henselmonster

Welcome everyone to the June/July edition of the MEPD newsletter. Its been a big couple of months so I won't waste anymore time getting into it! Just some quick housekeeping: from now on we will be publishing these newsletters on a bi-montly basis. So the next issue will be released Sept 1 and then every 2 months from then on. We hope this will give us the freedom and time to write better articles and find more content that is relevant to the MEPD. Thanks everyone! In this issue: -Update from the Detachment Leader -New information on the new CRLs joining the MEPD -Troop of the month - Henselmonster • TD-11787 Well, where to start….so many great and exciting things have happened the last couple of weeks. One of the first exciting things was the finalisation of creating a patrol for all the female TD’s within the MEPD and the 501st, the Desert Foxes!! Behind the scenes our design team is already working on swag for the Desert Foxes so the ladies can represent themselves and the MEPD of course. So ladies, start filling the patrol with pic’s and reports! One other thing that you’ve problably have noticed is that we have been snooping around on the FISD and have been working with them on a solution for the R1 Jedha troopers in all their variations. I must thank Deatrin, the DL of the FISD, for his input and keeping the conversation civilized and clean on the FISD forum. I myself have to thank you all for keeping it constructive as well here. The decision that has been made is as follows, the Jedha sandtrooper and the Kyber variation will both be added to the ranks of the MEPD real soon. The CRL’s need to be completed but you’re free to start with a build if you want! One other CRL that is currently under construction is the Special Edition Sandtrooper and we are hoping to have that done within a month from now. So, if you have plans to start with one of these new armors you might end up in the CRL as the visual reference for the armor. One other recent development is that we are in need for an extra pair of IT hands, so if you think you got what it takes give me or Strider a shout. I’m really looking forward to new and exciting times for the MEPD with all these new developments! And to all the US troops, I hope you all had an great 4th of july!! Keep up the good work troops and move along for now…. -dutchy What a month it has been for the MEPD. Finally the MEPD is growing out of Mos Eisley and setting up outposts all over the galaxy. Our newest additions will include two troopers from Jedha! Both the Kyber Crystal Sandtrooper and the Jedha Patrol Sandtrooper will become part of the Sandtrooper family. Not only are we setting up new outposts we are finally recognizing our special brothers…the Special Edition Sandtroopers. Adding 3 new CRLs to our detachment will take some time but for now lets review the differences between each of these new variations. First up! The Special Edition Sandtrooper. Appearing in the 1997 Special Edition re-release of A New Hope, these troopers differ significantly from their 1977 counterparts. The armor for these Sandtroopers is clearly modified Return of the Jedi armor, inducing the “squished” bucket, the overpainted all black frown, and armor trim. The armor is pretty heavily weathered especially when compared to the regular ANH Sandtrooper. These troops carry what appears to be a ROTJ E-11. The pauldron seems to differ significantly as well. It is slightly shorter on the shoulder, and appears to be made from a matte black, almost neoprene material. I am sure our accuracy slueths will figure out the construction of these new pauldrons in no time. Some troopers carry the typical electrobinoculars, already included in the ANH CRL. Last but not least, the backpack. This is a whole new design for the sand trooper pack. Luckily we have pretty decent reference for them. These pack looks like they inspired the “Shock Trooper” now seen in Battlefront. It has been a long time coming, and we are happy to welcome this new trooper into our rank only 20 years after their first appearance! Next up! The Kyber Crystal Sandtrooper. These troopers appeared in Rogue One in the city of Jedha transporting Kyber crystals out of the city for the empire. The armor for this trooper is the exact same armor as the Rogue One Stormtrooper. It is lightly weathered. These trooper tend to carry a modified E-11 seen with most troopers in Rogue One. They wear Pauldrons very similar to the ANH sand troopers with some differences. In fact there are vendors out there already producing these pauldrons so they are easy to find! The pack they wear is quite different from a typical Sandtrooper. It is mostly a soft cloth on the outside with grenade holders in the center. There is a tall antenna extending from the pack as well. Builds have already begun on these packs and we look forward to more popping up as these CRLs are completed. Not only are we getting this trooper from Rogue one, but we will also be getting another Sandtrooper from the film. The Jedha Patrol Sandtrooper. These troopers are very similar to the Kyber troopers. They too are weathered and carry various weaponry. The biggest difference in these troopers would be their pack. There pack seems to be inspired by the classic Sandtrooper backpack. It is unique in its design and should be a fun pack to follow during builds. Its an exciting time for the MEPD. Keep coming back for more updates as we complete these new CRLs and start getting new troops added to our ranks! - Henselmonster • TD-11787 June's Trooper of the Month is awarded to TD-30571/bigwam/Thomas. On June 15th to the 18th, Thomas attended Star Wars Days at Legoland Günzburg in Germany and participated with a large patrol of sandtroopers throughout the park. Keep up the great work, Thomas! - Airborne Trooper • TD-82573

Great news for the MEPD!

