Aesmodan

Had a first suit up today! Update / ideas / to do: 1. Just did bondo, drying on helmet - added liquid fibreglass resin to bondo mud for smoother finish and strength (adds some weight…) 2. Ordered lenses from Trooper Bay (tried automotive vinyl had lying around, looks trashy) 3. Need to hem flak vest sleeves, fixed the bell positions with zip tie anchors 4. All armour pieces will likely need velcro on flight suit to keep them in place 5. Add elastic thumb loops / stirrups to sleeves and pant legs? 6. Take pics of pieces with measurements - start documentation 7. Place 1” velcro under the lower part of the breastplate attached to cummerbund to keep the breastplate in place 8. Might install a pocket on chest of flak vest to be hidden by breastplate to hold wallet during troops 9. Glued magnets into the boot holster to keep the holdout blaster in place 10. Add 2” velcro to the top of fabric covering breastplate yoke to attach upper part of Weir’s bandolier 11. Place 1” velcro at lower part of breastplate to attach the lower part of Weir’s bandolier 12. Back the bandolier with red felt; add some red velcro to mid boxes to keep them crossed and fixed in place 13. Line the lower part of knee armour with EVA foam to reduce the armour bite and help them stick out 14. Need to alter the flight suit, take in legs before applying suede saddle 15. Hand sew 2” velcro at rear of cummerbund for supporting codspiece 16. Still need wire for TD 17. Line the lower part of arm armour pieces with black felt to prevent scratching from overlaps 18. Added about a foot of red paracord to boot heel loops to help ‘shoehorn’ the boots on during troops, might add grommets to the boot tongues with more paracord (easy to hide inside boots) 19. Black chin cup, black steel brackets (presume chin cup attached to visor bolts?) and slick red strapping acquired to add to inside helmet Handy to refer back to, documenting thoughts in the event this helps someone with a Shadow / Weir in the future!

@IcyTrooper for sure, was just mentioning the 3d printed bandolier boxes from @thisiskevin have a 1.5” slot, the CRL model pics have a 1.5” webbing passing through them joining to the broader 2”, but the CRL text states the more narrow webbing is 1”. https://databank.501st.com/databank/File:Tx_GeneralWeir_bandolier.jpg Wasn’t sure which was correct Bandolier thoughts: It appears to start the boxes on the tops of the yoke of the breastplate, I might put a strip of velcro on top of the fabric that hides the forward/back plate connections and stick the bandolier to it (black and red velcro). This avoids putting Velcro on the plates. The boxes end just below the breastplate on either side of the pecs, so I’ll space the boxes evenly across this width. Also thinking of backing all the boxes with thick red felt so they won’t scratch up the breastplate… will also think up a way to keep the cross across the chest so they don’t slouch. Question: this leaves the back attachment. How does one attach the bandolier at the lower back? Velcro on the bottom of the breastplate? Perhaps the cummerbund…

@Chaos Will do, will tack down the boxes so they can't move about. Boots turned out pretty good, per the SpecOPs/PF tutorials. Just got the bones on. Edit: it appears all rivet sizes per PF are 1/8th or 3mm!

@RAIDER Will take some pics later today! The bandolier painting is largely done and I think looks really good with its weathering effect (grey primer, multiple coats of red and a touch of black to give it that grungie field wear look). Pretty happy with that. Will also take pics of the base boots, they turned out really well too I think. Will likely do bondo this weekend. Quick questions @Chaos @Dropkick The CRL for Specialist states that the bandolier webbing that passes through the boxes should be 1", however the slots in the awesome printed boxes from @thisiskevin are 1.5". I threaded them all with 1", and the extra .5" leaves space for the boxes to all shift around laterally relative to each other (looks sloppy as on the left pic, makes them unaligned). A look at the bandolier CRL image above shows this was anticipated and the model webbing is 1.5" (to fill the full slot). Am I good to do the same while going for Specialist? Should the CRL be updated on this? Also for bucket bondo, are people generally in the habit of adding more liquid fibreglass resin to it to reduce the pinpoints? Cheers

Long time since an update! 1. Bandolier has been printed, and I will be going with Rustoleum Gloss Apple Red indeed for the red bits (thanks to @Ammonites and for models for weathering. This paint is a great match to the best red strapping I've been able to find) 2. DLT-20a has been printed, needs sanding and painting; also printed a DLT-19x for use with the modular Shadow Scout. These have been put together so they are collapsible and transportable by removing the barrels from main receivers (hardwood dowel inserts). 19x to have scope removable and barrel switchable, in case I ever need a DLT-19, per great suggestions on PF. 3. Strapping mostly done for the armour (changed my mind, going with gloss black rather than matte) 4. Soft parts largely done, tutorials followed; codpiece has the shaped plastic "jock" ("anti-cameltoe"); boxes printed to neatly fill out cummerbund pouches; suit adjusted for leg size and length; black pig suede acquired and in progress for the butt flap and saddle (and leg elastic) 5. Boots follow tutorials and are pretty much done as of today (doubled up on vinyl and they stand well alone); holdout blaster printed; holster needs attaching with backing 6. Belt boxes are strapped but TD needs doing; still looking for the right gauge wire. Recommended clips acquired 7. Wampa gloves are in the mail, didn't want to attempt to make those 8. Helmet is finally aligned together well (was painful) and needs Bondo (been slacking on this). Helmet inserts acquired, and headset/speaker for comms. Haven't thought about bucket fans yet, but glad my glasses fit inside! Where's the best place to get a red lens? (Trooper Bay?)

