General's WIP of the Purge Trooper Commander WIP

[GeneralSpeer[TX]]

Opening

Good afternoon, morning, and evening fellow brothers and sisters of the SpecOps.  

I am here to present to the detachment my build of the Purge Trooper Commander from Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order.  This was something that I started over on the Clone Trooper Detachment earlier this year and I am well underway with it as you will see in later posts after this intro one.  With the new home of all the Purge Troopers being the SpecOps, the goal of this thread is not only to show the changes, upgrades and tweaks to the current CRL listing, I also aim to show how to build Clone armor in it's entirely given that they are a different beast in comparison to other armors, and that isn't just because it's a different trooper, it just wears different and is generally more bulky than other troopers those that are unfamiliar with it.  

Near as I have researched, the armor that is for the regulation movie style clones that the Fallen Order troopers wear are more or less the same base for the Kenobi Purge Troopers so there are a bunch of applications that will be the same.  

Armor Familiarity

Because this gets asked a ton over on the CTD, I am going to address it here.  When it comes to Clone Armor, there are technically multiple different types and styles.  For the the purposes of this thread, the armor that I am using is based on the Movie style Clone armor, or AOTC/ROTS armors, or also known as the realistic armor.  These sets are not the same as their animated counterparts featured in the Clone Wars TV series and Bad Batch TV series as the shapes and models are very different indeed, so just be aware that there are significant differences and that we will be using the movie/realistic style version.  

Kits and 3D Print Options

For the purposes of this build, all of the armor parts, including the helmet are acquired from Imperial Surplus, the go to for many Clones in the 501st.  Their shop has excellent quality ABS vac kits that are light weight and durable and their turnaround times are also really solid.  They are also the only maker too my knowledge that has the properly sculpted biceps and shoulder bells as featured in game.  

Just as easily as one can build their armor using a kit, there is also a 3D print option and Galactic Armory has Clone trooper files that work really well.  There are also a host of folks that sell files of the helmets too.  

I will talk about all the accessories later when we get into the meat of the build but the armor is a great starting place.  

References:

When the Commander version was first drafted, the biggest problem was finding enough pictures in game that were clear of the troopers themselves, but with the introduction of the phot mode combined with the Battle Meditation arena that can be accessed at any rest area in game, we are able to get a lot of really good shots of the troopers in really nice detail and lighting.  The photos below will show case all the details as much as possible.

The Full Armor

The Helmet

The helmet actually bears many similarities to another helmet design seen in Revenge of the Sith and that's the airborne trooper helmet.  While similar, the Purge Trooper flares a little more at the helmet base and it does not have the etching in the cheeks of the helmets as the Airbornes do.  The other interesting feature on the Purge Trooper helmet is a slightly lit visor on the inside.  

The Top Half

As mentioned, while the armor itself is very much based off of the movie realistic armor of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, the Purge Trooper has a few unique to character parts and those would be the biceps and the shoulder bells.  In comparison the film references, Fallen Order's Purge Troopers all have a more slender and longer bicep that is not as clunky as the reg counterpart.  The shoulder bells by the same token are more rounded and actually form more of a tear drop shape than the regulation clones, not actually far off from the overall shapes of Commander Cody's shoulder bells in Revenge of the Sith.  These also have the imperial emblem slapped onto each bell and fitting over the biceps.  

The Lower Half

The lower half of the body is also more or less regulation parts and accessories.  However a things to note is that first off, the belt has both a unique clip worn by other clone characters but also the belt on the back has some ridging that peaks out underneath the back pouches.  This is a standard in a lot of clones but is not present on the current build of the CRL and is something I intend to add.  

The other aspect are the thighs and specifically, the right thigh that has the white strips.  There is now confirmation that the stripe edges facing the outer leg meet almost at the edge of the recess for the back of the plate.  This is something I will emulate.  

Then there is the kama.  I am sure regular bias tape over duck cloth will be fine, but for the purposes of this build, I intended to do my red lining from red leather, the very same that will be used to fabricate the pauldron, something we'll get into later this post.  

Lastly are the boots.  The Purge Trooper boots are basically black regulation clone boots, for which they can be acquired from Imperial Boots or Crowprops.  The biggest difference is that the boots have a unique pattern of the bottom of the soles as one can see in the running shot, and while at the current time, Crowprops does sell the boots with red soles, they are not segmented as shown here, but something that might change later.  

