troopermaster

Okay let's see..... 1. Front of thigh and shin strips the same width,20mm as well as the back of the thigh. The back of the shin is 25mm. This is purely what I do and no means 100% correct. (95% ) 2. The AP is an ROTJ suit with ANH features and I think if you chopped the joining overlap strips off they would be too short/narrow to fit. I would just simply put the joining strip over the top once they are butted up together. 3. Yes way too many snaps but the first few I put in wasn't right (suit didn't feel right) so I put in a couple more and everything was fine. 4. The original suit's had two snaps under the butt plate. Check out Han in the detention block control centre. 5. The real suit's were 'hinged' from one side and the actors had to slip into them. The opening side has one strap that is riveted in place and a snap on the kidney plate. There could very well be another strap hidden behind the belt but it is not really needed. Once the suit is closed with the side strap, the belt is closed and it feels fine. 6. The snaps for the belt are different and the same shape as the original ones. I did plan to use them for all other parts but they are very small compared to the other ones I use. I suppoes it depends on how accurate you want your suit? 7. The tiny holes are rivets, yes. They are the smallest I could find and had to use brass flat bar to attach them to as I couldn't for the life of me find washers small enough. No worries though, the bar actually hold the elastic better and is much harder to come off. Washers would have been nice though. Next question

I 'did' have a nice suprice for you all and was waiting until CE to show off my 3 year old sons mini stormtrooper suit, but he managed to break his arm badly on sunday evening and now we are not going to be able to make it unfortunately Here is what you could have seen (90% finished in pic)

Hi Ben, The arms and legs had joining strips both front and back. The two parts of each peice was butted together and the joining strip was glued on top holding them together...no overlapping! The actual sizes of the strips is anyones guess but I use 15mm for the arms and 20mm for the legs, with the exception of 25mm for the back of the shins. As for the strapping, they used elastic that was riveted in place and some areas had webbing and snaps. Below is a pic of my armour just to give you an idea. Is it just like the originals?.....I think it's close but no one knows for sure and we have seen no hard evidence as yet of the originals. Hope that helps! -Paul.

I think you can get carbon fibre print/embossed plastic that will vacuum form but I have never heard of the actual carbon fibre been formed. It is moulded just like fibreglass with resin AFAIK. Only thermoset and thermoplastic can be heat formed.

I am pretty sure that the neck seals on the heros were custom made but the stunt suits look to be rubber/latex neck seals from wet suits. I've been trying to source one of these for a while now but no luck. Plenty of latex seals, but none like what they used for ANH.

You will be able to meet the main man himself at CE and ask him any questions you like. Brian Muir sculpt the stormtrooper armour and Darth Vader helmet too. I met him earlier this year and he's a very nice man and answered all my questions.

That's tough luck mate, sorry Blood, sweat and tears are nothing new in the mould making game, at least for me anyway. PM me and I will try and help with your moulds. Don't give up buddy! -Paul.

Hi Chef, What are you using for the heating elements? Have you taken a pull of any of your moulds yet? The reason I ask is that you need a very even heat source to cover the entire sheet of plastic otherwise you won't get very good results. What vacuum source are you using too? -Paul.

John that's terrible. What a kick in the teeth huh?

Did anyone see TE's book and what did they think?

So, who's going to CE? I have booked my hotel for the night and will be there on the 13th and 14th (Friday and Saturday). Would be cool to meet up with some of you guys to say 'hi' and have a chat. I would hate to go and miss out on the chance of meeting some of you just because I didn't know you were going to there too. Anyone going? -Paul.

I think they used lycra gloves as well as rubber. You could use something like --------------- or similar. I got my suit #308 from the same place and might just order some of these gloves as well as the hood. I believe the lycra gloves had the hand plates sewn on while the rubber gloves had the hand plates attached like the ROTJ suit's with an elastic band. -Paul.

Here you go matey ---------

I got my full one piece unitard from WWW.SPANDEXMAN.COM model #308 and it's great. You can choose from many different styles and have extras like hoods, gloves, extra zips etc..

TD=Thermal Detonator or 02 Canister as it's also known. You know, the bit that clips onto the back of the belt

Looks better than SD anyway

Hiya Doug, Any change you take some measurements of the trim please in 'mm' ? I need some 'S' trim but the sealsdirect has changed and too thick (for my liking). Thanks, -Paul.

I use the screws for the ear caps (4mmx25mm machine screws) for temporary fixing the helmet together then when I'm happy I pop in some 6mm rivets to try and emulate the original helmets.

Paper clips are great for keeping the helmet together 'temporarily' but not not permanently Notice how just AA's proto has the clips and 'none' of the found helmets have any paper clips, they all have rivets. Don't take everything as gospel. There is more than just sunshine that comes out of AA's @$$

And maybe for the knees too?

If there is a quick for this then I want to know about it Each helmet is assembled differently so the trimming of the ear caps will be different each time. What I do is rough trim them so far and offer them up and see where more plastic needs to come off. It takes time and a lot of patience but it can be done. Another good thing is that if it is close enough, the screws will pull it in somewhat to close the gap.

Nearly

I have a few pairs ready to ship if anyone's interested? PM me

Well AA is right about the HDPE at least. I've used it, as well as LDPE and PP which are virtually the same stuff but none have left these bumps like on the helmets. Granted, they did leave bigger bumps which can be seen on some helmets but I would say that they were definately on the moulds....no doubt. Now wether the sculpt was cast in plaster which had pitted causing the actual positive mould to have the bumps I don't know. Or maybe the bumps are there intentionally for airflow aiding the material to pull down enough is another guess but whatever you think it is Gino......I'm all ears Here's a pic of the beige HDPE I can get. What do you guys think...is it close to the originals?

So AA can't remember or doesn't know but Gino who had absolutely nothing what so ever to do with the manufacturing of the original helmets knows because....... Whatever you think it is Gino, it has to be a theory or do have some kind of solid proof? I'll give it one last shot.....the bumps are for keying the silicone skins to the mother moulds?