Rich330

Make the straps which connect the chest and back longer. It doesn't matter if there is a large gap between the two pieces of armour as it will be covered by the external (plastic) straps.

It's not so much congratulations that are in order, but rather thanks. Thanks for all the useful contributions, mate.

Jau, den Bülent den kenn ich noch. Ist gar nicht so übel der Typ.

This would probably be worth looking into for you guys. You could offer it as an accessory with the kits. We're a lazy bunch so getting being able to get everything from one source would be pretty cool.

Mine is PVC.

Ich hoffe ich habe den richtigen Ton getroffen, Daniel. Ich finde das schon ganz sympatisch, dass Du die Sachen so schreibst wie Du sie aussprichst. Ich kann mir deshalb gut Deinen Akzent vorstellen. Das mit dem "net" ist auch ganz ... äh ... nett halt! Und wenne mich ma' Deutsch reden höan impolite person, dann denkse bestimmt "wat spricht er denn fünne Kacke?". Zehn Jahre Ruhrpott, dat prächt ja schon, Alta! Voah allem ham wa dat nich so mitte Fälle. Abba man gewönht sich an allem, auch am Daatif!

Ich find's nur geil wie Daniel auch mit Dialekt schreibt! Aber was sich neckt ...

Vielleicht ist da Seide rein gekommen und hat sich um die beweglichen Teile des Motors gewickelt! Scherz beiseite ( ) ich hatte mich auch gewundert.

16th August I received my armour trim today. This is the stuff (as recommended by Mason – thanks again!): http://greatlakesski...molding-ft.html For overseas shipping, their eBay store is cheaper: http://myworld.ebay....sid=p4340.l2559 http://cgi.ebay.com/...essoriesQ5fGear I paid a total of $80.01 (about 65 euros) for a length of 30ft. The outer dimension is very close to 10mm which, according to troopermaster, is the right size. Happy with this! Thanks for the input, Mason and Paul.

It was the conclusion I drew (filling in the blanks and doing a lot of guesswork). Tour suits started off as ROTJ suits - tour suits started off with the original belt material - one tour suit seems to have very different belt material to what I see in the screen caps - it was replaced - I'm not going to try and replicate that material even though it's the best close-up available. Now stop pretending you've read stuff, being a Gerodie smart-@rse and find us some better belt material!

As far as you can tell from the photos that I've got, that looks pretty decent. The one picture it doesn't seem to match is this one below. Having said that, it looks like this is a tour suit and from the extra rivet in the plastic part of the belt, it looks like the belt's been replaced. It looks like a different material altogether. If you can spare me a length of that material for my belt, I would be much obliged, sir! Looks good to me!

What's the pattern on it like?

Thanks, Mark. I'll take anything you have lying around. A short length of pipe would be handy. I only nip over for a wedding next month so if you can spare me the trip to B&Q for a whole drainpipe, that'd be cool As for the ebay find for belt material, no claims that it's accurate yet. It looks like its PP webbing and seems to be around the right width at 64mm ... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360150850400&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_922 Just waiting on confirmation of postage charges. If I think it's suitable when I get it, I'll use it on my suit and offer the excess material here when I'm finished with my build. These are the best references I've been able to come up with. Enough to tell me that the CRL seems to have it right when it states the width shoul dbe around 2.25" to 2.5". 64mm is 2.5" and seems pretty good to me.

Learned an important lesson this weekend ... The 68mm drainage pipe required for the thermal detonator is an old British standard measurement. Can't find anything the same size over here. Pipes in Spain jump from 50mm to 75mm. No worries, I'm over in the UK at the beginning of next month. First stop: B&Q! I've also found it difficult finding webbing material for the belt with the correct width (60 - 65 mm). There's no end of material out there which is 50mm / 2" in width but it's not quite right. I'm on to a lead on eBay for something wider now but I just thought I'd mention it because I've seen too many ROTJ builds with the belt too thin. Even looks like TE is cutting corners and using 2" stuff. I had a good look at the screen caps and the belt is definitely in that 60 - 65 mm / 2.25 - 2.5" range.

Elastic too short, i.e. the snaps are subjected to constant pulling force?

It would do the job. The seller is reliable and the neck seal is OK. I have one. I replaced it almost immediately though as I found it very uncomfortable. It has plastic tubing for the ribbing detail and I never got used to the feel of the stiff plastic on my neck.

Left AP, right TM: ------------

TM and AP side by side photos (TM parts are the larger parts in each case) ... Left TM, right AP:

Oh yeah, much prefer it. Thanks.

I'm having one made, mate. Too much blaster for me to handle!

9th August 2011 The postman has just brought important supplies. I love the smell of fresh “snaps” and elastic in the morning ....

Ta, mate!

Oh yeah, I got the reference but thought it implied addiction. Anyway, armour building will probably always be "a la mode" for me.