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Making a better TD, eventually


Bobby Boucher
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I've been a TD in the Legion since January 2014. I barely beat the cut off for joining the legion with an FX helmet (phew), and I have not formally joined the MEPD because of it. Since I knew I wasn't going to get in I personalized my backpack a little bit and just had some fun.

After being in the Legion two years I have grown tired of being a bobblehead trooper. I feel that the helmet is kind of an insult to all the more proper setups out there, and I hate not fitting in during pictures. It's just been bugging me a lot recently, so starting in November I decided to redo a lot of my armor and I'll post my progress here! I wish I could start sooner...

I'm going for either the Docking Bay 94 V.2 or V.1. I love being a sergeant cause they're not as common as captains out here in the DRG. I have more parts for the V.2 backpack, but I like the pouches for the V.1 more. We'll see what happens.

My goal with this build is not to be SWAT, just a normal officer would be fine.

Some things to accomplish:

- Ditch the FX helmet

- Restrap armor with better snaps and webbing

- Touch up previous quick fixes

- Replace seed trays on pack

- Add cistern to lower tray

- and anything else that comes up along the way

Now for some pictures!

I rode a horse on my first troop, seriously! I even used the stirrups.

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My last troop yesterday at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, with the Vader balloon behind me.

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Here are some of the personal mods I did on my backpack. I haven't used my modifications as much as I thought I would, so I'm not upset at the prospect of removing them. Instead of the cistern I added some "pressure vessels" and a gauge. I love the look and the silver contrasts nicely.

sE9zwaJ.jpg

Objects that sit around and look useful, but don't have a useful purpose, are a small pet peeve of mine. So I gave the seed trays locks and hinges so that I could store items in them! I took the locks from some storage crates at my old job, added some weatherstrips to keep out water, and I added egg carton foam.

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Good for you Chief. Not everyone has to go screen accurate and it's all about having fun. You're fx armour was great as long as you felt good in it.

It's also good that you want to get serious though and we look forward to seeing what you come up with. Well done so far

Nick

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On 10/7/2015 at 4:27 PM, nick.black said:

Good for you Chief. Not everyone has to go screen accurate and it's all about having fun. You're fx armour was great as long as you felt good in it. It's also good that you want to get serious though and we look forward to seeing what you come up with. Well done so far Nick

Thanks Nick! I can't wait until I can really get started on my revamp.

I just have to wait until November to start....

Speaking of which, here is another project that has to wait a month!

 

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  • 1 year later...

I can't believe it's been a year and half since I started this thread.  Life happened, as everyone understands.  And I've made some progress recently.

Got a raw ATA bucket, I put it together this last weekend.  I've started the weathering as you can seen, tough part will be matching it to the rest of the armor that I have worn for years.

Ij77Vre.jpg

I also finished my T-21 more or less.  Thanks to my airbrush and some rub n buff.  I just need a sling

WcPNyhD.jpg

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You are on your way and looking good bro!  

Thats what counts.

I've been trying to properly finish my TK armor. Been going for 5 years now.
It took me 6 years to get my TD armor up to what I wanted, so not bad at all...

And still have on the working bench a new  TD armor, 3 buckets, properly finish my E11 and my T21...

So, no pressure bro... Take your time and move forward.
And post pictures.

Saludos.

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Nice new lid, Bobby.

dont feel as if the old FX lid is an insult to the 501st. I'll take to back to 2001 when I joined, the only real choice we had back then was FX armour. We wore this with pride and at the time felt it was something very special - it basically started the 501st off and enabled it to grow to the mighty club it is today.

Armor FX kit should be looked upon with pride IMO.

 

Although I would always encourage members to strive for accuracy, the most important thing is having fun with all this!

 

best of luck trooper, looking forward to seeing what you do with your gear.

 

Smally.

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On 2/17/2017 at 9:47 AM, LoveMonkey said:

Looking good, hope to see it all done soon.

Me too.  I've endeavored to stop trooping until I finish, just to keep myself motivated.

On 2/22/2017 at 9:37 PM, Phoenix said:

Congrats on getting your ATA bucket; good luck on your weathering project.
 

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I've had nothing but good things to say about the ATA. It's thick and it was easy to trim.

On 2/24/2017 at 0:43 PM, iconoclasta_88 said:

You are on your way and looking good bro!  

