Havoc6538

No worries Rolf, but when all is said and done, I'd still be buying a full TM suit, albeit bit by bit, and I still can't afford that. I'll do my best to mod what I have. I like a challenge.

Thanks for the kudos Vince. You've given me the spark I needed. Ok. Let's do this... Other than putting a return edge on the chest armour, and making the arms have cover strips instead of overlaps, what else do I need to do to get this to SWAT level?

9! Come on, go for the ten!

5

In the same vein, the Imperial Officer at the beginning of ANH that says "Hold your fire, there are no life forms" when R2 and 3P0 eject from the Tantive IV, is directly responsible for the destruction of the Empire. If he'd said "Shoot it anyway", the droids never would have found Luke and Ben. Luke and Ben never would have left Tatooine and met Han and Leia, the Death Star plans would have been destroyed and the Battle of Yavin never would have happened. Princess Leia would have been executed, Vader would have concentrated on the Empire instead of geting side-tracked with Luke and Luke never would have become a Jedi to challenge the Emperor and give Vader his chance at redemption.

Looking good, Captain.

While I understand SWAT is all about accuracy, if it's right that FX armour will not be considered, it needs to be posted somewhere and made clear. All that's mentioned in the CRL is the helmet, as Ruggero said. I've spent a considerable amount of time researching and weathering the armour to get it up to SWAT standard. Time I might not have wasted had I known there was no chance of deployment before I even started. Unfortunately, there's no chance of that happening without some major, sudden and unexpected change to my financial circumstances. If I could afford a full set of TM, I would have bought it in the first place. So I guess this project is on hold indefinitely, unless the command staff say otherwise.

Two. Two sandtroopers, ah ha ha ha.

No worries Felix. I'm glad it's 4, saved me some work there. Ok, quick update: The crotch snap unpainted (I'd painted it white before) The pack dirtied up a little more: And the ears shifted back (as far as I could comfortably go) and the brow lowered. TBH, I don't think I've gained a whole lot from moving the ears, but at least I know I got it as right as I could. Just need to redo the dirt I had to remove (as there was a "negative" of where the ear had been). Next job will be the ab rivet, as soon as I've decided what I'm going to use for it.

Yeah, but now I've noticed it... I really am my own worst enemy!

1

Actually, I'm still thinking about it, but on the reference pics, look how far behind the brow trim the ear screws are compared to my lid. That said, my ears look to be almost the right distance from the teardrops, so I'm torn whether to do it or not.

Thanks Marcus. I've dirtied up my pack a little more, but am now working on the helmet. I need to lower the brow trim and maybe shift the ears back a little.

What's a stilo battery?

I understand. Maybe next time. I'll see what my GML says.

Mainly as it directly affects my current modifications for SWAT: what about allowing white ears? After all, there are 4 troopers seen on screen without the grey paint and the rank bars on the ears - Docking bay sgt v1, Roadblock captain v2, Alley check sgt v1 and Cantina sgt. I've PMed my GML, awaiting a response, but I'd be gutted to find I wasn't allowed to wear it to events as it does not meet the CRL.

What's the diameter of the rivet, Marcus?

4

Yeah. Interestingly, that guy has the helmet with the white ears in his hand. I can't see that rivet on my copy of that pic, but I can just about on yours. The desert captain also has this, but I can't see it on some of the others on any of the reference pics I have, but this may just be down to exposure, lighting etc. Can one of the staff chip in about this? Is the rivet on the ab plate a requirement for this trooper?

Right, I've redone the helmet. Turns out enamel paint isn't as hard to remove as I thought. Methylated spirit (aka denatured alcohol) takes it off. Requires a bit of rubbing, but doesn't harm the ABS. Anyway here it is now: And some comparison pics: Thanks for posting those pics Ruggero. Yeah, totally reinforces Purplehaze's notion that it's the same lid. There are some quite distinctive marks around the grey areas on the left side of that lid, and it matches the alley check sergeant exactly, and the right side of the alley check helmet matches the docking bay sergeant exactly, plus the fact that they all have the white ears, so I'm quite confident in saying that they all use the same helmet.

Ok, a few more reference pics for the white ears: Looking at this now, it's obvious there's no paint on the ears, but like I said, I'd always assumed it was something to do with the lighting. Again, comparing the sgt's ear here with the other 2 troopers, it confirms no paint. And again: Here's the same lid elsewhere: I love this stuff!

Okay, here is alley check sgt vs docking bay sgt. I'm now convinced it's the same lid, comparing the weathering below the right teardrop and above the right ear. I can now clearly see they both have no paint on the ears at all. In the top right reference pic, I'd always assumed this was a trick of the light, but it's not. Purplehaze is correct. This would also make it the same lid as Roadblock Captain v2, the one with the DLT-19 - also with the white ears. So a repaint (or removal of paint) is definitely on the cards for tomorrow morning along with weathering the left side of the helmet to match the alley check sgt.

Took pics with both in, just in case. I'm not certain the ears are right. I can't find any reference pics showing them in any detail, although Purplehaze has suggested that at least the right ear should be white. On this note, I've always had a feeling that the alley check sergeant has the same lid due to the weathering pattern, and checking my reference pics just now , that trooper DOES have both ears white, i.e. no grey rectangle, no rank bars. Never noticed this before. Interesting. I may need a repaint in the morning. Well, that's great as it gives me more reference pics of the left hand side of the helmet. Bear with me, I'll get some comparison pics up. Also confirming the cheek stripes are hand painted the correct Humbrol 14, French Blue. Again, no good quality reference pics of the tube stripes that I know of, but using the black and white production photo (just before they go into the docking bay), I count 12 stripes.

Will get to work on the pack ASAP. When you say "rank bars" do you mean the tube stripes or the "ears"?

Some interesting points here. I've already made one change based on a PM I received, the rivet on the cod is now metal again. In the pics above I've painted it white. With regards to the armour, yes, the legs are TM, the rest is FX, apart from the VT helmet. The overlap of the FX armour parts is something I can do nothing about, short of completely replacing them. If I cut away the overlap section, then I'll also be losing the part underneath that it's glued to (and it's glued too well to prise apart) - I'd be losing too much width for it to still fit me. There is at least one SWAT officer cleared in the last year with the same style of construction on the arm parts, so I'm hoping this won't be a problem. One question: I know the "Move Along" trooper has a rivet on the rectangle of the ab plate. Is that specific to that particular trooper, or do other sandtroopers have this too? There are no pics of this part of Docking Bay94 Sgt V1's armour, so I'm unsure. I'm also looking into the right ear possibly being white, and would welcome any info or pointers on this.