Yet another newbie

[DonLogan3743]

Hello all, I’m Don. 
I first saw you guys in person at the American Red Cross during a blood drive.  You guys had beaten the Star Trek / Klingon guys.  Also everyone agreed that you smelled better.   

I have an idea but I don’t know if it will mesh with your group.  I want to make a standard death star storm trooper, but I want to also make a mouse droid that I can control with an RC transmitter hidden in my weapon.  The bad news is that there may be outward signs of the RC controller on the weapon.  Triggers are pretty common for speed controllers, so I have high hopes for that part.  Perhaps I can make the pistol grip twist to control direction… that might be subtle enough.

A bit about me:  I have made props and monsters for years in a couple of live action role-playing games.  I have made a vacuum forming machine.  It could use some work but right now it has a 2 foot square working area.  (I may start over and make another.  I saw one on line that pressurized the forming chamber first causing the plastic to dome up, and then it raised the form into the dome before it vacuumized.  No wrinkles and an even thickness.  It was awesome)  I have also been an engineer for ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ live spectacular and the live version of “How to train your dragon.” (HTTYD didn’t last very long)

But all of that is a lot of work, so I was thinking of a quicker costume might be a crewmen of the ship that was captured in the first few minutes of new hope. (White or blue shirt, black vest and a swoopy helmet)  It would be quicker and hopefully pretty easy.  I could walk in front with my hands behind my head.   

[maxsteele]

Welcome Don!

The mouse droid control is definitely an interesting idea!  I would say though that you would not want a helmeted character when controlling it, as it's not exactly easy to see out of them.  I can see out in front of me pretty well in my Stormtrooper (TK) helmet, but looking down toward my feet or any type of peripheral vision is completely blocked.  I would think it would be quite difficult to keep track of the droid while walking around acting as a TK, having people walk up to you, etc....

As for your choice of characters, if you are looking at the TK route, please sign up to the First Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment (FISD) over at http://www.whitearmor.net.  You'll get all the info you need about types of TK, where to get armor, and assistance with the builds.  There are several of us who just completed our TK builds here, so we'll definitely be a resource for you as well.

The crewman you're referring to would be part of the Rebel Legion side, and you'd be a member of Kashyyyk Base here.  I believe you are referring to the Rebel Fleet Trooper, which is this one - http://www.rebellegion.com/rebel-fleet-trooper-a-new-hope/ .  For that, sign up to the Rebel Legion forums and you'll find a subforum there for the Rebel Fleet Trooper - http://www.forum.rebellegion.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=620&sid=fef8572ad2c5040b72b0650cd5e9b238.

Best of luck on your choices and welcome again!

[Cob]

Welcome!

Poor trekkies. I read recently that the original spandex uniforms picked up sweat like crazy...

Also check out the costume-reference-libraries on http://www.501st.com/databank/Costuming:CRL , there's a whole candy shop of costumes out there.
 
Generally -- get registered on the forums where there's a costume you're interested in, lurk a bunch, and post questions is the best way to get rolling.   I also recommend keeping an eye on the spotters forum here and signing up to help out at events.  It's a good way to stay motivated because sometimes there are some long waits involved.

Hell yes mouse droid.  But based on your animatronic large reptile background, I really think you should focus on making me a life-sized rideable dewback.

[Leia8674]

Welcome!  A good way to start is also by spotting for the group - getting an idea of what we do =)

[NavySith]

Welcome

[DonLogan3743]

I was thinking if the 501 came onto a site in formation, and i was in the back and the mouse droid was rolling near the front I could keep eyes on it.  I might be able to run the mouse driod (or any droid really) discreetly from the sidelines until I get my costume up to snuff.

 As for the dewback, I would need about a 1/3rd of a million bucks and three dedicated puppeteers, so piece of cake.   

[Cob]

Doh, guess we'll have to go with the green screen and just CGI it in.

You may also want to check with the astromech builders club? astromech.net ? They look like they're mostly focused on R2's but I did find some pics with mouse droids in them, so someone must know the secrets!