My first build, a TD from TM story.

[Sandy Pimpernel[501st]]

This is my first build, and I'm working on a TD from Troopermaster. I'm 5'11" with a very large frame.

 

The brown box arrived (Sept 25th)!!  

 

 

A few weeks have elapsed, and I've made some pretty good progress with the help of my lovely assistant, Scarlet Trooper.  Below are the forearms, which I discovered are the only part of the armor I won't have to add extra shims to.

 

 

The biceps weren't even close to matching up, so I added 2 inch shims to both sides.  I used E6000 to attach them from the interior, then ABS paste over the seams.  When the ABS paste cured, I sanded until I could not sand any longer and now know why they call them "Sandies".    

 

 

My helmet is on the right.  After trimming and cutting out the teeth, I riveted the mask to the hood, then started on the ears.  My first attempt at ears ended poorly.  I barely cut anything off the disks and got the bottom of the ears to match the curve of the tubes on the helmet.  It looked goofy.  On trimming more, I got the curve wrong and was so frustrated that I started a 2nd set of ears that TM graciously included with my kit.  I cut a ton off the disks then slowly trimmed away at the bottom until I got a good match.  When I screwed these ears on, they bowed a bit, leaving a gap that I'm satisfied with.  Painting went quickly and I think it turned out great.  Tube stripes are next.

 

[Scarlet Trooper[501st]]

About time you started your build thread!   You forgot your DLT-19 that came today too!

Edited October 16, 2015 by Scarlet Trooper

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

So awesome to see more sandtrooper builds. Looks like you've got the ABS paste down. You can always do a second pass to get rid of those little pockets. What's nice about doing the way you did is that you can still use the original cover strip size. 

[Sandy Pimpernel[501st]]

Thanks, the pockets will be covered up by the strips on the outside and won't be seen.

[Sandy Pimpernel[501st]]

Just got the blue testors paint in for the tube stripes.  Today, I worked on plasti-dipping the inside of my helmet with the help of Scarlet Trooper.

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Looking great!  I agree, a TM sandy is gorgeous...

[Sandy Pimpernel[501st]]

Worked on sanding some abs today and putting a base coat of white on my helmet today.  Found a really helpful thread about putting on a base coat. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/23204-tip-on-tube-stripe-painting-with-no-bleed-through/

[sandtrooper[501st]]

Great, another TD!

[Sandy Pimpernel[501st]]

Mega Update

I started with a 4 x 3 ft. piece of 2mm ABS and cut out the very large shim I need for the back of my thigh (after measuring twice!).  Because the shim is noticeably thicker and less flexible than the thigh pieces, Scarlet Trooper helped me warm it with a heat gun and get the general shape I needed for the back so it looks like leg armor and not a box.  Then, we did a test fit and glued it in place with E6000.  I still need to apply some ABS paste then sand it smooth to hide the seams, and glue on the cover strip centered on the shim.

I added 2 inches of shim to both sides of the abdomen and kidney.  Glued on with E6000, covered with ABS paste, sanded smooth and test fit.  I still intend to round the sharp edges of the shims with the dremel for comfort and later with fine grit sandpaper for aesthetics.

Abdomen inside

Abdomen shim outside - any remaining defects will be sanded again and then obscured by weathering later

Kidney inside

Kidney shim outside - any remaining defects will be sanded again and then obscured by weathering later

The tube stripes have been a nightmare.  I tried using Panda's templates on regular letter paper, cardstock, laying down a layer of white first, trying different painter's tape, etc.  It always came out extremely blotchy and bled so bad that I couldn't just clean it up with toothpicks and q-tips.  I came up with a method that worked for me and I hope to go home tonight and finish cleaning up any tiny smudges that came out of the process.

Start with Pandatrooper's template and x-acto. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/14867-tube-stripe-masking-templates/
Lay down a strip of 2 in. painter's tape on your cutting surface that is roughly equal length to the template.
Place the template evenly on the strip from the previous step and tape down all edges of the template to hold it in place while you cut.

Cut out the stripes and press down firmly enough with the knife to cut through the tape that is below the paper strip.

Use the edge of the blade to scrape up the paper and then the slit of tape underneath. 

Peel off the template and tape that was used to hold it down.

Very gently, lift your new tape template...

...and place it on the tube.  Lay one side of the tape strip down on the tube, then lightly stretch the tape to follow the natural curve of the tube. Press the tape down firmly with your finger and then again with the back of your thumbnail when it's positioned correctly (sorry no pics of this).  If you made the paper template run parallel with the edges of the tape, you can use the margins on your tape template to align the stripes where they need to be.

 

Next is finishing the neckseal, starting the belt, and finishing the remaining work on my thighs.

Edited October 24, 2015 by Sandy Pimpernel

[Scarlet Trooper[501st]]

Thanks for taking over of the tube painting. I was gonna throw my helmet against the wall!

