Fully finished ANH Stunt TK (1,5mm ABS) from Troopermaster with some modifications

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Soaking the B&W newspaper... Why didn't i think about that!

That's very nice, i'll keep it in mind. Does it hold on the armor though, or is it wiped if you rub it with your finger?

 

And are the shins velcro closed?

[T-Jay[TK]]

Hi Germain, the newspaper-weathering comes from Stefan (Turrican). Originally I planned to leave my display shiny white - until the day I saw his weathered suit. That (and the earlier mentioned color deviations) changed my mind.

Rubbing with a finger will not remove this and it is also water resistant, but can get removed with some mild plastic cleaner or with ultra-fine sandpaper.

 

Yes, the shins are velcro closed. Paul suggested this after I had choosen the standard strapping. And I'm very happy with it.

[Turrican]

It was not my idea, i also have seen this anywhere before. I think it was fireblade jedi which has start up with this.

But it gives a very realistic look.

 

If you want to add some "grease points". Use some PrittPen over a surface and rubb some used oil from a hinge over it.

After you can simulate some really nice wear effects.

If you not like you can completly remove it with a soft cloth.

 

Like at this trooper left has on his belt .

 

[T-Jay[TK]]

Okay, whoever did that weathering the first time will now get a 'thank you' and 'thumbs up' from me here .

 

@ Stefan (Turrican): It simply fascinated me when I saw it on your armor the first time. It is really easy to do and looks interesting.

 

Nice idea with these grease points. I remember you had mentioned them the same day, I just had forgotten...

[T-Jay[TK]]

Update 04:      - weathering boots and hand guards
 
Those TK boots drove me crazy. Don't get me wrong, they look and feel good, but it is a real challenge to "adjust" the color with the armor  . Tried the newspaper-method first and then added some dirty water. Some more newspaper weathering, but the colors didn't match. On the MEPD page I found a tutorial, how our "dirty guys" do weathering. So I tried a washing with water and acrylic black paint. Didn't work. If someone has an idea, please let me know.
 

 
For weathering Karin's white rubber hand guards I used two layers of dirty water, which got partially washed off after they dried.
 



 

This is not water resistant, but you'll need a damp rag to reduce or remove it. It looks quite good but has a slightly different appearance than the weathering on the armor, so I used this technique on a few other parts too.
 





 

While doing this, I had some serious thoughts about a dirty Sandtrooper .

Okay, the weathering chapter is completed for that display. Too much won't look good. Let me know what you think about it.

Edited September 20, 2017 by T-Jay

[Turrican]

Cause of the boots.

 

Use white wand paint or dull white spray paint anything like this.

Paint them up with it.

Than use very diluted dull black paint , paint them over.Just a very thin layer ( so that you can see still see the white paint)

 

After it use again a very thin layer of the white paint.

Do less white paint on marks like the kick pleat or the toe cap.

Than add some scuff marks with a piece of  rubber or a newspaper.

 

Mine looked after it like this:

 

 

 

Comparsion:

 

Edited October 8, 2014 by Turrican

[T-Jay[TK]]

@ Stefan (Turrican): Thanks for that trick . I only have shiny white wall color, but I will find a way to darken it a bit, so that it hopefully looks like the armor itself. Thanks again.

[Bone[501st]]

Well, in my opinion the problem actually is, that the boots and the handguards have a different hue of white in itself.
You can't change the basic color with weathering, at least not with a black wash.
TMs armor is off-white , the boots and handguards are brilliant white.

(Off-White being a white that is toned down and can go in the direction of one of the three primary colors, blue, red and yellow.)
Adding black washes makes brilliant white grey, not off white, and this only in certain areas.

In my opinion you have to add some kind of yellow to the whole thing, but ever so subtle!

Just a yellowish hue. Or maybe yellow-Grey, applied over the whole surface, with an airbrush maybe, and not only in the crevasses.

If you are going with Turricans method, you could add a tiny (and I mean tiny) drop of yellow to the paint.

 

Either way, keep in mind, that you are dealing with two different shades of white ...

Edited October 8, 2014 by Bone

[troopermaster]

Your obsession with having everything the same white is odd. Plastic, leather and canvas materials will never match perfectly in colour. Having different shades of white makes for a more believable costume in my opinion and is strived for in the Biker Scout and Snowtrooper community. It's odd the same cannot be said for Stormtroopers

[T-Jay[TK]]

@ Bernd (Bone) and Paul (troopermaster): Of course the different materials have different shades of white. These will never be the same, no matter what I do. And that's okay to me.

 

The weathering on the hand guards worked fine and it's just a minor color difference. All fine with that, but not with the color of the boots: in electric light they look like some red was added to the white color when the leather got dyed.

 

For a display in a room (with electric light) this looks a bit strange. So all I am trying is to remove this reddish tone (which is not visible on the pictures here).

[T-Jay[TK]]

Update 05:      - minor optimizations and the undersuit
 
It's been a while since the last update, because I was busy with new completion sets for the E-11 blaster. Now here are the latest pictures.


 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
As you can see in the last picture (taken with flashlight), due to the black interior and the balaclava, nobody will see anything when standing behind and watching straight into the bucket. So, every required part is now here with me and all preparation work has been done. The next update will show the full armor.

Edited September 20, 2017 by T-Jay

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Nice little tweaks you did, even if the velcro for the shoulder bridges kinda hurt me . Sure, the bridges will stay in place nicely on a mannequin but i wonder if they wouldn't become noisy when in motion?

