Tenaz's Death Trooper Build

[Tenaz]

Having just finished my second kit for the Mercs a month or so ago, I told myself I wasn't officially starting this build until January. My wife laughed at me when I said that. Well she knew better than me...

Yesterday a buddy of mine from my local garrison found someone on one of the facebook groups selling the bulk of the DT armor for a very reasonable price, even considering the pieces that were missing. The kit is an ABS kit, although unsure of the source. I have already reached out to 850 Armor Works asking about purchasing the induvial pieces, and they confirmed they would be able to accommodate it. Confirmation in hand I pulled the trigger, now just to hope that it gets here, and see what else might be missing from the kit.

Next order of business will be deciding if I want to try my hand at making the undersuit or buy it made already. I am no stranger to sewing with my previous builds, but this suit is pretty intensive. Not sure if I want to have this big of an undertaking. May be greater value in purchasing it outright, rather the time and resources needed to get it right.

For undersuit purchase options, currently deciding between Jim Tripon and Sheev's Emporium. The price difference between these two options is quite the significant gap, but was curious if anyone had personal insights to either. Interested to hear your thoughts!

Also, if you guys see anything that is clearly missing in the armor picture, please call it out, so I can add it to my list. Also, please let me know if you see anything sticking out from this as a "red flag" for something that will need to be corrected.

[BLACKFOX[PR-CMD]]

Are those all the parts? It might be good to put all the pair parts together to see what parts are missing.
 

From what I see it looks like you’re missing the kidney plate and thermal detonator. I’m not sure if all the parts for the biceps are there as well as the other forearm…

 

The other thing is that it appears to be their old chest and back which will need to be updated. 
 

I had the same issue with my kit (waited too long to build it). They sell a complete chest/back combo with all of the parts. Also, get them to add a pair of cover strips. 

[Tenaz]

I believe the picture is everything that is being sent. The person selling it was very clear that it wasn’t a full set. The price was good enough that I said, I’ll see what I can get out of it, and go from there. I already confirmed with the seller some of the pieces that were definitely missing, but I’ll know better once it’s in hand.

Thank you for pointing out that the chest and back may be older versions. Once I have them in hand I’ll post close ups pics to confirm if that’s the case.

Parts that I know are missing currently are;

1. Lower back plate (maybe the kidney plate referred to above, but unsure)
2. Both shoulders
3. One forearm
4. One thigh

[Tenaz]

Well I ended up having to cancel the order for these hard parts as it was starting to look like the seller was never going to ship them. Still moving on though.

just ordered my undersuit from Jim Tripon today, and cannot wait to have this in hand and then start in on the hard parts! 
 

I still go back and forth on the standard vs specialist for this build. Is the specialist something that can be upgraded to from the standard? Tbh the CRL image of the specialist looks pretty different especially in the helmet when compared to the standard (although all other reference pictures I find don’t seem to differ as drastically), so not entirely sure here. 

[Lt. Dan[501st]]

5 hours ago, Tenaz said:

Is the specialist something that can be upgraded to from the standard?

Both as well as, Anthony!

Basically version 1 and version 2 are standalone costumes. But version 2 must have all parts needed for version 1. Of course you can upgrade from version 1 to version 2 later if you decide to. The differences between version 1 and 2 are the pauldron, ammo pouches and chest rig. Please bare in mind that every new version (added accessories) needs a new approval through your GML!

[Tenaz]

4 hours ago, Lt. Dan said:

But version 2 must have all parts needed for version 1…. The differences between version 1 and 2 are the pauldron, ammo pouches and chest rig.

Thank you! This is exactly what I was trying to determine! Specialist may be the  end gold then!

[Lt. Dan[501st]]

On 11/29/2022 at 2:26 PM, Tenaz said:

Specialist may be the end gold then!

Exactly!

[Tenaz]

Well to even my own surprise, a big brown box AND my undersuit arrived today! Happened to find someone on another group that was selling the full 850 kit plus helmet, just days after I ordered my undersuit from Jim Tripon. I’m sick as a dog today so couldn’t go through it all, but it looks like it’s all here! I’ll add some pics of the components once I’m feeling up to it.

[Tenaz]

Alright, finally got everything sorted. I’m a little disappointed in the amount of detail that is lost in these, but I’m hoping that I can make it pop more as I progress on them. Also the “cylinders” for the forearms broke in transport, but I’ll likely resin print them anyway.

I put aside a collection of parts that were included that I admittedly have no idea what they are for. Can anyone advise on these?

[Lt. Dan[501st]]

8 hours ago, Tenaz said:

I’m a little disappointed in the amount of detail that is lost in these.....

Unfortunately, this is the problem with ABS parts🤷‍♂️ Nevertheless a good start for your DT project! Regarding the surplus parts I have no idea. In your first picture everything that you need seems to be there, so these must be superfluous I think!?

[Bryno[TX]]

12 hours ago, Tenaz said:

I put aside a collection of parts that were included that I admittedly have no idea what they are for. Can anyone advise on these?

The two at the top are the lower parts of the shins that wrap around the ankle area.  
I believe the middle one is a neck opening for the chest (if you wanted to do a removable piece to let your head through). 
And the bottom two are parts of the thighs that extend along the bottom and wrap around the sides near your knees.  
Looking forward to seeing this come together…. Best of luck with your build! 
 

