Wook's Totally Dirty (TD) Build - AP

[TheSwede[TK]]

12 minutes ago, wook1138 said:

ie what lighting conditions do you weather for?

My main focus was to make it look good (subjected to taste) up close if that makes sense .....that`s why I stated on my thread that it`s hard to give feedback on the weathering based on photos….but then again our approval is based on photos we send in so.....anyways...don`t go so much on the light as to what it looks like up close would be my advise...when approval comes it`s easy to submit close up shots showing the weathering, I took mine outside and the pauldron looked crispy clean so had to submit a new photo and all was good

I can PM you some examples if you like, don`t want to clog your excellent thread with my pics

[wook1138[TK]]

13 minutes ago, TheSwede said:

My main focus was to make it look good (subjected to taste) up close if that makes sense .....that`s why I stated on my thread that it`s hard to give feedback on the weathering based on photos….but then again our approval is based on photos we send in so.....anyways...don`t go so much on the light as to what it looks like up close would be my advise...when approval comes it`s easy to submit close up shots showing the weathering, I took mine outside and the pauldron looked crispy clean so had to submit a new photo and all was good

I can PM you some examples if you like, don`t want to clog your excellent thread with my pics

I'm trying to make is look good for the camera and not terrible in person.  I figure more people will see the armor in a picture or at a distance.  So - I guess I'm making more work for myself than needed since something can look so different from one picture to the next.  Doing it so it looks good in person might be a smarter idea (as usual, sir ).  The funny thing is - we are trying to recreate weathering from pictures that are over 40 years old, taken with unknown equipment, have been through several editing processes and digital compression, and are now being viewed on non-calibrated monitors. 

 

The weathering should be open to some pretty loose interpretations, IMO.  I guess that is why SWAT can be such a challenge... "eye of the beholder".

[Pyrates[TK]]

This thread is going to come in handy for a lot of Troopers Greg - beautiful work!


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[wook1138[TK]]

Weathering test number two. Airbrush.

So, I tried the airbrush and repeated my mistake of putting the paint on too thick. Left is yesterday’s try and right is today’s.


So I cleaned the piece. The airbrush paint is acrylic but it was much more stubborn to get off. That will help durability so that is good. I repainted with a grey brown colour and then removed all but a few low areas.


Painted in the desired pattern with regular brush acrylics. Same as yesterday.


I will spray two different colours of paint. The darker first (one on the right - they look the same in this pic. ). I’ll remove most of the paint between each layer.  By the way, to get the gritty/sandy look to the airbrush paint, I'm using mismatched needles to nozzle sizes - I think I have a large sized needle and a medium nozzle.  This makes the paint spit out of the nozzle a bit and creates very small splatters.  Perfect for this weathering. 


Done. I also flicked some brown paint on. I may have overdone it with the light sandy colour. I lost some of the depth to the dark parts. Yesterday’s attempt is on the left. 


In sunlight


In lower light.



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Edited July 16, 2018 by wook1138

[wook1138[TK]]

This thread is going to come in handy for a lot of Troopers Greg - beautiful work!


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Thank you sir!


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[wook1138[TK]]

This weekend’s progress. I have been putting off the helmet. I had to do some painting on it, and trying to do that with young children in the house is difficult to say the least. Well, this last weekend the wife took the kids to see grandpa and grandma, so daddy had time to build.

Tube stripes. All the painting will be done by hand. Here, I am measuring out the spacing for the stripes.


First coat. Yuck, I hate doing these things.


Oh, I also did the vocoder. I forgot to mention that I composited original photographs over photographs of my helmet in Photoshop to place the stripes and vocoder details.


Had to place and drill the holes for the Hovi mics . The HOVI mics in the reference picture do not seem to match where the holes are marked for the AP helmet. So, I had to adjust. I also painted the tips of the Hovi mics white as per the reference picture.


Taped off an area for the crack/paint run on the top of the helmet.


The colour was supposed to match HDPE green plastic colour of the original helmets. But this is a bit dark, I will have to tone it down with some white paint.


I also cut some tubing at some funny angle to help redirect the Hovi mics . It is difficult to get them to point in the right direction.


Also final trimmed and sanded the legs and arms. I also added all the snap bases. For sanding, I use 220 grit, 320 grit, 400 grit, and 600 grit. All the return edges were sanded this way for comfort... especially in the upper thigh area.



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[wook1138[TK]]

deleted.  Double post

Edited July 17, 2018 by wook1138

[CableGuy[TK]]

Greg, this really is exceptional attention to detail, and well executed, too. The frown paint, the cracked paint on top...wow!

I really like your weathering so far, too. I’ve seen a lot of very orange TDs recently, which is partly why I chose the Fullers earth method for my lid project, however, your’s is looking very natural so far.

Keep up the good work!

[wook1138[TK]]

6 hours ago, CableGuy said:

Greg, this really is exceptional attention to detail, and well executed, too. The frown paint, the cracked paint on top...wow!

I really like your weathering so far, too. I’ve seen a lot of very orange TDs recently, which is partly why I chose the Fullers earth method for my lid project, however, your’s is looking very natural so far.

Keep up the good work!

Thank you, Dan! 

 

Yeah, the weathering is turning into a real conundrum.  I'm not on board with most of what I see over at MEPD - I just find it too dark and with too much contrast (and that orange colour does not help one bit).  But the final say for PO and SWAT (if I even go there) will be up to MEPD.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Excellent work Greg, looking awesome.

 

As for the weathering colors, that's been up for debate forever. The canon film location is a dirty orange/tan color however. Black and white or low quality, low light canon photos don't help in determining the correct colors, not to mention those could change between troopers. This is probably the reason why the placement of the dirt and other details is what's judged at the SWAT level, not necessarily the color.   

