Scratch Build Stormtrooper ESB WIP

[H34d5h1f73r]

-------------------!!!SCROLL DOWN FOR PROGRESS UPDATES!!!-------------------

So.. Hey everyone!

Just to start things off, I have never built a suit before or touched foam to begin with, so this is something I am learning as I go! I will give tips on how I solved problems and maybe ask questions when I am at a loss what to do.

I have had the idea to build a stormtrooper suit for a while and have scouted the internet for tutorials or anything to show me How to do this! To my surprise I came across the build from Kirk0 and Ruglund, both using the Foam converted files from JFcustoms, originally made by Fierfek! (JFCustom's Foam files: JFcustom's FOAM files) (Fierfek's Pep files: Fierfek's Star Wars Pepakura File Development)

So to start off I ordered four black 100 Decathlon yoga mats, and eagerly waited for them to arrive.

Day zero
Yay! The mats arrived! The carboard box was probably heavier than the mats inside of it. To straighten the mats out I put them under a matress and came back the next day to start working.

Day one
More like evening one, I figured to give it a shot and just try to see where I would end up. To start off I printed the templates and started to cut of the .5mm border with kitchen scissors. Then I transfered the pieces on the black foam using a black marker and cut them out smoothly with just a 5$ exactoblade (which I will be using for the entire build). Because of aligning the foam was difficult with the other pieces I pre-taped everything using painter's tape and slowly glued my way down.

In the first page of JFcustoms foam thread he describes how to cut angles in order to prevent a seam.I cut those angles using a kitchen knife after cutting out the piece of foam. After the hot glue has set I removed the pieces of tape and the result is a fairly clean result for a first timer.

Day two
I continued the process described above for the back piece, shoulder bells and abs. The back piece was hard because I used the "toblerone" cut to form the backpack, to hide seams. It was a long day of cutting and glueing but the result is something i'm quite proud of myself! The reason the foam looks a bit warped is because it is taped in place. The pieces need to be altered for me because I'm 5"9 and very skinny. The front back etcetera are all fitting great but the connection on the side is way too wide.



The helmet is from the tutorials by Dali Lomo (Youtube:

), and made me realise I need a suit with it. However I will need to remove the "damage" on the helmet to give the whole armor a unifying look.

In the upcoming days I will work through all the pieces and give a detailled look on how to do this build, so everyone can start it!

Stay tuned for updates

 

[PropReplicator2]

I am wanting to start my foam-trooper build soon as well so I will be watching closely. Goodluck.

sent from the cockpit of SLAVE I

 

[wasupyo]

Looks great bro keep up the good work!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[H34d5h1f73r]

So I thought it was time for an update:

Day three and four
I have made a lot of progress over these two days in making the pieces.The belt proved to be most difficult because every ammobox on the belt contains four toblerones and two valley cuts....

But I think it came out quite nice for a first time! Everything is built according to the template so it is a single piece of foam. I also test-PVA'd a piece of foam to see what the glue I had did to it, but I decided to get more thick glue instead of white craft glue... I think woodglue will do the trick.

Then I moved on to the buttplate and cod, both not difficult to make but very neccesary for the whole armor. The full torso will look like this: (taped together because lack of webbing)


At last I tailored most of the suit. The belt, abs and torso lost around 5 inches in total to make it fit me, and the biceps lost even more to stop them from sliding down my arm. I also added a piece of velcro and a band to the shoulderbells to make them stay on my shoulder and maintain a nice look.



Next up will be the forearms and thighs, which I hope to have done at the end of the day, so until then, cya!

 

[H34d5h1f73r]

Three days later I haven't been able to make much progress due to work sadly. However I did manage to finish the forearms, hand covers and a part of the thigh. The thighs need to be smaller for me and the forearms have been adjusted as well. When the suit is finished I reckon people will address me as "aren't you a little short to be a Stormtrooper" but I hope to make enough adjustments to make it fit just right.



