JAFO

With the TU fitted and the helmet liner fitted (but not yet stuck) I turned my attention to the helmet strapping. Using available reference I wanted to be as faithful as possible by creating the strap (including Rawlings Chin Cup) and snap attachment. I would utilise buckles from the Yugo backpack. In addition I wanted to add the mysterious metal O-rings which can be seen in some shots. We don't know their purpose for sure but general belief are the O-rings were originally considered as the attachment point for the respirators, though kits were ultimately designed NOT to be worn with respirators.

Another day, another task. This time attaching the TU to the helmet. Per the production helmets my choice was to screw them on. So a quick measure, a quick Dremel. and then time for screws. And whilst I was helmet focused I wanted to repaint the trim, so it was time for a quick bag job, masking and respray. Whilst the helmet was drying I decided to tackle the weathering of the helmet torch. To do this I created a mixture of grey house paint, sand and Fuller's Earth. They used flour during production but I heard the paint smelled awful when it went off. I thought Fuller's would be a good substitute. Grey is also key to the weathering of the Mudtrooper. The set was dressed using Welsh shale and this very much formed the colour of 'Mimban Mud'. You see it on the Mimban TKs who are caked in it. Once the mixture was ready I grabbed my faithful stipple sponge and set to work. Layering is really important when it comes to breakdown - dark and light layers really accentuate a piece. I particularly love the effect on the light lens when turned on...

This build really has been about filling days with as many tasks as possible. Some tasks were weather dependant and would have to wait but others I could just get on with. One such task was carving the bicycle helmet liner. I have a sizeable noggin and it took a while to find a liner that would work. Getting it to fit inside Jim's helmet would prove to be a sizeable task. Using an electric carving knife made the job a whole lot easier! After many revisions and test fits I eventually got it to sit how I wanted inside the helmet. It also looked pretty good on my faithful helper, Charlie... Whilst I had the armour on Charlie I used the opportunity to play around with the shoulder tab brackets I received from Paul Prentice. He produces these brackets for his Shoretrooper kits and we have surmised that it makes total sense the brackets were used on Muddies too. In fact, shoulder tabs have been used on all modern era troopers since TFA and they help give the shoulder bells good from and prevent shoulder sag. More to come on the shoulder tabs later. Paul's brackets were designed for his ST kits and would attach to the chest piece. I knew I would have to adapt them for Jim's kit.

Next ransom task was to look at the upper armour with particular focus on the straps, buckles and attachments. I'm a BIG fan of magnets. My FOTK build used them heavily and I use them whenever possible. As you will discover they feature heavily as part of this build. I had decided that I wanted the shoulder buckles to attach to the chest piece using magnets so I set about creating suitable size holes in the resin buckles provided by Paul Prentice. Once I had drilled pilot holes and used a Dremel to sand them out I set about gluing magnets in place. I'm a big fan of Loctite 495 (I like to live life on the edge!) and it sets hard and fast. Whilst the magnets were drying I completed the quick task of attaching the Daniel Anderson's excellent angled hose connectors to the back plate. For this I used Loctite Marine Epoxy - I used it extensively for strong hold on my FOTK and it absolutely LOVES Jim's kit. Rock solid! Next up it was time to get Dremel happy and start (carefully) creating holes in Jim's awesome kit. The focus at first was to open up the slots for the shoulder straps to pass through. I then turned my focus to creating holes in the chest plate to allow for a web connection between the back plate collar and the chest. This was pioneered by Jasper Tan (see his excellent build thread for detailed info) and is a great solution to keep front and back connected. The key here was to take it very slowly. After drilling the holes in the chest it was time for the slightly more precarious task of cutting channels in the collar arms in which I would glue the web/snap solution. Whilst using the Dremel I suddenly remembered Jim's collar is reinforced - I hit metal! Once again, slow and steady wins the race! Once the channels were deep enough and long enough I glued in the stiff webbing straps. As the glue dried on the straps I created web plates and glued them in to the chest. After a few hours of drying I did my first test suit up over the tunic. It was very early days but it was starting to shape up.

