crashmann

Wow, beautiful work Mike! I love the story behind the cistern too, that makes it even more authentic One question though - Are you going to use the pink umbrella with the new pack? Charlie

Sure, for One Million Dollars, muwha-ha-ha-ha! I now understand why Mike refuses to do backpack buildups - it is a huge project, almost as big as assembling stormtrooper armor! To push this out the door, I had to work on it for two weeks straight - in the evenings when I got home from work, and all weekend. My family is very grateful the backpack has moved out of the house, and they can see Daddy again To the folks that have completed one of these kits (or five) I salute you! If I were to build another backpack, the labor fee would be very high Charlie

Merry Christmas to all my Sandy Brothers!

Oh yes, your recommendations for the mounting points on the cistern worked perfectly. I chose to do mount the screw through the hamburger stackers and nipple the hard way (you'll have to wait for the video to see the sordid details), but it required a right angle screwdriver going through a small hole in the bottom of the stacker. For the upper screw going into the curvy pipe, I used JB Weld to epoxy a hex nut on the side of the pipe. You could shake the whole thing and only notice some slight flexing. I do NOT recommend shaking it too vigorously unless you are prepared to re-mount it! I wish I had time to take detailed pictures of the process, but then I never would have finished (you know how slow I am to process pictures ) I did video the entire buildup - 20 hours worth of DVD's Now to boil it down to a 10 minute YouTube video... Yeah right, I'll never get around to making that happen! Charlie

You're very welcome! That is actually the first backpack I have ever built! It went together well, but it is definitely a challenging project. Lots of ingenuity required I hope you enjoy your new pack! Charlie

Wow, excellent pictures! Your location reminds me of some other George Lucas movie - THX1138 Be careful, or you might end up on an action figure card Charlie

Interesting... It looks like KauPo is Smooth-On's German site. I have read through the technical details of the Task urethane resin and it does have higher compressive strength than Smooth Cast 320. However, it requires much more work to get the best results: Pressure cast at 60 PSI for 15 minutes - The mold will get very hot and release very strong fumes - Casting can only be a maximum of 1/2" thick Post cure in an oven for 150° for 4 hours So there's a lot more labor involved with this resin in addition to the higher cost of the material. I might get a trial size container to see how it performs, but if I were to offer it for sale, it would probably be twice as expensive. I think the Smooth Cast 320 would be plenty rugged, especially when glued to a flat piece of .080 ABS. As long as you're not playing "bumper backpacks" (like bumper cars at the carnival), then I don't think folks will have problems with the faceplate breaking. Anyone have trooping experience where the radio was beaten to the point where a resin version would not have survived? Charlie

I think we can still keep the knobs solid. I'm going to see about having a bolt cast in the resin to make it easier to mount to the faceplate. You would just drill a hole for the screw to pass through the faceplate and into the knob. The faceplate will be cast with a 1/4" base. You will then glue this onto a flat piece of HIPS, which will then be glued together with a HIPS box. Hopefully the HIPS baseplate will add strength to the resin part so it won't break very easily. Overall, like Todd said, the total weight should be a little over a pound. Just a few ounces heavier than the existing vac formed radio. We're not sure of the pricing, as it will depend on how much resin is required to cast the faceplate and knobs. As soon as we figure it out, we'll let you know! Charlie

Hi Gang! We're hosting an armor party for the Old Line Garrison, today, Sunday November 15th, and you are all invited to come and visit via the Inter-web-net! http://tk386.com/webcam So, if you're bored with your football game, come take a peek to see us melting plastic, eating food, and debating all kinds of Star Wars stuff! Charlie

Wow, that's great! I had no idea there's a whole series about the "Anatomy of a Dewback" let alone tons of other videos. Maybe I should check out StarWars.com a little more. They seem to have added a bunch more stuff compared to 15 years ago Charlie

Wow, your backpack looks great, and the tutorial has lots of detailed instructions. Great work, and thanks for sharing! Charlie

Congratulations on the new baby! He is very handsome, and shares the same birthday as me! Charlie

Yes, my first reaction was similar to Little Red Riding Hood "My, what large buttons you have!" Just a little smaller would do the trick So, what's this magic E6000 dissolving liquid that you've found, hmm? Charlie

I've figured out how to trim the seed trays and get them to stay in position! The trays are shipped with a 1/4" lip all the way around the edge. If you try to butt the trays together with this lip, they'll never line up, nor will they stay in position. If you cut down the lip on both trays so they are completely flat, then the trays will slide apart, as evidenced by the "move along" backpack: So (although technically not exactly screen accurate), trim the lip on one tray: Now fit the flat edge of the tray inside the lip of the other: No matter how much you twist, flex, or try to slide the trays apart, they're not going to move. Tada! You'll still need to clean up the edge of tray with the lip, perhaps by taking it down to 1/8" tall. Then you need to figure out how you want to keep them closed - magnets, rivets, zip ties, glue, really long screws, hinges, the force, etc... Enjoy! Charlie