Thats what counts.

I've been trying to properly finish my TK armor. Been going for 5 years now.
It took me 6 years to get my TD armor up to what I wanted, so not bad at all...

And still have on the working bench a new  TD armor, 3 buckets, properly finish my E11 and my T21...

So, no pressure bro... Take your time and move forward.
And post pictures.

Saludos.

Wow...... You need the goodwill more than I do! More pictures when I have time to work.

21 hours ago, Smally said:

Nice new lid, Bobby.

dont feel as if the old FX lid is an insult to the 501st. I'll take to back to 2001 when I joined, the only real choice we had back then was FX armour. We wore this with pride and at the time felt it was something very special - it basically started the 501st off and enabled it to grow to the mighty club it is today.

Armor FX kit should be looked upon with pride IMO.

 

Although I would always encourage members to strive for accuracy, the most important thing is having fun with all this!

 

best of luck trooper, looking forward to seeing what you do with your gear.

 

Smally.

That's what everyone else in the Dewback Ridge keeps telling me, and they all still have their FX kits.  But they moved on years ago, and I just feel a little out of place is all! Thanks for the encouragement.

 

All this makes me love the MEPD even more.  Thanks everybody for the kind words! :) 

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  • 5 months later...

Working 60 hour weeks sucks, hence my lack of progress for the past 6 months.  But I finally trooped with the ATA helmet and it's SOOO much better!  I can actually look around! The old FX has earned it's place on the shelf for getting me this far.  I also redid my thighs.  They were much too large down at the bottom, and they just looked odd.  Next up is backpack work.

 

Side note.  I hope photo bucket dies. Charging ridiculous money for 3rd party hosting is suicide for them Got to find a new way to upload pictures on here.

 

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  • 1 year later...
  • 7 months later...

I finally got around to working on the new pack, thanks to the very short winter break I got, better than nothing.  I used mikelbrierly's method for bending PVC without crunching it and it worked great!  Not going for SWAT so I just used 1/8" aluminum for attaching the boxes.  Added a little hot glue on the edges to look like welds before primer!  Also started smoothing the print for the canteen and siphon

8Yb6MMr.jpg

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Nice work! That PVC frame is amazing,looks like the real deal. :duim: 

By the way, if everything else looks right too, this frame would be good for SWAT, just as the aluminium bars are, most people use them and as long as it's not really visible, it's fine. I have some on my SWAT pack#3 too. 

Just one minor detail, the curved support bar at the top isn't welded but only screwed into place on the original Karrimor frames. 

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Nice work! That PVC frame is amazing,looks like the real deal. :duim: 
By the way, if everything else looks right too, this frame would be good for SWAT, just as the aluminium bars are, most people use them and as long as it's not really visible, it's fine. I have some on my SWAT pack#3 too. 
Just one minor detail, the curved support bar at the top isn't welded but only screwed into place on the original Karrimor frames. 


Thank you! I’m very pleased so far. Not sure if I will go for SWAT but it’s nice to know I can if I wanted to! I’ll probably knock off that hot glue anyway


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Attached the mortar tube, the radar dish mount is a 3D print.  Not going to rob parts off the old pack until I get closer to completion.

I added some plastic to reinforce the seed trays, used some real thick scrap from a local plastic supply.  I also painted them!  I should have just enough blue for everything!  Also finished smoothing and painting the canteen.  The smoothing was not perfect but weathering will fix that!

Figured I would go pack #5 with this

4y6rWGt.jpg

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I could not have done this second pack without the awesome work done by some of the awesome troopers around here!  The pack build threads from  @519 Trooper and @welshchris77 have been a huge help.  @jcalus has a great post about how to make the pack 5 filter that I used. @henselmonster has another great build thread, and most of the 3D prints I'm using are his files, and they have saved me a lot of time and money! @stormtrooperguy also has some sweet 3D files that I have used. @mikelbrierly has a great writeup on making a frame by just bending pvc.

 

I might be forgetting someone...  I just wanted to say thanks to all of you for your hard work! :duim:

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Bobby you're killing it! And talk about being behind on projects, you're further along than I am with my own pack!! :sweat: Darn life getting in the way of our MEPD builds lol.

 

This community rules, and its so fun to see all these sandy's working together and sharing ideas. It's what it's all about.

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  • 1 month later...

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