Armor Party and Storm Game

This is what I call a good day. An armor party with my friends in The 501st Legion followed by a Storm football game.

I spent the day working on my Stormtrooper armor, at an event that we in the 501st Legion call an armor party (read more about armor parties HERE). 

Members worked busily all day on their costumes. There were power tools, ABS plastic flakes covering the driveway like snow, and water bottles everywhere. 

I spent the day doing final trimming and assembly of the leg pieces of my armor; my friend Ken borrowed my camera to take most of these shots, because I was too busy working.

After working on armor all day a bunch of us headed over to the Tampa Bay Times Forum for a Storm football game, compliments of the Forum, a thank you for out appearance at Star Wars Day, the huge event we did there (see the post about that HERE). The Forum gave us a shout-out at the end of the third quarter of the game; a video clip of it is below.

There was a snow slide - in steamy Florida no less - in the plaza of the Forum as people mingled before being allowed in to get to their seats

Below: buckets on, waiting for our moment to be on the big screens above the field

This picture cracks me up for some reason, a quick self-portrait. Heh, good times!

Below: The Tampa Bay Times Forum gives us a salute on the big screens. Very cool!

Disney Christmas Day Parade

My brothers and sisters march in Disney World's Magic Kingdom, down Main Street, in the fantastic Disney Christmas Day parade, filmed a couple of weeks ago, and broadcast today, December 25th, 2012.

This is what my Stormtrooper armor will look like when it is completed. My armor is not finished, so alas, I was unable to do this one as much as I really wanted, but I will be marching in the next one, and at other high profile events at Disney. They looked very impressive!

Enjoy the videos!

Jump to 9:30 on the video below to see our invasion of the Magic Kingdom!

Here's another one shot from the crowd; the actual footage, not what was shown on television:

The TK Project - Part Three

Part Three

For Parts 1 & 2 click HERE

Progress on the TK project makes me hopeful that I will have the armor completed by the end of January, February at the latest. Today was an intensive trimming and bucket-building day.

Mark, a 501st Legion member, came over and helped me assemble the pieces of the helmet, or bucket. Mark has built several sets of TK armor and knows more about about armor than anyone else I know. Mark is also the person who helped me get into the 501st Legion as well.

Mark did most of the work assembling the bucket while I continued trimming, and it was done in a little less than three hours, much less time than it would have taken me.

Did I mention yet how much time and effort goes into putting together Stormtrooper armor?

Mark works on the bucket and Gary helps with the trimming. There is a LOT of trimming involved, and three Dremels are better than one.

The ears are attached to the outside of the bucket and are one of the trickiest parts to trim, as the curve must hug the side of the bucket to minimize unsightly gaps.

The ear on the left is untrimmed; at the right is a trimmed ear, ready to be attached.

Left: A completed ear attached to the bucket. I will be replacing the gold screws with the white screws used to fasten switch plate covers to wall  electrical outlets, as those screws are white.

Right: Mark has clamped the back of the bucket to the front in before using the screws to attach the ears, which will also attach all the pieces together.

Below: I work on trimming the excess ABS plastic away from each piece. When the parts are molded in the vacuum-molding machine, there is plastic around the edges of each part where it is attached to the frame of the machine. This plastic must be cut away, following the "seam" visible on the inside of each piece

Dremel cutting and sanding bits are invaluable in this process. By the end of the day it looks like there's been a snow storm, with all the white flakes of plastic that are flying

Trying out my bucket. The lenses still have to be added to the inside, and the black rubber gasket that rings the front seam put on, and the decals and paint after that.

There is just enough room inside to add the padding that will make the bucket sit firmly on my head so it won't move about while it's being worn.

Some members install small fans in their buckets to reduce the condensation that develops on the inside, making it hard to see; I will probably install at least two. 

Below: the inside of the assembled bucket

Two TK Buckets

The TK Project continues! See previous post!

The TK Project

PART ONE & PART TWO

(updated!)

Introducing a new blog post category called The TK Project.

This category will document my newest costume, that of an Imperial  Stormtrooper.

