OW's snowclone build

[Obey Wann (William Blackburn)]

Armor came in today!

I'll be tracking my build here, and at other sites. As always, feedback, comments and ideas are welcome. I'll be building a tutorial for how to build this as I do it, so future snow clones can have a manual to work from. On to the armor:

Well packed and preserved:



Resin details:



Shoulder bells:



Knees:



Handplates:



Arm part inside:



Arm part outside:



Backpack parts:







Cod/ab:



Extra plastic shims:



Backpack rough fit:





Thoughts:

Pulls look good, and it was well packaged. I'll look at it more tomorrow and compare to the pics, but it feels and looks right on initial glance. For accuracy's sake, we'll probably need a back plate for it, but in the mean time, I have enough to keep me busy for a bit. If nothing else, I am considering looking at Mando/Fett ones, or some other pre-made backplate kit.

I also kinda like having the backpack in separate pieces, because it give me the possibility of adding moving doors and hidden hinges for storage. Camelback hydration bladders would fit in here nicely.

I will need to get belt boxes. I'm considering getting vaccuformed ones, as this will allow me to hinge those and allow for hotel and car key storage, and for carrying business or trading cards. After having worn the snowtrooper as much as I have, I really, really appreciate having the pouches on the dusters. So either hinged belt boxes or sewn in pockets on the kama are going to be a necessity for quality trooping. It might not sound like much, but IMHO, easy access to a hotel room key or a business card is a huge bonus.

I'm very happy with the look, fit and scale of it all. It has some trim lines and should be a fun build. Let the fun begin!!!
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[edgejedi (Clone Commander Fox)]

Looking forward to seeing this one come along!

Did you make the kit yourself?
_________________
Jase 'edgejedi' Fox
Command Team, Elstree Base UK http://www.rebellegion.co.uk


http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Rebel-Legion-UK/97532553001

[Jedi Loreen (Lori Procopio)]

[Obey Wann (William Blackburn)]

[Obey Wann (William Blackburn)]

Also, here is the CRL I wrote up for it:

Also, here is a rough CRL I've been thinking about. Please LMK what can be added, removed, or tweaked so we can get this officially recognized:

The Clone Wars [animated] style snowclone armor and accessories

Required Items:


1. The Clone Wars style Snow Clone Armor (plastic, fiberglass, other durable material)

>Armor includes the following hard parts: Chest, backpack, shoulders, forearms, cod, ab, back, handplates and kneepads.
>back armor might need some discussion
>Blue stripes on shoulders, helmet and forearms

2. Snow Clone Trooper boots
>White shoes with white or grey soles
>"Grieves" or shin armor, including 4 horizontal straps
>Proper strap detail on top of shoe
>No laces or logos

3. The Clone Wars (animated) snowclone style helmet
>Blue eyes and triangles on forehead (for Rex only)
>Blue trim and detail
>Red and orange inverted triangle detail on front
>Smoked/black or reflective chromed visor over entire opening on face of helmet
>front and rear cowls should be made from marine grade vinyl, and drape around the top part of the chest & back armor

4. Belt
>Belt is not visible, but hidden under ab armor and kama
>One large belt box, opposite each other, on hips

5. Kama
>Heavy weight fabric or polar fleece (minimal piling) material, white with no trim
>Length should be to 1-2" below the bottom of the knee armor
>NO Split up the back
>Spacing in the front should place the edges of the kama at roughly the outside corners of the bottom of the codpiece
>Front kama edge should be squared off, not curved like a snowtrooper

6. Holsters and pistols (Rex only) - (Optional)
>One holster on each hip, hanging from the belt
>2 DC-17 Pistols (see photo reference)
NOTE: Animated pistols and holsters are larger than the realistic props.

7. Snow Suit
>Suit can be made from coveralls or a two piece top & bottom set.
>visible portions of legs and arms need vertical, parallel quilting, approximately 1.5-2" apart. Batting or other padding material should be used to simulate a thicker environmental snow suit.
>Outer material should be a quality cotton or other white material. (not low quality, low thread count cloth (sorry, this needs work --OW
>Rex only: matching blue stripe on arms


8. Gloves
>White cotton, canvas, parade or leather gloves

9. Blaster
>DC-15 short preferred, DC-15 long, minigun, rocket launcher, etc, as seen in TCW is acceptable. Unless local regulations prohibit blasters, some type of blaster should be carried.

Optional

1. Weathering - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Color should be heavy on the greys and blacks, with little/no browns
2. Other clone weapons - Clones can use just about all of the accepted clone weapons at some point in the movie/series. I.e. DC-15 long, short, minigun, rocket launchers
3. Red stripes (instead of blue) per the comic book are allowed
4. Individual detailing on helmet and armor is allowed (within reason) in keeping with the established styles as shown in TCW. i.e. kill stripes on helmet, "Echo handprint", blue stripes on helmet and arms
5. chest plate details
>alternating, blinking or changing pattern of 2 blue and 1 red rectangular plastic caps are to be placed on the left side of the chest.
6.Backpack antenna (need additional pictures for better detail)


Please LMK what you think, make suggestions, changes, etc...

Here are the shoes I'm looking at getting:


And possibly doing something like this for the shin pieces:

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[Rebel Doughboy (Kevin Skiera)]

Looks great Obey! I was in a comic store recently and saw a issue of the Clone Wars that was dedicated to Plo Koon and his Snowclones, with a young Major Ozzel. Next time I will pick it up, has some good drawings of the Clones.

