact. The fact is, only real enthusiasts will know you’re “an eighth of an inch off here”, the average person will know it’s a BFG blaster, so just get on with it. That being said, if you want to go all the way and add every wire and greeblie, go for it. Interpret this template and tutorial as you wish and modify your build to suit your needs. Enjoy the build! I had to make substitutions for many materials, since not everything is available locally. Always look around the house and see what you can find. The fact is, if we all had machine shops with lathes and CNC machines, making props would be much easier. But part of the fun is sourcing “found” parts and supplies you can use, that’s the SW tradition! I feel that this is a fairly accurate trooping blaster. If anyone has any more detailed measurements, please feel free to share them so that we can develop a more detailed resource for the T-21 blaster. With that out of the way, let’s get started! First off is a materials list. Materials 3/4 “ inch thick wood (I used pine shelving)for the main body / receiver 3/8” inch thick wood for the stock (I couldn’t find any, so I used ¼”) 3.5” diameter PVC pipe for the main barrel (I used 3” “Cell core” ABS pipe, which has an outer diameter of approx 3.5”) 3.5” connector (you will cut rings from this) 2.5” diameter PVC pipe for the barrel tip (I couldn’t find any locally, so I took some 3” PVC and cut it down to 2 7/8” diameter) 4” corrugated drain tubing for the barrel (you can use D profile adhesive rubber trim for car doors for more accuracy) Sheet styrene for details (I used 2mm and 1.5mm a lot) 1.25” piping (small section for the sight) 2” PVC piping (for the chamber or whatever you call it that holds the bullets in the main body / receiver ) Tools Jig saw / scroll saw Saw for cutting large sections / straight lines Dremel Files Sandpaper Clamps (spring clamps like you used for armor) Rivet gun / rivets (1/8”) Craft / exacto knife Adhesives, etc. E-6000 Wood glue Plastic weld (styrene glue) Bondo Various screws / bolts (use what you have around the house) Krylon primer Krylon satin black Dark brown for the stock Gold or silver for the cooling vents Any other paints you want to weather the blaster (silver, gunmetal, bronze, etc..) To start, you can use this T-21 template I've created here: http://whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=10313&st=0&p=130310&hl=blaster%20template&fromsearch=1entry130310 Print it out full size (spread them over several sheets if you need to). My first issue was creating the front part of the barrel tip. Based on some measurements, it's approx 2.75" to 2 and 7/8" in diameter. i couldn't find anything, so I took some 3" PVC, cut about and inch from the length, and glued it back together. I've glued, clamped and even rivetted the pipe along the seam to hold the right shape. The rivets are countersunk so bondo will hide them. Here, I've transferred the template drawing to my 3/4" thick wood 20 mins later with a jig saw yielded this I cut the wood to proper inner diameter to fit snug inside the ABS barrel pipe Rough layout of the current parts, use the measurements from the template to cut the drain tube and barrel to size Cutting the 2 sides for the butt stock from the 3/8" or 1/4" wood see how they line up, if it's not right - trim them Glue and clamp the stock halves to the main wood piece Transfer the template to the wood for the feed plate thing (top part - sorry, I'm not a gunsmith so I don't know the names) This extra layer stacks on top of the first piece This last part stacks on top of the previous 2. The rear sight will mount to this Use some good old wood glue and clamp it shut Here, I've transferred the feed plate details to sheet styrene. these will be cut out and glued on top Test it. the part I'm pointing to (curved flipping thing) will be painted separately and glued later The middle post thing is what the ammo drum sits on. I've just used a PVC end cap Glueing the styrene to the wood with E6000

Very nice work, such a clean build! Great way to hang up the suit too!