Blessed with good weather and more available time that usual I cracked on at pace trying to chip away at tasks every day, in no particular order. Next up I tackled the shins. These shins were designed by Chris Bostock, myself and Nic Le Brey-Jones at Empire 3D. They are about as accurate as you can get. Nic printed the shins for me and whilst sturdy I was keen to reinforce the back of them, which I did with 2mm abs... ...followed by a full 360 coating of spray putty. I also had Nic at Empire3D print my biceps which were designed by Anthony Reilly. They are slightly tapered toward the upper arm to allow for a better fit and also include the important fish hook detail I was keen to capture, and utilise. More on that later! A coating of spray putty, the necessary wet sand and then a coating of black primer. It was important for me to use black primer throughout the build as the production made kits were cast in black prior to painting. I wanted to ensure I had the same base colour to create similar weathering. A prime example of this (pun intended) are the biceps which feature heavy weathering and battle marks. To achieve these, I used masking fluid to create various shapes on the biceps, allowing it to dry before painting with the primary colour. Once the masking fluid was dry (and I'll admit I was a little heavy handed) it was time to paint the biceps - one with the Toyota Super Red, the other with the Vauxhall Leaf Green (VLG from here on in). Once painted and dried it was time to mask the red bicep in readiness to create the yellow lines. Now, I'm going to be controversial here. During research of the Mudtrooper one of the production costume crew shared various information regarding the paints used on the kit. There was suggestion that Montana Gold Yellow Cab was a popular paint on-set and that it might well be the paint used for the stripes. Personally, based on reference images, I still wager that Shock Yellow is extremely viable for the stripes - it is a little more golden than the Yellow Cab and I truly believe it set's it apart. That is why I chose to use it. Nic also printed me some resin tri-glides for the goggle strap. These are based on a design which we worked on together and are accurately scaled and modelled on production assets. The simple task here was prime the tri-glides, paint them, then use chrome paint to dry brush them and give a scratched metal look.

As 2019 rolled on I was deciding which kit to commit to. Early on I backed Diversity Props, and then considered WTF. Truth is, I should have just committed to my usual go-to guy, Jim Tripon. It wasn't long before I had parts of the armour heading in my direction. As always, the first job with Jim's flexi-fibreglass kit is a rough sand of the interior and a good wash down. Following on with a sand of the exterior the parts were ready for a coating of black primer. \ After the primer tried my next task was to mask the trim, then stipple the helmet with black house paint - a technique used by the S:ASWS production team to add texture to the helmet. Several coats were required to get the desired effect. Next up, time to lay down the first coats of the infamous Mudtrooper green paint. Whilst we had it confirmed that the production kits were spray painted with Pantone 350U followed by a layer of Pantone 433U, we also had it confirmed that the on-set touch up paint was Vauxhall Leaf Green, a colour readily available from auto store Halfords in the UK. As I am in Australia I tracked down the equivalent colour and had it mixed at my local auto store. The coat went down beautifully and really accentuated the stipple texturing effect. Whilst weather was good and I was in a painting mood I coated the inside of the bells with flat black. I then gave the bells a coating of Vauxhall Leaf Green. Did I mention how nice the stipple effect was!!! With the first layers of green down it felt like the Mudtrooper build was TRULY under way.

One of the larger packages to arrive from overseas was a bundle of 12oz Olive Grey Bull Denim. Thinking back there is every chance the shipping cost more than the material but knowing I was aiming for as accurate build as possible it was the only material I wanted. With material in hand it was time to engage my local tailor to put together the tunic based on my own design. Ultimately, owing to a combination of multiple fittings and being away for work this was a process that spanned five or so months but the result was well worth it.

My build started like many others with a steady stream of packages arriving from around the globe containing found parts and other paraphernalia. One of the first jobs tackled was the dying of the Plash Palatka. As we all learned it wasn't a straight forward experience but once we learnt to breakdown the waxed exterior the job became easier. Sort of! Lots of boiling water, salt, Black Dye and patience got the results. I also used the opportunity to dye the scarf I had purchased from eBay. [/img][/img] [/img][/img] [/img][/img] [/img][/img] [/img][/img]

I have Flickr but get the sense they may go the PhotoBucket route soon. All about the $s.

Yes I have been thinking imgur was the way forward. Preparing to do a massive upload.

Currently deciding upon the best third-party pic sharing platform and will start the upload of pics and info soon. If all stays to plan, the build is about a week off completion prior to submitting pics for basic approval. Specialist application will follow soon after. Standby...again!