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Good work! When I did my shims, I only did it on the kidney side but I cut flush and removed the stock kidney notch and then recreated it at the end of the shim. Fairly certain what you have won't effect basic approval but unsure about Police Officer status on MEPD. I do know that even PO status has started to get a bit less forgiving based on recent deployment requests. 

[Sandy Pimpernel[501st]]

I don't care about PO or SWAT levels. I keep reading in the mepd forums and here about how getting into the upper tiers is "restrictive" and not "accurate". Not saying they don't care about accuracy, but those aren't the descriptions used by current and former mepd members. I'm making this to get approved in the 501st and trying to keep it as screen accurate as possible, considering there wasn't a single on-screen TD my size with large shims on everything. Shouldn't the notch on the kidney plate align with the corners of the butt plate instead of move to my sides? There's maybe 2 shots of a TD kidney plate in ANH and neither are the character I'm using as source. I'm trying to get my build to closely resemble Davin Felth (look, sir droids) and that actor didn't wear shins during filming <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://forum.mepd.net/?showtopic=10833'>http://forum.mepd.net/?showtopic=10833</a>

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

The notch should be where the kidney meets the ab piece. I'm not sure where you heard the PO and SWAT are not accurate. SWAT is as screen accurate as you can possibly get. In fact, MEPD has been around longer than FISD and their deployment standards is something that influenced the creation of the EIB program (I learned this all on the awesome newsletter from this month). I'm also going for Davin Felth's "Look sir, droids". If you want to see a SWAT level submission for that trooper, check out Millenium1's submission posts http://forum.mepd.net/index.php?showtopic=13397&st=0

[Sandy Pimpernel[501st]]

My stripes came out great!  I still needed a toothpick to clean up a few splotches.

Edited October 24, 2015 by Sandy Pimpernel

[Scarlet Trooper[501st]]

Posting on your post about the post that I posted.  Here is your DLT-19 butt stock.  Butt hehehe.  Sorry, Minion joke.  Anywho, anyone how is interested I did a wood grain effect to my T-21 and Sandy Pimpernel's DLT-19.  I painted a few coats of matte black with acrylic spray paint, then used the same acrylics that we are using to weather our armor once complete. Basics burnt umber and raw sienna.

[Scarlet Trooper[501st]]

The notch should be where the kidney meets the ab piece. I'm not sure where you heard the PO and SWAT are not accurate. SWAT is as screen accurate as you can possibly get. In fact, MEPD has been around longer than FISD and their deployment standards is something that influenced the creation of the EIB program (I learned this all on the awesome newsletter from this month). I'm also going for Davin Felth's "Look sir, droids". If you want to see a SWAT level submission for that trooper, check out Millenium1's submission posts http://forum.mepd.net/index.php?showtopic=13397&st=0

There is a lot of issues with what is "screen accurate" to me, since the actors who played the Sandtroopers wore each other's armor in miss matched configurations. http://www.looksirdroids.com/davin_film.htm. Neither one of us are interested in doing PO or SWAT, for the price to have to get all the upgrades of two backpacks, two different weapons (because Hyperfirm aren't "good enough") I can by another set of armor or do other costumes. The actors also didn't wear all of the armor in all of the shots. There are several shots that when you look at the behind the scenes photographs they only have armor on from the waist up.

 

FYI, the 501st was originally a costuming club centered around Stormtrooper armor, with the founder Albin Johnson being a TK himself.

Edited October 24, 2015 by Scarlet Trooper

[Sandy Pimpernel[501st]]

My neck seal didn't turn out that great, but should still be good enough for 501st approval.  I ordered a proper replacement that should come in a few weeks.

 

I spent the past few days finishing up my thighs.  Some of the ABS that I smeared on the shim seams left some pitting after I sanded.  I applied a 2nd thinner layer of ABS and will sand it smooth tomorrow.  I'll post more pics when I'm satisfied with the way they look.

 

Scarlet Pimpernel and I also worked on our snap system.  My back parts are complete.  I'll be working on the front pieces today and tomorrow.

 

I want to install the hovi mic tips on my helmet tonight, but not sure about technique.  I see a lot of finished mics tips that look good on the forums, but haven't found a guide that helps me know where to drill the holes.  I'm pretty sure I just drill straight back in the center of the bowl and fasten the mic tips in with the nut and washer that came with my kit.  I'll take before/during/after pics that may hopefully help someone else who likes more detailed instructions like me.

Edited October 27, 2015 by Sandy Pimpernel

[Sandy Pimpernel[501st]]

I'm getting behind on posting and haven't been the best about taking progress pics.  Scarlet and I are getting into the final/finishing stages of our TD builds.    Sometimes it's overwhelming working on our 2 kits together, but we've been finding that the teamwork is helping us go much faster that we would have been able to alone.

Ok, so the mic tips were a bit easier than I thought.  I read on some other threads that some kits have a tiny dimple in the space where the mic tips go and to drill straight through that.  It worked out really well.  The dimples are hard to see, but here's the progress pics:

Find the dimple

Drill the dimple

Screw in the mic tips

An additional step that's not shown above is we went back and added a touch of white to the end and inside edge of the mic tips for accuracy, then added some glue to the screens, as they were a bit loose and I imagine hard to replace if we lost them at a troop.
 