Going back to the chest piece. The torso is considerably longer on the AM kit than screen derived kits, which is great for taller / bigger troopers, but not so good for me (5 foot 8 inches, and 150 lbs). I’ll be reducing the completed torso by several inches. I’ve cut about 1/2" off the lower center of the chest, and about 1.25” from the lower edge / sides of the chest. TupperwareTK sorted added more of a “swoop up” to the bottom of the rib cage area, so that it wouldn’t get hung up on the ab plate. But looking at reference pictures, the swoop is not as severe, so I chose not to cut an even 1” all across the bottom. I know he made the chest longer for bigger troopers, but I feel on me it would look out of proportion, so I've cut it shorter in an attempt to match it up at least slightly closer to the screen look. I also left a about 3/8” of plastic for the return edge Here’s a comparison of the AM back with my current back. It’s huge! Not much I can do about the width, but I can cut some plastic from the bottom and bend the top and the sides a bit. I’ve marked off areas I will cut. I’m removing about 1.25” from the bottom edge. Again, I’m leaving some plastic at the bottom for a return edge I’m cutting the top shoulder sections too, as I will be assembling them differently via the my harness / strap system I’ve also cut the cod and removed 1.25” from below the belt line. I find I have much better mobility by cutting the cod and attaching it with snaps / elastic. It also makes bio breaks much easier. I’ve removed an additional 1.25” from the lower back. Not doing a return edge here as the belt covers it. I’ve cut about 5/8” from the upper butt and removed the return edge too. Here’s the rough return edge for the lower edge of the back. Very rough, but not for long. A couple extra passes with the iron and a Dremel will clean it up. Rough sanding pass Sanded the ab plate buttons and cleaned them off. I’ll be spraying them with self etching primer to prepare for painting.

ANH cover strips on biceps added ANH cover strips on thighs added Using my “paint stick clamp” method to bend the battery packs for the knee. http://whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=8757 I simply cut the paint sticks slightly narrower to fit the gap between the packs, then heated the bases and bent the sections one at a time. Just work it slowly around Nicely contoured battery pack to fit the profile of the lower thigh / knee area Here’s the thigh with the return edge done, ANH cover strips added, and battery pack riveted in place Left shin with knee plate riveted in place

Here’s a thigh. Having already test fitted it, it’s about a half inch too tall compared to my current armor. To make it more comfortable for trooping, I’m going to cut 1” off the top, and do a return edge using a heat sealing iron. Here you can see where I drew some lines as guides. The inner thigh height was fine, it was mostly the front and outer edges that were too tall. The transitions and follows the original curve as close as can be, with a little eyeballing. I’ve cut about ½” off the thighs, leaving a bit of plastic to heat and bend for the return edge. This is just a first pass with the iron. Yes, it looks rough, but once you event it out, and sand it, it looks fine. Before, with a rough pass After. Just take your time and go slowly, heating sections at a time. Fix the blemishes after with a Dremel and some sanding. Comparison of finished edge (not fully sanded / polished yet) to an uncut thigh

If you look at the instructions, the main ab button panel (the buttons and ridges) is a separate piece. To the right of that is the vertical panel that has 4 buttons. You can install the aluminum buttons directly on the vertical panel. If you want that look of an extra layer of plastic, simply cut out a piece of spare ABS you've trimmed off a body part, and install it under the ab buttons.

This is great, nice work guys! Unfortunately, I can speak decent Cantonese but I can't read very well... Ay yah!

Very clever! Nice job and cheap too!

