troopermaster

I believe the ROTJ buttons are all grey after better images of armour have appeared recently. The photos posted above are of a ESB MKII suit made prior to ROTJ.

The snaps under the shoulder straps are based on Geri's description. No reason for the tour suits to be any different from the movie suits. The few photos I have showing the inside of the ROTJ armour all have curled up shoulder straps so you cannot see if there is a snap or not. It's quite possible the top strap of the shoulder bell is made completely of Velcro and same could be said for the torso where there are Velcro fasteners. I know the ESB MKII suits had Velcro glued directly to the closing side of the armour and used elastic for the opposite side, so it could be the same for the ROTJ too?

Velcro closure on the calf too.

I think I know which diagram you are referring to. It was drawn by Geri who wore the suit for LFL events and it wasn't exactly correct. 25mm straps for the shoulder bell with the snap, chin strap and hand plate to forearm. 8mm for lower shoulder bell and hand plate palm. All the rest are 50mm. I believe the rivets are 4mm x 10mm with 4mm x 15mm washers. That's what I used and they look an almost perfect match to ones used on the original armour.

Can you post the diagram? There are some odd sized elastics in your description. The majority of the straps are 50mm wide and the others are 25mm and 8mm. I have some photos of my ROTJ armour strapping here:

Rubber legs can seen on these two troopers. Look at the vertical seams on the sides of the legs and note the moulded knee plate. They can also be seen on this trooper on the left. Note he wears two right thighs.

We are reading and loving every update! Keep up the great work

I can help you with the 'S' trim.

The cure time is well worth the wait in the long run. Just move on to other parts while you wait and it will all come together nicely

I read that too, but I don't believe that happened. The helmets aren't actually that soft, really. Some areas were fettled and I assume they did so to make them easier to produce - just as they for the ANH hero helmet.

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/32336-rotj-stormtrooper-kits/

It's possible they used the same adhesive for the limbs but I couldn't say for sure. Remember these were just costumes for a film and not a great deal of care was used when building them. Too bad there isn't much reference material available for the ROTJ armour to really dig in and find out all the answers.

They used liquid ABS as glue but I would stick to Stelmax.

25mm white elastic hanging from the rivet holding the belt on (elastic behind the web belt and between the abdomen) and then glued to the inner drop box. I remember seeing a rivet holding the strap on in one photo so either will be fine or even do both

I would trim the back of the ear to allow you to pull the front closer to the tube. You may need to trim the circular part too just to help a bit. Don't worry if you have a slight gap, it's quite normal. People try to make a water tight fit when it isn't necessary. Good job with the build so far

The reason they look soft is because they are a recast of the ANH suits and were made in a rush (like a week). Well, that is when the moulds were made for ESB and later reused for ROTJ but with a few refinements to make them more comfortable for the actors.

The sizes of the strips vary but 15mm for the arms and 20mm for the legs are a good guide, but you can go wider if you need a bit more room inside the armour. The back of the calf has a 25mm strip to cover the opening and you should try and have the back thigh strip the same width as the front of the thigh and shin if possible.

E6000 peels right off once it's dried. Acetone on ABS is not a great idea so my best advice (if it happens again) is to leave the glue to dry and peel it off. No internal strips are needed. Whether they look nice or not, the correct external joining strips (and that's what they are - joining strips) are more than enough to hold the armour together. I often read how people put them on the inside for extra strength but these are lightweight plastic costumes, not ballistic battle armour, so the external strips do their job more than good enough. Plus, you only have enough ABS strips in the kit for external use. When you start your forearms, get them sized up to where you want them (remember not to have them skin tight) and glue the joining strips to one half of the armour. Once dried, glue the bottom edge only (the one with no hard edge). Once that has dried, glue them shut. This is the best way to glue the arms if you trim them quite a bit since the side with no hard edge will be curved and much harder to get the strips to sit flush with the armour.

Your thigh and bicep armour should be pretty loose. These are the two muscles that flex the most so you don't want them to be tight. I would make the thighs quite a bit bigger. As Bone said, they will be held up by the garter belt. For your forearms - don't cut the hard edge on top of each part. Keep it so you use a 15mm wide joining strip. Any trimming should be done at the back and don't try to have them skin tight. Like the thighs, they will be hanging from a strap connected to your biceps so they can swing. They may feel too big now, but when strapped correctly, they will feel fine.

No offence taken Lets wait until after SDCC when all the photos of the armour have been taken before I tell the tells. As for a company lying about their product to drum up business - anyone remember Andrew Ainsworth? Just saying.

I really have no interest in this armour. There are many sellers of armour out there and everyone is free to make and sell whatever they like. I am just pointing out what I see and I see all the hand sculpted parts Rob from RS made in the Anovos kit as well as the modified parts. It will all come out eventually when side by side comparisons are made (and don't think the RS is a direct copy of the original suit it was made from and I am positive the Anovos will share the same discrepancies). Please don't read this a sour grapes. I don't want you thinking I am being negative. I have 15 years in this hobby studying armour and I am not a casual observer. Armour is my specialty and it's annoying when I read all the hype about how it's cast from an original from the archives when I can clearly see it's an RS recast. Time will tell.

As I stated before, this is a full recast of an RS kit. All this hype about Anovos going to the archives and scanning original armour was BS. They have simply recast an RS kit and all the parts that Rob from RS sculpted are there to see. Same with their Snowtrooper kit - just an MC with no connection to any original parts which was supposed to be scanned too. I haven't studied their TIE gear but I would bet they did the same thing there. Enjoy your original kits everyone

It's regular 'S' profile trim. I don't know where the misconception of anything other than the ANH trim came from? The trim used on the original helmets is not available anymore but the one I use is pretty close. Other makers use a larger trim where some use basic brow trim. I do have some old stock which is virtually identical to the original trim and looking to get some made in the near future

ROTJ had a single rivet holding the shoulder strap to the chest and it had Velcro glued to it that fixed to the back plate (forget incorrect CRL's)

The ESB MKII armour did not have the chest strapping like the ROTJ as it was strapped in two halves - top and bottom. Is that what you have seen or something else? I'm genuinely interested as it will be something new I haven't seen before.