lordvader74

It's nice and all (I've owned two Toyota Tacomas) but you guys think it's big??? Are you kidding me??? I drive a 2004.5 Dodge Ram 2500 Quad Cab 4x4 with a Cummins Turbo Diesel and 35" tires. Now THAT'S a big truck. It's dirty right now or I'd show you some pics. Not trying to hijack your thread TD-443. I had a buddy that owned one that looked exactly like yours. Those things will definitely move. Good looking truck too.

As for the brow rubber, as far as I know it's standard AP. I didn't build the helmet from the ground up so to speak. It's the rubber that was on it when I bought it so I can't say for sure.

Yep. It's an AP. I can't take credit for the initial build and painting. The guy I bought it from did all the details. I just re weathered and did the interior.

Thanks a lot for the positive responses guys. This is my first (and only for quite a while) armor. I'm especially proud of my bucket!

Continued: Final shot of raised brow and installed lenses. Hope you like!

OK guys. Here's the deal. I recently bought a full TD from someone here on the MEPD boards. It ended up being a soft recast of FX armor but it had a great backpack, decent T-21, and an AP helmet. The armor probably wouldn't have been my first choice since it's a recast but I'm stuck with what I'm stuck with. Truthfully, the only thing I'm waiting on is thighs from RT-mod that I'll weather to match and I should be good to go. Overall, I'm very happy and got a good deal. Oh, and he's a helluva nice guy too! He's been VERY helpful. Anyhoo, about the helmet. He had already built the helmet and did a pretty decent job but there were some things that bothered me a bit so I decided to tear it apart and build it up the way I wanted. I took the lenses out because they had hot glue on them and didn't fit the contour of the eyes very well. I decided to replace them with ones from Smitty (great product btw...check 'em out if you haven't already). I was very unhappy with the neck trim. It looked like a very ill fitting piece of hard auto door trim. I think it probably used to fit, but the guy I bought it from is like me with a good sized gourd and had to open the neck up a little just to be able to put the helmet on (it's still a chore for me but I like it that way). Also, it didn't conform very well around the vocodor. The interior of the bucket was unpainted and only had what I assume was the padding that came with the kit. He had hot glued everything into place in the helmet and there were just gobs of the mess all over the interior. While they didn't hurt anything, they just bugged me (some things bug me that way...LOL). So, I set to work "correcting" the things I could. Nothing was wrong with it per se as it was...I just wanted it personalized if you will. I took the aerators out and made them more "wonky." Then I used rubberized undercoating all through the interior (after removing all the old hot glue of course). I padded it with some T-ball batting helmet padding that I cut to fit the way I needed it to. He had two CPU fans each wired straight to a 9v with no switch and just left the wires taped in the helmet. While functional, I decided to make it more functional by adding a 3rd 9v and making it all work off a switch and hiding the wires in some wire loom. I got some of the Webers S trim for te neck and cut it so that it met in the back. Then I re-weathered it to match my taste and it looks like the sand around here at the beaches and in spots of my back yard. After I broke it back down to add the new lenses, I decided to trim a little off the front of the cap to raise the brow slightly. You can see in the initial pics that the brow was very low. The final pic is one I took yesterday after installing the lenses, raising the brow, padding it up, and installing the Webers trim. Let me know what you think, but be warned: My wife will divorce me if I spend one more minute or cent tinkering with this helmet! It is the way it's going to be! (also note that for whatever reason, the flash makes my glue dribbles...E-6000 btw...look greenish. I don't know why). On to the pics: No lenses and re-weathered and wonkied up hovis.

Nah...I've "modded" it as far as I'm going to other than the wood blocks. I like the big loop. I figure it'll be easy to hang on my belt. The kids and fans I'll be trooping for couldn't give two hoots if it is an actual Stolla Wein pouch or anything like that. They just know I'm a sandtrooper.

I applied as well.

That is a great looking suit!

Yep...I'm gonna be looking for blocks tomorrow to do that with. If I can't find any...it ain't the end of the world to me. I do want to find something to fill in the space though...sorta like a liner in some duty carry magazine pouches. Just gotta find the right size square tubing.

I recently purchased a set of pouches from www.sandtrooper.org and I really like them. They're heavy leather and of nice construction (the Imperial cog on the back is a nice touch to me). If you go to the website you can see what they looked like when they arrived at my doorstep last week. However, I got to looking at iconoclasta_88's wonderful job on his pouches and it inspired me to do the same (shiny new pouches on weathered armor would just kind of ruin the impression I think). Anyway, here are the results. Basically, I soaked them for a while in hot water the same as iconoclasta_88 recommends and worked the heck out of them last night. I got home from work today and they were still a little damp but they had taken on a slightly different sheen. I then took them outside and kicked them all around the blacktop and scuffed 'em up quite a bit. Then I took the still slightly damp and scratched and scuffed leather out in the back yard and ground them down into the sand with my foot. I knocked the loose dirt off and here we have the results: I just want to say thanks to iconoclasta_88 for the great idea! I skipped his painting step though.

