crashmann

Yup, that's Gordon Tarpley. He put it together on a whim with some inspiration from his wife way back in 2012. His thread on the RPF shows molds were made, but I don't think it ever went to production :-( https://www.therpf.com/f9/star-wars-christmas-story-crossover-leg-lamp-171297/ Charlie

It's a major award! Charlie

Your flexible PVC pipe reminded me of something... Thanks for the wiggle wiggle wiggle! Charlie

Here's the solution to your kidney / ab plate issue: Get your skinny bike riding butt to McDonalds and eat a bunch of Big Macs with extra special sauce! Don't forget to order super size fries too! Or, Find the midpoint of your sides, then mark the kidney plate with a pencil, or tape, and trim it halfway to the mark. Test the fit and make sure you haven't trimmed too much off. Trim until the kidney just meets the ab plate. Just like hair, it's easy to cut off plastic, but much harder to glue it back on. You'll want to do the same thing with the thighs. They are a much goofier shape, so you'll need to follow the original contour. You'll lose the return that pokes into your legs, unless you get a fancy sealing iron and bend it back in. Most folks don't worry about this, but since you're a Lancer Biker Scout, you may aspire to be SWAT here. https://www.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0001P?I=LXHZ17&P=0 The tops of the thighs are crazy. Definitely look at other SWAT applications to see how the halves do not line up. The outside left thigh is lower by 3/4" than the inside. The inside right thigh is also lower than the outside. It's madness I tell you! Check out Hausi's SWAT application. Lots of great photos and comparisons to screen captures, and he's got a similar physique as you: It looks like he trimmed the ab plate so the split is a little more toward his front than the exact middle of his sides. Also, there's something about a notch on the kidney plate visible just below the belt - other folks will need to chime in about that tiny detail... Good luck, and don't forget about those cheeseburgers! Charlie

It looks like there was a lot of scratching and stress on that section of the frame where it split. Is it hitting your backplate when you're trooping? Maybe add a layer of foam on the seed trays where they meet your back to help reduce the load on the frame. You should be able to fix the frame yourself, especially by adding a wooden dowel inside since that is a straight section of PVC. Slide the dowel down the PVC tube, then use some PVC cement to join the broken parts together. Squeeze them tight for about a minute, and that should fix it. I wouldn't bother adding the expanding foam. It won't increase the strength of the PVC pipes. Good luck, and let us know your results! Charlie

Wow, what a great way to heat up the PVC and avoid kinks! Thanks for sharing your experiment and thoroughly documenting the process with so many photos. The end product looks fantastic! Charlie

Depending on the pack your building, the mortar tube is about 30" long and 2" in diameter. However, the #1 backpack has a significantly shorter mortar tube. This is the backpack with a small rectangular filter on the upper left, and a flying saucer shape on the center bottle at the top. Check out the backpack comparison here https://tk386.com/backpacks/ Charlie

I love looking inside trooper buckets - that's where the real innovation happens! Does your microphone tip line up with your mouth? My Aker mic is very picky - if it's not right in front of my mouth, then the sound drops off significantly. It looks like you should have plenty of room when putting on or taking off your helmet without banging up the fancy electronics. Do you have enough cable to mount the battery in the back of the helmet, in the "tumblehome?" Charlie

I know a few people that have trouble with not being able to move their helmet. Unfortunately, we're not all born with long necks. With all of the stuff jammed on your shoulders, you need a neck like a giraffe to still have clearance to move your helmet. If you pad the top of the helmet to lift it up, then you're looking through the bottom of the lenses. Perhaps neck stretching exercises? Wasn't there an African tribe that uses plates to stretch out their necks? Where do you have the speakers for your audio? The aerator mounted speakers seem like a great idea, and would put your voice where your mouth is, but since that's right next to the microphone, it usually doesn't work out well. I've got my speaker behind my chest plate. It's a little muffled, but that's a nice effect for our communication. It's certainly not as bad as the Death Troopers! You might try putting the speaker in one of the leather pouches. My microphone is on a wrap around headband (Aker amp system) and frequently gets out of position. I'll do a shoulder shrug to lift the helmet and mic, then grab the foam windscreen with my mouth to get it back into place. Are you wearing it headset style, or is your mic mounted in the helmet? Can you post a picture of the inside of your helmet? Visibility and comms have always been a weakness for the Imperial issued equipment. Even that Rebel terrorist complained "I can't see a thing in this helmet!" Charlie

