Thigh piece a little 'pinchy' on the inner part?

[maxsteele[TK]]

I have my thighs (NE) finished, and at first, I was pulling them up to where I thought I should wear them.  I started looking at photos, and realized that I had them both turned outward a bit too much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was beginning to think I somehow constructed the thighs incorrectly.  Tonight after I got home from work, I tried my thighs on and positioned them to where I believe they are supposed to be, with the bottom cover strip lined up with my knees.

 

 

 

 

 

Now, this is certainly not as comfortable as the way I'm wearing them in the first pic.  When I have them in this position, the left thigh piece on the inside is a little pinchy in my groin area sometimes.  Not fun.

 

 

1)  Is there an issue with the way I'm wearing them in the first pic?  If there is, then I won't wear them that way, but if there isn't, they are much more comfortable to wear that way.

 

2)  If I must wear them like the second pic, are there any tips to prevent the pinching?

[HawkFan24]

The cover strip should be in line with the knee like in the second picture. However if your thigh is slighty angled outward it shouldnt be the end of the world. Ideally though it should be inline with your knee. You can lower the tighs a bit and see if that helps to reduce the pinching...

Edited April 9, 2014 by HawkFan24

[maxsteele[TK]]

I think what happened is I had a fellow trooper come over to help size my thighs for cutting in the back, and while we were discussing the fit of the thighs, he was talking about how the strips weren't supposed to be a straight up-and-down alignment with the knee.  This led to fitting them with the outward turn when wrapping the extra around in the back and marking for cutting.  I believe that's why they're more comfortable with that outward turn than without.

 

It would be a major setback in this build if I had to tear apart my thighs and attempt to re-size them.  I might have taken more off than I am supposed to for having the strips lined up with my knee, which would mean I'd have to get a new set of thigh pieces and start over again.

 

I guess I'm really only going to know once I rig up a system to wear my thigh pieces and see how they look and feel. 

 

Thanks for your reply.

[emile1138]

I had a similar issue on my thighs and this was my thought process in fixing it and wearing them in a way that looks proper.

 

Check out these screen used reference photos:

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As you can see, the thighs are twisted outward ever so slightly, but still lign up with the knees when standing relaxed. If you notice, when you're standing straight up, your feet aren't pointing straight out. They're pointing in outward angles. Thus, so are your shins, causing your thighs to lign up improperly when you have them attached perfectly straight.

 

When you're test fitting stuff, you get tense and want to point your feet straight forward unnaturally, causing the issue of misalighnment of the thighs.

 

Long story short, I twisted the thighs out slightly, so it fits the rest of the armor, and ligns up with the cod piece with minimal gap. If it's too out of lign with the shins when standing in a natural and relaxed position, twist them back and find a healthy middle ground between fitting in the crotch and ligning up with the shins.

 

Two things to remember when you run into situations like this:

1- Just do what looks good and proper. No need to freak out over small alignments. When you visit a kid in the hospital or go to a fundraiser no one is going to say, "That Stormtrooper is cool and all,but I don't want a picture with him because his thigh is 1/4" misaligned with his shins!"

 

2- Whatever you do, you will never look as bad as this guy...

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(Yes, that is an actual screen shot from the movie)

 

Good luck!

Edited December 27, 2021 by gmrhodes13
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[Locitus[Admin]]

Your thighs are not shaped properly, to take considerations for your groin. That's why they pinch. They are meant to be worn lower down the legs. The real thighs had as you can see in the pictures above, been shaped with a cut out around the groin to prevent just this from happening.

[Minuteman]

The first NE run had these ANH-style thighs, but they changed them to the older AM ones. God knows why.

Edited April 9, 2014 by Minuteman

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Deleted.

Edited April 9, 2014 by The5thHorseman

[maxsteele[TK]]

Caleb - Thanks for the suggestions!  I will certainly try working with the positioning of them and see how I can get them to sit when worn.  Yes, I know that the public at large won't notice my misaligned thighs, but I'll definitely be hyper-aware of it and want to get it as close to corrected as I can.

 

 

Mathias - Yeah, you had mentioned that in a previous thread I had about thigh shape.  And you had said to either cut them, which would make them look weird, or wear them lower, which would equally make them look weird.  I believe my craft experience will not allow me to nicely cut the tops of my thighs to prevent any sort of issue I'm currently having.  I'm trying to see if I can thin up the return edge on the cod piece to assist with the fit and pinching while maintaining the alignment of the front cover strips.  I'll find out through adjustments once I start wearing all the pieces.

 

 

Germain:  "Oh!  Look at the guy who bought recast armor!  Let's all point and laugh at him!"  Yep, you really showed me!    

 

When I was doing all the research I did back in July and August, I did not find posts from people talking about how NE armor was recast.  Most likely it was because I didn't know exactly what I was looking for, but I didn't find it.. There were plenty of NE build threads, and no one was talking bad about it in them, so that's what I based my decision on.  Hell, at least one person got a Centurion award with NE armor.  I'm not the enemy here.  I didn't recast the armor.  But I did buy it, and I'm working as hard as I can to get it put together and look as accurate as I possibly can.

 

I certainly appreciate any constructive criticism I receive from my inquiries, but posting "RECAST!" in this or any other thread, unless asked for that info, does nothing more than confirm a feeling of superiority over someone who tried to have the information needed but wasn't able to find it.

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

You didn't understand me, i wasn't criticizing the fellow troopers who bought from NE but the armor makers of NE. Period.

[maxsteele[TK]]

Germain, thanks for the clarification on your statement.

 

I believe myself and others who have this armor are now fully aware of the recast status of it.  Calling out the nature of an armor builder on a thread where I'm asking for help to overcome an issue feels like Nelson from the Simpsons pointing and saying "Ha ha!".  If I could take it all back and do it over, I'd try to choose something else.  That's not going to happen, and I'm working with what I have.

