Task Force 99: Pilot

[arnoc]

So bit of backstory, this has been a crappy past couple years for me due to some health issues related to heart. Ended up putting on a lot of weight due to lack of exercise. Finally got issues sorted out and can start exercising again! So my two big goals for 2017 have become: 1) Lose the weight I put on (Only 50lbs, how hard is that?) and 2) Create a full set of Stormtrooper Armor.

But I don't want to be any old stormtrooper; I specifically want to create the Pilot from Jorge Molina's concept art for Task Force 99 from the Star Wars comics.



To me, most of teh armor pieces are original stormtrooper armor, only differences being in the chest, helmet, and the jetpack. I'm planning on making the outfit out of a combination of 3d printing and pepakura. I've got a Kinect set up to use as a 3d scanner which does a pretty damn good job of capturing features, so I'm fairly confident I'll be able to size up everything correctly to fit me (After losing the weight of course).

My idea for tackling everything goes in order of:
1) Squaring away the dual pistols. Based on how they're drawn, they look like a pair of SE-14 blasters without the scope.
2) Design of the pistol holsters. I know most of the pictures I've seen of holsters for SE-14 blasters and simlar are large leather holsters worn from the hips. Given the unique shape of the pistols, a regular holster would have to have a fairly large opening for the front end, which doesn't seem to suit the rather slim profile see on the leg holsters. I'm thinking for a unique look to have the holsters be rather fitted molds of the main section, and held on to the blasters by means of some strong-earth magnets.
3) Pilot helmet. To me it looks like a combination of traditional stormtrooper helmet with the bowl head of an AT-DP / Imperial Cadet cowl on top. My 3d modeling skills aren't exactly the best as I'm still learning, but I should mainly have to just design the cowl to fit with a stormtrooper helmet that already exists, rather than reinvent the entire thing. This will more than likely be 3d printed.
4) Remote Control. I was planning on perhaps mounting inside a raspberry pi with a touchscreen or using my own cellphone inside the wrist mounted control unit.
5) Jetpack. I'd love to set up some electronics in it to move the nozzles around perhaps, or just simply pulse the lights or some other features, perhaps even some sound. One of ideas I had would be to use some bluetooth connections to have the wrist remote control the jetpack options. Will once again likely be a 3d printed piece.
6) Pep / 3d print the rest of the armor pieces as needed.

I've already begun on step 1. Using Fusion 360 I drafted up an initial model. My google-foo wasn't quite up to snuff when I went digging for reference photos (That's what I get for trying to find them at 3am after a long day at work). Ended up printing out a couple revisions of that base design to get everything right (Scale to begin with, then a matter of tolerances and exploration of connection joint experiments. But with the entire blaster in hand it just felt too large and bulky for me to be a blaster pistol.


So I started over from scratch. And this time I stumbled upon Hot Toys K2SO figurine, which comes with an SE-14 Blaster. Using that, based upon with the dimensions I already physically dealt with, I've come up with version 2.0:




I know it's not entirely accurate to an actual SE-14, but since it is based upon concept art (I'm awaiting the release of the paperback of the comics Task Force 99 are featured in to get a better look), I'm not too worried about that.

I'm currently thinking about stuffing some electronics into the blaster design; nothing too fancy, just sound sound effects when pull the trigger. Currently looking at some adafruit items. Thinking of stuffing a mini sound board inside the pistol handle itself, and a speaker placed in the back of the pistol. Worked out the dimensions roughly so far, and they should fit. My plan is to have the rounded in section of the pistol handle (It's a separate part in my fusion project) be printed separately, and connect to the body of the handle via magnets, allowing me easy access into the electronic guts. I've already set up a tunnel through the body of the pistol design to allow the routing of wires from the rear end down into the handle itself. I don't have much wiring experience aside from a little bit of LED strips inside an arc reactor I built, so it's an experience but I'm willing to dive in. I need to hit up radioshack, pick up some wiring, and order the parts from adafruit before I begin printing out any pieces, as I'm still making a few adjustments here and there on the design.

 

[arnoc]

So I finally got my electronics I needed in (Yay, Christmas!)

Got everything rigged together on a breadboard, and here are my results so far:

The SE-14C is supposed to be a 5 round burst close quarters weapon. Hopefully it looks like the number of flashes match the sound effect.

I'm waiting for Monday to roll around for UPS to deliver me my new set of calipers so I can take some final measurements (specifically to make sure I get the dimensions on the neopixel correct), generate a few mounting options inside the handle, and I should be good to go to begin printing out the pistol. Will be able to measure my magnets as well so I can create a cavity for them to sit in for the holster designs.

I did test it out by attach a pair of magnets together via a curtain, and then taped some magnets onto side of my test blaster, which will likely be heavier than my new, smaller design. Then I shook it all about to simulate walking. There was only a single point of contact on it, so it was freely rotating, but it held on pretty well. Fairly confident that with multiple points of contact and a mirrored design for the holsters, they'll hold in place reasonably well.

