Ensi

Wow I kinda feel bad for abandoning this thread ? I'll get back to this soon, i'm working on my E-10 at the moment. Can't really walk around with the ANH.. Some pics: For wrapping up the armor portion of the thread, would videos be of interest? Would it be easier to understand how I made things go together, or are pictures adequate?

Thanks man! If you log onto the main 501st website, go to "Membership DB" on the left side, click costumes total, then click "click here for table view", then click on TX Special Ops, you can see the total number approved. I checked it before my GML approved me and after Thanks man! I'll tag you once it's done, still need to take some pics and write up the table of contents! Thanks! Yeah, I didn't go overboard on the weathering. You can always add more later! Think I might do that soon.. I've been on one troop so far with the costume, and it is really comfortable. Only qualms I have with it is wearing the respirator on your face, it's a bit hard to move your head with the hoses. Might have to replace the hose connectors with swivelling ones or something, but it's not terrible. Also I want the version of the helmet which is longer, I can't really see out my goggles as the helmet sits too far up. I can either get a new helmet or remove the bike liner, but have to think about that for a possible level 2. (ps: I am using an ANH E-11 at this troop pls don't kill me, working on the E-10)

Things have been going at lightspeed the past week, been busy and haven't had the time to update the thread.. But I can announce that Mudtrooper #26 has been approved! The first in Nordic Garrison (Norway, Sweden, and Finland) TX-61514 ready for flying in no time! Still a couple of kinks to work out, upgrades to do etc. Finish the E-10.. Can't allow myself to use that ANH E-11 But pretty happy! Will post the few updates I have after my vacation Will also add a table of contents for easier navigation.

Completed the yugo buckle respirator straps. The way I have it threaded here makes the frontmost buckle lift a bit. I added a blob of E6000 and clamped it down overnight to make it stay. Did my helmet strapping. Rectangle rings onto webbing onto leather which were E6000'd into the helmet. I have a large head, so I had given up on the bike/skate liner. But I was browsing a hardware store and found a helmet cheap, it fits and sits really well but does make the helmet sit a bit too high for my liking. Nothing bad though! Installed into helmet using velcro, sits like a champ. My chinstrap consists of a buckle on one side and velcro on the other. Making it removable. Of course, couldn't resist trying it on.. Gives you a real motivation boost PS: Nike pants are not approvable sadly Hose connection on the respirator. I designed this up and added it with two M4 screws. Available free here (fits Jim kits): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1D_WbICFH2OioMPttiAMBTItbyOhGKLcZ?fbclid=IwAR26xrHC4HazSuDbQqPaSabhfSdpfAq3IPJ2hRXAM1AxbiCa9bpKRBgLVQY Same thing on the back, but with a single M8 screw. Have it not tightened 100% and it swivels! Here you can also see my resp strap. Cut the hoses to length For the updated telemetry unit I decided to mess it up. I mixed some 5min epoxy glue and dabbed it on with a crunched up paper towel. Looks real good, this will need a few coats of spray putty to get rid of the print lines. Also sewed on the connecting buckles onto the plash, makes it sit at about mid-calf length. This is for safety when trooping. Will get some better pics of the plash later if anyone wants.

Filler-post to reach next page on next post.

Great to see another muddy in the works!

Further revised the plate and i'm happy now. CURVED TELEMETRY UNIT FILE FOR JIMS HELMET (STL) I split the parts for easier printing but whole file is also included. Holes are 3,3mm meant for tapping M4 threads, An M4x10 screw fits perfectly. Indents on the front for helping align the small parts. DOWNLOAD

The TU file available has a flat backside and as such doesn't sit very well with the helmet. As you can see, mine flairs out quite a bit. Screen used and original TU file: Since you can't really shape 3D-prints I modded the file and added some curves. What do you guys think? Is it still protruding a bit much? Since it's gonna be curved I cut up the main components from the plate for easier printing.