Then I did some finishing trimming, sanding, and glue picking to get my upper body pieces ready for weathering.  Scarlet Trooper and I ended up trying our weathering out a 2nd time, as the first attempt (2nd pic below) came out too splotchy once we wiped it with a wet rag.  We found that hot water and a wet rag with a bit of lava soap will scrub off all paint easily and leave no scratches.  Scarlet got really into the 2nd weathering attempt and I like the first layer of burnt umber on my helmet.  

 

 

More pics for these parts soon:

After doing some finishing sanding on my thighs, Scarlet made me a garter system to hold the thighs in place.  I helped her design the webbing garter belt, using our dog's collar as inspiration. Scarlet sewed some elastic loops for the hand guards and we used ABS paste to adhere the loops to them.  There was some minimal warping, so I wouldn't recommend ABS paste to anyone else.  In hindsight, E-600 would have been better here. We added another layer of burnt umber acrylic paint mixed with some gray last night as we felt just having the burnt umber looked too warm on its own.  Adding fuller's earth tonight to finish weathering on upper body and helmet.  We followed TM's advice on belt building and used this diagram to help align the buttons and rivets: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/28772-belt-measurements-question/

We followed TM's advice (clamp, align, drill, rivet - no heat) on knee ammo pack placement and riveted, then trimmed the curve, using a tube of caulking as a guide to draw on the curve at the ends before cutting with curved lexan scissors.  We later added a blob of glue between the knee ammo pack and thigh to keep it from moving up or down. I cut some new shims (2 inches each) for the back of my calves, then glued them in place.  Scarlet warmed the shims with the heat gun, then shaped them to my calves so they look more natural.  I picked the glue out and added some ABS paste that I'll be sanding away later tonight to get as much of a flush appearance as I can.  Once that's done, I'll start weathering my leg pieces. Scarlet cut out and glued in the screens for our mouths last night, will check on how it holds with E-6000.  She also touched up a few spots on the inside with more plasti-dip.  Our last step on the buckets is to install the lenses.  I'm going to try to affix the film we got with our kit in a temporary fashion, as we ordered a different set of lenses that I want to try out.

Edited November 6, 2015 by Sandy Pimpernel

[Scarlet Trooper[501st]]

In case anyone was wondering, I ordered lens from the same lovely gentlemen I ordered our pauldrons from.  https://www.facebook.com/Imperialsupplydepot/?fref=ts

We were their first order shipped to the US!  

[Sandy Pimpernel[501st]]

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Weathering came out awesome, Chad!

[Sandy Pimpernel[501st]]

Adding the belt snaps.  We heated the snaps that we set in ABS so they curved with the abdomen plate and glued them in place.  I didn't think our magnets would hold them in place well, but it turned out just fine.

 

Covering the rivets on my belt with buttons:

 

The minor warping on my hand plates were obscured pretty easily with some very fine grit sandpaper and weathering:


 

Back of my thighs before weathering, but after 9 inches of shim, ABS paste, cover strips, and so much sanding.  I think the shims were obscured/blended pretty well.

Screen mesh after E6000:

 

Calf shims after ABS paste and a lot of sanding:

Test fitting out my armor, I found out my 2 inch shims on my calves were just barely enough.  Scarlet helped warm and shape the calf shims so they sit a bit more comfortably and look better when on my leg and closed with elastic strips.  I still want to work on them more later, but I'm getting kinda burned out on tweaking my calf shims every other day.

First coat of paint, but before rubbing quite a bit off to make room for 2nd coat of gray-burnt umber mixture and later fuller's earth:


Finishing the fuller's earth layers in the garage:


Close-up of butt plate.  The incandescent lights make it look more orange than it is:


 

Here's the part everyone cares about: I 'finished' my build and am submitting for approval!

 

Other things I still want to work on after taking a short break:

Tweak any remaining parts of my DLT-19 blaster to make it troop ready.

Add an additional snap and elastic strap to the sides (lateral to the fronts) of my thighs to keep them in place better.

Fiddle with my calf shims until they sit how i want them to.

Replace my film lenses with stronger hard plastic lenses.

Replace my neck seal with the one I ordered.

Find some more comfortable gloves that breathe.

Look into buying/installing a voice PTT system.  I want to do a few troops before I decide I need/want this enough.

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

You did a fantastic job on those thigh shims, I can hardly tell in the before and you can't at all with the well placed weathering. Great job! I know how you feel about wanting to take a break. Besides the wife and kids, that's the main reason it's taking me so long to complete mine. Just get burnt out after making change #10000. 

[Scarlet Trooper[501st]]

I JUST put the clear coat on your DLT-19, since I just finished putting the greeblies on my T-21. FINALLY we are done!!!!!!!!!!!  I took pictures of it for you and uploaded them

[Scarlet Trooper[501st]]

It's official!!!!!!