pandatrooper

The key to using a heat gun to doing less concentrated heat on one area, and instead you want to heat an area slightly larger and don't make the plastic too soft. Avoid using fingers or pointy objects to reshape the plastic. For example, I needed to make the ankle opening larger, so I stuck a roll of masking tape inside the shin (which made it "bulge" out a little.) then I heated the general area a little bit at a time, until the plastic softened. You don't want it to go limp, you just need to soften it. I probably had the same bruise as you, on the front edge of my ankle. The heating helped big time, and I trooped for 7 hours this weekend with no problems.

The Hasbro is not as screen accurate as a pipe build as Pablo has mentioned. Another electronics alternative is Hyperdyne's blaster upgrade, which is more expensive than Blastercore. Keep in mind that Blastercore is not assembled and ready to go, you need to source additional electronic parts and solder it yourself. It has the advantage of being able to change sounds via the memory card. Hyperdyne's kit is ready to install, and has several firing modes, but is not customizable. It's also designed for Hasbro proportions, so the LED's do not match up to "real" Sterling hole spacing, but if you're making a pipe kit you can drill the holes where you need to.

Looks great! Awesome suggestions Brian. I would also suggest / add: - I would clean / sweep / hose down the area if you can to lock down the dust. I hate spray painting and having dust land on a perfectly painted finish - I like to have a working area or table (messy) and a clean area (for putting clean finished items, or freshly painted items. Make sure this area is dust free. - a giant garbage bin (you know when you want to trim or sand something, and you do it over a garbage can? It helps from having to pick it up / sweep afterwards) - a specific area with a solid table and scrap wood like 2 x 6 for drilling and hammering rivets, etc.. - heat / humidity / correct temperature is key for spray painting. Make a simple spray booth so that you can spray paint some items in the garage. get a giant cardboard box or build one out of wood. Flip the box on it's side, so that the opening faces you, and place it on a table / bench. Cut a big opening in the back, and the top. The top, cover it with clear or white plexiglass and or put a light on top (for light!) for the back, tape a dense furnace filter over the opening and place a rectangular box fan up against it. Duct the fan with tubing outside. Presto, you just made a low budget spray booth so that you don't have to fill your garage with dangerous fumes. - spray stand. Take a 2 x 4 or 2 x 6, cut some coat hangar wire and twist the ends into a circle, and screw this end into a the wood. Do several of these for holding blasters, greeblies, etc in the spray booth for painting. - a sanding area. If you're going to create a lot of dust, turn on the shop vac and sand over the hose if possible. - a shop vac for cleaning up - some bench tools would be handy, like a bend grinder / sanding wheel, etc.. I have a scroll saw I use quite a bit too. - a bench mounted vise - a mitre box (essential for hand cutting piping etc.. square, or a chop / mitre saw) - spare clear rubbermaid boxes for storing bits - a pegboard wall for your tools. I always seem to be reaching for the most common tools like: - file - Dremel - heat gun - curved scissors - xacto knife - sandpaper - E6000 glue - plastic weld

Sideshow must have done some reference gathering, and perhaps the older photos / footage of TD's are much like what the public can access. So probably in the pursuit of more detail, they looked to the internet / best sources. The figure is pretty much "Davin Felth" from the Looksirdroids / BraksBuddy site. Right down to the blaster, pauldron and even specific dirt details.

Looking very nice!! Good work trooper! The only small thing I would say is lower the chest slightly so that it overlaps the ab section and doesn't have that "popped out" look where you can see the black spandex underneath. Might need to straighten the shoulder straps slightly to lower it. I know you still need to strap together the back / chest so maybe that will solve it. I'd pull the forearms up a smidge too. Other than that, looks great!

Plastic weld will work on styrene and ABS too, you can join the two together, or use it to join ABS to ABS.

Yes, I believe it is an air filter. It's round and should have thicker "columns" than in the Sideshow figure. Check out the Looks sir droids site: http://www.looksirdroids.com/backpacks.html

Congratulations!!

I posted these on MEPD as well. These are some detailed pack photos I shot of my Sideshow TD Sandtrooper (white pauldron version). They seemed to have done a decent job in capturing the details, so I that I'd grab some shots incase anyone needed them. I have the other 2 figures on order (their "Squad Leader" and "Corporal") which could be used as reference for Pack 3 and Pack 2 respectively. i could post pics when I get them if people want them.

I would think you either need to remove the comlink and put the TD back on. Or keep the comlink on, and add the grappling hook / box and leave the TD off.

Here's a new template I created for the T-21 blaster. I created it by gathering multiple pictures and diagrams of Lewis guns and overlaying them in Photoshop to create a template. It's not uber accurate by any means, but it should be helpful in creating a "trooping" version of a T-21. I'd love to own a Sci-Fire / Hyperfirm, but they don't ship to Canada and it would be dicey to import one due to customs regulations. But nothing says you can't make a PVC / wood replica for trooping! I've sourced most of the parts (still need a few more) for the build and I'll be creating a tutorial in the coming weeks. Stay tuned! If you're antsy, here's a preliminary parts / supplies list: - 3/4" thick wood for main body - 1/2" thick wood / MDF for stock & receiver details - 1/4" thick wood / MDF for grips - 3" black ABS pipe (it's larger than 3") or 3.5" white PVC for main shroud - 2.5" PVC for the barrel - Large diameter to small diameter reducer, or a long tapered funnel - 2" PVC for the receiver - 4" drain piping or half round adhesive foam - more details to come! Here's the full size version (if you can print this large like Kinkos or something, print it at 72 DPI full size). Or you can crop and print just the sections you need (eg: the stock, receiver, feed cover, etc..)

