Extras
This is the area where I will
document my travails with obtaining the various add-ons to go with the armour;
undersuits, gloves, boots, blasters etc.
However, being my normal impatient self, and
determined to have something to wear when going to events, and wanting to
properly join in, prior to ordering the armour I have begun putting together
an outfit. Also, I wanted to try to make some of the extras to test my
creative skills before being let loose on several £££'s worth of armour.
So, I trawled the websites looking for something that
I felt manageable as a start, and something that I might be able to add to
later. I went for the TIE reserve pilot. So, not the full TIE pilot suit, but
something that I could upgrade later, should I feel able.
The 501st Legion have a Costume Reference Library
(CRL), where they have painstakingly details every character type from the
films, graphic novels, games and books to provide a bible for anyone wishing to
create a costume. This reference material is used to check whether a costume is
correct, and gains approval for trooping. To maintain a level of
professionalism, they don't approve such things as the cloth costumes sold by
fancy dress shops or the plastic helmets etc. Everything has to look as it would in the films. Some
stuff is available from online sellers, but is of varying quality. Rather like
the cheap knock-offs of expensive items.
My attempt at a TIE Reserve Pilot is documented here :
My upgrade to a full TIE pilot is documented here :
My attempt at a AT-AT driver is documented here :
I'm going for an X-Wing Pilot here :
My blaster collection is documented here :
I've
tried to use existing pieces where I can, just painting or adapting them as
necessary. Not sure if some of them will pass scrutiny, but they might be OK as
an embellishment. Such as the Imperial Code Cylinders, that the TIE pilot has in
his sleeve pocket. Basically silver cylinders with a clasp and coloured top, I
thought that these might do :
Found these quite cheap on eBay, they might come in useful !
Looking at the original stormtroopers, they appear to have black chelsea boots dyed
white. So, in the spirit of idiocy I have purchased a cheap pair of chelsea
boots, and some white dye. You can probably guess what's going to happen
next.....
Boots at first coat,
boots at 4th coat
boots at 8th coat (second bottle)
And, having heard that it's quite difficult to hear when wearing the helmet. I found
a gizmo at Maplins that looks quite interesting. It's a diy kit to make an
amplifier, with two mics and an earphone socket on a baseboard. My thinking is
to attach wires to the mics rather than soldering them to the board, then mount
them in the 'horns' on the front of the helmet. In theory, I should be able to
get stereo sound played into the helmet, so I'll possibly fit a pair of speakers
into it. Of course, that will make using the voice changer more difficult, but I
like that type of problem.
Didn't bother with the mics on the helmet, as it isn't that bad, even in a
fairly noisy environment. However, I want to be heard, so I bought an Aker
loudspeaker unit, which is attached to a mic in the helmet. As it has an input,
I found a file of trooper 'chatter' on the internet, so I added an mp3 player
with the chatter track on loop. Played slightly lower than my voice, it provides
a semi-realistic backing track to my voice.
Mod 2 was to mount the speaker in the chest box, so that speech is coming out at
the front rather than from my pocket ! Cutting a hole in the TIE flight suit
allowed the routing of cabling invisibly.
Mod 3 was to add an iComm imperial comm system, which adds a static burst after
speech. This has a remote switch that allows you to key the mike, making the
comms sound better.
There's
a lot of kit to carry round, the armour is odd shapes, the boots are quite heavy
and all other bits. I must do an inventory of what is needed for each character
at some point. Mainyl so I don't forget to take anything. To aid transporting
stuff, I bought a couple of 135litre wheeled boxes, which also make storage of
everything between troops easier as well. Coming in a boring black and yellow, I
had to decorate/personalise them in some way.
Although, some of the helmets look quite good, so I bought an Ikea display unit
for them in my man-cave. Might add lights to the unit at some point in the
future.