Still images from the original Star Wars movie.

I wanted to add a villain to my Stormtrooper fan film, and after much debate with my production staff, a decision was made to have a familiar Rebel soldier as the faceless enemy to our stormtrooper fan film.

I have to admit, at first I was not fond of this idea. I really never gave these troops a second thought. I was not fond of the helmet, and the rest of their costume looks like street clothes. Even the blaster they carried was sort of 'ray-gun' looking, no where near as cool as the Empire's E-11.

At first I wanted to have a grounded group of X-wing pilots fighting the stormtroopers. Mainly because I liked the X-wing helmet, and the rest of the costume was pretty easy to recreate. Plot wise, this was a stretch, and to be honest, would not be too believable.

Next I considered the Endor Commando costume. Again, this was an obscure costume, and reference material is weak for this one. Also, the helmet looked really hard to make. The blaster would have to be a complete ground-up build. Not something I was too fond of doing.

I needed a trooper that was cheap, easy, and the helmet and blasters would have to be quick and easy to make.

Again, I looked at the original trilogy for inspiration, and the Hoth soldiers were out. Wrong environment.

Then I watched Star Wars for the umpteenth time. And the scene near the end with the RFT watching the Millennium Falcon approach the hidden base, sealed it for me. These would be the enemy troopers. Herbert M. also encouraged me to give the RFT a second look.

Several reasons to see these trooper again. First, they were the first combatants we ever saw in a Star Wars movie, and they were slaughtered by the Stormtroopers. Second, since my goal of the fan film was to correct some dumb ideas from Return of the Jedi, mainly the stormtroopers being killed by the rock throwing ewoks, I thought it would have a certain amount of poetic justice seeing these Rebel Fleet Troopers kick some stormtrooper butt.

Second, the costume is easy to make. Really easy. It may not be 100% accurate to the screen used costumes, but are pretty dang close.

Third consideration is cost. I can buy the vest, shirt, pants and boots, for less than $80, and with about 3 hours worth of sewing work, convert these parts to RFT uniforms.

• Here is a link to some pretty good boots. These are East German officers boots, and are used military surplus. Cost, about $15. Get them big. Sadly, these seem sold out as of 7-21-06.
• Here is a link for the pants. The best option is to just get the SWAT gray BDU pants. These are darker than they look.
• You will also need 3 US Navy work shirts. Here is a link for some real cheap ones. If you can't wear XL, then your local Army/Navy store should have what you need. [an alternate source: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=44575 ] Also, these seem sold out by 7-21-06.
• The black vest is made from a BDU shirt/jacket. be sure to get the 4 pocket straight bottom type. Here is a link for some cheap ones.
• Here is a link to a the famous PVC Blaster Builders Club for all your scratch made blaster needs. The Blaster is easy to make from parts you can find at the hardware store. Here is a link to show you how.
• The belt is any 2 inch wide plain brown brown belt. Add a Tandy Leather 2x4 buckle and your good to go. Check out the local thrift stores.
• The hostler is seldom seen, so for the fan film I opted not to use one, but a simple leather flap, sewn, with a snap hook, should work fine.
• The helmet is by far the hardest part of the costume to find. Email me for info about getting your own helmet based off a mold taken from a real WWII US Navy Mark II helmet.

The Boots:

from: www.sportsmansguide.com

• No modifications to the boots are needed. Some shoe polish and your good to go. Click here to get a pair for $15. Buy them larger than you need. You can always wear a second pair of socks, but small shoes are not good. Other costumes could benefitt from these boots as well. X-wing pilot, Death Star Gunner, Imperial Officer, WWII German Soldier, etc. Sold out as of 7-21-06.
• An alternate boot: http://shop.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=235107 also sold out, as of 1-30-07.
• UPDATE: 7-21-06
  It looks like www.sportsmansguide.com has sold out of the boots. There are other sources, here is one http://www.tridentmilitary.com/Boots.htm

The Shirt:

from: www.sportsmansguide.com

 

• I really like these shirts. A great price, for a really nice shirt.
• Modify the shirt by adding a bib. This really makes the shirt look less like street clothes as it hides the pockets and buttons.
• Simply take scissors and cut out the back section of 2 of the Navy work shirts. Then sew them together to make a bib. And secure to the base shirt using velcro, snaps or sewing it on.
• Click here to get a set of 3 for around $10. Sold out as of 10-1-06.
• An alternate source: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=44575
• Update: Oct. 2, 2006: It appears that www.sportsmansguide.com is sold out of these workshirts. These can be found at almost any Army/Navy store, so check yours locally. I do have a few available, so email me if you need one.

The Original Shirt:

Image from the www.bonhams.com auction of an original shirt.

 

• www.bonhams.com recently auctioned an original RFT shirt. Note the color is a bit more gray than the more bluish Navy shirts, but thats ok by me. On camera these read just fine.
• Note, how the bib is attached.
• Also note the lack of buttons on the sleeves.
• The color appears to be a custom dye color, a medium slate gray.
• £2,600 was the selling price! Thats $5,093. Yikes!

