T-Jay

Congratulations Andreas. Glad to see your work paid off. Welcome to the ranks.

Wet sanding the gloss ABS will turn it into matte white. Did you leave yours like that? If not, what did you do to bring back some gloss? And: was sanding the ABS a final solution or did you have to redo it ? (in other words: does the yellow come back faster, like with the RetrObright procedure?)

Okay, I have some ideas but it would be easier to explain them on the phone, than here in written English. I will drop you a PM with my cell phone number, so we can discuss this whenever you feel comfortable to go on.

Hi Andreas, you can rotate the S-trim on the helmet to have the ends meet at the vocoder. That protects from having one side hanging lower and also makes the joint invisible. Yes, a tighter undersuit shirt seems to be required. Also check the legs before you buy. The biceps can be cut smaller or you can first try to insert thin foam on both insides for a more centered appearance. Maybe that does the job. Bigger issues are: the back armor sitting too low and the position of the shoulder bridges. Here I would suggest to redo the torso strapping to bring everything higher, except the chest plate. Shorten (or reposition) the straps to have the upper ends of your back plate almost meet the upper ends of your chest plate. This should work but will require a repositioning of the shoulder bridges. Move them more towards the front, so you won't have to cut them - which would other cause problems.

Great find and cool photos. Just wanted to mention, the 2nd pictures does not show the exact same thing...

Okay, I had promised photos with the figure next to the helmet, but first there is one last modification. My display case also houses a Boba Fett figure. The flames from the Jet Pack were left over... They fly now! They fly now? They fly now. The radio antenna was finally added and as a last step I carefully put everything in the display case. And for those who want to see it, here is the full display case. Thank you for reading and have a nice weekend.

Now it is time for some weathering. Yes, it appears to be a lot but that works in this tiny size. When this figure is placed inside my display case, the weathering should still be visible. Equipped with a DLT-20A, it now looks like this: Noticed the injury on the knee? The figure looks pretty cool so far, but of course I haven’t forgotten @TKSpartan and @Bulldog44, asking for ‘a badass weapon and a backpack’. But not just any backpack, it had to be something special. In the last photo you can also see the E-11 blaster, being added to the Jump Pack’s left side. Talking about blasters, I had to find something special for this action figure… This suited much better and looked good enough to deserve the term ‘badass weapon’. And here is how it looks all together: I really love how this turned out in the end. It now reminds me on the ‘Heavy Infantry Mandalorian’ although this was not my inspiration. Anyway, to me it’s good enough to place it next to my custom helmet (photos to follow) and give an impression, of how the full Trooper might look like. Hope you had some fun reading this build.

Ha, thanks Glen. Today we finally get to the armor. Not sure how it is going to look like, just playing with a few ideas. To build some tension, I will start at the bottom and work my way upwards… Inspired by the Magma Trooper: Inspired by Captain Rex: Inspired by Sergeant Kreel: That wire will end either in the hole of the TK back plate, or in a back pack. We’ll see… Enjoy your weekend.

Today I will cover the full helmet. Starting with the blast shield... After breaking off the fiddly flashlights a few times, I decided to postpone the addition of the even more fiddly radio antenna to the very last step of this build. Dang, this is all so tiny. However, the helmet is the most complex part and is now done - except for the breathing tube and weathering which will both follow later.

Hello there Back in 2021 I was indeed working on that picture but the result made me trash it. Why telling that now? My helmets are kept in a display case at home and I've always liked the idea to place matching action figures next to each one. But of course there is none for this specific character. So why not using the opportunity to build it?! You can get incredibly detailed 3D resin-printed items on the internet. Okay, let’s try this. Among other figures, I also needed a TIE Pilot, a Sandtrooper and a Stormtrooper, so I grabbed the ‚Entertainment Earth Star Wars Black Series Imperial Forces 4 Pack’. These figures are 6 inch tall (15 cm). Big enough for the details, small enough to fit beside the helmets. To get started, I first corrected the paint and weathering on the TIE Pilot helmet to match the prop from RS. The Sandtrooper then received a more accurate weathering, orange paint on the pauldron and a 3D replacement helmet. I painted this to mimic the ‚move along‘ prop. Years ago, I didn’t have a clear vision of the helmet’s color concept. It rather evolved into the final design, step by step. It’s the same now with the armor. I only have a rough idea, but it seemed logical to use the same color on both, helmet and armor. Yes, the joints can still be spotted. But no worries, there will follow some distractions later. The first challenge is to replicate all the details on the helmet in such a tiny scale. This will be tackled in the next update...

