mr paul

Here is a quick pass over the left arm using the same techniques I recently applied to the hand guards. It certainly has a more loose and patchy appearance to it. No fussing with the weathering at all.

Lewis White over on the Mudtrooper page was commenting on the colours they use on the Mudtrooper costumes and he said one of the "go to" colours the props team use a lot of across the SW films is pebble white. I am going to go out on a limb here and say it is likely that was used for the bands on the left shoulder bells of the Shoretrooper. Why not.

The next step for these (pardon the pun) will be the belt sander and breaking them down, trying to match the look of the screen used greaves.

W.I.P

The new chest plate up for review.... ....and screen accurate back box insert.

I have not secured the vertical can tab in place yet or added the belt box. But you get the idea. This is the wider spine plate of the two. The boxes have been removed for painting so while they are absent I am breaking down the webbing. Give it a little head start before the boxes are screwed back on for more weathering. Anyone with a love for Shoretroopers and any sense needs to be on this like yesterday. I have the new set of STL files from Nico Henderson in my possession and already printing. Immediately it is measuring up to the Anovos perfectly. I am very excited to see this come together and have another opportunity to paint an accurate ST helmet. I have been waiting a long while to get my hands on this kit. There are only 2 helmets that I would want and they are the ANOVOS and this. I have them both and I am very fortunate. Goals. Thank you Nico for putting in the work and making this happen. These are available from Nico Henderson now if you want one.

The point of this image is to show the shapes of the profile and in particular the the spine plate and the shape of the armoured skirt. The dynamism of the shapes/lines and how they work with one another flowing down from the shoulder to the forward sloping skirt. Not clunky at all. That is is important for the right look .

Practising some weathering today. Believe it or not it took some trial and error to get to this stage. I tried various methods and techniques on spare parts before settling for this application on the hand guards. The way the muck is applied is very particular and I have been discussing this in depth with a friend for a few days as I can get this right only once. Mottled, blotchy and loose. No fussing and matching the style of marks seen on the screen used. I am a bit more confident now at attacking the larger components.

Meanwhile...

Here is a quick how to on painting the shoulder bell stripes. It is covering old ground but as I have a more accurate shoulder bell that I am about to paint I thought it would be beneficial to share. The measurements I am using here are relevant to the size and shape of the shoulder bell I have. This may be something to bear in mind if you are painting a shoulder bell from another kit.

All the armour is painted dark brown first. The 2 bars down the front and sides have been painted black directly over the beige. The "rippling" you can see is masking fluid. This is in key areas where I want a significant amount of simulated paint flaking. The base of the torso suffered greatly from filming and excessive wear can be seen across a number of the displayed armours. This type of weathering was not intentional for screen but I am looking to recreate a post filming displayed costume with the same type of marks and damage. When the masking fluid is completely removed it will reveal larger areas of the glossy dark brown base coat to mimic the cast resin of the screen used costumes. This will be done last. The next stage for these painted pieces will be a belt sander.

I have started painting the armour whilst the remaining parts are being finalised and signed off.

Just because.....

The Shoretrooper belt is made from 2x 38mm Coyote Brown nylon webbing straps sewn together to make a belt 76mm wide.

Sir Ian Reach (ireachy) paid me a visit yesterday evening and whilst he was here we checked out the shins. It was great opportunity to see them on another person and gauge how they looked and whether they are doing their job and ticking the boxes. We were over the moon with them. The shape, size, fit were just what I have been wanting from them since day one. Stocky, sharp and contouring just like the screen used whilst having all the right details in the right places. Our 3D artist has done an amazing job on these and it is an absolute dream come true. The shins have always bugged me and they are very difficult to get right. Obviously Sir Ian was wearing his own combats and not the Imperial issue tropical beach wear. I also still need to add the remaining straps and fasteners to complete the detailing on outside the shins. Aside from that they are just awesome.

The skirt should be plastidipped in order for it to take the paint. If applied right when painted the surface will crack as seen here. I believe this is the right way to paint the skirts. The ammo pouch was attached to skirt on the screen used costumes. I bought this up on my FB page a quite a while ago with pictures to illustrate my point. Glimpses of the engineering can be seen on the SWCE displays and again in the Walmart commercial. I have gone the extra mile and included this on my own set of faulds. The pouch will come off as it is held on with a HD snap fastener but like the screen used it was an unreliable fastening and not fit for purpose. I have added it for the sake of accuracy rather than function all though it is useful for keeping the pouch together with the skirt when not being worn.

My finished faulds with mag pouch, cartridges and oiler. Very pleased with these and very pleased with the paint app and breakdown. They will get more buggered with use and that will only add to them.

Close up of my new faulds. As I am aiming for a post production, heavily used style it has repaired areas where the beige has been used to touch up damage. This can be seen repeatedly on the displayed Shoretrooper costumes. Ageing sprays are then applied over the top to blend in the repairs. Dirty Down ageing sprays have been used to weather the skirt plus black emulsion paint. Nothing else. If applied correctly and using the right colours the correct type of weathering can be achieved for a look that's very close, if not the same as the screen used.

The example on the right shows a particularly heavily used and weathered set of cartridges attached/glued to the skirt armour. I have held back a little on mine (on the left as if you need that pointing out) as that will come with use through wearing the armour. All the same mine will be quite heavily weathered from the off as I am aiming for that post production, worn and torn appearance. I may add my cartridges look to be sitting higher up the skirt than the ones on the right and although camera angles etc are playing their usual tricks, it may be the case mine are indeed a little higher than the ones featured here. There appears to be some variation across the different costumes and I have positioned mined in accordance with another grunt I have seen on display.

Some parts of the armour are made from metal and much very need to be due to their purpose. Having these made for me at the moment. Not my machinery. Wish it was.

We are looking into the chest piece and it is currently under revision. I will start getting some some paint on this soon now I am happier with the weathering techniques.

Working on a tester piece before I commit to the final paint app. Previously I have never managed to achieve the right appearance when it came to the weathering and that is because I knew I was not using the right method or products however I did have a hunch as to what was used on the screen used armour. I think I am pretty much there now albeit one more ingredient is making it's way to me in the post. The key will be applying it in the same spirit of factory line fast and not getting bogged down and too fussy with it. The shin and forearm images are taken from the displayed armour at SWCE 2016.