What are the decals on a TK/TD bucket really supposed to be

[Riceball]

I know that this would be considered blasphemy by many here but has anyone attempted to try to make a realistic/ultra idealized trooper helmet by replacing the decals with physical parts and cut outs? I don't know what all the decals are supposed to represent but I figure the tube stripes are supposed to be actual slits along the tubes and the grey traps along the top and the 'tears' possibly vents. I would also think that the chin is supposed to more grill like and possibly act as a vocoder although I don't know what purpose the frown would serve except as possible decoration.

Of course this is assuming that the decals aren't really meant to be just decoration and were a shortcut for adding details that would take too much time and effort to model. Like I said, I realize that this probably considered blasphemous by some but I like to think that the original designer meant for those decals to be more than just simple decoration. I've always been a big believer in a designer's/creator's intent and what a prop and/or costume is supposed to be in universe as opposed to what we get and see on the set.

 

[Mr. No Stripes]

I know that this would be considered blasphemy by many here but has anyone attempted to try to make a realistic/ultra idealized trooper helmet by replacing the decals with physical parts and cut outs? I don't know what all the decals are supposed to represent but I figure the tube stripes are supposed to be actual slits along the tubes and the grey traps along the top and the 'tears' possibly vents. I would also think that the chin is supposed to more grill like and possibly act as a vocoder although I don't know what purpose the frown would serve except as possible decoration.

Of course this is assuming that the decals aren't really meant to be just decoration and were a shortcut for adding details that would take too much time and effort to model. Like I said, I realize that this probably considered blasphemous by some but I like to think that the original designer meant for those decals to be more than just simple decoration. I've always been a big believer in a designer's/creator's intent and what a prop and/or costume is supposed to be in universe as opposed to what we get and see on the set.

I always thought the stripes were kinda like kill stripes or a rank or something... I'm only speculating, but my reasoning is Mr. No Stripes never hits anything in ANH... in fact he has terrible aim, and gets shot several times... mostly by Han

 

[Jannix Quinn]

The stripes on the helmets are like energy bars in a game. They let you know how healthy the Stormtrooper is.

Like, | | | | | | | healthy
and | | almost dead.

They originally used pink hearts but the Rebels laughed at them so they changed it to blue stripes.

 

[GF]

I'm sure it was a short cut to make grills or vents, not sure why they used blue for the tube stripes though, maybe that was just a decoration reason. Same goes for the blue/grey AB buttons, shorcut for control knobs or buttons.

GFollano

 

[Mr. No Stripes]

The stripes on the helmets are like energy bars in a game. They let you know how healthy the Stormtrooper is.

Like, | | | | | | | healthy
and | | almost dead.

They originally used pink hearts but the Rebels laughed at them so they changed it to blue stripes.

are you saying I'm sick?

 

[Fizbin]

The stripes on the helmets are like energy bars in a game. They let you know how healthy the Stormtrooper is.

Like, | | | | | | | healthy
and | | almost dead.

They originally used pink hearts but the Rebels laughed at them so they changed it to blue stripes.

So then explain the existence of Mr. No Stripes... by your definition, he shouldn't even be upright. :lol

 

[ReelHero]

I've got a set of armor in a box, and I've considered doing just that for a long while.

I've thought about putting a hearing device in the ear slots to increase audio pickup in the helmet; having the heat vents actually be heat vents; at least putting blue felt or something under holes to represent the filtering system or whatever the blue stripes are supposed to be (I forget at the moment); making the ab buttons functional; and so on.

I think people have kind of already done that sort of thing to some extent anyway, with making the aerators speakers, cutting out the frown slots for ventilation, etc.

 

[ALPHA D UNIT]

Im glad to hear other people want to make armor that re-creates the intended purpose of screen-seen decor. I thought about making a community outside of the 501st called the practical armor division. Thats where people would make their armor functional do a degree as the in-movie universe would use.

Ex. The 501st pathfinders state that all the pouches and bags on a bikerscout must not open, as that is not how the on-screen prop was.... How backwards is that!? I personally would LOVE to see more fans make armor that is actual useful.

 

[trooper18938]

the star Wars Visual dictionary has an "expanded/fantasy" explanation for the stuff. Also, the Disney trooper helmets had the tears cut out and black mesh inserted for ventilation in the florida heat, same goes for the lenses.