Nice dude!! Looking great!

I agree that we shouldn't get the HWT over here. Its already well established in the FISD and moving it would create a ton of problems plus destroy a great resource over at FISD. I think it would have had a great home here but the detachment at the time didn't want it and it is what it is now. I didn't mean for it to come across like I was trashing the HWT, my point was that the reason many feel like MEPD shouldn't get the new costumes is because R1 Jedah troopers have the drop boxes, ab details, knees plate, etc.. Meanwhile the HWT CRL allows for t-21s which they don't carry in the game (which for the record I have no problem with, and during troops I don't think it should matter what kind of blaster anyone is carrying). Mainly I was just pointing out that everyone (MEPD and FISD) are sticklers about some small details but ignore an entire blaster. And you are right, I think what I was taking as hostility was more disappointment from only a couple posts over there. That should not be reflective on all of FISD. FISD has been a great sister site with us. I think we can build great R1 CRLs together.

Honestly what I think makes a Sandtrooper a Sandtrooper is the weathering, field packs, pauldrons, pouches and BFGs. Those small details in the costumes were byproducts of the production schedule of the film. Also I never understood why FISD Heavy Weapon Troopers carry T-21's. In the game they are based (Battlefront II) they all carry rocket launchers. I think HWT exists solely so people can have two costumes in one. That's why they only "lightly" weather with shoe polish so it can be wiped away and cleaned. Edit: not trying to knock HWT or the FISD, I get it that we are all just plastic spacemen trying to make kids happy. I was just saddened by the hostility over there. The FISD is a great resource. I used it during my build and I still look at tutorials from time to time. I can't wait for our detachments to start working together more. I hope it helps alleviate some of the hostility.

The main reason the Sandtroopers didn't have the same knee plates and drop boxes is because they weren't made yet. Sandtroopers were slapped together quickly to start filiming in Tunisia. If they had filmed the Tunisia scenes later I guarantee you Sandtroopers would have all the same details as regular TKs plus dirt.

Welcome!! Feel free to reach out with any questions!

Finally got an accurate size for the canteen. Just did a print. Needs to be slightly wider, I'll update the file on thingisverse later today. I'm also posting a sales thread soon for anyone who may want a kit printed for them.

Hey Troops! I am finally starting my new pack build after nearly a year of collecting the right parts for it. I still want to replace my seed trays and the siphon with original parts, but I will work with what I have for now. I am planning on 3D printing the exhaust, but I am going to wait until I have the correct sized seed trays so I can fit it properly. Down the road, when i can get the cash together I will replace the radio with the woodman cast, but I am pretty happy with the one I have for now! I am using my nalgene bottle as a place holder for the top bottle. It seems to be pretty close in size to the screen ref so i may just look for some used ones at a flea market this weekend and use those. I am following @Strider's build pretty closely with this one. I am wanting to get as accurate as I can with this. So many changes need to be made but its a start for now! Hopefully over the next few months I can finish this thing! (P.S. The radio was from Rolf who I believe originally purchased it from Strider)

by the way, would you be willing to share the measurements for your exhaust pipe? I will probably 3D print one and I'm hoping i can get a close as possible. Thanks

Welcome Randy! Take a look around our sandy abode. Its a great community here!

