Tachyon

Hey guys, been a while I know. I am still working on the project, but real life is leaving me with very little time to dedicate myself at the moment. The joys of no longer being a student... I know I say this every year, but I am hoping that in the new year I will have the time and the funds to be able to have this project completed.

Sorry for the lack of updates gang, been very busy of late with work and trying to get this costume finished in time. The shins have both been moulded and the right shin has been fiberglassed. The Torso armour is almost completed, and the pelvis will be started soon. Sorry about the lack of photos, but with the deadline drawing ever closer, we haven't really been bothered taking photos as we go for the moment. Might just scrape it in, hopefully everything will be ready for painting by the end of the month.

Oh, that's one of the loaves of bread we were cooking at the same time Tasted a bit plastery though But seriously, we were cooking bread at the same time.

Cool, sounds good. Looking good in that pic, bit bumpy, but I'm sure you're already on top of that

No worries mate, from one armour designer to another, I share your pain of being over making a new costume, my seatrooper has been going on 19 months now and I am so far beyond over it, it isn't funny But I'm going to perserver. It's a case of 80% of the project takes 20% of the time. What I wanted to say is that you have a really good base. It really wouldn't take much to get that super awesome look to the suit. There are some bits that may have to be redone, but all in all, you have an awesome start, and I bet you know what works and what dosn't. One thing I can suggest and you may or may not already have it, is get a Mouse Sander to help with the sanding of the bog. It REALLY cuts down the amount of time taken to fix bits up. But also have a respirator, cause it kicks dust around like crazy. There's nothing like a coat of primer to show the defects, and the flash of a camera magnifies them ten fold. So I think you did a good thing by taking approval shots of what you have, because at the end of the day, you now know what it looks like to an observer, and from that, you can work out what you need to do to take it to the next level. That is something I haven't been able to do with the seatrooper yet, and I bet when I do have it all together, I'm going to be saying "That dosn't work, that dosn't work, that dosn't work." Stick at it mate and don't give up, you've got a good thing going. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Hey mate, Firstly, I don't want you to take this too harshly, I hope you take it as constructive criticism, as I really do look forward to seeing an approved phase 2 dark trooper in the ranks of spec ops. And I also definitely don't want to come off as a complete jerk off, I do want to come off as a guy who is also building a first to legion costume who wants to share his experiences and opinions. So here I go, and please read the post completely before complaining to me. When I started the seatrooper, I initially built quite a bit of it in cardboard. When I emailled Spanos with my pictures, he said "No way in hell would I approve this." He then went on to lecture me on how the card did not capture the correct angles in the armour and the details would never be achieved via this technique. Overall, the email response that I received from Spanos was a very crushing essay, and if it weren't for his challenge of getting the costume up to standards, I probably would have given up there and then. Yeah, I know Spanos isn't LMO anymore and I know you're not using cardboard, but having seen the pic you posted, I think the same thing could be said. There are just way too many sharp and noticeable corners in this armour. The shins look way too polygonal. The feet look like slabs of plastic rather than shoes. Another thing that I'd say the LMO would criticize is the helmet. The helmet is the first part of the costume that anyone looks at, trooper or event attendee alike. The first thing that jumps to my mind when I look at your helmet is that the dome isn't smoothly rounded. Then moving down, the trim around the edge isn't even, the face dosn't look smooth and the vocoder/chin is all skewy. The whole thing is bumpy and uneven. What I suggest you do, is rebuild the helmet, or use what you have as the basis for an upgrade. I've seen pics of what you can sculpt, so why not get a plastic head for size reference and sculpt the helmet onto that? I was a relative newbie to sculpting when I did the seatrooper helmet, and while I was getting some professional help, 80-90% of that bucket was all me. Bog and paint isn't going to have that wow effect you want people to have in this costume, unless you're an artistic genius. For the trim around the helmet, I suggest you cut a groove around the brow and put some pinchweld or rubber window seal into the lip, so you get the same effect like on a TK bucket. Then it would be even, and it would add some pizzaz to the bucket. I'd also recommend making some greeblies for the Hovi tips. Cutting some Wooden dowel, adding a groove then making a silicone mould isn't that hard at all, just jump online and look for tutorials. I can even walk you through the steps if you like. This way you'd end up with two greebs, you can cut the painted hovi's out and give your bucket some depth. You could also do the same for grills over the ears. Also, I would definitely do something about the leg pipes going between your thighs and ab. It just dosn't look good with them hanging out all over the shop. Why not make them longer and have them attach to the insides of each armour plate. Or attach them to the undersuit? I really hope that I haven't come off like too much of an a-hole here, but I hope you can take it as constructive criticism. As it is, I don't think it looks close enough to the reference pictures to be approved. It's a good start, but it needs work. The 501st has strict costuming standards for a reason. Back when I submitted my idea of the seatrooper to Spanos, he told me he wouldn't approve it unless I vacformed the parts or did a damn good job at fiberglassing. While Spanos might not be the LMO anymore, I would expect that the current LMOs would have a similar standard for new to legion costumes. Also, it is my understanding that new to legion costumes are required to pass a vote among legion council. So it is all these people that you have to impress. And yeah, I know you've had a new to legion costume approved already, but for something like the phase two darktrooper, would you be satisfied with them passing something that just scrapes in, or something that absolutely blows them away. I am most definitely more than happy to help with suggestions and tips if you want to hear anymore of my suggestions, and I am also happy to back right off if you feel that I am just some idiot who thinks he can tell you how the approval system works. If you want to tell me off for posting this, by all means PM me about it. I know how much I hate being told how to make my costume. I think though that these criticisms are much easier handled coming from someone at the same level than from someone who ranks much higher or the general public (cause they are the harshest critics of all). And I also don't want this thread to be derailed by my post, because it is about Fivezero's Darktrooper build, not my essay of a post. Don't give up, just because one guy (me) is giving you a hard time about it. I just feel that you are holding back, or rushing to get the new costume completed. I think that you are capable of polishing what you have up to become one of the top armours in the legion. It might take some time, and you might have to learn some new skills, but in the end it will be worth it, and you will be completely proud of what you stepped up to the plate and completed. And, not only will you have a kick-a** costume, but some sweet skills that you can apply to other projects in the future. But hey, at the end of the day, it's your costume. I'll leave my two cents (more like $10.50 ) at this though and pass on the challenge that Spanos handed me. Now, to lighten the mood a little;

