troopermaster

Congratulations Pablo

I'm pretty sure the ROTJ movie suits had vac formed plastic shoulder straps. I think it's just the tour suits that had the flexible vinyl straps.

Just out of interest Pete.....What do the thighs and shins on your armour measure?

Awesome armour Celab Can't wait to see you all kitted up mate.

That's the bib section of the rubber neck seal which has been shredded to fit the contours of the body.

Right

At last! Someone agrees with me I keep trying to persued people to use elastic everywhere on their armour but still, they insist on using either leather, canvas or webbing for straps....crazy Elastic gives you much more freedom of movement compared to any other material which has no give. Non elastic straps make the armour feel rigid and can pop the snaps off if your not carefull. When gluing the tabs inside armour, I find a nice blob of E6000 does the trick. Make sure you don't put any adhesive on the metal snap or will melt through your armour, so just put it on the ends of your ABS tabs. Any kind of tape will keep the tabs in place while the adhesive dries, so no need to use strong clamps which can also mark your armour.

I use DYLON fabric paint. Works great!

This could pass for an original photo....looks awesome! I have to say once again Pablo, you did a tremendous job on your whole costume. I can't stop looking at your photos

Having worked with both HIPS and ABS, I would have to choose ABS. It's a myth that HIPS forms sharper than ABS, just not true. What is true is that HIPS is easier to form for the hobbiest but, if you have the right machinery, ABS pulls just as sharp. I used to work with .100" high gloss HIPS and it was great to work with. The problem with HIPS is that it does crack if stressed or flexed too far. The same can be said for acrylic capped ABS which I am using now in .80" guage, though it is tougher than HIPS and more flexible, it is not unbreakable. Regular ABS is a lot more tougher than the capped version and available in more thicknesses. It is, however, not as bright white in colour compared to the acrylic capped ABS which is a very bright and very glossy plastic. There is just not enough rubber in HIPS compared to ABS. So ABS, by default, is the winner.

I know the diagram you are talking about and that is another set up I tried which also works very well. It too allows you wear you torso armour independently so there is no 'stress' on it. The only things that attached to my vest was the shoulder bells and the thighs. The biceps connected to the bells and the forearms to the biceps. The main torso was one piece (connected with elastic and snaps) that I opened up one side and slipped into it.

I checked my photobucket account and no photos of my vest unfortunately. I lost a lot of photos on my old computer so I am unable to show my set up. It was basically an extended neck seal with straps for the arms and legs. It was made of fake leather but, you could use something else like thin black nylon canvas which would be strong and more protective against armour rubbing on your undersuit.

I made a vest to connect my arms and legs to once. It was actually my neck seal with a long bib front and rear that had straps at the waist to keep it closed. It had straps coming off the shoulder for the bells and straps at the bottom of the front bib for the thighs...worked great! The best thing I found with this method was that is was easier to dress yourself. I would put on the legs first and then the main torso armour, leaving the arms while last which just slid on and connected to the straps sticking out from my shoulders. I'll see if I have a photo knocking around.

Plasti dip?

You've put the ear caps on the wrong sides

Thanks for the update Wyatt. I've emailed a few textile mills here in the UK to see if they have any old stock. It's a long shot I know, but worth a try

Looking good K

Just going by what the man himself quoted Great new layout of your site Jez, I like it!

Brian sculpted the armour and then the plasterers at Elstree made the moulds from this, then fibreglass castings were made to vacuum form over. These were then sent to AA after the vac machine at Elstree was faulty, so AA continued to pull the majority of the armour used in the movie. It's believed AA did some refining to the helmet moulds in order to make them more user friendly, though this is not concrete, just what AA has said. It's been proven he did not sculpt the helmet or armour, but he may have sculpted the ear caps, knee caps and other greeblies to make up the complete stormtrooper as we see it on screen compared to what was made at Elstree before filming started. Just a bit of background info there

You seek----------

Looking good Mark! Okay, here's my guess for the helmet stack... Top: TE Hero Middle: TM ESB - DL ESB Bottom: TE2 'MNS' TE HDPE - DL ANH

Any updates on this?

Okay, found him....on the left

That particular helmet was used in the promotion shoot and it wasn't worn by either Luke or Han. I am sure it was used in ANH somewhere, I just haven't looked hard enough for it.

Just as I thought. I have a full suit of glossy 1.5mm HIPS which I made a couple of years ago and even though it does flex quite a bit, it does crack when flexed too far. This new plastic can be bent over backwards and will not break. I will have to get a couple of photos to show just how good this new armour will be.