RT-MOD Armor History

[TK-4510[501st]]

I purchased my set or RT-Mod armor after doing extensive research on Jez site back in 2005. I really wanted something somewhat accurate and tough for trooping and the RT-Mod delivered. I asked Rob to assemble my helmet and I would do the rest. When my box arrived it was so neatly packed and so glossy and nice. It looked like it came from a professional company.

 

The armor itself is a milky white .093 gage armor. Its quite possibly the thickest, toughest armor out there. It looses a bit of detail because its so thick, but for trooping it was great. I wore my armor for a year and sold it for some AP. When I opened the AP box and saw how thin the armor was in comparison, I was like wha??

 

Rob is a great guy and has no ego. I have heard that 1/2 the Canadian garrison is wearing his armor. Thats cool.

 

I am not sure when Rob began making his armor. His website is hit or miss on the pics for his armor. If you know anything about his armor and have facts and cool things to share please do. I am going to invite RT-MOD to join the discussion. Hopefully he will tell us how it began for him.

 

Here is a pic of me in my armor. Its one of my favorites.

[TK8280]

Nice stuff!

[even sung[TK]]

thanks share! very useful to me.

 

Tm,rt-mod,what's next? AP I guess

[Boozel]

I ordered my second set of Armor back in sept 2006. Rob was trying to find a new ABS supplier, so it took a little longer. Like Tk4510 said, Rob is simply a class act guy to deal with. He kept me updated on the ABS search, sent e-mails to just to check in, and even offered my money back until the ABS arrived. It was a pleasent experience to buy his armor.

He changed from the old .093 to slightly thinner for better detail (.080) very white and has enhanced UV inhibitor to prevent yellowing.

His Mark V suit has changed :

-The rear of the helmet so that there is less out ward slope.

-The 'Bicep' pieces to have more taper and adding the inner half 'horseshoe' detail.

-The Forearms to have more shape/taper to the inner half.

-The Cod-piece vertical stripe detail has been made thinner.

-The Upper thighs have been slightly resculpted and made longer on the inner half.

-The Calfs now have disticntive inner and outer components

-The Chest has been sublty resculpted to better reflect the original style ANH movie chest.

-The Helmet will now come with new more authentic 'Brow' trim. I am leaving the existing rubber trim on the neck seal because it is a much better fit than the material used for the brow.

 

All in all, I am extremely pleased with mine. Neatly packed? You bet. I ordered the suit as an entire kit, helmet and all, also hovi casts with speakers.

As far as my opinion, great suit, very nice detail,good price, Awesome guy to deal with.

But that is my opinion...lol

Boozel

here is mine:

[TK-4510[501st]]

Looks great. The thinner material brought out alot more detail!

[stukatrooper]

I have Robs armour and am very happy also.The one thing i found is the overall size compared to the FX .

 

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Edited December 14, 2020 by gmrhodes13
link not working, removed gmrhodes13 2020

[RT-Mod Rob[501st]]

Thanks for the glowing reviews of my armor

 

Mike,

 

I have accepted your invitation to join this discussion and have bookmarked the page. As some of you know I am a pilot and so I work for days at a time out of town but I wll check in here as often as is practical.

 

My website(www.rt-mod.com) covers the history and how I got into this whole crazy trooper thing but in a nutshell it was an extension of our fondness to do up (what we thought were) cool costumes for Halloween. I had always been fond of the Stortrooper costume but lacked the facility and equipment to make one. All the other costumes were foam, fabric and paint...pretty simple stuff. But one day I found myself doing some research on line looking at pics and learning about how the costumes were made, their history and the HUGE following of people who wanted or already had these suits. At the time (1998) GF/FX were the standard. What I learned was that the suits were well liked except for a couple of things: 1. the helmet was too big and 2. the suit was built to fit a medium framed individual (5'8"-5'10"ish, 170lbs-ish). In fact by way of circumstance I was able to try on an FX suit and could see where the legs and arms were a problem for the 'huskier' trooper like myself (6'0" 215). I found myself having the time and some spare change and decided I would give it a try. I wanted to have my hand at mold making and such and thought I could likely make a descent looking suit, at least slightly more accurate than the FX and at the same time make it a better fit for my larger frame.

 

The process was time consuming and a fair bit more expensive than I had originally thought but was very satisfying none the less. I cant explain the pride I felt when that first piece came off the vacuum machine. And when we did the first mock up on my wife's 5'11" girlfriend I was ecstatic.

 

Over the last few years I have been trying to make each piece as accurate as possible but still having the fit for the big framed troopers. I am very pleased with the way the suit looks now.

 

My next project is to scale up the helmet ever so slightly. The helmet is currently the same size as an original helmet but because the suit is slightly larger in scale I find the helmet looks slightly too small when worn by a big trooper. Ideally I would be able to offer the option to people. The problem here is that any of the companies that can do computer based scaling/sculpting won't infringe copyright material so I may try doing it by hand.