After the weekend I will start thinking about webbing and velcro to keep everything in place. Maybe one of you can help me: Glue the ammo belt to the abs or just velcro?

Cheers!

 

[wasupyo]

I would just Velcro if I were you. Probably would be easier when putting the armor on


Sent from my Imperial Comlink on Mustafar

 

[H34d5h1f73r]

I was thinking ab plate, and belt velcro'ed together, and the cod and buttplade with velcro as well to make sitting possible.... So I think its better to stay away from glue then yes!

I finished both of the thighs tonight and will post a picture soon, however I ran out of mats.. So I will be ordering two more to complete the shins. (I got one entire thigh + the strips from the next thigh out of one mat....)
For the boots I will take a pair of rubber boots and trim those down

In the mean time when I will be waiting for the mats I will be figuring out how to put the suit together and how different versions of PVA glue work. Maybe even check which paint is most flexible.

Cheers!

 

[H34d5h1f73r]

Two days later I have picked up the majority of the webbing I am going to use. Figuring out how and where to place the bands and velcro will be someting difficult but managable for hopefully the upcoming week. Thursday my mats will arrive so at the end of the week I strive to have all the armor pieces done.

Webbing and PVA will be the next step, and afterwards painting

I have not yet managed to get hold on skintight spandex/bodyglove, so that is also on my to-do list!

Here a picture of the layout of the parts as-is right now:



Today I hope to get the main piece of the thermal detonator done. There is no template for this but Ive found the dimensions are 7.5cm x 184mm. I also missed this in the builds from Ruglud and Kirk0 so bear with me on this one!

 

[Ruglud]

Great progress so far. For the thermal detonator, I used a Haribo sweet tube from a Christmas multi-pack that was just the right dimensions and allowed easy access due to the lid used on it, I put my phone in it... I sprayed it grey with a cheap, car primer spray can- then I stuck on some craft foam to get the details, t like you've found, there's a lack of templates out there, so I eyeballed most of it. I used velcro to stick it on the lower back armour plate. Only issue is that I fell off part way through the evening - and the tube was a little tight for the phone which meant it was resting on the power button and kept turning it off !! Didn't take any pictures as it was an eleventh hour build to get it done in time !!

 

[H34d5h1f73r]

Great progress so far. For the thermal detonator, I used a Haribo sweet tube from a Christmas multi-pack that was just the right dimensions and allowed easy access due to the lid used on it, I put my phone in it... I sprayed it grey with a cheap, car primer spray can- then I stuck on some craft foam to get the details, t like you've found, there's a lack of templates out there, so I eyeballed most of it. I used velcro to stick it on the lower back armour plate. Only issue is that I fell off part way through the evening - and the tube was a little tight for the phone which meant it was resting on the power button and kept turning it off !! Didn't take any pictures as it was an eleventh hour build to get it done in time !!

Thanks for your reply! Didn't think about where to put my phone and wallet lol

I will most likely go for PVC tubes myself and use the clips as in the movie! Again thank you for your tips as I needed them lol

 

[H34d5h1f73r]

Last week I have been busy with making the final parts of the entire suit! The thighs and the shins.

I had to remove quite a bit of foam to make it be tight around my legs but I am fairly happy on how they turned out: (Missing details on the top of the Left shin, diamond needs to get an edge)


I am thinking of using zippers for the shins because NO WAY I can fit my foot through that, It must be do-able! For the thigh the ammo box is fixed instead of on rivet points just to make walking easier. Right now, al the suit pieces are done and webbing is the next process. It takes a long while but I will try to do it all as swift as possible. The torso is done however:



I measured the distance on the side using painters tape and then use thick elastic to keep them together. On one side I used snap fasteners so I can fit into it, you can't put it on as a shirt. TIP: dont glue snap fasteners directly to the foam as you will rip them off, glue a piece of fabric on the foam and then glue the snap fastener on that. It would be a shame to re-do all your webbing after trying it on once!

Next to that DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT PAINTING THE FOAM, WITHOUT PVA FIRST, The paint will crack and be horrible
So yeah pva definitely is neccesary.

