ROTJ reinforcement for Austria & the Empire

[Maxl[TK]]

I've mended all grey colors

 

... after that I painted the buttons again. First drawing the circles ...


... and violà, ready

 

I think that I have to paint the buttons twice, because there are still crazing

...

I started with the strapping. First of all kidney/posterior and the shoulders

kidney/posterior:






and the shoulders:


I'm very afraid of strapping all the other armor pieces. Please, hold tumbs. And if there are any tips or tricks of "how-to-strap-easier" so PLEASE TELL ME!!! :D

 

greets, Markus

Edited July 6, 2016 by Maxl

[Maxl[TK]]

... and the funny "strapping" takes its curse!

"Abdomen" to "Kidney" left & right




"Abdomen" to "Kidney" left


"Abdomen" to "Kidney" left and "Abdomen" to "Chest"








Let's see how it goes tomorrow ...
till then
may the force be with you & good night!

(mtfbwy & gn8)

[Maxl[TK]]

And it goes on, and on, and on, ...

"Abdomen to chest" (2. strip):




and "chest":

[Maxl[TK]]

After few holidays I continued the strapping. First adjust the right hand plate, then gluing it:







here the "test-fitting" of the left and with the forearm (also left ... needless to say ):











... and after the "test-fitting" gluing the left "hand plate":



 

[Maxl[TK]]

"chest" is ready now:


and it went on with the "hand plates"




another test fit (cannot be often enought  ) ...










... it fits all around very well. After fitting just mark where to glue and cut ...






... and here glued and clamped.


"kidney" & "back":


Just a little practice how to clamp. So I do not have any troubles when it is already glued


... and now WITH glue:


Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow I will glue the left hand plate and the second part of "kidney" & "back" ....

... it's gonna be serious

[Maxl[TK]]

The first "big-arm-test-fitting" has started. Unfortunately I miss the strapping for "biceps to forearm", but Paul said it maybe would be arrive next week.

front:

side:

front (arm from the side):


in "pose":

here I meassured the distance between "forearm" and "hand plate" ...

... and after that I glued it. I cut off the strapping, cause it was too long for me, and burned the fray carefully off for not disband the suture (is that right english? ):

... and violà ... glued


adjust the left "hand plate":

cut off the strapping which was too long...

And last but not least "back to kidney" (without glue) ...


... glued:

I hope to continue my work tomorrow
Good night!!!

Edited July 19, 2016 by Maxl

[Maxl[TK]]

I am VERY honored to get a "HOT" for my threat!!!

THANK YOU!!!! It means a lot to me!

[Maxl[TK]]

I did some further yet and tried on the armor. But one after the other ...

right forearm and the right hand plate fit perfekt ...


... and the rest fit very well too, I think so ...


... the left arm (without glued "hand plate") ...






... and here I have glued the strapping from the hand plate to forearm:


"back" und "kidney":


the first realistically "test-fitting" :








I know that it doesn't fit exactly. But it is really difficult keeping everything right and standing still and holding the camera and looking good :D

I glued on the inner side of the "abdomen plate" over the rivets felt platelet to not get scars on the kidney.






Also doing the same on the chest plate, but the reason here is that the rivets are pressuring my collarbone:






After that I glued the straps of the back (shoulder straps):
test fitting:




meassuring, drawing a line, correct and cut:




and "ZACK" ... it is already glued


other side (left):






And also glued. See you tomorrow

till then
mtfbwy (may the force be with you)

[Maxl[TK]]

I must confess, I could not resist having a bit of work at the helm
Therefore, a couple of pictures in advance, because the say more than 1000 words


I bought a cheap helmet and disassembled it


and that's the "stuffing" look like after it had broken out ...


... this is the inner lining of the "stuffing" of the helmet with the two ear parts ...