 

Speaking of copyright...Yes, the face of my helmet is a copy of a TE(trooper expert) helmet, though slightly cleaned up. When this situation developed I was unaware of the unbelievably heated debate within the props community about copying other peoples work. I learned very quickly who the players were and how wicked the backlash can be. To make a long story short, TE and I came to an agreement after several conversations over the phone and I have his permission to continue using the face. Some will argue that it is not his place to give permission to use LFL intellectual material...by the letter of the law that may be the case. Personally, I felt that I had (unknowingly)violated a trust within the community and felt it the right thing to do. And as far as LFL goes I have it on very good authority that as long as this is a hobby and not a major commercial venture(ie. advertising online and/or in magazines and such) they dont mind their fans suppling their fans with these things. I have never had an issue with LFL.

 

So that is the quickie version. If anyone has questions I'll be happy to answer tham as best i can when I can.

 

Cheers,

 

Rob

[TK4999[TK]]

Wow! This is awesome! Welcome to the FISD, Rob!

[TK-4510[501st]]

AWESOME THANKS ROB!!!!!

[geordietrooper]

hi rob

thanks for the info

[Boozel]

Fantastic. Welcome Rob, Glad to have you here.

Boozel

[john danter]

Rob,

 

I met you (electronically) many moons ago and would like to think I introduced you to the UK lads.

I wouldn't have done that if I didn't think your stuff was ace and more importantly your attitude was ace.

 

John Danter (the fussy git who wanted sepearate ear antenna )

 

Good for you dude

[RT-Mod Rob[501st]]

Cheers Mr. Danter.

 

I do remember...ya lanky sod ya

 

Hows the gear?

[TK4205]

Rob. Thanks for stopping by and sayin hey.

As I've said before your armor is one of our favorites and it's always been a pleasure dealing with you on the business end.

 

I for one am honored that you came to see your fans here at the FISD and fill us in on some armor history.

 

Thanks.

Wyatt.

[troopermaster]

Hi Rob

 

Welcome to the forum mate!

[Scott M.[TK]]

Welcome to the show, Rob!!

 

So glad you could join us.

[TK8280]

Welcome to the FISD Rob!

[carbonitekid]

Here's my experience of Rob/RTmod.

 

Contacted Rob via email and although his job keeps him "out of the office" recieved a response in a very quick time. Having placed an order for a built lid he went out of his way to ensure I recieved it before CE, despite having personal issues, and kept me upto date with each stage.

 

3 weeks from first enquiry to helmet sat in my lap

 

And what a lid !

 

Great detail, great service,

top bloke.

 

Rob , I salute you mate

 

[Ruf Terrain[TK]]

I just bought an RT-Mod helmet but I can say so far, I am very impressed. I got a package in the mail the other day thinking it couldn't be my helmet because armor usually takes weeks/months to arrive but no it was the helmet. It perfectly matches my FX and I was VERY happy about that because it was my biggest issue about replacing my helmet.

 

If I could just talk him into changing the ear/rank caps to have molded detail, all would be perfect.

[laptopluke[TK]]

I purchased the RT-MOD helmet a little while ago to replace my FX helmet. What a fantastic piece!

My correspondence with Rob was terrific. As folks above have said, he's great to deal with and a pleasure. That's half the experience right there! Knowing your not going to get left out in the cold. Always kept me up to date and honest. Smooth transaction and perfectly shipped. The helmet, when not worn, sits on it's stand with a place of honor among my collection.

 

I think I'll be scraping up the cash to grab the rest of the armor as well. I'm hooked! Thank you Rob for all you do and have done in the past. You are top notch within this community in my opinion.

[Daetrin[Admin]]

RT is in our house! A big warm welcome Rob! As you can see you have many, many fans here and it's great to know the story of how your armor came to be, and how it got to where it is now.

[Exodus[TK]]

Rob, thanks for joining our little community and providing your armor history.

 

I am also an owner of the RT-mod helmet and am very pleased with its quality and fit. Plus, it was a great purchasing experience with anyone considering purchasing his gear.

 

See my pics in the deployment section

[Bigturc]

Rob,

Montrealers here, glad to see another canadian on board!

 

First, I'd like to say thanks for the history, simple, quick and felt very honest and straight forward in your response.

 

I had contacted Rob one year ago after having seen his stuff on Jez's site. That had got me all excited and proud knowing a fellow canadian fan was building his own sculpt. I still ended up with an AP (as AP is 25 minutes from my place and could have it in a matter of days while I knew Rob had quite a waiting list at that time ) .. but I always like the feel of the RT-MOD suit!

 

Not to say I always wondered how his suit would have fit my 6'3 190lbs frame. Certainly a little better then the AP, but again, I so love my AP

 

Can't wait to completely finish it and send you guys pictures!

[Hammer3246]

Hi Rob,

 

I received one of your suits in August, couldn't be happier. It was my first suit and put it together with no problems.

 

Cheers

 

Edit: I should add that I'm 6'1" 200-210lbs (it fluctuates ). It fits me perfect.

[Chefhawk[501st]]

Hi Rob.

Brilliant to have you here and to learn a bit about the history of your armor.

I would love to see some pics of your molds, as i am "having a go" myself.

 

many thanks

 

 

chef