Hausi

There are some troopers in the movie that aren't wearing a pack, so if you decide to emulate one of these for SWAT, you won't need a pack. But to be able to apply for SWAT, you will have to have successfully applied for PO first and for PO, you have to have a pack.

Correct, that's the way to go.

Hello Dave and welcome to the MEPD, it's just as Bigwam says. You will find the requirements for PO here, so you can build your armor to meet them from the very beginning : SWAT on the other hand is a completely different game. As there are troopers seen on screen with broken or even missing parts, you will have to emulate your chosen troopers characteristic features. Now for PO, the armor is supposed to look right, no broken or missing parts. So you will probably have to change a few thing after PO when running for SWAT. You can of course already try to get the characteristic weathering right from the start. Hope this helps.

I have also ordered Paul's strapping kit and after some years of trooping, it still works great. Attach those snaps using E6000, it holds very well but can be undone if there was a mistake or in case you have to realign things.

Hi mate, there were actually quite a few sandtroopers with a low brow as you can find in the above thread and picture. Furthermore it is quite likely that the brow has moved during filming, looking sligthly different in each shot as the helmets were bashed around. In the Cantina scene, there's even one sandtrooper outside the cantina, next to the shipwreck who has lost his brow.

Nice work! That PVC frame is amazing,looks like the real deal. By the way, if everything else looks right too, this frame would be good for SWAT, just as the aluminium bars are, most people use them and as long as it's not really visible, it's fine. I have some on my SWAT pack#3 too. Just one minor detail, the curved support bar at the top isn't welded but only screwed into place on the original Karrimor frames.

Congrats Simon, good job!

Welcome to the sandpit Matze, you look great in your armor.

Hello Björn and welcome to the sandpit, great to have you here mate! You're off to a good start with all the research you have already done on the pack and kudos for going for SWAT, that's what I call enthusiasm. I really think Trevor's radio looks great and is the right way to go. As far as the box is concerned, it's difficult to say. In some shots it looks like a Brexton box, then again from a different angle, the edges seem rather sharp and not as rounded as on the Brextons. It seems to have some kind of lid as there's a visible lip where it's attached to the tray. Maybe someone else can shed more light on this. Looking forward to seeing your progress on #2. Cheers mate.

Hi mate, I use the RWA Seedtrays but never measured them. Mortartube length varies from pack to pack, originally it was some rainwater pipe available in the UK, you find most of the original parts used as well as some measurements in this very informative thread : For the different backpack types, have a look at this: https://tk386.com/backpacks/ Have fun researching mate!

Hello Daniel and welcome. Writing such a list would take quite some time and I personally have gathered all the necessary tools over time, bit by bit, my collection grew larger with every project. I think getting everything at once is rather impossible. Always go for well-known brand, I've made the experience that the proverb is true: buy cheap, buy twice. Watching Ross Walmsley's YouTube armor building tutorials is a good idea too as he always explains which tools you will need for the job. Just take it slow and enjoy the ride, finally you will end up with a large collection of tools and useful gadgets.

Amazing work Bryan, thumbs up and thanks for sharing.

Hi Mario and welcome to the sand pit. You're definitely right here, so take your time to browse through all the interesting threads here and always feel free to ask questions. As far as helmet, armor assembly and strapping are concerned, check out Ross Walmsley's YouTube tutorials, they are truly useful. Have fun building, I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

