Armor Maintenance & Upkeep

[Armor9[TK]]

From my years in the Army, no matter how hard we fought or trained, when we were back in garrison we took care of our kit and gear making it like new so it would take care of us the next time we were out.  I’d like to think the most battle hardened Stormtroopers would do the same upon return to garrison.  
 

To that end, what are your tried and true maintenance and repair tips and tricks?

 

What is the best method to getting black scuff off armor?

 

Is there a better brand, type or style of white paint to touch up screws and rivets?

 

Whats the best polish to remove scratches and bring back the shine so Vader notices you on the parade ground?

 

Any other ideas you use after a troop?

[Vicky_Velocipanda[Staff]]

I use the sponges used for doing the dishes (the ones with a yellow and a black side, if that makes sense) and some water to remove the black scuff. For bigger repairs, it's always good to keep some leftover white plastic from building the armor. If you mix some little pieces of that with aceton, you get a paste that you can use to repair cracks in your armor. Put on the paste, let it dry, then sand it down. For the white screws, I just use a white paint pen (Google says the right translation ist touch-up pen?). Hope that helps  

[Sly11[Admin]]

Novus polish is excellent and specifically designed for polishing plastics.

You can buy it in a 3 pack which is Novus 1,2 and 3. ! being a spray for quick polish or final polish, 2 for light scratches and 3 for heavy scratches. I use Novus for all black marks and scratch repairs.

As far as repairs on the job, i always carry tubes of CA glue and spare small pieces of ABS and HIPS.

These can be used behind your armour where you find a crack. Good to stop it from spreading specially on return edges.

[Nairy[Staff]]

Question: Not polishing doesn't keep the armor from yellowing over time right? I think that rather has to do with chemical stuff?

[Jakebullet[TK]]

I use magic eraser sponges to get rid of scuffs, they work really well if you add a spot of water

[Armor9[TK]]

42 minutes ago, Jakebullet said:

I use magic eraser sponges to get rid of scuffs, they work really well if you add a spot of water

 

I've used this as well. 

[Armor9[TK]]

4 hours ago, Sly11 said:

Novus polish is excellent and specifically designed for polishing plastics.

You can buy it in a 3 pack which is Novus 1,2 and 3. ! being a spray for quick polish or final polish, 2 for light scratches and 3 for heavy scratches. I use Novus for all black marks and scratch repairs.

As far as repairs on the job, i always carry tubes of CA glue and spare small pieces of ABS and HIPS.

These can be used behind your armour where you find a crack. Good to stop it from spreading specially on return edges.

 

Thanks for that info.  My armor is PVC, do you have any knowledge about not using Novus with PVC or should it work as well? 

[TK-32700[TK]]

Wipe the insides with a clean rag. Get rid of that moisture, immediately! 

 

Clean with a soft washcloth and warm, soapy water if needed. Any liquid soap will work fine, I use dishwashing soap. Make sure everything is dry before storage.

 

Cracks needs to be fixed as soon as possible. I use CA glue and spare pieces of plastics for a quick fix, and ABC paste made from spare pieces melted in aceton for a more permanent fix. If possible, repair from the inside. If the repair is visible on the outside, I sand it smooth with incrementaly higher grit sandpapers, and finish off with Novus polish.

 

Scuffs is just battle damage and bonus weathering. It looks awesome (and movie accurate!) after a few troops. But if I want to shine, I rub away the scuff marks with an eraser, and then I wipe the armor with a soft cloth and isopropyl alcohol to get rid of any grime. I finish with Novus polish. Novus should work on all plastics, also PVC, but take a look at their website to be sure. It's novuspolish.com.

 

Thighten all screws, nuts and bolts before storage AND before the next troop. Nothing is more annoying than losing a chicago screw on the holster in the middle of a troop.

 

If you have an emergency repair kit (and you should!), check to see if you need to refill it.

 

@Nairy: Yellowing has nothing to do with polish, but UV and heat. All white armor will turn yellow over time. Exposure to the sun will accelerate it, so do not store your armor near a window. I also advice against storing the armor near a heat source.

 

But you can turn yellow plastic (temporarily) white again with a hydrogen peroxide and UV treatment. The tricky part is that it is difficult (and expensive) to submerge the armor in peroxide. The common way to solve this is to make a creamy peroxide gel to smear on the armor, that sticks to the plastic while the sun does its thing. Search "Retr0bright" for a recipe. Or get a ready-to-use mixture, like Trooperbay's ArmorWhite.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

I normally only polish if I have a high profile event, then I use Tcut (auto polish), great for getting larger marks, scuffs and scratches off. 

 

I've only had a couple of cracks in my ATA which is 10 years old (now a sandy) for that I glue strips of abs behind the cracks, scuffing with course sandpaper, and apply JB weld, I find that holds really well and can be sanded if you get any runs.

 

Inside the armor get's wiped down with anti bacterial wipes, again when ever it's been a sweaty troop.

 

I noticed my Stunt helmet had some yellowing, no surprise there been outside with a lot of troops over 39.5deg C. I mixed up some Retr0bright, I've read about it but never used before and it's pretty amazing stuff, mixed, applied and out in the afternoon sun for 2 hours (low 20's deg C) and I couldn't believe my eyes, back to pure white once again.

 

I used to carry quite a big bag of tools and replacements but found over the years it is rare I have any issues, lost 2 snaps over 10 years, now I use industrial elastic and soldering iron to create the holes, gives a little more strength, also a dab of E6000 can give a little more strength around the hole. I also carry some white gaffa tape, just in case, plus it's screen accurate 

 

One other update was adding an external AA battery to the Icomm unit, the internal battery can expire after a few years, replacement was going to cost $25 just for shipping, Andrew has a nice upgrade for an external battery

 

I always charge everything before a troop, also check for any missing snaps and to make sure everything is still there.