Sick! Congrats

I think it looks a bit too symmetrical/even and a bit much of the light color. Wiping some of it off unevenly should make it just right Great work so far!

Lenses! I had a spare hobart lense from a friend which I am using, sadly score and bend did not work out too well. This material likes to snap. So I cold-bent the material with a metal ruler and got OK results. Glued them to the goggles using CA and also added an extra score line in hopes to make it more apparent. I also had to heat-bend the lenses a bit (where i'm pointing) to make them sit more flush. I ended up heating them a bit too much with the heatgun which caused some warping, but rather that than a 1-2cm gap Cut out the rubber gasket for the goggles and CA glued it in place. This was honestly the trickiest part so far of the build, along with the goggles. I glued it piece by piece and not all in one go, had to do some trimming too after installing. After I was done I noticed it could've been a tad higher on the top part, but I don't think it looks too bad TU time, pulled out the drill (nervewracking) and drilled two 4mm holes in the helmet after some measuring. Tapped the TU holes with M4 and installed it with two M4x10 screws (+ 2 nuts on the inside). But something's missing.. There we go For the goggle strapping I had a video showing it but YT seems to be down now, so all I have is this: After my previous post @areilly found what is the closest match to the serrated buckle we have at the moment in the facebook group. So I am just running with the voguestar buckles for now, until someone offers up the correct ones. Starting from the goggles, I used: 25mm webbing->serratedbuckle->25mm elastic->40mm elastic. Completed helmet+goggles pre-weathering:

Now for some more aerosol VOC action.. Started on the respirator, goggles, and large buckle by putting some spray filler on them and giving them a fine sanding. The buckle was 3D-printed and received a good, thorough sanding to eliminate print lines beforehand. Protip for painting small parts, loop some masking tape over itself and put it on the bottom of your parts to lift them up to avoid it sticking and making a mess. And well, who said this hobby was cheap.. Before painting I added some polishing compound by toothpick to simulate a bit of chipping. Here's the painted buckle pre-weathering: Respirator was first sprayed matt/satin black, focusing on covering the mouth area. Then masked the canisters + mouth and sprayed green. I then masked everything but the canisters and gave them (and the goggles) 2 coats of gloss black and 2 coats of clear. This is preparation for the airbrushed Alclad. Drove over to my friend and sprayed some Alclad Chrome on the parts. We experimented a bit, since these parts were gonna get handled we gave both parts a coat of Alclad Klear Kote. This dulled the finish so we gave it another Chrome layer, which helped a bit. We tried another, and just made it worse so we stopped there. The result? A pretty good steel/metal look instead of chrome. Which is kinda what I was going for anyway Here compared to the first pair of goggles in my thread Now the next challenge.. is the mystery serrated buckle on the goggle strap. I have the Vogue Star ones but do not like them a lot, so i'm going to attempt to make my own. Wish me luck

Splitting this post into two parts to prevent megagigapost. Been hauling donkey the last few days on the build This is how my shins look after installing all the buckles I really like the buckle method of connecting the shins, however they tend to sag a bit and flair outwards. To combat this I added a strip of elastic over the female buckle, making it possible to stretch the buckle out when connecting, then just releasing it into place. Also added some webbing to keep the rubber strap somewhat in line. Added an upper snap to my boots and also the straps, will think about adding a lower one too. Now for the plash connection, I also want to use buckles, and installed some on my chest piece. Will take some time later to test a lot and sew buckles to the plash as well. Also note connecting snaps for the collar webbing. Chest straps, in a hurry I installed these without checking how they would sit, and ended up with the buckles sitting way too low on the chest. I ripped it off, cut off 1 and a half rectangle, and reglued it. Looks correct now! Lower belt Dremel'd a hole in the hinged drop box and glued elastic to it for ease of movement. All boxes were screwed on with small washerhead screws Helmet got its black "rubber trim" painted on and also Philo's disks installed.

