TD1009

Some are finished some need to be dyed and some are waiting for heavy mods but these are my pouches - No I'm not going to wear them all at once! I like being able to decide which Sandtrooper from ANH to be. Some of these are awaiting distribution to Sandtroopers in need...

Brilliant vac form improvisation! Looks great, these tips are fantastic Mike, thanks.

Mike's Lewis looked great, the paint job is fantastic and the rib idea is a clever solution to a perplexing problem. I think I'll follow his lead there for now. Looking forward I was thinking of trying to make accurate non permenant add on ribs and doohicky for the hyperfirm Lewis. I'm thinking using the same high strength resin Bill is using to make his Lewis guns would be super durable. I think I've found the material for the master. It would be a clam shell fit - casting up just one side. Crazy?? Of course I could end up spending $$ and find the drain pipe is better - that stuff costs $3 for 10' I have to try to make this gun uber-accurate, it deserves it.

An MG-15 would be lighter and cheaper, except for the saddle drum which costs almost as much as the parts kit alone. I saw a MG-15 saddle drum last weekend, I need to mold and cast it - of course then you still need to worry about the obsure scopes on the MG-15 that will cost as much as the rest of the gun too. You can get a MG-34 or a MG-15 parts kit through this guy, let me know.

soap! Oops... The helmet looks great avatar_man, makes me want to re-do mine!

Fullers Earth is a soup ingredient right? And also used for make up? I think I've seen it at costume/make up shops.

I will not wear a pouch without pack again SIR! Your drink on me, SIR! I'd like to add that I was fully not going to wear the pouch without pack but then... I saw the SaA with a pouch and no pack at an event last month so I figured good for the SaA, good for me Anyone know where to get an accurate pack? My homemade style just won't cut it in this company, **** you Seth and Mike! :whisper: GF or TE?

Next time we'll use our room as official storage barracks, we don't need citizens seeing the DL half armored in a docking bay.

I'd like to get prescription green lenses for the helmet but I'm sure if that is possible.

I wear glasses with a AP stunt helmet. It's not easy, more fogging, less room putting the helmet on but I manage. I have a pair of older glasses that are shaped right, they were sunglasses that I put clear lenses in and now they are my trooping glasses. When I used to wear them as my everyday pair they were my Ali-G glasses

It was great being the dominant imperial presence! We missed out on a couple other MEPD guys for the group picture, sorry Sarge and John! I had a great time seeing Seth and Mike and their amazing armor, really sets the bar high. Great time. Another thing that I loved, all stunt helmets!!

I saw about 30or more real MG-34s today at a machine gun manufacturer shop in MD, that was on the way back from Farpoint. A real (working) MG-34 like they have costs thousands. Awesome looking guns but real MG's are sooo, sooo heavy, I think I pulled something just lifting a MG-42 for a few minutes They were not designed to be held or shot the way sandtroopers would either. The other thing is you won't "accidently" knock out that annoying kid who keeps shooting at you with his Star Trek noise gun when you're trooping with a rubber gun. Safer all around

Hobbit troopers unite! Can you lower the position of the liner? Turn the liner clips around in case they got turned around before which can make the helmet ride lower than it should. Add foam to the top to make it sit higher on your head. All temp solutions - best thing to plan after the troop is a stunt helmet

No worries! I was feeling protective but there is no trademark! Just thought it'd be more fun to have loads of cool names for the patrols

Thanks Dean, all great info, clears up a lot of questions. We discussed last night making our group an unofficial group like the Kilted Brigade for all the reasons you stated, being very careful to keep the 501st name off the site and any t-shirts/patches. Maybe in the future the 501st will add a new level that we would qualify for but for now we will remain unofficial. I'm not sure how much I like some in the MEPD laying claim to the MFP name, I mean it's flattering that you want to have a Moisture Farm Patrol too but I think there are many other cool names to be had and potential Patrols should strive to be creative not all cookie cutter with the name. The Moisture Farm Patrol is what we call our unofficial group so that name is taken. Fair? Dune Sea Patrol - Pit of Carkoon Patrol - Anchorhead Patrol - Tosche Station Patrol - Jawa Patrol - Jungland Waste Patrol - Dewback Squad (jk) and then there is probably a ton of EU references to be had...

He lost his pouches too!!

Off Topic - Ever since my first visit to the coast of Oregon I have wanted to move there, I've visited almost every state (not Hawaii Guns... yet!!) And Oregon was IMO the most beautiful - I'd love to see more pics. Back on topic - I apologise for stirring everybody up, our idea of a detachment was based purely on the fact that in the 501st a detachment is the smallest recognised group - needing only 5 members to start one. That is why we thought it would be alright to be a detachment, a very different detachment from the MEPD and to be honest - way, way smaller. I wouldn't expect most people would ever have seen us as an alternative just a little brother detachment or off spring detachment. My mistake. So we will drop the pursuit of a detachment in deference to the MEPD and we will be a Patrol, unofficial, not openly recruiting and hopefully everyone will be happy. I was really knocked off my feet by the reaction to our little group but I failed to see it from a big detachment point of view, live and learn. As I said before - I will seek MEPD deployment once my pack is finished and this is THE place for info and great Sandtrooper talk, that won't change for me. PEACE!!!

