3778

Great work. We needed a TD CRL for a long time. I understand that designated sites for certain characters usually have higher standards which I am all for but I feel that both should have the same set of CRLs. I think it may confuse some who are new to the whole thing or get upset if one says one thing and the other says another and they cannot get deployed. Whatever way it goes not everyone will be happy that is just life. I know enough about Sandtroopers that I will go the way that is more accurate of the two. Again great work.

I noticed besides some grammar issues the CRLs on the 501st site http://501st.com/crl/TD_CRL/TD002_Sandtrooper/index002.php and the CRLs posted on the MEPD http://www.mepd.net/crl/ differ on some of the requirements. Which is the correct CRL to follow?

I have decided to take all the armor out and unwrap it all so I can see what I am up against. All that I can say is WOW! This armor kit has all the pieces and parts to go Stormtrooper or Sandtrooper. I of course am going Sandtrooper so some pieces and parts will not be used. This armor kit is NOT like the out-of-date FX armor. This armor kit is much more accurate. It is NOT just glue it together and you are done, no. This armor is made large to fit a variety of sizes of people. Since each piece has extra on it, each and every piece has to be fitted, marked, cut, clean up the edges and then glued together. It is going to take me a long time to do this. I foresee many armor work days with fellow garrison members since much of the fitting and marking cannot be done by ones own self, a second pair of hands will be needed. Anyways here are few picts of the armor out of the box. Not shown are the two pauldrons that came with the kit. I got a orange and a black one along with an Imperial Logo patch and sticker. All that I can say is the Trooper Supplies has made one nice kit! With various knee plates, hand plates and more you cannot go wrong with this kit. I look forward to this project and have a new more accurate Sandtrooper outfit than my old FX Sandtrooper outfit.

I am moving along now. I have my backpack mostly finished. I still need to add the straps and then after the armor is assembled some weathering.

Yep I did that. Right now I need to finish the large side pipe (mortar) and the smaller side pipe and get them attached with a few more pieces.

I just about have my pack finished. I really need about two warm days to work on it and it will be completed. This cold spell and wind has not been helping.

Started laying out the backpack with the help from TD4401. Not all the pieces are shown since I am just laying it out to figure out how I need to proceed on this pack. I would have gotten more done this weekend if it had not rained.

My helmet is all filed out and holes drilled. This weekend going to finish painting the grey areas and black outlines and then I hope to start assembling the helmet. I am going to use a dark green welders shield for my eyes lens. Going flat with the dark green. I hope to have it done this week, I hope. Work has been piling up. Today in the mail I got parts to start my backpack as well.

Awesome thank you for all the help. I now have what I need to begin my backpack.

Sweet. I saved the image of the TD with black pauldron and e-11 blaster. I will keep this to use as a reference sheet as I am putting together my new TD outfit. I do not care about ranks. The reason I am going with the black pauldron is that the other TDs in my garrison or the people who I troop with at conventions all have the orange or white pauldrons. Not me, I have to be different and go for the lesser color used, black.

Sweet. I PM'd back.

OK. I am in the progress of making my Sandtrooper (black pauldron) and I want to start on the backpack. I was wondering is there a complete list of parts with sizes somewhere? I am not finding it. Or better yet is there a kit that someone here has that has most of the parts for a backpack build? Things like the radio and detail pieces might cause a problem. I really do not want to make everything from scratch. Thank you. David (3778)

I started by cutting out the vent holes on the front of the helmet and painted the area grey. Going to try to paint the rest of the grey for the helmet this weekend depending on weather. I want to get my helmet completed first then I will work on the armor.

Allright troopers. My new TD Armor set came in the mail and I am ready to start assembling it and making my new and improved Sandtrooper outfit! Before I start even though I have assembled several TK/TD/TX armor kits I will double check each piece and take my time in assembly. I am going to make this armor kit fit me nice. Here is what came in the mail. I am very excited to start.

Very impressive. Thank you for sharing your progress.

I was told they are working really ******* it right now. They said to check back at the end of June / July and hopefully all the new molds and upgrades will be ready. I am hoping by the end of summer. This time around I am going to do my TD up right. Start at the beginning and work on it really hard to have a kick-@ss outfit.

