Bradley's HWT Build

[AngryEwok[501st]]

Disclaimer: Out of a general love for the Battlefront games and how they were made, throughout this build, I have included a plethora of Battlefront (2004) and Battlefront II (2005) screenshots and texture renders and compared each individual part of the in-game pack to the corresponding parts in the CRL and noted how they differ. If you are building a HWT pack for 501st approval, please do so according to the standards set by the CRL -- not according your interpretation of the in-game pack! 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Drop Siphon Funnel

2. Middle Tube

3. Vent Box

4. Bottom-right Box

5. Button Box

6. Radio Box

7. Mortar/Antenna Tube

8. Pack

 

MATERIALS

1x WEDCO 12.5 qt. drain pain, $14.94 from Fleet Farm

1x Popit! Stackit! set, $15.61 from Amazon Warehouse

          Button Box - XE-041 container 6.6" x 4.75"

          Vent Box - XE-051 container 8" x 5.6"

          Bottom-right Box - XE-061 container 9.1" x 6.6"

1x squirt bottle cap (Drop Siphon Funnel, top)

1x 1L Nalgene Bottle (Drop Siphon Funnel, upper)

1x Takeout cup (Drop Siphon Funnel, lower)

1x 30 ct. Clorox Wipes bottle (Middle tube)

1x Self-Adhesive Bumper, $4.76 6/pk from Wal-Mart

2x bottle caps (Radio Box, knobs)

1x 24" 2x2 PVC Pipe (Mortar Tube), $5.12 from Home Depot

2x Flat Pipe Cap, $3.53/ea from Wal-Mart

 

TOOLS, PAINT, ETC.

Rust-Oleum Satin Slate Blue, 12 oz., $10.96 from Amazon (this was really pricey for me because no one had it locally)

Rust-Oleum Satin Black, 12 oz., $3.67 from Wal-Mart

Bondo Body Filler, 12 oz., $7.97 from Wal-Mart

 

References

HWT Pack CRL

 

EIB's and Centurions with the WEDCO 12.5 qt. drain pain: 

TK 20466

TK 10737

TK 10204

ukswrath's pack build

 

 

Edited December 6, 2017 by AngryEwok

[AngryEwok[501st]]

 

I'm starting off with the Drop Siphon Funnel component because I had all of the materials in my kitchen pantry. As you can see, the CRL standard^[#1] very closely matches the model in-game. Specific measurements are not required^[#2] but I want to be careful to recreate the general proportions. The upper should be about one-third the length of the lower, and the entire component should be approximately 9.5" tall, one inch taller than the so-called "Middle Tube." 

 

 

 

The upper portion of my Drop Siphon Funnel is the bottom half of a 1L nalgene bottle, appx. 3.5" diameter per the Standard. First, I'll use the belt sander to sand the bottom of the upper piece so that it sits flush on top of the lower piece. 

 

 

Done. As you can see, I was able to get the upper perfectly flush to cup with the belt sander. 

 

Now its time to address that recess at the top of the element. All of the HWT's at the Centurion level have a nice flat surface. ukswrath achieved this affect by using E6000 to glue a piece of yard sale sign on top of a cup, then trimmed the edges flush after the glue dried^{[#6, Scroll to 5a]}. I've decided to fill-in this recess using bondo.

 

 

Done. I believe it will pass inspection.

 

As for the lower piece, others have used different types of funnels and printed models and even craft paper for this, some of them coming out more accurate than others. Because this piece is more prone to break than any other part of the pack, I want to go with something that is sturdy but that I can replace without any hassle. I'll try a run-of-the-mill plastic cup from a favorite local restaurant of mine. The measurements of the cup are 3.75" diameter opening, 2.75" bottom, 5.75" tall -- a little too wide and too short, just like me. While I was working with the bondo for the upper, I went ahead and put the leftover bondo on the bottom of the cup, too, so as to fill-in the recess and cover all of the recycling logos. Not a necessary step, but it won't hurt and it gives me just a little bit more experience working with the stuff.

