Jonboy2312

Looks even better in person Congrats, you looked absolutely fantastic at Fan Expo!

I agree, the eyes are still a little bit too "sleepy". Can't wait to see this beauty finished

Thank you! I'm never quite finished with it, though. There are just periods when I'm too lazy to continue, LOL Thank you! i think i could make them even better, but I would have to rework the entire frame around them a little bit and add material there, rather than subtract. So I guess I'll just leave the eyes like this (and try to do better in the next sculpt ) Actually, I feel very eager to sculpt some new ears sometime soon. Gotta buy new clay. It's fiberglass. The whole creation process went like this... I'll dig up photos from the thread i had a couple of years back: Sculpting: Plaster casting and laying fiberglass: Finished faceplate: Completed helmet: (This is what it looked like before I reworked it - the eyes were too deep, the outer corners were too rounded, the inner corners were too far apart, the trapezoids over the brow were completely wrong, and the teardrops weren't painted right, either... So those are the details I attacked with my dremel and reworked. Well, no excuses now, I've got to do the ears next... I wouldn't say 'admire' just yet, LOL! It's pretty rough if you look close. but then again, if you look at the bumpy, drippy-enameled originals, I guess it doesn't look all that different... I know how you feel about making your own props. there's no real reason why I'm doing this, and I am planning to get a lovely, complete AP suit and bucket anyway, one day... but despite all that, I just enjoy creating something. Crafting cool stuff. Creating something out of nothing, you know?

11 days and not a peep. That bad, huh? It's no TM, I know, but doesn't a 100% custom-sculpted, scratch-built lid deserve a lil' bit of love too? The ears are still woefully wrong, I know. I've been planning to redo them completely one day but I haven't found the drive to do that yet. I am, however, thinking of sculpting one more helmet, and making it even better. if I go through with that, I'll definitely rework the ears on this lid, too. Here's how it compares to a lovely 80 gauge AP... I'm happy with how the eyes turned out after the recent corrections What do you guys think? Here's how it looks like on my armor... which has finally been updated with wonderful ANH arms from AuthenticProps The whole armor has been re-painted and I tried a completely different approach to weathering. It's actual dirt - a very fine dry clay dust blown onto a water-sprayed surface. The parts were then handled a bit as they dried, and finally zapped a bit with clear coat. The new arms haven't been touched yet, though. I'm hoping to gradually replace every part with AP and retire my own sculpted parts onto a mannequin... I'll probably just resin them all solid, into a statue, LOL.

Personally, I'd trim the teeth out a bit more. Wider gaps. But then again, the pull looks really shallow there... I'm having serious doubts as to that being an original sculpt. The whole point of making original sculpts (well, one of the main points anyway) is that the resulting parts are sharp and crisp in appearance. Mine could be an example of that: http://forum.mepd.net/index.php?showtopic=5568 I can't say for sure of course, but it does look to me like a really bad recast. It looks as if it was actually formed over an assembled helmet - you can still see the shape of the dome overlapping the top of the faceplate. This also explains the 5 piece construction... Well, no worries. Through proper painting and detailing you can make it look spectacular. Just be careful with trimming, since it's so smoothed out and shallow. What looks good from one angle may suddenly look bad from another, especially the teeth. I'd leave the eyes as they are and very carefully work around the teeth a bit more... not too much though. It'll be the painting stage that'll make this baby shine

Wow, it's been, what, umm... two years since I initially made this thing? Anyway, over the course of time, when studying photos from various events I trooped in the flaws were becoming more and more obvious to me. Obvious, and annoying. It was the visors, which were shaped a bit wrong, set too deep, their frame on the sides - too thick, the 'teardrops' - wrong, and finally the trapezoids on the temples - too small, on a bad angle, and too square... Since it was about time to repaint the armor due to excessive yellowing, I figured I'll give it a shot and grabbed my dremel Here you can see just how annoyingly yellow I was, next to these gorgeous AP armors (sort of standard in the Polish Garrison...) Well then, here's the result of my efforts: What do you guys think? Am I getting there yet? I know the earcaps are all wrong.... I'll probably make them right one day, right now I'm satisfied with what I've done so far and I'll wait a bit longer. That will be the next thing I fix, though. I want to try a completely different approach to weathering now... there should be results this weekend

