TFU Shadow Stormtrooper Rebuild!

[Fivezero[TX]]

Alright, back at it after a few busy weeks! Thighs are together, and painted the last few pieces.

 

I still have to get the clear parts figured out, probably going to reach out to WTF. Originally I was going to sculpt my own bucks and form my own, but I'll see if I can make the WTF parts work for me.

Next part that I'll tackle is the helmet!  After that I'll get the TD together and then start wiring everything up and get lights placed.

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

[Fivezero[TX]]

Got a little work done on the helmet this weekend! Buffed the paint, painted details, added brow trim and got the mic tips painted and put on.

Next I need to add some clear plastic behind the frown and tube stripes and then run the lights. Still need to figure how I'm mounting the lenses, I would like to have them removable in case I need to do some maintenance on the lights. Got some ideas going. Hope to have the helmet done this week.

Before and after buffing.

Mic tips mounted, painted and added the mesh. Came up with a little tool to make perfectly sized mesh for these 3D printed mic tips.

Some painting progress, made up some paint masks for the stripes on the rear traps and tears. Drew these based on the in-game textures. And then a little preview of the next step!

[Fivezero[TX]]

And moving right along on, here's the progress from the weekend.

Finished painting the knee plate, adding the silver to the sides.

 

And just about wrapped up the helmet. Lights run, S-trim installed and lenses installed. Ran some scuffed up acrylic under the tube stripes and frown to carry the light. I also printed out some adapters to hold the lenses. Usually I glue my lenses in, but I wanted these removable in case I had to do some maintenance to the lights.

First round of lights glued in.

Lens adapters. Used my old helmet and a heat gun to get the contour just right after I printed these adapters. Then glued them in to the new helmet. I love these little adapters, probably going to use them for all of my helmets.

And here's the helmet with the lights run around the eyes and lenses installed, love it!

 

I used some blue window film on the usual lens material. I'm going to grab some blue mirror film and see if that looks better. Once I make a decision on the lenses, I have to do some final gluing on the eye lights and then paint over the glue. I've got a lot of light shining on the inside of the helmet, got to cut that down... I also have to sort the wiring once I figure out the whole suit (right now I have 6 individual battery packs/switches for the helmet...). Overall everything is going great! Nice to have a helmet back together for this trooper.

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

That helmet looks sweet!!

[Fivezero[TX]]

Been a minute, hurt my arm and haven't been able to work on anything for the last couple weeks... Also had to run and pick up a Humvee last week...

Anyway finally got back on this build. Get lights placed on everything. Chest plate is ready to go. Got the TD together and then damaged the paint when I glued the main plate on, so I'll have to strip and repaint that piece. And finished up the helmet, backed all of the lights with foil tape, no more light coming in to the interior of the helmet (I can see out of now...).

And now I'm working on the thigh ammo belt lights. Got them glued in and then drew up a little standoff to print to mount the ammo belt. These will have bolt going through to bolt them to the thigh. Usually I just glue the ammo belt to the thigh, but I want the belt removable to work on the lights if needed. Also these are the perfect distance to really get that shine on the thighs.

[Fivezero[TX]]

And the thigh ammo belt is finished and mounted! Printed off my standoffs and glued them in last night. Drilled and bolted the ammo belt to the thigh this afternoon.

 

Only thing left to do is to light up the belt! Well that's the only thing left to do with what parts I have. Still need to get the clear parts...

[Fivezero[TX]]

Not much to report on this rebuild lately, just started taking some CRL pics and figured I'd take a group shot with everything that is finished.

 

Still need to strip and repaint the TD face, run the lights on the belt and get some clear armor parts. Once I get the TD repainted, I plan to move on and start getting everything strapped together.

[Fivezero[TX]]

Spent the weekend getting this armor strapped together and adjusted!

 

And stripped the thermal detonator and sprayed a few coats of primer. Need to sand the primer down to take care of a few spots that are still showing through. Then some more primer, wet sanding then the final paint coat.

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

Look at that nice production line  

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

How ya doing on this @Fivezero?!  

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

@Fivezero Tyyyyyyy! You're so close haha

[Fivezero[TX]]

Don't worry @IcyTrooper, I'm still alive! Had a big project (1971 Chevelle interior and some mechanical items....) that's taken up all of my free time this past year. Good news is that car is finally done, so now we're back to the TFU Shadow rebuild. I do have some small updates that I'll post up this week. Still not done, but I have gotten back to working on it.

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

Glad to hear you're still kickin! That car project sounds intense  

[Fivezero[TX]]

As promised here's a small update on what I've been up to! As I mentioned been busy with my 71 Chevelle this past year. Completely gutted and replaced the interior and ran a new wiring harness and some mechanical upgrades. Took far longer than I expected but after almost 12 years, this car is done.

