Ruthar's AM 2.0 TD Build Thread

[Ruthar[TK]]

I think Sonnenschein here on the forums makes them. If not, check MEPD as that's where you're most likely going to find a supplier.

 

I'll definitely fish around over there - hopefully I can track 'em down. Thanks!

 

 

You're good.

 

Too bad, I just cut up a pair I didn't need 

 

Ok thank you - just want to make sure I'm not seeing things wrong from the movie stills. It's too bad I didn't mention the hand plates sooner!

 

A few more things this evening while I still wait for some E6000 to dry. Found an old belt tucked away in a drawer and decided to make some thigh garters out of it. I'm going to try using nylon for the straps instead of elastic as I don't want them pulling down at all, but it's going to be a work in progress once I get to test them out fully.

 

 

Added in the bicep strap in the shoulder bells. Once all the glue is dry for the arm snaps and the elastic straps are all built, the arms should be complete.

 

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Nice belt! 

[Ruthar[TK]]

Nice belt!

 

Thanks! The system works pretty well. Might need to grab a pair of suspenders just to really ensure they stay where I want them. It worked fine for just tromping around the basement a couple times, but I'm not entirely convinced they will stay put for a troop. But that has yet to be seen!

 

In other news we are certainly getting closer now! Only a few teeny things left to do before the full fitting happens.

 

- gotta trim an arc in the back of the thighs where it lands behind the knee for better mobility. Right now it's just a little uncomfortable to move, so that should clear it up no problem.

- the shins are too long so I'm going to need to take a bit off the bottoms. Currently the shins and thighs are too close and the ammo belt and TD knee plate keep making too much contact.

- need to go buy some sew on snaps to get the arms attached to the shoulder elastic

 

Other than that, everything seems to be finished or nearly finished fitting-wise. Still weathering to do which will certainly take some time and gotta get the pouches (en route) on the belt somehow. Regardless, here is what we have:

 

Grabbing a tote to store things in - might be a little small but it'll work for now. Plus it has wheels for ease of transport - bonus!

 

The good news is that it seems I have a bit of time on Thursday to get a bunch of things done. Hopefully I can do tirst full fitting then which I'm definitely looking forward to!

[Ruthar[TK]]

I think it's time to take a small break from armorcraft for a little light reading.
 

 
Seriously hoping to find the key to accurate blaster shots in here...

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Being 5'5" I know the pain of thighs and shins touching. Took me a lot of trimming on the shins. Throwing in the thigh ammo pack really screws with getting it dialed in. 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Loving the literature 

[Ruthar[TK]]

OK, finally got everything ready to do a full test fit so here are some shots:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated of course! A few things I have already taken note of:
 
1) the top inside of the thighs will need to be trimmed back for more clearance with the cod piece - they slide and pop with each step so a touch off that region should quickly fix that
2) the strapping for the abdomen needs to be adjusted to pull in the gap on the left side
 
The biggest question I have at this point is how to keep the shin pieces down upon the boots. They tend to push up and out (as seen in the last shot) instead of staying down onto the boot in place where I want them. Should I hold them against the boot via velcro or is there another method you guys have used?
 
Anyways, thanks for all the help so far - looking forward to 'moving along' into the final stages!

[TyWebb1075[501st]]

I have seen some people secure their shins to their boots via a piece of elastic sewn to the front boot loop and the other end with a snap on the inside front of the shins. I think there is a thread on here somewhere showing how that is done.

 

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[TyWebb1075[501st]]

Regarding your chest plate, notice how it covers your top ab button? You're going to want to raise your plate higher and possibly trim the bottom off and create a new return edge. Check out the TD CRL pic for reference.

 

 

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[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

I put velcro on the front top of my boots and on the inside of my shins. When I put them on, I line up the velcro and wrap it around my leg and then close it like normal. 

[Ruthar[TK]]

I put velcro on the front top of my boots and on the inside of my shins. When I put them on, I line up the velcro and wrap it around my leg and then close it like normal. 

 

Excellent, thank you all for the info! I hunted around for some more options as well and found this thread. So if the velcro isn't enough, perhaps this will fix the problem nicely.

 

 

Regarding your chest plate, notice how it covers your top ab button? You're going to want to raise your plate higher and possibly trim the bottom off and create a new return edge. Check out the TD CRL pic for reference.

