Fivezero

The day has finally arrived. The pictures have been taken, no joking this time! Unfortunately some of my batteries went missing (they dropped behind my desk when I grabbed them, didn't notice). My shins unfortunately were not able to glow. BUT I was able to see that everything still worked alright (mostly, at least the lights did!) when I was all suited up. The lights that were powered, stay powered, no connections broke and everything seemed alright! However, in my excitement to get the build done, I may have forgot some straps and a couple pieces of Velcro here and there, you'll see. Just realized I forgot my mic tips too, whoops!! I also didn't pad up the forearms, figured they would be alright with all the electrical stuff in them, guess I was wrong. Otherwise everything looked like I hoped it would (looking at you shoulder bells). I'll stay plan on some clear upgrades in the future since LEDs are so much better to work with than EL tape/wire. But I'll go get some more extra batteries and strap that chest plate so it isn't going everywhere. Fivezero Oh and for you TRON fans out there! Been dying to take this picture for the last couple years.

Calling all troops that have followed this build, if I do not post full pictures of me wearing the whole suit by this FRIDAY, then feel free to spam my Inbox until I post up pictures. Thanks, Fivezero

Hey guys, thanks for being patient! I've been working on them here and there, but been occupied with school. I have however told myself that I WILL work on these parts this week (thank you Thanksgiving break ). Anyway here's a little peak at something I put together, a new chest box! I'll be doing a little vac forming with this, hopefully it all turns out well! It will be much bigger than the contours of the chest plate, that way you guys have plenty of material to give a nice snug fit. Really all I have left to do is bondo the rough knee plate I have and finish up the shoulder bell. Still trying to figure out if I want to vac form them or make them out of resin (leaning towards vac forming). Just need to sit down and finish them up! Fivezero

Somebody has a friend!

*Dusts this thread off* "He's figured out how to do it" - Kevin Flynn, Tron: Legacy I've been wanting to do this whole suit for awhile now. However I have never been able to find a good way to go about the whole suit, thus it always faded to that long lost corner of my project list. Well I watched Legacy again the other day and got inspired to try this again and as I sat in bed and thought that night, I had an epiphany (hence the quote above ). So it's time to get this whole suit made up! Here's the plan! I got my hand on the 3D model from the TRON: Evolution game, I was originally going to use the 3D model to make up some Pepakura templates, but the model, well, was terrible. But I realized the other day that I can use the texture files and print them out at full scaled size and use them as a general template to get the basic shape and then add the details later! Here's the Chest texture as an example, I learned to up the brightness a lot so I could see the lines easier. Here's the whole leg as well. You can see that I didn't mess with the texture too much before printing and as a result had to spend some time looking for the faded lines. The whole thing will be made from foam, keeps the whole thing flexible so I can fit it to my body a better and I'll probably coat it at the end to make it look like rubber. It probably won't be 100% accurate either, some of those curves... scare me.... I will triumph though, and get something that looks pretty close in the end! Fivezero

Well got this done, don't have any pics of the whole thing on me (I haven't been great at the whole wearing-the-suit pics concept lately). But here's how all the armor turned out after painting and some weathering (I thought I told myself I would never do anything with weathering again, guess I lied). I also decided after a test fit, that I might make up an ab plate or something else, it was a little too armored to not have anything there. The forearms need some tweaking as well. But for now that's two projects off my crazy list! Fivezero

Looks awesome WickerMan!! Fivezero

Ditto what Griffin said! I love McMaster-Carr! They have all kinds of cool stuff to buy and have great prices on everything. I usually get things next day from them (I only a few hours away so that helps), they are very quick to ship. Fivezero

Had another productive day on my custom Sith. Started by getting some boot armor made up, still have one more piece to finish (just a couple pieces to glue together). Moved on to a new cod piece, letting the glue cure a bit, then I'll glue the two pieces together. Also got the chest detail piece thingy glued on the chest plate. Started working on a new belt and ended getting all the details added too. Also got the legs finished up and finalized the look of the forearm! Tomorrow I'll try and get the other forearm made up, finish the other bicep, boot armor and cod piece and get the shoulders curved and ready to go (wow this thing is almost done, not bad for 3 days work ). After that I'll get everything cleaned up a bit more and ready for some paint! Fivezero

