Anthony's Mudtrooper build aka Mud Dash to SWCC

[areilly]

I had originally planned to start this build months ago, but life intervened. I'm back  in earnest and on a mad dash to get this done in time for Celebration.

Luckily I've been collecting the parts for a while, so I've got a solid start there.

Pictures being updated as I go: Image album

Parts List

Acquired:

• Plash: original, with leather grommets - eBay
• Gloves: original Highlander spec ops - eBay
• Buckles, D-rings, etc: original Yugo backpack - Coleman's Surplus
• Undershirt: original coolmax - eBay
• Generic webbing, hardware, velcro: Strapworks
• Button snaps/poppers: Sailrite
• Helmet edge trim: X8R U-channel edge trim, Amazon
• Blaster tac light: SureFire M300A clone - eBay
• Helmet tac light: generic 9-led light - eBay
• Boots: Crowprops
• Shoulder patches: screen used replica, Anovos
• Shoulder/shin straps/buckles: cast urethane - Paul Prentice
• Secondary belt boxes: cast urethane - Paul Prentice
• Disc greeblies: Etsy, PhiloProps
• Imp belt buckle: Etsy, Philoprops
• Imp belt boxes: Etsy, Philoprops
• Imp belt: 2" leather w/grooves - Etsy, SWExpress
• Tunic fabric: Olive bull denim, Big Duck Canvas
• Ammo pouch: original Yugo M56 - eBay
• Ammo Bandolier: original US issue - eBay
• Brown/Black Leather: Amazon
• Goggle elastic - Amazon
• Pants: Dickes heavy cotton work pants (plus one donor for extra panels)
• Mask buckles: originals, Imperial Trading Co/Darren Vaughan
• Paint: Sherwin-Williams acrylic, custom mix for 350U and 433U
• Helmet: Printed, custom design
• Helmet TU: The unoffocially official Facebook group STL
• Shoulders: Printed, Sean Fields
• Biceps: Printed, Custom design
• Chest/Back: Printed, Sean Fields
• Shins: Printed, Sean Fields
• Tunic: custom

[Scottdm62[TX]]

Good luck with the speed build!! 

[Blackwatch[CMD-DCA]]

Watching, and good luck

[areilly]

First bits of armor printed. I decided to use AmazonBasics "Premium PLA" for this. They don't say exactly what the modifiers are, but I'm guessing its PLA with some TPU blended in. It prints about 20C hotter than regular PLA, and is a little bit more flexible. Beforehand I did a couple test prints and it's really strong, so I have zero worries about the durability. Going to be printing everything with at least 1.2mm walls and 0.2mm layer height to minimize the sanding and finishing needed.

 

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

I'd say that it looks pretty good!

[areilly]

This is the week of long prints - the chest armor.

Had one miss - printing two halves and incorrectly scaled one of them. These will be the finishing/painting test pieces, so not a complete loss.

otherwise trying to print as large as possible while avoiding needing support.

 

Meanwhile in soft parts - printed some fillers for the ammo pouch and bandolier. Initially tried foam for the bandolier but it just didn't look or feel right. Made one of them hollow to serve as a cellphone holder. Later learned that the props dept. used MDF blocks for this in production.

 

Also found some good cheap gray acrylic to use for weathering/mud wash. 

 

[Blackwatch[CMD-DCA]]

Pewter grey....gonna remember that.  Good old MDF!

[areilly]

Spent most of the last week or so organizing parts and printing the big armor pieces.

Slathered the M56 pouch with Lexol conditioner, stuffed it, and taped it up to reshape it, since I don't really like the smashed pouch look. Also tested a small spot with brown show polish and it darkened it up nicely, I may give that a once over later.

 

I posted the STLs for the M56 and bandolier stuffers on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3489698

 

Harvested parts from a couple Yugo backpacks - dumped them all in oil and I still need to scrub some rust off. Most of the bluing is still intact.

The printer has been running constantly for over a week. Finally feel like I'm making progress when I did the initial assembly on the armor. Next up is some priming and sanding.

For paint I got some custom mixed acrylics from Sherwin-Williams for the screen-accurate Pantone 350U green and 433U gray colors. I'll be airbrushing them on top of the primer - 350U for the base coat and the 433U for the topcoat. Will probably use the 433U as a weathering wash as well, going to try thickening it with baking soda for a mud effect.

[areilly]

Spent some time priming and sanding over the weekend. Ideally it's a light coat and agressive sanding, a medium coat and medium sanding, then a light coat and fine sanding to finish things off. (all wet sanding, dry sanding this stuff leads to insanity) The chest took a couple more coats since there were more glue lines and a section that didn't print quite smoothly. I see some people really scared of this process, and some that make things SO much harder on themselves by hurrying the print, ending up with bad print quality, and spending more time hand finishing when a little extra care up front makes your life much easier.

after the 3rd round of priming + sanding - smooth and ready for the topcoat.

