Chaos

Congratulations!

Paul is correct. The black material prevents the "see thru" effect.

Looking good. If you haven't yet done so, the helmet vent screens need to back line with a black material "The vents are cut out and lined with steel small mesh and backed with black material."

I'm a one of the DCAs for the DT and the Primary on the last CRL update. Ideally, your armor should be proportional to your body and maintain the appearance outlined in the CRL. How many "indentations" would you need to remove in order for the forearms to fit you? Get with your GML, explain what your issue is and discuss whether he/she would approve the modification. As Ryan mentioned in the FB group, the CRL does say "approximately" and was worded for situations like this. If your GML has any questions, he/she can reach out to us in the Legion GML/CRL section of the forums.

I'm thinking it may read something like this: Damage and repair pattern; to achieve this, build your DT to Basic Level 1 Standards, once approved by your GML place the armor kit in one or multiple cardboard boxes, then mail it to yourself via your preferred ground/air package service. (Note: for a heavier damaged look I suggest the USPS, for less damage may I suggest FedEx or DHL) Once your kit arrives, make all repairs using gold tinted two part epoxy or bonds. Add gold paint as required. Level 2 will require a minimum of 18k gold leafing. 🤣😅 Sorry, I'm sitting on a plane heading to Hawaii and am bored! On a more serious note, it may take a while to even get this going due to so few available full 360 references.

I think the way we normally approach CRL builds and details. I don't think making this one (to CRL standards) would be as easy as painting the details. As with Kylo's temper tantrum helmet, the cracks will need to be 3d defined. You could for the parts that are not "repaired" but match the V1 and V2 armor pieces, you could use those as cross over elements. I think it would be a cool variation more as a joke to incorporate a green light saber thru the helmet just so I could have the eye lenses lit up 🤣😅

Stop here if you don't want to read a Spoiler for the latest episode of Ahsoka! This latest Death Trooper variant we just saw in Ahsoka gives me a good reason to buy an 850 kit and run over it a few times before assembling it. OMG I'm loving it!!!

I'll take a look at the buckles on Cults 3D to see how close they are. I know those are Shore buckles. If not, I have a 3D file I printed for my buckles you are welcome to.

It is always easier to build to Level 2 than to have to retrofit from Level 1. You can print the TPU straps on a 200mmx200mm bed. Jim's buckles that come with his kit as good for Level 1 and general use as they are, you just need to clean them up a little by sanding and smoothing them. I think Paul's shoulder buckles which are cast or resin 3D printed along with the shoulder straps are worth what he is asking. I don't think Paul has the side armor buckles and straps so would need to source these. I had the capability to 3D print my own designed chest buckles and shoulder straps as well as the side armor buckles and short straps. One thing to keep an eye on is that some of the shoulder buckle D-rings sold out there have a pointed end. The original shoulder D-rings had a rounded point on the front. I did use Jim's side armor D-rings as they were sturdy and looked like the ones on the screen suits. I did however, swap out his side armor D-ring straps for ones I made. The files I made were designed to use Jim's provided side armor D-rings.

I should chime in here about Jim's shoulder straps. His straps are Basic Level approvable and CRL compliant "Attaches to the back plate with shoulder straps that have a rectangular rib detailing, rubber in appearance and matte black in color." They just are not Level 2 compliant. If you have no plans of building your kit to Level 2, you can save the money and use Jim's straps. I wore his straps for a few years after I was basic level approved. I only just recently printed my own straps in TPU prior to submitting for Level 2. Just my 2 cents.

That style of pouch is acceptable, the no visible stitching applies mainly to the flap and pouch area and the color or the stitching. The black side seam stitching is not that noticeable. During the early development, people were trying to use off the shelf pouches that had white thread stitching and we were having them blacken the thread so the "stitching was not visible", this is where the requirement originally came from.

Yes, no stitching showing on the pouch. There are a couple tutorials that individuals made in which they DIY'd their pouch.

