mr paul

May be it was something you said then. It was posted on that other FB page but i'm not on that anymore. Interesting that he says there that matt black was sprayed over the nordic blue as well. Best not forget that over the blue as well Bikerscout007

From my recollection you only asked him about the blue and when pushed further he could not comment on the rest of the weathering techniques as he did not know what "magic" they used. Something to that effect? Maybe repost on here what his actual words were in this thread. That could be useful as I find it equally interesting that he could not confirm how the rest of the armour was weathered. He only seemed knowledgeable about bicep and the blue areas from what I remember. Dirty Down is not applied like paint. If used correctly you will achieve similar effects to what is seen on the screen used armours. It is supposed to change the colour it is an ageing spray. You use it conservatively. Not liberally. You dust the surfaces and build it up to the desired effect. It can be removed/knocked back as it is water based. It seems to me weird that they would mask off areas to just use the grey over the blue (however they are known for doing weird stuff) The dirty down is discharged as a spray so if it is right did they mask the edge of the blue before application or does the grey bleed over onto the beige/yellow etc? Some reference does seem to show a clean edge when transitioning from one colour to another so maybe they did mask. Once again I find it odd that the grey would not carry over onto the rest of the armour to some extent to tie the weathering together. The same applies to the confirmed Halfords matt black being sprayed over the red bicep. I think this along with the Dirty Down could be a hint as to what weathering techniques were used to weather the entire armour. There is certainly more muck on those armours that just burnt umber and the natural muck, wear and tear you would get from filming on set. As far as I know burnt umber is also unconfirmed. It is just generally the staple colour used to weather armour and props. It is easily underestimated just how filthy these armours were even before filming. Different lighting conditions as usual offer different interpretations but also show a definite overall application of something, misted/dusted/sprayed or applied heavily. I believe there is very little of the original beige left intact. I think it would be very wise not to rule it out the use of Dirty Down products over the entire armour especially as it has been confirmed the art dept were at least using it over the nordic blue and that they had these particular products in hand.

Happy Christmas Rudi. Thank you. Yes I am having a break from making stuff for other folks but need to get on with the ST project as it is quite time consuming printing and prepping so have to keep at it regardless. By "weld" I mean as you have correctly stated using an adhesive. I use Plastic Weld and it dissolves the 2 surfaces in seconds. Once they are pressed together they harden and form an unbreakable bond. The bond is generally stronger than the rest of the printed part. I have not reinforced any of the parts so far and there seems to be no need to do so. The shins, forearms and abdomen are the parts that take the most forces and flex and the parts of my new kit are so far strong enough. What maybe an issue with other kits is the thickness of the armour itself. What we have done is replicate the thickness of the screen used armour and it is quite thick in parts. This certainly is beneficial in the armour being strong enough to wear and flex. Also we have paid attention to how the separate parts slot and fix together and we have replicated the screen used where we can. This also aids in a strong and well put together kit. I have also taken care in how I have orientated the parts on the print bed and the infill used on certain parts. For example I have the striations of the print following the way a part may bend when being worn. On other parts I have chosen to print at 100% infill if the part is going to come under a lot of stress eg. the yolk and the underarm bridges. The spine plate itself I printed in 5 different segments so I could adjust the orientation and infill accordingly ie the top and bottom are printed with vertical striations and at 100% infill whilst the bulk of its main body area has horizontal print layers and 20% infill to keep the weight down. I have applied this "logic" to the entire armour hoping this will keep the armour accurate to the files themselves without any modification plus optimising the strength, durability and flexibility of the costume. So I suppose a lot of effort has gone into the thought behind it but hopefully it will be less effort when it comes to printing/building it.

It might be worth looking into this range of ageing sprays that are available stateside called Movie Paint. They look to be similar to the Dirty Down products found in the UK. The colour range looks to be quite limited however the Rottenstone colour may be a grey. Might be worth investigating further. Also it was confirmed the the Dirty Down grey was sprayed over the Nordic Blue but I would be surprised if it was limited to just that particular area. I suspect the Dirty Down grey and dark brown were used all over the armour but not to excess. A matt black was also used to dirty up the armour and once again I suspect it was used all over judging by looking at reference closely. Here is the link to Movie Paint product. Let me know how you get on with it if you proceed as I have been eyeballing it for a while now and was wondering if it is the same kind of thing as the DD. https://www.specialeffectsunlimited.com/product/movie-paint/

Abdomen with 2 front box details, spine plate and belt cover. All assembled, working and more importantly I can get it on and off. That is the best I could have hoped for at this stage. It's looking very rough at present so lots of sanding over the holidays for me. I still have to add the rings for the braces and the ammo pouch. That will come after I have prepped this section. Happy days.

