Rich330

Original cut around 2 hours 50 minutes, wth deleted scenes to be included in the extras of the Blu-Ray release. It would be nice if we get the option to watch the deleted material as part of an extended/director's cut. Either way, it looks like we're in for a treat when the Blu-Ray comes out.

Is the correct answer 5? I'm rubbish at quiz questions!

As most of you will know by now, a range of Shepperton Design Studios products are available for purchase via the amazon.co.uk pages. What this of course also means is that anyone with an amazon account can leave their own review for any or all of the products. Just saying. Here's a link should anyone feel inclined to leave a review---------------

Good luck, fellers and thanks for all the hard work.

The real issue is not the shoulder bells but the chest plate. As with all ROTJ lineage armour it's quite a bit narrower than original ANH armour. You kind of have to live with it. Not so noticeable if you're skinny but I don't see how any amount of shoulder bell adjustment will make a difference.

There have been two CfO ROTJ troopers in the Spanish Garrison for a bit longer than that. In fact, we're talking about the exact same suits of armour; Carol's and mine. I moved back to Germany recently though and had to offload quite a bit of costuming stuff, arriving with a single set of armour in kit form. My CfO stayed in Spain. Manuel (the chap in the photos) bought it from me. I have to say though, he looks better in it than I ever did. He's got a better ROTJ build. On a side note, the pictures in the new "Star Wars Costumes" book have confirmed just how good the CfO kit is. You never get to see the parts that well in the film but, looking at the photos in the book, and knowing what the CfO parts look like close-up, it's clear that this is a direct unadulterated cast. Straight off the real thing, no messing about. I wasn't far off with my weathering either!

You'll be glad of the litle bit of extra room in the thighs when it comes to walking around. They look just right. I have built thighs too snug in the past and they can get quite uncomfortable. A bit of slack allows them too move upwhen you flex your knee and this pevents pinching in the ara behind the knee. Congratulations. The armour looks great.

Ammo strap on your thigh 2x Also plastic belt to canvas belt connections 3x

"1 set of opaque eye lenses" Erm ... interesting. -------------

You could align the cracked piece back in its correct position and brush the cracked area from behind with plastic weld or plain old acetone. You could also mix some scrap plastic with acetone and brush the paste on from behind for reinforcement. That should weld the piece in place reasonably firmly and not too visibly if you're careful and apply the solvent slowly, so that it just seeps into the crack gradually. If you want more reinforcement, you could also use "instant ghetto fibre glass" (super glue with a cutting of t-shirt material).

You have to distinguish between two different types of strength when comparing the two types of plastic. I'm no scientist so I'll probably use the wrong terminology but here it is as far as I understand it in layman's terms ... PVC is extremely flexible. It has a higher flexural strength than ABS. You can bend it back and forth all day long and it will be very difficult to break/tear. ABS will break quicker (still not very quickly because it's ery flexible) if you bend it. However, PVC is more brittle and less resistant to impact forces. If you drop a piece of PVC from a height, it is more likely to break and shatter than an identical piece of ABS. Still, I think we're still comparing reasonably similar materials. We maybe shouldn't make too much of the differences. The damage I have seen on RS suits, both PVC and ABS, has all been in the usual weak points on the outer edges of the chest. Neither material will resist the strain on that particular area infinitely it seems. You can relieve the pressure on the chest by disconnecting the middle fastening bracket. I do this principally because I'm not very tall and it prevents the chest piece from choking me, without having to trim too much out around the neck. On any suit though, regardless of your build, unfastening the middle strap just allows the chest piece a little more freedom of movement in the vertical direction ad will relive the strain a little. You don't want it too loose though because part of the attraction of the original strapping is being able to reproduce that effect of the chest piece balooning outwards when you bend over at the waist.

You can check out the German Garrison site for information on our current events ... http://www.501st.de/news.php Events calendar: http://www.501st.de/infusions/aw_ecal_panel/calendar.php

Looks superb with both helmet options. Really nice set of armour.

Howard? Is that you?

Blasters are not a requirement for basic approval because of our weapons policy (http://www.501st.com/databank/Weapons_policy). I.e. you can achieve approval without any blaster at all. However ... "If a weapon is presented as part of membership application photos, it will be expected to be accurate to the character represented in the pictures." That said, if you consider that a converted Hasbro is considered accurate enough as a costume accessory, it would be rather harsh to penalise you for carrying some kind of generic E-11 or blaster which is not specific to one particular film. So, essentially, the answer to your question is "yes". The CRL goes into very little detail and, as long as your blaster is identifiable as an E-11 abd looks like like a decent Star Wars movie prop, i.e. not a child's toy, then your GML should be happy to approve it. Of course, GMLs have some freedom so you would be best checking with yours directly. As an interesting aside ... There is evidence of at least one ESB/Snowtrooper-style/promo E-11 seen on screen in ROTJ in the Endor forest. I have carried this type of E-11 with my ROTJ armour in the past, secure in the knowledge that, although no good for EIB or Centurion, it is screen accurate.

I'm 5'8" and in these photos my weight varies from 150 - 155 lbs, so very close to your build. You could throw together an AP, without thinking about it, just using the seam lines, and it would fit great. You could also make a TM work perfectly for you too. With it not having seams in the mould and there being quite a lot of allowance, you would just need to put some more thought into it when trimming to adjust the girth of the parts just how you want it. -----------

Works great with snaps too and is easier to replace if the elastic ever gets old and worn out.

The maker is forum user MTK aka Mike, member of the 501st and the guy who runs trooperbay.

Can I propose an update/edit? Some of this info is no longer up-to-date and some sounds misleading to me. This would be my suggestion. Type: Troopermaster â„¢ Country: UK Contact: User "troopermaster" on this forum Availability: Limited. Comments: This is really beautiful armour and extremely movie-accurate. It has to be assembled with movie-accurate butts joints with cover strips and thus there is no easy overlap method option. One-man operation, thus potentially a long wait for supply. TM now supplies all his armour in accurate gloss ABS with an option of 1.5mm or 1mm thickness. If assembled with care, the suits look fabulous. Not for very tall troopers. Armour is more generous than SDS or AP, as it the parts have much allowance for girth variance, but it is not as large as oversized armour, such as RT-mod.

Nearly forgot, if Return of the Jedi armour is your thing, CFO is also another supplier, UK based and offering fully built suits of armour.

Absolutely recommendable. And a short trip across the Peak District and you could pick it all up yourself. Troopermaster (Yorkshire-based one-man outfit, user "troopermaster" on this forum) also offers ready-built suits. I think RS probably cover more accessories but I can wholeheartedly recommend both. You have the best in the business, right on your doorstep. Here's some more info on approved suppliers, including RS & TM http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/11538-the-various-types-of-armor-and-where-to-find-them/

I was building a new set of thighs and decided to film how I made the strapping. It is a solution which is reasonably close to the strapping on the original armour and if you are ordering armour with a full "strapping kit", these pieces will usually be included. However, even if you're going building your own modern robust system with heavy-duty snaps, strapping the thighs this way is a simple and practical way to do it. In the video I'm using 70mm wide elastic whereas the originals were probably strapped with 75mm elastic. Whatever you choose, I find the wider elastic helps keep the thighs in place and stops them from twisting out of position. Hope this is of some use ... --------------

Take your time and make sure you measure and test-fit everything. Any questions, just post them here and we'll try and help you out ....

Both please!