nickblack423

CALLING ALL SANDTROOPERS OF THE 501st LEGION!!! The Mos Eisley Police Department, the dedicated Sandtrooper detachment of the 501st Legion, is staging an audacious recruitment drive in 2013. The purpose being to help bring as many of the Legion's 600+ Sandtroopers to a higher spec of accuracy and workmanship and to fully embrace the spirit of the costumes that were worn on set during the filming of the Tatooine scenes of STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE during 1976. The MEPD was formed in 2000 with a small handful of dedicated Sandtroopers who grouped together in the search for likeminded souls who would help them take their standard armour to the next step of screen accuracy. Since then the detachment has grown exponentially and now has nearly 2,500 members on our forums and over 200 deployed Sandtroopers. To be accepted and cleared as a Sandtrooper in the 501st Legion your armour and equipment must meet certain criteria, set out in the Costume Reference Library (CRL) which can be found on the 501st Legion website here http://www.501st.com...er/index002.php. If you want to take your armour that next step closer to being screen accurate then you can apply for "Police Officer" status within the MEPD. The requirements for this are alot more strict than the 501st base standards, for instance requiring you to have a backpack, no ribbed shoulder straps and some of the helmet details must be more accurate etc. The Police Officer program is the most important part of the MEPD, as this is where we help people to take that first step towards achieving a new level of accuracy for their armour. For those that want to go to the very heights of the Sandtrooper costuming world we have the SWAT program, which rewards troopers who have taken their armour to almost as good as stepping out of the screen. Specific trooper equipment and weathering patterns, mimicking that seen in the film is required and your submission will be put before a rigorous scrutinising panel before acceptance. To date only 15 501st Legion members have attained this status. This is not for the faint hearted! This is where the 2013 Recruitment Campaign comes in. We are hoping that during the year we can encourage as many 501st Legion Sandtroopers as possible, who are not yet deployed MEPD "Police Officers" to join up and submit their armour. The process is easy. Check your kit against the MEPD CRL which can be found here http://www.mepd.net/crl/ and then join us on our forums. If your kit is not yet up to scratch, we have a fleet of willing members who have a vast array of knowledge on all things "TD" and our forums contain so much vital information such as tutorials and behind the scenes reference photos that you are never going to be wanting for information. There are moves afoot for some exclusive MEPD merchandise to entice you in and help us achieve our goal of raising the profile of the Sandtrooper, previously one of the most overlooked characters in the Star Wars universe, but one with a steeped history and a plethora of intricacies and equipment. Who doesn’t want to tote a BFG right? Well we can help you make one here!! Our other goal for 2013 is to expand on our current SWAT quota. Although only 15 members have attained this highest accolade in the MEPD to date, we hope to entice many more to follow the path and get their armour to a fully screen accurate standard. Our team of armourers and our SWAT review panel will work tirelessly to ensure that you have all the relevant information and know-how to make it. So whether you are a complete novice, a 501st Legion Sandtrooper, or a currently deployed "Police Officer" then we want to see you on our forums in 2013. We are here to help you spread the joy of this wonderful group of enthusiasts who take weathering, BFGs and backpacks very seriously, but do so with a smile and a laugh! I can honestly say that the MEPD brotherhood is one of the most welcoming and open on the net and you will certainly not find any “scum and villainy!†MEPD - "WE FIGHT DIRTY" www.mepd.net Please help us to spread the word and gain maximum exposure to 501st members by copying this topic into your own garrison or detachment forums.

