troopermaster

Option two! The butt plate should mate up perfectly. The raised section should be slightly off to one side and the butt plate should only match up one way......option two Also, on the original armour, they had a square cut out at the bottom edge of the kidney section where it met up to the abdomen. The butt plate was narrower than the kidney and that's why there was a cut out so it matched up with the butt plate.

You cannot bend the gloss HIPS like that here in the UK. It is much more rigid and would definately crack if you flexed it that much. I guess the materials differ slightly from country to country.

I have a few pairs of these hand plates in ABS. If anyone would like a pair, PM me.

Okay okay, it's nothing to do with keeping the shins closed. They are wires for the squibs. If you look closely, you can see white tape around the ankles under the boots keeping the wires in place. The trooper was probably filmed above the waist so you wouldn't see the wires. Could have been in the detention block? There you go Gary

3/8" is the right size for the trim. Looking forward to seeing your progress. I'm starting to like the ROTJ more and more

Yeah I know I also know that none of the screen used armour strapping is no good for replica armour because it is too rigid

The alternate hand plates are nothing new. They are worn by Han Solo and lots of of other troopers if you look closely.

The only problem is the way the armour is worn. The belt is not connected to the abdomen so it sits too low and it's not fastened tight enough, making the armour look loose. Both actors in the holiday special wore their armour badly for some reason?

Top = Sandtrooper Middle = ANH regular Bottom = ANH alternative

It's no different from any other plastic to work with.

The armour feels comfortable but it still feels like armour. It is lighter and more flexible than the acrylic capped ABS I am using but, it is still plastic and not rubber, so don't expect the armour to be flimsy and ultra flexibe because it isn't. It looks like regular glossy ABS, just flexes without cracking

Unfortunately I cannot make anything from this material at the moment. More work is needed on my machine since it is much more tricky to pull than anything I have worked with before. I wasted a lot of plastic just pulling that torso.

Thanks for all the great feedback.....awesome This plastic may be thin, but it is like no other you have seen. You will not need more than 1mm thick, it's that good. It will not tear no matter how much I fold and twist it. You can bend it over backwards on itself and it just bends with no stress fractures or anything. I have a complete test suit in 1.5mm and that feels too rigid to me, though some may prefer a thicker guage and I can make in both 1mm and 1.5mm, no thicker. I am not sure about prices just yet, we'll have to see how things pan out. I'll know more in a few months. I have a lot of things going on right now and trooper stuff is not top of my agenda unfortunately. As soon as I able to start making these again, you guys will be the first to know

As some of you know, I have been working on new moulds and new materials. The moulds are not 100% complete yet but when they are, I will be using a new flexible material which is unbreakable. I have bent and twisted this plastic so much and it just will not split, period! I think it will be a great suit for trooping, no more problems with sitting down or cracked butts The suit in the photos is made of 1mm plastic, though 1.5mm is available, I doubt you would need it that thick to be honest. As of yet, I haven't pulled a helmet from this material, just the armour. I plan on making HDPE helmets very soon and maybe hero's in this white. It's still early days yet but I am hoping to be able to produce these later this year. Enjoy the photos!

I got a sample of the white trim somewhere that looked to be closer to the screen used trim than anything I have seen before. It's glossy and semi rigid, not dull and made from silicone rubber like what is commonly available. I'll see if I can dig it out and photgraph it tomorrow.

Click the 'direct link' tab on your photo then paste into 'insert image' tab in your message box when typing. It's the box inbetween the ones with green + signs

In that case it will be a CAP or a recast of a CAP. Dark Agent is a member here under a different name.

I use 1" wide black elastic for my chin straps with small 's' spring snaps, and I add a couple of knots for an authentic look

I haven't seen that photo or pose before either. I am sure there are lots more photos of the promo guy just waiting to be found

My rubber trim supplier has glossy white edge trim. If there would be enough demand, I could get some and offer it on here. Looking forward to seeing your build JJ

The first time I saw a real stormtrooper was at the Kellogs Power of the Myth exhibition held at Wembly in 1999. There was two troopers wearing LFL tour suits and I remember how awesome they looked, even though they kept on bumping into people I had already started on my trooper project when I saw them and I based my first set of moulds on the ROTJ because of how much I liked the troopers I saw at Wembly. Later the next year, I visited the Magic of Myth exhibiton in London which had a real ROTJ stormtrooper on show which I took lots of photos of from all kinds of angles to help me with my sculpts. I can tell you I got some funny looks from the staff and from some of the visitors too. It's not every day you see someone laying on their back taking photos of a troopers cod piece The next real trooper I saw was at an exhibiton in Sheffield. It was a moving images exhibition and only had one starwars related item, luckily for me it was a real ROTJ stormtrooper. Again, I took lots of photos and a couple can be seen on starwarshelmets.com.

Get your biceps to fit you correctly first. All the arm and leg parts can be trimmed down and there is no set size for them, so trim them down if neccesary. Once you are happy with the biceps, a 20mm wide black elastic strap glued inside at the the bottom of the shoulder bell will keep the bell from sticking out. The original ANH armour is far from perfect and the joining strips rarely fit the flat edges of the thigh as they should. I make a 20mm wide joining strip and I mark it half way (10mm) and offer it up to each half of the thigh and make a pencil mark where the 10mm mark is. This usually ends up being something like 15mm wide at the top of the thigh, 10mm in the middle and 12-15mm at the bottom. Do not panic if the strips do not meet the flat section of the thigh, it's normal Just check out any original armour photos for reference. There is no set size. Whatever fits you is the size it should be. Don't make them too tight, just nice and loose. Make sure to do plenty of test fitting before you commit to gluing them together. Hope that helps Andy

The plastic shoulder straps are purely cosmetical, so the best way to attach them is to fix them to the chest plate only using E6000 glue. The back end of the shoulder strap can either be left alone, or for a screen accurate look, use a 1/4" thin strips of white elastic to hold them in place. The best way to connect your chest and back plate is to use an elastic strap 'inside' your armour to connect the pieces. Elastic is good as it allows more movement than webbing, plus, it's screen accurate Use snaps to connect the inner shoulder straps to the chest and back plate.

Best to use heavy duty camping snaps like these -----

Just glue the fronts, not the backs, they should be shut on their own if assembled correctly. You don't need to open up the shins to put them on. Simply slide your foot through them and then put on your boots afterwards. When removing the shins, take off your boots first and gently pull open the shin slightly at the ankle area and slide your foot out. No need open them right up and off your leg. This is if you want to try and keep your kit looking as close to a screen used stormtrooper, otherwise just velcro wherever you think you need it