troopermaster

The main reason most armours suffer this gap between the bells and chest plates is because the biceps are pulling on them. The LFL armour did not have any strapping between the biceps and bells so there was no pulling on the bells. The only time they were connected was when the actors taped together using white tape over the lower strap on the bells and stuck to the biceps. Another reason this occurs is most people cut their bells straight - meaning if the bells were laid flat they would make complete contact with the surface. The LFL bells were trimmed in a curved shape so they follow the contour of the chest and back plates. When laid flat, the top end does not touch the surface because of the curved shape. Looking at your photo it looks as though your bicep armour is too tight, pulling on the bells. The biceps should be loose and able to slide over your arm freely. The straps between the bells and biceps will need to be lengthened and the top strap with the snap needs to be shortened.

When it comes to joining the biceps with a short side, cut the length to the short piece. This is an original LFL bicep for reference.

When you are lining up for the joining strips, I find it better to do one side at a time. When you lay your joining strip on the armour, make sure it doesn't go over the edge along the armour. The joining edges are not perfectly straight like on most (inaccurate) kits so you might end up with one end showing more joining edge from under the strip than the other. Also, don't worry if the parts don't line up perfectly. You can cut your joining strip ends to suit the armour.

Good luck with the build I will be keeping an eye on your build so just let me know if you need help with anything. This is what your kit will look like once finished. Have fun

Genuine question for the staff: How do you fill the seam on a PVC armour? I fully understand your desire to make a seamless shim but if you allow a visible seam, it will prevent a lot of work (sometimes ruining the part) and the wearer can remove it later if they lose weight. I'm not trying to rock the boat here but I strongly disagree with you guys forcing people to blend the seams.

The original strapping is definitely the best way to go if you want your armour to look like it did in the movies. I often see people struggling trying to get their torso to fit them properly using snaps but you will never get the true look of the armour unless you strap it correctly. The photo comparison looks great! It's hard to see any differences between your armour and the original armour

I don't believe it will affect your application. I have seen many people do the same thing as you, thinking the buttons should fit inside the box on the abdomen when they should fit over the box. The CRL's should be clearer so people don't keep making the same mistakes. By the way, there are no differences on the armour between stunt and hero.

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The photo I posted is of an original ANH armour. You cannot argue with that Here's another photo of a different set of armour from the archives. -----------

The closer you make them to the original boots, the more you will sell. Trust me.

Washing up gloves are 100% screen accurate -----------

Unfortunately, you have already made a mistake by over trimming the button plates. There should be a border left on the main plate.

Much better but you need to make them taller or they will pop out from under the shin armour.

It looks like you haven't strapped the forearms and biceps together and the forearms are resting on your hands. If you have, the gap is too big. They should butt up together.

I took the liberty of measuring my original brand ANH boots to help you with the pattern. Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with. -----------

Sounds like you have it covered

That's coming along really well, Stu. Well done Great job on the helmet painting too! How is mobility in the armour? It looks as though you might need to do a bit of tweaking on the arms and legs so let us know and we can offer some trimming tips

You can leave the 5th hole if you want. There were plenty of original helmets with the 5th hole cut out.

Depending on the size of your legs, go for between 20-25mm on the thighs and shin front but go for 25mm on the calves. Just glue 10mm onto the outer calves and have 15mm cover for either Velcro or hook fasteners.

It looks like you have Anovos armour. Check out this build thread by ukswrath. His Excellency will show you how to build the armour in great detail. Here it is: https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/35086-ukswraths-anovos-tk-build/

It is fine with 10 teeth cut out in my opinion. Less than half of the original helmets have 8 teeth cut out, with several having 10 or 6 as can be seen in this photo of half-finished helmets outside AA's studio in 1976. That said, I don't have the final say, so better wait until one of the leaders chime in.

If you're having problems either drawing or holstering your blaster, do what they in the movie and use a white band fastened to the holster to prevent it from moving

No return edge on the inner forearm scoops or wrist and minimal edge on the outer forearm near the elbow.

You need to trim out the scoops on the inner forearms. I usually cut mine at 210mm from the wrist and I hang them 25mm from the bicep to the lower part of the scoop. This keeps the forearms up tight against the biceps and reduces pinching. Use 50mm wide black elastic and fix it just off centre inside the forearm. This adds a bit of cushioning and again helps reduce pinching and is also screen accurate.

Your first priority is fixing the cracks. Use ABS paste or the superglue and t-shirt method, then trim the return edges to a minimum. To make your bells wider, you need to heat them up with a heat gun. I would wedge something inside to open them up (wooden stick or similar) and gently heat them up until they stay the shape you want them. This may take a while to do so be patient and take your time. Wedging a stick longer than you need inside the bells will make it easier to get them the size you need, since the plastic will want to go back to it's original shape when you remove the stick. If all else fails, my bells are much wider than the RS bells and my ABS is a good match too, but try and work with your bells first.