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Showing content with the highest reputation on 04/12/2024 in Posts
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Here is the complete build thread from my armor which is now the CRL reference. Below are the images of the final build along with individual parts in high definition so you can capture the details. In the next threads below, I will explain how I did end up with this final result. I will also try to share the tips and tricks for you guys to make your life easier. I based all the design and parts on the reference document I have put together (you can find it in the reference section in my post). Here's the build vendors I used : - Boots from Crowprops - Leather gloves from Crowprops - Abs section made out of urethane foam rubber molded, per screen reference. I designed the mold and it is available on https://millenniummaker.com/product-category/imperial-armored-commando/ - Suit from Keeptrooping, tailored and internal elbow stitches removed per CRL requirement. - The hard armor is mostly parts I designed myself, as current vendors were not accurate enough to meet all screen accuracy to a CRL level and most importantly not designed for trooping). A few other parts are from Big Fred Custom (only vendor that was accurate/ very close). I have/will continue to place my designed parts on https://millenniummaker.com/product-category/imperial-armored-commando/ *******update from 2025: if some parts or not on our Website, just PM me as I will be adding the whole armor this year**** more details in sections below. I do this mostly for fun so be patient to have 501st / CRL grade armor. I intend to have the full armor designed and offered in the upcoming weeks on Esty, PM me if you need them sooner. Soft goods made by my girlfriend (MW11271)- belt and holster, velcros, harness,...!) I have posted the build process of these parts in the following threads. I will show how everything was printed/ prepared, painted, assembled. Goal is to provide you info on how to build a suit that is designed by a guy who knows the pain of wearing the armor (my Sithtrooper is a though one to troop... ) Front top to bottom:7 points
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Finally feeling inspired again, back at it. Almost at the finish line. Rough leg fitting: Rough torso fitting: Rough torso + legs fitting: Rough arm fitting, need to raise the bicep a bit: Converted from velcro to magnets for attaching the outer chest to the inner chest: Results look good: Final piece is the detonator. The decals provided do not properly cover the end caps, so I painted black:3 points
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Working on these adjustments. Thank you gmrhodes13!1 point
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Agreed, let’s not specify specific level of gloss in this document as to my opinion reviewing the reference pictures, there is not sufficient evidence to support the level of reflectivity as there are no crisp pictures that would give definite answers. The various paint colors are all reflective, but gloss level is better not be specified in basic level. Will remove from proposal above1 point
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Title updated to reflect Imperial Armored Commando.1 point
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While using BTS footage to teach how to use Premier Pro, I made something. Still amazed at the crew we assembled for this project (including our very own @Manbehindthemask, TK Tommy Vandemortel and Pete Myhalenko... my armor was filled by my brother). Like the students tell me, 'Mister, you're doing too much,' but I didn't have the heart to keep out all of the hard work that went into making this fan short - while this film mainly follows the story board, it's amazing how I can see contributions from each person involved in every frame. Well, this is the end of my footage so probably will be the last post for Tomorrow & Tomorrow. (but, if it's been a while, you could always rewatch the finished project) And a thank you to all of you that watched the film as well as supported and encouraged us throughout the process!1 point
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Thanks for the feedback! Ok, so after doing a SithTrooper build from scratch ( completed and approved for the 501st) I was excited to diveo into the Imperial Commando. Did a LOT of research since there is no CRL and the resources/info even back in December were very minimal. I gathered the online reference and added a lot more for my own benefit, as I intend to be 501st approved once it's completed. I the absence of a CRL, I wanted to be screen accurate. Yu can find the whole screen capture reference I have made in the reference section of the imperial commando ( external document link). So first was clearing out the toughest parts of the build, the parts that are outside of my skill set . So I ordered the soft parts as follow, based on the research I have made to be as close as possible to screen reference: - Boots from Crowprops. The imperial commando as basically FOTK boots with added sewing. (Keeptrooping has them as well). I did ask Giovanni to add more foam to the top sections, which he did a fantastic job ( you need this for level 2 approval) - Gloves from Crowprops ( only shop that has them, but from picture reference, these are easy to procure, as they are leather gloves with long sleeve, like some of the mando). Long sleeves are crucial so that they do not come out when trooping (from experience). You need leather gloves for level 2 approval. - Suit from Keeptrooping. The suit is generic and you will need some tailoring. I did order one from Sheev’s... but he's not doing it anymore and after 6 months of waiting I cancelled it. My girlfriend did have to make adjustments to make it fit properly, along with moving/adding velcros at the right place to fit my body. also needed to remove stitches from the inside of the elbow to be CRL compliant. You should as Kepptrooping to have it modified directly. - Belt and holster by me (my girlfriend). Belt is made out of white cotton with low density filler inside. The screen accurate material is thick white leather like material for holster/holster straps. The belt is cotton stitched with 5 rows. I found both the cotton and filler at a local fabric store, nothing fancy. - ABS are made out of urethane foam rubber, as it is visible that the part is flexible in the screen reference and it was later confirmed on the build FB page that this is indeed the material they used. I used Smooth-on TUFF STUFF 15, as it is light, very robust and made for cosplay/props. Follow this thread as I am trying to find an easier solution