Hi Chester, I can completely understand when people alter their armor for added comfort and as long as it isn´t visible too much, everything´s fine. Kudos to you for running a marathon in your armor, that´s a serious challenge. Thank you for making the changes so quickly, good job. So let´s start with the second review: Application Review: Part 2 Name: Chester Peterson Legion ID: TD-30055 Forum Name: Zahnism Garrison: Danish Garrison Helmet a. Green lenses: check b. Paint color of traps / tears: check c. Correct number of teeth: check d. Mic tips: check e. Vocoder color: check f. Tube stripes: check g. Rank bar on ears: check h. Brow: check i. Side screws (ears): check j. Weathering: check *additional comments* RESULT ON HELMET Checked & Cleared Armor details a. elastic straps shoulders: check b. neck seal: check c. black undersuit: check d. shoulder bells: check e. biceps: check f. forearms: check g. pauldron: check h. chest / back plate: check i. kidney / butt plate: check j. ab plate / side rivets / cod: check k. strapping system: check l. thighs: check m. shins / calves: check n. sniper plate: check o. boots: check p. gloves: check q. hand plates / guards: check r. ammo belt (waist): check s. ammo belt (right knee): check t. canvas belt: check u. pouches: check v. weathering: check *additional comments* nice work with all those improvements, well done. RESULT ON ARMOR Checked & Cleared Backpack a. details: check b. weathering: check *additional comments* RESULT ON BACKPACK Checked & Cleared Weapon a. details: check b. weathering: check *additional comments* RESULT ON WEAPONS Checked & Cleared Chester, this was your second and final review! I always really appreciate when people are motivated, enthusiastic and keen on joining the deployed troops out there in the dune sea. It was a pleasure working with you. Your gear looks great and you are a worthy addition to the ranks of the MEPD´s finest. Be proud of yourself! You have successfully followed the guidelines in regards to the MEPD CRL and have met all requirements. Please send the pic you want to use to Luis (Sandman Tigui) and we'll get you squared away. We will have your updated information uploaded into the MEPD system very soon. Congratulations on becoming a Deployed Officer of the MEPD! Cheers mate and merry Christmas! Hausi - MEPD Deployment Officer

I can't say anything about IB's quality, have only heard good things about them but actually, having white boots is wrong. The boots used in the movie were black leather chelsea / jodhpur boots painted white and paint chips make it even more accurate. Buying such boots on amazon and spraypainting them yourself with specific white spraypaint for leather (trg super color) will probably also be cheaper in the end.

Hey Kainan, this is amazing, I'm really happy for you. Having your armor displayed that way rules!

Spraypainting sand color isn't a good idea, I've seen it done before and it didn't look right at all. Brushing on a black wash first followed by a sand colored wash and dabbing most of it off again with paper towels is the way to go to achieve the most screenaccurate finish. I also use fine grit sandpaper to roughen up the edges a bit and then rub over it with some wet or dry black and white newspaper pages.

Hi, may I ask why you want to paint your armor? The original screen-used armor wasn't painted, only the olive green HDPE stunt helmets were painted white. RS armor isn't painted, they offer their armor either in ABS or PVC.

Thank you Jason.