There's a sticky topic right above titled "Color Blue for backpack parts" http://forum.mepd.net/index.php?showtopic=4987 I really like the Rustoleum Satin "Lake Blue" 241252 found at Home Depot, and I posted a few pictures of painted parts. I'd swear that someone at Rustoelum is a Sandtrooper, because the color looks spot on for the movie! It looks a little more gray than the photos show. It's really a nice blend of blue and gray. Does anyone have pictures of Humbrol 47 painted parts? Charlie

There's that action shot! Looks great! Charie

Wow, that's beautiful! Great work on the weathering, you've got it in the nooks and crannies like it's supposed to be Excellent work on the backpack assembly! I see you used rivets to hold together the seed trays. Do you have any tips for other folks building packs? Charlie

Check out Mike's Sandtrooper Backpack photo gallery: http://gallery.mac.com/mikeharrison#100129...k&view=grid You'll see the frame modifications about halfway down. Keep the top horizontal bar, but chop off the vertical pieces above the bar. At the bottom of the frame, cut an inch or two off the two bars that stick out, away from your butt. Then use wooden dowels inside the frame and glue them back together. You're on the right track - to mount the seed trays, use horizontal strips of plastic. Or go to the hardware store and buy some 1/2" wide aluminum strips. Charlie

Ooh, pretty picture! One of the challenges we had working with thin walled aluminum tube was that it would kink when trying to form a tight radius. Since you've got a real production shop, it would be no problem for them I believe the tubes are 1/2" diameter. The radius of the bends in your drawing look good to me. I chose 22.5° for the angle in the middle since that is half of 45° Here's some pictures of the CPVC frame I just glued together: When assembled, it is 12 3/4" wide and 18 3/4" tall I've seen conflicting information regarding the top of the frame. There are some screen grabs that show two vertical bars going a couple of inches above the top of the seed trays. Others show a rounded corner leading to the horizontal bar. I have no official information about the rest of the structure, since it was obscured by the seed trays. Good luck with the project, and I hope you heal up real soon! (I hear barley and hops helps bones heal good ) Charlie

Go to the hardware store and find a large plastic "for sale" sign. Cut it into long strips, and test fit using tape on the inside seam of your thighs. Make sure your paint will stick to the plastic before you glue it in! If it's the wrong kind of plastic, look for a sign making company in your area. Sometimes they have scrap bins that you dig through for free You are looking for HIPS - high impact polystyrene. Good luck! Charlie

Ahh, I knew it was out there somewhere! Brak's Buddy created an awesome detailed comparison of each backpack, followed by tons of discussion. Here's his web page comparison: http://www.looksirdroids.com/backpacks.html And the discussion: http://forum.mepd.net/index.php?showtopic=4887 Charlie

It depends on which backpack you are looking at since there are at least 4 variants (or is it 5?) Scootch's tutorial details the buildup of the move along trooper backpack: The pack you posted has the large rectangular air filter on the left, and the tool box on the right (it's also missing the mushroom cap on the top bottle, and the bottle on the bottom of the cistern) Then there's the white dial backpack featuring the large cylindrical air filter on the left and Tupperware Stow-n-Go container on the top right: Don't forget the hoser backpack with upside down radio, even though it doesn't look like the standard issue Sonix Victory 75 And finally, the backpack with ribs on the upper left corner You can see the many different variations by stepping through the alley search scene frame by frame. You'll also learn that the backpacks were falling apart and needed gaffers tape and wire to hold the pieces together. Some parts are just missing, such as the top mortar tube end cap. So, pick a backpack that you want to build, or come up with an idealized custom version, and make it your own! Charlie

Awesome! You even got the Wilhelm scream in there! :duim: Charlie

Wow, beautiful armor and great weathering! If you have the chance, do some action shots like charging into battle, aiming and firing the big gun, having the gun pointed toward the camera - not straight toward the camera, because then you can't see it, but if you've got a wide angle lens, put the gun tip in one corner of the frame, then look up the barrel toward your helmet Yes, I know that's not a Sandtrooper, but it is TC-1536, our detachment leader! Charlie

No, the shells are not used on all of the packs. The packs with air filters do not have them on the side. Here's the round air filter pack with the Stow-n-Go container Rectangle air filter pack It's actually missing a lot of parts! Enjoy! Charlie