ROTJ Scout Trooper WIP

[LuigiFett]

Hi all! I managed to snag a Kropserkel scout trooper helmet kit and figured I'd start a WIP thread to go along with it so I have a place to put all my newbie questions along the way. If I manage to get it together all the way I'll start looking at an armor kit. I feel fairly confident in being able to follow along with his YouTube tutorial, but also want to get input from the detachment here.

A little about me: it's been a goal of mine for a while to get a 501st approved costume and after reading up on pros/cons of the various imperial troops I settled on the ROTJ Scout Trooper, mainly due to the fact that everyone says you can sit in it pretty easily. I also have a fairly gigantic head which scared me away from the SC bucket - hence going for Kropserkel. I took some shots of a few of the pieces (hoping I'm doing the DropBox insert correctly, let me know if any images show up as broken):

The helmet pieces unassembled:

 

The faceplate:

 

Close ups of the area around the lens hole, I'm assuming the pencil marks are where I need to complete the trimming and sanding:

 

And the underside of the faceplate. Again, I'm assuming I need to trim down to the pencil line:

 

The visor - once again I'm planning to trim along the pencil line:

 

And the lower portion of the visor, which looks like it also needs some trimming to give it that rounded edge:

 

The earholes, with the cutout area traced:

 

 

 

And the helmet top, which doesn't appear to need any additional trimming:

 

And a few shots of the snout greeblie. The kit came with the full piece, and also with just the aerator by itself (I'm guessing intended to be affixed over the gray/black decal that came with the kit?) I also can't tell if the lines at the top of the greeblie need to be covered with spot putty and repainted to get rid of them? The CRL images appear to be completely smooth in that area.

 

 

So really the biggest questions I have right now are:

- Do the pencil lines look accurate as far as what I need to trim to get this to an approvable level? Not worried about Lancer right now, I just want to meet the requirements for basic. Especially wondering about how the earholes looks, I really don't want to end up trimming out too much.

- What does the CRL mean when it says, "A return edge is present on the visor"? Is that the part along the outer portion?

- The CRL also states the the "Snout recess is painted black" - does this mean I can get rid of the decal that came with the kit and just mask off/paint with matte black before attaching the greeblie?

- Should I smooth out the (presumably) 3D print lines at the top of the snout greeblie?

I feel like a giant newb asking all these. Appreciate any input the more seasoned members can provide. I'll provide updated images as I go. Thanks for following along and for any advice you can give!

[Chopper]

Hey there Matt--

I noticed that the pull on this part looks looks a bit off, as it looks like there's a dent of some sort on the corner? Maybe it's the angle of the photo? Looks like it's the wearer's lower left portion of the visor shroud?

 

20 hours ago, LuigiFett said:

So really the biggest questions I have right now are:

- Do the pencil lines look accurate as far as what I need to trim to get this to an approvable level? Not worried about Lancer right now, I just want to meet the requirements for basic. Especially wondering about how the earholes looks, I really don't want to end up trimming out too much.

- What does the CRL mean when it says, "A return edge is present on the visor"? Is that the part along the outer portion?

- The CRL also states the the "Snout recess is painted black" - does this mean I can get rid of the decal that came with the kit and just mask off/paint with matte black before attaching the greeblie?

- Should I smooth out the (presumably) 3D print lines at the top of the snout greeblie?

I feel like a giant newb asking all these. Appreciate any input the more seasoned members can provide. I'll provide updated images as I go. Thanks for following along and for any advice you can give!

-Pencil marks look fine, outside of my comment above, which is really about the pull from the mold. You may end up needing to trim a bit more around the eyeslot and earholes, but I'd start with what you've marked right now. Whenever you're trimming, start with less, then carefully trim more in increments. If you take a careful approach, you should be fine.

-The return edge comment in the CRL is talking about the bend in the end of the visor shroud. The Kropserkel helmet has it, so you're fine.

-Yes. Ditch the decal and the right side snout greeblie from your photo. The greeb on the left is the one you want to use.

-You'll need to smooth the print lines on the top of the snout greeb

Let us know if you have any further questions and good luck with your build.

[LuigiFett]

22 hours ago, Chopper said:

Hey there Matt--

I noticed that the pull on this part looks looks a bit off, as it looks like there's a dent of some sort on the corner? Maybe it's the angle of the photo? Looks like it's the wearer's lower left portion of the visor shroud?

I didn't even notice that. It does look asymmetrical between the left and right (that is a shot of the lower left portion of the visor. I took some additional photos to try to show the difference:

Here's a head-on shot, although it's kind of hard to see the difference here:

 

 

Here's the lower right side:

 

And I tried to get close-ups of both sides for comparison:

 

Anything you'd recommend to address the left side dent?

[Aradun]

Those are my pencil lines LOL.