Providing some feedback on the CRL for the bandolier: * The STL files provided by @thisiskevin @Dropkick are really great in detail, thanks again! * The STL pack is arranged for printing in individual files = boxes #1-25 comprising the bandolier, but their sequence/ordering are slightly different than the CRL’s images. * This caused me to revert to the Weir reference pictures, with the following observations: 1. The CRL bandolier image (CBI) shows that the first three horizontal “ribs” or rectangular boxes of the right hand “suspender” (as worn, left hand as seen in the image) are squared and not rounded. The files labeled #1-3 in the STL pack are the rounded version of these boxes. The reference images agree with the CBI that these should be squared, so we could note this for the STL pack and possibly update the CRL text (put another way, I simply printed STL boxes #1-3 when I started, and then realized later these are the wrong type of box against the CBI and ref images). 2. In places, the CRL text has the boxes out of order or is unclear (to me, in the course of printing). It might help for me to make notes as I progress. Suggest the following to guide future prints: The left bandoleer strap will have 6 boxes, 1 greeblie, and ribs that match the CRL photo (from the shoulder to the waist) as follows: Horizontal ribs, 6 in total, shall be present from the top of the last box over theshoulder. (unclear) Boxes 1-3: Narrow, horizontal rectangular box with squared edges. (x3) Box 4: Large, vertical, rectangular box with a raised circular detail centered in the upper portion of the box. The indented portion is on the lower portion of the box. Box 5: Large, vertical, rectangular box with two vertical "I" shaped indents left and right. A narrow, ribbed horizontal cylinder greeblie appears between two prongs on the lower part of the box. Box 6: Medium, center greeblie shaped like a letter C pointed downward, within which is a pill-shaped detail. Boxes 7-8: Narrow, horizontal rectangular box shaped like a thermal detonator. (x2) Box 9: Large, vertical, rectangular box with a reversed L-shaped indent. Two cylindrical details appear near the top and bottom of the box on the viewer's left hand side. Box 10: Small, rectangular box that is plain with no details. Box 11: Narrow, horizontal, rectangular box with rounded edges (same as box #14). Boxes 12-13: Medium, rectangular box that is plain with no details (identical to the right hand boxes #8-10). (x2) Box 14: Narrow, horizontal, rectangular box with rounded edges (same as box #11). A small rectangular box with a horizontal "T' detail. The "T" faces towards the back. (this is on the right strap, not bottom left) Horizontal ribs, 2 in total. The right bandolier strap will have 9 pouches/boxes that match the CRL photo (from the shoulder down to the waist) as follows: Horizontal ribs, 6 in total, shall be present from the top of the last box over the shoulder. (unclear) Box 1: Small, rectangular box with a horizontal "T' detail. The top of the capital letter "T" detail faces toward the viewer's right. Box 2: Medium, square box with "I" shaped indent, which appears at the viewer's lower left. Box 3: Narrow, horizontal, rectangular box that is notched along its length, producing five sections. The widest section faces the viewer's right. Box 4: Medium, horizontal, rectangular box with an indent spanning its vertical height, which is on the viewer's right. Box 5: Medium, horizontal, rectangular box with three indents in a stack on the viewer's lower left. Box 6: Narrow, horizontal, rectangular box with caps on the ends. Box 7: Largest greeblie in the bandolier, a vertical, rectangular box with two long indents left and right that span the height of the box. Within the left hand indent are several horizontal sections, which have the appearance of 12 buttons. A deeper indent appears at the top of the line of 12 buttons. The right hand indentation has a deeper indentation in the middle, and two half-hexagonal cut-outs facing toward the viewer’s right. Boxes 8-10: Medium, square box that is plain with no details (identical to the left hand boxes #12-13). (x3) Box 11: Medium, square box with the appearance of a capital letter "I" on its side. Between the spaces of the capital "I" are two narrow, ribbed horizontal cylinder greeblies, one each on the upper and lower areas (these have a similar appearance to the greeblie appearing on the left hand box #5). Medium rectangular boxes, 4 in total. Horizontal ribs, 2 in total. All boxes and greeblies shall be appropriately spaced.

