I made this for no reason other than I thought the new Sith Troopers looked cool. and my kids like playing with Nerf blasters.  So rather than shooting at me and their mother, I decided to give them a target to focus their ire on.  What better than the new Sith Trooper from the Rise of Skywalker.

 

He’s cut out of ¼” plywood.  I just looked at one of the promotional images from the movie or the new toy, and then I hand drew it out on the large sheet.  I tried my best to make him about the same size as me from the waist up.  Once I had him sketched on the plywood, I laid down painters’ tape and then used a Sharpie to darken the lines.  The tape is used to prevent the plywood from splintering and fraying along the cuts.

 

I sanded him up, and then I spray painted him red.  I just used a Rustoleum paint + primer in one.  Once dry, I used a pencil to outline all the detail work I wanted to do to him.  Then I got to painting.  Pretty much all of this would be black, but I ended up using a couple shades of gray for the blaster that he is holding.  Lots of painting here, but I’m really happy with how he turned out. Once the paint dried, I used some semi-gloss polyurethane to seal him.  I did two coats first, then lightly sanded, wiped it with a wet cloth, and then applied a third coat.

 

I decided he needed some kind of a stand so we could set him up where we wanted and not just against a wall.  So, I glued a scrap 1×4 to his back, and cut up another scrap 1×8 to act as a flap.  I then attached some cabinet hardware that has a hard stop at a 90-degree angle.  I also cut a slight 15-degree angle (or so) in the bottom of that flap, so that he will have a slight lean back when we use the stand to set him up.  This helps keeping from falling flat on his face after we blast him.

 

But that’s about it!  The poly worked pretty well, and the darts with the suction cups on the tips actually stick to him!  The boys like him, and thoroughly enjoy fighting of the Empire.  Or First Order.  Or Final Order.  Whatever.

 

Thanks for reading and watching! Cheers!

 

Grant

Items used:

1/4″ plywood

Tightbond III wood glue

Colonial Red, Rustoleum spray paint

Various acrylic paints

Semi-gloss spray polyurethane

 

Miter saw, jigsaw, scrollsaw, drill, orbital sander (and sandpaper)