The Pauldron

The pauldron is something that upon first glace seems really simple, but in-fact, it is completely unique to this trooper and is custom designed for them.  First off, the current CRL likely is using a Stormtrooper pauldorn that comes from Trooperbay and I am not knocking the quality, or work at all, but it sadly does not fit the build; and that is where we get into the differences between some of the trooper armors.  

Having built a Death Trooper, and having at least second hand familiarity with Stormtrooper armor via other garrison mates, these armors are not really bulking, they are worn fairly close to the skin and it also keeps a pretty low profile for the most part.  And the pauldrons designed for those troopers proportionally fit really well.  Clones on the other hand are built more like tanks because the armor is bulkier than the Imperial troops for the most part (This is especially true for the Republic Commandos, but that's a different subject.  As such, if one puts a pauldron which was designed for troopers like the Stormtroopers or Death Trooper which are smaller profile armors on a larger framed and structed armor set like a clones, physics dictates that it will do exactly what it's doing in the CRL and that is bowing up and looking much smaller on the gear.  So, a brand new pattern would need to be fashioned in order for it to fit properly over the armor; (you'll see what I mean in a few posts ?).  The other big thing is the closure system of the pauldron itself.  For a long time, I was under the impression that like all the other pauldrons, it was a snap method for putting it together and that is way far from the case.  The closure system for the Purge Trooper Commander has this strap that connects to both flaps and on each of the "ribbing" that runs on both ends of the strap there are 5 dots which look similar to rivets that line it.  So, pretty unique for sure.  This will also be considered in the redesign.  

Same too with the buckle that is on the back portion of the ammo strap.  BTS, I am still figuring out a decent setup for the buckle but it is a custom setup with some small side pieces in the profile view.  I would love it to be functional, but I am purely going for looks first.  

The Undersuit

The undersuit by far has taken the most research and this was something that I technically started patterning and developing a year ago.  From what I gather, the undersuit is effectively made up into 3 separate pieces.  There is a shirt, the pants and then there is what I am calling the "mantel".  Not only has it be interesting trying to figure out the main material, it's also be fun trying to design a suit that people can easily copy for their own (because I am not making it for others) and that folks can follow with ease.  The first element is drafting the patterns and following where the ribbing is going to show and then put in where mesh and stretch fabric will be for the rest of the suit.  For those who suit up as Vader (like I do), or have been around enough folks who have suited up as Vader, it will likely be very similar in overall construction.  

Now, fortunately, a fellow Purge Trooper builder who is known as TK 21814 over on the CTD is working on the Electrostaff variant and he came up with sketches for the Undersuit that help a plenty but I am going to be tweaking them of course to make them a little cooler to wear, etc.  

I am excited to show off the build and as always if there are comments, suggestions, critiques, feedback, etc, I am all for it!  

[tipperaryred[CMD-DCA]]

Huge thanks Christopher, that's a fantastic and thorough introduction to this great kit for all of us. You've also saved me a job, as I was planning to screenshot a bunch of angles from the FO photo mode myself to help ?

The introduction to the Clone armour types is also very handy, as this was one of the first things we looked at after the transfer was complete. We might look at a slight rewording of some of the terminology that was very obvious to clone builders, but might need to be slightly more descriptive now. Now that we have your primer above, that should make this task many times easier!

[GeneralSpeer[TX]]

4 hours ago, tipperaryred said:

Huge thanks Christopher, that's a fantastic and thorough introduction to this great kit for all of us. You've also saved me a job, as I was planning to screenshot a bunch of angles from the FO photo mode myself to help ?

The introduction to the Clone armour types is also very handy, as this was one of the first things we looked at after the transfer was complete. We might look at a slight rewording of some of the terminology that was very obvious to clone builders, but might need to be slightly more descriptive now. Now that we have your primer above, that should make this task many times easier!

For sure!  The main terminology's to keep track of in this case is "Realistic/Movie Realistic Armor" versus the Clones show counter parts which is "animated armor".  It does get more complex from there, but the main thing are those differences.  Happy to help as always!

[GeneralSpeer[TX]]

The Helmet

Alrighty!  We can get things started as the armor is here and so is the helmet kit I decided to go with from Imperial Surplus.  

Assembly

For those who have never build armor and for those specifically who haven't build a Purge Trooper, i am going to be as detailed as I can.  First thing is first is looking at the helmet.  The helmet itself is a 2 part resin cast from Imperial Surplus and then there is a bag that is included that has a lovely IS sticker and then 2 aerators, and 3 pieces that make up the moth piece.  All of these parts have mold release on them and would need to be cleaned before painted.  

