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Fan-Made Armor
Trooper Master Helmets and Armor |
| TM or "Trooper Master" is
another type of Helmet and Armor made available over recent years -
though this time from a prop producer here in the UK. |
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| May 2010 - these new photos from
regular-contributor Rolf of his new Sandtrooper which he assembled and
weathered himself from the popular TM kit. He's also added some darn
fine accessories like leather pauldron and ammo belts. |
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| Below a great close-up of the
weathered helmet. Given he must have made at least a dozen of these its
clear that Rolf has great talent in getting the wreathing to look just
right. |
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| Below some shots of his older suits
- how many does this guy have! |
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| These great shots are from Rolf in
the Nordic Garrison (Copenhagen to be precise) of his TM helmet and Armour. |
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| Rolf's also taken some similarly
great photos of one of his other sets, an "AP" set which is worth comparing
- see the AP photo's here |
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| I like this picture below, it's
like a "YOU - Come over here, now! (cliiiiiick)" |
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| ...and finally from Rolf a shot
showing what the kit looked like when it arrived - all white and sparkly
new! |
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| Thanks to Rolf for these great
shots. |
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| These photos are courtesy of Jack
of his ANH Stunt Helmet and armor - so impress was he that he's ordered
another set which he intends to dirty up for a Sandtrooper. |
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Each of the various types of "screen-accurate" armor
featured on this site was actually cast off a single set of original RotJ
armor, back in the late 90's. However, as you probably know, the RotJ
armor was itself a "recast" off an original ANH set since
there weren't enough sets of armor available for RotJ's filming back in
1981/82. Therefore one of the problems with all "screen-accurate" armor out
there is that its actually not "ANH screen-accurate", but more "RotJ Screen
accurate".
However, the armor TM's produced is interesting since he's
sculpted his own armor based on photo's of original sets, rather than recast
an existing set. So on one side you could say that it suffers because its
not cast off a screen-used suit, but on the other it benefits from having
some of the specific ANH attributes. |
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| I'm not sure what its made of but
am presuming Styrene, although Jack says its very glossy, rugged and perfect
for trooping, adding "TM has included all the small Stormtrooper armor
details that other armor makers have missed. The armor is the correct
"Milky" white and not the "blueish" white that most kits come in." |
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| Jack's clearly a fan of this armor
for trooping, adding "TM's strapping system is the best I've seen of any
armor - he makes the upper legs attach to a belt you wear on your waist. The
ab, chest, butt, upper and lower back armor plates are all attached together
through the strapping system and are fitted on like a clam shell from your
side." |
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| The photo above and the next three
below are from Pablo, a.k.a. TKDUEUNO of his TM Armor and Helmet and having
spent the time taking them in a studio environment the quality of
photography
is absolutely superb. |
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| A lot of fans have opted for
Trooper Master's armor since its extremely rugged and thus well-suited to
the rigours of trooping with organisations like the 501st. Armor takes one
hell of a beating so you need something capable of taking the knocks - and
TM's certainly fits that bill! |
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| As mentioned previously the TM
armor is scratch built, with TM taking a lot of time and effort in ensuring
it matched the ANH style armor as opposed to the RotJ, which most
screen-accurate armor is actually based on. |
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TM "Hero" Helmet and Armor
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| TrooperMaster sent me these photos
of his Hero helmet with armor, which are really superb. |
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| As you can see they're recreations
of the Lucasfilm Hero Promotional photos that were used for the life-size
cardboard standee - and a host of other publicity material over the years |
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| I really like the look of the
helmet - the Hero's a a more difficult look to nail so its pleasing TM's
done such a great job. Not sure who took these great photos but many thanks
to them (and the model of course)! |
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