Sounds good!

The toe is a bit too square for me from an authenticity standpoint, but it could work. Why not try them out and paint them white. It would meet CRL criteria if you could get everything white.

No problem. Done.

Hey guys, here's some ideas I brought up in the academy post. I'll just summarize them here: http://whitearmor.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=10297&pid=130112&st=0entry130112 - Creating a history chart for armor (Paul mentioned someone might be doing this) - Family tree of armor makers (a more visual way of seeing where iterations of armor came from, including 100% fan sculpts) - Introductory article on how to select armor. I wrote a brief one once, I can dig it up and expand on it. Not that I'm an expert or experienced as more senior troopers, but I think selecting armor for it's intended use will help people make decisions. I can volunteer to update this if you wish. - Blaster tutorials. I know there's lots on the BBC, but it would be good to have some of our own too. I'm building my own PVC pipe kit E11 and T21 blaster as we speak. I can document it and make tutorials and templates. - I think I saw a heading for an article already on the academy site. I'm installing fans and a wireless headset into my lid right now too, I can document it and make a tutorial or something as most people have posted pictures of various setups, but it might be good to have a rough guide of how to fit things in a lid. - I'd like to do an article on harness / suspender setups. I've done several of them now. I know there's posts that document various setups, but again if there's a "walk through" version, I think it would help the noobs. - Another idea I had was an article on padding. It's usually the last "small comfort" thing that people think of, but I think it might be good to point out common areas for padding to avoid "armor bites", etc.. That's all I have for now!

Looks great fellas, thanks for all the hard work! It's no small undertaking I'm sure. I think the armor history chart would be a great idea. I did see a "family tree" somewhere, might have been on the RPF? It showed how most of the current molds originated off a couple of casts created from the ROTJ armor, and then branches out. It also covered 100% fan sculpts such as FX / AM, TM, etc.. I think that chart would be great! I'd still like to see an introductory article on how to select armor. It seems to take people a long time to select what they want, and they don't always choose what fits their purpose / intended use, I think that would be helpful. I know there's already links and tutorials for blasters, but it would be great to see an update Parts of SW style section for blasters. I would love to see more on detailed tutorials on DLT-19's and T-21's. I know there's a few out there, but it would be nice to see more. I'm building my T21 now, and I'll try to make a tutorial from it.

When using E600, the key is to apply the glue to both surfaces and spread it flat with a popsicle stick, etc.. Let both surfaces tack up for a few mins, then join the parts and clamp them for 24hrs. Yes, it's slightly rubbery but that's but only at the beginning and when it's clamped down to a thin layer, you don't notice it. I actually think the slight flexibility is good since it allows the armor to bend slightly rather than being stiff and potentially brittle.

Is the OSCS clone kit ABS plastic or styrene or another material? Weather and humidity can affect glue times and bond quality. The AM kit is ABS, so slow setting ABS cement or E6000 would be your best bet.

I use my Ipod touch a lot, and with the previous Fisd site, you could see new posts / content and you could PM as well. The current light site doesn't allow for that functionality.

Consider what you want to do with your armor before purchasing. Trooping? Display? Is wear and tear important? What material properties are important to you? Think about how you will be using your armor, then apply the specific pros and cons of each kind and see if they offer what you need. Also consider the tools and extra materials you'll need to complete your TK, and the extra cost. A lot of people forget about that. The armor kit rarely comes with "everything" you need. Someone posted a list of tools required a while back, and it was very extensive - a good read. I think Stuka's tutorials are some of the best out there, definitely worth reading and seeing what applies to specific armor types. His tips can be applied to most builds.

Excellent work troopers!

Very nice build!

When you unscrew the handle, is there a threaded hole in the receiver or is there a threaded bolt sticking out (the the cocking handle has the hole?). If the hole is in the receiver, that's easy. Find out what thread pitch the cocking handle has, and drill a new hole in the new location, tap the threads and screw the handle in, and patch the old hole. Resin can sustain tapping of threads if you do it carefully, I've done it many times before, If there's a bolt sticking out, cut it off and patch it up. Drill a hole in the new location and tap the threads, and go buy a longer bolt with the same threading. Cut the head off the bolt (allowing for half the bolt to reside int he handle, the other half residing in the receiver), and screw it into the handle, then screw the handle into the receiver. Or, simply drill a slightly larger hole in the receiver, glue your bolt into the hole, and screw the handle on top.

I know they used F1 and Nascar engine sounds, as well as hot rods, Harley type motorcycles, and some jet engines, etc. I would think that they used similar ones for startups. Remember, sound artists almost never use 1 sound by itself, they are almost always layered and mixed together.

If you want to go EIB eventually with a Hasbro, you need to at least have the Hengstler counter and the proper T rack according to the EIB guidelines.