Rome's Sandtrooper Build
Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 12:05 am
After several, Several, SEVERAL months of sitting on the CAP armor, I'd decided to go TD with it. I was originally going to replace my TK with a more accurate TK that's actually built for my size, but the prospect of painting it was rather daunting in my head. Then, all the 501st melodrama eventually got to me and I wondered what the point of it all was for a long time and it sat, half-trimmed in the basement (along with every other SW costume that sat, needing repairs or upgrades).
It took a little while to get over that hump, obviously, but I've been making steady progress over the last few weeks. Talking with Terrell a couple of times has also helped, and I've been rather inspired lately with the backpack. Screen-accurate canon is all well and good, but I'd rather have a functional backpack, if not a FUNctional backpack
So if that includes lights and sound.... well, then hell, why not?
I was tempted to go take photos of where I'm at so far, but it's after midnight and I have to go to bed, so here's a placeholder to remind me to get some pics up.
5/13/09:
Armor, trimmed, sanded, and mostly glued/velcroed
Helmet, interior painted black. Lens was made with smoke-tinted dirt-bike visor and adhesive backed limo tinting (all from Meijer). Frown painted, decals from TK-4510 applied.
Lower half of backpack with cut-outs for various doohickeys. First coat of primer applied. The four squares on the lower right are adhesive-backed cable-management pieces (stick them to a flat surface, feed a zip-tie through the holes and keep cables and wires wrapped up and neat). Backpack boxes are $3.50 Sterilite containers.
Topper piece for backpack. LED clusters attached to the poles. Duct tapes used as a temporary for mock-up while I feed the wiring. Topper comes from two dollar-store plastic baseball bats that I hacked apart.
Epilogue: that little spot on the chest plate? Yeah, that's my blood. I'd cut my finger on the edge of a manila folder earlier in the day as I was filing my bills and other paperwork. Over a few handwashings, the bandage fell off so I just work without it. Except when I was sanding the shin pieces, the edge caught the cut and opened it back up again, so I got a little bit of blood on the shin piece. And then I looked at the little well-up of blood so I figured "what the hell," and wiped it on the chest place
5/26/09
Strap system installed, did a first test fit.
5/30/09
- Cut out backs of thighs and shins for more movement capability.
- Fixed up belt with more velcro
- Test-fit legs and lower torso, weathering checked out by Humper when he stopped by after his dentist appointment
- Tested battery pack & switch for tracking light/fan controller
- Completed power circuit for spotlights
- Installed mic, amp, and mic-tips in helmet, though still get crap feedback due to lousy Radio Shack system.
- Painted caps for spotlight T-bit
5/31/09
- Cut, assembled, and began painting backpack frame:
Now waiting for the bottom part to dry so I can paint the top part.
Armor notes
It took a little while to get over that hump, obviously, but I've been making steady progress over the last few weeks. Talking with Terrell a couple of times has also helped, and I've been rather inspired lately with the backpack. Screen-accurate canon is all well and good, but I'd rather have a functional backpack, if not a FUNctional backpack
So if that includes lights and sound.... well, then hell, why not?
I was tempted to go take photos of where I'm at so far, but it's after midnight and I have to go to bed, so here's a placeholder to remind me to get some pics up.
5/13/09:
Armor, trimmed, sanded, and mostly glued/velcroed
Helmet, interior painted black. Lens was made with smoke-tinted dirt-bike visor and adhesive backed limo tinting (all from Meijer). Frown painted, decals from TK-4510 applied.
Lower half of backpack with cut-outs for various doohickeys. First coat of primer applied. The four squares on the lower right are adhesive-backed cable-management pieces (stick them to a flat surface, feed a zip-tie through the holes and keep cables and wires wrapped up and neat). Backpack boxes are $3.50 Sterilite containers.
Topper piece for backpack. LED clusters attached to the poles. Duct tapes used as a temporary for mock-up while I feed the wiring. Topper comes from two dollar-store plastic baseball bats that I hacked apart.
Epilogue: that little spot on the chest plate? Yeah, that's my blood. I'd cut my finger on the edge of a manila folder earlier in the day as I was filing my bills and other paperwork. Over a few handwashings, the bandage fell off so I just work without it. Except when I was sanding the shin pieces, the edge caught the cut and opened it back up again, so I got a little bit of blood on the shin piece. And then I looked at the little well-up of blood so I figured "what the hell," and wiped it on the chest place
5/26/09
Strap system installed, did a first test fit.
5/30/09
- Cut out backs of thighs and shins for more movement capability.
- Fixed up belt with more velcro
- Test-fit legs and lower torso, weathering checked out by Humper when he stopped by after his dentist appointment
- Tested battery pack & switch for tracking light/fan controller
- Completed power circuit for spotlights
- Installed mic, amp, and mic-tips in helmet, though still get crap feedback due to lousy Radio Shack system.
- Painted caps for spotlight T-bit
5/31/09
- Cut, assembled, and began painting backpack frame:
Now waiting for the bottom part to dry so I can paint the top part.
Armor notes
-
Cut out backs of thighs so I don't kill myself stepping up and down. -
Tighten waist and chest velcro placement, maybe even trim sides of ab-plate. -
Weatherstripping inside forearm pieces keep falling off due to crap adhesive that's not meant for curved plastic. Glue down with E-6000 so them biznatches ain't goin' nowhere. -
Add belt attachment points to ab and kidney plates. -
Attach right thigh detail. -
Knee plate. -
Hand guards. - Cut more out of backs of thighs and shins
- Separate codpiece
-
Install fans. -
Add more padding. -
Add another coat of paint to chin. -
Install mic tips. -
Integrate power into helmet instead of control from backpack
-
Beat up MP-40 pouch and modify straps so that it fits onto backpack strap -
Weather pauldrons -
Finish the damn backpack -
Replace backpack straps - Replace T-bit with something more solid. Fun concept, not quite so fun in execution