Well just before MotorCity I was getting my TD armor ready and noticed that on the inside of many pieces it is spider webbing. The armor is starting to give out. My TD armor is V1 AFX armor that I have had for many, many years. I figured if I troop in it much longer it will start cracking through and fall apart. Has anyone else had this problem with old or worn out armor? I do believe my TD will be put on a mannequin and displayed in my museum. I hate to retire it, it has seen many excellent troops over the years. So I have decided that I am going to retire my current TD armor and I am going to purchase the new updated V3 AFX Armor that is in the works. Being a big fan of AFX armor I have given my supplier much business over the years. I like the changes that are coming to the armor sets. Here is what is listed for the TD armor (copy and paste from part of an e-mail that I had received). The authentic AFX suits - we're changing many of the pieces. We're narrowing the shoulder bells, making new calf pieces, new abdomen plates, larger more enhanced breast plate, slightly larger biceps and a new slightly smaller helmet. We've already changed out our dome and the current helmet looks really nice. We're also adding two more styles of hand plates. - replacement diamond knee plate. We hope to have the diamond knee plates soon!! - replacement ab piece. Oh yes, we've got the new ab plate being made with touch plate for desert troopers! Its a bit larger to fit fans better with exrtemely deep sides which allow trimming to fill in any gaps. New back plate and butt plate too! - shoulder pauldron (colors?) We have orange, white, black, red, gray, blue, pink, FTO white, FTO orange, FTO gray! FTO = Field Training Officer - shoulder pouch for the left side. yes - belt pouch for the right side. Got those too! So it looks like with the changes being made to the armor the new version of AFX armor is going to be really good. Hopefully the price will remain about the same. I guess now I need to start planning on how I want my new TD to look. Still going to use the Special Edition Trooper backpack. Going to rebuild one and make it better. I guess this time around I may even go with a BFG instead of being a beast rider. But what color shoulder pauldron do I want? Not orange so either black or white. Well I now have my late summer / winter project.

Neat. I have been checking garage sales, goodwill, thrift shops and more for this game to make some binocs.

Snaps. That is a good idea. I have not used snaps on any of my armor sets yet. Do they hold? I have always been kind of a fan of permanent attachments. So the straps do not show on the top of the armor but come from under it. Ok that changes the way I was going to do the straps. I was going to fasten them on the top like the plastic straps. Thanks for the help. My armor has been tweaked and upgraded over time but unfortunately I will NEVER be MEPD deployed. I tried a few times but I was always shot down for some stupid "Must Haves" such as: - A big fun gun which I argued not all TD's had BFGs. I use a standard blaster and dewback prode. I do not like BFGs. - My backpack not being the 'chosen' version. Mine is based off of the "Special Edition" version and Gentle Giant Mini Busts with some mods that I see fit. - and something I will NEVER change unless someone buys it for me a replacement helmet for my FX helmet. The other helmets are not price friendly. But as long as I am 501st approved and making the people happy I do not care about what helmet I have as long as it looks good. + Plus I do not wear all the proper pouches. I do not like the one that goes on the shoulder / neck so I do not use on. Instead I have my holster on my left hip and a pouch on my right. I a dewback rider with attitude, not a clone. Also I was told my armor is TOO DIRTY. I am not anal prone to having screen accurate costumes. I feel if 95% of the audience thinks it is amazing then it is. Anthony Forrest "Move Along..." Sandtrooper has told me that the back packs were slapped together since George did not want just dirty Stormtroopers, he wanted them to be a bit different. None of them are 100% the same. He said the costumes were junk and kept falling apart, he said the armor we have today is so much better. Anyways I degress, I am rambling on when I should not. Again thanks for all the help on the straps. I will work on this. Thank you.

Ok. They are elastic, not canvas. That means everyone I know who has the canvas straps are wrong. To me it does not matter either elastic or canvas just as long as they are not plastic. The only reason I am upgrading my straps is because one of my plastic straps cracked. If it did not crack I would still be using the plastic TK straps since nobody sees them under the shoulder pauldron anyways. So I will go back to my original question, how does one attach these soft goods straps? Also not to cause any problems or issues I would just like to bring up knowing how anal some people can be... that the requirements on the main page need to be updated then. It currently says - No ribbed shoulder straps. (Sandtrooper chest and back are attached from within via soft straps, and do not have the plastic ribbed straps like stormtroopers). So shouldn't this be No ribbed shoulder straps, elastic shoulder straps? I hope I can find the help I need to attach my new straps. If not I was thinking of riveting them in place where my old plastic TK straps were and then fold them over and glue them on top so you do not see the rivets.

I am upgrading my Dewback Rider outfit. My next step is canvas shoulder straps. I have the straps but how do you attach them? This is my last photo / upgrade of my outfit. It has been awhile since I have done anything to it. http://djsyczylo.net/costumes/Sandtrooper/...trooper3778.htm

I made one a few years ago. This link shows more picts and how I made it. http://djsyczylo.net/replicas/StarWars/Dew...DewbackProd.htm Now that I see the metal piece I may have to make a new prod.