As promised, a selection of images from yesterday's efforts

Alright been a while since an update, Backpack; sanded, filled, sanded and painting has begun. Bells; Cut out, sanded, filled, sanded, and primed. Right Shin; Moulded, should be ready for fiberglassing next week. Left Shin; Building a rig to sculpt the taper accurately. Shin Jets; Sanded, awaiting a little filling before painting. Torso; Majority of the filling is done, will be sanding it back, then filling again I suspect, but it's getting there. So we are getting there, hopefully we will have it ready for Melbourne Geddon in late October. Pictures of these efforts will be up soon

Ok, so half of the right shin has been moulded in plaster, we didn't manage to get to the other half, because the plaster isn't drying as fast due to the cold. We also silicone moulded the jet greeblie for the back of the shin armour, and cast out a few urethane copies.

Bells are sanded, chest is getting the filler treatment, and the backpack has been filled and in the process of being sanded. No photos from today, because it is a long arduous process of, fill, sand, repeat... But progress is being made. 3 months till my deadline!

Minor update with some pics of the completed belt. Oh and I finally got around to painting the grill on the helmet sensor. Edit: Oh wait, I'm missing the buckles on the front part of the webbing to the drop boxes. D'oh! It'll look alot more fleshed out when I put the cummerbund on underneath it, but I cut my 2inch belt webbing a bit short for that. Double D'oh!

That's it! I've had enough of this damned cardboard torso piece!!! So we pulled a fiberglass frame of it to bog over And also managed to get some bog down on the backpack and the shoulder bells are almost ready for painting Slowly but surely getting there Also, I'm still interested to hear what people think about the possibility of clone arms for the arms of the seatrooper.

