troopermaster

Jez, I got this one from Getty and I am pretty sure it was dated 1980. There is another one somewhere with a bus in the background which is clearer that is from the same shoot. Both of the troopers match JB's suit except one has grey teeth. I actually think the one to Vaders right is JB's. *EDIT* Found the pic Here's another poster from ESB era.

Just to confirm what I was saying, here is a screen grab from the ESB freezing chamber. You can see the armour is not the same as the rest of the ESB troopers which were refurbished ANH suits. You can clearly see the rubber edging trim on the chest, the ribbed shoulder straps velcro'd in place and the rounder corner of the shoulder bell which has the elastic placed higher up so it doesn't show on the biceps. The helmet also looks to be made from ABS and it is virtually identicle to JB's ROTJ helmet. The frown is long and narrow, and it is painted past the teeth unlike the HDPE helmets which just had individual teeth painted black. It's hard to tell from the image, but it looks as though there are no ear cap screws either. In the next two screen grabs, you can see the arms overlap on the joins instead of a cover strip. The main thing that distinguishes the ROTJ arms is that they have a return edge at the wrist where none of the ANH had this. Also, the right forearm was cut short when it was cast, so it has 10.5 divots along the strip instead of 11 which you can see here. The hand plates are not sewn to the gloves either and most likely strapped to the forearms.

I believe that there were two moulds for the Jedi helmets. The reason for this is that there is one version that is squashed with new sculpted ear caps and the other is more like a regular ANH helmet excelpt made from ABS. Now you may not know this but, the ROTJ helmets and armour are actually in ESB and were probably stunt suits. A few of these suits were used for the ESB promotion in 1980, three years before ROTJ was made, so this proves that they existed before filming episode VI. My guess is that they used these same suits from ESB and also made new ones specifically for ROTJ, resulting in the slight difference in appearance.

Yes, attach them to a thin leather belt under your armour. The thighs have a wide elastic strap which is looped over at the top and at the bottom I have a female snap. Inside the thighs I have a tab with two male snaps glued behind the joining strip that allows for a bit of adjustment. You can have more snaps for more adjustment if you need them.

Try this method, works like a charm.

I wouldn't do anymore heating if I was you. The knee plate is not designed to follow the contours of the shins, it's just a cover. When you offer the plate up, the wings or tabs should be attached with rivets or screws and they will pull themselves into place. A blob of glue behind the actual plate will stop any movement.

ATA is a recast

All three buttons closest to the belt are dark blue, the rest are black (Thanks to JB for the photo )

Whatever they use, the whole costume is a million miles different from the screen used costume. From what I remember of these costumes, they were originally made LFL for MGM and they used an ROTJ to makes moulds from, not the actual LFL moulds. The armour was cut up badly and reshaped before the moulds were made, resulting in the weird shapes. Then, new suits were made based on these LFL costumes and again, they were reshaped and resculpted to make what you see today. IMO, the old armour was better looking since it had closer lineage to the original ROTJ compared to the new version.

I believe the AP comes with a doubled up outer right to replace the missing inner left. You can tell the inner parts from the outer as they are indented from the shin bone and curve out towards the calf muscle, just as your legs do. Dont't fall into the same trap as most AP owners and put a perfectly assembled left shin that is supposed to have the knee plate attached on your right leg. Putting the right leg on your left leg makes you look knock kneed and can easily be avoided. Post pics of the shins taped together if you are insure before gluing them.

Congratulations Pablo

I'm pretty sure the ROTJ movie suits had vac formed plastic shoulder straps. I think it's just the tour suits that had the flexible vinyl straps.

Just out of interest Pete.....What do the thighs and shins on your armour measure?

Awesome armour Celab Can't wait to see you all kitted up mate.

That's the bib section of the rubber neck seal which has been shredded to fit the contours of the body.

Right

At last! Someone agrees with me I keep trying to persued people to use elastic everywhere on their armour but still, they insist on using either leather, canvas or webbing for straps....crazy Elastic gives you much more freedom of movement compared to any other material which has no give. Non elastic straps make the armour feel rigid and can pop the snaps off if your not carefull. When gluing the tabs inside armour, I find a nice blob of E6000 does the trick. Make sure you don't put any adhesive on the metal snap or will melt through your armour, so just put it on the ends of your ABS tabs. Any kind of tape will keep the tabs in place while the adhesive dries, so no need to use strong clamps which can also mark your armour.

I use DYLON fabric paint. Works great!

This could pass for an original photo....looks awesome! I have to say once again Pablo, you did a tremendous job on your whole costume. I can't stop looking at your photos

Having worked with both HIPS and ABS, I would have to choose ABS. It's a myth that HIPS forms sharper than ABS, just not true. What is true is that HIPS is easier to form for the hobbiest but, if you have the right machinery, ABS pulls just as sharp. I used to work with .100" high gloss HIPS and it was great to work with. The problem with HIPS is that it does crack if stressed or flexed too far. The same can be said for acrylic capped ABS which I am using now in .80" guage, though it is tougher than HIPS and more flexible, it is not unbreakable. Regular ABS is a lot more tougher than the capped version and available in more thicknesses. It is, however, not as bright white in colour compared to the acrylic capped ABS which is a very bright and very glossy plastic. There is just not enough rubber in HIPS compared to ABS. So ABS, by default, is the winner.

I know the diagram you are talking about and that is another set up I tried which also works very well. It too allows you wear you torso armour independently so there is no 'stress' on it. The only things that attached to my vest was the shoulder bells and the thighs. The biceps connected to the bells and the forearms to the biceps. The main torso was one piece (connected with elastic and snaps) that I opened up one side and slipped into it.

I checked my photobucket account and no photos of my vest unfortunately. I lost a lot of photos on my old computer so I am unable to show my set up. It was basically an extended neck seal with straps for the arms and legs. It was made of fake leather but, you could use something else like thin black nylon canvas which would be strong and more protective against armour rubbing on your undersuit.

I made a vest to connect my arms and legs to once. It was actually my neck seal with a long bib front and rear that had straps at the waist to keep it closed. It had straps coming off the shoulder for the bells and straps at the bottom of the front bib for the thighs...worked great! The best thing I found with this method was that is was easier to dress yourself. I would put on the legs first and then the main torso armour, leaving the arms while last which just slid on and connected to the straps sticking out from my shoulders. I'll see if I have a photo knocking around.

Plasti dip?

You've put the ear caps on the wrong sides