Dyed the ammo bandolier with some regular Rit dye. Strap remained the same color, but it looks like it remained green in the originals as well

Dyeing the Plash went OK.  Didn’t have anything big enough to do a hot dye soak, so I went with a long cold soak instead. Started with a hot wash, hot dry (just a guess, but I figured if it was really dry the fabric would soak up the dye solution better) then in a tub with 4 bottles of regular Rit dye, salt, detergent per instructions, and left to soak for 2 days. Rinse and regular warm wash. Tempted to do another dye bath if I have time to darken it further, but I think it will do as is.

A nice side effect of all the hot wash and dry cycles is that it's beat up the fabric a bit and given it some nice weathering.

Also on a side note regarding the Plash - I've seen a few pics of people with theirs dragging on the ground. There's actually a built-in design feature to avoid this - the bottom has a toggle where you can fold up the bottom so that it clears the ground. I've seen a few shots that show this was used at least sometimes on-set, so that's the way I'll be rigging things.

[Bobby Boucher]

Those prints are really clean, looks like you got your printer dialed in nice! How did you like the Pro PLA?  Does it have better heat resistance than regular PLA?  Hate to see this warp on a hot day

[areilly]

5 hours ago, Bobby Boucher said:

Those prints are really clean, looks like you got your printer dialed in nice! How did you like the Pro PLA?  Does it have better heat resistance than regular PLA?  Hate to see this warp on a hot day

I really like this filament. They don't list the exact composition, but most PLA+/PLA Pro etc. from various places seem to be some blend of PLA and TPU. It's a little bit more flexible than regular PLA, and prints 20C hotter. Did a few strength tests and its got some flex and it's pretty strong, the glue joints cracked before the material did, and the regular pieces took enough force to break that it would take a hit hard enough to actually hurt me anyways. Really good layer adhesion as well - that does make supports a bit sticky sometimes. The temp limit is the weakness, but not regular warm day hot - it would need to be mid summer and standing in the sun kinda hot before anything would happen, or left in the car, and for me in FL, no way am I wearing this stuff in July. I was originally going to do this in PETG, but for reliable prints there I need a different print bed and better heater - mine really struggles to get to the 60-70C needed for PETG.

[Bobby Boucher]

On 3/27/2019 at 2:59 PM, areilly said:

I really like this filament. They don't list the exact composition, but most PLA+/PLA Pro etc. from various places seem to be some blend of PLA and TPU. It's a little bit more flexible than regular PLA, and prints 20C hotter. Did a few strength tests and its got some flex and it's pretty strong, the glue joints cracked before the material did, and the regular pieces took enough force to break that it would take a hit hard enough to actually hurt me anyways. Really good layer adhesion as well - that does make supports a bit sticky sometimes. The temp limit is the weakness, but not regular warm day hot - it would need to be mid summer and standing in the sun kinda hot before anything would happen, or left in the car, and for me in FL, no way am I wearing this stuff in July. I was originally going to do this in PETG, but for reliable prints there I need a different print bed and better heater - mine really struggles to get to the 60-70C needed for PETG.

That's good to know, the added flexibility is really interesting!  I'll probably buy a roll now just for the heck of it!

What printer do you use?  Have you tired building an enclosure?  That would help the bed keep higher temperatures with the warmer air 

[xAlpha[TX]]

Are you making the tunic/pants yourself? Do you have a pattern?

[areilly]

On 3/30/2019 at 1:04 PM, Bobby Boucher said:

That's good to know, the added flexibility is really interesting!  I'll probably buy a roll now just for the heck of it!

What printer do you use?  Have you tired building an enclosure?  That would help the bed keep higher temperatures with the warmer air 

Creality CR-10S4 - the large bed has problems getting past 60. I do need to do an enclosure, I think some of my PETG issues was the part warping and lifting off due to ambient temp differences overnight.

[areilly]

On 3/31/2019 at 9:15 PM, xAlpha said:

Are you making the tunic/pants yourself? Do you have a pattern?

I don't have a specific pattern, I'm just modifying some regular pants, and trying a generic tunic pattern and modifying it.

[xAlpha[TX]]

Yeah the pants seem easy enough. I'm just trying to find a good starting point for the tunic to make my own, if possible (I have some ideas, but that might be better for my own thread instead of derailing yours).

[areilly]

The full size standee was a great buy. I'm considering this a V1 build, I'll be using the standee more to compare the next version of the kit.

 

The Sherwin-Williams paint has worked out well. A little trial and error thinning it out to work well in the airbrush. left the 350U green a little thicker for the basecoat, and the 433U gray fairly thin so I could layer thin topcoats for the proper effect. It adhered well to everything, and dried to a durable finish.

