RT-Mod Rob

I have been spending many hours at my real job, sitting in hotel rooms, surfing for and doodling up ideas for the interior of the trooper helmet. We all know the encyclopedia version looks good but practical wise not the greatest. We want ventilation, microphones, speakers, power supplies etc. But there are issues - Ventilation: you dont want blowing on your mic or in your eyes, feedback: from speakers to mic, cables: running out of the bottom from/to speakers and/ or battries. And you dont want the inside looking cluttered and sloppy. Ideally the helmet should be competely self contained. Well, after going through dozens of versions I settled on this layout. Features: -Eyes: A unifed look and tied into the 'Tears' for static ventilation. Will take regular or bubble lenses. -Mouth: Also tied into the static ventilation and given some cosmetic appeal. -Fan: A regular 25mm low db fan mounted sideways in the housing. Draws air from the left cheek tube neck area and pushes it across the front of the faceplate and exits out the right side do to the layout. No mic interference and a quiet, constant flow of fresh air. -AMP: Mic and amp system board mounted in center unit feed to speakers in insulated spaker housings with sound through to outside via Mic-tips. -Battery: Mounted in right cheek tube. 4.5v AAA or dual 9v configuration. -Switches: Not shown but the swithces are mounted in the ears. The bump itself is the switch. Slide it forward to the center position to turn on the system. Right ear for the Amp. The left ear bump does the ventilation. With the batteries installed it adds about 6oz. to the weight of the helmet but is nicely balanced from front to back and side to side. I went with the gray scheme because the black tended to hide some of the cosmetic appeal of the mod. As I get this project further along I'll try to update. Cheers, Rob Here's the mock-up...

As to the 'flat' teeth issue: 'Tis true the teeth were kinda flat. A function of using thick (.090) ABS. A different, thinner material like the Styrene or HIPS would eliminate the lack of tooth detail but I chose to stick with ABS for it's durability and finish. Now you may have noticed above I said 'were' flat. You folks spoke and I listened and after some trial and error with different approaches I have come up with a solution that now produces the beloved 'rounded' teeth yet still has the quality and weight of being and ABS helmet. I will endeavor to post a pic or two when I return home after the new year.

Demand was overwhelming for 'bumpy ears' so I decided I might as well make that the new standard.

Drop me a PM.

Ok I got the new lid molds complete and ran a mock-up. I put it on the suit so you can see how it turned out. I tried taking pics of the old beside the new but the size difference doesn't show up so well on film. The new lid is about 1/2" wider , taller and deeper. Doesn'r sound like much but when you add up the 3d area it's a big difference...especially inside. heres the pic:

As soon as I get each of the helmets built I'll try to post some pics.

Hello fellow troopers! First, a big thanks to all who have posted the positive comments on my RT gear. I hope to continue to meet expectations and provide quality armor for the 'husky' trooper I don't get much chance to surf the forum but from today's looksy around I saw that many of you have questions regarding RT dimensions. I will post the dimensions but first the main reason for this post. I found than when I see pics of me in my gear my bucket looks ever-so-slightly too small which is quite likely due to the fact that the suit is ever-so-slightly larger than an original (due of course to my 'full-figured' physique). So I had been mulling over the idea of a bigger bucket for about a year. So... I have begun the process of scaling up the existing RT helmet from approx 'equal to an original' to about 3% bigger and also a 6% bigger version. The up-sized versions are going to be compared for overall fit, appearance and of course space for all the goodies you guys like to cram inside, but not have the bobble head look of a certain other helmet type (apologies to owners thereof). By using a digital scan and CNC cutting the new versions are exact copies of the old. Presently I am finishing up the molds to start forming the first sets. I will of course keep the original size molds as well (for all you high metabolism, and Skywalker sized troopers Feel free to PM with any thoughts. Now the RT Dimensions: Calves: 15" front/14" back/ 17" circum Thighs: 16" front/ 9"back/ 26" max circum Bicep: 7" tall/ 16.5" max circum Forearm: 11" tall/13.5" max circum Belt: 20 1/2 x 3 3/8 Abdomen: 23" x 11 1/2" @ top of arch. Center box detail 4" x 3" Chest: 11 1/2" from front center of neck down to center bottom. 19" measured around from underarm across front to underarm. Front profile dia approx 14". Pectoral 'w' 10 1/2" at the widest points. Width measured across shoulder straps 10 1/2". Back: 12" from center neck to bottom center. 16" measured around from underarm to underarm. Width at shoulder straps 10 1/2". Box detail 8" x 6 1/4" Kidney: 7 3/4" tall x 20". Raised detail 6" wide. Buttox: 21" wide. Box detail 6" x 3 1/2". Approx 8" tall. Shoulders: Approx 10 1/2" tall. 12" from top along outside edge detail to bottom. 12" of wrap around. Drop boxes: 2 1/4" x 5" Cheers, Rob