Now we're talking Fantastic pieces, guys... all of them! Here's one I did for Polish Garrison's magazine... April's Fools edition, hence the crossover It was a quickie done over just a few hours, I didn't have time to do better coloring on it, but...

no posts since 2007? What, no-one here draws anything? O_o

Well, TD-1408 just wanted the same little flags in upper left corner as, for instance, the Germans: http://www.mepd.net/deployed/ He came up with files for us with our national emblems on them. Well, if you don't do this anymore it's okay, but I'm realy curious what that new idea is

Nope, that's all there was of the molds. The rest was just the workshop and the proof parts hanging around. The putty on the back of the domeback section explains the difference seen in current SDS lids and the originals... Apparently a repair job, just like the little bit on one of the ears. It does seem to add up, but... I just don't know. Can't really believe a word AA says...

Okay, change of plans... we'll provide you with pre-made files, how's that for making your work easy?

No they're not... but it's my custom sculpt, you know... I was a bit nervous Hey, will there be another, higher level of accuracy now that our requirements are, as it appears, used as the requirements for the 501st Legion in general? BTW, TD-1408, TD-5813 and me would like to kindly ask you if you could add polish flags to our profiles. our German friends have theirs, so... please?

Thanks! I'm delighted and honored to be in the MEPD... I still can't believe I made it!

Woohoo! Thanks a million For some reason, though, it says TD-0537 in the browser title

I did a blaster scorch mark on my armor... It's right there on the chestplate: My technique was pretty simple - I just ignited a bit of gunpowder on the chestplate. mind you, though, that my armor is made of fiberglass, and my chestplate is 1cm thick on average! It would melt a vacuformed piece...

Thanks guys, I'm glad to be in good company P.S. no jasne że stawiam. Będziecie na Polconie?

Wojciech Sawicki TD-1226 Jonboy2312 Polish Outpost jquest@poczta.onet.pl Woohoo! my TD costume has just been cleared in the 501st, so I'm proceeding with my application here shot with NIKON D1H at 2007-08-13 shot with NIKON D1H at 2007-08-13 shot with NIKON D1H at 2007-08-13 shot with NIKON D1H at 2007-08-13 shot with NIKON D1H at 2007-08-13 shot with NIKON D1H at 2007-08-06 Detailed description: -Custom sculpted upper armor & helmet (one off) -Legs and belt front panel from TK-560 -Helmet is painted like the originals, with hand-painted details. No decals. -canvas belt -MP-40 ammo pouches, black leather, two standard and one with an oiler compartment (for personal items such as keys, ID, money etc). The shoulder mounted pouch will soon house an amplifier/voicechanger system. -custom DLT-19 mockup (by TS-4886) - temporary until I get my accurate resin cast model. -backpack (I think it's pretty close to screen accurate - one of a short run made by the talented TD-1408) -weathering done with Revell hobby paint, actual dirt (wet clay), and gunpowder ignited on the chestplate (the black scorch mark). -reversible (black or white) pauldron, made of vinyl (white part) and fake leather (black) by my wife, ID-8126 Extra shots:

Glad you like it! My friends in the Polish Outpost liked it, too, our GML said he was "most impressed", and Paul Blake (Greedo) said it was finished just like what he remembers the movie originals to be like. All that makes me extremely happy! And, looking at the convention photos, I don't think I stand out at all! Can you tell easily which one of the sandies is me, in my custom sculpted helmet and armor among those lovely AP kits? Now imagine one of us was wearing an FX helmet instead... What can I say... I'm bloody happy! http://lh3.google.pl/DROZENMASTER/RriQ9 ... 080114.JPG

Wow, I've been in newspapers again http://miasta.gazeta.pl/gorzow/51,35211 ... 9.html?i=0 http://miasta.gazeta.pl/gorzow/51,35211 ... 9.html?i=7 These are on a major newspaper's site, and the first one was printed with the article on the con - I'm there around the middle And here's one of my con shots... Polish Outpost sandies (left to right: 1226. 5813, 1408) with Paul 'Greedo' Blake and the badly ill boy to whom the con was dedicated... It felt great to make him happy!

