ForlornHope

Yep its prbably the only case where ROTJ troopers are more symetrical woohoo a point for ROTJ

well plastic welder melts the actual platic instead of regular glue or epoxy that provides a bonding agent between the pieces. Pretty much the only way to get them apart is to get a chisel shaped exacto knife or similar blade and slowly cut the two pieces apart and sand them/wipe them with paint thinner till its smooth again. This can be super risky and dangerous, not only your armor but yourself as it requires alot of patience and precise force to do it right and one slip can take off a chunk fo plastic or flesh. I was able to do it with my TE2 only because the welding wasnt very thourough and there were spaces or gaps where the plactic hadnt melted where i could slip the blade in and cut. Worse case scenario you can do a ROTJ trooper like me their arms are suppose to overlap

Make sure you paint it in the light so you can see where the rough patches are before you stop to let it dry. I allways do a twice over look of the enitre helmet immediatly after the last coat to make sure it looks wet and smooth in all areas before taking it to dry. If the finish is smooth but not glossy then just go over it with some novus polish after its dry and it will look fine. However if it is rough then you didnt get an even coat of enough paint on the area.

Thanks all Im using the local favorite Pro Enamel from Rustoleum. I think im good for screen grabs but thanks. Ive found alot online and ive been using my dvd copy from my computer to pause and look. Doing this ive found quite a few troopers dont have the o2 tanks on their belt. wonder if that was intentional?

Im in the final stretch now. It will be rdy to paint tommorow and i hope to get it painted this weekend after i finish up the helmet which aside from some work on the o2 canister and shoulders is the last of the project before painting. Im probably more excited than you are at this moment to see the finished product since i have no clue how it will look all together but im hoping it will be as ROTJ as possible. I finished filling and sanding the ab plates gaps to the details look molded in instead of just glued on. I also finished the filling and sanding of the shoulders to get rid of the swoops for the most part. wish me luck on the painting, its allways the hardest yet most rewarding part. Essentially the trench run of finishing a costume.

I felt that yesterday!

Your probably right. After all they make us look better. I think ill find a rubies trooper and let him follow me around so i look cooler.

Any other troopers attending comic-con this year fear that we will be running into a nest of rubies supreme stormtrooper customers? Just a thought for laughs.

As an avid model painter myself i can safely say that they are two completely different beasts to tackle.

Happy B-Day FISD Looks like Daetrin has allready well into the changing of the Avatar birthday ritual. Only one more to go for the Hat trick!

looks good to me

Mike i got your ESB decals today, they should hold me over till you get these ROTJ decals going. The ROTJ decals should be a slightly bluer tint then the ESB ones and a little darker. plenty of good reference photos on http://www.starwarshelmets.com/ Put me on the list.

Yep he's an FX recaster.

So here is a test of the edge trim i got. I could only get it in black at the local autozone but at 18' for $10 im not going to complain. I painted it quickly by sanding it and coating it with primer then two coats of semi-gloss just to see if it would bend and flex without cracking the paint. Luckily the paint held and flexed with it. Im going to paint the trim seperate from the suit because it has a tack in it thet lets you stick it on and pull it back off with ease so i can switch it out down the line if I want to. The size is 3/8" though im wondering if 1/2" would be better. Here are some test fitting pics side by side with a screen cap let me know what you think.

Ok i got an update with lots of photos of my progress. After a lazy 4th of July which ironically i spent playing the British Campaign in Empire Total War, ive resumed my work on the ROTJ armor. I apologise for the clutter i work in the side of the garage which is a bit cramped <_< So here are the shoulders, almost dont just need to do a little more filler work then bend back the lip. Ive just been trying to get rid of the swoops to fully ROTJ them. The finished legs minus the knee plates and box attachments. I know they are suppsoe to overlap instead of splint in the front but they wouldnt fit me if i did so i had to keep the splint but it prevented me from having to use ugly shims in the back. The torso stuff not much to show other then i reversed the ab buttons and im going to putty in the sides so it looks like it was molded into the armor instead of glued on like in ROTJ. The but and kidney plate reattachment. This is the saddest part for me since i never really likes one piece but we all must make sacrifices. Im just trying to get the seams to match at this point so they are just being held by the blue tape at the moment. Some of the arms. Since these were a bit wider i was able to go full overlap ROTJ style on them. One of the biceps is a little tight but its not too big of a problem though i might be able to wear them without any strap support. so just wanted to share, ill be back with more later this week.

Id be careful with photos though, they have a tendancy to make things look different then they really are depending on the quality of the camera, the lighting, the flash, the quality of the photo itself. Here are pics from SWH.com of the ROTJ suit 3 different angles and the colors on the decals look different every time. correct me if im wrong but wasnt the same company that did the decals for ESB do them for ROTJ? Why would they make up a totally new color? Im still going to say i think they are the same blue-grey as the ESB i dont see why they would change them....again.

I thought ROTJ decals were the same as ESB.

liquid nails for the win! also with any glue make sure you sand the area rough before hand. Smooth surfaces dont bond well.

Yep, all you have to do is look at the original suits and any ideas and obsessions of perfection or symmetry will wash away. I use to be like you until i started my ROTJ build where pretty much any distortion or bend in the plastic actually makes it more accurate to the films. thats plastic for you!

Ok i took the pinching of the bells a little bit further and got a perfect shape which matches the film version pretty well. I tried to go for the flat on one side and round on the other look at the top. the lip at the bottom is squished because...well thats what happens when you squease something. Im either going ot have to try to heat and and move it back (difficult) or just cut it off which isnt that big of a deal since ROTJ troopers didnt have that much of a lip on them anyways. now i just gotta get rid of the swoops. Its hard because the plastic is allready stretched and its easy to stretch plastic and not so easy to squish it back so im going to fill the back with bondo and grind it down till i have the right shape and the swoop is gone. Ill post pics when im done.

I used the heat gun to pinch the shoulders but the edging at the bottom and the swoops got a little bent in the process which i will fix next. Basically i pinched them then used masking tape to hold them in the shape while i heated them up with the gun then tossed them in the freezer to quickly cool. im not quite sure if they are pinched enough..

So here is the story, I managed to grab a second hand TE2 from another person who didnt have time for the hobby any more for an amazing bargain, i mean freaken rediculously cheap. He had allready trimmed and assembled it and had painted it though not up to my quality but salvagable. SOOOO ive decided to turn it into a ROTJ elite suit. Unfortunatly this is alot of work. Especially in the leg area which was too small for me as assembled (my legs are to muscular ) Basically i took the suit apart with a chisel knife, going underneath all of the glued pieces and cutting them loose. Im almost done with this but let me tell you it was one the the scariest experinces ever trying to cut two pieces of glued styrene apart i almost ruined the armor and killed myself multiple times but i was succesful. Over the next week i will try to provide updates and pics as to my progress and welcome feedback. back to the heatgun i suppose...

Im actually a huge fan of the ROTJ armor. I like the edging and it will also serve the purpose it was meant to. Those stunt troopers had to make quite a few falls in the endor underbrush and needed it to keep their armor from cracking so i will welcome the extra protection even though i doubt i will be getting beaten by clubs or falling off of trees in armor

Looks like white "U" shape car door/Panel edge trim. You can get the stuff pretty cheap from automotive stores or sites. I however need to know what size.

Ok im looking for the Trim used for ROTJ armor but i have no idea exactly what its called and what size to get. Does any have any information on the matter?