The abdominal armour is complete from the printer. Currently being welded together. A little overkill with he clamps however the armour was printed in 6 parts and the tabs around the bottom edge were printed at 100% infill for strength and I want them fixed firmly in place. The rest of the ab/kidney was printed with 20% infill making it lightweight yet strong with a little flex to it. There is a lot of sanding and finishing with this large lump and it would have been more efficient to have worked on it in it's separate components but the priority here is getting it together and making sure I can get it on. The screen used armours although looked solid were very flexible and the PLA I printed this with is not.

I am having to cut the armour files in pieces so that they are able to fit within the dimensions of my printer bed. Here are the abdominal tabs. The rest of the abdomen will be sectioned in the same way and welded back together to form the entire piece.

A bunch of armoured faulds going out to customers this week. The new moulds for the new belt boxes are brilliant. Seam lines are now in a much more discreet position. Some flash on one end where the the entrance to the mould is. Aside from that, very happy casts with minimal clean up and top finish. In the new year I will be looking to cast these in the appropriate colours to match that of the costume they are assigned to. Dark brown/Shoretrooper black/Mudtrooper and white/Tanker and Ac-Act.

The insert I am referring to is the dark brown rubber cast block of greeblies that insert into the black square back box seen in the picture. The screen used greeblies were leftover parts from Bill Pearson (Red Dwarf) They arranged these found objects out flat and had silicone poured over them. Rubber was poured into the moulds to form a large sheet of greeblies that became the waist band/torso of the L1 droid seen in the background in Rogue One. If you look close at ref images you can see the same ST greeblies on the waist line of the droid. During a visit Glyn Dillon decided that parts of the sheet of greeblies should be cut out and shoved in the back boxes of the Shoretrooper thus giving us the inserts seen in the left and right rear boxes of the ST. The inserts were apparently cast quite rough and air bubbles were trapped. Other parts did not take the rubber well. The inserts will be available free for printing as will the back boxes themselves however I will be offering for sale a dark brown, rubber cast version including the casting defects for the accuracy hags amongst us.

One of the back boxes with the cast rubber insert. The insert is made in the same spirit as the screen used with the same defects ie air bubbles trapped in the finished cast.

Started to receive some full armour renders from the designer. Absolutely fantastic to see the work all together. Here is another sneak peek.

It's clear on the pics I have so I'll stick to those for now. Unless a 3rd part is inserted between the back box and the undershirt but I have certainly no evidence of that. The back boxes are completely see though via the vents. Others can follow if they wish I do not recall seeing many behind the scenes images of the ST being released by anyone aside from an image of the undershirt and the breeches. I think most of the legwork has been done by the many builders in the various groups discussing back and forth with the many reference images available and others seeking further confirmation from behind the scenes sources and once again not too many images have surfaced to back those up either. Myself and my team have been in contact with numerable sources over the last 12 months and industry insiders and I will be revealing some cool secrets about he Shoretrooper and it's internal rigging over the coming months as I assemble and continue my online build of our new Shoretrooper kit. It will not be backed up by images as that would not be appropriate but the kit will shed some light on the Shoretrooper after 2 years of not much correct information being made available. Especially regarding the less visible components and assembly. Exciting times ahead for the Shoretrooper. If the restrictions of the CRL inhibits builders from using the kit it would be a shame however that is not my concern as ultimately the project is to recreate a screen accurate Shoretrooper costume based on the evidence we have been supported with to date. And we have done just that. Over time more info will be released and that will always be welcome and the kit will be updated. There are still some areas that we have had to let slide because of not enough information but it will always be a work in progress until we know better. I will be open and honest about this as the build unfolds. Any Shoretrooper fan worth his salt is going to really dig this new kit (although it may not suit everyone due to body size and the fact it is 3d printed etc so each to their own) and I will be happy to answer any questions where I can in the assistance of the build or reasons as to why the costume crew made things in certain ways and even the issues they faced in fitting the costumes to the actors. Very interesting stuff.

Yeah unfortunately that photo is not clear enough to obtain any confirmation. I can't remember if there was a leaked picture of the the back of the undershirt so could not guarantee it is ribbed like the front. There are panels on the front of the shirt that are flat fabric so similar thing could occur on the back seeing as it is out of site? I have seen the inside of the back armour and the rear of the back boxes/vents and there is nothing there. I can't provide those images as they are not mine to share. I don't expect you to alter any CRL's based on that as you like to see evidence for yourself however I would not advise anyone to block them off.