Putting together a set of armor is not an easy task, and obtaining the pieces is just the beginning. Many hours of work need to be done to make the armor ready to wear. Each suit of armor is custom-fit for the person who wears it.

At long last, I have obtained TK armor, and will be documenting the process of customizing it, so that I can wear it during 501st Legion events.

In the picture above, I am with my friend Gary, wearing the armor of a late friend of mine, Marc Brugger, who passed away unexpectedly. This picture was taken two years ago after marching in the Star Wars Weekends parade at Disney World's Hollywood Studios, in Orlando. Marc had organized a bunch of us for a photoshoot at an empty office park, for a professional photographer, and since he was wearing his Darth Vader, he asked me to wear his TK.

Why do they call it TK?

Each costume in the 501st Legion is assigned a code; an Imperial Officer is ID, a TIE pilot is a TI, a biker scout is a TB, and an Imperial Stormtrooper is called a TK (in the first Star Wars movie, A New Hope, an Imperial Officer aboard the Death Star calls one of the Stormtroopers who has been knocked out by Han Solo and Luke Skywalker: "TK-421, why aren't you at your post?")

This is what unassembled TK looks like:

You can't walk into a store and by TK armor. I obtained this set from a friend of a friend, who made each piece from original molds.

Each piece was made in a vacu-form machine using ABS plastic, and must be individually trimmed to fit the person who wears it. The thigh, leg, and arm pieces must all be the proper length, and an attachment system has to be created to keep it together while it is worn, which means creating a system of straps and snaps.

No two suits of TK armor are exactly the same.

Members of the 501st Legion gather on weekends to work on their costumes and swap ideas on how to improve and upgrade them during get-togethers called armor parties. To read more about armor parties, click HERE. 

The first piece of armor I will be working on is the bucket, or the Stormtrooper helmet which consists of several pieces, all of which have to be trimmed and assembled. Part Two of The TK Project will document this part of it.

PART TWO

Now that I have the armor, the real work begins, and it involves armor parties, this one taking place at my house.

Assembling movie-accurate TK armor entails a tremendous amount of work, time and commitment, as you will soon see. It also requires a great deal of skill: skill with a Dremel, and skill modifying and customizing each piece for a proper fit.

The process usually begins with the bucket, which comes in several pieces, and has to be carefully trimmed before being assembled.

When the bucket pieces are made in the vacuum-molding machine, there are no openings. The eyes and the holes in the frown have to be cut out. This is a delicate process, and has to be done just right.




















An hobby knife is used to cut out the center of the eyes, but there is still more trimming that needs to be done.

Below: a pen is used to mark the areas where the excess ABS plastic must be trimmed away from the inside of the helmet. A Dremel with a rotary cutting blade is used to do this.

The excess plastic from the back part of the bucket has to be trimmed as well.














The Dremel is used once again for this task, after which the plastic is sanded to make it smooth. The back and front parts of the bucket will overlap, hiding the joint.

Opening the holes in the frown is a delicate process. The holes must be rectangular, and angled up to the center of the mask.

The first step is clearing a path with a small drill bit, and following up with a set of precision files.

Below: the holes in the frown must be as rectangular as possible, and angled toward the center. The size of the holes decrease from the center. The frown will be painted gray, masking any remaining imperfections. It is time-consuming, precise work.

One side is almost finished, but there is still more filing that needs to be done

















A good friend of mine in the 501st Legion, Brian has many costumes (including a Darth Vader; we have trooped together many times) and provides guidance on making sure my trimming is being done correctly. The armor will have to be approved by The 501st Legion before I can wear it at events.







Below: trimming the frown with the precision files

Below: my TK bucket (left) sitting beside a completed TK bucket (right)

Two friends of mine who are also working on their armor do some test fittings. Each set of armor is carefully trimmed to make sure it fits the person who will wear it.

As the day winds down, my wife Deb looks at Fritz trying on pieces of his armor.

It's been a productive day; I've made a good start on trimming my bucket. Many hours of work remain, however, before my armor becomes close to being ready to wear.