HOWTO: Modifying Armor for Women

[bobojuice]

Which parts are you having trouble with? Send me a PM with any questions.

[chougoenen]

hi. what's the female mod measurement?

I'm also 5"4 and I'm hoping you could give the measurements of the modified parts

thanks

[davej[TK]]

Luis, I've read through this thread when you first put it up, but until I met Olga and yourself at CVI it really didn't mean anything.

Olga is such a tiny, petite little lady. You've both done an awesome job on her kit.

Congratulations, Olga, you look superb!!

Oh, Luis, your kit looked ok as well

 

Dave.

Edited October 1, 2012 by davej

[Erica]

Im in the earlyearly process of building my first TK, and eventhough Ive been warned its difficult to wear for us short people (Im 5'3), i didnt get discouraged when I tried on an armor this week. And seeing this post with close-up photos will be an amazing help in my future building. Thank you!

[bobojuice]

I haven't been around these parts in a while, but I have noticed that people are still using this reference for their builds, and I have been getting some PMs.

 

I got busy and never got around to finishing what I was going to on the Ab Plate and Forearm modifications. I don't have any pictures but hopefully a small explaination will suffice.

 

From what I remember, I measured the forearms on her arms and figured out the right place to cut and actually shortened them first. After that I removed quite a bit of material from the inside pieces where the butt joint is formed. I recommend doing this little by little so you dont cuttoff too much. Also, I left a bit extra to recreate the return edge. The return edge was the hardest part and necessary to create a flat spot for where the outside strips would adhere the two. I actually really screwed up most of the return, but as it is being hidden by the strip, it doesnt really matter too much. I used a metal ruler and a heat gun to get the bend. Once that was done, I glued everything into place and it was ready to go.

 

For the ab plate, I basically measured the max amount that I'd be able to cut from the plate without causing any issues or making it look stupid. This turned out to be about 1.5 inches IIRC. Once measured I used a blade to cut the cod plate from the ab plate. I made my measurement along the line where I had cut on the cod and cut the 1.5 inch strip of excess off. Once this was done, I had to reattach the plates. I used a but joint and joined them in the back using plenty of extra plastic and tons of crazy glue. I also used canvas tape and crazy glue to form a sort of ghetto fiberglass. The plastic really does most of the supporting of both pieces.

 

That's pretty much it. I know this is very late, but I'm not really around here anymore and I've gotten into other hobbies besides costuming. Good luck on all your builds if you are reading this as a resource.

[AlderaanDroids]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this information!  I am in the beginning stages (inquiring for kits) of creating a TK Stunt, ANH Stormtrooper.  I have contacted ATA. I was reading a post on the different armor kit makers and just wanted to clarify- it is possible to modify ATA to reach EI status, correct?  I was looking at the RSpropmasters which claims to be EI level out of the box; but since they are in the UK, much pricier and my bigger concern is that I haven't heard back from them yet either.

 

I don't have anyone to help me put together my armor (yet?), so I'm trying to learn as much as I can and not buy the wrong components.

 

I just trooped this weekend (as a handler) at Free Comic Book Day and it was so much fun!  I can't wait to be handled instead of handling!

[I'm Batman[501st]]

To answer your question above - yes, ATA is EI and Centurion capable. Check out some of the huge array of applications in the EI and Centurion threads. Really nice. Any of the vetted makers (ATA, AP, RS, etc) and most of the non vetted (MTK for example) will be EI/Centurion ok. I think I saw RS post on their facebook page that they were busy and would get back to people asap.

 

(However I can't comment on fitting for women, or fitting for someone of your size)

[Tfett40[TK]]

Awesome. This is perfect to get us going on the modification we will need.  Thank You for sharing

[Juice_S]

THANK YOU! This was exactly what I was looking for! 

[Cricket[TK]]

Bookmarked!  I'm sure that I'll be referring to this frequently soon.  I'm 5'4", and I've been wondering how to approach modifying the armor.  Thank you!!!

[TKZombie[TK]]

Awesome reference, I'm tall at 6'2" but thin with a small 29" waist so my ab and kidney plates have a 2" overlap on each side. I'm going to cut the overlap and go with a butt join and add the proper rivets on the left.

[monkeyluvz]

Thank you for this post! I've been researching what to do for my  5 foot frame and seeing all the armor available for 5'9+ has been scaring me!

[Ninjadrag[TK]]

nice post

[Bustedzip]

This is exactly what I needed to get back to my kit. I was having problems convincing myself to trim more because it just didn't seem standard, but this has really helped a lot so thank you again! Great to know there are other female Troopers out there too 

[Cpt. Phasma]

Thank you for this! I'm short at 5'3" so this will definitely come in handy once I eventually get to the nitty gritty portion of my Phasma project. Instant bookmark

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Glad to see this is still helpful.  If there are any suggestions in how to improve the first post, do let us know.

[bobojuice]

What that guy said ^

[sharkbait[TK]]

A trick I picked up (I believe from Ingrid/LadyinWhite, but it's been a while, so I'm not positive) for the thighs: women's thighs are generally larger on the top and taper smaller towards the bottom/knee.  Men's thighs are generally straight.  To compensate, instead of trimming a straight line on your thighs to circumference, trim them at a slight "V" shape. Not exaggerated, just a little bit to taper the bottom of the thigh pieces slightly smaller than the tops.  You'll take off a little bit more material at the bottom of the thigh than the top to create the effect.  

 

Once it's fully assembled and the cover strips are on, you can't tell the difference from the front or back.  You can only see if when you look down through the thighs from the top, or the bottom, and then you can see that one end is smaller than the other.  

 

It helps especially when looking at the top of the shins, which on a woman are likely smaller- the proportions don't look "off."  Obviously take your measurements and make sure you personally are this shape before you do the trimming- everyone is totally different, as we all know!

 

That and I'd recommend wearing a sports bra because it flattens you out a bit, so the chest plate won't pop out awkwardly (not just for the larger busted TKs out there, though the larger the more difference it will make- the originals were made over a man's pretty much flat chest).  Totally unflattering when wearing a t-shirt or the undersuit, but great for under a TK chest plate.  The moisture-wicking ones are also a plus, especially in the summer.