[TheSwede[TK]]

Really great work, excited to see it all come together

[wook1138[TK]]

42 minutes ago, ukswrath said:

The canon film location is a dirty orange/tan color

Where?  Pinewood Studios?    Just kidding.

 

I didn't think to consider that.  I looked up Ajim, and yeah, I see what you mean.  The sandstones seem to be oxidized a bit.  Good to know in helping me decide.

 

I've read that motor oil and sand/dirt was used to weather the armor while in Tunisia.  Is there any info out there as to how it was done once back in the studio?

[ukswrath[Staff]]

1 hour ago, wook1138 said:

Where?  Pinewood Studios?    Just kidding.

 

I didn't think to consider that.  I looked up Ajim, and yeah, I see what you mean.  The sandstones seem to be oxidized a bit.  Good to know in helping me decide.

 

I've read that motor oil and sand/dirt was used to weather the armor while in Tunisia.  Is there any info out there as to how it was done once back in the studio?

And for the record I'm not saying orange is correct lol. They did do a great job duplicating the environmental effects I have to say. 

[wook1138[TK]]

3 minutes ago, ukswrath said:

And for the record I'm not saying orange is correct lol. They did do a great job duplicating the environmental effects I have to say. 

lol.  Copy that.  Yeah, the only part of my armour that I can confidently say will be orange is the pauldron. 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

53 minutes ago, wook1138 said:

lol.  Copy that.  Yeah, the only part of my armour that I can confidently say will be orange is the pauldron. 

lol

[wook1138[TK]]

Last few things. Ammo pack and some final strapping. Still waiting for the tube stripes to fully dry before I can clean them up.

Ammo pack riding low.




Single cap rivet




Arms ready to go. Once some glue drys.

 

I just noticed that the captain does not have bicep hooks.  I guess I'll have to change that sometime later.

Come on paint... dry.


Once I can do a full test fit and if things seem good then I can finally get dirty. Oh, and glue the silicone hand guards to the gloves - tomorrow.


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Edited July 18, 2018 by wook1138

[TheSwede[TK]]

 

6 hours ago, wook1138 said:

Once I can do a full test fit and if things seem good then I can finally get dirty.

Woop woop

[wook1138[TK]]

So, the tube stripes were finally dry! So I cleaned them up a little bit and quickly assembled the helmet. I did not install the lens yet and the Hovi mics still need some (lots of) adjustments. I will also also need to add the HDPE green colour to the crack on the cheek. After some research I think I found a very close colour match to use on the helmet. I will redo the crack on the top of the helmet as well.





I cobbled together a makeshift thigh garter. 3 inch elastic and 2 inch nylon webbing and a buckle. And a bunch of tape.


So I was finally able to do a test fit. My makeshift thigh garter system did not hold up very well and the thighs have dropped a bit in the pictures. The shins have also rotated, I will need to add some Velcro to the boots and the insides of the shins. I also noticed that I will need to hot bath the back tabs on the shoulders so they don’t stick up so much.





I meant to add these parts as well. However, my bucket did not have any fans in it, I had forgotten how hot it gets without the fans. So this fitting was short-lived.


Hot bathing the tab. The one on the left has been adjusted for comparison.

Overall, the fitting seemed pretty good. The true test will be walking around for an extended amount of time to test how the return edges will feel. So, it’s finally time for the weathering. Woo hoo.

Yeah, that is what I look like when I am happy.


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Edited July 19, 2018 by wook1138

[TheSwede[TK]]

That helmet….yeez Experts is going to have a hard time telling yours apart from the original, when looking at it I can almost feel how the trooper on set is about to reach out, grabbing it to put it on

Edited July 19, 2018 by TheSwede

[wook1138[TK]]

3 minutes ago, TheSwede said:

That helmet….yeez Expert is going to have a hard time telling yours apart from the original, when looking at it I can almost feel how the trooper on set is about to reach out, grabbing it to put it on

That's awesome!  Thanks!

[wook1138[TK]]

Reference pics for helmet










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[CableGuy[TK]]

No need for the tube stripe police this time; you’re NAILING this build!!!

[wook1138[TK]]

8 minutes ago, CableGuy said:

No need for the tube stripe police this time; you’re NAILING this build!!!

Lol.  Thanks Dan!

[wook1138[TK]]

Weathering. So, I’m trying to find a balance between what looks good on camera and what looks good in person. I found that my previous test looked pretty good in person but seemed pretty soft in pictures. Because of this I decided to punch up the weathering a bit. I started with the shins since I tend to weather too much and the shins are typically the dirtiest part.

Started by using a sponge to apply burnt umber acrylic paint. I kept on dabbing until the paint was pretty much dry.


Wiped away most of the paint with a damp shop towel.


Did the same thing with black paint but only in some areas and used more of a wash than applying paint straight out of the tube.


I did two coats with the airbrush. One layer was a brown-grey colour and the other is sand coloured. So, four different colours in total were used.


Final

Reference


In sunlight with a clean thigh for comparison.


So, then I jumped into it.


First try was too dark.


So I had to tone it down with white paint.


Compared to shins.


Closer pic with flash.


The shins look too different than the chest. The shins are richer in colour and contrast. Question is, which gets redone? I think I will give the chest another go tomorrow - it looks too "painted on" anyways.


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Edited July 22, 2018 by wook1138

[CableGuy[TK]]

I really like where you’re going with this, Greg. I’m really enjoying seeing your effort to make it look natural, and to specifically mimic screen used. You can’t get better than the look of screen used, in my opinion. :-)

Out of interest, what did you do with the airbrush? Just a light dusting?