I'm considering making the physical holster part out of PLA, and then the straps made out of Ninja Flex to get some of those indentations going. And perhaps just some regular buckles to attach. May just be cheaper to go with regular webbing, however.

 

[arnoc]

The last of my Christmas presents I was awaiting on, a pair of digital calipers, finally arrived, letting me get final calculations I needed to size my parts together. Some adjustments may be necessary once I get everything truly printed out and test print, but I believe everything should fit together beautifully. Here's final render of what the pistol will look like:


After about seven hours printing, I was able to see roughly the size of the pistol will be, and test fit my electronics. Note the "magazine" is not the actual one for this version; I've yet to print it out and used one I had already printed out for another revision. It's essentially the same, however the new version is a little shorter and has different ways of attaching together to the rest of the printer.

What's not visible as well, is the magnet section has two 5mm holes within it for cable routing; one to go to the "muzzle" for the neopixel, and the other for the speaker in the rear.

I was originally planning on have the on / off button you see to the left installed in the bottom of the pistol where the sound board is currently located (I was going to paint the button black to match the rest of the pistol), but I'm not sure if I'd rather have the soundboard there, so I can quickly connect it to charge the battery. Anyone have suggestions on where I should put it? I'm thinking of adding a small divet for the button on the bottom of the handle, and then I can mount it right next to the soundboard. Although once wires are in there, even though they're 30 AWG, not sure if there will be enough room. And that would also mean I'd need to print out the handle section again.


The magnets work great; they're slightly loose in their containers, but that was to account for fact that all of them are slightly different size wise. A little dab of super glue when everything is prepared for final version and they'll be rock solid. There's two little covers that simply snap into place. Again, little super glue and some sanding, and they'll be invisible.

I will unfortunately have to end up printing the magnet section once again, as I destroyed the trigger area when trying to remove the support material inside that area. I'll need to add some height to it to be able to properly clear it out, and will need to make some adjustments to the trigger. I forgot to account for the length of my button for the trigger, and need to find a way around that. If I can make the changes to the trigger, it'll save me from having to print out the handle once again.

The speaker however, turned out great! It slipped right in, and you can see there's a little slit; that's for a thin inner circle that slides inside to hold the speaker securly in place. Keeps it from rattling around, and allows me through the slit to pop it out if need be for whatever reasons. I did however accidently destroy the speaker trying to desolder and solder on new, longer wires to the speaker. Still learning how to solder, but they're cheap enough that I'm not too concerned about destroying a couple of them to adequately learn.

 

[arnoc]

I think I've printed this thing out about a half dozen times already and still don't have one fully functional working pistol, let alone two! I've got a 1.53 gallon bucket for 3d printing scraps, and it's currently filled to the brim from all the parts I've printed for prototyping this thing out.

But all those failures have led up to almost the final print before I start getting things cleaned up together! I managed to solve my power issue button without having to resort to buying a new type of switch. I realized I could shave a couple millimeters off the inside of the handle, and mount the soundboard within the back handle itself. You'll almost never see that part, especially when my hand covers it, and it allows me to easily plug in and charge the battery. I'm hoping 350ma will be enough to power the whole pistol for a while. I could likely bump up to 500ma, but that would likely require me to hollow out the "magazine" area, and create another internal pipe to run the wires through. Though I may in fact, since I've yet to print out the final final, implement that just for future proofing. There's no way I'm fitting in my 2000ma batteries within the pistol design, however.


I did also think about creating another space in the handle for the trinket to slide into as well. However, that would not be for charging, and it's unlikely I'd be wanting to change out the sound for the pistol. I didn't really want another hole sticking out of the pistol if I could help it. As well, the then second boot loader would mean either constantly plugging / unplugging or simply just opening up the pistol to access it. I think I'll plan to have some slack in the wiring put together so I can pull it and the soundboard out together, if possible.

And speaking of wiring, I finally managed to put my wiring diagram, based upon my breadboard layout, together in the handle. I'll be using 30awg wires for everything, so there should hopefully be enough space within to press everything down. I unfortunately don't have enough wires in as many different colors to use as in my diagram, but it'll help a lot for bringing everything together. I'll likely end up taping certain wires or putting on small sheaths of heat shrink to identify which wires are which for assembly.


The only nice thing about having so many parts that are almost correct is, I can at least put them all t ogether to get a feel for how everything will look!


The next prints I should be doing will hopefully be my finals, and I can begin on working on sanding things smooth and assembling the pistol. But to tide me over since I was sick of printing out same parts over and over again, I decided to take a stab at my idea for the holster design.

The holster idea was to be a negative of the forward part of the pistol, between the magazine and the trigger, that allows me to attach the weapon via magnets.