 

The eight rivets around the rim of the funnel are a detail added by 501st members which is not discernible in-game, and for that reason not required^[#3]. I'm going to go without the rivets because the sandtrooper pack mushroom caps do not have rivets, either, and this was obviously the inspiration behind many elements of Pandemic's HWT pack.

 

Speakings of the sandtrooper pack, the guys over at MEPD recommend Rust-Oleum Satin Slate Blue for the various blue-gray parts on their packs^{[#4, MEPD]}, which is similar to what ukswrath used^[#5] and what I'll be using, as well. So let's paint...

 

 

Done. I'm pretty pleased with this.

Edited December 6, 2017 by AngryEwok

[AngryEwok[501st]]

 

Here we have the Middle Tube element which is a 30 count Clorox Disinfecting Wipes container. The lid is black, the body is Rust-Oleum Slate Blue.

 

I've painted the lid with satin black and I'm ready to move on to the container.

 

One thing I have noticed with other builds is that the moulding seams and HDPE rating at the bottom of the Clorox container are still pretty visible even after painting. I went over the bottom of the container with bondo to cover this up. This isn't a necessary step, even for Centurion, but it is something I wanted to do. 

Time to paint...

 

 

The Standard features a black stripe with optional screws going down the face of the Middle Tube. Most of the HWT's have done this by simply taping off the stripe, but I have also seen folks glue something down, as well. I'll be using a magnetic strip which I can remove once I clear the CRL. I'll explain why:

 

Although on the surface this is pretty much the most boring part of the pack build, it offers a really good illustration of the challenges of creating a CRL for this pack. For one, its not actually a tube in the game because of hardware limitations, but visually we all understand what it is representing and so the CRL calls for a cylinder, not a five-sided polygon. But there's more: as you can see, the texture as it wraps around the middle tube appears to be mapped incorrectly. It isn't broken, per se, otherwise it would probably show up bright pink or just invisible, but I'm confident this is not how the guys at Pandemic wanted the tube to appear.

 

As an amateur texture artist, I was determined to pour over the texture^[#1] and figure out (1) what is going on with this piece, and (2) how Pandemic intended for it to be displayed: 

 

    

 

If you look carefully at my red-outlined areas of the in-game model, you can see that Pandemic intended for the Middle Tube and the Drop Siphon Funnel to share the same red-outlined area of the texture. Clearly, the HWT pack was supposed to resemble the sandtrooper packs #2-5, which all feature two blue-gray cylindrical canisters with separate black domed lids, called mushroom caps^[#2].

 

 

But it appears Pandemic accidentally mapped the pink-outlined side of the Middle Tube to something else, perhaps the MP40 pouch. The result is a weird, compressed texture at the most visible part of the Middle Tube, which the 501st has re-created in the HWT CRL as a black stripe!

 

So what was the pack supposed to look like?

 

 

Now! All of this is super interesting to me (and probably only me), however there is a giant caveat to this and any other rabbit trails I go down: back in the good ole days, videogames used to require imagination to interpret what exactly was being presented to us on the screen in very low resolution. The 501st CRL doesn't work that way. Is it okay if the Middle Tube isn't exactly 8.5 x 3.25? YES! And is it okay if you use Valspar Silver Fox instead of Rust-Oleum Slate Blue? YES! But if you're seeking CRL approval, build according to the CRL.

Edited December 6, 2017 by AngryEwok

[AngryEwok[501st]]

Edited December 6, 2017 by AngryEwok

[AngryEwok[501st]]

 

As you can see from the various screenshots, in-game this bottom-right box appears to be angled downward at the front, but our CRL, I think mercifully, allows for a simple box. And that's what we'll be doing.

 

Rather than glue a panel on, which is sort of the standard practice with most of our HWT's, I decided to cut the windows directly out of the box so that I could adjust depth on the inside.

 

 

Not perfect, but after some sanding it'll do just fine! Now for the paint...

