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TC - Clonetrooper
Grand Army of
the Republic: http://clonetroopers.net/ - If you have any aspirations of getting the best looking armour, clonetrooper.net is the place to be. Guides, tips and, most importantly, parts can be
found there, mainly through limited runs made by talented individuals. The most important skill in clone building is patience.
For help with this costume,
please contact:
TC-2501
Basic RotS (phase II) clone:
For the sake of briefness, I will focus on the regular clone, as
seen in Episode III. Many of the speciality clones such as the
various commanders, “beehive”, ARC’s and the like, have a base in
the regular clone, sharing many, if not most parts with the basic
Episode III clone.
The main problem with the clone costume is that no real costume was
ever made, all the armour was added during post production using
computers. This means that all costume parts are based on
approximations and what people can make with only screen shots as
reference.
Helmet
Master Replica produces the only officially licensed helmet out
there. It is made of fibreglass and can be bought for about
$300-400, depending on colour scheme. The currently available
options are:
Plain white
501st Legion (blue)
Homeworld Security Command aka shock troopers(red)
327th Star Corps (yellow)
212th Attack Battalion (orange)
In progress
Commander Gree of the 41st Elite (Green camo)
They are fairly accurate, but require some modification, primarily
weathering.
There are quite a few fan made helmets that are more accurate, often
cheaper than the official MR, but as with most clone parts, limited
in availability.
Under Armour
Besides the hard armour parts, you will need a black undersuit.
Unlike the stormtrooper, the clone has a ribbed body glove, and you
should make an effort to get something that represents this although
textureless under armour is accepted at the present time. If your
helmet does not have a neck ring, some sort of cloth neck seal is
also suggested. Expect to pay around $75 for a decent set of under
armour.
Gloves
The gloves should be featureless gloves, preferably of a leathery
material. Nomex flight gloves can be used. Prices start at around
$25.
Clone Body Armour
The clone armour consists of many parts, primarily made out of a
hard plastic, such as high-impact polystyrene (HIPS) or
acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). The basic clone should have
at least:
2 x hand plates
2 x forearms (keypad on right forearm)
2 x elbow pieces
2 x biceps
2 x shoulder bells
1 x front chest piece
1 x front abdomen with a row of four holes in each of the two
indentions that make up the “Y”
1 x upper back piece
1 x lower back piece
2 x thighs
2 x knee plates
2 x shin pieces
1 x belt
Most of the arm and leg pieces come as two halves. As the arm and
leg armour in the films appears as though it was one part and not
two, extra care should be taken to make these elements seamless, by
lining up the two pieces for a flush fit, and backing them with a
strip of excess plastic. The seam should then be filled with a
filling material such as Bondo.
Unlike most classic trilogy armour, clone armour is not shiny. Many
people tend to paint their armour white to cover the shine of the
plastic (more prevalent with ABS-type armour). This will also help
to ensure that the helmet becomes the same shade of white, as most
helmets are not made from the same material as the armour itself,
but likely of resin or fibreglass.
Some clone armourers have started experimenting with rubber parts,
such as the belt and the knees and elbow, to make the costume more
comfortable to wear.
Most armour comes uncut, straight off the vac-table, which means you
will have to trim all the parts, using either power tools, such as a
Dremel, or small saws and exacto blades for the finer details. When
assembling it, you will also need some sort of powerful plastic
adhesive, clamps to hold it together, nylon straps, snaps and a bit
of velcro at least.
A lot of inspiration and guides on how to put the parts together can
be found over at the clone trooper detachment boards.
Prices for uncut armour starts at about $400, but can go much higher
the more accurate the armour gets. If you go for the deluxe versions
with all the bells and whistles (rubber parts, accurate thighs,
stuff like that), you could be spending more than $1000.
Separate Cod
The cod plate and butt pieces should be separated from the abdomen
and lower back plate for increased screen accurateness, but keeping
it attached is allowed.
Shoes
The base shoe should be a mostly featureless white sneaker with a
flat sole. To make the special pattern and the straps on top of it,
craft foam can be cut and glued on top of it.
Blaster
Clones use the DC-15 long and short blaster rifle. The 327th Star
Corps clones also features dual DC-17 blaster pistol sidearms. These
come in various types of material, from resin to HIPS to rubber. The
big DC-15 long typically has some sort of hollow armature to keep
the 130+ cm rifle rigid and the weight down.
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