Clone Trooper Commander armour

[Tanotrooper]

Hi everyone,

I've been playing with the idea of making wearable uniforms and weapons in Lego for a while, both historical and fictional.

I've started with a Scout Trooper helmet and a M35 Stahlhelm, the first one being very smooth using mostly hinges, the second one more rough using the sculpture technique.

For the past two years, I've been going to F.A.C.T.S. (the largest scifi, anime, ... convention in the Benelux) after a hiatus of several years, and last year I took part in the cosplay contest for the first time. I really enjoy cosplaying, so this year I'll be creating two costumes, one of which will be this:

If I have to pick my favorite Star Wars uniform, it's this one, the Clone Trooper Commander from AOTC. The combination of colours, the helmet, ... amazed me when I first saw it. So I've decided to make this armour in Lego, a project that will take a lot of time (and money I suppose ) but should be well worth it in the end.

I'll be posting the progress of this project in this thread, so you can see the suit grow. The first, and perhaps the hardest part is the helmet.

The Phase I Clone helmet is one of the biggest Star Wars helmets and yet it poses some difficulties. Most notably, the neck 'ring' completely surrounds the neck. This looks great onscreen (no physical Clone armour was made for AOTC, it's all CGI) but will have to be a removable piece, just to get my (quite big ) head inside. Since the neck will be quite shut off, I was thinking about installing a battery-powered fan in there somewhere, to get some fresh air in (and to keep me from passing out I'm afraid).

I'll also be installing the red light at the back of the fin. I have to look into electronics but I believe I can put everything in the fin and top of the helmet.

The visor is special because it's not plain black but rather chromelike. I've found some silver reflective, see through foil online that might do the trick but I haven't decided whether the visor itself will be made out of plastic or trans bricks.

I've found a great diagram of the helmet (I can't seem to find it online though) on which I've based my design. I started off with the width of my head in studs (with 2 studs extra to have enough room) and based the rest of the measurements on that.

So here is the first step, showing the maximum width and length for the top dome of the helmet.

Then I traced the outer lines (width and length) of the dome and transferred it into bricks.

The 'dome' will be made using the sculpture technique, which should make a very strong structure. The rings below it will be made using the hinge technique. The 'face' and part of the back will also use the hinge technique, but the more complex shapes will require the sculpture technique again.

Here both back rings are added. I always though that the upper ring was grey but appearantly the color changes with the rank of the clone. The hinged parts don't offer much support except for the parts along the 'cross' of the helmet. I've also added marks where the fin will approx. be.

Now things are starting to take shape. I've begun drawing the layers and converting them into bricks. I know there are dome convertors but the shape is too complicated for them. (Or atleast the ones I've worked with so far.) Besides, I want to show that sculpturing can be done without computers aswell.

Here's an example of that technique with my Stahlhelm:

I'm still undecided whether I should tile the sculpture but we'll see when the time comes.

Since I haven't tried this helmet one in real life yet, I'm not 100% sure yet if it'll fit. I'll be building a prototype when the dome is complete to see if my measurements were correct.

That's it for now. Expect lots of updates in the following months!

Cheers,

Gaetano

Tanotrooper

[Vindicare]

Interesting...I'll keep an eye on this thread. I can't wait to see how the finished product turns out.

[wyfwyf112]

Nice work man.

I want to make a Star Wars Imperial Officer hat like this:

http://

cosplaysky.com/star-wars-imperial-officer-olive-green-cap-hat.html

Is it hard?

Wait for your reply.

[Tanotrooper]

Interesting...I'll keep an eye on this thread. I can't wait to see how the finished product turns out.

Thanks, here's a small update:

I've sculpted several layers of the dome, many more to go though. I hope to finish it by the end of this week.

Nice work man.

I want to make a Star Wars Imperial Officer hat like this:

http://

cosplaysky.com/star-wars-imperial-officer-olive-green-cap-hat.html

Is it hard?

Wait for your reply.

Thanks! Well, with the exception of belts and such, I wouldn't make soft gear items in LEGO. (If only for the fact that it's very uncomfortable to wear.) Of course you could always add padding of some sorts but it'd be easier to use the cloth version. If you would like to build one however, the shape isn't that difficult.

'Hard' items such as helmets are great items to convert into LEGO but soft items usually bend and move so the LEGO version would only look realistic in some positions. (For example if you build the shape like it is on the picture, it will look good on your head but it won't lay flat on a table, ...)

Cheers,

Gaetano

Tanotrooper