Been awhile since I've worked on these, but I've gotten a lot done on both Sith suits..... I've been getting an itch to do something custom for awhile now, something free from the constraints of accuracy from screenshots. But the other day, during my drive home from class, I was thinking about how I have a lot of projects and I've been getting a little anxious about getting these guys done (I hate boxes of armor that stare at me and taunt me everyday, yes you too TFU Shadow...). Anyway I came up with a brilliant idea to combine elements of the Sith Acolyte and Darth Malgus into a single suit with some custom stuff thrown in for the heck of it. So here's what I've done the last two days. Got a new chest and back plate made up. New shoulders too (need to curve 'em). Here's what I've done for Malgus's stupid chest detail thingy (pain to make...). I was going to make it from foam originally (no clue why...). But I made up a quick 3D model that I used to make some templates. Decided to use the Sith Acolyte handplates, liked them a bit more than the Malgus handplates. Added the claws too, they're a little more subdued than the regular Acolyte claws. Now for the legs! I really love the Acolyte legs, and really hate Malgus's leg armor (just so much stuff to worry about and make). I did combine some elements on the back of the leg armor, notably the Malgus rear leg armor and added a couple strips to simulate the padding he wears. Gave the legs a bit more detail, the backs were very plain.... The little scribbles are from me trying to sort out how to paint them. Finally I've started on the arms, the regular Acolyte arms are very short and squat (didn't look too good on me). I made an elongated version with some custom touches, still have a lot of work to do on it. Needs some trimming in spots and some etching on top. Here's a shot with all of the armor for my arm! I'm reusing my Malgus biceps, and you can see that I added the "padding" but it's not really padding obviously (that stuff is a pain to make and look right with foam). I'm also going to be using the Acolyte thigh armor instead of Malgus padding. I'll be making a new Malgus belt and cod piece as well and I think that will about do it for the armor. I'll probably get a Jedi tunic to use underneath as well (I have no plans for any kind of ab armor). And finally I'll top it all off with a Malgus cape and hood. I might finish up my Sith mask (or get one) someday to finish it up (but still thinking on that). So it's a little bit of both Sith. I've just been getting a little tired of constantly having to follow reference pics (and Darth Malgus has so many stupid little details, hence why I haven't worked on it in a long time). This gets rid of that stress for these guys, I get 2 projects knocked out at once and I get to my custom build I've been wanting to do!! Should still be a fun and menacing costume in the end! Feels good to work on something again!! Fivezero Oh and I discovered another new trooper that I've been working on (you guys will love him). He's done but I need to take some pics...

Superglue could probably work, but not much sticks to EL tape, most of the EL tape on my forearms is coming off now. I'm going to try some superglue to see if that helps at all. But there's also a little overhang of plastic on the EL tape (it's laminated with PVC to protect/strengthen it). You could probably sew it on using that, but be careful nonetheless.

EL tape (and LEDs) basically generate no heat, so you'll be fine!

Looking good WickerMan!!! I love getting to the end of a build and knowing you are so close! Fivezero

Well I can tell you there isn't that much more extra weight.They're about half the length of a AAA battery, so any weight added is insignificant. They're little 12v batteries I got at the hardware store to power the LED strips (which need 12 volts), to put that in perspective you need about 8 AA batteries for the same voltage. I also found some nice battery holders to tuck them away nicely in the different armor pieces. Here's a picture of them: All 11 of those will power the lights on the suit. I decided to power each piece of armor individually, didn't want wire's running everywhere between armor pieces. But as you can see, they are tiny. Keep asking questions if you got them!! Fivezero

Wow, just re-read what I wrote and that didn't quite come out like I was thinking (woot for being tired!!) Like Toddo, said gloss or matte is fine! And no chrome, just dull silver (most silver spray paint I've used is plenty dull enough). "The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." - Albert Einstein

You could probably do some wiring for the LED strips to make them rechargeable. The strips I use (and like many others) only have a positive and negative wire which you then have to attach to a battery. There are rechargeable batteries you could wire in (I'm inexperienced with this kind of stuff, so I don't where you could get it....). I can tell you that the LED strips are very energy efficient, though. The first 12v battery I bought two years ago to test the LEDs still powers the strips to the same brightness. And it only cost about $2 a battery or so, about $20 total.

So here's my thoughts on the lighting for this guy. I would use EL panels and tape for just about everything. I think with the lighting that would be a perfect match. There's a lot of flat space that's lighted on this trooper, unlike my TFU Shadow. Eventually I'm going to be replacing all the EL stuff on my TFU Shadow (need some clear armor first), it can be a bit of a pain to work with (inverters, relative inflexibility, pain in the butt to glue, etc.). I'd also recommend LEDs for the visor (place a strip above and in front of the visor), you can't see through EL panels. However you should be fine with using EL panels and tape Toddo. All those flat surfaces suit the EL very well. Getting EL tape/panels wrapped around complex curves is not fun. Just stay away from the wire, it won't help you touch much on this build. If you need anything else, let me know Toddo! Fivezero

My suit's glossy isn't it? The only time matte will be probably be required is for the Specialist requirements when we get those nailed down (specifically Game/Art Specialist path). But we haven't really discussed that far yet, we've been concentrating on the base CRL for now.

Novatrooper Sentinel without pauldron: Novatrooper Sentinel with pauldron:

No problem, if you need any detail/close-up shots or anything, let me know!

Here's the pics! Very interesting in some spots, tri-colored shoulders by the looks of it and different colored kneeplates.... Ignore the lightsaber and sideways pouch too. Also looks like a bit of a darker/flatter gray than the Shadow Stormtrooper. Have fun with it!!! Fivezero

I can get you some!! Unfortunately my game doesn't want to seem to load.... Once it finally decides to get with the program I'll get some taken!

Link to pics! Yep finally took them!!! Fivezero

Alright now that the Silver Nova is approved, it's time to awaken/dust off this beast again. I got a couple small things to take care of; the boots need some touch up and the thigh belt needs a little more heat. Very minor things. Pics WILL be incoming very soon. Fivezero