How about adding something like this for the Telemetry Unit on lvl2? -Telemetry unit is an off-gray black with a rough surface/heavily weathered

The connecting buckles on mine will most likely not be adjustable, there is too little room for it so the rubber straps dont have a large gap. I also don't think i'll grow much in the leg area and also some slack for movement is always nice. As I like to say, a picture says more than a thousand words and a video says more than a thousand pictures, here is a test fit after temporarily installing the buckles. Showing how easy it is Here i've cut 1 rectangle from the top, and 4 from the bottom, this for me leaves just enough slack. Going to leave it as is to test and also add some velcro or snaps to the back of the straps to keep them somewhat in place.

Well after doing some heavy procrastination I got a bit done this weekend First up was cutting the slots for the respirator, buckle and webbing fits nicely but I might have to add some glue to the bottom as the buckle lifts a bit. Second, I had sprayed the straps with a rubber coating (PlastiDip, just not PlastiDip) and then sprayed the Fosco color, but after a bit of handling.. well.. this: So i'm planning to just go straight for the color coat on my next try, but first up some assembly as to do as little handling as possible. For the chest straps I tried magnets but the ones I had were not holding as good as I wanted. I do not want anything to accidentally come loose under trooping. So I sewed some velcro on the strap and E6K'd it onto the buckle. This same reason is why i'll add velcro to the chest/back side closure as well. For the shin straps I cut out 1 and a half rectangle to accomodate the buckle. I originally tried E6000 to glue the buckle and webbing support, but this did not stick at ALL. Regular ol' CA glue (Cyanoacrylate, which is the main ingredient in Superglue/Krazyglue/etc for those who don't know) did though. The rubber strap was bent/forced into place to make it curve downwards, as seen in reference, just use your hand for this Also I really recommend Adam Savage's book Every Tool's A Hammer. Was great fun listening to it while building. He talks about all things making, his story, his time at Industrial Light & Magic, and much more. I then attached the straps to the shins. I thought long and hard about this, and did a lot of testfitting with the boots. Velcro or snaps would be a bit of a hassle to connect considering the straps are gonna sit fairly tight. So I am going to try this, buckles. Much easier to snap into place, and much easier to unsnap at least for me. The buckle was sown onto some webbing on top of the original strap webbing. This was to have more surface area to glue it to the shin (I used E6000 here). Hopefully this'll work out IRL! Then there was the collar. It doesn't sit/lock as good as one would think as it pops out, the little tabs at the end should ideally be longer I think. So I did a Jasper and made some holes and stuffed some webbing in there, locking it in place with 5-min Epoxy. This'll be connected to the chest with snaps which i'll be adding later to get the fit just right. Jim's cloth belt is the correct width, but it comes with a straight stitch. So solely in the name of accuracy I ripped everything apart, struggled with the sewing machine, and sewed it together with a zigzag. Learnt my machine better in the process. Put the velcro back on and folded the end for neatness. Will do other end along with box installation once I have the torso rigged up. The leather loop is really nice, but the webbing platform it comes with is stiff (like 3 layers of webbing), and a bit too big to glue comfortably. Luckily the snaps I use (Prym Sport & Camping 15mm) fit the loop so I made my own platform which sits better. E6000'd into place. Also made connecting straps out of nylon for the chest->back which will also host the connecting points for my shoulderbells. And lastly I got the last piece of the puzzle, the main belt. From Philo Props and it's true, all of it. This is magnificent work. Going to hope for better weather so I can put my tent out on my balcony and start painting again ?

Why hello there Daniel from Nordic Garrison, we meet again Thanks!

Pulling my hoses from a specific direction made them pop right out. I'll try to increase the width, and the length a bit to see if they sit better! Also thought about modelling up a pin to go through both, but that will just be another hassle when suiting up..