[Haribon72[TK]]

Good morning Ron!   I had the same problems with my thighs.    To control the thighs, I put front straps that are connected from the thighs to the abs plate.  This stopped it from swinging around and keeping it centered to the knee.    Also, I had trimmed them at the top and copied the movie scene pics like this:

 

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I removed 1/4" (quarter inch) at a time until I found it comfortable to walk around.   And yes, I had to trim the groin area to make it more comfortable.   I didn't like my armor thighs snagging the family jewels.   But seriously...take your time.   We are only the few working with NE armor and someday we will be able to help other NE owners.

 

Cheers, 

 

Walter

Edited December 27, 2021 by gmrhodes13
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[JLight[TK]]

Yeah I am doing NE armor too and didn't know it was recast. I researched a lot and it was never brought up. Either way, I have to sleep in the bed I've made. Here's what mine looks like without the gloves, forearms, holster, blaster.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[maxsteele[TK]]

You know Jonathan, with the full kit on, that doesn't look like an issue at all.  It really looks like your thighs are at the position that my thighs in my first photo are at.  I'm good with how yours look.

[Haribon72[TK]]

You know Jonathan, with the full kit on, that doesn't look like an issue at all.  It really looks like your thighs are at the position that my thighs in my first photo are at.  I'm good with how yours look.

 

 

+ 1

[SCTrooper[TK]]

You could mod the thigh tops if this pinching becomes a problem. Panda trooper has a tutorial, on AM- NE thighs.

I did this to mine, but didn't remove as much. No problems so far.

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Edited December 27, 2021 by gmrhodes13
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[maxsteele[TK]]

Nick, did you add the return edge back or did you leave it off? I can't tell by the angle of the pics.

[emile1138]

On the top of the thighs? No return edge. Sanded flat on mine.

[SCTrooper[TK]]

On 4/10/2014 at 10:36 AM, maxsteele said:

Nick, did you add the return edge back or did you leave it off? I can't tell by the angle of the pics.

I made a small return, about 1/4". A thicker return would look better. I flattened out the return too much, it should be more round, if that makes sense.-----------

After reshaping, i used course steel wool to smooth out the surface and bring back the shine.

Edited December 27, 2021 by gmrhodes13
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[Griffon King[TK]]

I have NE armor and that return edge is a killer. I am a tall guy (6'3") and had some concerns with the spacing between my cod and thighs. I had some major bite issues after I got it built and approved and went back and removed the return edge completely from the top of the thighs, and re-did the straps to turn the thighs out a little. Of course, I have a ton of space between my thighs and cod now, but at least I'm comfortable walking around.

 

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Edited December 27, 2021 by gmrhodes13
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[maxsteele[TK]]

Jon, for what it's worth, I think you're wearing the suit well!

 

I got my belt yesterday, so now I'm able to attach the ab plate to my body and then pull up the thighs and hold them up while walking.  They are definitely catching on my cod, even when rolling them outward.  I trimmed down the cod and they still either catch down on the rounded part, or if I line my thighs up with the finishing strip centered on my knees, the tops will catch where the ab plate curves around the front of my thigh.

 

It seems like I"m going to have to cut my thighs lower in order to be able to pull them up high enough to clear my knees, but not catch on my cod.  I really didn't want to do this type of modification, especially once I already had the thighs glued together and sized.

 

I think I'm going to first try to cleanly remove the return edge from the cover strip down along the lower curve of each thigh, and keep the return edge on the outer part of the thigh which is more visible.

 

Once I get that successfully removed, I'm going to keep the same curve of the thigh but cut away 5mm or so of length from the inside of each thigh.  That should hopefully keep the shape of the thighs looking alright while giving me clearance to prevent the cod from catching on them.  I'm going to try the pencil trick I saw in another build where you attach the pencil at a fixed distance from your finger tip, then you trace the line of the armor which will lay down the pencil line of the measured distance on the armor.

 

I'm pretty sure some of the more screen-accurate proponents of the forum will yell at their monitors when they read this, but I struggle with cosmetic changes.  I need to make it as simple as I can so I don't completely screw up my thigh pieces and have to buy new ones that I may or may not screw up again.

[maxsteele[TK]]

Alright, removing the return edge on the inner side of each thigh wasn't as bad as I thought it would be:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I need to cut back those inner pieces so they are sitting below my cod, and not catching on it.  Drawings / suggestions on the best way to do that are appreciated!

Edited April 11, 2014 by maxsteele

[JLight[TK]]

Just a bit at a time. The fact that you are worried about screwing it up means you probably won't. You have taken a lot of time to think it through. Thanks for the compliments on how my suit fits. Still have tweaks to do because I don't have a lot of mobility.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[maxsteele[TK]]

Thanks for the confident words, Jonathan.

 

One thing I'm wondering about - will it be ok to trim only the inner part of the thighs down, or do I need to remove the same amount from the entire top of the thigh?  Here's a (crude) cut-line drawing of what I mean:

 

 

Can I do it this way?

 

 

 

Or do I need to do it this way:

 

 

 

 

If I need to do the second way, then I'll need to take off the return edge completely.  

[Haribon72[TK]]

I did mine the second way in your picture because I have thunder thighs.   I was very nervous, but when my family said it looks like hooker boots... I whipped out my blade and started trimming.  

After trimming, I started to heat bend the thighs to get them to open up more so they can cover my fat.    its still a work in progress for me (trying to lose weight).

[SCTrooper[TK]]

I wouldn't remove any from the tops of the thighs, just the lower inner groin area and make tops of the thighs more pointed without making them shorter. More like your first photo, but not so much off the inner top part.  

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Edited December 27, 2021 by gmrhodes13
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