You can get them super cheap in screwfix or off eBay mate. Nick

TD-5884 requesting access please! Nick Black http://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=14053 Regards Nick

Danny, I would suggest it is up to how realistic you want to be. In keeping realism with the films then yes you really should only carry a DLT-19 or E-11 as a TK. T-21s and MG-15s should only be for Stormtroopers as that is all we see on the screen. If you are talking in terms of realism, I have always looked on the TK's that we see in the films as kind of a ceremonial force, much like the troops guarding the palace at Westminster in the UK. Serving soldiers who have taken up a ceremonial post which means they must look their best while on duty. This doesnt explain the troops who storm Tantive IV however, who could be labelled as like Marines serving onboard a Navy ship. Troops of this type would probably only carry the basic issue rifle of the force, in this case E-11, and you would get certain troops in the unit carrying a longer, unit suport weapon, i.e. the DLT-19. Usually 1 per section or something like that. These troops would carry out the role of security aboard the vessel and act as an attack force for boarding other vessels. Then you have your specialist units of the army who would have a mixture of weapons in a unit, including heavy weapons. This is what you could lump the likes of the troops at Tatooine in. So for that I would suggest Sandtroopers and probably Snowtroopers would carry E-11, DLT-19, T-21 and MG-15 (although we only see snowtroopers carrying E-11.) I know that GL never really looked into it that heavily when making the films but that is how I would look at it. Compare it to the military side of things and come up with your own realism. Nick

Thanks for the replies guys. Rolf, I would say that when E6000'd together this blaster will hold up to trooping very well, you could always go a step further and screw it together also, which wouldn't be too hard to do. It would certainly result in a bloody good looking blaster for the fraction of the cost of a real one. TK Bondservnt, you are correct that the top blaster was made from BBC plans and it's only when I built the new one that I saw how much longer it was. Both are great though and I now have 2 very cheaply made and good looking blasters to troop with. Nick

Thanks for the responses guys, and it means alot for you more senior members of FISD to post your comments for us guys just starting out. I've painted the blaster now and wanted to share with you a comparison with my previous Doopydoos PVC pipe build. The PVC one has BlastTech rubber T-tracks but apart from that all is resin parts and a pvc pipe barrell. I have lighlty weathered the new E-11 but will take it a little more when I get my armor and weather that. I also need to do another coat of paint on the bolt and add a sight reticle on the scope but apart from that I think we are there. Add this to my little growing armoury LOL. The 2 side by side Weathering on the left side And the right Good shot showing the allen bolts in the barrell and weathering on the muzzle Here's a comparison between my old Doopydoos Kit and the new one with proper allen bolts added. Big difference in quality huh? I made myself a D-ring out of some wire that came with my Syphon Im using for my backpack The mag is shorter on this newer model than on the old resin parts So there it is I hope this gives an insight into the new Doopydoos kit and how good it is, and can inspire you to build one if you had second thoughts originally. Many thanks for looking Nick

Sorry guys can you shed any light on this cos I studied like a million build threads and pics to try and get the location correct. Thanks for the feedback, best to get it right now before it becomes unfixable. Nick

Hi guys and gals, I just wanted to share with you all some pics of my current Doopydoos E-11 build. I previously had a PVC Pipe E-11 with Doopydoos parts, when I saw the all resin version they have just released http://www.doopydoos.com/stormtrooper-e-11-complete-anh-e-11-blaster-kit-offer-2685-p.asp I wanted to have a go at making one with a counter and targetting cylinders, and weathering it for use with my Sandtrooper when I get it done. The kit itself is very good, a few imperfections but these are easily solved with a bit of sanding and filling. The main thing I wanted to show was how to replace the bolts in the barrell with real allen bolts. For those of you in the UK you will need to get these http://www.screwfix.com/p/bzp-head-socket-cap-screw-m6-x-16mm-pack-of-50/78505 or something similar from another shop. I won't bore you with the rest of the build as there are numerous tutorials out there on how to do that, but for the bolts I simply started to drill the old area out, starting with a very small drill bit and working my way up, taking care to drill slowly and steadily so as not to crack the resin. You do meet some resistance from the PVC pipe that is installed inside but this is easily remedied with either a file or a stanley knife to cut away the excess. I found that I over drilled a bit because the bolts are slightly larger than the hole for them in the muzzle so I had to go back with some filler and patch up. I cut the bolts off with a dremel so that I could simply glue them in place. Then with them cut they get glued with E6000 to hold them in place and the full effect can be seen. The whole thing is primed and then painted silver with 3 coats, which I will then cover with probably 1 coat of black so as to make it easier to do some weathering and expose the silver underneath. As I have seen with some other previous builds the scope is hand painted with Gold Humbrol paint I had left over to reflect accuracy. Hope you like. I will post pictures of the finished version when I get it painted black in the next few days. Nick