This thread has been a long time coming. I'm glad to finally be here! My love affair with the Mudtrooper started back in February 2018. I was given a sneak peak of an image of the trooper who would later become affectionally known as 'Standee Trooper'. From that first brief glimpse I LOVED the real world spirit of the design, and the respirator and hoses were unlike anything previously seen. Soon after I became active in a Mudtrooper Facebook group and found myself immersed in research, seeking out found parts that featured as part of the build. I was also fortunate to have relationships with key production personnel (some old, some new) who had worked on SOLO and were happy to share information which could be shared with the community. Whilst active within the FB community I also assisted SpecOps with the creation of the CRL (and its revision), something I'm proud to have been involved in. Since April 2018 I have been accruing the various found parts for my build - the first being the Plash Palatka with accurate leather grommets - and as the parts rolled in I kept a watchful eye on vendors developing kits and creating 3D files. Here is a list of the parts I decided to utilise for my build: CHEST ARMOUR - Jim Tripon (Jimmiroquai) BACK ARMOUR - Jim Tripon (Jimmiroquai) BACK ARMOUR BUCKLES and STRAPS - Paul Prentice BACK ARMOUR FOAM PANELS - 5mm Plastazote - sourced via eBay BACK ARMOUR HOSE CONNECTORS - Design by Daniel Andersen. Printed by Empire3D SHOULDER BELLS - Jim Tripon (Jimmiroquai) SHOULDER BELL SUPPORT TABS - Paul Prentice BICEPS - Design by Anthony Reilly. Printed by Empire3D BICEP CORD - 1.8mm Stretch Magic Clear Cord SHINS - Design by Empire3D. Printed by Empire3D SHIN BUCKLES and STRAPS - Paul Prentice HELMET - Jim Tripon (Jimmiroquai) HELMET TU (Telemetry Unit) - Paul Prentice HELMET FLASHLIGHT (9 L.E.D) - Officeworks HELMET IMPERIAL DISKS - PhiloProps HELMET LINER - Big W HELMET CHIN CUP - Rawlings Batter's Chin Cup - sourced from eBay GOGGLES - Design by NerdForgeDesigns. Printed by The Imperial Factory GOGGLES BRIDGE TENSIONER - Guillermo Carbonell GOGGLE LENS - Hobart Replacement Welding Lens GOGGLE GASKET - 2mm Silicone Rubber - sourced from eBay GOGGLE STRAP SERRATED BUCKLES (Gentex style) - sourced from eBay GOGGLE STRAP LARGE BUCKLE - Cast from production used asset GOGGLE STRAP TRI-GLIDES - Design by Empire3D. Printed by Empire3D RESPIRATOR - Design by NerdForgeDesigns. Printed by The Imperial Factory RESPIRATOR BUCKLES - ImperialTraderCo RESPIRATOR 19mm TAN WEBBING - ImperialTraderCo RESPIRATOR FILTER MESH - Isopon Repair Aluminium- sourced from eBay RESPIRATOR FILTER BOLTS - M4 Hex Cap Screw - sourced from eBay RESPIRATOR 'YUGO' BUCKLE SET - ImperialTraderCo RESPIRATOR HOSES - RubberFun NL LEATHER UPPER BELT incl. buckle and boxes - PhiloProps WEBBED LOWER BELT incl. boxes - Paul Prentice JACKET - Tailor made from 12oz Olive Grey Bull Denim purchased from Big Duck Canvas JACKET EMBOSSED VINYL IMPERIAL INSIGNIA - Anovos TROUSERS - Tailor adapted from store bought heavy cotton trousers PLASH PALATKA - AndDolls (Etsy) GLOVES - Highlander Spec Ops (Amazon) BOOTS - Vintage Soviet Officer (Antiqua House) SCARF - sourced via eBay OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES: E10 BLASTER - Designed by MCM Designs. Printed by 3DPropsNL E10 FLASHLIGHT - M300A Element SF - AliExpress M56 LEATHER POUCH - sourced via eBay GRENADE - Designed by Jon Weger. Printed by Empire3D On 28 February 2020 I finally found the time (and impetus) to get my build under way. My plan has always been to build to Specialist specs so I have been taking my time to get things right. In a little over a month the build has come a long way and in the coming days and weeks I will start to share the pics and progress. Standby!

