TD1009

Welcome Ddraig, glad to see you here. This is what my old ab plate looked like: I used the belt material from the fx set, I think I should have used an extra layer to really look right. Doing it again I also might have tried to shape it better and I would and did change the dirt paint job. Easy to do: I cut out the section from the ab plate with a dremel, sanded it, sized the new piece into which I cut the rectangle and backed that with a small section of ABS. ABS glued the whole thing together.

5'6" but most all the other blokes in our Sandtrooper squad are 6' or over so I get my share of jawa ribbing. I make Vader look good when I stand next to him though...

The leather strap is the longest 1" belt they sell at Tandy leather 60" I think, dyed dark brown and secured on the butt end with a painted and weathered large self-tapping screw. The wrap around section was secured with a bolt and nut that looked right, I'll get some more detail pics that will show the strap specifically this weekend. I'll write up a tutorial once I get the rest on the WIP pics from my buddy who made his at the same time.

Thanks for all the praise! Here I am concerned about all the things wrong like the placement of the barrel cooling sheath being too low and the fact the magazine plate still looks like wood. It was dead easy, I need to make a tutorial. Cost was about $75, the leather strap was the most expensive item at $25.

Added WIP pics and new details from my gun here. The WIP shows 2 different lewis guns being made, confusing I know, we made them at the same time and since my buddy was always ahead in the process he got more pictures taken.

The sling is a long leather belt from Tandy leather that I dyed brown, weathered and fixed with bolts. The fins are cut with a hacksaw and shaped with a dremel from a strip of 1/8" thick aluminium and epoxy glued in position.

Great troop! I hope we get to troop with the Old Line Sandtroopers again soon, sorry we bailed on Fudruckers, we had another charity event back in Richmond we were going to miss!

Lucasfilm is all about the Clonetroopers and all the Clonetroopers are dirty and most have pauldrons and pouches. Look at the recent Hasbro evolutions figure pack (I saw it at the Times Square TRU) Sandtroopers are the closest relation to Clonetroopers. It's my thinking this is why they are cool with dirty troopers now. Plus we just do look so much better than those Death Star armor polishing pansies.

That's a great reference picture, is that someone's Lewis? Looks like a modified actual gun, very nicely done.

Thanks everyone. There is much to be improved upon from adjusting the barrel height so the fins line up with the molded side and putting more accurate detail on the side past the fins to removing the extraneous griblies on the sight section. That's why I'm building a version 2. Me at recent parade with Lewis. Backlit to **** but so is Tattoine.

Thanks! It's vinyl tubing from the hardware store. 17cents a foot and it took about 20 feet. I used brass couplers to attach the tubing on the underside and sprayed it with a dull coat to remove the shine. The gun is in scale to the 3" pipe of the barrel opening so it's a little big compared to a real Lewis (or an impressive hyperfirm one.) It's as close as I could get with a hardware store blaster.

Built with TK-0600 (his is slighty different) This thing is heavy due to the double thick ABS pipe and the pine and poplar body that extends quite a way through the barrel but it looks right. We're going to make a couple more so this one may need a new home eventually. Not seen in these pics but it has the internal barrel too so it looks right even when you stare down the cooler barrel. http://www.stonemonkeyproductions.com/Lewisgun/

Few days back, Lucasarts flew a bunch of 501st members out to NY and put them along with a load of locals up in a hotel for the Digital Life Convention. News article. Matt Moews (TD-4120) and I (TK-1009) went along as Sandtroopers, is this the first time an official Lucas event has allowed dirty Sandtroopers? More than just allowed, the PR firm handling it had us front and center every opportunity they could. I'm the orange pauldron TD on the right leading the entire contingent into the official press conference. On the CBS Early show I was grabbed from the rear to be in the front row (right side) while Matt was on screen the whole time directly behind the interview. At the convention we were being grabbed by PR folks to be the backdrop of interviews all day, Matt was even involved in 4 live TV spots throughout the day. It was a great troop, meeting many good blokes from other garrisons and getting to hang out in NY despite the rain. It was also good to be, along with the clones and Vader, the most sought after because we were dirty troopers. After this, recruiting new true TD's to Tyranus for our all TD squad has been easier. Thanks to the troopers whose great pictures I'm borrowing for this post.