| Clone Troopers Let's start with the facts. There was never any real Clones, they were entirely 100% CG. Many of you reading this probably already know this, but just incase. For the purpose of this discussion - that being Clonetrooper costumes - know that every person you see walking around in fan-made Clone armor, was sculpted and lovingly assembled by a fan. Therefore, we often times might refer to Clone armor as a fan-sculpt. With that said, these fans are regular guys like you and me with families and real lives and jobs. Making Clone armor is more of a hobby, a craft and a way to express themselves creatively. There is no "Buy it now" option for a complete set of Clone Armor. They are built over a long period time utilizing many various parts from many different hobbyists. The Clone community of costumers is also very tight-nit, meaning if you want to embark on such an endeavor, you must be on "the boards". Many hobbyists only do small runs when time permits, and unless you're in-the-know, you may not get what you're looking for. Some notable hobbyists that have made Clone armor go under names such as MG, Java or JM, OSCS, Clone6 and UNK. All are made in small batches when time allows and in various materials - everything from HIPS to ABS to Fiberglass and resin castings. |
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| My UNK Clone Armor Project Like other hobbyists, I wanted to try and make my own Clone armor from scratch. Sculpting, molding and casting as many parts as possible. The endeavor so far has taken me over two and a half years with no end in sight. Why the name? I used to run a small freelance operation doing graphic design between 1998 to 2004 under the name and website, unkindesign. While I no longer do that sort of work, I decided to continue using the UNK part as a continued expression of my creativity and a play on words, where UNK is often the abbreviation for 'unknown'. Pronounced: You En Kay. Many folks have been following my progress here. I started in early 2005 and eventually finished in early 2008. For the helmet, I sculpted it entirely out of plasticine clay. While my sculpt was a noble effort, it was my first attempt at doing such a thing and was not as accurate as I would've liked. While I still have the sculpt, I never successfully cast or molded it. Most of my armor sculpts were made in polyurethane 12lb. foam. I recently found a source for really nice 2lb. foam, that's cheaper. The foam is easy to work with, and it could hold up to the pressures of a home vac setup and the heat of the hot plastic. Getting one or two good pulls was all that was needed to make a negative mold, then the final mold in ultra-cal plaster. All the prototype pieces seen in my photo journal were made in this fashion, with the exception of my chest and back pieces which are resin slush cast in a silicone mold. Throughout much of 2007, I continued to refine my sculpts and make my first set of Clone armor for debut on February 16th, 2008 at Farpoint. Throughout 2008, I'd like to make a few more sets of armor for myself. |
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| OSCS Helmet This is the helmet I prefer to use when portraying and Episode III Clone. The "One Stop Clone Shop" helmet is the most accurate Episode III helmet. It is the correct size, shape and contains all the details, such as the neck ring, that the Master Replicas helmet lacks. If you are looking at doing the Clone Armor as a project, are 5'10" to 6'1" and anywhere between 150lbs to 180lbs, then the OSCS helmet will look the most correct and proportional to your physical size and stature. The helmet however, also requires a lot of work. You will need to cut or mod the neck ring so that you can wear it. Many people do a face-cut mod, where the face is removable and held in place using rare earth magnets. The helmet includes these magnets. I used an Xacto jewelers saw and hobby saw to cut mine. Takes a few hours, but absolutely worth it. There should be a Rev. 2 version of this helmet coming soon with the face molded as a separate piece. You'll also need to Dremel out the visor and frown holes, as well as clean up the inside and neck ring some. The helmet is slush-cast in a very durable polyurethane resin, and as such, has some rough areas and drips inside that need to be cleaned up, sanded, etc. I prefer to paint the inside of my helmets with Krylon Satin Black