 

 

Base coat seemed a little light (keep in mind these were on an extremely bright, blue sky day so they are much lighter than they would appear in person)

 

Paint also worked well on the rubber straps. First coats were a little spotty but a few coats later it evened out. Adhesion was good - I did use a light coat of clear adhesion promoter primer  - the kind usually used for priming urethane body parts.

Then I started airbrushing on very thin light coats of the 433U gray. Added an uneven coat to give it a slightly mottled look. Once dried it really started to look like I was expecting it to.

Also a note on the importance of lighting. This is the same part, moments apart, one in the sun, one in the shade. No sunny days on Mimban, so the shaded pic is the best reference. The white background on the latter also helps the white balance and color accuracy

 

The files I had for the biceps didn't fit me well, and the arm cutouts were too small. Knocked up a quick design that had more taper towards the top, larger cutouts that were more accurate, and added the double-fishooks so I can rig up the elastic cords that have been used since R1 on the TKs/STs/etc.

Got this 1.5mm elastic cord for the rigging. This stuff is surprisingly durable and will pull off my arm before it snaps.

Next few days is the Tunic... First time sewing anything like this so I'm a little nervous that it'll turn out a mess.

 

[areilly]

28 minutes ago, xAlpha said:

Yeah the pants seem easy enough. I'm just trying to find a good starting point for the tunic to make my own, if possible (I have some ideas, but that might be better for my own thread instead of derailing yours).

I think theres a few people using McCalls M4745 as a starting point, which is easy to find. I'm starting with this: Victorian Era Army Dress Tunic

[SpaceBandito[501st]]

Dude! So awesome! I'll have to get that acrylic paint. 

[87ninefiveone[501st]]

Nice build. I’m going the 3D printing route as well. I was going to totally 3D print my kit, but I’m thinking of going to a vendor for the chest/back since the collar seems a bit flimsy (PETG with 40% infill). 

Since you have yours assembled, how durable do you think the printed collar piece is going to be?

[areilly]

On 4/21/2019 at 5:27 PM, 87ninefiveone said:

Nice build. I’m going the 3D printing route as well. I was going to totally 3D print my kit, but I’m thinking of going to a vendor for the chest/back since the collar seems a bit flimsy (PETG with 40% infill). 

Since you have yours assembled, how durable do you think the printed collar piece is going to be?

Overall my armor was printed with PLA+, 3 perimeters (1.2mm walls in and out), and 25% infill. For the collar however I was also concerned - so I printed it solid (100% infill) and also sliced the tine of the yoke in half so I could print each half with pieces with layers/grain at 90 degrees from each other and laminate them together like plywood. This avoids the weakness along the layer lines, which was critical at the tips. It survived as checked airline baggage and 2 days of convention wear will all sorts of bumps and stress. If you used the same approach with PETG you shouldn't have a problem. Even without that the main risk is the tips snapping off, and you're still holding the halves together at the shoulders so it's survivable.

 

 

[87ninefiveone[501st]]

Awesome advice, thanks for the tip!

[areilly]

SWCC After Action Report!

The last several days before were pure stress. Didn't sleep much and pulled an all nighter the day before travel to get things finished off.

I ended up still missing a few details:

• Used a simplified tunic, the more complex tunic pattern I was working on was too difficult to finish in time.
• No shin strap buckles
• No screw on the mask filters
• No secondary belt
• Incomplete weathering on the soft parts

The gray + black weathering washes were done at the hotel, very carefully to avoid splattering paint everywhere

Overall it went well. Paint held up, materials were durable and had no breakages, and kit was mostly comfortable - the longest day was 8-9 hours and I came out of it with a slightly chafed neck and sore shoulders. Was awesome to meet up with all the other Muddies and Spec Ops people. Learned a few things about how the kit wears to improve V2.

From here... adding the missing bits and updating the tunic so I can submit for approval. I'll actually end up fairly close to level 2 eligible, the main thing I'm missing are some very minor details, and another set of boots - my current ones have a zipper. I'll be working on a version 2 of this kit - I'm revising the helmet a little, working on a new mask design (all the current options have some mistakes), and over the next few months I'll be redesigning the chest and back as well. The shoulder bells are a little small, so I'll be doing new ones there as well. This kit has the potential of actually being fairly comfortable to wear if fitted correctly.

For the con, I cleaned up a Yugo backpack and made a basic shoulder strap to carry it around - it blended in with the kit and was really handy to have while wandering around all day

 

The shin rigging worked out perfectly. I made some nylon straps with a ladder lock buckle to wrap around my calves and cinched them tight. They stayed put and high enough to avoid the pinching that you get on stairs and the like. The straps had some velcro on them to attach the painted straps.