 

500px-TD_sandtrooper_full.jpeg

 

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Yeah, the chest piece is just slightly big on me (length and width), so some trimming will have to come. I want to heat up the sides and pull them in a little more as well so they rest snugly against the ab piece.

[Ruthar[TK]]

So I just finished "Battlefront: Twilight Company" the other night, and throughout the book they kept referring to power/battery packs for blasters. So this got me thinking - what would something like that look like? I still have no idea, but I received my canvas ammo pouches from Trooperbay and realized I had an opportunity. It seems popular to fill them with wood so they hold shape nicely, but I thought why not fill it with something a little more interesting? So, here's what I did for fun!

 

1) First up, I found this post over on MEPD  that has MP40 magazine dimensions. So I went over to Home Depot to start gathering materials, the first of which was 1" square aluminum tubing which I cut into 9 1/2" lengths.

 

2) Next I put gorilla tape on the bottom of the pipe so it doesn't tear the ammo pouch going in and out. I also wrapped a bit of the tape around a 1/2" PVC plug to fit it snugly in the other end.

 

3) Originally I was going to use bolts for some detail stuff on the top side, but then I came across these hose clamps which I thought would look neat. So I forced them around the top of the tube and hammered them on before tightening the screw.

 

4) Then with a heavy duty screwdriver, I clamped down the hose clamp as tight as it would go and glued in the PVC cap with some E6000.

 

5) Then it was time for some painting! Just a little black spray paint was all it needed to look uniform.

 

6) I found some small craft corks at a local craft store and though that they would make a nice detail piece on the end. Painted them red to look like some sort of actuator button.

 

7) Then I glued the little corks to the top of the power pack with a dab of super glue. While at the craft store I also picked up a white paint pen in order to write on some serial numbers on the cartridges. I took some metal pieces to the one on the left to scratch it up and also smeared the paint pen a little to give it a 'used' look, so my trooper will be carrying two new packs and a used one (because we obviously don't litter with used power packs of course!) I also painted the nut blue for a little more detail.

 

8) And here's what they look like finished inside the pouches. Now if someone asks me "is there anything in your pouches?" I can say "Of course! This DLT-19 doesn't run on just air alone!"

 

 

Edited November 21, 2015 by Ruthar

[Ruthar[TK]]

Got a little bit more done today. Trimmed up the thighs, put velcro on the shins and boots to hold them in place, and put some soft material around the bottom edge of the shin to prevent chipping of the paint on the boots.
 

 
A few days ago I did the plasti-dip treatment of the interior of the helmet as well as installed the harder green lens material from Trooperbay.
 

 
Last but not least, I did the first round of weathering! This took me what felt like forever, but I think it's coming along as I intended. Let me know what you guys think of the weathering so far so I'm not too far off the path. As with the troopers in the film, I'm trying not to go too heavy with the weathering and leaving a fair amount of white exposed.
 

 

[BobasDent1138]

Awesome! I think the weathering looks great!

 

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[ukswrath[Staff]]

So I just finished "Battlefront: Twilight Company" the other night, and throughout the book they kept referring to power/battery packs for blasters. So this got me thinking - what would something like that look like? I still have no idea, but I received my canvas ammo pouches from Trooperbay and realized I had an opportunity. It seems popular to fill them with wood so they hold shape nicely, but I thought why not fill it with something a little more interesting? So, here's what I did for fun!

 

1) First up, I found this post over on MEPD  that has MP40 magazine dimensions. So I went over to Home Depot to start gathering materials, the first of which was 1" square aluminum tubing which I cut into 9 1/2" lengths.

 

 

2) Next I put gorilla tape on the bottom of the pipe so it doesn't tear the ammo pouch going in and out. I also wrapped a bit of the tape around a 1/2" PVC plug to fit it snugly in the other end.

 

 

3) Originally I was going to use bolts for some detail stuff on the top side, but then I came across these hose clamps which I thought would look neat. So I forced them around the top of the tube and hammered them on before tightening the screw.

 

 

4) Then with a heavy duty screwdriver, I clamped down the hose clamp as tight as it would go and glued in the PVC cap with some E6000.

