kiyotei

I get very hot during indoor troops (and if its hot out, out door troops as well). I've decided to buy a cool vest. Our local Darth Vader uses this brand. I ordered their lite version hoping it fits tighter. Anyone else try one of these under their armor? Yes I use summer weight under armor when its hot out. I have fans and vent holes in my helmet. http://www.coolsport.net

You can buy the amp from this link. They also have many other neat kits including voice changers. I have not used any other their other kits, just this amp. -------

if that is your idea of an "out of box" fix then I don't wanna see what you consider hard work:)) You have way too much free time, you should get a hobby:)) Nice work. You plan on trooping with this helmet at some point? And more importantly, I recall you showing us how you can remove the mouth and drink beer while keeping the helmet on. Looks like you sealed it so no more drinking with the helmet on:(

here is a link that shows my setup. ---------- you can also view my amp specific thread in this section as well (though the amp has nothing to do with the static burst. The Push To Talk mic I have makes the click sound for real so no need to fake it. I think its just like the sound in the film if you listen to the clean TKs

I've been told often that clean TKs do not have static burst. However, I was watching ANH this past weekend and the TK who stuns Leia at the beginning of the movie clearly has a static burst (or clicking) after he says "set for stun".

I was driving to the grocery store today in Edmonds, WA and saw this posted outside some church there...no joke:

Edit March 7, 2009] I think adding a small heat sink to the amp would be a good idea, especially if you are driving two speakers in parallel as most of us are (much higher amp draw). Its hard to find one that small and so a small aluminum block could be used. Make sure you attach it with heat sink adhesive. [Edit March 1, 2009] You can buy the amp from this link. They also have many other neat kits including voice changers. I have not used any other their other kits, just this amp. ------------ [Edit Feb 28, 2009] After some use with this amp and my throat mic, I think that the amp is clipping the signal at high volumes. I need the high volumes so you can hear me. I think I will have to add a secondary amp to boost the signal so I can reduce the output of the first amp and stop the clipping. Unfortunately the next sized amp chip I could use with this board requires too much voltage (around 18v) and I cannot provide that much power in my helmet. I recently built this kit for my TK helmet. I replaced the LM386-1 amp that comes with it with a LM386-3 amp. It has more output power. The -1 amp is not powerful enough. Using the -3 amp it works really well and is much smaller then the Radio Shack amp. It comes with all the parts you need except for input, output, and power lines. You decide how you want to wire those. For instance I ran wires to 2.5mm panel mount jacks for both the input and output lines. I ran wires from my helmet battery pack to the board for power. You can power it with a 9 volt battery. It has a red LED power indicator but its optional. You don't have to add it if you don't want to (conserve power). Its easy to solder together. I bought the LM386-3 amp from Digi-Key. ---------- Here is a photo showing the Radio Shack amp (on left) and this new amp on the right. ----------

I found that I had to cut mine out in back as well as shorten the shin pieces by trimming the bottoms. I wear AP which is perfect if you are 5'!11" but being 5'7" I needed to shorten them as well as trim the back top area.

the big question is have you trooped with this liner? that is the real test.

I would imagine you guys must wear the ice vests as well under your armor. Our Vader wears them to keep cool. He gets about 2 hours out of the ice pack before they need recharging.

has anyone used any type of ice pack in their helmets to help stay cool on those really hot days?

Doug nice photo, cool effects. I have photo shop but no idea how one would do that.

I'm guessing that if you want to install an amp and speaker in your chest plate you would be better off with the radio shack amp. You can remove it from its box to reduce its size some. I'm a big fan of industrial velcro. It holds up well. Just use a really big piece. You may also want to look at some of the other amps around such as romfx, etc. If you go sandy you could hide that amp of yours in a pouch.

Looking at your photo, it looks like you could lower your two drop boxes just a touch. They seem to me up against the belt with no air gap. I also see a piece of black material sticking out under your chest plate. I'm not sure if that's your black clothing or a strap. What kind of black suit did the armor come with? Or did it not come with a black suit? Most of us wear Under Armor or a similar brand. I highly recommend the summer weight. These suits get very hot when worn in doors. If you plan on going to a big ball this spring you will want to try wearing the armor for an extended amount of time in your house. I would expect you will get a lot of fogging on your lens. The hotter you get the more fogging will happen. Many of us mount fans in our helmets but I don't know if I would bother since the rubbies helmet is not very good. I'm guessing that you'll have the helmet off a lot at the party just so you can see where you are going and so people can hear you talking, eating, and drinking, etc. Oh, big thing to work out is going to the bathroom. Its very difficult to take a leak in armor and its best to get a little practice in before you go to a big party.

The reason you see more black in the photos in the elite section has to do with how tall each trooper is. The taller you are, the more black that will show. Some of us have to trim some of the parts to make movement easier. We sacrifice some of the look for mobility and comfort. Don't trim parts unless you have to for comfort, mobility, or to make it fit better. Less black is better.

For foam, I bought the insulation strips they sell for putting around door jams etc. It comes with one side that already has a sticky side so its easy to install. Its hard to find a double sided tap or glue that sticks to foam. For larger pieces of foam I use double sided carpet tape but it does not hold all types of foam.

Awesome. So when ya gonna sell these helmets? Plenty of kids out there would love one.

I have AP and it looks great. I think its a little more durable than TE2 because its ABS v.s. Styrene. However TE2 is great as well. The styrene allows for sharper pulls but makes for a weaker plastic. Assuming you can fit into either of them you certainly would not be dissapointed with them. They are both more work to build than say FX but the results are so much better.

LOL very true.

I'm always learning something new here. I didn't know they used latex hand plates in ANH. Did they use latex hand plates in ESB and ROJ?

wait I'm confused...we are congratulating him for being over opinionated and perhaps full of hot air???? Just kidding.

Excuse my ignorance but what is the advantage of the latex hand plates over abs?

I added a couple more comments to my post. I didn't realize you were online as I was making my changes.

First off, your armor looks great. Excellent job. I can't see your belt very well, is it canvas? You definitely want to cut the butt piece. I got rid of the snap on my ap shoulder bells. I use velcro. The advantage is that I can more easily adjust the position of the shoulder bell without having to move the snap or change the length of my strap. I know a lot of guys warn against using velcro but on pieces like the shoulder bells it works fine. I've found that the industrial velcro works great everywhere. It allows you more flexibility in tweaking your fit which is key early on. I don't use the wrap around strap on the shoulder bells either. I found it made it more difficult to put on and with AP you don't really need it. Of course for total movie accuracy leave it on. I would also recommend shortening your shin pieces by trimming them at the bottom. This will give you a little more room around the knees which is key for comfort and mobility. It looks like your shins and thighs are hitting each other. I am 5'7" and also have AP. I trimmed about an 1/2 inch from my shins and I am thinking of taking a bit more off. You don't want a lot of black showing at the knees but you do need some, and lets face it, if you can't step up on a curb with out looking like you have a serious leg injury then you can't be very comfortable. Just my two cents for what its worth. I'm elite so you can check my photos to see how my armor fits.

looking good. Is that armor on a maniquin or are you wearing it?