Jakks Pacific 31" Stormtrooper to Sandtrooper Quick and Easy Custom

[sweartoeric]

Hey guys,

This is just a real quick, 1 hour project. I bought one of Jakks Pacific's giant Stormtroopers from Toy R Us, because, well.. It's a giant Stormtrooper. No justification needed. The scale is a bit wonky. Helmet is a bit small, blaster is enormous, and the shoulders are pretty large as well. But, for 29 bucks, still a cool piece.


I thought it might make a better looking display piece as a Sandtrooper. Now, I'm obviously not going for any sort of screen accuracy here - but here's the finished result. Weathered the armor; first with a wash to bring out some of the detail in the sculpt and give it that nice, crummy look. Then hit it with some "sand" from the rattle can. The pauldron is actually just a printed version of this template on some thin, black plastic.

I gave him some non-sa black pouches and such, one on the belt and one by the pauldron. These were made with material that was lying around the house, some plastic and leather bits. the eye lenses were given a green hue, and viola: one Sandtrooper!

 

[phase pistol]

An impressive piece! I love taking a toy to the next level.

 

[sweartoeric]

Thanks man! In my experience, cheapy toys look 10x better when you distress em, especially with the well worn look of the Star Wars universe.

 

[Mean Obiwan]

Dang, not a bad idea at all! I too have this guy. I reworked a lot of him to be more "accurate", he even has see through lenses.

 

[mugatu]

Man, that looks awesome! I can't find any TK's locally. They only seem to have the Rebels version. How did you print on plastic?

 

[sweartoeric]

Re: Jakks Pacific 31" Stormtrooper to Sandtrooper Quick and Easy Custom

Mean Obiwan, I'd love to see pics! Clear lenses? That's awesome!

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mugatu,

I actually printed on photo paper and glued to the plastic backing.

 

[Mean Obiwan]

Here's mine. I guess yours is a Rebels version and mine is a regular TK. Huh.
Here he stands. I noticed parts of him were not painted black where his under suit would be, so I corrected that

pc screenshot

Here's the see through lenses, made by taping auto window tint in place


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Not an accurate green, but still cool
Button colors corrected


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Only the tops of his hand guards were painted white, so that bothered me, painted the sides


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Fabric elastic belt


pc screenshot

And the black outlining on all of the grey parts


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And added an extra "tooth" to the ends of the frown to make him look more like a stunt TK over a hero


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I really like your sand trooper though. Almost makes me want to steal the idea being that I've always preferred sandys over regular TK's.

 

[sweartoeric]

Nice! I actually didn't realize that there were two versions, and I am now super bummed out that I didn't get yours!

 

[mugatu]

Both of them are great! And you both did amazing jobs finishing them.

 

[Mean Obiwan]

Thanks for the compliments! Glad you guys like him. I didn't realize there were two versions either, I like the Rebels one too, especially as a sand trooper. Think I might steal that idea XD

 

[jkno]

Very cool conversion. Wish the animated ones were coming with animated armors too. I own one with classic helmet. Here is a review i did of it, I modded it a bit too.

I'm a huge Stormie fan so I had to have this JAKKS Pacific's Giant Size Star Wars 31" Stormtrooper figure. The helmet is a bit too small, but so is in 90% of other collectibles, including high end Stormtrooper figures, mini-busts or statues. You barely notice that when you have it in hand(s) IMO. My issue when I got it was related to the helmet, which was made from a different material (PVC most likely) than the body (ABS), and thus not as shiny as the body armor. So I knew I had to do something about it: I decided to add a few layers of clear lacquer to it, and what an excellent idea that was!

It is easy to do it. Just need a cloth or an old t-shirt to cover the rest of the body and tighten it at the neck, clean up the helmet a bit (not to have dust on it), then simply spray some clear/transparent lacquer over the helmet 2-3 times - I used clear car lacquer in spray can. After each spraying you need to let the lacquer cure for about 30 minutes, then spray it again until the helmet shines. The helmet itself is somewhat porous, so the lacquer adheres to it without any problem, and becomes shiny.

I accurized the helmet a bit more by adding the black ear stripe/bar (wish I could redo the blue tubing stripes too - that could prove too complicated needing full helmet repaint), and repainted 3 of the ab buttons blue like in the movies, but for the regular fan these are not a must, the figure looks just fine.

This figure is big, about 80 cm in height, and it really looks awesome, especially if you modded the helmet as said above. There are a few more minor issues like the visible screws in the back, or the blaster which is not too accurate (it has some very accurate parts but others are not), but I realize why the collectors who got the clones and Vader so far are so enthusiastic about them.

This might be a toy, but it is VERY impressive in person, and for around $40 NOTHING beats it! If I knew how cool this was I would have paid double price easy. It has the presence of a statue and not of a simple figure.

In the end the Jakks Stormtrooper is FANTASTIC! Kids and adults will love it


Pros:

- excellent price
- huge size
- reasonable accuracy for its price and size
- very impressive in person, looks more like a statue than a simple figure
- pretty sturdy and stable on its own
- helmet sculpt better than high end statues or figures

Cons:

- helmet is made of porous flat PVC, while the armor is shiny ABS - though this can be easily fixed as already said above, by spraying clear lacquer on the helmet - helmet being porous helps the lacquer adhere well, and this makes the helmet very shiny in the end
- visible screws in the back of the figure
- lack of complex articulation
- helmet a tad too small - but this unfortunate feature is present on high end figures or statues too
- helmet blue stripes placed too low
- blaster could have been a bit more accurate, but not a big deal IMO

 

[Mean Obiwan]

Oh yeah, the shine on the helmet looks great. Good idea. The tube stripes bother me as well, but as you said, I'm not sure how to fix it without repainting the whole thing.
The lenses were flat black too, that's why I cut them out and replaced them. Also did the ab buttons too.
I agree though, it's a very nice addition to any collection. Mine has brought out more conversion from guests than even my fancier props, oddly.

 

[rustbucket]

Re: Jakks Pacific 31" Stormtrooper to Sandtrooper Quick and Easy Custom



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comments and questions welcome....still can't figure how to get the pics the right way round..

 

[rustbucket]

Re: Jakks Pacific 31" Stormtrooper to Sandtrooper Quick and Easy Custom

btw..they are still works in progress

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btw..they are still works in progress

 

[Howlrunner]

The difference the re-positioned arms makes is HUGE. :thumbsup

 

[zeca]

Re: Jakks Pacific 31" Stormtrooper to Sandtrooper Quick and Easy Custom

great idea to turn it into Sandtrooper, mine too I started to change the beginning with the eyes.

 

[rustbucket]

Re: Jakks Pacific 31" Stormtrooper to Sandtrooper Quick and Easy Custom

top tip...
wet sand the helmet with 1000 grit to remove tube stripes and make the rest of the helmet smooth...it looks better even before you gloss it..
also noticed the trooper that stuns princess leia in a new hope doesn't have any tube stripes at all..

 

[ABE]

looks great, I modify the helmet, because I did not like very much and I made a mold and pull out a piece of resin, also sculpted my Skull trooper version

 

[rustbucket]

a little update on one of my troopers
glossed the helmet over new cheek decals and it looked so shiny i had to do the whole body.
still a slow work in progress like everything i do .

 

[AGxM]

Just bought myself one of these and the Vader as a Chinese New Year present (well any excuse)....they will scare the crap out of my cleaning lady!