Update, with pictures! Finally... The AM armor is great. Fan sculpted, so no "screen lineage" but still great in terms of durability and finish (ABS plastic) and great service from TupperwareTK. All the parts come trimmed for easier assembly, which is great. Armor laid out. I got a "Lite" kit, with no helmet. That comes later. Here's 2 pics, I couldn't fit everything in 1 shot I always start with the biceps, since that's the easiest part. I know the AM kit was designed to be built with overlap seams, but I'm going to butt seam the joins ANH style and cut plastic strips to use as ANH cover strips to hide the joins. I just personally prefer that look. I'll go into more detail on the bicep, but essentially, you're using the same process on every limb / part: - size up to your body - mark it with a pencil - draw some straight lines of where you'll cut - tape the parts together, size again (measure twice, cut once!) - cut one side, size it up again - cut the other side - tape the parts together, size them up. Adjust cuts if necessary - glue shims / glue the halves / let cure - test size just to be sure (it's easier to have to disassemble at this point, rather than removing ANH cover strips and doing it again and again) - apply cover strips - assemble armor As always, I'd like to thanks Stukatrooper and Firebladejedi for all their tips, guides and advice on the forum. Most of the techniques I use are ones they helped establish / document, so many props to them! So here, I've cut an 8mm wide strip to use as a guide. If I leave this amount on both sides, that adds up to 16mm, and a 15mm ANH cover strip covers it nicely. After cutting, I overlap it with the other side, and test fit it over my bicep (giant guns! - not!) However, make sure to at least bend / flex your bicep slightly, so that the bicep is comfortable to wear. If you make it fit your perfectly straight arm, it will be a tight squeeze once it's assembled and you try to bend at the elbows. I mark the overlap areas with a pencil, and draw a straight line. Then use a metal ruler to score a line with an Xacto, then bend and snap the plastic. Tape it up and test fit it again over your arm. Here, I've glued a shim inside on one side of the bicep. I used Plastic Weld to join it. I'll use E6000 for similar joins on the legs, where there's usually more stress on the parts and flexing is required (eg: opening shins to get them on, etc.) Gluing and clamping the shim and both halves together. You need lots of clamps, get them BEFORE you start your build! That way, you can alternate and work on another part while one is drying / curing. Shims installed inside on both sides, everything is now clamped and set aside to cure. I'll apply the ANH cover strips later. Forearms, same thing. I use my 8mm guide to draw a line, and start cutting. This time I used scissors. The AM kit was made for bigger troopers, check out how much I need to cut off! The halves are cut, both top and bottom are lined up for sizing. No other forearm pics, but I assembled them as described above. Here, I've cut the thighs this time using a 10mm guide strip (since both sides will equal 20mm for the ANH cover strip). I'll glue the front halves first since I want the front to be screen accurate, but I know the back will be too since my thighs are skinny (my real thighs, not the armor!) One detail here that I'm showing is that I plan to cut the length of the thigh down about 1" from the top, and do a return edge. AM has increased the thigh length from the previous FX kit, but the thighs are too long for me now comfort wise, so I'm cutting 1" off the top. Actually, I'm cutting about 5/8" off the top and leaving 3/8" extra for the return edge. To ease in assembly, I will sometimes glue a shorter shim inside and use Plastic weld to hold it in place, before I place a longer strip inside and secure the halves and the inner shim with E6000. Lower shim on thigh Inner shim is now glued in place with E6000 and clamped / held in place via rare earth magnets The front butt seam is done, now onto the back. Slide it over your thigh, and overlap the pieces. Mark with a pencil where the "center" of the back seam should be. I find that a lot of troopers leave a lot of room in their thighs, and I did that on my first build too. Then you have to pad it and the area above your knee sometimes has too much space. I call this "Church bell thigh" syndrome. When you walk, the thigh is swinging around! If you look at some of the promo shots, the armor is much tighter to the wearer. This is how I want to approach my build. Check out how much plastic I've cut off the back of the thighs! I've glued an inner shim to one side of the back of the thigh, then I'll glue the halves together Here's a shin. I've used the same method as the thigh. Use a 10mm guide strip on either side of the front of the shin, draw a straight line (use the guide strip as a ruler). Cut, then join the sides. I've already glued the seam here. I know I'm bouncing around a bit, but I need to let things dry / cure so I'll usually move on to other parts. Here I've got the chest and I've marked and cut off major portions of it. I've cut the shoulder straps (I know Tupperware TK made it easier to assembled with "extended" shoulder to back connections, but I have a different way of attaching the chest, so I cut them off. I've trimmed the neck opening lower, and I did a few other cuts. More cuts to come!!

I applaud you for your courage and dedication. Take your time, and enjoy your build. Even when it's done, you can always go back and improve things - it's a great way to focus on a hobby and I'm glad to see it helps put your mind at ease. Stay strong trooper! We'll be watching and supporting you along the way!

For a while, I was making runs of garters like these. Haven't have time to do them lately, but they are rather effective for holding up thighs. When I get some time, I'll do another run if people want them. -----------

Hey Steve, yes - I heard about the SW in concert from watching the PBS fundraiser in Seattle on Tv. Garrison Titan trooped the event. We started a thread on Badlands about it, hopefully LFL contacts us to troop it, it would be amazing! Tickets go on sale tomorrow 10 am. For your mirrored lens, you can try: snowboard goggles lenses motorcycle visors foot ball visors chrome window tint from an automotive customizer shop paintball goggles lenses Hope those options work for you, and hope you can get Sds to send your stuff!

This is truly a bummer Steve, I know you were really looking forward to building it. Have you tried calling them directly? Shepperton Design Studios www.sdsprops.com 76 The Green Twickenham Middlesex TW2 5AG UK Tel +44 (0)208 898 4839 I hope you'll still able to make that end of May troop with the squad in some shape or form.

Looks awesome!! Really great job. I'm going to be building a replica of the "Stop that Ship" helmet soon, this is great inspiration!