Update, the magnets for the T-bits raise it too high from the armour and I don't want to get into carving out a space within them to accommodate, so I will just switch to velcro (why didn't I do that first?) Printing an extra set of T-bits so I'll have a set in red and in black, and they can just be swapped out for Weir/Shadow Scout. Bandolier production begun! Edit: for those new to printing like me, BambuStudio prompts that I should add supports for the slots in all the boxes (through which the webbing passes), which I did. When finished, there was support junk throughout the full length (I thought it would only support the initial hole). However if you push a knife into the space at the sides of the hole, it will disengage the supports on the inside -- if you then pull on the filament supports gently with pliers you can pull big chunks out (since they are all tethered together). The slot is too small for a putty/drywall knife, so what I have been using that works well is acrylic paint knives (blunt). For future reference: Printing in: Bambu PETG HF (for strength, temp/sun resist) and in grey, so I can see imperfections easier Nozzle: 0.4 @ 245 degrees (I have 0.2s but at this scale it's maybe unnecessary and would just increase print time, considering they will be primed/painted anyway?) Quality: 0.08 High Quality is probably best (lower quality in the print above and T-bits below, some layer lines visible), can be bumped up for the more detailed pieces to avoid much sanding Supports: Ensure that you use a support matrix that will be perpendicular to the slots, or else the print will fail when trying to pass overtop (I used reticular, and I turned off the Aux fan until the space was spanned). Supports need to be in place and are only tricky to remove from the longer boxes. Filament Dryer: using a Sunlu S2 for PETG at 60 degrees C (cooked the default 6 hours before printing, showing 16% relative humidity) Black on left, resin print from Chef; Grey in the middle, PETG HF, white on the right Bambu PLA

Thanks again for the files @Dropkick Does anyone that has printed these have advice for me on settings? I just bought a Black Friday Bambu A1 so am new to printing. Interested in 'general' advice as I will also be printing AprilStorm's DLT-20a. I was thinking to do them in PETG for strength and maybe to up the wall dimensions and infill... Cheers!

Yes, exact. The CRL doesn’t include the Scout ROTJ text on this. Unsure how to proceed… happy to do either.

Thanks @IcyTrooper, I think I prefer the look of the single mount point too! So I only just noticed the Spec ops CRL doesn’t mention / require the 2” webbing comprising half the belt to be riveted to the plastic… not so the Pathfinder Scout ROTJ indeed. Probably better if it is glued so as not to stress the plastic. Am I good for Specialist to glue and avoid riveting the belt save for the clips to the TD? (I'll rivet it if it should be!)

Quick question… Assembling my belt and comparing this forum and Pathfinders and the CRLs, I’m not sure how the drop box webbing are attached to the webbing of the belt at the rear? This picture at Pathfinders shows them separately riveted to the back webbing, spaced about the same at the belt buckle, around 3.5” apart (which are then hidden from view by the TD): Can't really tell from the belt CRL image, but it appears to have them spaced like the Pathfinders pic (?) Unclear in the picture for Weir (front / back) but they might be spaced, and: The Shadow Scout back view appears to be a single attach point / single rivet? near the middle. This might be what's done for Weir too. I suppose I could just sew it down to the webbing at back as well, so there's really no requirement to rivet. Better to not rivet when you don't have to (tm). Not a big deal, as it will be in the webbing hidden behind the TD. Just don’t want to screw up this detail for Specialist!

It appears one wants 2-3" clear from the top of the yoke to the base of the neck, but this has the arms of my yoke as far too curved to sit flush on the chest... @IcyTrooper Will take pics if this is still an issue after the flak vest is done (I'd rather not heat the yoke if I can avoid it after fiddling with bending ABS scraps). I bought a heavy work t-shirt to use as the base, but I think I will make the top layer the same heavy cotton I'll use for the cummerbund. An idea: I ordered flat, long magnets as I am going to mount the bicep greeblies so they can be modular/switched out black/red for the Scout/Weir when I want (I'll then just print some extra greeblies. Chef's are resin cast, these should be the red ones!)

I really like the Regal Red as well, but I'll test that and the Fire Red against the satin for contrast... (PS: I also looked closely at and wanted to do an Incinerator TK!) I see this is the paint that is preferred for satin/matte and the results on this forum look great. I'm in! Chef's armour has arrived: First question: I think I see from the approved Specialist apps and the CRL that the breastplate lower center 'notch' lands around the area of the solar plexus. Landmarking my plate like this has the yokes much too curved to sit flush (1-2" away). To get the yoke to sit flush it has to ride too high (right on the neck): Won't do anything about this yet (until the flak vest is done and overtop, that's my next project), but am I placing this wrong? Or is it normal to heat the yokes with a hairdryer etc. to mold them to the needed angles? (like I just did to create the concave surfaces of the TD caps?)

One boot done -- looked at a lot of patterns:

Chef's armour is in the mail! Black heavy cotton and batting acquired to do flak vest and cummerbund, will wait for armour for landmarking and proper dimensions/lengths. All strapping acquired, but of all shades of red. Will need to get some real suede in my local fabric store. Gloves ordered from Wampa! Cheap boots (with a decent shape, solid toe, good sole) and marine vinyl acquired, and I took an initial crack on the patterning: Deciding on the red to use for trims -- I have looked through the forum, but do we have a specified shade? Agree with previous comments and I prefer a darker, less "candy apple red", but conscious of trying to match up a similar shade of strapping. For the moment I like Fire Red and Regal Red best... (nothing bought yet).