 

Even though the Chevelle has been the main project, I've still been looking to the future and I've replaced my old 3D printers with a pair of Creality Ender 3 S1 Pro printers. And wow I should have upgraded a long time ago.... They've made 3D printing enjoyable versus a chore with my old Prusa I3 clones.

And I picked up this big guy a few months ago, Elegoo Neptune 3 Max. Big enough to print helmets and armor parts in a single piece. Love this thing and I've got a second one on the way....

 

 

So on to the TFU Shadow update! I did finally receive some clear armor parts a while ago. And on the left is a box of electrical stuff to make a new wiring harness for this trooper. I've started trimming these parts and sanding them for paint and light diffusion.

Progress has been a bit slower than I wanted. Unfortunately I fought a bench grinder and lost a few weeks ago, so I haven't been able to use my left hand much (don't worry nothing important was hit, my hand is fine). Then I was unloading my tote after a troop last week and threw my back out...

 

[Fivezero[TX]]

Another update! Spent a good chunk of time building a 3D printer shelf and also got my second Neptune 3 Max (the big ones on the bottom) and got it assembled and printing. First major test print was a TK helmet model from SWG (yep will paint it up as a Novatrooper). All the printers are moved over and ready for the future!

Anyway back to the TFU Shadow! Did the final assembly on the TD.

Trimmed and sanded the shin armor and started gluing them together. Also got the forearm armor glued together.

 

And then I stumbled across these things this morning. Flexible LED filaments... I bought a couple to see how well they work, might be redoing all of the lighting on this rebuild...

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

Ahh don't think I've seen a flexible LED filament that looks that consistent across the entire length. That is awesome!

[Fivezero[TX]]

Yeah, we'll see how they work out! If they are bright enough then these are what I've been looking for from the beginning for this trooper. Way better than my current solution of gluing in individual LEDs...

Anyway all of the gluing is done on the clear armor. Need to run the sander on the cover strips and then we can start masking off the illuminated parts of the armor. Goal is primer by the end of week, might get to final paint?

[Fivezero[TX]]

Here's an update on this past week's progress. Primed and painted the clear armor, with that everything is now painted!

 

Also received the LED filament samples, yep they'll work just fine...

They are EXTREMELY bright, tiny and of course flexible. So, yep, I'll be redoing the lighting with these things. Hate having to redo finished parts, but these things are so much better, there's no contest.  Here's a comparison with the current TD lights and the LED filament through it.

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

That change in lighting is so worth it!

[Fivezero[TX]]

Time for an update! Ordered all of the new LED filaments and have been swapping them out on the finished armor and then started running them on the clear parts. Yep definitely worth it! Leagues above every other lighting source I have tried in the past.

Source for anyone that is curious: https://www.adafruit.com/product/5508  You can find other cheaper sources, but I haven't tried them out for quality and Adafruit is based in the US so easier (quicker) to have shipped.

Still have to do the forearms, shins and the lighting behind the belt. Goal is to have everything glued in this week and then I can start making up the whole wiring harness over the weekend!

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

Duddddde this is looking so good.

Thanks for linking that product.

[Fivezero[TX]]

Well, I'm getting there! Most of the wiring is done for all of the armor parts. Just have to finish up the forearms tonight. Did have to replace a couple filaments, got a little too aggressive a couple times. These filaments are fine for the most part, but pulled a little too hard a couple times and ended up snapping the ends right off. Definitely recommended pre-wiring the ends before gluing them in (what I should have done...).

Here's a few pics of the progress, didn't get many of the wiring (got in the zone and forgot to take pictures).

Shin lights!

Kidney onto butt plate lights (hidden by belt).

Couple more helmet pics with the all of the filaments, loving it!

 

After the forearms are done, I will move on to make the main harness to connect all the armor pieces and battery together.

Once the wiring is finished, there are a few small things to finish up (need to make up a couple straps and mount the knee plate). TFU Shadow V2 is finally coming together, getting very close to the end of this rebuild!

[THECAPTAIN[TX]]

excellent progress, it looks incredible

[Fivezero[TX]]

Quick update! Assembly is complete for the armor! Bicep, shoulder, shin and thigh straps all finished up and glued in. Also got the knee plate and shoulder straps mounted. So armor wise, it's ready to go! Unfortunately, hit a snag with the wiring...

 

As you can see, I started making the wiring harness. It is all trash now... Everything is fine, it will deliver power as needed. However the resistors that bring the current down are getting way too hot. There is no way you could wear it without getting burned. So back to the drawing board...

I was hoping to use a centralized battery, and I will get it worked out eventually. In the interests of getting the CRL finished (and I've got a troop coming up that I'd like to take this to), I've bought a bunch of individual battery packs to power each piece of armor individually. Not an ideal solution long term, but it will get me by for now...

On a positive note, I can rig up the individual parts for the last few CRL photos I need to take (just can't do the full suit up with lights yet). Almost there!