 

 

She's painted! The interior is actually the lid, sanded and painted. I will be darkening it just a tad more, as I only want a little hint of that Satin Slate Blue to peek out. The depth of the interior is adjustable, which is what I was going for. If someone wanted to get fancy with LED's for non-official events, this would be a great place to do it without getting into trouble as far as clearing the CRL goes. 

 

Edited December 6, 2017 by AngryEwok

[AngryEwok[501st]]

Edited December 6, 2017 by AngryEwok

[AngryEwok[501st]]

RADIO BOX (Front)

 

Edited December 6, 2017 by AngryEwok

[AngryEwok[501st]]

 

This should be the easiest piece to reproduce. I got lucky and my Home Depot had a 24" of PVC precut for about $5. I'll hit it with two coats of the satin black.

 

Home Depot didn't have flat end caps, and so I ordered some offline from Wal-Mart. You can modify rounded ones, but I didn't want to do that if I could just buy the things flat for the same price.

 

The "white plate" with the seven bumps is a curious feature. The Sandtrooper pack mortar tube uses the thermal detonator, which Pandemic could have done, also, as the texture is already in-game. Instead, they went with what appears to be the shoulder strap. Weird decision. In any case, I've seen two methods for reproducing the plate: 3D printing or just using a spare shoulder strap.

Edited December 6, 2017 by AngryEwok

[AngryEwok[501st]]

Well, the WEDCO 12.5 qt. drain pain has arrived! She's coming together!

Edited June 30, 2017 by rbsmith7

[CrookKnight[TK]]

I would be careful not to deviate to far from the CRL standard.  Keep in mind that a lot of time and research was put into the original and revised CRL.  My recommendation as an Centurion HWT and pack builder is to construct your pack as close to the "Standard" as possible.  Basing your build on the low quality game pictures (which is why some of the pieces are blocked) you are risking not getting approved by your GML.  This is just some friendly advice, please do not take it the wrong way.  Thank you and look forward to watching your build.

[AngryEwok[501st]]

Absolutely, Shawn. I've seen at least one person build his pack (and even modify his armor) according to his interpretation of screenshots rather than the CRL and he was really disappointed when the 501st couldn't approve him. Guys and gals, if you're aiming for CRL approval, please build according to the CRL!

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

On 6/24/2017 at 8:03 PM, AngryEwok said:

Absolutely, Shawn. I've seen at least one person build his pack (and even modify his armor) according to his interpretation of screenshots rather than the CRL and he was really disappointed when the 501st couldn't approve him. Guys and gals, if you're aiming for CRL approval, please build according to the CRL!

I could not agree more.  Since there are no film screen shots (only video game) the measurements for the CRL were approximated.  Before we created the CRL and look of the "accepted" pack, the variations were all over the place.  People were adding flashing lights, video monitors, LCD displays, etc.  (everything short of a mirrored disco ball).

In addition, we tried to create a pack that could be constructed using items that were readily available to most Troopers, like oil pans, food containers and such that would still capture the "spirit" of the one seen in the game, and create some much needed continuity.

Obviously some do not have access to certain items and must improvise as they go along.  Nothing wrong with this at all.  If the measurements of the radio box or other pieces happens to be a bit off of what is listed, it is no big deal.  As long as the finished item is "..styled after and closely matches..." the one seen in the CRL you are good to go.

 

[magni[TK]]

You didn't see my Disco Ball Joseph?

Probably was watching movie on my radio

Seriously, glad to see another HWT in the making

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

17 minutes ago, magni said:

You didn't see my Disco Ball Joseph?

Probably was watching movie on my radio

Seriously, glad to see another HWT in the making

[Caligari[TK]]

Fantastic build thread!  Can't wait to see the finished pack!

[MaskedVengeance[Staff]]

I was recently thinking more about the revival of my own HWT thread and came back to this AWESOME thread to find the images missing! But alas, the image links were still live (and simply not displaying), so I added this thread to my growing list of compiled PDF documents for posterity and ease of printing or display on tablets or mobile devices. HERE is the PDF! Thanks for the thorough evaluation and resource, Bradley!