Your orange pauldron turned out great, and I love all of the detail they've put into the figures, including proper trigger finger discipline! Charlie

It would be great if you could get the audio clip of C3-P0 waking up in Empire Strikes Back - "Oh no, I've been shot!" Charlie

You could use a toothbrush to clean out the dust before making molds of the radio. Unless you want to capture the dust too :-) Thanks for sharing the super detailed closeup photos! Charlie

But you have access to Bill Thomas (DarkShadesBill) on the OLGa forums, and he loves to 3D print things Maybe shoot him a message pointing to the Thingiverse file and ask what he would charge to print them. Charlie

The only way to be sure is to ask your vendor to send you a picture of exactly what you'll receive, then compare it to the screen captures and behind the scenes photos. http://tk386.com/sandtrooper_backpack_kit/slides/2012-07-17 05.14.49.html I know a guy (wink wink) if you're interested Charlie

I have a vested interest in recovering the Sandtrooper Backpack build logs. Some of them are old, but they still provide excellent guidance on assembly considerations and techniques. Where are you migrating the photos to? Here's a couple of build logs with images hosted on Photobucket: Since I'm the web admin for Old Line Garrison, I am able to FTP the recovered photos directly to our hosting server, then edit the posts so the img tags point to the OLGa server. Would we be able to do that here on MEPD.net? Charlie

Wow, that's great seeing how often you've been trooping, and for noteworthy causes too! One of these days we're going to have to meet up. Maybe AwesomeCon 2018 Charlie

The exact same siphon sold on ebay before for only $11.97 on September 30. If only I had a time machine... Charlie

Backpack #1 according to Look Sir Droids has the rectangular filter on the top left: https://tk386.com/backpacks/ Backpack #5 has the round cylindrical filter. Charlie

Very nice work Vincent! Your attention to detail really shines through! Charlie

Berkal is the one you seek. He created and offered up a 3D printed version of the greeblie: Charlie

Wow, very nice work! I love it when a pack comes together! Charlie

Hi Chris! Although a little dated, this web page has a detailed description of the 5 different sandtrooper backpacks, and it sounds like you're building a #1 pack: https://tk386.com/backpacks/ Here's another analysis and description of the details that go into the backpack by MonCal: The top left filter box is actually pretty easy to make, and I can offer the parts for it if you're interested: Cut out the hole so you can see the filter element, then glue the sides to the base, and the lid to the sides. ========== The center bottle is difficult to replicate because you can see the domed shape at the top. There was some discussion a while back about different bottles, but no one has found a definitive item. Check out Strider's build thread using a cut down shampoo bottle: Photobucket is being poopy and not sharing the photos, so here they are: It looks like the bottle was cut down by an inch or two, then he used a plastic shim inside to mount the lid. The top of the bottle has a UFO shaped item, just slightly wider than the bottle. Some folks have used the backing plate for a drill mounted sanding disc: The rest of the items from your list should be easy to source (I might know a guy ) I've lost the link for the screen captures on MEPD, but you can find a bunch on FISD (after you sign in): https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/gallery/album/54-sandtroopers-blueray-screen-captures/ Let me know if there's anything else you need help with. Charlie

Wow, that looks beautiful and delicious. Happy birthday! Charlie

No actual equipment for the left side lab pipe has been identified (yet). All we have are blurry screen captures similar to what's found here: https://tk386.com/backpacks/ I've been using a 1" PVC pipe, cut to 15" long, with the ends reamed out to accommodate a short piece of 3/4" PVC pipe at the top and bottom. A pair of zip ties mounts it to the frame. Charlie

Deo, I think the Krylon paint is a close enough match, although I'm not on the SWAT committee. Looking at the screen captures, there doesn't seem to be a sharp shiny reflection on the paint, so a satin clearcoat should knock down the shine to an acceptable level. Now to continue the discussion about blue versus gray - Check out the gray sky in the 1977 clip versus the blue sky in the 2011 clip: The enhancement with the blue color filter may have been heavy handed, and added too much blue to the backpack. You can also see a hint of blue in the stormtroopers white helmet and armor. So if you dial back the blue just a bit, I think it would still exist in the original paint. That's why I continue to recommend the Rustoleum Lake Blue, which is very close to your Krylon Bahama Sea: Charlie