My bicep redesign included the double fishhooks, which let me rig them like the screen used TK kits are on R1 one and later. elastic cord on the sides to keep the shoulder bell tucked in and lined up with the bicep, and the middle strap is elastic as well. Very comfortable, and keeps a good fit in a full range of arm motion.

 

After a couple days of wear, overall the paint help up well. I was expecting some chipping but for the most part the only paint wear was on corners where it was rubbing with other parts of the kit.

One thing I'll be doing differently on version 2 is avoiding the gray primer when I can. The gray primer doesn't produce as nice of a wear effect as a black base coat. Unfortunately I haven't found a good black filler primer, but I can still do black sandable primer with an extra coat or two to fill things in. 

For example, my belt boxes that were smooth black resin casts had a clear adhesion promoter primer, and then the 350U/433U coats. When i sand those down the wear effect matches screen-used example almost perfectly:

The right bicep had a black basecoat before the red, so its wear looked a bit better, although in spots you still see the gray base primer:

The left bicep had the only spot of bad and ugly wear, although it wasn't really visible to other people, so it wasn't a problem during the show. Right where the inner arm rubbed against the chest plate. for the next one, a black basecoat, and a rougher grit for finishing (I was using 320, I may stop at 220 for the acrylic to adhere better) should improve the wearing of that spot. I might also try a clear enamel topcoat to improve durability, or bite the bullet and go with the much more expensive custom color mixed enamel.

 

The armor held up well. The part of most concern was the skinny bits - the tines of the yoke/collar since in the suitcase, those would get pressure when banged around. Other than a few scratches on the paint it survived the trip there and back again.

 

 

 

[areilly]

After a post-SWCC break , I'm back on Mudtrooper Version 2: Mimban Boogaloo.

I wasn't totally happy with the paint - it came out too light overall, for a couple of reasons - the initial paint formula was based on second-hand information. To fix that, I ordered official color samples from Pantone for 350U/C and 433U. Got another manual match of acrylic at the local paint shop and I think I'm much closer now. The other aspect of the paint I was unsatisfied with was the ultra-flat finish would appear several shades lighter in bright light. I'm switching to a satin-semigloss to be more consistent under varying light and for a deeper color. I may still fix my existing parts with a dark wash, but the replacement parts will definitely use a black basecoat and the new paint.

In other paint news, I got the Montana Gold colors when I re-do those related parts on the helmet and biceps:

Revised the helmet model and reprinted the mask and goggles again since the previous ones where a bit rushed and the end result was a little sloppy. Next step is trying the new paints. 

[areilly]

Continuing on helmet V2:

Added a couple coats of silver paint, thick enough for the next weathering step:

Then a very gentle wet-sand using 320 grit to give it a tarnished brushed metal effect - then a few random dings and scratches with some random metal tools on the bench

Helmet was painted with the 350U base coat, then a very thin topcoat of 433U gray. The green came out a little lighter than planned - afterwards I figured out that I needed additional/thicker coats since the paint was thinned so much for the airbrush. That will be fixed in v3.

The goggles got a little black paint rubbed into the grooves and corners, and a very tiny bit of sienna around the rivets to give a little rust effect.

Then the weathering washes. First watered down gray paint applied fairly evenly with a sponge. Then some thinned gray paint splattered on with a flicked paint brush. Then topped off with a spray bottle with diluted black paint.

Overall pretty happy with the results (yes I did eventually notice the serrated buckles are backwards). This bucket was actually a commission/trade item of sorts for someone at MegaCon and is already gone. I'll be starting on the v3 soon, and this one has really helped refine my paint and weathering technique. The one weathering/paint item really missing on this from the screen used ones is the texture paint. The original Idenden paint just isn't available in the US, and even int he UK its not a retail item, but I think i'm getting somewhere close. I tried a mixture of fuller's earth and gray paint dabbed on with a sponge. The fuller's earth tends to turn it a sandy brown, which isn't all that bad since the Idenden paint when chipped and weathered had a similar effect. it also gives it a bit of texture and grit. On the left in the image below is one of the best references we've got for the weathering - its one of the screen used helmet lights - the fullers/paint mix on the right seems to be pretty close. I think i'll end up using this a little bit on the v3 helmet and when I repaint the rest of my kit.

 

Another small change is that I finally found some elastic strap with a silicone rubber backing. This stuff is meant for goggles and helps stop them sliding around which was a bit of a pain at SWCC. listed as "Zig Zag Wave Silicone Backed Gripper Elastic" on amazon.

 

Next thing is to redo my tunic, since it doesn't meet the CRL since I skipped the front panels. Then I need to stop getting lost in the details and redesigns and finally get this kit approved.