Thanks mate, It was just sprayed satin black as an undercoat and then dry brushed with Humbrol No.58 gunmetal metallic model paint. Nick

OK we're done with my T-21 finally. After a few months of working on it when I can I have got around to finishing the paintscheme and adding the barrel grip and sling. Have a look and let me know what you think. Many thanks to PandaTrooper for his tutorial which was very easy to follow. My home made rear sling swivel which turned out really well. Lovely neoprene tube from SealsDirect. Hope you enjoy and hope more people will try and make their own once they see it can be done. Now I have an E-11 and T-21, just need some armour at some point. Nick

Blaine, Hiya mate, did we talk over on the UKG? What is the best seal to go for, is it the Neoprene one? I'm not actually going to go sandy on my first set of armour but I do want to eventually once I have built up some skills and some 501st time. My T-21 is really just to keep me busy until I can get some armour sorted, I will most likely sell it and possibly make another 1 or 2 as well. Nick

Hiya there, and sorry for not introducing myself, I'm Nick Black I live in Ipswich in the UK and am very interested in joining the 501st when I am able to get enough spare cash together (I'm married so that is gonna be tough LOL). In the meantime I have been working on blasters, I have already completed an E-11 and am now working on a T-21 from Pandatroopers fantastic tutorials. I found resourcing materials a little difficult because it is incredibly hard to get stuff in the UK in the same dimensions as the guys in the US who make these tutorials. Standard PVC guttering pipe in the UK is only 110mm and 68mm which is a bit difficult when you need 3.5'' pipe as per the tutorials. However I found a company that did 82mm pipe which, although slightly smaller than the proper weapon, still looks the part. and is the best compromise. It is possible to get 90mm but its hard to find unless you buy it online. The other problem I have run into is the Rubber Tubing for the cooling tube. I have found a place in the UK that sells this: http://www.sealsdirect.co.uk/bbCMS/shopping.asp?intDepartmentId=1 does anyone think these are acceptable? And how long do I need to get? Anyway here are some photos of my build so far. Templates were printed in full size and glued together to make a full size paper template which I drew around onto 3'' Hardwood I got from Jewson. I also used 6mm MDF for the details such as the sides of the stock as seen here. These were glued to the main body using wood glue and left to dry overnight Also made from 6mm MDF is the top cover. Shapes cut out using a jigsaw and again glued together with wood glue and left overnight. Rounded the edges of the stock with my hand held sander to give it a nice finish. Detail parts for the top cover cut out of 1.5mm Styrene sheeting that I got from my local model shop for £2.50 a sheet. The sheet was more than big enough to do all of these in a quarter of it. I simply used scissors to cut them out and then cleaned them up with a craft knife and sandpaper. These parts were glued to the top cover with super glue. As well as a piece of 25mm pvc pipe for the spindle. The body and 82mm barrel fitted together. Looking good so far I think. That's it for now. I'm currently working on the cooling fins and will post some pics of those once they are done. Regards to all Nick

Hiya folks, Just wondering if anyone on here who is based in the UK, has any idea where to source rubber trim for use as the grip tubing on the Barrel of the T-21. I want to use this as it is more accurate than flexible guttering pipe, and I thought I'd be able to find some D-shaped door trim or something from Halfords, but they don't seem to do it anymore. Anyone any ideas? and anyone know roughly how much length I'd need? Thanks in advance Nick