Ruthar Posted July 13, 2019 Author Share Posted July 13, 2019 Great thinking, Jeff! Better to be safe than sorry, no doubt. 1 hour ago, wingnut65 said: Can't wait to see your submission pix! No more waiting necessary! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruthar Posted July 13, 2019 Author Share Posted July 13, 2019 Submission Photos Having finished the weathering, there isn't any reason to delay suiting up for some approval shots. It's pretty similar to the earlier shots, but here's what it looks like with the weathering all wrapped up. Front: Back: Left: Right: Details: Poses: Individual Components: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingnut65 Posted July 13, 2019 Share Posted July 13, 2019 It looks amazing! Congrats on getting them in! I forgot to mention how I loved the idea of the aluminum box to form the pouches. I might copy that idea. Also, from my TK trooping experiences, I've changed many snaps to industrial strength Velcro. Basically, a snap has two options - Yes and No. Either it is snapped, or it's not. I'd recommend changing your shoulder bell snap to Velcro to give more flexibility in movement without the fear of popping it. Or, add another strap with velcro. Have fun trooping! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruthar Posted July 13, 2019 Author Share Posted July 13, 2019 Thanks, Jeff! As of a little while ago, the PT is approved! Our GML did up this fun little edit to celebrate. Time to start handing out some tickets! More to do still with the helmet interior, fit, and some other remaining level 2 things that are still being discussed. It never ends, but that’s the fun part! 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hask Posted July 14, 2019 Share Posted July 14, 2019 Congratulations my friend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edoode Posted July 14, 2019 Share Posted July 14, 2019 Congratualations! I've been following along your massive, awesome, detailed posts in the hope of starting a PT build myself. Very well done Sir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikerScout007 Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 Well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruthar Posted July 16, 2019 Author Share Posted July 16, 2019 Thanks, everyone! I had the chance to do the first troop in the costume. It's definitely not the easiest wear out there, but everything held together at least. More modifications to come soon! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harkas Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 Congrats mate and thank you for your fantastic build information. I will use it for my assembly. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruthar Posted July 22, 2019 Author Share Posted July 22, 2019 On 7/19/2019 at 3:34 AM, Harkas said: Congrats mate and thank you for your fantastic build information. I will use it for my assembly. Thank you! I'm glad you find it helpful. If you've got any specific questions when you get under way, don't hesitate to reach out! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruthar Posted July 23, 2019 Author Share Posted July 23, 2019 Details Helmet Teeth One of the things that I overlooked was the teeth on the helmet. The helmet came pretty finished up, so I assumed that I didn't really need to do much to it. However, in studying some images, I did notice the mesh behind the teeth in the shots below. I zoomed in on this image to find a hint of the mesh: The Anovos bucket has the mesh, too, and they claim to have access to direct sources. I finally decided to take the plunge and get this detail added. I started by drilling a hole in between each tooth to start the process. Next, I used a small sanding bit on my Dremel to open up the holes a little more. Then I finished up the square openings with some small metal files. Here's what they look like all opened up, but the paint is a bit rough now. I used a bit of grey and black acrylic paint to clean up the rough edges to make them look fresh. For the mesh backing, I cut out two 1" x 4" strips of plastic screen mesh material that I've used for a bunch of other TK helmets. At the top of the strip where they meet, I cut an angle so they meet but don't overlap beneath the center "tooth." To keep the mesh in place, I just used a couple thin strip of black gaffer's tape. Here's a shot of the new, more accurate frown. It still needs to be re-weathered, but I want these coats of paint to fully dry first. Helmet Height Adjustment I've trooped in the costume three times now. The biggest problem each time has been visibility - I've adjusted the padding each time to get something more usable, but the problem has persisted. The collar of the armour is just slightly too tall for my short neck to permit the helmet to sit at an appropriate enough height for me. However! While I was cutting out the teeth, I had a sort of "aha" moment - I could use the teeth to see out of instead of the lenses. It's not ideal, but it would at least give me a more comfortable trooping experience. I experimented with a bunch of different padding setups, but here is the one that seems like it will work the best. Looking from the front, there is definitely more room for moving the head up, down, and around. I definitely like the side profile a lot better - it looks like the helmet is in a more appropriate place than how it was previously touching the collar. This is all the foam I used to fill the empty top of the helmet. I'll clean this up and get it properly installed when I finish the helmet interior later on, but this just gives a general idea. On the plus side, you won't ever see my eyes behind the lenses - just my forehead and my sweating brow. I did a short video demonstrating the newly improved helmet motion. Definitely so so much better than how it was! Next up is really wrapping up the helmet interior as well as a few other quality of life improvements I'd like to do with a few troops now under the belt as true tests. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruthar Posted July 29, 2019 Author Share Posted July 29, 2019 Details Sleeve Length One thing that's been bothering me is that the sleeves get tugged down by the weight of the forearm pieces so that they then hit my handplates. To fight this, I had the sleeves taken up by removing a few ribs at the elbow. The result is nice - the sleeves now terminate just before the wrist but are pulled down into place once the forearm armour is attached. You can see the new sleeve on the left and the original length on the right. Holster Size One thing that I knew I needed to fix/adjust was fitting my blaster into the holster. The holster that came with my kit is just too narrow to receive the two blasters that I already have for my Biker Scout. Instead of destroying the blaster by forcing it in or completely reshaping the holster with heat and causing it to look strange, I decided to rebuild the holster from scratch. I traced the original holster onto some paper by tracing each edge and turning it along while moving the pencil. This gave me a 2D rendering of the material required. I then cut it out and attached the rear edge to recreate the piece. After the paper model of the piece was created, I expanded the width by creating a second paper version with increased dimensions. Eventually, it was big enough to receive the blaster. Once the size was discovered, I flattened the paper version and traced the pattern onto some white ABS. I cut out the shape and cleaned it up with a dremel and some sandpaper. Then, I used a heat gun to form the holster around the blaster itself for a snug fit. I used zap-a-gap to close the holster in the rear to create the closed holster. I used some acetone on a rag to remove the black sharpie lines before taking the final pics. Here are some shots comparing the new holster to the smaller original one. And some shots of the new fit. Here's the holster with my Hyperfirm EC-17 that I use for most events as I'm not afraid of it being bumped around. And with my resin "dress-up" blaster that I used for my Lancer application that I use for more formal events. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nin Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 Thank you very much for this post. You have really helped me with ideas for my build! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruthar Posted September 12 Author Share Posted September 12 2024 Update Hello, all! Spent some time tonight updating this fun suit, so documenting a few things here about it! Recently, Denuo Novo announced that they had their Patrol Trooper helmets in stock. My biggest complaint about my own Patrol build was how difficult it was to wear - the helmet was simply too large for me to wear properly, forcing me to look out of the teeth and have some limited movement. Not ideal and it kept me from doing many troops in this outfit. So, when the Denuo Novo option became available, I figured I would give it a whirl to help fix my issues. Denuo Novo Helmet vs. Armory Shop Helmet Here's the packaging that the DN helmet comes in, typical of their line of helmets: After taking it out of the packaging, I placed it next to my Armory Shop helmet for some side-by-side comparison shots. And here are some shots of the DN helmet by itself: There are a couple things I really like about this new DN helmet. Most importantly (for me, at least) is the size. This is a fairly sizable reduction compared to my Armory Shop helmet, and that's quite important for me. With a fairly short neck and a small-ish head, this reduced helmet definitely fits me more appropriately. It's also neat to see the underplate beneath the blast shield. The Tank Driver and AT-ACT Driver helmets of Rogue One were also crafted this way, so it certainly makes sense that this follows suit having been created in the same time period. The weathering surprised me quite a bit - it is quite close to the weathering I put on my Armory Shop helmet. I might add a little bit more to give it some texture that matches my armour, but it's pretty nice now even without adjustment. I do still need to migrate my helmet internals over to the new piece, but that's just a simple manner of pulling out fans and putting them into the new one - easy enough since its all placed with Velcro. Full Kit With New Helmet Of course, suiting up entirely was the only true way to test the helmet and how it fits. Here's what the whole kit looks like now. It is such a nice improvement to be able to see fairly clearly and turn your head, so I'm really happy for that. There are a couple small repairs/adjustments I want to make before getting this out to a troop, but nothing major - mostly just repairs that need to happen because the armour was sitting in a bin untouched for slightly too long. Some paint touch-ups and tweaks here and there mostly. Here is a comparison between this new version (left) and the first version (right). The larger helmet really looks too big on me now that I see them side-by-side. Here's also a size comparison between the DN helmet and a standard ABS TK helmet, just to give another point of reference: All in all, I'm quite pleased with this upgraded version. Just a few small repairs to get this back into the trooping rotation! 4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikerScout007 Posted September 12 Share Posted September 12 That helmet looks amazing! Thanks for the update 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hask Posted September 12 Share Posted September 12 Very nice. I like the tubes the most. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aradun Posted September 13 Share Posted September 13 Waaay better fit and overall look! Stellar! Great comparison review too! Thank you for taking the time to do that. It’ll be super helpful to future Patrol Troopers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPoopie Posted 21 hours ago Share Posted 21 hours ago The helmet looks great but ultimately your build is really spot on and works really well with all the pieces. Great work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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