Some updates on the armor, I can say I finally found a color i'm happy with. After trying several different ones I ended up with Fosco English Green. Has that grey'ish toned down green that I want. Plus since it's meant for military gear it's suuuuper matte, looks great! Here's how the helmet texture/stippling came out. I had a hormonal spray can to deal with so it kinda did what it wanted. Ended up with a mess of a topcoat that looks pretty rough, I like it! Not the effect I was after but good enough I also had to re-inforce the top plate of the shins with a barrage of E-6000 as they had broken halfway off. I also cut out the outer slots for accuracy. Biceps also got some love Still working on the red medic decal, followed Paul's measurements for the yellow bands (which are Montana Gold Yellow Cab). Jims biceps are a bit different though, so i'd recommend looking at reference and try to get them as proportionate as possible. They look a taaaaaad big I think? White: Montana Gold Pebble Red: Montana Gold Blood Orange Green: Fosco English Green Dremel'd out a hole in the back for the black webbing loop that holds the respirator straps and also cut the holes for the rubber straps. For the hose connections I modelled up a connector: But in reality I don't think it sits secure enough for me, I'm thinking of going Jasper's route and just cutting out the holes and jamming the hoses in there. Cut out the respirator grooves and started on the pocket the M4 socket head screw will sit in (needs to be a bit countersunk). Also modelled up and printed the buttpad seen on reference. For this I cut up my smaller buttpad that came with the stock. Going to add this to the V1.1 upload of my E-10 files later, but if anyone wants them now just ask

I'm guessing it's a hastened mistake of copying it from the E-10 text.

Ok wow really lazy of me not to update this lol, but anyways.. FIRST UP, I present to you, my files of the E-10 Mudtrooper Blaster Rifle (Main body is Sean Fields). This requires you to get your own stock/tube/torch and some other bits n bobs. Please read the PDF contained within. Enjoy!! Free!! Tell me what you think and send me pics if you make one https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xtpuJq3NFFp0tW5FeVYDwb34RcsLg-XI&fbclid=IwAR0UvjZHByOmFAY1q1O2zmHdQju5O_NTgg5Q-6krQxYB7uQuxZvAbtPj4q0 I'll write up my progress on the armor in the next post..

I'm not sure about the formulation but there is a difference, yes. The Montana Gold series i've had no problems with (only need to shake it real good/warm it up). While i'm experimenting more with this i'm considering going the custom can route. But at about $40 a pop it's hard to go through.

Have to say that I am really starting to dislike the Montana Black series. It seems to never ever dry fully and doesn't apply good at all. If any of you are guitarists and have played Gibsons, and noticed "sticky necks", know what i'm saying? Yeah that. It's a nitro blend so same type of stuff. I really can't use a paint that never fully dries and scratches so easily... On to the paint hunt again..

Finally time for another update, got a bit done recently! First up was a good sanding on the insides of all the parts with a 120 grit sanding sponge. This is to remove the stray fibers from the kit to prevent itching. Sanding done wet because I didn't want fibreglass dust flying around my house. I then gave all the parts a light sanding on the outside with 320 to knock down irregularities and to give the primer some grip. In jim's kit you will get these air bubbles everywhere on some parts. One solid coat of spray putty fixed most of it! Also had a bit of fun in the mud ? Produced some pretty good results! Although, after further shaking off all the sand and gravel the effect diminished, but left a nice slightly worn appearance. Going to supplement with some acrylic weathering afterwards. Boots definitely need it as almost all the mud went off under a rinse. I then decided to do the screen accurate way of adding texture to the helmet. The helmet has texture while the armor is smooth. Cheapest brush and black house-paint I could find were used. Had to continue to stipple after the entire helmet was done because the paint levelled out in some places. I am pretty happy with the results, just hoping the Montana Black will play nice with this Sadly as the trim is molded into the helmet I won't be able to add the trim I bought Oh well, maybe if I upgrade the helmet in the future!

Sanding and spray-filler And a couple of sore arms.