First though, I started by tackling that seam like that runs on the sides and dome of the helmet.  Having done a bit of woodworking and getting back into in, I have use a chisel to take off the debris as much as I can in all crevasses.  This can also be achieved with a utility knife or box cutter.  Once the excess material is taken care of, I then sand the seam as smooth as I can, starting mainly with 150 grit sandpaper and hand sanding the seam.  The whole helmet is going to get sanded anyways, but I wanted to start in this area.  

Next was some cleanup work with the neck opening, visor and a small hole for the mouth piece, but I will get to that in a bit.  

The neck opening itself will look like this when you get the kit and needs to be cleaned out.  I took a drill with a foresenor bit and drilled all the way around and then carved out the remaining material with a Dremel and sanding drum.  I did the same thing to the visor cutout and in addition, I also used some files to cleanup the visor opening.  

Now, lets get to that hole in the helmet.  Because of the angle of the mouth piece, it actually only has 2 points of contact, one at the top, the other at the bottom, when actually installed in the helmet.  This was designed on purpose such that one could drill a hole into the center of the helmet so that one could get airflow through the mouth piece.  When drilling, it's important to make sure your hole is not too big otherwise it'll be see from the outside edges of the mouth piece.  I used another forcenor bit smaller that the width of the mouth piece and drilled on through.  

The next thing was putting together the mouth piece.  I started with the two thicker bits and sanded the ends that connect together.  After that, I added drops of Locktite super glue and glued the pieces together.  Imperial Surplus has an overview video on the kit, but it's important to have the back seams of both parts flush (Not the front) and then have the top portion centered over the bottom as much as possible. 

Next, I added the greeblie that looks like some sort of venting that goes on top of the top portion of the mount piece.  I sanded the contact sides and added more drops of glue. The mouth vent piece is taper towards the top so you need to make sure it's in the right facing direction before gluing.  

Cleanup:

Next was cleaning the actual helmet.  While I've seen the suggestions of using Acetone to clean off the mold release residue, I am much more of a simpleton and have seen warm water and dish soap do the same thing.  I quite simply took it over to the sink, got a paper towel with dish soap on it and gave it a bath, rinsed it, then I patted it dry.  The same is going to be done for all resin parts on this build.  Once this is done, it is best to hit the helmet with a fine grit sand paper to add a little abrasive for the paint, something like 320 or even 400 is fine.  

Painting

The next thing was moving onto paint.  After a light sanding, I sprayed the helmet with Rustolem's grey primer and then after 2 coats, I did Rustoleum's Semi-Gloss black.  This actually dries more of a satin which I like a lot.  And then after taping off the areas to do the red, I sprayed on Rustoleum's Apple Red.  The taping job started with some pin stripe tap and the distance that I started with is the same distance for the recess at the front of the vents, as shown in the finished result on the next picture.  A disclaimer here is that I know the red is very bright right now but through the weathering process, it will get more dulled for sure.  

After the red was dried, I applied the paint job for the vents themselves and also the mouth piece and areators.  I went with something a little different and used Tamya TS38 Spray paint which is a metallic spray (happens to be the same one I used for the metallic look on my Death Trooper build) and then I misted flat black over it and it actually turned out pretty good.  I have no clue if it will work for the concept of using a dark grey color for these parts but it seems to look pretty close to the images.  Others can chime in on this.  

The final result before you.  I still need to seal the helmet with a clear coat and then do some sort of weathering, but love how it turned out.  I will likely swap the visor for something darker but I wanted to throw it in there for the affect.  That will be covered in a later post for those interested, this is the "Fire Red" visor, I believe, from Kalevala Visors.  

I will be doing another post soon on the armor and I cannot wait to continue this build.  As always, feel free to chime in with comments, critiques, suggestions, etc.  

[GeneralSpeer[TX]]

The Torso Armor Part 1: Main Assembly

Alrighty.  Moving right along, we have another post and this time, it's to do with the torso armor.  I am breaking this section up into a few parts so this post will be focused on the assembly of the ab section, cod and posterior sections, and chest and back.  

The first thing to do is to start trimming all the pieces such that all the extra flashing material is off from the vacuum forming process and the reason for this is that it can affect the fit of the armor when you size it to you as well as some of the flashing is uneven and this can also affect the setup.  I didn't get pics of all of this process, but I did at least showing off the chest and back plates.  

