TM Armor History

[TK-4510[501st]]

Well, I cant resist. I love Pauls armor. I wish I had a set. I know that there are several people who would love to hear what Paul has to say about his great armor and how it came about. I do know this much. The TM armor project was started in 1999 and over the course of the next 7 years, TM has made a wonderful set of great looking armor. There is a yahoo site with all his pictures of the development on it as proof that this guy has done ALL the work. In my opinion, nothing even comes close. So lets kick er' off. What do you say?

[TK-2126_MD[TK]]

Great, wonderful, !!!!!!!! i seconded that request!!!!!!!!!

[TK-4510[501st]]

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Pauls armor pics....

Edited December 14, 2020 by gmrhodes13
link not working, removed gmrhodes13 2020

[Chefhawk[501st]]

Paul's stuff is amazing.

Tm doesnt spout or show off, he lets the armor do the talking.

A true inspiration for the star wars/prop comunity.

 

I salute you TROOPERMASTER.

[TK8280]

I like the armor he made for me

[efreng]

here here...

 

ef

[Veedox]

TM armor in action!

 

Please ignore the crazy "jedi" guy/. just scary...

[Scott M.[TK]]

WOW!!!

 

What a great set of pics!!!

 

Did anyone else notice it looks like this is all stored in his ATTIC!!!

 

I wonder if the heat helps the molding process, but man, that is cool.

 

Nice work, and thanks for getting this on the radar screen as well.

[troopermaster]

I thought it wouldn't be long before I was in the spot light

 

All of my progress is/was documented on either the RPB or ASAP forums. I'm not sure if the topics are still there or not but they did show all my progress over the years. I will have a look around and see if I can find any links. Failing that I will add more info later on tonight.

 

*Edit* I found one and will keep adding them when I find them. You might have to be a member to view the topics though.

 

ASAP Mar 04

ASAP Oct 03

[TK4999[TK]]

Paul, thanks for sharing this with us! It really contributes to our "hobby" and our passion: white armor! You rock!

[Boozel]

Paul, I said it before, awesome suits man...

[troopermaster]

Hey no problem fellas

 

I checked out the RPB and I think all the posts have been deleted, but there are a couple on the ASAP board.

 

Basically I started in 1999 when I first looked at the studiocreations site and thought "I can do that". Without going into too much boring detail, I made seperate body castings, filled with lightweight browning plaster and sculpt onto the castings. I thne used hot melt rubber to make the moulds and filled them with plaster of paris to make my first set of moulds. I formed these in 1mm HIPS as test pulls and then began the task of making them more accurate (which is what I am still doing ) I suppose it's just been like that from then on, always finding out new things and adjusting the moulds. Maybe one day we will have an ANH suit exposed so I can finally nail every single minor detail and also the strapping

 

I'd be happy to answer any specific questons.

[Guest Bezerkus]

As a collector, I love the armor and plan on making it my next set, curious though (and this may be a general question to all armor makers) as to the reasoning behind not making ANH handplates out of the original material used instead of ABS to go for uber accuracy.

[Rolf[501st]]

Here is one more pic.

I got two tm suits.

Only the td is done.

The tk will be made asap.

Enjoy.

Rolf

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Edited December 14, 2020 by gmrhodes13
link not working, removed gmrhodes13 2020

[BactaReality]

As a collector, I love the armor and plan on making it my next set, curious though (and this may be a general question to all armor makers) as to the reasoning behind not making ANH handplates out of the original material used instead of ABS to go for uber accuracy.

 

 

I wondered this myself. I remember someone on clonetroopers.net who was developing a rubber type material to be used for belt boxes, as well as knee, elbow and shoulder straps, and I thought to myself that that particular type of material would've been perfect to use for some accurate looking hand armor, as it was actually quite flexible looking material. I'll have to go and dig through the archive to see if I can find the thread.

 

I just received my TM kit (armor only) in the mail today, and I noticed that the shoulder bells looked different, in that the strip that runs along the outside is actually straighter, or narrower(which is a good thing).. so my question would be exactly how many different versions of TM armor are there? I know that Paul mentioned the he's been constantly re-tooling his molds to perfection, so I thought this would be an interesting point to include in the historical progression of his work. I'll be laying out all the armor pieces later on tonight, hopefully to show here and contribute more to the thread.

 

Man, I still can't get over how cool his hero helmet looks. I don't care if it is'nt cast off a screen used helmet, it's IMO the only helmet I've seen that comes close to replicating the look that I've been wanting in a hero trooper helmet.

[TK8280]

I wondered this myself. I remember someone on clonetroopers.net who was developing a rubber type material to be used for belt boxes, as well as knee, elbow and shoulder straps, and I thought to myself that that particular type of material would've been perfect to use for some accurate looking hand armor, as it was actually quite flexible looking material. I'll have to go and dig through the archive to see if I can find the thread.

 

 

what about that stuff thermal was useing to make his straps?

[BactaReality]

what about that stuff thermal was useing to make his straps?

 

I'd imagine that as long as it's somewhat flexible, it could work, but we should probably start another thread for that discussion. Sorry for the derailment, we now return you back to your regularly scheduled TM appreciation thread.

[TK8280]

yeah sorry TM armor is Awesome!

[Jango_Fett_Jr[501st]]

I'm pretty sure they're just made from latex. You can see then chipping with a greenish-grey material under the paint, which looks a lot like latex. I was planning on making my own sculpts and making a plaster negative mould and just pouring the latex in. As far as attaching I'd probably contact-cement them to the rubber chemical gloves.

 

I'd imagine that as long as it's somewhat flexible, it could work, but we should probably start another thread for that discussion. Sorry for the derailment, we now return you back to your regularly scheduled TM appreciation thread.

[TK-2126_MD[TK]]

Paul you should try to see if u can try to redo what was deleted, so that it will be here!!!! I think this thread will be pinned really soon. and heck no better then the Troopmaster to do this own autobiography!!!! Some day My FX will go TM...... hey now thats material for a tee.... "Got ....TM?"

 

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Thanks so much for your willingness to share Paul - what a great contribution you've made to this hobby of ours.

[Exodus[TK]]

Yes, thank you very much Paul.

[TK8280]

Yeah man your Ace!

[Boozel]

yeah, what they said...lol thanks

[bobby fletcher]

I would love to get my hands on a TM suit but the Euro to USD is just to painful on the wallet at the moment for me to own one.