Painting My Commander Gree Click here to see pictures of my Gree build. The base for the chrome is Alclad II lacquer gloss black, airbrushed on, and left to cure for 24 hours. Then airbrushed over with Alclad II Chrome lacquer. Let cure for 24 hours. The final result is literally a mirror finish, that can take acrylic paint very nicely. All of the following paints I bought mail order from Testors. Polly Scale acrylic Earth, Ger. RLM 73 Green, PRR Brunswick Green, Panzer Olive Green, RLM 76 Light gray, Reefer Gray, Oily Black, RLM 71 Dark Green, RLM 74 Dark Gray, US Olve Drab, Br. Int. Grey Green, Ger. RLM 61 Dark Brown, Soviet Green. All were air brushed on, then hand modified for better contrast. The paint chip chrome areas were masked off with Windsor & Newton Liquid mask, then airbrushed over. For the final weathering on most everything, slate gray and natural Fullers Earth. lightly dusted on with hairspray, then tweaked and augmented with wet/dry paper towels and various size brushes. Carbon scorch marks were hand brushed on. |
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| Assembling a Clone Trooper Actually building a set of Clone armor can be done in many different ways. It's also why we encourage you sign up on the boards, to see other people's builds and get tips on just about everything. Considering it is a really complex build, I wanted to put together a series of YouTube videos that clearly show and explain everything in detail, rather than static pictures and huge explanations. I hope to make them soon. In the mean time, here's some items of interest. The shoes, I think are typically challenging for all aspiring Clones. Not to say what I did is the best way to do it, but I think my results turned out really well. The base shoe was a Target brand, low cut tennis shoe. C9 by champion. At the time, it was on close-out and I got them for about $17. They have since been discontinued. Beyond that, I bought a roll of black vinyl at Jo Anns Fabrics and cut the basic shapes out - each side, the top spat and ankle flap. Everything was glued on to the shoe with a fabric glue called Fabri-Tac. The rectangle details on spat are cut plastic. The "horse shoe" was a shape I traced out on a sheet of ABS plastic, then cut and heated to shape with a heat gun. The dials I fabricated from random bits I found around the house, then mold and cast them in resin. The Horse Shoes attach with industrial Velcro.
The crotch and butt armor float as separate pieces from the ab armor. The butt and crotch are hinged on one side using a heavy elastic, the other side also uses heavy elastic but opens with industrial Velcro. The crotch strap also attaches with Velcro. The side button, while an accurate detail on the Clones, is not functional on my outfit and purely decorative. I felt it was too small of a stress point to make functional.
The main body armor one serious piece of work. The ab plate armor is nothing more than a sheet of cut and shaped ABS plastic. The belt and belt boxes are a high-shore foam rubber material made by Todd/OSCS. The boxes are glued to the belt using CA glue, then wood screws were driven in from the back to further reinforce them. The wood screws were also glued in using Gorilla Glue. The belt is attached to the ab plate with six bolts, two of the rear bolts are longer for the O2 Canister to attach on to. It also pulls the ab plate armor together and keeps it closed. The chest and back armor I made are resin cast parts, using SmoothCast 300, then backed with a layer of fiberglass for further reinforcement. The sides lock in place to each other with twelve Neodymium Cylinder Magnets (six on each side), bought from kjmagnetics.com, item D6X0. The shoulder straps are rubber that are glued permanently in the front collar area, then attach in the back with Velcro. The suspenders, unique to Commander Gree are just simple nylon and elastic, glued to the top of the belt boxes with E6000 and held in place on the shoulders with more Velcro..
The side pouch on Commander Gree's leg I fabricated from cut plastic, HIPS or ABS. Built it up with hot glue, then carefully covered it with white vinyl. It's riveted to the leg armor. The belt or strap is nothing more than a piece of leather cut to shape and glued on with E6000.
Here are a few final pictures of my Commander Gree outfit, taken by Phil Moy at the Sci-Fi Con, Farpoint in Feb. 2008..
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DC-15 Carbine Blaster
From Polymerarmory.com, Only took me about three days to assemble and paint and I'm very satisfied with the results. Made of very durable resin, PVC, aluminum and plastic.
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