Honestly, it works well! A bit too well I think. I can snap in the pistol as it currently is and it just won't come out by jostling it. However, I do need to press it a little to get it to settle in fully into the grooves, and it makes it rather difficult to pull back out, especially as things aren't glued together yet. I'll likely end up just flattening out the details on the sides to the lowest planes needed, and depending upon where that is, raise up the area where the magnets should reach to help buckle em on. Fillet the edges from that so it's nice and smooth, and should be still rather functional.

Only thing I'm really worried about now is my soldering skills to be up to the task!

 

[arnoc]

So after a slight snafu with making a wall too thin in the handle and it not printing, I finally got one pistol fully printed! (Minus a trigger. I need to work on that some more so it'll press the tactile button / fit nicely / spring back and forth).

Another snafu in the road I've hit is apparently one of my two soundboards I purchased is faulty; I began soldering everything together before remebering that the new soundboard I was using didn't have the trigger sound uploaded to it. It was then I realized that it wasn't powering on properly. Been waiting on hearing from the company's support if it is indeed defective and if I'm eligible for a new item. The other I've got headers soldered onto, and am having difficulties getting those off.

So with today as much of the Eastern US Coast got hit with snow, myself included, I decided to work on the helmet. Hit a few roadblocks at first, but I was finally able to get the shape worked out to how I liked. Gotta work on a few other things like attaching it to the base of the helmet and all that fun stuff to make sure it'll actually be attached to the helmet. Thinking about adding the back vents of the stormtrooper helmet to it to give it a bit more dimensionality to it rather than being a mainly round hood.

 

[arnoc]

Progress is being made on the western front! Not so much around the waistline though, though that's starting to move in the right direction at least!

First up, 3d printer's been busy churning away. I recently got my bed dialed in enough to be able to reliably print at 0.1mm on it. It's been a pretty big increase in print times, but I'm loving the quality out of the prints. Been busy get the main faceplate of the helmet pumped out, and all these parts in total took me about 80 hours roughly:


I'm thinking to save filament for parts that will never be seen, is to print out the cowl next, and then use some cardstock and fiberglass to stiffen things up and fill in gaps. Should save me a lot of time and filament by not having to print essentially the same opening twice, as well as some weight. As well, I would slide up the back sections so only those bottom parts I need for the rim are revealed. I'm saddened by the fact that if I were to print the next four main pieces I need altogether, it'd be a 60 hour print :/

Also finally got through with support for my electronics, and got a replacement soundboard that I needed. So I was able to get everything all wired up for a test fit:


Everything's roughly where I want it to be. I'll need to tape some things down for final assembly, and trim some wire lengths up when I do the second pistol, but it fits and works, so it's a good experience.

And here's what I was most excited for: Pressing the trigger and hear the pew pews!

Now to yank all the electronics out, sand things down (Definintely printing the second pistol iat 0.1mm instead of .2mm), prime the parts, and stick the electronics back in. Unfortunately only space I have to really work and sand is outside on my deck, so may have to wait for weather to warm up a bit.

Next thing I'm going to have to start looking for is the tubes from the helmet to the control box on stomach...

 

[arnoc]

Greetings folks!

After a bit of a rotten week of work, mainly due to fact that I haven't been sleeping well, finally got some time to work on things. I cut out all the wiring to the pistol, put it in a safe spot, to begin sanding down all the parts in preparation for printing. Knew I'd be needing some needle files to get into some of the grooves, but figured I could get most of the major parts (aka the barrel) glued up together and sand down the major parts. And since I'd be having the glue out, I may as well get the trooper helmet pieces

Go to grab my super glue... and I'm out.But I've got two full bottles of Loctite 5 Minute epoxy sitting around since 2009. Mixed up some, tried to get it together, and it takes so long for things to set, and I had no clamps. Managed to get the parts to stay together fairly decently,Have a little bit leftover, decide screw it, start the trooper, it's starting to tack up, shouldn't take too long, right?

I think I ended up holding those two pieces together for about twenty minutes before they set enough that they wouldn't separate. After that, managed to find a small bottle of super glue, not enough to get my pieces together, so I decided I'd do what I did for my Iron Man glove: Weld em together with my soldering iron. Started by aligned two of the pieces together at one end, and glued just that end together. Lined up the edges as accurate as possible, spot "weld" em together in multiple places to hold, and then "Weld" along the seems to create a nice even bond all around. Not everything lined up the best, but the parts that will be seen are lined up, so that's all that matters to me. Once assembled, my low polygonal 3d scan of my head came in very nicely in terms of size for the helmet. I've got some room, but I plan on stuffing some fans and electronics in there, so padding will do just fine for me.