Sorry for the late reply but I think that looks AWESOME! I just got my pouches in from Sandtrooper.org and they look great...just too new and shiny! LOL. I think I'll give your techinque a whirl on them and see how they turn out.

Well the mailman delivered a little box from Weber's today. I'm still waiting on my new lenses from Smitty on the FISD boards so I only did a test fitting. This stuff seems to work great and looks way better than that thin hard crap that was on my AP bucket before. As soon as I get the lenses installed and my fan system working, I'll post up some pics!

Well. As I stated above yesterday, I tried the link to the weberspump site from home and it wouldn't work. Same thing this morning. So I tried it from work again and it loaded. WTF?? Anyway, I took about 2 minutes and called the number for the place and was able to place an order for 6 ft. of the stuff (in case I cut wrong). Anyway, for whatever reason this weberspump site will not load from my home PC but will from work. Hopefully it's working for you guys if you still need some trim for your lids.

Oh you have GOT to be kidding me! I had a little downtime at work today and was digging through the older threads and stumbled across this one. I've been trying and trying to get some of this neck trim and was so happy when I found this thread. The link to the weberspump.com site was up and it opened fine at work. I came home expecting to order what I need and the site won't open except to an aircraft magazine site? It went down from the time it took me to get home from work???? AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH! I had even PM'd troopermaster over on FISD yesterday to see if he had any he'd be willing to ship to the US but no luck there either. I guess it isn't meant for me to have a nice neck trim! LOL...just my luck. Anybody got any of this stuff they're willing to part with?

Thanks pappy! I hold the can away so that it barely gets a dust on the parts. That way I can control how much paint goes where. I tried not to get very much on the other painted parts. I only let the paint sit about 2 minutes. I start with the camo black and don't use very much, then move to the earth brown and use a little more. Finally, I go to the camo khaki and use more than the other two colors. The acetone just takes off the bulk of the paint leaving behind a grainy texture. I handed the helmet to my buddy yesterday and he tried to dust it off! LOL

Here's my AP bucket (sans lenses since I'm waiting on new ones from Smitty over at the FISD). I weathered it yesterday with only rattlecan spraypaint. I used camo black, camo earth brown, and camo kakhi. After they were sprayed, I wiped it down with acetone. In person, the color is identical to the sand here on the beaches and around town. I'm thinking of hitting it with a little real sand as well. I picked up a bag at Michael's that matches perfectly. If I do, I'll use the old hairspray trick and try and keep it in the nooks and crannies. Pics of the armor will soon follow.

Hey! It looks like we have the same kind of boots! How exactly did you go about weathering them? It looks pretty good to me and I need to follow suit!

I think your weathering job looks great! Where are you located? I'm in Central Coast Cali but will be part of the Southern California Garrison. I'm in Lompoc.

Awesome work Rolf! I really like it! (I'm a comic collector first, so I appreciate your work a LOT!)

LOL! I want to do a Vader sooooo badly. He's been my hero since I was 3 years old and I first saw ANH. I'm too short though. Prowse was about 6'6 and I sound NOTHING like James Earl Jones!! Plus, from what I can tell, Vader costumes are SUPER expensive. At least if you want to do it right. Maybe later on. My wife is starting to get on board with this Star Wars costuming thing...so who knows?

Oh ok! Now THAT makes more sense! lol I thought you meant that TE armor and FX armor cost the same! lol I really appreciate your help btw.

It was my understanding that the TE cost a good deal more than the FX and was considerably smaller and more delicate. Is this not the case after all?

Hello there. This is my first post on this or any other costuming forum. I have been wanting to get a suit of armor for quite a few years but never was able to. Now I have the blessings of the boss (read wife) to go ahead toward the end of the year and go for it. I'm not too worried about assembling a set of armor b/c I used to build scale models and have a good feel for working with plastics and a good eye for detail. My dilemma is this: I'm not a small man. I'm 6'2 - 6'3 ish and fluctuate between 215 and 230 lbs depending on how much junk I eat. I've been reading different websites about trooper armor for years trying to research my purchase and from what I have been able to tell, FX armor is probably my best bet as far as fitment is concerned. I'm not too concerned with just dead-on screen accuracy. I'm more concerned with fit, wearability, and durability. However, that being said, even an eye as untrained as mine can tell that the FX helmet is wrong. Especially from the side. It looks too square or something. For someone like me, who won't be trooping that much (occasional hospital trip for kids, costume parties, etc.) would you guys suggest going ahead with the FX armor and later on down the road upgrading the helmet to a slightly more asthetically pleasing model? I live in rural AR now but I'm pretty close to Memphis, TN (about 40 miles). There are children's hospitals there and I know that one of the 501st garrisons is BOUND to go there for the kids from time to time. I'd really love to get in on that kind of action. For someone like me, does this sound like a sound course of action? I defer to your expert judgements.