My new 1.5mm ABS troopermaster / TM build (ANH & ESB)[*TM]

[Faie[TK]]

Looking awesome Rich!!!!!

Tengo muchas ganas de verla en directo, mi enhorabuena

[Rich330[TK]]

Looking awesome Rich!!!!!

Tengo muchas ganas de verla en directo, mi enhorabuena

 

I think you might have to come to Tenerife to see it in person, José. With the original strapping system it's difficult to disassemble it to a convenient sized package for travelling. I'll probably have the CFO ROTJ suit with me when I come to Málaga.

[troopermaster]

You can get the body armour into a suitcase if you slide the arms into the shins, then the shins inside the thighs and the thighs inside the torso. Helmet has to be carried seperately.

[Rich330[TK]]

You can get the body armour into a suitcase if you slide the arms into the shins, then the shins inside the thighs and the thighs inside the torso. Helmet has to be carried seperately.

 

Yeah, Paul, true enough. Juanma does exactly that with the suit you built for him.

And it's fine for going to events by car but there's no way I'm giving airport backage handlers my armour in a soft suitcase! One of the downsides of living on a small island ... you have to get on a plane to go anywhere.

I've got a large, hard-plastic tool chest with wheels which I use to carry costumes on planes. I just disconnected the chest and back armour and it all fits in (including helmet and boots). So, just a case of unfastening six screws.

[SW1]

You can get the body armour into a suitcase if you slide the arms into the shins, then the shins inside the thighs and the thighs inside the torso. Helmet has to be carried seperately.

 

 

I will have to do as Paul says for transporting the Luke suit Rich , what with the chest and back plate straped and glued to the abb and kidney as per the original , and yes mate you made a fantastic job of your TM Pin's

 

 

Edited June 27, 2012 by SW1

[Rich330[TK]]

I will have to do as Paul says for transporting the Luke suit Rich , what with the chest and back plate straped and glued to the abb and kidney as per the original

 

 

Sould be no problem, what with it being a TM junior and all ...

[Rich330[TK]]

PS Looking good, Steve/Paul. I'd like to get a TM hero helmet at some point.

[SW1]

TM Junior you said it , gotta love the Hero helmet make sure you get some trooper token's for one mate

[Rich330[TK]]

Hi folks,

 

Long time no see ...

It's been a while since I suited up but it was time to try and tackle some of those little projects that seem to accumulate becasue you're always putting them off.

 

First up was a few adjustments to the leg assemblies on my TM armour. Just had a few comfort issues whilst walking round at this year's carnival so I opened up the thighs a little and added some cuts at the top of the calves. Had a test fitting and took some photos ...
God I love this armour!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also decided it was time to finally get my alternative helmet for thew suit (an RS) painted and finished. I think I've had it here a year!   
It's going to be a fully hand-painted ANH with some small areas of chipping. Here's today's progress - primed and painted in fish pond green, ready for latex masking and a good few coats of white ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stormy320]

Armor looks great.  I can't wait to see it with the RS Bucket.

 

I never thought about it before.  Were the "ears" attached after the helmets were painted?  I just assumed the helmets were assembled and then painted.

[Rich330[TK]]

Armor looks great.  I can't wait to see it with the RS Bucket.

 

I never thought about it before.  Were the "ears" attached after the helmets were painted?  I just assumed the helmets were assembled and then painted.

Thanks, man.

 

The ears were attached and then the entire helmet was painted white but you have to take the ears off if you want to paint the rest of the helmet in the green shade to imitate the colour of the original plastic.

The ears were white ABS so don't need to go green.

[Rich330[TK]]

I'll put the ears on after masking the areas which I want to appears chipped and before painting the whole thing white. You can see the effect it should achieve on this original helmet. As you can tell, the ears were on when they painted it white, leaving the original green plastic unpainted underneath:

[Turrican]

Realy nice, but why you painted the ears?

[Locitus[Admin]]

I would guess it's just primer on the ears, no green.

[Rich330[TK]]

Yes, primer.

[troopermaster]

I think the helmets were sprayed white before the ear caps were fitted. You can see traces of white paint or primer still visible where the ears caps were on this helmet.

 

It seems the helmets were given a once over at SDS before the ear caps were fitted and shipped over to the studios where they were given a top coat. This would have been much thicker paint and why it looks like no paint underneath the ear caps because it would not have reached there with the ear caps in place. You can clearly see in this photo that one helmet has no ear caps and it is white all over. Even the rivets are painted white. The rest of the helmets with ear caps show unpainted bolts so they would have been plain white ABS at this stage with no paint.

[Rich330[TK]]

Thanks, Paul. You're absolutely right. Didn't spot that.
I might have to change tactics then. I still obviously want that big area of green underneath the ears. So I'll either have to leave the ears off when I paint the helmet white and do some extreme masking to leave the odd bit of white in that area. 

Thinking about it though, it would probably be easier to put the ears on for spraying, take them off when cured and then just paint odd areas of white on the green with a brush.

[troopermaster]

That sounds like a plan. I usually paint the helmets green and then add the ears before painting white. It would be a lot of work trying to do it the way they did back and you would not get the same effect since you are spraying onto ABS instead of PP. Adding the extra paint afterwards sounds good to me

[Rich330[TK]]

Thanks again for the help, Paul.
I put 4 layers of paint on the helmet over the last few days, made sure the last one was a bit too thick and applied from too close so there are a few paint runs. Turned out super glossy and all-round I'm pretty happy with it.

RS Stunt "Tenerife" Edition   
 

 

 

 

 

 

[troopermaster]

Nice touch

 

But I am struggling to identify the other countries on your helmet

[Rich330[TK]]

Nice touch

 

But I am struggling to identify the other countries on your helmet

 Haha!

I bet there's a Greek island to match every chip!

[Rich330[TK]]

All done (bar the chin strap) ...

 

 

 

 

 

On display with an ESB helmet which should be rather familiar to Paul ...



 

[firebladejedi[TK]]

I love reading your build threads rich, outstanding work as usual :~)

[Rich330[TK]]

I love reading your build threads rich, outstanding work as usual :~)

 

Cheers, mate. Long time no "see" and all that.

I finished the armour build pretty quick last year. Picked up the RS helmet around the same time and only just got round to painting it. 

[DarthChridan[TK]]

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrh...awesome stuff...the helmet has become well