Looks like you bought that bucket off of a buddy of mine in my garrison who was working on a shadow scout. I was preparing to help him build the helmet, but then he managed to get his hands on a finished helmet instead.

Just note that the cut out around the top of the visor will likely need to be adjusted so that you can open the visor up over the dome. I did not mark pencil lines on the top part of the visor because everything needs to be assembled to know where and how much needs to be cut.

[LuigiFett]

16 hours ago, Aradun said:

Those are my pencil lines LOL.

Haha! I wasn't sure if Kropserkel did them or if they were added after. Good to know! Once I get the excess trimmed and somewhat sanded I'll try to do preliminary assembly to see what adjustments the visor will need.

I was able to take the Dremel to some of the parts this weekend. Here's the progress on the face plate (along with my attempt to mask off the snout area for some paint, I managed to dig out a roll of Tamiya masking from the boxes in my garage):

 

 

 

I'm finding that taking frequent breaks from sanding is allowing me to come back and see the little rough areas that need touching up easier. Looking at it now makes me think the wearer's left side needs just a little more taken off. I have the worst sense of symmetry and am probably being overly cautious with how slowly I'm sanding everything to avoid getting a lopsided result (as you can tell from the still-visible pencil lines )

And because I found my masking tape and felt impatient I went ahead and tried to get the snout area ready for some paint:

 

I'm torn on whether to just do spray paint or pull out the airbrush and hit it with some Humbrol matte black that I still have. Any advice on that from the more seasoned troopers?

I'm hoping to have progress photos on the other pieces a little later in the week!

[Chopper]

Matte black is the color to use. Most people use spray paints,  but either spray paint or an airbrush should work fine. Go with whichever one you feel most comfortable using. 

[Aradun]

Nice work Matt!  Slow use of the Dremel and frequent breaks are the way to go.  As Chopper already noted, you can always take more off, but you can't put it back once removed.  Great progress!

[LuigiFett]

Got a few additional things done today!

For the snout area, I finished the preliminary masking with some painter's tape and plastic wrap (the painter's tape is popping up a little here, but I did smooth it down prior to hitting in with the paint):

 

And I decided I was feeling too lazy to clean up the airbrush so went some plain matte black Rustoleum:

And the finished product. There are a few angles to the curved part, I've never been great at masking those:

 

I also coated the top of the snout greeblie with some Bondo spot putty to try to get rid of the 3D print lines. 

 

After sanding and hitting it with some flat gray spray paint the lines are still there, but much less noticeable. I'm hoping one more round will eliminate them completely:

 

And the greeblie against the snout area of the faceplate. It does make the angles of the curved area much more noticeable, I'm thinking I may try to re-mask and get a smoother curve there.

[LuigiFett]

While I was waiting for the greeblie paint to dry I figured I'd pull out the heat gun and try forming the lens. Apologies, I forgot to get a shot of the rectangular piece as it came with the kit. Surprisingly, the cutting disc on the Dremel was all I needed to get the lens to the shape needed (it was already traced out on the protective film) and with relatively smooth edges:

Luckily I already had a heat gun from when I put together my ESB Boba Fett bucket  Following Kropserkel's YouTube walkthrough, I managed to get the curvature just about right:

 

Hoping tomorrow I'll get a chance to finish sanding the edges of the eyehole. I'm getting antsy wanting to see the whole thing assembled, but I'm also trying not to let my impatience get the best of me and end up with a bunch of unfinished pieces riveted together!

 

[Chopper]

You can use a toothpick dipped in 90% iso alcohol to clean up the black curved portion on the snout.

[LuigiFett]

The alcohol and toothpick trick worked wonders! I think it's some kind of Sith power.

But now I'm wondering if the top of the snout recess needs a little more black. I don't see anything in the CRL, is there any guidance on how much black should show on the edges around the greeblie?

I also made some progress on the back and top of the helmet. Following the YouTube tutorial, I got the decals on the rear portion:

 

Then proceeded to attach the back and top using 3/8" aluminum rivets:

 

 

Hoping that I got the alignment fairly close. I tried to get the same amount showing on each side. You can also see where I attached the black screens behind the earholes using the soft part of some industrial strength adhesive Velcro:

 

 

And the outer view:

 

I noticed that the basic CRL says "Earholes are cut out -- mesh or paint is not acceptable" - Does the screen with the Kropserkel kit count as mesh? Or will I be OK leaving as is?

Currently working on trimming the faceplate and visor down a little to fit the rest of the helmet - hopefully I'll have pictures later this week. Thanks again for all the help and advice!!

[Chopper]

Yes, you should remove the mesh from the ear holes. Get some black gaffer tape and put it inside the ears to black out the visible portion on the inside.

The Scoutopedia has some good example images of the black snout area that you can use for comparison.