 

 

5) Then it was time for some painting! Just a little black spray paint was all it needed to look uniform.

 

 

6) I found some small craft corks at a local craft store and though that they would make a nice detail piece on the end. Painted them red to look like some sort of actuator button.

 

 

7) Then I glued the little corks to the top of the power pack with a dab of super glue. While at the craft store I also picked up a white paint pen in order to write on some serial numbers on the cartridges. I took some metal pieces to the one on the left to scratch it up and also smeared the paint pen a little to give it a 'used' look, so my trooper will be carrying two new packs and a used one (because we obviously don't litter with used power packs of course!) I also painted the nut blue for a little more detail.

 

 

8) And here's what they look like finished inside the pouches. Now if someone asks me "is there anything in your pouches?" I can say "Of course! This DLT-19 doesn't run on just air alone!"

 

 

I used foam blocks, the kind you find in electronics packaging. Nice and light but firm enough to make the pouches look full.

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Looking good!

[Ruthar[TK]]

So I tried to add velcro at the tops of my boots to keep the shins down, but didn't have all that much luck with it. I considered doing the stirrup method of attaching the shins around the bottom of my foot, but figured that might be a pain to get on and off a little. So, I came up with this:
 

 
I attached two strips of 1" elastic to the boot elastic, installed some snaps, made four new nylon snap plates, and glued those into the insides of the sides of the shins. Once the E6000 dries on the shins, I will give them a whirl - hopefully these snaps will keep the shins down to the boot and keep them from twisting side to side but still have enough give for mobility all the while.

[Ruthar[TK]]

Decided to get a touch more weathering done tonight as well, so here is the second round of weathered parts. Will be doing the ab, kidney, and butt plates later on tonight.
 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Nice work! I'm still attacking my second pass per my GML's recommendations. Just hard to find the time with work, school, kids, and wife. 

[Ruthar[TK]]

Nice work! I'm still attacking my second pass per my GML's recommendations. Just hard to find the time with work, school, kids, and wife.

Thanks! I've been using Pandatrooper's method (found in this helpful video series) with just the burnt umber but in different grades of heaviness for different shades of brown in various parts of the armor. That being said, here are all the parts weathered in that style. Once they are all dried I will put the whole thing on and finally take a look at how it looks on me tomorrow.

 

 

 

Also! The strapping system to hold down the shins worked marvelously. So if you are looking for something to help keep your shins down against your boots instead of grinding against your thighs, I can certainly recommend it. I also submitted the first part of my application for 501st membership yesterday evening, so things continue along nicely. Just waiting for my neck seal and spanish pouch to arrive, then we can start accessorizing!

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

That's the same method I'm using. Just going back and giving it little more weathering. My GML wants me to get rid of a lot of white so I'm also trying to dull the white down with the cloth I used to rub off weathering and a little water. Then I'll go back and add the 3 color mix for the oil look just like he did in the tutorial. Fortunately, the "look sir, droids!" has quite a few SWAT level approvals to look at. From what I can tell, the majority of weathering is kinda open to interpretation except for distinct markings. I've seen some a lot dirtier than others. You're definitely on the right track. Hopefully one day we can troop together!

[Ruthar[TK]]

That's the same method I'm using. Just going back and giving it little more weathering. My GML wants me to get rid of a lot of white so I'm also trying to dull the white down with the cloth I used to rub off weathering and a little water. Then I'll go back and add the 3 color mix for the oil look just like he did in the tutorial. Fortunately, the "look sir, droids!" has quite a few SWAT level approvals to look at. From what I can tell, the majority of weathering is kinda open to interpretation except for distinct markings. I've seen some a lot dirtier than others. You're definitely on the right track. Hopefully one day we can troop together!

 

Oh I'm sure our paths will cross at some point! If not we will make it so. Been keeping an eye on your build thread over there - can't wait to see what your full kit looks like all weathered and sandy!

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

I have the rest of the week off so hope to get it done and submitted. I have a Star Wars night hockey game on the 5th I want to troop at.

[Ruthar[TK]]

I have the rest of the week off so hope to get it done and submitted. I have a Star Wars night hockey game on the 5th I want to troop at.

 

Excellent, can't wait to see all the submission shots and to hear about upcoming successful troops!