troopermaster

I made something very similar many years ago and it worked extremely well. I went one further and added straps to hold up my arms. This relieved stress on my shoulder bells and there was no gap between my bells and chest plate. I used 2" elastic for the braces/suspenders and arms, and 3" elastic for the thighs. Elastic works much better for strapping in my opinion.

You are correct. The end cap is not fully pushed on in the photo which makes the detonator look slightly longer than it is. 184mm is the correct length but a few mm's either way should be good.

It looks like you have over trimmed the top half of your right forearm. The flat joining edge on the top looks to have gone completely, so there is nowhere to get a good fix for your joining strips now. It looks like you have trimmed to the red line in this photo instead of the blue line. Am I right?

I think you might have misunderstood what I said. I mean using too much glue and too much clamping force together (a combination of the two) is what can cause deformation. I have not seen E6000 cause any problems on it's own but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen, especially with fake glue that's going around.

E6000 can deform ABS if too much glue has been applied and if using excessive clamping force while curing.

I can definitely help you out with an exact replica, including all the correct hardware and strapping used in Luke's armour. Here is one of my hero's I built to movie specs (not a Luke replica).

The left forearm on the RS is not cast from their original armour. It was sculpted by Rob, as was the left bicep too. Just an FYI

I think there's only one version with 4 rivets after looking closer. It looks as though there are 2 rivets on the left strap and 1 on the right, but most likely the 4th rivet is fitted on an angle and hidden by the detonator. I'll see if I have any better photos to confirm.

The belt on the hero in this photo is the one owned by RS.

I agree with this but the holster on the promo trooper is attached with 2 rivets that appear to be painted white. It does have the cut out but I believe is the same shape as the RS holster, so another version. I don't think I have a good side shot of the promo trooper holster to show, unfortunately.

I am building a promo trooper soon so that's good to know one has been cleared. So it's really down to the GML's discretion if the holster is passable? I haven't tried to fit an E-ll in one yet and it's not like most people actually holster there blasters anyway. And if it's attached properly (unlike the RS original) and looks the part then I personally don't see a problem. But thanks for the heads up

This is a question for the staff: Can a holster from an Imperial Navy trooper be approved or would that be something to change after approval? I have several of these holsters I want to use as they were used on some troopers in ANH, but I don;t want to run the risk of someone not getting approved because of it. The most famous trooper wearing one is the promo guy, then there's one on the original armour owned by RS, and the odd one pops up on screen. So while they were used on the original costumes I want to know if they are acceptable for 501st use?

What's the purpose of the clear coat? It looked better with the flat finish you achieved on the dome/back plate. The same could have been done to the face plate too. I'm really digging the two-tone colour

I have screen accurate foam leaf liners available. I made my template after visiting RS and compared my template to the original foam leaf, then altered to match perfectly. My old template on top of the RS foam then changed afterwards.

Take a step back and look at the shape of your shoulder bells. They seem to be trimmed flat so they will not be able to sit closer to your chest and back plates. They need to be curved to allow them to follow the contours of your armour. The original ANH shoulder bells were trimmed curved - not flat, which is why they always sit closer to the armour.

The original armour owned by RS has shins that are identical both sides - meaning they are made up of the same two parts for both legs that are 2 x outer left parts and 2 x outer right parts. The only difference between them is they are assembled with the backs opening to the left or right which determines which leg they are worn on. The left did have a knee plate originally but has been knocked off at some point before Simon got it.

The only problem with using that method is paint really sticks well to ABS so you won't get the desired look you hope to achieve (from my experience anyway). Masking fluid has always given me good results for the chipping effect. I'm assuming that's what you're looking to do?

You're welcome Your RAL 7034 looks a lot better colour than what I received. I opted for a matte finish but the colour was very yellowish, unfortunately. I will try another supplier next time and see if the colour is any better. Another tip that I know a lot of people don't believe in is not to use red primer on the ears. Evidence shows the original helmets were painted in white primer without the ears when they were sent to the studio from SDS. So I would say spray the red primer first before using a white primer. I like to just spray red primer around the opening of the helmet to get over-spray inside for added effect. No need to spray the entire helmet red

Who made your armour?

Have you seen the original helmets since replica ears were added and also the new paint discovery?

I thought so too, All was not lost. The 3 cans I bought were used as undercoat on the helmets I planned to use them on, so they came in handy after all

Hi Dan, I read your post as Brendan needed to change the vocoder paint to match a stunt rather than a hero. The truth is there is no specific style to paint the vocoder regardless of being a stunt or hero helmet, As you can see on both Han and Luke's hero helmets. both vocoders are painted quite full. I'm just trying to keep up with you guys as I build lots of these helmets for people and I don't want them being knocked back because of CRL rules I am unaware of.

Well, I can only speak from my own experience but the colour was not khaki like the original helmet. It may be down to the paint company that mixed it but I wasn't happy with it. Hopefully you will have better luck than I did.

Be careful with the RAL 7034 paint. It's classed as Yellow Grey and it doesn't look like the original helmet colour (I learned the hard way). Also worth noting, the RS helmet is made from two different shades of khaki, so there isn't one definitive colour I found that Rustoleum Fossil Satin is a readily available spray paint that is a close enough match. If you want to go for uber accurate look, spray the khaki paint onto the back and face separately before riveting the together, then you can add some red primer over-spray to the inside of the helmet (no need to spray the whole helmet with red primer). Before attaching the ears, spray the helmet with white primer then fit the ears and spray with white gloss. You might want to go with an off-white like Ivory or Antique white for a vintage look. Do all your masking for paint chips before the white primer goes on, if you are adding any? Hope that helps