Rich330

Looking fantastic Luis. Sorry noone picked up on the snap facing the wrong way round. Should be easy to fix. The rest is faultless. By the way folks, this guy has taken the Spanish Garrison boards by storm. He's only just got clearance but every step along the way of his build he translated all the guidelines we have in English here and from elsewhere on the web and created a whole load of really detailed tutorials in Spanish. A really valuable member of the Garrison already.

These are great, thanks. However, as I was discussing with Dennis the other day, the real interesting stuff on this suit is surely on the inside. How did they have to modify the strappign system after cutting off the edge of the chest and back where the brackets were fastened?

Crikey! Fiddly work! Well done, mate. I wouldn't have the patience.

Surely not, maTE!?!?

Nice work, you two. That's a very steady hand you have, Karin.

For some idea of size, here's a photo of me in (an incomplete) CfO, timmed along the natural lines where the original seams were. I'm just short of 5'8" and 150 lbs ... ---------

Two very different armour options ... RT is a fan sculpt specifically designed for the larger trooper and to replicate ANH/ESB armour. CfO is cast from an original ROTJ-style suit and helmet. The RT will be much larger.

Don't worry, Mark. A couple of days wait isn't going to kill me.

Yeah, bit of a shame. Started off brilliantly (we don't expect anything less than brilliant from Pete). But don't worry, mate. You'll see mine complete and in action soon enough.

The soles are painted.

White soles are included in the ROTJ CRL and accepted as the general standard for ROTJ troopers. Which reminds me .... I need some new boots! ----------

I’ve also been looking at whether there is possibly a biceps-to-forearm connection like on ANH suits. There are not a lot of shots which clearly show that area but I scrutinised all the screen caps from ROTJ and the one thing that strikes me is that the biceps generally seem to keep in position in relation to the forearms, i.e. they don’t twist much. That leads me to believe that there is a connection between both parts. I also increased the contrast on this screen cap to see if I could reveal anything. The narrow area on the inside of the arm is clearly rippled. It could just be the undersuit but it is a narrow strip leading between the two parts. Not conclusive by any means but enough for me to think that there may be a strip of elastic. I think I’m going to add this to my suit.

Just got back from a trip to the UK and a break from armour building. Whilst I was away some elastic I ordered for the biceps arrived so I turned my attention to those parts today. Here are my reference photos and observations. The biceps are clearly fitted with elastic in a similar way to the ANH suits. The striking differences are the positioning (it’s much higher up) and the width (it’s much thinner). Looking at the screen caps I roughly estimated that the elastic is placed approximately a quarter of the way up the bicep. My biceps measure roughly 24cm so I went for 6cm from the bottom. The elastic in the first screen cap looks thinner than in the second. It could almost be elastic cord. The elastic in the second screen cap is more of a flat tape. In the end, I went for 10mm black bra elastic. It looks reasonably close to the setup in the second screen cap. Just glued in with dual-component Araldite. Interesting side question about the lenses in the second screen cap. They look flat to me. What do you lot think?

Thanks, mate. I'll drop you a line.

Whilst I’m waiting for my missing parts to arrive, I’ve been experimenting with making some lenses. I have some lenses from CfO in thick green acrylic and they look stunning. The down side is that there is no way I can use them to troop in. I really can’t see a thing. Coincidentally I just got the bubble lenses which Dan Laws does in black acrylic and those are great to see through. I’ve had a long look at them to try and decide why they are so different and I think the only noticeable difference is the thickness of the base material. It’s much thinner on the Laws lenses. The curvature is just as pronounced and they are similar in size. Anyone have any experience with these things? Does the thicker material make for more vision problems? Anyway, I decided to try and fashion my own from green welder’s mask. The material is thinner than the CfO acrylic and I deliberately made my lenses a little flatter. The results are OK. I can see through them reasonably well and have something I can use for trooping. Mine ... Top: Laws Middle: Rick330 Bottom: CfO Left: CfO Middle: Rick330 Right: Laws

No it's mine! Sorry for the lame gag, yes it's Dan Laws stuff.

Oooh look what the postman just brought! Looks like I've got two projects on my hands. Aaaah, costume nerd's bliss!

A short one!

Steve, I've been in touch with the adoption authorities in the UK and the papers are all ready for you to sign. I'll be moving in next week. OK, Dad? :laugh1:

Next on the list: mannequin for the office.

Ta, matey!

Amazing what a bit of Velcro and brute force can achieve! That’ll do!

Going to have to work on a solution for the bottoms of the shins/calves but other than that, all looking OK. Just need some biceps ... ahem! And , just for Karin, my best natural smile!

You're welcome any time, mate. You should get here just in time to help me build the helmet!

Cheers, mate. Yeah, I'm pretty lucky when it comes to the stuff with ROTJ lineage. I just throw it together, following the natural lines, and it fits me fine. The only slight problem is around the ankles. I've had to leave a lot of excess material for the shins to close at the bottom. It works but it's a bit ugly at the moment so I might invest in a modelling iron at some point and reshape them and move the seams. I'll smile in the next photos! Waiting on a few bits of glue to dry ...