I first started with the assembly of the ab section and the reason is that this part has other parts overlapping it.  It's actually a really simple section in the grand scheme of things because all it is is taping both the kidney and ab plate on, seeing where edges line up and make your marks, or measure how much of a shim one is going to need if they are a larger person, and then make your cuts and add the pieces of plastic on the inside to connect the sides together... like so: 

*Now, something veteran builders may notice, especially if they are familiar with the Imperial Surplus kit is that the back part of the abs or kidney plate is flipped upside down.  I did this on purpose for comfort and having done this maneuver a few times before, this makes it such that you will need to trim the top of the kidney plate for the posterior plate to fit over properly.  In that same vain, I will also be drilling out the holes in the front of the ab section in due time, just haven't done that part yet.  

After gluing the sides together, I made a shim from the extra ABS which is designed for the back closure.  I tried to get this more or less the same shape as the top and bottom edges of the ab section and then I added velcro to the plates respectively.  Once that was done, I removed the shim and cut along the grove on the back of the kidney plate, splitting it open.  

Once the ab section was at a point of where I could actually wear it, I threw on the cod and posterior plates, and the chest and back.  

Using tape, I got everything in the rough position that it would be with me actually wearing it.  I'm tall, but I am also a slimmer dude so the chest and back are tight on the shoulders which helps with bringing the chest out at little.  The cod and posterior plating also is right around where I want it and the plate that covers the ab seam in the back is under the back enough for me to make the line work.  Ideally, having someone there to help you make the marks is key, but with a 6ft wingspan, I was able to do it myself with ease.  

Now a quick little thing on making marks, I am not so much concerned about making the mark perfect as long as I get the axis points of where the plating will meet up.  Take this image of the cod section for a moment.  

You'll notice that there is an overlap in my case with the posterior plate and cod section and the intent is to draw a separating mark between the two of them such that when I go to cut these pieces, the edges should meet up where my marks were made.  The same is true for the chest, but that takes a bit of a different twist.  

I didn't get a lot of pics, but the marks for the chest are a little off center.  

That's because there's this angle that can get created when the chest and back plate meet up and as you can see where I have my marks, I am going to be cutting out a triangular pieces on the chest flap and then a more straight cut on the back and ideally, those two should meet up, which they do.  

The last thing is if one is every un sure about a mark, it's always best to cut off less material and test it again.  I did this with the back piece and it turns out my original tick marks were spot on, so I just trimmed that remaining bit.  

Next, was to create the shim that connects the back and chest, and I usually like adding my shims to my back plates.  This makes it really easy for me to get in and out of the armor and it's easy to apply.  I do however add one extra step.  After cutting a piece of plastic that is perhaps 2ish inches or so, I then try to get both the contours and match the edges to the armor.  This means matching it to both the back plate and the chest and I make 2.  The next thing I do is I cut an extra pieces of ABS plastic and this will get glued on top of the shim that is intended to be glued to the back plate flap on either side.  The reason for this is I am accounting for the thickness of the velcro that is going to be on the shim and it makes it such that the chest doesn't bulge from it.  Once those shims are glued up, they can be glued to your back plate, just don't forget which side is which  ?

Lastly for the main torso armor is the cod and posterior section.  The closure system for this can be a little daunting sometimes, but I am taking a page out of PatchBOTS's tutorials on YouTube for his Commander Bow costume.  Let me walk you through what I did which is similar to what he had done.  

First off, this method utilizes his custom shims but one can easily use a scrap bit of ABS and make something very similar to achieve the same goal.  

For trimming the cod and posterior, I first started with the later, since the posterior plating was going to have the snap.  I measured the distance of the main plate, not including the flap that went around my ab piece, and the I found my center point on that line.  I took a round object, in this case, my accelerator spray can, and drew a line that would end up being the flap that house the top snap portion. 

After those lines were drawn, I found the center of that circle, marked it, and then drew a hole large enough for the snap to be added in.  This process was of course done on both sides.  I then cut out the material and used a rotary tool with a sanding drum to cleanup the edges.  I then match the posterior plate to the cod section, lining up where I made my marks when I sized my armor and drew cut lines on the cod section.  Once this was done, those also were cut and cleaned up.  After those were set, I added the first part of the snaps on the posterior plate.  

The next part involves the flaps and these were 3D printed and in my case using PLA with 30% infill.  These make them flexible enough to work as intended while strong enough where I and not worried they'll snap suddenly.  Ideally though, something like PTEG or ABS in this case would be better for the longevity of the shim.  In these go the opposite portion of the snaps and I found that I needed to add a little extra glue just because the post to the bottom portion is just ever so long enough to catch the other part due to the thickness of the flap.  Once those were ready, I snapped them to the posterior plate.  it is important to recognize the orientation of these flaps.  If you get them switched, they wouldn't fit the way they are supposed to.  