What did you search when you found those seed trays? I have been looking for weeks! Haha. Its the last piece of the puzzle i need to have my uber pack built. Well that and a real sonix radio but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Welcome troopers to the May newsletter for the Mos Eisley Police Department! Apologies for the late posting of this months article. We will be back on schedule again in June! What a month it has been! In April we had Celebration Orlando, and this month we just celebrated the 40th Anniversary of Star Wars and the 40th of the Sandtrooper. It has been a great 40 years and we look forward to many more celebrating these films and characters. In this issue: - Hear from our Detachment Leader - A recap of Celebration Orlando - Congratulate our Trooper of the month. - Welcome our newest SWAT member. - henselmonster • TD-11787 What a month we’ve had or at least some of us. Celebration Orlando was being held and I can tell you a lot about it, oh wait l wasn’t there….But some of us who attended it will talk about it in this special Celebration edition! During the last month we’ve been trying to get the female patrol/ squad set up but it appeared to be harder than I expected. Especially finding the right the name for our ladies. But it’s still on my to do list and I’m hoping to get this up and running very soon now…and the ladies are in the lead on this one. So ladies…where ya’ll at!!! One other thing that I’ve noticed is that the traffic on the forum is increasing and that members who weren’t that active have found their way back and that makes me proud, so welcome back everyone! And what about those new MEPD name tags that were designed by Henselmonster…another great example of excellent MEPD swag! Thanks for creating these and making them available for us Henselmonster! If you have been inspired by his work please do contact him If you have any ideas for MEPD merchandise. Backpacks, backpacks, backpacks…have I mentioned backpacks earlier? Exciting new findings have been made, some still have to be confirmed, so we can finally build the pack with the correct parts. Strange isn’t it, that we’re still trying to figure out all it’s components after 40 years..but that’s exactly what makes being a sandtrooper so exciting. Accuracy geeks for the win! What also made me proud to is that we have started with incorporating the MEPD trooper of the month in our newsletter. So if you have any suggestions or if you want to nominate a trooper for MEPD trooper of the month please send a pm to the members of the Intelligence Office. That’s it for now and if you have any questions don’t be shy and shoot me a pm! Last but not least, a big thank you to all of you troops that represented the MEPD in Orlando!! -Dutchy So Celebration 2017 has come and gone. We have the memories. We have the pictures. We have the swag. By now, you’re either fondly remembering your time there or you’ve looked through the pics and heard the stories and know a little about what you’ve missed. That being said, I think it’s fitting, being that we are here at the MEPD, to take a look it this from the Sandtrooper’s perspective. There was a lot of Tatooine at this year’s celebration. It was very nice to catch up with all the MEPD folks as I walked around the show. It was also nice to see so much focus on the “Land of Sand.” One of the very first things that caught me eye was the artwork of Drew Baker. He had a very amazing display that was heavy with Sandtrooper visuals. He had an amazing painting with a kid saluting a TD, but the thing that caught my eye was a piece from Celebration Europe, very timely to the MEPD. It was a print of female sandtroopers taking off their helmets in a break from battle entitled “Shade.” Beautiful and powerful work. The next Sandtrooper friendly piece of awesomeness at Celebration was that Regal Robot Dewback sofa. I true work of art. I will need to save my lunch money (for about 6 years) to get one of these, but WOW! It was an amazing piece of artwork for the casual Sandtrooper Walking around the con, there is plenty to see in regard to Tatooine movie quality props and scenery. The land speeder was awesome. Some of the troopers even posed for a smaller group photo with the speeder. The 501st room offered up a nifty Tatooine village display complete with Sandtroopers and a Dewback (Okay, maybe not the gray pauldrons though). There was Jabba’s Palace, packed with Scum and Villiany to question and arrest. And Speaking of Scum and Villiany, that Bash!! It was all decked out with Tatooine and Cantina props and scenery. Balloon Jawas, Tuskens, Dewbacks, Banthas and Sandys were all life-sized. Cantina Twi’lek dancers and performers were entertaining the crowd. Some of us even had to work. Both I and TD-91197 had to patrol the Lars homestead crime scene and keep all the evidence from being destroyed. The burning bodies were still there and folks were just stomping by waiting for Weird Al to perform. Oh yes, by the way, Weird Al was awesome! We had a great turn-out for the MEPD group photo. It was nice to collect Team Dirty in one place and put real faces to the names and pictures we find here and on social media. Sure at times the lines and crowds made it tough, but meeting and spending time with your friends from across the world is what it’s all about. To me, the 45 minutes I stood with me fellow TD’s for the photos made the whole event worth the time and energy. - Punisha April's Trooper of the Month is being awarded to Andy/Smudger/TD-19630. Andy's first troop with the U.A.E. Outpost defines what the legion is all about! Charity, goodwill, and setting the tone of "bad guys doing good". Bringing smiles to children's faces makes every late night getting our armor to spec well worth it. Great work, Andy! - Airborne Trooper • TD-82573 Congratulations to our newest SWAT Officer: spOOL68! Achieving SWAT is one of the hardest levels in the entire 501st. It takes incredible attention to detail, patience and persistence. Roger did a great job throughout the past few months completing this level making him one of the very few who have been able to reach this goal. We welcome him to the SWAT ranks and congratulate him on a job well done! - henselmonster • TD-11787

Great job! Congrats!

The radio looks vaccuformed which is not allowed. The canteen on the bottom could also be replaced, but you might be able to get away with it. The rest should be able to pass!