Fivezero

That's what I used to mess with the Darktrooper model

Sanding actually isn't too bad with this rondo mixture. A lot of the sharpness in the angles goes away with every coat. It's also very easy to sand down once it's set. Here's one of the kneeplates, one of the more angular pieces of armor. A couple minutes of sanding is all I've done so far to it. A little bit of spot putty and some more sanding and this thing will be done. Every other piece has been coated once with rondo. I plan to finish up a piece or two throughout this next week. If everything goes as well as it has, I might even have this thing done mid-July. I also decided to wait on the vac-forming until after it gets approved. Hopefully I can send it in for approval sooner since I won't have to form then assemble plastic armor.

Essentially, I got sick of waiting around with no progress. Seeing Shaggy's Sithtrooper build has really inspired me to get back on track with this and try the Pepakura approach. The last couple weeks I have busted out most of the armor pieces needed. I went the hard way and hand drew every polygon for everything as I was still messing around with the program and hadn't figured it out yet. I took a small break the last week before I damaged my finger, all that cutting put a lot of pressure on my fingertip and it started getting a little numb. In that break I messed around with Pep. and will use it to finish off the last couple pieces this week. Everything else has some coats of resin and now awaits "rondo" to smooth it out. Hopefully everything will be ready by the end of the month and I can start vac forming them by early July. Possibly have it all together by August? Here's the feet for you guys. I'm thinking of doing these in some flexible material rather than vacuum formed plastic. I think they would look too silly (and imagine the noise of them hitting the ground) if they were vac formed. Current progress, parts in red need to be pepped, white parts are assembled and resined. After putting this little model together and seeing everything in scale with each other, might increase the size of the chest/back a little. That's all for now, I'm getting there! Fivezero

So I've been kind of stuck doing research for this thing; clear plastic, lights and paint. Scootch has been helping me test out PETG for the clear armor, so far hasn't gone so well, but it's testing so what can you do. We're going to try some thinner pieces to hopefully resolve the issues. Lighting has been figured out as well, just need to place an order for the LEDs. But I'll probably hold off on that until the plastic situation is figured out and I have the armor pieces. Finally been trying to figure out the paint colors. I think I've figured out what I want for the silvery color on the armor, still need to test some paints for the other grayer color. I'm leaning to the one on the right. It's a little darker, glossier, smoother and cheaper than the one on the left. I've also decided I'm going to go a totally different route than Crazas with the paint job, mostly because the darker gray is not quite as dark as the unlighted version. The paint scheme is also different, the helmet (for example) is one solid color. Soon, very soon... Fivezero

Slowly but surely have I been working on this...update pics coming soon.

Huh, looks like my last post in this didn't work. Anyway here's a link to more pictures of the armor set: http://s910.photobucket.com/albums/ac308/Fivezero50/SWG%20Armor%20and%20Nova%20Variants/ I think I posted this awhile ago, but here's the SWG Shocktrooper armor. And I found another character with the Shocktrooper armor, but black! He's Sergeant Snopel and is the commando-profession trainer for new players.

Found this while looking around last night, not quite what we need though.

I found some more SWG troopers while running through some museums in-game the other day. Imperial Forest Camouflage Armor - First Edition: Current Armor in-game: Here's the game description: Imperial Scout Trooper Forest Camouflage Armor. A recent development from Imperial Ordinance. Not routinely issued to troops. Apparently what happened was the Camo Stormie came out, and players complained so much about its ugliness that it was changed. Creating the Scout based armor that exists in the game today. If anyone needs better screenshots, I can try to get some of the Scout one, since the Stormtrooper-based one no longer exists. Just thought I'd share for another possible trooper (Forest Trooper?). Not sure if this would be us either. Fivezero

So did some more messing around with the lighting (but now on the helmet!). Here's what it is looking like so far: I wish it was a bit brighter (I was using a 9v battery, which is slightly dimmer). Also I was messing around with my Medic bucket, so everything wasn't in the ideal place for the LED strip. But overall it gave me a good idea of where the lenses need to be placed to help position the LEDs better. I did some messing around with the frown too but couldn't get any pics since the strip is pretty much dead from my abuse of twisting and bending it into various shapes.

Well that's an interesting place! Thanks for that! Looks like there's one not too far from where I live either, hmm...... And I wasn't going to use the Power Wheels battery, it was too heavy and chunky. The lantern battery I figured would be lighter, but still seems to be pretty big to hide in my backplate. So many options and things to think about.....

I tried hooking the strip up to a 9v battery, which worked pretty good. It was slightly dimmer than all those AA batteries. Also, I came across this battery while looking around the other day. My only concern might be size and especially weight (probably wouldn't be as bad as I'm thinking). I lifted a battery like it, but was designed for those little motorized jeeps for kids, and that sucker weighed a ton. However I don't think this will be anywhere near as bad. Anyways, the armor I have is currently primed and ready for some paint (once I decide what I want to do with the paint). And I may have something worked out to get the rest of the parts in clear plastic I've also found a frosted glass spray paint to help disperse the lights from the LED's, so I might be trying that out soon.