After that hit up my local walmart for some more sandpaper, glue, and other misc. supplies. Picked up a couple graphite pencils to try a cool technique saw Bill Doran do: Flat black paint the pistols, then apply some crushed up graphite. Gives it a nice sort of sheen,

Also picked up a vacuum tube that I think will work well for the air vent box, amongst some other supplies, including some weathering paints. And finally, I got to work sanding down the helmet, while the rest of the pieces for it print out:

 

[arnoc]

I've been full force working on the helmet as lately, sanding and smoothing, primer, sanding and smoothing. Got a couple coats on now, and it's getting to level where I'm starting to get satisifed with it. There's definitely trouble spots, considering that it's been rather cold out and my spraying area is limited. I need to figure out a better rig so I can rotate it around and get a nice even coating around.


In great news though, my collected edition of the Last Flight of the Harbinger arrived, which has given me lots of reference pictures, especially of the jetpack since all the troopers wear it. It appears they've boxed it up more, but most of the major details seem to line up. One of the best views was the side of Aero's helmet!

It's a lot more straight back depicted in the comic than it appears in the concept art. I'm thinking I like the cowl as I designed it, closer to the concept, than that style for the helmet. What do you fine folks think?

And cycling back to the jetpack, and the rest of the suit at large, I've begun taking a mind towards the electronics that I'll be using for it. I want to stick a camelback inside the thing, either 70oz or 50oz (I have a 100oz, but it's at my max ideal size for the jetpack, so I'll need to downsize the bladder in order to be able to get a nice full model). Run the bit up through the suit, and maybe lay the line somewhere along the neck, and some way to rig it up to hang off my glasses . This'll hopefully provide a bit of a way to keep cooler with some water running across my neck, and keep well hydrated. I also want to stuff some lights in the pack for the thrusters, as well as perhaps some sounds for a nice big old "whooosh", perhaps in sync with some light pulsing. Ideally I'd want to add in a couple motors to move the thrusters. Not quite sure the type I'd need for such a thing. But the biggest feat I think I'd like to do would be to do is have the controllers all be set up via Bluetooth, and use the wrist communicator to send the commands. I'll have to do some more research, but I think if I'm able to use a Pi 3, and a touchscreen, I'll be able to create my own interface with aurebesh, and then while suited up be able to issue the commands to control the pack.

In the helmet, I'm thinking of mounting a fan to help blow cool air down on me. As well, since I'll have the tubes running down, I'm thinking of grabbing a couple small, 40mm fans to put on the aerators to suck air out and through the box on abs. I also want to place a voice changer within the helmet. It is a bit large on me , so I'm gonna to be need to be using some padding, and worried about some sound cutoff. I've seen other folks do modes where they place speakers in their buckets, and stick microphones on the outside Trying to decide if I want to do such a thing or not, and if so, make the changes for placement in the 3d model now rather than later.

And finally, perhaps in the ab box, I could potentially hook up another speaker within to play voice and perhaps one of hte buttons I could make play the Imperial Motif (Or controlled by the wrist). The Ab box I'm also thinking could provide a good location for battery mounting. Considering I'll be having the jetpack on my back full of water, the weight of the batteries may help to even out the weight of the pack.

If anyone has any suggestions, please voice them!

 

[ZeroSum]

That pilot design is really cool. I'm subbing this thread and will be giving it a proper read later. I look forward to the progress

 

[arnoc]

Quick little update,

Haven't been doing much. Been waiting on the cowl pieces to finish printing out fully before doing anymore work, mainly due to the fact that I've run out of dust masks to wear, and I'm waiting for new respirator to arrive from Amazon (I could have popped down to local Home Depot and get one, but I was ordering from Amazon anyways, and with Prime I thought it'd have been here Saturday, like rest of my order, but won't be here till Wednesday). Already begun sanding and filling in some of the gaps. Don't mind how looks in some of the pictures, I had to scrunch my head down to wear it without it separating, because I just couldn't resist putting it on!



Though right now I think I can pull off a decent Dark Helmet costume...

 

[arnoc]

Well, it's been a while since I updated. Work, lack of funds, weather, have all played a delay. That and the fact that I realized that I've got a bit of a gap issue.


It looks to be pretty severe, not sure if I can fix it at all. I am currently in the middle of learning how to use Blender, so I'm not sure if it's worth it to study the comics a little more, and use Blender to create a potentially better fitting model, and print it all over again, or perhaps pep the current one, or maybe even pep the new one. Currently trying to get the jetpack designed up My first attempt turned out a little like this:



I like the general shape of it and all, but I don't think it matches what I want enough. I'll keep working on learning more of blender to be able to create teh shapes I want and all, and hopefully get a much better result.

And the pistols? Well, I thought I couldn't find the main section with the magnets for a couple months there, while sitting at my computer desk and playing with the part in my hand since I thought it was from a version I had previously discarded... Ah well. As soon as I pick up a little more filler primer next paycheck, I should have the first pistol fully prepped, painted and assembled within the next two weeks.