Will be interesting to see what decision is made regarding the right leg thigh holster. It only appears on toys and figures and not promo kits or production created armour.

Nice mod ??

The gasket is made of a flexible polyurethane, so a rubber of sorts. Same as the seal inside the respirator. Dark trim certainly makes it very generic but, honestly, having handled the material and seen the goggles up close it is more rubber than foam.

It would be easier to leave the rubber seal/mask out if the equation. The actual seal looks nothing like a painters mask but inspiration was taken from that real world part.

I can’t even recall when Bull Denim came in to the conversation. My production source only ever described the screen used material as “heavyweight olive grey denim”.

The Pantone removal is not about expense or availability but rather accuracy. As stated, 350U is a misleading reference - it really means nothing unless combined with 433U. A more generic colour makes sense.

We need to add the DLT-19 to the optional weapons as well.

The armour is Colorite Technogrip 350U Matte Green layered with Colorite Technogrip 433U Grey. To complicate things the belt boxes were painted in Halford's Vauxhall Leaf Green, which ended up being the on-set touch up paint for the whole kit. Whilst I feel specific colours are appropriate for the bicep and medic stripes Lvl 2 I feel the inclusion of the specific armour colours will be very limiting for all. I suggest consistency in colour description across MT and Val.

Submitting for LVL 2 you would be expected to share more detailed photos, incl. the paint used to complete the job, so the Detachment can sign off on it.

The colour of the yellow stripes and bicep red are very specific and do not require the interaction of another colour to look exact. I’m comfortable that for LVL2 the exact paints are used.

Would make sense. ”Bicep includes red insignia which should match reference inage” ???

Whilst the Mudtrooper CRL is relatively young I would like to propose some updates for discussion. Firstly I would recommend removal of Pantone 350U as a reference colour. Whilst we know it to be the actual base colour used during production it is a misleading reference for builders as it really needs the top layer of Pantone 433U to give the instantly recognisable Mudtrooper 'green'. The Pantone reference should be removed as OPTIONAL LVL TWO across the entire CRL. If a colour does need to be referenced elsewhere I would recommend Field Grey, or simply change text to "should appear a code match to the reference image". For ease of review I will list the changes in order of the current CRL. HELMET Under OPTIONAL LEVEL TWO remove reference to Pantone350U. GOGGLES Update image of the large Goggle strap buckle so it is in the correct orientation. Under bullet point 5 change description sub bullet point three to “two black tri-glides on the right rear through which the 1.5in (40mm) elastic is threaded. Under OPTIONAL LEVEL TWO add “25mm webbing should be used to attached serrated buckle to goggles” RESPIRATOR Under OPTIONAL LEVEL TWO remove bullet point four - reference to rubber trim. Under OPTIONAL LEVEL TWO remove reference to Pantone350U UPDATE Third bullet point - “In the center of each tusk filter is a M4 hex socket cap screw.” HOSES No change SCARF No change PONCHO No change TUNIC/JACKET No change CHEST ARMOUR Under OPTIONAL LEVEL TWO remove reference to Pantone350U BACK ARMOUR Under OPTIONAL LEVEL TWO remove reference to Pantone350U SHOULDER ARMOUR Under OPTIONAL LEVEL TWO remove reference to Pantone350U BICEPS Under OPTIONAL LEVEL TWO remove reference to Pantone350U GLOVES No change UPPER BELT No change LOWER BELT ADD: “Lower belt is optional but is preferred for approval.” Under OPTIONAL LEVEL TWO remove reference to Pantone350U PANTS No change SHINS Under OPTIONAL LEVEL TWO remove reference to Pantone350U BOOTS Under OPTIONAL LEVEL TWO remove reference of “Exact replicas of Soviet Officer Boots” OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES MEDIC BICEP Update bullet point two to read “Right bicep is painted white with three heavily weathered yellow stripes on the cover strip” OPTIONAL LVL TWO: Yellow stripes are painted in Montana Gold Yellow Cab

I would remove the following: The telemetry unit may feature a tied length of elastic bungee cord, approx. 4-5mm in diameter, looped around the outer upper section. Not applicable to Val. I would also change reference of armour colour to Field Grey or Olive Green, or something similar. Pantone 350U only looks like the colour seen in all reference material once layered with Grey 433U, otherwise it is a bright green that looks nothing like a final MT.