Sofie3387's first GM armor

[sofie3387]

Hi guys!

I've been making some costumes and trooping for quite some time now, but I finally took the step to make my favourite clone trooper: the GM!
I've bought a bunch of armor pieces from General Fidelis at the Rebel Legion forums a while ago and started to assemble them. Besides that there's still a lot of scrap build and creative solutions going on, but that's just the way I like it :-)

I want to get my future costume as accurate as possible and eventually get it approved by RL and/or 501st. But since there's so few reference material and a lot of ways to interprete them, I'd like to show my progress here so if anything goes wrong, you are able to interfere or give some hints ^^

First of all: I'm the sewing- and helping part of the relationship, the lead goes to my boyfriend who already did some cloning in the past. We're both dremeling, sanding, sculpting, painting and sweating on this project!

So, the workspace as it is today:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201755500234221&l=33b05a0159
First question already: the belt is in some kind of rubberish material. We've already did a clone trooper belt like this and painted it with latex primer. That didn't seem to hold longer than a few conventions. Is there someone who knows what kind of primer is flexible enough and will go with the material?

The special shoulder part is still a WIP: I used the extra clone shoulder I had as a base, glued cardboard on it and started varnishing till it became as hard as the plastic. Now we're going to sculpt the lines on it.

www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201755500154219&l=31940b1d7e
The backpack was all open, so we put some foam (PUR) in it and started fiberglassing over it. We will add the next pieces by sunday.

www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201755500194220&l=b9fffb34e4
The ammo boxes are 3D printed: now they're identical, light and strong. They fit a standard belt. We also 3D printed the details on the chest plate. I'll make some pictures about that when they're attached to it!


Another question: I have a standard clone backplate but the 501st rules seem to mention another back plate and a removable backpack. I don't really get this requirement -_-

[redkraytdragon]

Hi Sofie and welcome!
It looks like you're off to a great start so far and those ammo boxes look fantastic.
I can't help as far as the flexible primer goes. Maybe try hitting up the Lowe's or HD paint departments and talk with them and see what they have to offer? You might be surprised

As for the backplate and backpack question, I was actually quite surprised to learn this myself but the backplate is NOT a standard clone backplate as seen in this pic

Here's a few example pics of what my backplate looks like



And a shot from above with the chestplate next to it


Here's how I attach my backpack




Hope that all helps point you in the right direction. Feel free to hit me (or anyone else around here) up with any other questions you might have. We're here to help!

[danrodjr]

Looking good so far!!!!! Sent you a FB Friends request!!!

[sofie3387]

Dan,

As you can see I accepted it :-)

Will,

Thanks a lot for the pictures, they're really clarifying! I hope I can still manage to reshape my clone backplate in time for CE2, otherwise I'll have to redo it later for 501st approval. It looks like not only the box shape has to be removed, the lines under it are also in the way, so just cutting it out and filling the gap of the box won't do

I'm intrigued by your fastening system. Is your backpack removable? By removing the pins I see in the black plates sticking out from the inside?


If someone ever wants the ammo boxes, I can ask my partner to place them for sale online, but maybe I should test their functionality first

[redkraytdragon]

No problem Sofie, my pleasure and happy to help
Yeah, I believe Gatzski (Greg) over on CT.net made major modifications to his clone backplate by removing the box and details. He did an amazing job, but I can tell from the pics that it was a TON of work (as a side note, they used his GM pics for the CRL) and probably wouldn't want to attempt it again lol.
As for the backpack attachment, I've modified those 'tabs' since that pic was taken and they are actually flared out flatter (and facing away from each other, if that makes sense) so they're not poking you in the back (they also help keep the pack frame firmly in place and attached to the backplate, which in turn strengthens the entire rig). I had just temporarily stuck nails in there to keep it in place for the pics, but with the new tabs they are a royal pain to get them back into the slots (if you cut the slots the way I do mine)..so I guess you could make it removable if you wanted to, but it'd be a hassle and a bit of work. I'll be leaving that one on mine permanently lol.
But yes you are correct, the box and the lines will both have to be removed (if you're going for accuracy)...that's gonna be very, very tricky once you cut them cause you'll need to reinforce the backplate somehow as it's structural integrity will be compromised and you'll likely be looking at a pile of scrap pieces of plastic ;P
As for the ammo boxes, if I was you I'd just make a really nice master set and mold them up for making duplicates...but that's just me

[midniterider]

Greetings and welcome!

To give the belt and pouches a realistic look, I use duck cloth (natural color). You can construct a "sleeve" to cover the rubber belt / pouches, or you can make a belt with craft foam and duck cloth, and make 100% duck cloth pouches.

Otherwise, to paint rubber clone belts, your best option is to thin out fabric paint with water and air brush it on the belt. The only draw back is you have to apply a lot of layers of air brushed fabric paint. It takes a lot of time and patience.