... and here the reassembled "filling" with the inner lining:




After appropriate time I REALLY start assembling with the helmet, but this will take a bit. First here's my recent advances     :


The strapping takes its course. Now it will not be long and I can soon call me a Stormtrooper (at least one without a helmet ). You can see the result here:








The arms had to hold the two thigh parts, because I still lack the strapping. Therefore, the position is also not too precisely. The strapping of the "cod plate" is unfortunately missing too, but I'll get it all this week

Based on my body posture, it looks as if "back" and "kidney" would be awry ... I just stand crooked ... I need to change this

The chest still stands off a little bit stupid, because the strapping "abdomen to chest" is not glued yet. But that will be probably done tomorrow. Today I glue once "abdomen to kidney" (Photos coming later, or tomorrow).

[Maxl[TK]]

strapping "abdomen to kidney left side"

Greets, Markus

Edited July 24, 2016 by Maxl

[troopermaster]

Starting to look like a real Stormtrooper now!

 

The chest will be pulled in if you use the straps between the back and chest on the lower ends of the armour. A tip if you want to have those big 80's style shoulder bells sticking out is not to strap the biceps to the bells which can pull the bells down. If possible, you can have a strap coming from your neck seal so the biceps are free from the bells. Make sure the thin strap for the bells is loose too so they just keep them from flapping.

 

*edit: spelling*

Edited July 20, 2016 by troopermaster

[Maxl[TK]]

Yeah! Thank you for that tip, Paul :-D <br>

I WILL choose the original 80's style and try to do everything right! ;-) <br><br>

Do you have any other tips for the Thermal Detonator to not scratch the kidney plate, cause of the metal stripes which are hooked in the belt? Is it allowed to glue some thin felt on them?

[troopermaster]

The original ROTJ armour did not have any strapping connecting the biceps to the shoulder bells as far as I am aware, so if you want to use any then I would go with my suggestion to keep the bells looking good.

 

The only thing I can suggest to help prevent the thermal detonator clips from scratching the armour is to glue the soft side of Velcro of felt to the clips or maybe even wrap them in electrical/insulation tape? I am not sure if you will totally prevent scratching the armour but either one of those suggestions will definitely help.

[humperdingle]

Some heatshrink sleeve over the ends of the clips works well

[Maxl[TK]]

Fine, thank you. ;-)

 

sent from Deathstar

[Maxl[TK]]

The straps should be attached like this:

 

Hey, Paul!

Do you have a Picture from the other side of the right thigh to get a look of the ammo stripe? It would help me to rivet the ammo right this time

[troopermaster]

It's the same for the opposite side.

[troopermaster]

ROTJ armour has an extra rivet near the middle of the strap but fixed inline with the others right at the top. It can be seen here between boxes 2+3 but I have also seen them between boxes 3+4 so feel free to add it wherever you choose

[Maxl[TK]]

wow!   that was fast! thank you

 

And is it sausage how the belt looks like, cause of the position? I mean when I would rivet it like on the pictures here then the ammo stripe/belt becomes very scalene (considered from the front).

Edited July 21, 2016 by Maxl

[Maxl[TK]]

here you can see the last strapping of "kidney to abdomen" (except groin):

First I held the strapping in position and then I drawed a line around the velcro to see where to glue:


The tape on the velcro is for me a mark.


And so the strapping looks like, if it will be glued (better it SHOULD be looks like that )...


one clamp-sample  ...


and the REAL clamping:

 ;D ;D ;D

More pictures will follow

Edited July 21, 2016 by Maxl

[Maxl[TK]]

Took a bit longer than expected, but now I glued the strapping "abdomen to chest":


after that I glued a small piece of velcro (felt) on the metal clips of the Thermal Detonator:







 

Edited July 24, 2016 by Maxl

[ivantam303[TK]]

Coming along nicely... Very detailed build   

I must say I studied from your thread as well before I start my own build, helped out a lot! 

[Maxl[TK]]

Thank you very much! I am delighted that you used my threat as a guide ;-)

 

sent from Deathstar

[Maxl[TK]]

Does anybody know how and where the thighs are secured?

 

sent from Deathstar

[troopermaster]

The elastic straps are glued directly to the inside of the thighs. The looped end goes to the top and a thin black belt (preferably leather) passes though the loop to keep them up. I have found that leaving between 50-60mm of the strap protruding past the top of the thigh works best but tape them in place before gluing to make sure they feel fine when you wear them.