Clone Trooper Armor

Has anyone started this yet?

We have progressed from the "talking big about it" phase to the testing materials phase.
I know this will be a big, big, big project.
I am in the process of gathering reference materials for designing the sculpts.
We have decided that the helmet is going to be the most difficult part.
Does anyone have any input on this yet?
Potential problems?

 

Well you can get the helmet on ebay.

 

Yes. The Canadian promo helmets.
I am waiting to receive my ebay helmets right now.

If they are decent, we will use them for a costume. Otherwise we will use them as reference material. They don't seem to be in a 100% accurate proportion. I want to see the movie several times as well, to see how these guys move.
Like I said we will see how useable these helmets really are.

I have been searching for material to make the undersuits out of ever since I got a good look at what they really do look like.
It seems to be some sort of a quilted-like material. I could not see any visible stitching, but then, I was probably looking at a digital picture. You don't need thread in the digital world.

Shoes-same thing.
Are there really 'real' Clone Trooper shoes & suits or are they all digital? I have seen some pretty wild and futuristic-looking athletic shoes in the stores, but are the Clone Trooper shoes real or just digital?

I am hoping there will be commercially produced toy weapons available that we can modify, just like the Kenner trooper blasters.

I am hoping to acheive a fairily accurate (90+%) representation of a Clone Trooper.

This will be a big, big project.

 

Geez, no one is touching this thread!

I read and understood the vacuuform tutorial. It seems pretty straigth-forward. I know there will be a lot of trial and error (lots of error) before we get a decent piece, but I think this is something worth trying.

Clones? Anyone?

 

I've heard from the Canadian Garrison of stormtroopers, that the helmets that come with the cereal are kinda like the Don Post helmets - pretty good, but misproportioned, and way off when compared to something else.
- Tom

 

Normally I stay away from these discussions because everyone wants to make a buck off the molds they make. Nostradamus has proven time and time again to this board that she is looking out for the fans, not just for herself. I'll be more than willing to talk about needed mods to the Kelloggs promo helmet and other mold making strategies needed to pull off this costume, as long as the Nostra is heading it up.

-sc

 

I just received my clone troooper helmet today and it looks pretty good!

I definitely want to make a mold of this one beause eventually I will have my armor - so this helmet is phase 1 for me

Any suggestions on this would be great!

Strawbary

 

Thanks Jeff!

I missed you at CII.

We just started talking about this (CT armor) on our drive home from Indy and the conversation turned towards the helmets as being the most critical and difficult part to make.
Then I discovered that the Kellogg's helmets really do exist. That will be a big help, even if it needs to be re-done, at least there is something to reference it off of as far as the major details and proportions.

The other reason why CT armor makes sense is that I know there would be enough folks interested in a final product that we could perhaps pool resources as far as costs, designs and labor, etc.
If we spend months working on great molds and plastic prototypes and we are able to get a descent suit, it just wouldn't look right with just one Clone Trooper, if ya know what I mean.

I wouldn't want to re-invent Stormtrooper armor, because that has been done before, and been done very, very well!

We have been looking at reference materials as far as the design of the suits. We are going to have to be creative in certain areas so we can make 2-piece parts. (like the leg pieces) They seem seamless, but there will have to be a seam somewhere. Unless we try to do it out of fiberglass.......
But with a vacuuform piece, there will need to be a lot more attention put into the details of making the pieces fit into each other almost perfectly, so they can be joined, filled and filed to look like there is no seam.
There is also the different wearers' height situation. I don't think there will be the same sort of built-in adjustability factor with the Clone trooper armor as there is with the Stormtrooper armor. The CT armor has some very definite shapes that won't look right if they are trimmed and shimmed.

BTW- Vince, my husband (Grand Moff Tarkin to those of you who saw him at CII and Dragon Con 2001) would be doing the sculpting. He is pretty serious about doing this although I doubt he would wear the final costume--he says he gets claustrophobic in helmets!
Right now, Vince is bouncing back and forth between trying to do this with positive or with negative molds.
Here come the trial & errors!
We will see what happens and you know, before long, your phone number will be on our speed-dial!

 

Yes, people are doing the armor.

This is not an easy project though.

 

A friend of mine started a Clone Trooper mould about a month ago. He finished the moulds within the month, and he's got the plastic coming from order.

 

I dunno about those plastic helmets. I mean, if they make the material thick enough, or reinforce it with padding, it's a good idea. But I still remember buying a 50-dollar plastic Stormtrooper helmet when I was ten, and just counting the dents on November 1st. Nowdays I go for aluminum. It's sturdier and better looking, personally. But the helmet itself is dang heavy, and expensive. Making molds can be tough, but if you have the time and resources, it's worth it.

 

You don't use aluminum.

This is not the same thing plastic as your halloween mask.

 

Autoclaving aluminium parts would be nice. Costly, but nice.

Nostra, Fiberglass definitely makes a better end product. If you have the time and the money that would be the way to go. I also agree with you about having more than one clone trooper costume for an event. A minium of 3 would be needed to make an impact. Two is okay, but they just look like a cute couple, three would do the job right.