Hi Andreas and welcome to the FISD. For your WIP thread I would start in the ANH Build Threads section.

Just checked my photos from unboxing a DoopyDoo's kit back in 2014 (my first blaster) and the front scope/front sight looks pretty much the same. And there are more similarities: - the short magazine with incorrect sharp-edged end cap - the unique shape of the clearing stripe on the inner bolt - the position of the slotted screw in the grip (LOCK/FREE) - front half of the M38 scope slightly pointing upwards - the incorrect shape of the power cylinders - the Hengstler counter with small eagle and the position of the slotted screw in that window I bet this screen used prop was based on a DoopyDoo's kit (or a copy of one). However, the prop reached a good price and we will never find out. But I guess the serial number is S21227.

Would have been nice to see a photo showing the serial number on the magazine housing. Many details in the pictures remind me heavily on the old DoopyDoo's kits...

Did this on my bin...

Hey Maria. I would suggest to first add the belt to your armor and then check again. A missing belt makes a big difference. Also in the last photo it seems like the strap between your butt plate and the cod piece is open. Each strap does a job so all of them should be closed, especially for fitting the armor. Keep us updated.

Congratulations Torben

Hello Nick. One thing to consider is the flexibility of ABS material. When I started my research here many years ago, I thought 'the thicker, the better' but that was wrong. Truth is: the thicker your material is, the easier it cracks. You mentioned a thickness of ~2 mm on average. Most people here have suits of 1.5 to 2.0 mm ABS - before vacuum pulling. What I'm trying to say is, I'm not sure if there is a need at all to reinforce your kit for higher thickness...

That is exactly what I thought when looking at the newer photos. You can be really proud of that thing.

Hi Mark and welcome to the FISD. In case you know the manufacturer of your helmet, it might make sense to check if you can get full armor from the same source. Otherwise you might end up with color deviation, which is not what you want. To avoid this, you could still go for a full armor with helmet (not that much upcharge) and use your current helmet for display at home or sell it.

Wow, Adam! Not sure how I managed to miss this thread for so long, but I just had good fun reading it. I love things like this with a personal touch to the project. Your work here is outstanding and very inspiring. The result looks so damn cool, it makes me think of throwing paint, stickers and greeblies on my Stanley box... Thank you very much for sharing this here.

I completely understand your frustration but with your registration here on FISD and your posting above you have taken your first step into a larger world. As Andrew already wrote, tell us your favorite character and we help you here or point you in the right direction.

Once you get to the point, feel free to start a build thread with pictures here on FISD. Then you will not only get help and advice from other troopers, but might also feel encouraged to push some borders. Talking about this, you should have a look at the two higher levels (EIB and Centurion) which are much easier to achieve when taken into account from the beginning.

Hello Alexander and welcome to the FISD. I think the Imperial Death Trooper belongs to the Spec Ops Detachment: https://specops501st.com/ But we also have a section for other 501st costumes: https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/forum/99-other-501st-costumes/

Hello there and welcome to the FISD. Can't find anything wrong with the boots in your link. They look good to me. Should be no problem, even up to level 3, if you plan to go there.

Update #02 - Weathering and detailed photos Weathering was done like on my other blasters: Humbrol 27004 polish paint, then some silver dry-brush effects, dust weathering and real rust in selected spots. The blaster‘s back end was initially planned to be gloss back, but I simply did not find a way to weather a believable bakelite appearance. So I decided to go for a wooden appearance and covered most of the black paint with acrylic brown paint (brushed) and sealed everything under matte clear coat. And here is how it looks: Metal pipes inside have a snug fit and support the blaster over the full length. No bending or so. The handle can be stored inside the magazine cover and everything fits into the improvised transport box. Build facts: Total build time (including research and ordering stuff) lasted over half a year. Total build costs (including kit, new T-tracks, accessories and paint) is about 250 Euros. Total weight is only 1,4 kg (a full resin E-11 is around 1,1 - 1,2 kg) Is it complete now? Yes, I don‘t have plans for any additions like electronics or so. Is it perfect? No, by far not. It‘s just what I was able to get out of this individual kit. Would I do it again? Considering the effort to clean all print lines, I would say no. On the other hand, now knowing how to treat a 3D print would speed up work...