@Mal86 Paul, Welcome to the Darker side of the Darkside! I'm looking forward to your build and having another Death Trooper in our ranks. I have Jim Tripon's complete kit; armor, soft parts, undersuit, etc. I did swap out his helmet for an Anovos that I found at a really good price. I can tell you that I went with Jim's kit for several reasons, the 1st being that at the time I built mine, Jim's kit, MCM, and Armory Shop's 3D printed kits were really the only three options at the time. Since then there have been ABS kits by KB Props and 850. Initially the ABS pulls just didn't have the sharpness in detail that I was looking for in a kit. 850 has come a long way with additional 3D printed and cast greeblies to make their kit closer to the screen look. With all that being said, even though Jim's kit will be heavier than an ABS, its durability is a plus in my book. Jim's undersuit is Level 2 approvable just as it comes. He actually uses a faux leather and has his seamstress hand sew each rib so it looks almost identical to the screen used suits. His design of a shirt and pants combination we later found out wasn't how the costumers designed the screen suits, however, when worn under the armor pieces, Jim's kit can be Level 2. His armor kit can be built to Level 1 easily and with a little more work and some minor alterations, can be built to Level 2 standards as well. I was approved at Level 2 with his undersuit and armor kit. If you are going to build any kit, I would recommend taking the extra time and effort to build it to Level 2 initially, you will be very pleased in the end. Please let us know if you have any questions or need any kind of advice, this armor has been around for a while and a lot of progress has been made by our members thru trial and error, and research over the years. Death Troopers will always be a classic! Best of luck with your build.

That looks amazing, were it mine, the only thing I would do is change the red rubber switch cover to black on the counter, and paint the laser pointer wires both black.

@DoggyDoc Gerald, this might help. E-11D Decal Locations.pdf

Both look good, go with it!

I did mine the same way

I cut the ends at an angle so they sit flush against the greeblie, I'll look for a photo

Someone asked the same question sometime back so I had this in one of my folders. Let me know if you have any questions.

Gerald, To be honest, the only CRL requirement is this "Each tusk may be optionally fitted with back lighting which is green when illuminated." Since we never see them illuminated in the movie, it really shouldn't have been a CRL requirement. I remember seeing one scene in the cave that was cut from the movie where they were illuminated and of course there is the concept art which has them illuminated. To be honest even it has a bright spot it doesn't matter, my Anovos helmet which was designed from an original helmet has 5mm holes in the tusks for an LED to be inserted, so that tells me they used LEDS and not light panels. Save your money, and go with what you did here. That's how mine looks.

Ok I am going to get started on this for you. My notes on the photos make perfect sense to me but they may not to you but that's OK, just say "Chaos... WTH are you talking about?!" and I will try and do a better job. Jim Tripon's back piece is awesome and has all the correct details, but one issue I had and it looks like you are having the same issue is that the back of his neck/collar sits a little too high for people with normal necks, this causes the helmet to sit lower and the collar to rise up higher causing the two to "bang into each other and limit your ability to look up. I trimmed almost 1 1/2 inches off the very back and blended the cut line up into the sides of the collar see photos You also need to rotate your back piece up and forward to bring the back edge of the collar so that it is touching the back of your neck seal. By rotating the back piece and collar forward you will also bring the front of the tusks down to where they should be sitting. In order to accomplish this you will need to raise your chest armor up as well, yours is sitting too low the side pieces that go over your shoulders for the chest and the back armor should meet center line of your shoulder, the best way to accomplish this is hold the chest and back pieces in place so they are correctly positioned and then then make a mark on the centerline for each piece and then cut the overlapping pieces so that they meet and are flush. Since I use a tab to support my shoulder bells, my back shoulder piece is slightly more forward but you can see how I have trimmed and adjusted so mine meet flush. You can also see how I trimmed my neck/collar so that the back sits lower. Now that you have the back and chest plates in position, you need to raise up your abdomen armor, it is sitting way too low which is causing everything to push down. As long as you have 2 of the horizontal details showing you are good by CRL standards. After raising your abdomen, you need to also raise your lower back plate with the TD on it, it is sitting too low as well. You can also trim off some of the top of your posterior plate, it will be covered by the belt. Once you have all the upper armor in place and fitted then you can work on your thighs. The bottom of the thighs should be just above the top off your knee cap by about an inch. This gives you freedom of movement when you walk and keeps the sniper knee greeblie from banging into the shin armor I recommend putting a piece of velcro on the front top of your lace covers and put the other side on the inside front of your shins, this will keep the top of the lace covers from popping out from under the shins Lastly, you might want to think about changing the chest ammo pouch vertical straps, they are too wide, the CRL says 22-33mm or 7/8 to 1 1/4 inches. I hope all this made sense and helps out. This armor is very detail oriented and everything has to be adjusted just right for it all to fit together and look right. Let me know if you have any questions etc.

No, they are completely different. To visualize the differences, right click each link below and "open in a separate tab" https://databank.501st.com/databank/Costuming:TX_Sith_Trooper https://databank.501st.com/databank/Costuming:TK_-_First_Order

If you are looking for a prebuilt and finished Sith Trooper kit you are not going to find it. Jim Tripon @jimmiroquai makes a Sith Trooper kit that is pretty spot on but it requires sizing/trimming and assembly and painting.

Hector, I have not forgotten about you, work has been really busy, I hope to have you something by the weekend.