With everything connected, I clamped the parts in place and on the inside of the cod section I traced where the flap was going to be glued.  This took a little bit of fenagling to make sure things were lined up, but once they were, I un did all the snaps and glued the flaps to the cod section right where things were drawn in. 

After that, I cut up 6 bits of ABS, 4 small bits and 2 long ones.  The pieces were to act as sleeves that are glued on the inside of the posterior plate and the sole purpose is to keep the flap locked in place while trooping and it also adds an extra measure of closing to the whole system.  I definitely didn't do it as elaborate or cleaning as Patchbots did, but it gets the job done and at the end of the day, I am an advocate for whatever works.  

The very last thing I added was the resin box that goes into the back plate.  This was cleanup using soap and water, rinsed, dried and then sanded.  I wasn't massively concerned about the recesses as I was the top surface, but, that's me personally.  Once I got it sanded, I sanded the inside cutout of the back plate, which was scored, drilled and snapped out.  It's important while glued to get it as lined up as you can and then on the inside, I added super glue to the seams and kicked it with accelerator to set it fast.  

After that was in place, I threw everything on that I have ready so far and it all looks really awesome!  My next post will feature the finishing touches on the strapping, both the shoulders, and internal to get everything fitted and aligned properly, along with the beginnings of the pauldron layout which I am excited for.  As always, comments, critiques, suggestions, and more are welcome and I cannot wait to continue this build.  

[tipperaryred[CMD-DCA]]

Love the level of detail in the build thread.  It's one of the single biggest encouragements to new builders - too often the "obvious" steps are taken for granted. If you're building for the first time, or even just building a different kind of kit for the first time, it can be very off-putting. Keep up the great work!

[GeneralSpeer[TX]]

Hello fellow builders, I return with more on my build thread of the Purge Trooper Commander, and there's a lot I am going to cover and as such, I will break it down into sections.  

The Arm Parts:

For today's post, I am going to do the arm pieces.  We have the hand plates, forearms, elbows, biceps, and shoulder bells.  Like the torso armor from the previous post, we'll start with the cleanup of the parts and the hand plates and shoulders specifically are really easy, because it's trimming them, cleaning up the edges, sanding them and getting them ready for paint.  

The hand after painting are done... the shoulders are gonna take some work, and this is where the fun begins. Now, one could attempt to use a 5" red Imperial decal, 5 inches because it's approximately the size that works proportionately and of course red, because the Purge Trooper shoulders have red for their cogs.  The problem with a decal is that it's a flat sticker that doesn't compress and it would be going over a curved surface and this can be an absolute pain to take care of.... sooo.. a different method was employed.  

*Disclaimer: for the rest of the world that follows the metric system, I apologize ahead of time for the Imperial measurements.  

When it comes to these kinds of paint jobs, I am no stranger to it.  I employed the same technique I am about to show you for when I did the helmet for ARC Trooper Jesse, one of a few CRLs I've helped make so far.  Once the shoulder bell paint job is completely dry with satin black, you are going to tape off the shoulders with some tape, in this case I am using some painters tape mostly.  It is incredibly important that you lay the tape down as cleanly as possible otherwise the cog will not be as clean when you lay the paint down.  Pressing out all the ridges helps a lot.  

From there, I found the rough center of the shoulder and drew a vertical line through.  Keep in mind that in the references, the cogs are just forward of center of either shoulder, not exactly center.  Once I did that, I found the height of the cog which is approximately 2 and a 1/4 inches from the bottom edge.  From that mark on the vertical line, I measured from there 5 inches up and then made a center at 2.5 inches.  From center, I made marks in a circle all the way around and then traced to make a circle.  For the actual Cog design, I had an image of the cog up and in pencil did a few rough sketches and passes till I was happy and when over the design in pen. The inner ring is about a 1/4" inch from the outer, and the same dot from center apples.  

Next is the center "star".  From the center dot, draw a circle 1 inch in total diameter, and from there, divide the circle into 6 triangles.  For the arms of the "star, make some dots as shown, the top and bottom will be on either side of the center line, and then for the angled arms, the dots in the top hemisphere of the circle pie will be below the line, the opposite is done on the bottom.  Then, make center marks in between all those marks.  From those center marks, measure out 7/8ths of an inch and mark each of the arms as shown.  

