Darktrooper Progress Thread 8MAR2011: Getting back to it

I am reading "True Colors"(good book FYI) and it threw me off not to see your old avatar.Your new avatar looks nice 8)
 
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Progress is looking good so far! And those pesky Christina Aguilera monsters are a nuisance...

Oh, and as far as sources for the darktrooper, they did make an 30th anniversary figure, the ones with the coins. So there's your other source! Yay!
 
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Progress is looking good so far! And those pesky Christina Aguilera monsters are a nuisance...

Oh, and as far as sources for the darktrooper, they did make an 30th anniversary figure, the ones with the coins. So there's your other source! Yay!

Well thats the issue. Im not doing the "true" original darktrooper. This is from battlefront. I remember seeing hasbro make a clone and droid battlefront figure set, but I dont think they'll be doing an Imperial version, which would theoretically have the battlefront darktrooper, ultimatly, making it my third source. First being comic books/novels, second, battlefront 1 & 2. Just need that 3rd source. :(
 
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Chris,

Nice to see you back into the project. A lot of 501st people are still watching this thread with great interest.

Keep up the good work.


JK3
 
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Chris,

Nice to see you back into the project. A lot of 501st people are still watching this thread with great interest.

Keep up the good work.


JK3


:eek: Thanks JK3!

Anyways, I figured out how I am going to finish up the jump jet pack, I dont understand why my tiny brain couldnt figure it out any sooner. Im going to fiberglass the interior of the thing, make it solid all around, and reinforce connection points where the hotglue is.

For the thruster housing, instead of just trying to find a cone shape cup/object, Im going to form a ribbed series of semi-circles, starting with the largest at the top, proceeding down in size to the bottom part, where the nozzles will connect to. After the ribbs are in place, I'll take a styrene sheet and a heat gun, wrap it over and form it.

Did this for making a 1:1 scale horse prop at my school's theater, cant belive I forgot about this.
 
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I think you should make a mold of the jet pack as it is and make the fiberglass copies from that.

Then you would have a sturdy pack you could reproduce to fund your project and wouldn't have to worry about destroying your original positive.

just a thought
 
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I think you should make a mold of the jet pack as it is and make the fiberglass copies from that.

Then you would have a sturdy pack you could reproduce to fund your project and wouldn't have to worry about destroying your original positive.

just a thought

I actually thought of this awhile ago. At this point, the one I have already started is not going to work well as far as molding is concerned. While I feel it's fairly accurate as it is, if I were to invest into making a silicone mold, I'd start over from scratch and sculpt it to fix things that I am no longer able to on the current one I have.

However, there might need to be a point in time when I will have to replace the JP regardless. Ive started to notice that connection points where I used the hotglue, is starting to become seperated and no longer as strong as it once was. I will give it a thought. The silicone molding material is very expensive, and Ive been thinking about molding and casting, in fiberglass or plastic resin, the chest piece.

In all honesty, my vac-former has not been doing well as far as collecting dust in our garage, and I would pretty much have to reconstruct more then 75% of it, tweak it out and build a whole new platen in the process. I can do this later on in the future, but I really want to keep the funds towards getting the suit done. I can always upgrade later if it is sub-par IMO.

I'll consider the JP idea, though, help funding the project, Im not really sure who'd want a darktrooper JP lol

-TC
 
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Hey Chris, How is modeling clay workin. I know when I worked on my RC bucket, I would get my tools or hands wet to smooth out the clay, Any other little imperfections can be taken care of when it dries. You just have to keep covering it with plastic. Like actually get a plstic bag and wet done the clay and stick the bag on it so it will not dry out until you want it dry. Then I double bag it. So incase the plastic comes off it isn't drying out on me. Looks good.

I have been lookin at my FX and I think I might cut this up to do a DT. If I do I will definitely send ya pics. I want to see you finish this thing. I have always wanted to build a DT myself. Keep at it MAN.
 
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I honestly havent tried any of the clay smoothing techniques yet, but I will take into consideration your method!

Good luck using the FX helmet. After making the pep helmet, and comparing it to the FX, you could see alot of differences in appearence. You'd have to completly cut up and re-do the face if you want to make it somewhat accurate.

Im currently at the moment learning how to convert the shoulder bells, chest and shin/calf armor into pep so I can use as either a guide or use to make molds!

-TC
 
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Alrighty then. With help from a 405th member, I learned how to convert the 3D model into pepakura! This will help making the rest of the armor easier for me. What I did was first do the shoulder bells. I decided to spend some time, and make a minature shoulder bell, the right one if your looking at the front of it. Not 100% perfect, but small stuff is hard to build if you have huge hand/fingers rofl.

Its hard to make out, but this is the best angle to really recognize it. You can see how much the model looks without smoothing.

002-40.jpg


003-34.jpg


I just need to figure out the scaling thing. I am only guessing, but I printed these out without modifying anything, and would venture to say its scaled for probably a 12 inch tall figure

-TC
 
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Well, I couldnt wait, so I decided to put this together. I think it came out pretty well. Ive decided that Im going to be molding the armor pieces that I make myself, and cast in a plastic resin. Of course, I'll be adding bondo and or clay before to make it all smooth!

002-41.jpg


003-35.jpg


-TC
 
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Cripe, I just compared the size next to the helmet, and compared it next the the 3d model. I will have to increase it's size a bit to make it proportional. Plus, I felt it is a bit snug. I just need to figure out the proper proportions. I really dont want to re-do the helmet, after getting this far with it
 
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*sigh* Got 26 pages of cardstock. Resized the chest piece from 14 1/4 inches, to 20 inches. Be back in the future

*speeds off*
 
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Alright. Just finished assembling this sucker. No other word I can say about this, then that its huge, but i fits in the sense that it falls into place where it should. I'll get a pic of it on me sometime..lol

006-22.jpg


-TC
 
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