ROTJ shoulder straps: What were they made of?

[Sonnenschein]

Well, I know they were flexible; so itn had to be some koind of rubber. But what exactly? Are there any good ref pics?

 

Karin

[Quebectrooper]

Probably rubber and you should make them .

 

images from starwarshelmets.com

Edited June 7, 2010 by quebectrooper

[Smitty]

Looks like it had a canvas backing on it too. Especially in the second picture.

[ajax407[TK]]

<thread_hijack>

 

Why do I love ANH buckets and armor?

 

Exhibit A:

 

That is all.

 

</thread_hijack>

[troopermaster]

The screen used ROTJ shoulder straps are vac formed ABS. The ones in your photos are ROTJ tour suits. Probably made from leather or vinyl and backed with velcro to secure them to back plates. The fronts are riveted onto the chest.

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

those photos clearly show webbing and ABS for the shoulder straps.

 

I posted about this before. all the photos from star wars helmets show webbing and plastic

 

shoulder straps.

 

the webbing is riveted to the front and velcro in the back.

 

paul is exactly correct about the difference between the screen used and the tour suit.

Edited June 8, 2010 by TK Bondservnt 2392

[troopermaster]

Where is the webbing Vern?

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

on the photo above tagged Exhibit A:

 

the tour suit.

Edited June 8, 2010 by TK Bondservnt 2392

[TK3373[TK]]

I never noticed this before, but the tour helmet has a huge chunk carved out of the bottom part of it.

 

Maybe it was made for getting the thing on easier.

[troopermaster]

on the photo above tagged Exhibit A:

 

the tour suit.

 

Exhibit A has a vinyl shoulder strap with velcro sewn underneath. How can you say it "clearly shows webbing"?

[JoeR]

Exhibit A has a vinyl shoulder strap with velcro sewn underneath. How can you say it "clearly shows webbing"?

 

Excuse the OT.

 

Fellas that is not a tour helmet.

 

I am sure that is the www.screenused.com helmet before it was stolen off the display. The chunk at the bottom is where the plastic is pushed in as it is very very weak in that area on both helmets I had.

 

Joe

Edited June 9, 2010 by JoeR

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

 

you can clearly see that the shoulder strap in this photo is not made from plastic at all.

 

it's a ribbed cloth type material.

 

plain to see.

[troopermaster]

You are wrong once again Vern! (as usual )

 

I have seen the actual suit in person and it is definately NOT made from a cloth type material. It looks to be made from vinyl/PVC type material and has velcro sewn onto the entire length of the underside.

[TKCaleb]

You are wrong once again Vern! (as usual )

 

I have seen the actual suit in person and it is definately NOT made from a cloth type material. It looks to be made from vinyl/PVC type material and has velcro sewn onto the entire length of the underside.

 

I think what Vern is trying to say is that the strapping is made out of a type of fabric, which cloth is considered by many as another term for fabric. I agree, i think the tour suit is entirely made out of a specialized material that feels a lot like rubber.

 

As for the straps on the original ROTJ suits being made out of ABS, i dont think so. If you pay close attention to the movie,there much more flexible then standard ABS.

[troopermaster]

The shoulder straps on my 1.5mm and 1mm regular ABS suits can be folded in half easily without cracking. They are very flexible compared to the 2mm acrylic capped ABS and maybe the ABS that other makers use too, so I can understand why you think that way about the priginal ROTJ straps.

 

If you look closely and freeze frame certain scenes, you can see the velcro on the chest and back plate showing under the straps that are not placed correctly. The shoulder straps are simply vac formed ABS with velcro glued underneath.

 

The ones in the exhitions could be original ROTJ screen used or may have been made after filming from the same moulds, but one things for sure, the shoulder straps have been replaced. The ABS straps may have been lost or damaged and new ones made from the vinyl ribbing. The velcro is still there on the chest. If the straps were the original ones and meant to be riveted, why would there be velcro?

 

The vinyl (or whatever it is) is like man made leather. Fabric (like cloth) is a weaved material like cotton, nylon, silk, not like these shoulder straps in question.

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

the photo was pointed out to be a fabric or soft material by user- ABS80.

 

so the information about that armor, and that photo was actually stated as fabric/cloth/vynal by mark.

 

the actual movie used armor most likely was ABS.

 

but when I look at the edge of the strap, and mark sure made a point out of it for me, so I pass that along.

 

it might be a "replacement strap" but it's riveted to the armor.

 

I think it's a "stunt" version of the armor with a cheaper strap.

 

the ABS was more likely a closeup version? that strap looks like a soft material.

 

the other photo of it from the other angle is also suggestive of a soft material.

 

it's clearly fraying.

 

Edited June 13, 2010 by TK Bondservnt 2392

[troopermaster]

None of the screen used ROTJ suits used vinyl straps like on these displays, so there are no hero or stunt versions in that regard.

 

The fraying on the straps you see on these exhibiton suits is simply the 'hook' side of the velcro that is sewn underneath.

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

I see fabric...

not plastic and velcro. my 2 cents.

fabric and velcro... but not plastic and velcro...

 

most likely a background trooper in ROTJ.

[troopermaster]

I think you are confusing vinyl with hard plastic. The vinyl used on these straps is more like immitation leather, not ABS.

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

that would be a fabric. and it frays. and it's flexible in ways that plastic is not.

[troopermaster]

I give up

[Rich330[TK]]

I give up

 

Don't you remember the days before CDs when we constantly had to replace our vinyl records becasue they kept fraying?

[ObiHahn[TK]]

I guess unless any of you can step into a time machine, take a good look at each and every single ROTJ stormtrooper costume and then bring evidence back with you, this will likely never be resolved.

 

The vinyl/cloth shoulder strap riveted to the chest might very well be an on-set "field repair", who can tell? Plastic shoulder straps keep breaking all the time under normal trooping conditions, so they surely will while filming fights in a forest, with stones being hurled at the troops and constant falling to the ground, hit by "blaster fire" and arrows... I'm sure the costume department had to be quite creative while patching up all damaged parts on location.

I mean, background troopers were probably mainly made of white Gaffa taped around nude guys painted black...

[carbonitekid]

that would be a fabric. and it frays. and it's flexible in ways that plastic is not.

 

 

Quote Wikipedia:

 

 

 

"Polyvinyl chloride is the third most widely produced plastic.

"

 

 

No mention of it being a fabric.

 

Full article found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinyl_chloride

[Locitus[Admin]]

Quote Wikipedia:

 

 

 

"Polyvinyl chloride is the third most widely produced plastic.

"

 

 

No mention of it being a fabric.

 

Full article found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinyl_chloride

 

I'm not trying to prove what the strap may or may not have been made of, but there is a fabric made from vinyl, which is very common, as a quick search on google will show.

 

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=vinyl+fabric