Thanks I'm very happy it turned out the way it did. It's not all self-made, though as the legs and belt were bought from TK-560. I just had so much trouble with those parts that I gave up on making them myself.

What about now? Sorry about the temporary DLT-19 I got from another MEPD member - my uber-accurate resin cast hasn't been delivered yet... CAboots also messed up big time and I'm still waiting for my final boots... The lip on armor panels is due to the fact that our rules don't allow for SE sandys - I had to cancel that project and stick with the ANH look, but the lip was already glued. Whwew... At least the GML loves it Would you say the armor looks okay now?

Thanks I'll gladly share more stuff, but that will have to wait till after the con. I'm departing early morning and won't be back until the 6th

... and an MG-34. And I'm still waiting for my boots... It's like everything was going wrong, as if some supernatural force was trying to prevent me from finishing it in time for the Dagobah 2007 convention (starts this friday). Well, I did slap together a pair of home-made boots and still had my MG-42 from my Jin-Roh armor so I'll be okay anyway I'll be picking up a lovely backpack and a fabulous resin DLT-19 there at the con... I just can't wait Especially that it'll be the biggest SW con in Poland so far, and we'll have gerald Home and Paul Blake over (Greedo! yay!). I'll see what I can do about that damned lip on the armor afterwards...

Well, I'll see if it'll be okay without the lip - I'm just somewhat worried about the edges as the thickness varies considerably and it shows - the lip hides that pretty nice. Moreover, it's a remnant of my SE stormtrooper project which I gave up on. Why? It appears the MEPD standards are now legionwide standards for ALL new sandtroopers, and there's NO OPTION in them for an SE sandy, meaning the costume I was working on would never get accepted. So I converted it back to ANH, except the lip which is very heavily glued (and useful, as I've already pointed out). So I'd say it's the unthought-out requirements that are to blame for the mish-mash. Well, I'll see what I can do about the lip, but only after the con. Oh, of course I "have" a pair of nice stormtrooper boots from CAboots. bought them some two months ago. They got lost at the customs between USA and Canada (they refused to send the packet to us directly, saying something about the shipping and billing adresses having to be the same and only agreed to process the order if it would be sent to my wife's sister at the old address in Canada. What unbelieveable idiots... The, as the packet was already missing, it turned out they LOST the tracking number! Of course they've sent another pair, but their company name and logo should be printed in dictionaries under "incompetent" So for now, I have to wear my home-made temporary shoes...

Okay then, I think I've finished! I'd like to ask you guys for opinion if this armor would meet the requirements for deployment. Of course, I do have a proper DLT-19 instead of this "DLT-19A1" MG-42 thing, and a lovely backpack, but these are waiting for me to pick them up at the con. Sorry about the lip on the armor, but it's rather necessary as the panels are made of fiberglass. Basically the whole thing, including the helmet is my own creation (there's another topic about that ) except the legs and the belt, which are from TK-560 (I failed miserably trying to get them right on my own). So what do you think? Would this be okay? List of classic details: -painted helmet, with hand-painted details, no fake 'vents' on gray fields -flat ANH lenses -canvas belt -soft shoulder straps -no cannister -leather MP-40 pouches, one of them (on belt, right-hand side) with a cleaning kit pocket -diamond kneeplate -no control panel on ab plate -reversible pauldron (white or black) The two features not present on the originals are the black metal mesh behind the grille and the rubber SE-style lip around main armor panels (necessary to protect my crappy fiberglassing)