Par_'s Rogue One TK research and Build (WIP)

[Parquette[TK]]

Im planning on dropping all DT projects and starting fresh with an accurate R1 TK. Hopefully after I'm 18 (1 year from now) and a 501st CRL comes out I can submit

 

I'd like to take this opportunity to help develop the R1 CRL with the 501st, if everyone is on board with that, seeing as no one else has made an R1 TK. If someone could direct me to who I should talk to about that that'd be great. I am going to document my build/mods to the BS helmet to make it SA with pictures and research/ref images (c'mon, it's a R1 sculpt. It'll work), and then submit once finished to 501st (because I am going to take my time about this one, it may be submitted by the time a CRL comes out. Just thought I'd contribute). Hopefully the information in this thread will be of use to the 501st and the development of the CRL.

 

My first plan of action was to gut the enterior, cut pieces, take out electronics, the works. Now before people say this isn't 501st accurate, let me tell you this matches pretty fair with the R1, and it should be approvable for an R1 CRL with mods (fixing blue recessed area, filling speaker up, fixing the white underside of the brow, neck hole, etc...)

The Kylo Ren BS helmet is approvable with mods (many Kylo's in the 501st including myself use the BS helmet modded), and so is the EFX Standard ANH Helmet (heavy weapons trooper is fine apparantly), likewise the BS Stormtrooper should be with mods. That's why I'm having a go with submitting this once finished

 

Anyhow, I acquired this BS Stormtrooper helmet recently, and have a gutted the enterior, taken off the back half of the neck hole trim (because it didn't line up with the chin trim), and I am planning on building the entire armor and hoping on submitting to the ...501st when a CRL comes out

Now before people say "but it's not accurate," well let me tell you, it's not ANH, it's an R1 Based bucket, so it should work fine. Besides if 501st members can get approved with an EFX modded helmet, then this should work fine for R1 (especially since it's pretty close and modeled after R1).So crossing fingers, and start modding this bucket!

 

So I already mentioned a few of the mods I have done. Planning ahead for the future, I solved the chest armor mystery. I can't make that out of plastic signs easily (which is my home method for making armor), but it looks very similar to the FX armor. The beast section is lower than the original armor, like the FX. The FX is also sharper sculpted, so while making new shoulder straps, it should work for 501st once a CRL is made. I also may have to extend the area of the chest armor under the arm. I'm assuming it's slightly different from the original armor. The 2nd pic shows both the brow trim and chest armor.

 

This pic shows the eligibility of the FX armor. With mods to make it more curved, along with extending the side areas that go under the arm and into the attachment that connects the front and back armor pieces, this could work.

 

 

 

 

[TK Goatee[TK]]

Following with interest ;-) keep it up....

 

 

sent from a galaxy, far, far away...

[Parquette[TK]]

BS mod update!

I painted the underside of the brow with plastidip, because white plastic was taking up about half the underside, when the R1 helmet is much thicker looking. The plastidip works perfectly and it feels like the brow too! I angled the helmet in the last pic to match the middle stormtrooper (closest one) in the ref image I have below.

 

looking. The plastidip works perfectly and it feels like the brow too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See the trooper in the middle? That's the look that the Black Series is best achieving (unless you want to struggle with trying to separate the brow from the plastic).

 

Next list of things to do is: Heat the lenses and give them a slight bubble shape (someone pointed out the bubble shape on the Facebook R1 Trooper Armory page), then put another lens plastic behind that is more green, and can conceal the wearer's eyes without someone seeing them. Then it's on to other things like carving out the side vents so I can place blue painted plastic underneath (like the actual helmets), filling up the speaker/battery compartment in back with a batch of ABS paste (the helmet is ABS), and drilling out all the tiny holes in the speakers in front. Because they are molded grills, they don't have actual grills, nor do I have the patience to put grills in. I will hallow out all the areas in the grill, and hopefully it should like like an actual speaker. Luckily, the speakers themselves are hallow, so this should work more or less.

