troopermaster

Yes I would say so.You could try drawing a tube stripe decal first with 15 stripes on and then trim it down (if neccesary) to what fits on your tubes.When I paint mine on,I think I mark the stripes at 4mm thick with a 5mm space,but you can experiment (as I do) with different sizes

I think the average is 13,but I've seen as little as 11 and as much as 15 so far.Some have more on one side and less on the other,usually just one stripe difference

Well if you are going for accuracy then you have to paint EVERYTHING Just look at the originals and they are not perfect so don't worry about trying to make them look like decals.If you are half decent with a paint brush you will be fine. What I do is paint the black outlines first in the traps,tears and ear caps,then when that's dry fill in with the grey and making a neat line.I make the black line thicker than I want it so I can go over it with the grey to a nice thin line. For the mouth and vocoder,I free hand them both and have reference pics printed out to help me.I start off with the basic shape and work outwards making the the area's wider until I'm happy with the shapes. For the tube stripes these are more tricky.I place two strips of masking tape down each tube about 16mm apart and then mark out the stripes on each piece of tape.It's a fiddley,time consuming job but the end results are worth it.Once marked all 13 (or however many you intend) I use a 2 pence piece and draw around it making a nice curve.Then I free hand the blue paint into these lines/stripes.Once dry remove the tape and you have a nice set of hand painted stripes.None of the original stripes are even spaced or even thickness,so don't worry about them being perfect! Take you time and let the paint fully dry or you'll ruin it.Use Humbrol paints or equivelent. -Paul.

0.060=1.5mm 0.080=2.0mm 0.100=2.5mm 0.120=3.0mm That is the guage in inches to millimeters.

I would suggest that you do a lot of test fitting before you commit to gluing.With the biceps,make sure there's enough room to be able to flex your muscles,and with the forearms,you can get your hand through the wrist end comfortably.Sounds obvious I know,but it's an easy mistake to overlook if you rush things.I use gaffa tape to stick the parts together and test fit,then trim off half what you think and try again until it's a good fit.Don't have the armour figure hugging,it should be loose and not restrictive,well that's how I prefer mine anyway.Just take your time,do lot's of test fitting and you'll be fine.It doesn't matter if it take you a few weeks to get it right,it will be worth the exyra effort in the long run

Check out TD1536 website -------.It's got some great info and pics to help you in your construction

Trooper ab plates in oven,gas mark 5,bake gently for 10 mins....... melted mess Seriously,I think even a hair dryer would do it.Just remember to heat it gently,even if it takes you 10 or 20 attempts before it stays in it's new shape.You could try closing it more than you want,so it can spring back a bit to the desired shape.Take your time and I'm sure you'll be fine -Paul.

Hmmmm,do you think even if you cut edges it would still be wide?If so,then you'll have to reshape the parts.Don't be affraid to heat the plastic up and reshape it,it's pretty easy to do.If the plastic will pull tighter (making narrower) use gaffa tape to keep it pulled tight (or rope) and gently heat the plastic all over it's entire surface.Keep the heat gun (or hair dryer) about 8 inches away and gently heat the plastic enough until it keeps it's new narrow shape when the tape is removed.Repeat the process until it stays in it's new shape and heat a little longer each time.It will change shape

I have one of my own ANH suit's,but I also have the parts to convert it to ESB too.I really love the way the ANH suit's look.ROTJ's used to be my favourite's when I first got into making trooper armour,but over time I was drawn to the rugged ANH armour.I prefer my armour to look rough'n'ready just like in the films,with scratches and black scuff marks The rougher the better for me,and with white gaffer tape holding it together....ooooooh

Thanks guys! I just had a small party with my family now that I'm knocking on a bit -Paul.

The problem with AP thighs is that it sounds as though he has moved the joining strip to accommodate larger people.The original ANH armour did NOT have these joining strips moulded into the armour like on a TE or AP suit and as such could be made to fit different width legs (not much mind you,but a little).The moulded joining strips are only featured on ROTJ suit's which is where TE's moulds originate.Now when you build up TE or AP armour you basically have to just fit the clam shells together and that's it,no room for adjustment without tampering with the moulded strips.ANH armour was butted up against each other then the strips held them together. -Paul.

My canvas belt holds up my holstered resin blaster fine.It doesn't wrinkle or anything like that,it's quite solid.As long as your belt is fastened tight around your waist,then it will hold your blaster in the holster.FYI,the real ANH belts were attached to the abdomin with snaps which I suppose would help a bit to keep the belt up,but was mainly to keep them in place.

Yes the ROTJ belts have the drop boxes assembled the same way.They used narrower webbing for the belt roughly 2" wide but the belt's were actually riveted to the abdomin where the drop box straps are and did not have one in the middle. I've tried my best to build up my armour just like they did it in 1977 That is what I want my armour to look like,real armour from the film set no matter how good or bad it was assembled back then:D

This is how I made my canvas belt. I bought a sheet of fine weave canvas and basically wrapped it around a length of 3 inch wide elastic.Wrapping it around the elastic gave me the girth without having to layer up the canvas,but obviously the elasticity is lost now.I used white 3 inch wide velcro to keep the belt colosed at the back.I used rivets to keep the plastic part to the canvas,making sure to put the thin white elastic for the drop boxes at each end.I put another rivet in the middle and the covered the rivets with the plastic covers. -Paul.

Here's the link for the rubber trim ----- Scroll down to US52 for the brow and SWR150 for the neck

I count four altogether.Cheese grater type,ESB/ROTJ and two types of 'T' backs.There's the regular 'T' back which has the top strip of the 'T' going over the vertical strip,and there's another where the vertical strip goes over the top strip

I was 5 when I first watched ANH on the big screen,and the stormtroopers literally blew me away.Ever since then while growing up,I've dreamed about having my own armour.In UK,there used to be a TV show called 'Jim'll fix it' and he used to make kids dreams come true and I used to write him every week for armour but I never got it I used to make papier mache and cardboard armour all the time as a youngster.It was only when I first noticed Jeff's 'DH2 studio creations' website in '99 that I knew it was possible to make my own armour.Funnily enough,until I saw the DH2 site I never even knew about replica armour.I was never really into computers or the internet so how would I know about them?It was my brother who shown me and from that day on,I've been making my own.....the hard way Stormtrooper armour is simply the best costume you could ever want...period! -Paul.

It's good to be here I've been waiting for a site like this for ages so I can share what I know about stormtrooper's.OK,move along,move along..........

The ROTJ armour was recast from an ESB suit resulting in a 'softer' appearance.The kidney and butt plates were formed as one piece and had rubber edging trim,as did the back,chest and abdomin.The helmets had decals and black mouths,and the ear's were trimmed right down and glued on instead of screwed.Eye's were mainly bubbled,but some had flat lense too.All the arm and leg armour 'halves' were overlapped and glued,whereas previous film's had the halves butted up and a joining strip keeping them together.A narrower webbing belt was used,and was riveted to the ab plate instead of snaps being used. I'm sure there's more but's all I can think of for now -Paul.

Yes,the holster was not looped through the belt,but riveted on the left hand side.......just like mine

It was a Japanese Model 99 Light Machine Gun with the barrel and stock chopped off,and greeblies added -Paul.

I believe the rubber gloves were used,but also cotton/lycra gloves were used too.The hand plates were sewn onto the cotton gloves,and I think for the rubber gloves then hand plates were strapped like in ROTJ(strap inside palm and another into forearm).