As the vents are see through it would be screen accurate for the undershirt to be seen through the vents and that should not be considered a bad thing. Not that it would be an issue as it would be too dark to see anything anyway. It should definitely not be blocked off for such a reason. That seems more an aesthetic decision based on an assumption rather than one based on actual reference images. It may aid with airflow as well.

I have had a closer look at these armours and the Captain seen on the right in both images is the same armour used for the Hasbro shoot and seen on page 153 of the Rogue One Visual Guide. The grunt (which I personally find more interesting) I believe is a different armour to one we have seen to date.

The brown mist across the chest I believe is the dark brown Dirty Down spray that I have mentioned before. I use it on the armoured skirts I make and across the armour in general. It is not often you see it used in such excess but I believe this is the case seen in this image. Yes the shins are not too heavily damaged and all the straps are intact. With our shins they open at the back in exactly the same way as the screen used. The difference with the screen used is that they were made of a flexible rubbery material and so could expand further. Mine is printed in the more rigid PLA and will expand about 2.5 inches. Enough for my average sized calf and my size 9.5 foot to slide through. As out intention was to replicate the screen used we have imitated them precisely and have not opted to impose our own engineering on them. The screen used shins were held together around the top with a sprung metal band that would pull them closed and velcro at the ankle to stop them flaring. My PLA does not need this as the material itself acts like a spring. We have however added engineering to the inside to allow a spring metal strip to be added if you wish. Same with the biceps. What we also have on our shins is all the correct structure incorporated into the back of the shin armour visible down each side. Access points are included to allow the straps to be inserted. Our shins are also the correct shape, height, width etc as we were fortunate enough to have been provided with reference and measurements. The straps of the screen used shins were rigid and made from a baked injection moulded PU and therefore we have chosen to make ours from rubber. This is not accurate however it is more practical for a costume and costuming. The overall look will be screen accurate and I have modified the correct found parts in the same way that Neil Ellis had done for the original costumes. There are lots of subtle changes he made that I have incorporated into my moulds.

The screen used are cut out but they are not backed with anything. They should be open.

A reveal of the shins mocked up and rendered on a mannequin. Nice to be able to include details on the shins that all other makers have neglected to add to date. I suppose this is where 3D printing has its advantages. Other production processes offer limitation in the way things can be made.

Yeah I have not looked too close yet but I don't think any of these armours have been displayed outside of these photos. If so it's good to see some new costumes and weathering.

Some amazing images have surfaced. Great pictures of some of the artists who worked on Rogue One playing the parts of Shoretroopers and TK's during filming. And yes there are some issues with the way parts are being worn.

Those guards are 3d renders. We have been very careful with recreating the hand guards. At first I was not interested in releasing a pair as there is already a set available in the community that are taken from the right hand side guard of the screen used armour, cast and sold in resin. As you are not going to get much better than that for accuracy and provenance I was happy not to pursue our own versions however our designer wanted a set to be available to accompany our kit. He was very careful as he did not want to appear to "recast" the screen used versions in any sense of the word so he put quite a few steps in-between the original and the 3d model. Our designer deliberately had no access to the actual hand guards. Instead he chose to model these from photographs that I provided for him. Through the techniques he used he was able to make them identical to the screen used. I am very happy and impressed with the results that he was able to achieve. These will be available as part of the freely shared files. I may mould and cast a set and offer them in brown resin as a switch up part for the accuracy hags out there.

Screen accurate hand guards. Very pleased with these.

Started printing the abdominal armour.

Yeah I will go through that soon. There are 3 snap fasteners fitted to the slider. 2 for the hard cover and 1 for the armoured skirt.

The Shoretrooper Slider Buckle Here is the slider in its correct position. Just visible from below the belt cover. Note where the slots for the webbing are located on the slider. In this image captured from the Walmart commercial you can see a longer metal slider with the slots for the webbing positioned higher up. Image from SWCE display. I have had a new slider machined from aluminium made to the shape and size I believe is correct or thereabouts. I think the extra length at the top related to dressing and undressing of the armour. There will be 2 snap fasteners located on the slider that correspond with 2 snaps that are on the inside of the belt cover. I think the longer buckle may be beneficial in levering the 2 surfaces apart when dressing/undressing the costume. I will be able to confirm that when the abdominal armour is complete.