Thursday 5 April 2012

Sandtrooper - underway


I'm totally indebted to two Sites, without whose info and very knowledgable Forum members i'd not be undertaking this project.
First up is the Mos Eisley Police Department:

http://www.mepd.net/

to my mind, THE US-based place for all things Sandie.
And then there's the UK Garrison, the English version:

http://www.ukgarrison.co.uk/site/

As i say, both are terrific and very supportive to anyone undertaking the quite daunting task of joining them.
It wasn't till i started researching that i realised there's quite a few types of the Sandtrooper seen in the sparse time they're seen on-screen in "A New Hope", with many variations of equipment and weapons.
Many folk choose to recreate exactly the likes of the "Stop That Ship!" or the "These Aren't The Driods We're Looking For" etc troopers, or they go their own way.
That's what i'm going to do and the MEPD has these excellent reference shots for EVERY trooper seen in the film.
Studying them, this one from the MEPD (thanks MEPD) is the closest to what i'll be doing - already have the E11 Blaster, the backpack is exactly the one i'm doing, i'm going for the orange pauldron for a bit of contrast and i really like the MP40 pouches.
But where am i right now?
Well, the frame that everything else on the backpack attaches to is done. Back in '76, when George Lucas decided at the last minute that the Sandtroopers should have some sort of survival units on their backs, a hurried rush to a Boy Scout suppliers turned up a metal frame that rucksacks could then be attached to. These are long gone but, by using overflow piping and connecting thingies, a good aprroximation can be achieved. Here it is - i've used Screwfix products as they come moulded in black, so no spraying needed, and bent the piping to a 30 degree haflway up as needed:

The toilet cistern had been cut down, primed and sprayed Satin Black:

And the radio unit now has the knobs attached, two toggle switches of the right type sourced from Maplins, and the radio dial printed out, glued in with a bit of PVA and a disc of clear plastic cut from a mylar comic sleeve glued on top of that:

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