Fellow Troopers, Hey thanks for all the kind words! Life has been busy and I dont get the time to drop by and browse or post very often. The latest news from my end is the upgrade of the oven ( some of you may remember the huge delay while I was waiting for parts and such) and now an option for a communications package in the helmet. Demand has been steady and I am now at a about a 2 month wait list ( I wonder if i should raise my price )....NOT I am running low on my present plastic supply and have been feverishly searching for an even higher grade product to give the guys a great suit...at the same price I am also doing an big upgrade to my website and am looking for anyone who has purchased an RT suit to send me their pics to be posted in the 'RT Fan Page'. And I am having a page to show all the different methods and modifications on how to assemble armor...so if you have pics of such send 'em along. The site is expected to be up and running in early 2009. Rob.

Cheers Mr. Danter. I do remember...ya lanky sod ya Hows the gear?

Thanks for the glowing reviews of my armor Mike, I have accepted your invitation to join this discussion and have bookmarked the page. As some of you know I am a pilot and so I work for days at a time out of town but I wll check in here as often as is practical. My website(www.rt-mod.com) covers the history and how I got into this whole crazy trooper thing but in a nutshell it was an extension of our fondness to do up (what we thought were) cool costumes for Halloween. I had always been fond of the Stortrooper costume but lacked the facility and equipment to make one. All the other costumes were foam, fabric and paint...pretty simple stuff. But one day I found myself doing some research on line looking at pics and learning about how the costumes were made, their history and the HUGE following of people who wanted or already had these suits. At the time (1998) GF/FX were the standard. What I learned was that the suits were well liked except for a couple of things: 1. the helmet was too big and 2. the suit was built to fit a medium framed individual (5'8"-5'10"ish, 170lbs-ish). In fact by way of circumstance I was able to try on an FX suit and could see where the legs and arms were a problem for the 'huskier' trooper like myself (6'0" 215). I found myself having the time and some spare change and decided I would give it a try. I wanted to have my hand at mold making and such and thought I could likely make a descent looking suit, at least slightly more accurate than the FX and at the same time make it a better fit for my larger frame. The process was time consuming and a fair bit more expensive than I had originally thought but was very satisfying none the less. I cant explain the pride I felt when that first piece came off the vacuum machine. And when we did the first mock up on my wife's 5'11" girlfriend I was ecstatic. Over the last few years I have been trying to make each piece as accurate as possible but still having the fit for the big framed troopers. I am very pleased with the way the suit looks now. My next project is to scale up the helmet ever so slightly. The helmet is currently the same size as an original helmet but because the suit is slightly larger in scale I find the helmet looks slightly too small when worn by a big trooper. Ideally I would be able to offer the option to people. The problem here is that any of the companies that can do computer based scaling/sculpting won't infringe copyright material so I may try doing it by hand. Speaking of copyright...Yes, the face of my helmet is a copy of a TE(trooper expert) helmet, though slightly cleaned up. When this situation developed I was unaware of the unbelievably heated debate within the props community about copying other peoples work. I learned very quickly who the players were and how wicked the backlash can be. To make a long story short, TE and I came to an agreement after several conversations over the phone and I have his permission to continue using the face. Some will argue that it is not his place to give permission to use LFL intellectual material...by the letter of the law that may be the case. Personally, I felt that I had (unknowingly)violated a trust within the community and felt it the right thing to do. And as far as LFL goes I have it on very good authority that as long as this is a hobby and not a major commercial venture(ie. advertising online and/or in magazines and such) they dont mind their fans suppling their fans with these things. I have never had an issue with LFL. So that is the quickie version. If anyone has questions I'll be happy to answer tham as best i can when I can. Cheers, Rob