At the ends of those marks, make some lines that are approximately 1/2" and then connect the lines at the ends of the arm lines with the dots at the circle.  The star should be drawn at this point.  

For the last part of the Cog.  *Now, I did mess up on this a little but I have a corrected image of what the end result should look like. 

Begin by extending the center lines of each of the arms of the star out to the inner ring.  On either side of each arm extension line, where the line and inner ring meet, make two marks that are a 1/4 inch distance appart.  Make vertical lines on these marks again, a similar distance between the outer and inner ring.  

Then, from the other end of the vertical lines, draw a series of curved lines, just shy of half an inch as shown.  And then lastly, draw some vertical lines and make the smaller wedge and then your Cog will be all drawn in.  

Once that was done, I took an xacto knife and cut into the tape.  *** PLEASE go slow and have a sharp blade at all times, if you haven't worked with an xacto, they are incredibly sharp.  Not trying to get too graphic but they can easily send someone to the emergency room if not careful.  If you need to, practice with a flat scrap piece of ABS with tape on it to figure out how well it cuts.  Once you have the tape cut, remove all tape from the areas that are going to be painted, and then repeat the same process for the other shoulder.  

For painting, begin by laying down a layer of the same semi gloss black we did the helmet with.  The reason for this is so that the red paint doesn't bleed under the tape and create more work for us .  Once the black is dry, you can do the same red, in my case, like the helmet, I used Rustoleum's Apple Red and let that dry.  Once dry, the tape is removed and the design reviled and aside from sealing and minor weathering, the shoulder bells are done! 

The Elbows

The elbows I kinda did off camera but, I do have pics from a Galactic Marine build I am doing separate which hopefully will help illustrate the process.  The first image shows off what it looks like with the flashing material and we are going to trim that off until we have a clean edge.  Not shown, you'll do the same for the elbow strap that is included, if you ordered the plastic one from Imperial Surplus.  Once you have all that cleaned up, you take a drill or a dremel with a cutting blade and very carefully cut two slits as shown in the markings on the second image.  These will be indented in the plastic already and will ONLY be on one side of each elbow, don't put slots into both sides of each elbow 😉. Once done, clean that up with a file and sand the edges.  

Once that is done, we're going to trim the edges and size the strap.  This is a bit of a personal preference, but I like the armor to hug close in on the armor itself, so after some test fits, I took about an inch off the strap and got it ready to glue in place.  I added to bits of scrap ABS squares to the inside flaps of each side of the elbows, you'll need to make sure they fit into the natural recess of the strap.  Once done, glue the strap in place over those ABS squares.  

Now!  If you've ordered Imperial Surplus' foam elbow and knee pad kit, hold off on this for the moment, I will go over strapping in a later post so it's cohesive and easy to follow 😄.  It is however recommended that as you are sizing the strap that you have the foam padding loosely fitted in place and that may require some trimming and cleanup to fit it in place.  

The Forearms

The forearms were the next piece of the puzzle.  After trimming away the buck material, I taped up the forearm and measured it around my arm to see how it fits.  (You'll notice that this one is white. I lost the images in this early stage for the black ones that came with the kit.)  Once I was satisfied with the fit, I added shims to one half of each arm and glued the setup together.  

It was at this point that the cleanup began.  For the seam work, I used ABS sludge which is a mixture of ABS scrap and acetone to make a paste like consistency, and then once that was cured, I added some Evercoat auto filler and sanded smooth.  For context, Evercoat is basically the same setup as Bondo, just has a better durability and elasticity.  After the sanding is next to apply the compad to the right arm, which in this case is casted from resin and the arm is your choice as they are identical.  I measured about 5/8ths of an inch from the cuff and then it's recommended to slowly heat and bend to make sure it fits the curvature of the arm.  Once that was done, I glued it in place.  

After the compad was installed, I went right to painting, first with semi-gloss black the once that was dry, I taped off the area on both forearms were the white chevrons were going.  These are about 7/8ths of an inch wide and are separated by 1/8th of an inch.  Once taped off, I used Rustoleum's flat white.  Then, I taped off the area around the top button on the compad on the right forearm and painted that Apple Red.  And with that, the forearms are complete pending sealing and weathering.  

The Biceps

The last part of this post involves the biceps.  Like the forearms, these get trimmed and taped up to size around your arms, and then shims are added, glued and the same ABS Sludge, sanding and evercoat steps are applied.  

