kiyotei

Let me correct Billhag a bit. The belt that the AP kit comes with is actually 3 parts. The front part of the belt (energy packs) is abs plastic. That attaches to two elastic strips about 3" wide, one on each side. These velcro together in the back. you should order or make a canvas belt to attach the abs section to. FYI the AP belt is very different from the one that comes with the FX kits. I have an AP kit but bought a belt from Gundamzeppelin.

If it costs $899 before tax, well you might as well pay one dollar more and buy AP. Its almost criminal to charge $899 for a flimsy plastic costume that is probably only costing them a few dollars to make. I would want my money back even if I had never heard of the 501st and all the fine armor we have.

As a proud owner of AP all I can say is it looks great. I'm 5'7" so I can't comment on the fit for someone your size. Everyone shims the sides no matter what armor they have. You need to connect ab plate to the lower back plate.

Armor building is an evolution and it never stops. You will constantly be tweaking it to fit right. After every trooping event you will make changes. It never ends.

I saw Erv's demo video some time ago and was super impressed. I was able to order the blaster core yesterday. I'll post my build once I get it in a few weeks. I will have to build a blaster because I currently use a Hasbro and also a Hyperfirm blaster. I may initially try installing the core in my Hasbro since it may have room and it may take me a while to build a blaster from scratch. Maybe not, we'll see.

1) How long have you been a fan of Star Wars? Since I saw ANH in 1977. Though I was a fan of the films I was never a collector of Star Wars stuff. 2) What first made you a fan of the franchise/ Seeing ANH made me a fan for life. It was so impressive and blew away every space sci-fi film to date (I was too young to appreciate Space Odessey 2001). The Stormtrooper really captured my imagination. 3) What got you into costuming? Availability of armor kits. I don't have the skills or time to build molds and vacuum table. 4) What function does the Internet play in being a fan? The internet is an excellent source of "how to's", film history, reference photos, and communicating with fellow fans.

I would recommend looking at some the of the armor build threads to see what it takes to build the various kits, some are easier than others but that does not mean they look better. AP requires a lot of trimming but its a very good looking set of armor. FX is easier to build but less film accurate. Any check the build threads, you look for mine, Curtis also has a great AP build thread (I forget his TK number). There are vidoes showing FX builds.

For cutting curved lines on AP I recommend cutting on the INSIDE of the armor. Its much easier to follow the curve on the inside of the armor.

I am familiar with the site:---------------however most of the information is about helmets not armor. They only mention the armor really in passing.

T*E I'm really surprised to hear that 7 ANH suits exist. I had always heard that none survived. Sorry for asking but I want to be completely clear, were they 7 complete suits (minus helmets, boots)? Odd that only one ESB suit survived. I would have thought that after the success of the first film they really would have made an effort to archive some. Thanks for the info TE.

Please remember I am not interested in people who make armor or what their armor is based on. What I want to know is if any of the original movie armor still exists and if so from what films, etc.

It gets a bit confusing piecing it all together on here so I wanted to ask about surviving original armor, and here is what I think is true: ANH: no armor exists that was used in the original movie. Several helmets did survive but all are missing pieces. There are no existing helmets that have all of its parts intact. There maybe be some promotional suits of full armor out there??? ESB: No armor exists that was used in the movie. I don't know if any helmets survived? ROTJ: Armor used in the films does exist. I don't know how much or even if a full suit exists? AP was made from this armor but since AP is missing part of the original shin pieces, perhaps the existing armor is also missing these parts??? I can only assume helmets exist. For the existing armor, some parts are in Lucas Films archives but I don't know about how much is in private collectors hands??? Do we have an inventory of everything that is in Lucas Films archives?

here's another tip for ya. I can't sow and so to add Velcro to my home made straps I put fabric glue to the back of the Velcro (yes the Velcro has a sticky back but its not sticky enough to adhere to straps). this has worked great for me. I use the clear fabric glue. You can get it at Michaels or JoAnns. It dries real fast too.

I hope you didn't use rivets to remount the straps.

You could also try going frankenarmor, buy parts from RT MOD, AP, or perhaps TE2. That said I think all but AP are down right now so AP would be your only option unless someone has spare shins laying around.

what kit do you have? The back should be in 3 pieces, upper back, mid section, and butt plate.

I have not found that the CAboots run small. I have wide feet and they fit me fine. Since it will be month before you are done I would just wait. Who knows you may run into some issues and get delayed in finishing your armor.

I had virtually no modeling skills and built AP as my first kit. I had some help via armor parties to get started, always good to call in the experts. Who is it that sings the song, "The first cut is always the deepest"????

Regarding Krylon Fusion paint, if you read the can it says that you should let it dry for 7 days. I think it says you must apply the paint layers in 30 second intervals until you are satisfied, then let it dry 7 days.

Here's a pic of what I did to the butt plate edge: ----------

I'm guessing you mean the plastic strip the goes between your legs which is often connected to the front cod piece with an elastic strap. I found that it hits me in the inner thighs when I walked and would cause some discomfort. What I did was round the corners of it and sand it till it was smooth. This resolved my problem.

Don't forget Ghost Rider as a bad one. Will be seeing Ironman after the crowds settle.

Hi Guys, I took a bunch of TK sound bites off the web and put them on my ipod mini. I inserted 30 second sound bites of silence between each TK sound bite. I then hit play and have occasional TK messages coming out of my helmet. I wanted to use my microphone as well so I can talk during the silence if need be but using a splitter cable doesn't work, you can't hear the mic signal. The problem is that the electrical impedence of the ipod an mic are very different so the mic won't work. I need an impedence matching circuit for the mic to make it work. Has anyone else tried this and got it to work? I have one of the EE's I work with thinking about a solution but don't know if or when he will build me one. If he does I'll post the solution here.

Here is the microphone I use, its from Radio Shack, its a powered clip on mic. What's great about it is that it uses a hearing aid style battery, very small and light weight. The original powered microphone I got from Triktoys used 2 AA batteries and had a huge case. Hands-Free Tie-Clip Omnidirectional Electret Model: 33-3013 Catalog #: 33-3013 $24.99 Here is the link to it: ----- Can't you mail order from Radio Shack in Canada? Perhaps a US resident would buy it for ya and ship it.

1. I use elastic to hold my shoulder bells to my shoulder straps. I use a snap on both ends. I actually shortend up the strap some time ago to reduce the gap between the two. I highly recommend it. If you look up my armor thread under the AP/TE section I should have some pics there. 2. I use TK4205's under armor shirt/neckseal and its great. I'm actually going to give him my other under armor shirt and separate neck seal (like yours) and have him sow them together. His shirt with the neck seal is great.