to the current material for future builds and potential commissions for people that need it. - 3D printed parts are made out of PLA+ material and printed on either of my 3 Anycubic printers (2 are Kobra Max 2, 1 is a viper). I would highly recommend a large printer to do the big parts in one step, otherwise you will spend way too much time trying to cut parts and bond/solidify them afterward. For trooping, you would need to reinforce them substantially. Anycubic Kobra 2 Max is cheap and does a perfect job for all the parts. My general setting were 20% grid inflill, 3 layers, 0.2mm layers (0.1 for detailed tinny parts). If you have a resin printer, it sure would save you a lot of time for the small greeblies. Paints and coatings - Paints, I used mostly rustoleum paints, you can see them on the picture. Use ONLY flat/matte paint when possible, NEVER use gloss paint when planning on having a gloss finish over it…you're running into trouble. So flat white and white primer under it (not shown). Grey primer for most of the parts, charcoal grey for the helmet front and one of the square on the chest plate. I used airbrush Vallejo game color 72.012 scarlet red for the red parts. Flat black for all black parts. -Airbrush paints. For metallic parts, I used Vallejo aluminum (silver like parts) and dark aluminum (steel like parts- gun base coat). For gun top paint and weathering, I used the Vallejo model air black. I took a picture of the other stuff required to airbrush easily. - Clear coats. I used rustoleum satin finish for grey/black/red parts (finish is good enough for these. For the gloss white, I used high end SprayMax 2K clear glamor, more expensive but you get car finish quality. This is one area you don’t want to cheap on… so easy to ruin a part with runout and orange peel finish. This one does a perfect gloss with some practice. I used 3 cans for the armor. Finishing My technique for finishing the 3D print is the one most people will use (everyone has his own recipe, but this one I found is the most efficient and bringing you perfect finish with shortest effort… after doing a Sith trooper gloss armor from top to bottom, I have several hundred hours of finishing :). So you start by sandingthe raw print with 60 grit/200grit to remove all protruding plastic and bringing to only depressions on the surface. Then Bondo+acetone (3:1 ratio) with paint brush. Then sand down with 200 grit almost to plastic, then the depressions are all filled. Then Rustoleum filler primer, sand down with 400 grit. A second pass is normally needed for gloss sections. Then paint . For gloss sections, a quick 1000 grit+water to remove paint build ups , then clear coat. 3D modeling For the armor, I reviewed several sources and ended up procuring a few helmets design from vendors. I started with off with the Galactic Armory my without too much attention to details, but after printing the helmet, I realized it was not accurate as I would need for screen accuracy (see side by side pictures of the two printed helmets) I did use Big Fred Helmet as it was the most screen accurate, but modified some of the separate parts to make them screen accurate. For the Helmet, I printed all the helmet parts separately when required for screen accuracy and ease of printing with details. You will need separate parts printed for level 2 approval. below is GA in white and BF in grey So, I used ArmorSmith, 3Dbuilder, Blender, Solidworks to scale/ fit / create modified parts. Scaling is of course always necessary, not only to be comfortable, but also to maintain the screen relative reference. Armorsmith is a must for scaling, I did my sith trooper build without it and ended up redoing the armor more than 2x… worth the 30$ believe me. Below a snapshot of the parts on my avatar (I'm not that chubby, it’s the sizing result with the flight suit on me ? ) Jetpack design and adjustment/ fitting to the back armor The biggest issue I have seen on available 3D models is the jetpack, the details are all there, but proportions and fit are not screen accurate. Below is one of the 3D model available on the market fitted on the armor. The current 3D models do not hide the attachment mechanism, due to the curved armor back and the flat jetpack rear. Typical Mandalorian jetpack have a curve or staggering of the jetpack in some instances. In the screen reference, the jetpack has a visible recessed to hide/ embed the attachment points and bring the jetpack in close contact with the armor. A recessed area must be present to have the general screen accuracy. With this recess, this enables the back to be in close proximity as per the movie reference. Below is my redesigned version and better fit to armor. So to do this, I had to redo the jetpack 3D to include a recess portion, while maintaining the internal cavity for lighting. I have redrawn it completely from scratch to have a accurate and lightweight model (available Etsy milleniummaker) The jetpack should also be scaled so that the reactors do not exceed the bottom of the chest armor per reference and the top of the jetpack does not exceed the wearer’s top of collar armor. The width of the jetpack should be approximately the same size as the width of the chest armor.. So I scaled it properly to fit correctly, but this screws up with attachment points on the back, So I had to redo all of these anchors as well. I made new 3D models to be able to 3D print and be strong enough for trooping. I used 70% fill PETG for these attachments. On top of it, I didn’t want to pay a 100$ for the anchoring from JJ industries, so I made some custom ones, so then you can scale the armor easily. I painted those with dark aluminum finish. I printed the jetpack in one piece (except for all the grey and black parts that are separate components from screen reference (also way easier to paint). I added magnets on bottom reactor to be able to access easily the electronics. Top reactor is snug fit enough not requiring additional fixturing. For the top red light, I used transparent PETG. I designed it so that you are able to 3D print with clarity with 3-4 layers 100% density. Needed a lot of sanding down to a 600, then a clearcoat over the top surface. I left the interior raw printed and clearcoat to have the diffusion effect on the LEDs. Will continue later with other parts!1 point
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Thank you for all your hard work on this project. Your costume looks amazing, and now we can get the CRL built and hopefully green lit in the very near future.1 point
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Tim Platt TK-24881 Centurion A4 Doggydoc Here you go Tim. Congratulations again. https://www.whitearmor.net/eib/certificates/24881-centurion.png1 point