Hey Chester, welcome again! Thank you for providing the requested pictures so quickly and already improving some details. Now it´s time to start your real review, so let´s go: Application Review: Part 1 Name: Chester Petersen Legion ID: TD-30055 Forum Name: Zahnism Garrison: Danish Garrison Helmet a. Green lenses: check b. Paint color of traps / tears: check c. Correct number of teeth: check d. Mic tips: check e. Vocoder color: check f. Tube stripes: check g. Rank bar on ears: check h. Brow: check i. Side screws (ears): check j. Weathering: check *additional comments* Nice job on the helmet, you really nailed the sandy look. RESULT ON HELMET Checked & Cleared Armor details a. elastic straps shoulders: check b. neck seal: check c. black undersuit: check d. shoulder bells: check e. biceps: check f. forearms: check g. pauldron: check h. chest / back plate: see comments i. kidney / butt plate: check j. ab plate / side rivets / cod: see comments k. strapping system: see comments l. thighs: check m. shins / calves: check n. sniper plate: check o. boots: check p. gloves: check q. hand plates / guards: check r. ammo belt (waist): check s. ammo belt (right knee): see comments t. canvas belt: check u. pouches: see comments v. weathering: check *additional comments* I think that the gap between your biceps and forearms is a little big as the forearms seem to be rather short but I´m going to let this pass Chester, this isn´t anything which is going to hinder your deployment but I personally think that your forearm armor is too large, I´m pretty sure you could decrease the circumference, so your hand barely fits through the front opening. 1: The screws emulating the original screen-used strapping in the bottom returnedge of your chest aren´t evenly spaced. Have a look at the picture you can see that you can actually get away with relocating that one screw only, then fill up the hole with some ABS paste which is easy enough the fabricate: I hope you still have some ABS leftovers from trimming your armor, cut them into very small pieces and drown them in actone. 2: As you can see in the following picture, the rivet in the codpiece is missing, so please add it. Your codpiece also is shaped quite strangely but that is okay. 3: The rivet connecting the knee ammo belt to the thigh has to be relocated too (see the correct position highlighted with the red circle in the picture), so you can take some of that ABS brew to close the old hole too. 4: As I was already assuming, your shoulder pouch is made of leather. This would be okay for a deathtrooper but not for a sandtrooper. This style of pouches seen on screen was made of canvas (as shown in the left picture above). It is possible to use a different style of leather pouch for the shoulder too, please have a look at the CRLs to find out which one is acceptable. http://forum.mepd.net/index.php?/topic/16077-attention-new-po-crl%C2%B4s-for-td-valid-from-1172019/ RESULT ON ARMOR pending Backpack a. details: check b. weathering: check *additional comments* RESULT ON BACKPACK Checked & Cleared Weapon a. details: check b. weathering: check *additional comments* Your E-11 looks great, however, I always encourage people to take the next step and go full “Bapty” , I´m sure you know what I´m talking about. RESULT ON WEAPONS Checked & Cleared Chester, this was your first review! Keep up the good work, you are very close to deployment and I think those changes are manageable. I´m looking forward to seeing some new pics of your improved gear soon. Cheers mate Hausi - MEPD Deployment Officer

Hello Chester, welcome and thank you for your interest in joining the Empire´s deployed elite forces. Your application looks great, your gear suits you well and I dig your weathering, mate, well done. Just curious: is that Ross´s armor and an RS pack? Either Bigwam or myself will be taking care of your review but before we can begin, we will need to see some more pics: -a pic of the six rivets connecting kidney and ab section (I can see that they are there but I have to see a detail picture) -a pic of the back of the male snap at the top corner of the abdomen. - a pic of the rivet and back of the snaps connecting cod and butt piece. - could you provide a more detailed picture of your shoulder pouch please? I´m especally intereste if it´s canvas, it somehow looks like leather to me. I can already tell you that you will have to dirty up those elastics on the shoulders but that´s an easy job. So I am looking forward to seeing those pics added and to starting your review.

Yeah mate, Dampfnudeln are delicious. However I also don't snack very often first of all because Reese's aren't as easily available here in Germany and secondly because I still want to look good in armor. I first thought that they just tried to match the look of that ANH thing visible in the middle of the gun which most people thought was some sort of sight (it was obviously some sort of twisted phone cable).

I´ve messed around with some reference pics too, trying to improve the lighting and details:

Hey mate, I´ll be starting my pack#1 build soon and am doing research right now, studying pictures and getting a headache I see most people using hovi mictips for the little sheet of plastic above the filter but I don´t think that there aren´t any... I rather think that the left side is rather cut off quite skewly, and the edge of the seedtray itself might create the illusion of a mictip being present. Same on the right side where I think it´s possible that it only is the shadow of the sanding disc on top of the bottle. What do you and everyone else think?

Thank you Roger Weathering done... and here it is. with this indoor shot taken yesterday evening, the wash with Vallejo earts is still missing as I applied it today but because of the lighting, the details are clearer to see: Today I took some outdoor shots in the morning, trying to recreate the lighting of the movie with the sun/light coming from the left side: here´s the original helmet in the movie: I finally added the lense foil and took some more pics from all sides: I can already say that I´m not completely happy with the flame detail on the forehead as it is slighly too small and a little too far left. I´m going to improve this on my next helmet. Cheers mates.