The Pants:

From Barre Army Navy Online Store

• Buy the Ultra-Force brand SWAT Gray BDU pants. You will have to look on the Barre Army Navy store site for them. Click here to order a pair. Cost, about $19. Navigate: StoreFront--Military Equipment & Clothing--Military Clothing--BDU pants-Ultra Force--Grey BDU Pants
• No modifications are needed, just take a department store plastic bag, and fold it neatly so that it fits into the cargo pockets. This will fill the pockets out slightly.
• These are not a perfect match, but until something better comes along, these work great. On film, the pants look to be a custom dye job, most likley done to military khaki pants to give them a gray tint. Thats too much work. And messy.

The Vest:

From Barre Army Navy Online Store

• The vest is made from a black BDU shirt. $24 Get the Ultra-force version. You will have to look on the Barre Army Navy store site for them. Click here to order a pair. Cost, about $23. Click on MILITARY EQUIPMENT & CLOTHING, then click on MILITARY CLOTHING then click on BDU SHIRTS- ULTRA FORCE.
• Just remove the sleeves, leaving 1/2 inch of the material remaining. Sew this under to make a nice hem.
• Remove the collar, and sew the seam shut. Otherwise it will fray.
• You can use the sleeves as pocket material and make a cargo pocket on the base of the back if you like. Some of the movie vest had these back pockets.
• http://www.outinstyle.com has the Black BDU shirts for $10! WOW! and I've heard that these BDU tops show up from time to time at local Army-Navy stores for as little as $2.50. You may not have a good selection of sizes, but if you just need them for a vest, a medium will fit most folks fine.

The Helmet:

Custom made helmet, email me details.

It was a challenge to try and find this odd-ball looking helmet from any source, so I decided to custom make one.

 

• I made my vacuum form mold of the helmet from an actual WWII era US Navy Mk II talker helmet.
• A custom communication box, chin cup, and swoop molds were made and these are fastened to the base helmet with rivets and screws.
• The front mock visor is painted Krylon Smoke Gray, and riveted into place. [an option would be to vac-form smoked acrylic for the visor, and have this in the 'down' position.] Makes for a more sinister look. Or use black HIPs to form a sold black vesion.
• A foam 'star' headliner is added, and an elastic chin strap finishes off the helmet.
• As an upgrade to the foam liner, a hard hat liner can be added for a better fit when wearing the helmet.
• A wire radio antennae is fitted to the communication box as an option. These were hard to see on film and not 100% necessary.
• If you can't vac-form your own helmet, while I still have some, you can order a kit or finished helmet online here: http://www.tk560.com/catalog.html.
• I've updated the comm box and chin cup to be more form fitting. 6-15-07.

The Blaster:

Scratch build blaster using resin bits, and hardware store parts.


Proposed Hasbro Nerf Blaster, version 1 available 3-07.

Proposed Hasbro Nerf Blaster, version 2 available 3-07.

• Make them from scratch, using this link as a guide [Less than $50], or buy them from www.masterreplicas.com [$400] Yikes!
• The scope is made from 1 inch to 3/4 inch copper pipe reducers and a real pair of scope mounts.
• The grip and end cap are available from me. Email for details. Cost $15 plus shipping.
• Master Replicas sells a fine version of this blaster. http://www.masterreplicas.com.
• Hasbro has announced a Nerf version of this blaster. Availability, March. 2007. It will need some work to be accurate, but a good trooping alternative. http://www.entertainmentearth.com/
• DH-17 resin parts availalbe here.
• Some retail chains are reporting these, and here are the product codes: Target DPCI: 087-06-1330 and Toys R Us SKU: 078430
• Also, these are 2 cover variations, including the blue and silver, and a green and yellow!
• http://shop.starwars.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=406241 has them ready to order.
• Studio Creations has a comparison of the Hasbro DH-15 vs the Master Replicas. Here and Here.

The Belt:

From Tandy Leather

Some belt boxes add some nice details to the costume.

• Any 2 inch wide natural brown leather belt will do.
• Check your local thrift stores for the belt. You may get lucky and find one with the buckle. $1-2 range.
• No modifications are needed other than a 2x4 inch metal buckle. Get one from Tandy Leather. $2

Also, the belt had a holster for the blaster and sometimes 2 metal boxes. If you need the metal boxes, I have some left over from the fan film production. Click here to order a pair. Various ways to make the holster exsist, but I think the Sunrider Base has a good take on what they should look like.

One with and one without foil.

The box kit is pretty basic.

The Finished Costume:

• Just about anyone can wear this costume. Even though we never saw women wear it, there is no reason female Fleet Troopers would not exsist in the Star Wars universe.
• All in all, an easy costume to compliment your Rebel universe needs.
• With the Hasbro Nerf blasters now availalbe, and with a bit of paint, and minor modifications, a cheap blaster is now a reality.
• Note the pockets have been stuffed with bubble wrap, or old department store bags to give them some body.
• The vest buttons and cuffs on the sleeves are optional. The originals did not have any.
• You can dye your US Navy workshirts with a bit of black dye diluted to give your shirt a nice off gray, just like the originals.
• Sadly the East German jackboots are getting harder and harder to find. A couple of years ago, these were available for $15. Now they are hard to find for less than $60!
• I have a few spare black BDU shirts, in smaller sizes available, email me if you need one.