 

[Riceball]

Im glad to hear other people want to make armor that re-creates the intended purpose of screen-seen decor. I thought about making a community outside of the 501st called the practical armor division. Thats where people would make their armor functional do a degree as the in-movie universe would use.

Ex. The 501st pathfinders state that all the pouches and bags on a bikerscout must not open, as that is not how the on-screen prop was.... How backwards is that!? I personally would LOVE to see more fans make armor that is actual useful.

That would be pretty cool, I think too many people are focused on duplicating things to the Nth degree including flaws and defects and forget that within the movie universe these flaws and defects wouldn't exist. If I had the money and time I'd join your practical division in a heart beat, I think that it would be pretty fun and a nice challenge to try to make things like Stormtrooper armor practical/functional. I'm sure that trying to decide what all the little decals on the helmets and the greeblies on the armor would generate some fun and interesting discussions as would the process of trying to make them at least appear to be functional. Maybe we should start a thread on how to make a practical/functional set of Stormtrooper armor and in it we discuss what things are and what sorts of changes would be needed.

Is the 501st really that anal in requiring that pouches and bags not be able to open simply because that's the way the on-screen props were? That's pretty silly, do they really think that they wouldn't open in real life and they were just there for decoration? It's pretty obvious that they're meant to open and to hold things, it's not like the decals on the Stormtroopers helmets where it's vague as to what they're supposed to be or do.

 

[Paul Andrew]

I know that this would be considered blasphemy by many here but has anyone attempted to try to make a realistic/ultra idealized trooper helmet by replacing the decals with physical parts and cut outs? I don't know what all the decals are supposed to represent but I figure the tube stripes are supposed to be actual slits along the tubes and the grey traps along the top and the 'tears' possibly vents. I would also think that the chin is supposed to more grill like and possibly act as a vocoder although I don't know what purpose the frown would serve except as possible decoration.

Of course this is assuming that the decals aren't really meant to be just decoration and were a shortcut for adding details that would take too much time and effort to model. Like I said, I realize that this probably considered blasphemous by some but I like to think that the original designer meant for those decals to be more than just simple decoration. I've always been a big believer in a designer's/creator's intent and what a prop and/or costume is supposed to be in universe as opposed to what we get and see on the set.

!NECROPOST!

I was just wondering this same thing today. I've had a bear of a time finding anything that looks like a helmet that has details that aren't 'painted' on or decals. I think if it was done right it could be a thing of beauty.

 

[tubachris85x]

This may help..


Disney star wars weekends poster had this variation this past year

 

[Paul Andrew]

That is a pretty slick design. :thumbsup

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

@Paul Andrew, thanks for necro'ing this. I missed it when @Riceball originally posted. :$

@Riceball, that's exactly the approach I've gradually taken with the Stormie buckets I'm working on, and retro-conjecturing it to the Clone troopers that preceded them.

I have the grey bits as sensor-transparent "windows", like the stuff you see on an IR motion sensor covering the actual sensor. They cover the Stormtroopers' blind spots and provide data for the situational-awareness HUD. The black bits surrounding the grey are something like a gasket between the grey material and the white helmet material. The black slits are mesh-protected openings for clearer readings. Absent from the forehead traps as those are more supplementary, and from the Sandtrooper tears to protect the sensors (the rear traps are vital enough they risk the damage to open them up).

The frown and aerators are elements of the breathing system. The grey teeth have sensors like the other grey panels. If they sense quality and/or quantity of ambient air drop below a certain threshold, solenoids snap the frown openings shut and it switches over to a small internal air supply, housed in the side tubes. The aerators are hookups for external air supply.

The chin grille is, as you surmised, the external-address speaker (or rather the protective frame covering it).

The tube stripes I have as a sort of infantry badge. Those with only one set or none are from some other MOS or rank tier wearing the armor as battle dress.

How's that for a start?

--Jonah

 

[Riceball]

@Paul Andrew, thanks for necro'ing this. I missed it when @Riceball originally posted. :$

@Riceball, that's exactly the approach I've gradually taken with the Stormie buckets I'm working on, and retro-conjecturing it to the Clone troopers that preceded them.

I have the grey bits as sensor-transparent "windows", like the stuff you see on an IR motion sensor covering the actual sensor. They cover the Stormtroopers' blind spots and provide data for the situational-awareness HUD. The black bits surrounding the grey are something like a gasket between the grey material and the white helmet material. The black slits are mesh-protected openings for clearer readings. Absent from the forehead traps as those are more supplementary, and from the Sandtrooper tears to protect the sensors (the rear traps are vital enough they risk the damage to open them up).