One those are ready, the biceps were then painted black and sealed.  Now, for the additional elements of the right bicep.  First, I took a strip of leather, 1" wide, dyed it black, and glued around the bicep, about 3/5ths of the way down the bicep.  I put the same on the outside face such that one of the ammo pouches can be secured over it.  Speaking of which, the ammo pouches have been 3D printed, cleaned up and paint black as well.  The first ammo box installed is secured over the seam of the leather strap so the strap looks as if it's one continuous piece.  Next, 2 holes are drill with an 1/8th inch bit, one in the front, one in the back for securing the other 2 ammo boxes.  The one in the front is direct center of the bicep and you look directly at it, the back one is offset from center to match the references.  These are then glued and screwed into place and once those are complete, the biceps are done.  

 

This concludes the construction, cleanup and paint job of the arms parts of the build, and as usual, if there are any comments, suggestions, critiques, and or more that folks want to give along the way, it's always welcome.  Next post we will be looking at the remainder of the torso parts.  Have a good afternoon, morning and evening!  

[GeneralSpeer[TX]]

Hello everyone on the SpecOps.  It's your friendly neighborhood builder GeneralSpeer back at it again on the Purge Trooper Commander.  A looooot of time has passed since the last post with a slew of life events last year.  A new job with a cross country moved that was involved, the passing of a family member, it was a lot.  But, I am back at it now, and I have some awesome things to show off.  

Behold, the first time with most of the armor parts combined with this lovely bodysuit made by a seamstress in Canada.  

There are still bits and pieces to work on as well as proper strapping and padding, but, I am actually really pleased and surprised with how far this has gotten.  And I will have more updates here soon.  

[TK 21814[TX]]

Looks great! 

[tipperaryred[CMD-DCA]]

On 3/17/2024 at 6:19 PM, GeneralSpeer said:

Hello everyone on the SpecOps.  It's your friendly neighborhood builder GeneralSpeer back at it again on the Purge Trooper Commander.  A looooot of time has passed since the last post with a slew of life events last year.  A new job with a cross country moved that was involved, the passing of a family member, it was a lot.  But, I am back at it now, and I have some awesome things to show off.  

Behold, the first time with most of the armor parts combined with this lovely bodysuit made by a seamstress in Canada.  

There are still bits and pieces to work on as well as proper strapping and padding, but, I am actually really pleased and surprised with how far this has gotten.  And I will have more updates here soon.  

Welcome back, and I am sorry to hear that you have had difficulties this year.

In positive news, we have recently finished our review of the electrostaff purge trooper, and so are ready to finalise the latest version of the commander too.  Because there are so many shared parts, this will hopefully be a much faster task than many other CRL revisions 🙂

We look forward to seeing the rest of your build, and hope that you will be able to assist with the CRL revision too.

[GeneralSpeer[TX]]

9 minutes ago, tipperaryred said:

Welcome back, and I am sorry to hear that you have had difficulties this year.

In positive news, we have recently finished our review of the electrostaff purge trooper, and so are ready to finalise the latest version of the commander too.  Because there are so many shared parts, this will hopefully be a much faster task than many other CRL revisions 🙂

We look forward to seeing the rest of your build, and hope that you will be able to assist with the CRL revision too.

That’s the goal! Feel free to let me know if there’s anything needed from me. 😁

[PRFUZZ7[TX]]

What's the revisions for the Commander CRL if I may ask? Because that's the one I'm currently finishing up and I don't wanna do reworks after getting done with it haha

[tipperaryred[CMD-DCA]]

23 hours ago, PRFUZZ7 said:

What's the revisions for the Commander CRL if I may ask? Because that's the one I'm currently finishing up and I don't wanna do reworks after getting done with it haha

If you take a look over at the discussion thread in the Electrostaff section, that will give you a good idea of what is coming. It's largely building a bit more detail into the original CRL to give future builders more guidance. The photo mode release in FO gave us a chance to go back and see the full costume in far more detail.

If you see an identical costume part that is shared by both the commander and the electrostaff trooper, there's a good chance that the new wording in that electrostaff discussion thread will also be applied to the commander when we are done.

[GeneralSpeer[TX]]

On 3/27/2024 at 4:15 AM, PRFUZZ7 said:

What's the revisions for the Commander CRL if I may ask? Because that's the one I'm currently finishing up and I don't wanna do reworks after getting done with it haha

Essentially a large bulk of the armor for the current iteration of the Commander CRL remains the same.  But the biggest differences are in elements like the helmet, it’s not an airborne helmet as the current model is, the Paulson is unique to the trooper class as a whole, it also includes a strap that connects to the back of the pauldron in back that has a buckle/saver on it.  The boots have a red sole pattern on the bottom, the biceps and shoulders are also a different sculpt too.  All of these I’ve done as illustrated points so far.  
 

