Starship Troopers Power Armor

[rocketmantan]

I always love projects where I can adapt an object from a book. It's sort of like a puzzle - to pick apart the text and to figure out how it all fits together in describing said object, and possibly even figure out what exactly the author was thinking of.

This time, I'm doing a piece of equipment from one of my favorite books of all time - Starship Troopers. Suffice it to say that, especially now, the book resonates deeply with me, and I certainly do find the ideas presented by Heinlein to be....interesting, to say the least. Also it has powered armor. That's pretty cool, too.

In terms of decoration and aesthetics, I mostly looked at Korean-War-era work uniforms. The suit is mostly an olive-drab with patch placement based on typical uniform standards of the various uniformed services. I also looked to the ACU in terms of velcro ribbons and similar accessories that everyone loves so much.

As for the physical design, I basically envisioned the armor to be the ultimate evolution of the Hardiman suit. I tried to draw from concepts that were present during the '50's, both to give it a retro-sci-fi feel, but to also convey the Cold-War Action Story tone that the book itself came with. There are, of course, a few incongruities with the book - namely the Snoopers. I felt that a Buzz-Lightyear-esque face-bowl would make the suit look a bit too much like, well, Buzz Lightyear, so instead I opted for an armored helmet of sorts. Imaging equipment encircles the helmet to provide a near-360 view of the battlefield, which would then be projected onto the interior surface of the helmet in order to simulate an open-cockpit view, with various other telemetry information overlaid, a la ARPA, ECDIS, etc.

anyways, have some screenies. I've included the rough sketch from which I based the parts off of, the parts themselves, and a quick sketch of the 'Rico's Roughnecks' unit patch.

[TheHawk]

Yours over all look is not bad. Maybe a bit block-y but not bad at all.
Keep it up!

If your looking for some other inspiration:

Here is the a link to the Japanese cartoons envisioning of the suit
(not to bad ether).
for the series:
http://starshiptroopers.wikia.com/wi..._Troopers_(OVA)

Suit details:
First Official Review: Revoltech Sci-Fi No.037 Starship Troopers Powered Suit, Big Size Official Images & Bonus VIDEO | GUNJAP

OR
(not as good looking in my book)
Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roughn...ers_Chronicles
More Pictures:
DeviantArt: More Collections Like Roughnecks Starship Troopers Chronicles - Rico WIP by bcampo

[rocketmantan]

Originally Posted by TheHawk

Yours over all look is not bad. Maybe a bit block-y but not bad at all.
Keep it up!

If your looking for some other inspiration:

Here is the a link to the Japanese cartoons envisioning of the suit
(not to bad ether).
for the series:
http://starshiptroopers.wikia.com/wi..._Troopers_(OVA)

Suit details:
First Official Review: Revoltech Sci-Fi No.037 Starship Troopers Powered Suit, Big Size Official Images & Bonus VIDEO | GUNJAP

OR
(not as good looking in my book)
Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roughn...ers_Chronicles
More Pictures:
DeviantArt: More Collections Like Roughnecks Starship Troopers Chronicles - Rico WIP by bcampo

Thanks!! Yeah....I tend to do blocky shapes...I'd like to say that it's completely a stylistic choice, but we all know that's not true...

As for the designs from the OVA, Roughnecks, etc. I'm trying to stay away from them as much as I can to make my own unique design, with the only input coming from Heinlein's book itself.

Anyways, here's the completed model!! Hopefully I'll be able to clean up the design and parts a bit and have the model upload-ready within the next week or so.

[whulsey]

Sort of cool looking. The 'blocky' look does get away from a lot of other designs I've seen. But as the robots in Interstellar with their monolith look this is a viable directions. And actually for field mods and repairs might even be more functional then a lot of those curvy humanoid designs. Going back to my racing background those slab sided dirt modifieds are a lot easier to bang out then the fancy stuff that usually means replacing body sections.

[gotham]

Looks a little like a Games Workshop Tau Crisis Battlesuit.

[rocketmantan]

Originally Posted by whulsey

Sort of cool looking. The 'blocky' look does get away from a lot of other designs I've seen. But as the robots in Interstellar with their monolith look this is a viable directions. And actually for field mods and repairs might even be more functional then a lot of those curvy humanoid designs. Going back to my racing background those slab sided dirt modifieds are a lot easier to bang out then the fancy stuff that usually means replacing body sections.

I definitely wanted to give it a more utilitarian 'used future' kind of feel to it, as opposed to a slick and rubbery carbon-fibre Crysis-type nanosuit. I definitely tried to model it on various military technologies and uniforms, drawing on the ACU for the various annoying velcroes, straps, and pouches, and the Korean-War work uniform for both patch placement and color scheme.

[rocketmantan]

Almost ready to publish! Enjoy a nice little ad/propaganda by the makers of the powered suit!
I tried to give it a '50's magazine ad feel, while just lathering it with the sickening 'mandatory fun' pep that any military man has come to know and 'love'....

[rocketmantan]

aaaand here's the cover page! My first attempt at proper photomanipulation...

[elliott]

Looks good Bryan. Kind of like a book jacket. I like it!

[rocketmantan]

and model's up!
Marauder by RocketmanTan on DeviantArt