Azeem, Yeah a few groups have started their projects, but they all seem to have died out. Noone made it to DragonCon or the Celebration Convention with clone armor. -sigh- It should have been done for both conventions.

-sc

 

I never have made a costume before and I really wanna be a clone. Are there any sites I can go to to show me how to make a mold for the armor part not the helmet?

 

I am impressed with how they look in the movie.
But, they are all so battle-worn already! I thought these guys were 'brand-new' out of the box for the first time here in EP II.
They must have been practicing a lot before they show up in EP II.

I like how they look and I have a good feeling about them.

 

Macho, Go to the Definitive HOW-TO on Costuming and Prop Building Website. They have tons of info about custom making your own stormtrooper costume from the ground up. The Stomtrooper is similar in body armor design to the Clone trooper costume.

Nostra, I just came back from the movie, yes, the troopers on the field were very battle worn. I persoanlly liked it, made the world seem lived in. I am sure they were pristine when getting on the transport ships.

I got my Canadian Clone Helmet in the mail this afternoon. It's vacuumformed in .060 guage styrene. It gets thin in places, but it is a decent thickness to make modifications onto. GF and AFX armor was vacuumformed in .093 plastic, so this is just 2/3 the thickness of the macdaddy stuff out there.

-sc

 

Is the rubies Clone trooper and Jango Fett helmet the same size as Don posts, or are they made for adults?

 

We just got our Canadian helmets today too.
Vince has been playing with it. THe way it is currently designed, it is too narrow for Vince's pointed nose.
We have been looking at the reference materials we have and the Canadian helmets seem to have a "foot" at the base of the neck. Do the movie helmets have this? It sits a little too high on my shoulders as is. I may trim off the "foot" on mine.
These helmets will help us quite a bit and they will be fun to wear right now!

 

Nostra, The movie helemts actually have the reverse of the "foot" you are talking about. They have a double ridge that tucks under the wearers head. Bad thing about the clone trooper helmet is that it fully encases the head. You'll not be able to slide a REAL Clone helemt over your head to get it on, you'll need to disconntect the front or the back plate to slide your head inside, and then close the helemt around your head, nearly choking your neck.

This design is only for the most anal retentive of costumers though. The general fan can just cut away that flaired out foot area on the Canadian Kellogs helmet and wear the helemt like it is.

I too am smashing my nose into the face plate. grrrr. I wll probably use this helmet as a basis for resculpting a new helmet.

-sc

 

Right sc.
A re-designed helmet would still have to be very wearable. If you're not planning on wearing it, why bother having a hollow helmet at all?
A helmet that practically locks around your head doesn't sound very wearable long-term, unless it had some sort of a quick-release access.

 

I would make the faceplate and top-dome of the helmet two pieces that are permanently glued together, the backplate of the helm would slide on and attach to the inside sides of the faceplate. I would probably use magnets to hold the backplate in place. Velcro would work too, but you'd have to design the pieces for the added velcro space needed.

The dome would need to have a hardhat liner, one of the nicer ones that fit snugly to your head. Those run about $15.00 at Gemplers.com

-Jeff

[image=http://www.studiocreations.com/howto/clonetrooper/images/clonehelmet_connectivity.gif]

 

I was at Walmat this afternoon and there is a real nice banner of CloneTroopers there. It only shows a straight-on front veiw and only the top half, but did show the bottom edge of the helmet quite well.

I checked 2 fabric stores for possible Clone Trooper suit fabric. Found nothing yet.

 

I'm very interested in creating some Clone Trooper armor and would love exchange ideas with and/or help other people who are working on this as well.
I'm kinda jumping into the deep end of the pool here as I have never vacuum formed anything in my life but I do have some experience with fiberglass work and a high tolerance for redoes so hopefully I'll be able to figure it out .
I'm looking at this a more of a long-term project as I'll be either working full-time or in school (and then still working part-time) so I don't have gobs of time and money to dedicate to such an undertaking but hopefully stubbornness and insanity will compensate for that .

I as well am starting off with the helmet and then I'll try to create a replica of the blaster rifles they used before moving on.
I'll probably end up buying a kit once somebody puts one together since creating a full suit of armor doesn't look possible on my current budget (taking into account that I'm going to screw up the first couple of attempts).

As for getting the helmet on and off. If all else fails I plan on cutting the edge short and just using white leather (if I can find it) or some other heavy duty white cloth. It won't look as good but it will allow a lot of flexibility and allows the helmet to be quickly taken off. The magnet idea sounds intriguing but you'll probably have to use some pretty strong magnets and that in turn might affect any electronics in the helmet. Then again I've never done this and I'll defer to the wisdom of those that have come before me .

My ultimate goal is to have at least three clone troopers show up for the first show of Episode III at wherever the local Star Wars fan club (the Chicago Force) decides to line up. So if there is anything that you know of that I could do to help promote the creation of a kit PLEASE let me know.

 

Saw Ep2 on the big screen again this weekend. The black under suit looked kinda like cotton. It was not shiny like spandex or lycra. What's your take on the look of the material? feedback?

-sc

 

It looked like a knitted sweater type material to me. If you do make these costumes, you'll have to find something that won't be that hot.
Perhaps long-johns would work?