I want to see if I can do this without having to repaint the entire helmet, which is why I am going to ABS paste route for filled the speaker. What's nice is that with sanding, this white doesn't go away. You can barely even see the sanded areas.

 

Also here is what I have done to the inside.

I've cut most of the back plastic wall that keeps your head from touching the speaker/battery compartment. It was restricting room, and not accurate, so I cut most of it out (without cutting the areas that hold the helmet together).

Edited December 5, 2016 by Par_

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Hey Reese, interested to see what you can do with the v Black helmet. 

 

CRL currently in progress http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/38187-rogue-one-stormtrooper-crl/

[Parquette[TK]]

Yup! Saw that!

I figure I can "move along" the journey, seeing as no one has commented on that topic in a while

Once I'm done with this, if no CRL has been put out yet, I'm thinking of submitting my research/build for approval of both a CRL, and an approved costume (much like the way other costumes came about in the 501st).

 

Any advice as to where I should go for sourcing some parts? As mentioned, I'm really eyeing the FX chest armor, seeing as the R1 trooper's chest piece is straighter/a little bit longer in the chest area. With modifications (updating the straps with R1 straps, modifying the lower area that extends to under the arms, repainting to match BS Helmet color, etc...), and I can't afford many other armorers, so I am going to make what I can with plastic sheets, and source some things.

 

Someone found this, which is an excellent close enough that should pass basic approval for the undersuit. Someone discovered on both here and elsewhere that the gaskets are cloth and not rubber, which is what led me to this. If I could get 2 of those, I could use one for the visible areas of the pants, and the other for the torso undersuit.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142156105914

 

You can also see the vertical ribs underneath the arm on the Sideshow R1 trooper. This sweater is much more accurate than I though!

Only mod needing to be made would be adding the net mesh material in the arm pit area, like in the picture.

Edited December 5, 2016 by Par_

[Parquette[TK]]

(Edit, whoops! Made 2 of the same kind of post)

Edited December 5, 2016 by Par_

[Parquette[TK]]

Something else I'm planning on doing is replacing the black part behind the teeth of the mouth with actual wire screening. I thought I heard somewhere that that is present, but I could be wrong. If it's true, I'm doing it xD

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

Interesting project! I'm watching!

[Parquette[TK]]

Found a good reference pic. Sorry it's so large.

[Parquette[TK]]

Black Series helmet update! I filed down the area I cut inside the helmet (the inside back section where the voice changer was), and ripped out the voice changer crap from the back.

I messed up the lenses trying to shape them into a bubble shape with my gun (which I was successful in doing, but on 1 lens I heated for a few seconds too long), so thanks to a 501st member's suggestion, I went to Big R and bought a dark green welding visor, and cut it to the right shape. It is not m...irror lens, it's just very glossy and lights reflect well in it. Also ever so slightly see through from the outside (but from what I've seen, can't see the wearer's eyes at all, though I was checking that while wearing it).

I also have the underside of the brow another plastidip coat, cause the first one messed up.

Next step; figuring out what I'm going to do about the tube stripes, whatever else I need to do to mod this gem into a 501st approvable helm for Rogue One CRL, and then it's on to the speaker in the back.
Sometime I'm going to gradually start working on the rest of the armor as accurate as I can. After all, no R1 CRL is out yet, and I'd like to be on the right track.
Btw, 2nd pic is what the lens is like looking through the helmet from the inside.

[Parquette[TK]]

Here's a side by side of my mod-in-progress Black Series R1 Trooper, next to a screen grab from a Behind the Scenes reel. As long as the underside of the brow is plastidipped, it should be fine. Height wise for Basic Approval it should pass.

 

 

 

 

 

[Parquette[TK]]

Everything I have done to my Black Series Stormtrooper helmet I am now posting in the pinned post "HOWTO: Make your Black Series more accurate." I will update this thread once I have progress more on the rest of the costume.