Finished sanding the drop boxes and belt buckle today, got the boxes painted, but the buckle broke a little bit, so I need to fix that before painting it. Also got the shoulder bells demoulded and the backpack ready for sanding and filling. I think that's about it for now. I do have a quick question that I'd like some opinions on. Does anyone else thing that with a few little tweaks, the clone biceps and elbow pieces would suit the seatrooper? Anyway, without further ado, photos from today

100% means waiting for paint, but when I have all the parts together, it'll take less than a day to do that. And some parts will be being painted before others too. I want to get that belt completed ASAP!!!!

With my armour In the production queue

More Progress We got the backpack and belt pieces demoulded yesterday and the shoulder bells were fiber glassed. Also got started sanding the belt pieces, so they are almost ready for a primer coat. Just a few more defects to fix. It was like a giant kids dinosaur dig kit We didn't quite get the holes in the backpack drilled though, so I haven't been able to start sanding and filling the backpack yet.

Or silver rub 'n' buff, from what I've heard if you do it right it can come up amazingly. Nice find on the pic

Go for it Lunar Lord! What Izzi said! Can't wait to see some more progress on it

Hehe, cheers guys. A trooper has to do housework some time. @Darth Emphatic; We make a disposable mould of the cardboard/sculpted templates out of plaster, then coat the plaster with a layer of shellac to seal it and several layers of PVA act as a release agent. The plaster moulds are destroyed once the fiberglass has set, but we will be remaking the moulds in silicone (I believe) once we have nice smooth and shiny fiberglass prototype parts. That or the fiberglass parts we are making now will be reinforced to become vacforming bucks. Still to finally decide what our final reproduced pieces will be. Oh, and sorry, I think I misread your question. The original cardboard templates are lined with sticky tape and Vaseline applied to the tape.

Ok, update for the weekend Backpack, Belt Dropboxes and Belt Buckler are all moulded and fiberglassed. I'll be demoulding these during the week so I can fill, sand, repeat. Also played with a little bit of door trim, I think it will work very well in the gap, but just need to build up the lower part of the faceplate so it has a surface to stick to. They say pictures say a 1000 words. So here we go And here's one to show off Skaught's recent shirt run; And after that, I decided I needed to do a bit of ironing for tomorrow; Until next time, enjoy

Yeah, I have to agree that door trim would be the way to go, just haven't been to the foam and rubber store to get some yet. Getting the prototype parts of the rest of the costume finished has been the priority at the moment

Ok, so I can't embed video in a post, so here's the link; Seatrooper Bucket Video This is mostly a proof of concept trial run, there is still plenty to do on the helmet. For starters, I need to cut the light down so that it dosen't stick down over the visor. The final part will just cover the light slots cut in the top of the helmet. I'm also still working on a way to close the gap between the faceplate and the body of the helmet. The raised bits separating each slot in the light need to be painted grey, I'm going to use the same grey used to paint the teeth, tears and traps on the TK buckets. The 'off' colour of the light will also need to be a white color, at the moment it is pink. So all things that need to be changed for the final piece, but at least I know my concept works now What do you guys think?

Ok, so got the backpack moulded today, should be ready to pull the prototype pack in the next week or so. I also got to playing with the helmet a bit today, got some video that I am waiting for my tutor to send me, I think you will like it I'll upload it as soon as I get it.

Nothing fancy to add, just some pics of the backpack pre moulding. Forgot to add the tank toppers, but they will go on before I pour the plaster over the top of it. Just keeping the pics upto date. Oh, and a breakdown of my interpretation of the arm pieces;

Woo, backpack is ready for moulding and the torso is getting there. Skipped the arms for today since I don't have any spare TK forearms at the moment. Just playing with concepts at the moment Mr Fett, they are a very perplexing design them forearms, I'm not entirely sold on the idea of them just being cut down versions of the TB forearms myself, I think probably a blend of TB and TK forearms is what they are, I'll post some reference pics with annotations and pics of the backpack ready for moulding in the morning, getting a bit late at the moment.