I'm in a small sandtrooper group (a patrol) that has different standards including not requiring a field pack and bfg. Everyone in the group does have them or is working on it but we don't actually require them to join. It certainly wasn't done to make it easier than the MEPD or make us closer to TKs, it's based purely on the film evidence. That's not the MEPD's way of looking at it and I agree (this thread changed my mind) - I think the detachment should require all TDs to own a BFG and Field pack, if you don't want to do that then you can't join the MEPD. You can still be a perfect film accurate Sandtrooper and not qualify for the MEPD, but those are the high standards leadership has decided on. More than 50% of our little gang has a non FX stunt helmet and that is a potential requirement that makes a huge difference in how the Sandtrooper looks, I'd be all for that here.

I'm not hung up on the requirements and we didn't create them as any reflection of the MEPD or any commentary on the toughness to aquire them, the way I see it anyone able to create a good Sandtrooper can make a pack and BFG. It just reflects what I see when I watch ANH. I wouldn't change MEPD requirements (except drop boxes and detonator) and I'm going to seek deployment to the MEPD when my pack is finished. As far as charity being required by the 501st, getting people to do charity troops in VA is hard work we felt we had to make that a part of the deal. Okay. So I'm thinking we shouldn't be a detachment, being that the requirements and the spector of competition are such a sore spot here. I really never imagined after reading the 501st charter that multiple detachments was that big a deal but I'm not going to step on anyone's toes, not here, my favorite spot in the 501st. The MFP started because we had a group of Sandtroopers that were close friends that wanted to have an official 501st designation and an excuse to do charity work while striving for screen accurate sandtrooper costumes, that's why to us it didn't matter if you had TD status just be screen accurate. We never saw this as any competition with MEPD just a charter sanctioned group of individuals. I see the MEPD as THE sandtrooper detachment, this was just a small excuse to do our own thing. I think the un-official Patrol status may be the respectful and un-controversial way to leave everyone happy and I will strive to make that happen, reasonable easy since our application is still pending. Even without the detachment status I hope we can be closely associated with the MEPD, most of our members are here, lurking mostly I guess.

Absolutely we are brothers!! This does not have anything to do with any shortcomings of the MEPD and as I said is not meant to compete wit the MEPD in any way. I could not find any information about conflicting detachments in the 501st charter but I see your point. It takes 5 501st members to make a new Detachment and the parameters are left to those members to specify, please correct me if that is a mis-reading of the rules governing detachments, we just wanted to have a group and a name and still be MEPD. There is no limit to how many detachments a 501st member can belong too. This is small beans, we ain't going to be recruiting as an alternative at all. This idea started as a squad which is a better way of looking at this but too many of our Sandtrooper friends were being left out due to the geographic and non costume parameter limitations of a 501st Squad as outlined in the 501st charter. So we re-read the charter and decided to persue a detachment, a companion small sandtrooper detachment, a moisture farm patrol. The paramenters we want to govern the MFP are: Dirt Sniper knee plate Sandtrooper ab plate Pouch Pauldron No drop boxes No detonator Participation in at least 2 charity troops a year. BFG and field pack are optional, reflecting the diverse parameters seen in ANH. This is bloody embarressing and this isn't the way I would have liked to sort out these issues but better sooner than later! We may have to re-visit the charter and see what we need to do, there is no doubt 2 detachments are redundant, and an informal "patrol" may make the most sense!! Thanks for the sugestion.

*Edited to remove outdated logo, new one coming without 501st reference...

In response to posts in this thread Originally we wanted to be a Squad but all our Sandtroopers were too spread out to be limited to a specific geographic area plus we wanted it to be a Sandtrooper only deal. Think of it as a potential detachment (we sent in an application last month but it's a bad time to get 501st business done what with the election, we'll follow up after the election) that focuses on the outlying Tatooine areas, beyond the cities. Our requirements are a little different from the MEPD and we want to be oriented towards accomplishing as many charity troops as we can. It's in no way supposed to compete with the MEPD and I fully expect all our members to strive for deployment in both, I know I do. Also, once there was a Star Wars group in Richmond, VA called the Moisture Farm Co-Op and this is partly a revival of that name and spirit. *edited to change subject - removing reference to creating another detachment

I'll be there with at least 2 other Sandtroopers from Tyranus! We have 8 dirty sandies down here now but most of them are sitting out Farpoint this year, too bad for them. A big group shot will be awesome...

The videos arsonsmith mentioned on the 1st page are incredible! This looks like an amazing piece of work. Email sent Bill!

I used wood blocks to fill the pouches, giving them nice square corners, then I dyed them, I used Tandy USMC black leather dye, it's what I had. The dye helped the pouches stiffen and keep the shape when you take the wood out. I troop without the wood fillers but I put them back in if I think the pouch needs to be shaped again like if they get squashed at the bottom of my armor tub. I removed the small pouch from dangling off the side, it's just stiched on. I put a short piece of wood black in the last tall pocket and screwed the small pouch to the front of that pocket. I rubbed and curled and wore the leather straps so they would appear used and flexible then I used a brown acrylic paint to weather the edges of the pouch like worn leather. Up close there's no doubt these are canvas but from standard photo and crowd distance these look good and will do until I figure out how to make authentic looking all leather ones. (I'm working on it)