Next update: Shins done (hopefully with zippers incorperated) and more webbing!

 

[yaris]

Absolute excellent work.

Imagine if the mats came in pure white

Don't rush it, stay focused, you're using files and making them real, the outcome and your attention to it with inspired so many others.

So far I'm very impressed. I have subscribed.

 

[H34d5h1f73r]

I AM BACK
Well the past four months have been very busy for me so therefore I didn't follow through with making the suit at the same pace as before...

BUT!

I have done a lot and completed the webbing! Pictures below:

The main issue for me to move on were the legs. The shins were too small to get my foot through and needed something clever to work out. I saw someone else's thread on a stormtrooper build who incorporated zippers (I sadly lost the name so if you know who i'll give credit) and here is how it worked out:



Here are some examples on how I did the webbing (taking pictures on the inside is difficult )


Overall I only need to do the shoulder straps, backs of the shins (to cover the zippers) and then, it is time to PVA and then to paint everything white.

To finish off the pictures on how far I am right now:


If any of you reading my thread have questions, please feel free to ask!

I am hoping to do the pva as soon as possible but it will likely take a lot of time... My deadline is october so lets hope I make it.

Cheers!

 

[H34d5h1f73r]

Getting ready to complete this sucker
Well I' ve made up my mind, I'll finish this once and for all

I think it will be better to coat it in four or 5 PVA Glue layers to make it less flexible and more like "armor", but holy moly it will be a lot of work.

 

[H34d5h1f73r]

So how long did I postpone finishing the suit? Too long...
nearly 2 years after having started if found the time and motivation to make it to the finish line.

Right now i've done around 3/4 of the PVA glue layers to make the foam more rigid and "seal" the pores of the foam, so the glossy white paint finish will not crumble if bent trying to put the suit on.

Here are a few images of how it looks right now:



And a good one to show the difference between PVA-glued and plain foam:

I did not expect the finish to be so rigid and smooth. Occasionally I sanded a bit here and there but for the most part it just was good as-is.

TODO:
Right upper leg 1 more layer of PVA
Both lower legs
Buttplate
Belt
Center console 2 more layers.

Im hoping to have it all done at the end of the week. Then, I'll start searching for some good paint to make the death trooper into a storm trooper xD





Im so proud of me having come this far with this build. With no arts/craft experience whatsoever, and starting off by some pepakura paper sheets taping em all together, I wouldn't even have imagined ever being this close to having a finished scratch built stormtrooper outfit.

Right now im also looking for a display model, a store mannequin i bought did no good since all the parts are tailord to my skinny self. I'll order an "inflatable" mannequin, paper maché it, and create my own sizes as a display model. But all of this will be done once I've acctually painted it all.

Hope you enjoyed reading!

Cheers.

 

[H34d5h1f73r]

FINALLY
The painting has begun

I had a tryout with primer + gloss spraypaint, and spraypaint without the primer first. Surprisingly enough the primer made the paint brittle and did not recover after bending. The gloss paint by itself can be folded, pressed in, and dented without any exterior damage!

Proudly I can present; The first finshed part of the stormtooper outfit...



the gloves!
The edges are not completely white but i doubt ill ever get it as white as the top. Im afraid of painting the glove itself


Cant wait to do the rest of the suit. Tomorrow I'll be getting scilicone filler for any grooves of the foam parts.

Stay tuned for more.

 

[H34d5h1f73r]

Half a month later and I've finished the majority of the suit.

Here are some of the images


The lower legs still need to be PVA'd and painted, and the helmet needs to be repainted in the glossy white color since the paint I used for it turned out kind of yellowish.

I hope you enjoy my work!

 

[Hoplitespear]

I like the fact that (atleast on our pictures) it doesn't show foam at all. It shines just like the real thing . I know this is a hard thing to achieve from building my iron man back in the day.

I might try an armor myself (clone P2), this has given me inspiration!

keep up the good work!

Hopli