Jump to content

Pandatrooper's ATA TD build


pandatrooper
 Share

Recommended Posts

Slow progress as I have been working on my pack build. But I finished the edging / trim on the pauldron. It was crazy trying to do it with a regular sewing machine! I have a lot of respect and appreciation for Trooper1 and his pauldron work. My edging didn’t come out perfect, but just kind of “good enough” for getting my TD designation and hopefully enough for deployment as well. Some clever dirt / weathering will hide the imperfections! :)

Picture of finished edging

Posted Image

Shoulder straps / flaps added. I tried using leather rivets, but they didn’t work out well, so I used smaller snaps and just snapped the flaps on instead. I’m leaving the main 2 closure for later, as I’m making a slimmer / shorter neck seal for myself, and I want to get the sizing right.

Posted Image

Last steps will be adding the armpit elastic and riveting it to the pauldron.

Moving on to the lid next! Eyes and teeth have already been cut out, and most of it has been trimmed. I will be doing some serious alignment for the face / brow based on the actual images of the “Stop that ship!” trooper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 99
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Finished the pauldron by adding the armpit strap elastic. Not shown here, but I've also added the snaps for closure around the neck

Posted Image

Started the helmet. I spent a bunch of time comparing the brow angles and such to the pictures of the actual Stop That Ship! lid. Eyes and teeth have been cut out, as well as trimming the neck opening, etc.

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

I'm not sure about other ATA lids, but the plastic was a little short on the right side of the face plate, that's why there's a small gap there. I also used an extra rivet in the cheek tube "valley" to hold the lid together. I found the opening for the faceplate in the cap and back was "bigger" than other lids I've built (this is my 4th lid now). Doesn't really matter in the long run, these are small little details that will be covered up anyways, but they make assembly easier!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Terry your self made pauldron are among the best i have seen.

Your talent seems to have no ends.

The assemble of your helmet, looks A+ too from here.

Keep up the good work bro :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Slow progress as I have been working on my pack build. But I finished the edging / trim on the pauldron. It was crazy trying to do it with a regular sewing machine! I have a lot of respect and appreciation for Trooper1 and his pauldron work. My edging didn’t come out perfect, but just kind of “good enough” for getting my TD designation and hopefully enough for deployment as well. Some clever dirt / weathering will hide the imperfections! :)

ohhh, does that mean we'll get a Terry Pack tutorial too??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some updates to the STS build.

Helmet mostly assembled. I spent a good hour trimming each ear piece on the weekend (note: the pics below show some mild gaps as I haven’t tightened the screws yet).

Cut out some the green visor material that ATA includes with their helmets. I tried to capture all the nuances of the auctioned helmet with reference images from the Star Wars helmets site.

Trimmed the brow trim to the proper length. I also painted the Hovi mic tips black, but I still need to glue in the mesh. I also painted the signature “Joker grin” teeth.

I need to clean up the vocoder area, as the brush I was using had some stray fibers in it.

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

The ATA cap and back is thicker plastic than the face, and was much more of a matte finish, where as the face for whatever reason was slightly shinier. A trick I thought might work would be to polish some of the “high spots” of the helmet with a car buffer. I figured this would be much faster and efficient than sanding, wet sanding, hand polishing, etc. Plus, I am lazy. :)

The thing is, it worked! I will probably do this on my armor. So instead of painting it, I will simply polish the high spots with a buffer. I bought this cheap one from a local auto store for about $25.

Posted Image

The polishing compound is from Meguiars. It’s a coarser compound, so it will work a little faster than swirl or scratch remover.

Posted Image

They key is to not hold the buffer on any one spot for too long, otherwise the finish will be uneven and you even risk warming up the plastic. I think the results work well for a TD, shiny highlights on the high spots, a matte or satin finish in the nooks and crannies which is perfect for laying in dirt / weathering. I’m sure with some time, you could polish up your entire ATA or TE2 styrene suit for a shiny TK build.

Next up will be painting all the traps / vents, and lastly will be some tricks I’m going to try out with damage / weathering / paint chips.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks guys, glad you like it so far. I'll have some more updates on the helmet this week.

Clinton, I have a pack build thread here:

http://forum.mepd.net/index.php?showtopic=6942

doh. lol, guess i should look more before i speak! i will be modifying my pack with some of your awesome ideas.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Too cool as all ways Mr. Magic man Terry, have strike once again.

I never like to spray paint my armor for trooping, because it cracks off over time.

For display ok, for trooping no.

So your new trick here, is 100% the way to go.

I have only hand polish my TD TE2 suits a little, because the hair spray high gloss it up so much itself.

But for the hips TK suits, this would be the way to go 100%.

Great work once again bro ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bro, that bucket looks amazing!

I think this has become (next with Rolf's) my fav armor build thread!

Great work!

Saludos.

Thanks bro.

I have just been busy like a mad man, being a full time dad here all by my self.

New pics up soon ;)

(i only need to add the straps, hand paint the helmet details, get it dirty, then i´m all done)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad you like it so far guys! I value your opinion and feedback, to make this as accurate as it can be!

Some updates this week:

- hand painted all the traps, etc. I tried to pay special attention to the grey shapes and black outline thickness to match the original STS helmet.

- painted the ear piece to match

- adjusted some of the teeth gaps to better match the STS helmet

- added the neck trim

- touched up some of the lines of the vocoder to better match the STS helmet

- swapped the Hovi mic tips with my TK helmet (the mesh was finer on the TK helmet, and I wanted more accuracy for my TD :)

- trimmed the green lens inside for better fit around the nose

I did some comparison pics / photoshopping. My helmet pics are on top. Original helmet pics from Jez at Stawarshelmets.com on the bottom.

The angles and lens of the camera aren't same of course, but it gives me a good idea if things are matching up and they are. Really pleased with the brow shape and hand painted details.

Posted Image

Next week, I'm going to make some custom tube stripe stencils and airbrush the stripes. Then I have some special mods planned to damage the lid so that it matches the STS helmet. I will weather the armor first and save the helmet for last. Wish me luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A+ work as all ways Terry, i´m happy to see you going TD as well.

I know you have been on FISD as a TK for some time, but you have all ready give a lot to the dirty TD´s here.

Keep up the good work bro ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share


×
×
  • Create New...