[Tenaz]

1 hour ago, Bryno said:

The two at the top are the lower parts of the shins that wrap around the ankle area.  
I believe the middle one is a neck opening for the chest (if you wanted to do a removable piece to let your head through). 
And the bottom two are parts of the thighs that extend along the bottom and wrap around the sides near your knees.  
Looking forward to seeing this come together…. Best of luck with your build! 
 

Thanks for this! 
 

4 hours ago, Lt. Dan said:

Unfortunately, this is the problem with ABS parts🤷‍♂️ Nevertheless a good start for your DT project!

It was to be expected, just thoight it a bit more detailed. I’ll figure out a way to bring out the detail, even if that means having to print some pieces here and there. Thank you!

[BLACKFOX[PR-CMD]]

On 12/16/2022 at 10:32 PM, Tenaz said:

Alright, finally got everything sorted. I’m a little disappointed in the amount of detail that is lost in these, but I’m hoping that I can make it pop more as I progress on them. Also the “cylinders” for the forearms broke in transport, but I’ll likely resin print them anyway.

That sucks that the forearm impellers broke. I replaced mine with aluminum ones from Phoenixprops. Looks like they're on sale right now.

https://www.phoenixprops.net/products/death-trooper-arm-impellers-rockets

[Tenaz]

Ohhh! Thanks for this^! I may have to jump on that.

[Tenaz]

Ok, finally started in on cutting the armor out of its shell! Right now I just started with the thighs, as they seemed straight forward enough, and like a good place to practice some trimming techniques. Overall, seemed like a good start.

Question to the group - the rubber parts that connect the front and back thighs - I found these being sold from palsticarmsdealer for $170, but are there any alternatives to this -https://plasticarmsdealer.com/collections/death-troopers/products/screen-accurate-sheet-of-hard-rubber-for-death-trooper-thighs

[Tenaz]

more continued progress tonight. Cut out the shoulders, biceps, shins, and some of the thigh greeblies as well. It’s been quite interesting having to examine each piece to see where I needed to cut and see how it all needs to line up against the other parts and myself.

 

For those interested, I found that 850 armor works includes the rubber sheets for the thighs in the kit box. This all being new to me and not having gone though all the parts in quite some time, I at first thought I didn’t receive them, and so they sent me the link for where to get them (granted they need to be cut significantly). Long story short I had them all along, but maybe this will help someone else down the line;

Rubber-Cal 03_167_W_FR_04 Fine Rib Corrugated Rubber Floor Mats, 3ft x 4ft Runners, Black https://a.co/d/bFs8Z6Z

[Tenaz]

Got pretty much everything trimmed out now. Just some clean up work left really. With that, I’ve started assembling all the components. Slowly but surely making my way through it. Chest and back, shins, shoulder, biceps, and gauntlets/forearms ready to roll.

I unfortunately needed to order more thigh ribbing. For whatever reason the cuts that came with my kit were not long enough. Not sure if this is how they were supposed to come or the previous owner cut them. Either way, replacements are on their way so that will pretty much be the next piece to assemble.

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

Ahhhhh ... "Progress" its such a great feeling! Looking good!

[Tenaz]

The rubber mats came within a day, so I got righto work on them. It was pretty cool seeing these come together. Had to try them on with the pants too to get the full effect, although the picture didn’t do it justice, so for now, just sharing the thighs on their own with all the cut materials;

After this, I moved on to the upper body strapping. Some fine tuning to do, and proper alignments to figure out, but not bad for a first attempt;

[Tenaz]

Cleaned up the thighs and tried them on with the undersuit pants. They fit pretty nicely, but im unsure about the gap between the front and back pieces at the bottom. The CRLs show that they connect, so I reached out 850 that made the pieces, and they say that they’re not supposed to connect like that. Here’s how one side looks (other side is similar but not pictured);

[DoggyDoc[CMD-DCA]]

If you look at the screen shots, the ribbed piece is a lot narrower and the armour pieces do connect at the bottom.

  

 

[Tenaz]

Yeah, that’s what I’ve been seeing too. I was just hoping someone could confirm that for me - thank you!

As far as the width of the actual space. I can tighten up the outsides a bit, at the cost of expanding the width of the insides though. I assume that would be allowable here given that it’s not seen as easily as the outsides, correct? I haven’t trimmed the width of the plates at all, so can’t see it being a true sizing issue. If I’m wrong and need to adjust something else, please let me know.

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

Before you start working on the thigh and ribbing material here's some FYSA info:

Size the thighs to comfortably fit you ensuring that the front and back vertical center strips align with the middle of your front and back thighs. Then cut the ribbed material to fill in the gaps.

 

Your only CRL requirement is this "The inside thigh ribbed section is wider than the outside ribbed section."

So if it's wider by any amount you're good.

 

[Tenaz]

That’s a great point to call out, and actually a conversation I had that I forgot about (that one line of the CRLs relating to the widths) - smh.

That’s all accurate - adjusting the widths would off center the back piece, and yes, as they stand now, the inside is wider than the outside.

I’ll leave these pieces for now then, and adjust as needed once everything is together. 
 

Thanks for the quick replies and guidance!

[Tenaz]

Alright - lowers assembled! If you ask me, the gray converse make for a good change to canon;