Is this the first Snowclone done? It simply looks fantastic, great job! Can't wait to see it when your done making all the alterations to it!
_________________
Kevin "Doughboy" Skiera

Oklahoma D-Day "World's Largest Paintball Event"
4th Infantry Division
CO Charlie Company
Allied Expeditionary Forces
2007, 2008, and 2009

36th IL Volunteer Infantry Regiment
Living History Organization
Company B

[Obey Wann (William Blackburn)]

If you can get some scans, I would greatly appreciate it! (Mental note, I still need to get those BFI Vanguard screencaps)... More images are always good.

TS280's build is the first completed snow clone that I know of... maybe the 2nd. But even then, it's not 100% yet (wrong blaster, TS boots, etc). But he got it mostly done for a con last weekend, and had a great time from what I saw posted. And he gives me a lot to work with --and is a great guy.

Hopefully we'll see more snow clones as he gets kits done and as we make some progress. (And as the helmet makers start cranking them out). The only completed helmets I have seen are not-for production ones...
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[Schph Gochi (Phyllis Schulte)]

TS 280 is a local guy from my area...

he wore his Snow Clone to Chicago Comic Con this past weekend...

it looked great...
and the kids loved it...

There should be some photos of it somewhere in my photos of Comic Con...(I was in RFT on Friday and ERS on Saturday)


My photos from both Friday and Saturday:


http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa304/schphgochi/Wizard%20World%202009/

Group Friday:



Group Saturday:




_________________
Rebel Troopers-always outnumbered-never outgunned!
http://livefromthegalaxyfarfaraway.blogspot.com/
"There is a greater darkness than the one we fight.
It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way.
Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope,
the death of dreams.
Against this peril we can never surrender"

[Obey Wann (William Blackburn)]

Darn IT squirrels giving me the red x's of death so I can't see the pics until I get home!!!

TS280 is a good guy and it has been a pleasure working with him, and watching his whole build from the ground up. It takes a lot of work time, effort and money, plus patience and anal retention to detail to carve up and make, mold and manufacture a kit. This is all hand done, made-in-the garage stuff. I have a lot of respect for him, and any of the "makers" that produce these things, so we can wear them.

Since I can't do the creation part, I figure the best thing I can do is document the build, so others can make their kits easier. (My 2nd degree will be in tech writing, so this is good practice, right?)

On to the next step:

------------------------------



I made some progress last night. Nothing special, just trimming. basic score & snap. For those of you who have done this on other projects, the next part is pretty boring. I'm writing this for those who haven't done this before, so please forgive this step and just skim through the pictures:

First thing I do is go over the trim lines with a permanent marker. This kit's trim lines were easy to see, but I prefer to hit them with a dark marker anyways, to give me a solid aim point. I did this for all of the pieces.

If you want really clean lines, I recommend using racheting hand clamps --not spring clamps!, and a heavy duty metal straightedge. The racheting clamps let you secure the straightedge very well --far more than a spring clamp will, IMHO.







One thing I left in the pieces so far are the "returns", or the curved part that come towards the skin. It gives the impression that the armor is thick and solid. As I get to the fitting stage, I'll grind away at these, but try to leave some of it in places if I can.

Score and snap:

Here is how simple it is: Take a utility knife or X-acto knife blade and cut along the cut line lightly. You are "scoring" the plastic, not trying to hack your way through it. Make firm, but fairly light scratches along the lines.

Take your time.
Take your time.
Take your time.

I emphasize this, because I can get eager to make progress, and rush things some times. I'm not one of the uber-anal perfectionist types (I do love you guys though!) so I have to force myself to slow down and not try to "knock out one more piece" before I go to bed. If you slip with the knife, you can make a cut line go bad, ruin a piece of armor, or cut yourself. You decide which is worse.

When I'm at this stage of the build, I prefer to listen to a book on tape (or CD), or play a movie in the background... something to keep the brain engaged and keep me from rushing too much. The audiobook for the build is Starship Troopers. I've read the book a hundred times, so it makes great background noise as I score and try to keep from sticking myself.



Once you get a good amount of scoring done, cut a break line to the edge, to give the plastic a logical fail point when you take the pliers to it. Just grab, and work it back and forth. Feel free to score some more, to ensure a good cut line when it finally snaps off.

I intend on putting the pieces on a belt sander or grinder later to clean up the edges, so it's not the end of the world if the edges are a smidge rough.

And here we go, one piece down:



And a couple of hours later, I have the hand plates and forearms done:











I'll clean up the edges later. In time, the edges will be clean, and fitted, just like my snowtrooper:



Next step:

Finishing the rough trimming of the parts, and cleaning some edges for fitting together.
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[trooperjasher ()]

Any new updates? and I would love to know about how high and thick is that pack, looking to do something similar for my mando.


Jasher

[Obey Wann (William Blackburn)]

I just bought a house and moved last week. Still getting settled, but once I do, I'll get back into working on this kit. The backpack was very strong --I would guess around .90 ABS, but not 100% sure.
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[Schph Gochi (Phyllis Schulte)]

congrats on the new house...
and on the near completion of your build...


lol...
now that you have a house...
you will not have the time nor the money for much else...


_________________
Rebel Troopers-always outnumbered-never outgunned!
http://livefromthegalaxyfarfaraway.blogspot.com/
"There is a greater darkness than the one we fight.
It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way.
Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope,
the death of dreams.
Against this peril we can never surrender"

[Obey Wann (William Blackburn)]

LOL, let's hope there is at least a little extra.

I'm already planning on doing either a Hoth Trooper (trench) or a Snowspeeder pilot next... will this sickness ever end???
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[Schph Gochi (Phyllis Schulte)]

[Zen Solo ()]

What are those shoes you referenced above??
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"I don't know who you are or where you've come from, but from now on you'll do as I say, k?"