The frown and aerators are elements of the breathing system. The grey teeth have sensors like the other grey panels. If they sense quality and/or quantity of ambient air drop below a certain threshold, solenoids snap the frown openings shut and it switches over to a small internal air supply, housed in the side tubes. The aerators are hookups for external air supply.

The chin grille is, as you surmised, the external-address speaker (or rather the protective frame covering it).

The tube stripes I have as a sort of infantry badge. Those with only one set or none are from some other MOS or rank tier wearing the armor as battle dress.

How's that for a start?

--Jonah

That sounds pretty cool but how would you execute it? If I were to try make an idealized Stormtrooper bucket I'd probably start with front grill, the part beneath the "grin" and make it a real grill. I'd then cover the trapezoids along the top with a mesh, for some reason I've always thought of them as being mesh covered.

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

If I were to try make an idealized Stormtrooper bucket I'd probably start with front grill, the part beneath the "grin" and make it a real grill. I'd then cover the trapezoids along the top with a mesh, for some reason I've always thought of them as being mesh covered.

"The trapezoids along the top..." You mean the four round the brow band?

I've had other costumes further up my priority list, so I've just been fiddling with the Stormtrooper from time to time. But ultimately I'll probably go with 3D models of the various bits sintered out of the material I select. I'm not going to have access to an SLS machine for a bit yet, so I have some lead time. *heh* I plan to do the grille and armature for the frown in sintered aluminum, adjusted for material thickness for what goes on top. A mould taken off one of the Stormtrooper buckets I have is going to have black rubber or truck-bed liner sprayed into it for the grille covering. Thin, heat-formed, translucent grey acrylic for the teeth, traps, tears, and ear greebles. Thin rubber sheet laser-cut for the trap and tear and ear greeble surrounds (and the frown surround, should one want to go with a later version of helmet).

I was just going to use black panty-hose for the openings in the traps and tears and frown, superglued in place.

I was going to plan out the valving and solenoids for the valves and teeth sometime in the next couple years. Finding air bottles that small is difficult. I'm going to make bayonet fittings for the aerators so they can just get popped off and external hoses attached -- for spacetrooper or pilot/armored-vehicle-driver gear.

I also have only rudimentarily sketched out the sensor pallets behind the traps and tears and teeth. Same timeline as the other complex bits. As well as the uni- and omnidirectional mics in the earcaps and the optics behind the eye lenses. Those will feed into a signal processor. The eye-track system will feed realtime daylight visual, with callouts a la Google Glass aided by the peripheral sensors. And loud noises squelched in the earpieces.

Probably going to do the dome, back, ear bases, ear caps, face, and lower face as separate pieces, with a substrate skeleton to which to mount them, the various systems, and the padding.

There's more, but those are the broad strokes.

--Jonah

 

[Riceball]

Sounds pretty cool and a lot more involved than I would go although I do like making the thing in multiple pieces since that's, clearly, what the band the "ears" sit on is meant to show.

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

I'm actually probably going to put a limited-swivel hinge in those earcap bases for the faceplate. The face will only rotate up a little, but enough to open the neck up enough to put the helmet on straight. I like to think the "screwing the helmet on" move was the sort of time-saving thing soldiers in the field tend to come up with.

--Jonah

 

[Bmkristiansen]

I just thought about this the other day! Glad to see a discussion on it.

 

[jontom]

Im glad to hear other people want to make armor that re-creates the intended purpose of screen-seen decor. I thought about making a community outside of the 501st called the practical armor division. Thats where people would make their armor functional do a degree as the in-movie universe would use.

Ex. The 501st pathfinders state that all the pouches and bags on a bikerscout must not open, as that is not how the on-screen prop was.... How backwards is that!? I personally would LOVE to see more fans make armor that is actual useful.

This. Exactly This! Its weird to think that if I make a costume that looks *more real* and feels natural but doesn't match exactly what was on screen then its somehow not good enough. I was amazed that even though its a *CGI animated show*, the Rebel Legion has already set strict guidelines as to what can be considered an acceptable Kanan costume. Whereas I'm sure that if Kanan ever shows up in another medium he's going to look completely different.

Yay, glad we are having this discussion.