Well I was pretty exhausted from studying from exams when I wrote that last night, so Darth's post sounded much more serious than it is. I was unsure if people actually thought I was considering the car battery. So if I misinterpreted you Darth, I'm sorry Fivezero

Yeah just to make this clear, I never really planned to use a car battery for the obvious reasons of weight and size. I did some quick measurements and all of the AA batteries I would need could fit in the back plate. However the idea of the laptop battery is intriguing and I think I'll look into that for an alternative (cause I really don't what to be going through that many batteries).

I know it's still a lot of batteries but it's a lot better than the 120 or so that I originally calculated doing each strip with its own power (had to think of some thing better than that, still looking into some better LEDs/power sources though) Though a car battery did cross my mind at one point....

It takes about eight AA batteries. But I think I have a plan worked out to only use about 24 batteries for everything.

Well I got an LED strip to try out. I have one thing to say, they are BRIGHT!! Here's a comparison picture (the EL wire is on the bottom). So yeah, it looks like I'll be going with those for the lighting. And here's another quick shot of the strip shining on the ab plate (just a quick little fun picture).

I did some experimenting with the wire today. I placed it under some clear plastic that's been fogged and over parts like the ab plate where it will shine on to. My only problem with it was that it just wasn't bright enough, so I'll try scrounging around for some high brightness wire tonight. Otherwise it's some cool stuff. And I haven't been able to find this red stripe on the knee plate Crazas. I spent a good two hours running around in different places as this trooper and never saw any red on the Xbox version. However, I was able to find vertical stripes on the traps and tears on the helmet of this guy, I got a little bored looking at the legs all the time. Nothing too intensive with the armor yet, but soon.

Hey, no problem Tori. I'll tell you how it works out. Anyway, I decided to do some more research into paint and lighting schemes tonight. So I popped my disc in the Xbox and did a little running around as this trooper. Based on some of the screenshots I saw from the Xbox/PC versions of this trooper, I felt the extent of the two tone armor of the Wii version wasn't the same (I originally thought it was all one color). And after messing around in the lights in game, it pretty much wasn't the same. I found out the two-tone only exists on the chest plate, thighs and the ab plate (even then it seems like a difference between glossy and flat paint). Everything else looked to have the same silverish shimmer when I moved around. I also happened to find this as I frolicked in the lights. The red piping on the boots. I looked back at the other reference pics and if you really look for it, you can barely see it. So I might have to incorporate that to the boots.

Wow, thanks a bunch Tori. I was originally going to use LEDs, but this seems like a better light source for what need. I just ordered a strip to try it out.

Well now that both of my Novas are done and approved, I am bored again. I would work on the Darktrooper but still waiting for a machine. So to keep me busy while I wait, I try to make another one of these. Unlike Crazas, I think I'll try to attempt the lighting as well. Here's what I got so far, refurbishing my old armor kit (it's really beat up, despite just being approved I had worn it a few times for things). I kind of "freaked" out at the thought about what to do with my old Nova kit since I just bought and assembled the AM kit. I also watched Tron and Tron: Legacy last week (had a little influence with the decision to do the lighting), then while bored one day came across this trooper again. So I immediately decided this would be my new project. I hope to try and use clear plastic to do the lighting for the required parts and just paint over the rest of the armor not being lighted. I thought about an approach to just cut out all the lighted sections, but then started worrying about seams between everything. I plan on doing lots of different tests on some clear plastic I have coming. I'll figure something out. Fivezero

Since I have no updates for this yet, I'll throw this picture up for fun. My attempt at trying to sculpt the helmet (I didn't really want to show this picture after I took it). A number of factors influenced my decision to scrap. First and most important, I had just discovered the Nova Medic about the same time as this picture was taken (that is my Medic bucket underneath it before paint of course). Second the standard TK bucket (now TX ) had too many differences (notably tube size and shape) that it threw off the rest of the rest of my Darktrooper helmet. And finally my sculpting skills aren't the best. I probably could have had a good helmet if I had kept working on it and tweaking the details. But I wanted to get the Medic done since I had the parts for it anyway, so blame the Nova Medic. Still waiting though...... Fivezero

Thanks a bunch everyone! Fivezero

Hey! So I was just notified that this thing has been approved! Woot! Fivezero (now to finish up the kit, and get back to the Darktrooper)

Well I got an AM kit the other day after receiving feedback on the Medic. I decided to just go ahead and upgrade to the black ABS (I'm sick of paint). That and the fit is so much better, no huge massive gaps and no shims needed on the legs!! Anyway after working on it all weekend the entire kit is surprisingly just about together. I was just hoping to get the chest and back put together, but got a little carried away and was in a good rhythm. Now I need to attach the knee plate and thigh belt and paint and assemble the arm armor (however those will be gold not light red). Still doing some adjustments and trimming to make it a wee bit more comfortable but it's coming together nicely. So here's a pic for you guys (sorry the camera lens was dirty, so if looks splotchy that's why). I hope to get some new pics taken in the next couple days. Fivezero

Here's an update for everyone. The cap latch, one of the hand guards, bayonet lug, stock hinge and the rear sight. I also started working on the new tube as well. It still needs some of the more complex cutting done to it but all 76 of the vent holes are drilled out. And today, I received a resin Hengstler counter for this thing. Update! (I know, really quick): the front sight, other hand guard, trigger frame and the magazine well have also been removed. Getting closer to the finish now. Fivezero