The thing I don’t know is if for basic level approval if the bodysuit will be required or if it will be a lvl 2 certification.  @tipperaryred, can you shed some light on this part?

[GeneralSpeer[TX]]

Oh!  @PRFUZZ7 one additional thing.  For the Commander’s pauldron, and the same is true for the Electrohammer trooper, they basically pulled a Rogue One in that the underside lining matches the color on top.  So, for the commander, it’s a red and black lining, for the Electrohammer, it’s a grey and black lining etc.  The only PT to have an all black lining is the electro staff variation 

[PRFUZZ7[TX]]

I think I can paint it, but I'm more concerned about all the layers of leather plus armor I'd have to wear here in the heat of Hawaii haha I'm gonna be honest I like the current CRL for the Commander more than the Electrostaff, there's so much little details it gives me a headache haha

[GeneralSpeer[TX]]

Understandable.  They’ll all share the same base eventually for consistency’s sake.  

[tipperaryred[CMD-DCA]]

On 3/28/2024 at 1:41 PM, GeneralSpeer said:

Essentially a large bulk of the armor for the current iteration of the Commander CRL remains the same.  But the biggest differences are in elements like the helmet, it’s not an airborne helmet as the current model is, the Paulson is unique to the trooper class as a whole, it also includes a strap that connects to the back of the pauldron in back that has a buckle/saver on it.  The boots have a red sole pattern on the bottom, the biceps and shoulders are also a different sculpt too.  All of these I’ve done as illustrated points so far.  
 

The thing I don’t know is if for basic level approval if the bodysuit will be required or if it will be a lvl 2 certification.  @tipperaryred, can you shed some light on this part?

At present the revised undersuit text for the Electrostaff trooper is as below.  Unless there's visual evidence that the commander has a different suit, it will likely have the same text applied eventually:

Undersuit and Neck Seal

• Undersuit has one-piece or two-piece construction with no visible zippers or logos.
• All materials are low-sheen leather or leather-like material.
• Neck seal may be integrated into the suit, or worn over it.
  • Neck seal has 1.5” (38.1mm) vertical ribs.
• Spacings of the ribs given below are approximate.
  • Shirt has vertical 1” (25.4mm) ribbing across the torso.
  • The horizontal arm ribs taper from approximately 1" (25.4) wide at the torso to ¾" (19mm) at the wrist.
  • Sleeves are joined to the torso with a curved ¼” (6.3mm) rib.
  • The pants have a heavier taper in the vertical rib spacing, starting at 1.5" (38.1mm) wide at the waist to ¾" (19mm) above the ankle.
• Ribbing appears to meet behind the cod piece.

Shoulder Bib

• Material is low-sheen leather or leather-like material, matching the undersuit.
• Spacing of the ribs given below are approximate.
  • Center front of the bib has three 1.5" (38.1mm) vertical ribs, with 1.5" (38.1mm) horizontal ribbing on either side.
  • Center rear of the bib has ten 1.5" (38.1mm) vertical ribs, with 1.5" (38.1mm) horizontal ribbing on either side.
  • There is a ½" (12.7mm) rib running along the outside of the garment and around the inside of the neck.

[tipperaryred[CMD-DCA]]

On 3/29/2024 at 3:52 AM, PRFUZZ7 said:

I think I can paint it, but I'm more concerned about all the layers of leather plus armor I'd have to wear here in the heat of Hawaii haha I'm gonna be honest I like the current CRL for the Commander more than the Electrostaff, there's so much little details it gives me a headache haha

If you can source something that resembles leather without being quite as warm to wear, that would also clear without any issues.  A lot of the details are there for guidance, to hopefully make life easier for costume makers trying to get it as accurate as possible.  All dimensions are however only approximate, so you should never have a problem with a rib being 7mm wide instead of 5mm for example 😉

If you have any concerns about specific parts of the re-write, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

I know that in some places, as long as it isn't visible, some makers make some of the suits mesh in certain spots to help with the heat. As long as it isn't visible with the costume on then that would be fine. For example, my Rogue One Tank Driver has a mesh top where the arms and visible spots resemble the CRL and the non-visible spots are mesh (e.g., stuff hidden within the ab/side/kidney armor, etc.)