 

And that neckseal from Veedox is really nice, i wish i had the same. I just don't know if Stunts had a full tabard like that though.

 

[I'm Batman[501st]]

Love the weathering job Tino, and the little bits to improve the overall look. I like the fact that your picking a balance between screen accuracy and as if it was real life issued by the Imperial - ie; perfect placement of straps, true colouring across the armor pieces, etc.

[T-Jay[TK]]

@ Germain (The5thHorseman):  Yes the velcro on  the shoulder bridges is not screen accurate (and not allowed in current Centurion CRLs), but I didn't like how these looked from the rear side.

Most important (as to all of my modifications): it can get removed  in case of going for rough screen accurate one day...

 

The neckseals for the stunts looked different, but I checked all offers and Chris had the best looking material. That surface convinced me! And the overall quality was higher than I had expected. Thumbs up for this nice piece.

 

 

@ Ian (Sith Lord): Thanks Ian, really appreciated. This is just because I was shocked of how the real screen used suits looked like. Maybe I start liking that look in a few years and begin to undo all my modifications

[T-Jay[TK]]

Update 06:      - pictures in full armor
 
Okay, I had promissed it. Guess I have to deliver now... 

 

Luckily the last picture got some nice lighting, which brings out the armor weathering very good.

Let me know what you think of the result.  Thanks.
 

Edited September 20, 2017 by T-Jay

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Oh boy, that... background!! And the armor is nice too .

I was pretty much expecting something like that. Superb! There's only that common thing of the butt plate riding over the kidney, which is mostly due to the snap & plate strapping method. Other than that, it's just awesome.

[gazmosis[501st]]

Ugh...just awful! Get rid of it! I'll do you a favor and charge you just a little bit to take it off your hands. PM me for my address.

[T-Jay[TK]]

@ Germain (The5thHorseman): Thanks! That background was the most appropriate I found. Although it was quite tricky to get all these pictures done without being seen fully suited up by others...

Any idea what I can do to prevent the butt plate from riding over the kidney plate?

 

@ Steve (gazmosis): Okay, you're right. Will send you the armor AND put that crappy blaster on top, so you can add both to your collection of bad TKs and E-11s from other members here. 

By the way, how many do you have meanwhile?

Edited September 10, 2015 by T-Jay

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Usually, the best way to address that is to use the original strapping way, with brackets. They leave some flexibility to the pieces but not as much as the snap plates, and thus they keep everything ligned up very well. Or you can also be a few centimeters taller .

[Daetrin[Admin]]

I think we should sticky this thread. Honestly, I've seen a lot of armor threads these past 8 years and this is pure gold. The suit is over the top gorgeous and is an excellent example of what can be done. Paul is indeed the armor master and the build / weathering are about the best we've seen on this forum.

 

Amazing job and inspiring - I can re-read this thread numerous times and keep learning something new.

[T-Jay[TK]]

Wow! Even in my most daring thoughts, I haven't expected a reaction like this - especially when considering who wrote these lines!!!

 

If you really want to, please feel free to stick this thread.

Edited December 13, 2014 by T-Jay

[I'm Batman[501st]]

Nice work Tino, well deserved 'sticky'!

[T-Jay[TK]]

Oops, hadn't noticed that this thread really got pinned, until I saw Ian's comment. Thanks for the hint, man

Wow - was quite blown away for a while and didn't know what to say. It's not only the recognition for what I did; much more it is a very encouraging sign to everyone here on the FISD. You don't need to be a member for many years and don't need to have tons of posts, topics or "likes" to do something interesting.

In fact I have to thank countless other people here, because reading and studying their threads turned my understanding of the look and the appearance of our loved TKs into this result. And I would like to quote something Paul (Daetrin) wrote in an older thread from Derrek (Dday):

 

On 28/10/2014 at 8:52 PM, Daetrin said:

(...) The goal of the 501st in the end is to capturing what a person sees while watching the movie, hence no gaffer's tape are allowed on approval costumes.  If you watch the movie on a big screen (e.g. movie theater), what one sees is that some TK's look super clean (Death Star) some not so much (Tantive IV).  I'm happy there are both.

 

On 23/07/2012 at 11:51 PM, Daetrin said:

(...) As a fan you can do whatever you want and totally go to town trying to replicate the props as they were (as opposed to how they looked), but again the 501st can't 100% quite go there.
(...) Fortunately, there is room for both in this hobby - e.g. Star Wars fandom is larger than the 501st, so both can co-exist equally fine.
(...) Some folks are really in to prop replication, but for practical reasons the 501st can't exist that way.

 

On 28/10/2014 at 8:52 PM, Daetrin said:

(...) In the end it's up to the suit owner to decide which way they want to go. (...)

 

The aim of my work was to make the trooper look like if the armor was really manufactured and issued by the mighty empire, but at the same time adding the used-look which some of them had (like on the Tantive IV Boarding Party in the first few seconds of that cool movie we all saw years ago).
The following quote from Ingrid (LadyInWhite) summarizes all that in one line:
 

On 24/07/2012 at 2:43 AM, LadyInWhite said:

I want to look like I walked straight off the screen, not straight off the set. (...)

Edited September 20, 2017 by T-Jay

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Achievement unlocked!

[T-Jay[TK]]

Well, usually threads end at this point, as the build is now complete. Because it was created for a display, there won't follow any trooping pictures in the future - except I get persuaded (there have been attempts already). So I thought you might like the idea of occasionally getting a (more or less) funny photo and I am starting with this tribute to a famous Pink Floyd album cover. Hope you like it.

Edited September 20, 2017 by T-Jay