Nassik

It definitely makes me consider the possibility of padding out my shoulder bells.

That last picture looks like the bells are padded. It would be easy to dismiss if the padding was only seen on a mannequin but since it's still visible in this picture it seems that the bells were, in fact, padded. And I'm curious about Mark's helmet liners.

Cool. That means that I can restore the Velcro to my bridges. Thanks, Mason. That falls in line with the diagrams and what I'm seeing.

How do you think the shoulder bridges are attached? The Centurion requirements call for glued bridges but the earlier diagrams say they were Velcroed in position and the above pictures show the bridges resting just off of the armor. That suggests that there could be Velcro beneath them.

That picture and the way the bells are sitting on the mannequin say padding to me. They're lifted and away from the shoulders and I think that padding is the reason why.

On one of the strapping diagrams I see two elastic straps connecting the upper back to the kidney plate. Here's an example of a third strap in the center of the two plates... You can just see the center strap on the left trooper. Comparing this with an earlier photo of a falling ROTJ trooper showing an off-center strap suggests that there were three straps connecting those plates. When my TE kit was originally delivered it had the three-strap connection between those plates as well. One strap in the centers of those plates and one on either side under the outer edges of the OII back box.

I suspect that was a mistake when the armor was put on. Doing so also allowed them to forget the thermal detonator, which you wouldn't see in that picture anyway. What I do notice in that picture is that there are two rivets on the outer edge of the belt. It looks like one holds the drop box in place and the other connects to the canvas belt.

There is a photo of an ROTJ trooper wearing braces that hold up the thighs. In the pic the guy is standing in front of a table wearing only the thighs and a black undersuit. You can see the braces over his shoulders. They're connected to the belt and garters that hold up his thighs.

I know for certain that at least one of them is.

No worries. I've seen them before though I have no idea where that was. These were shared with me from Sskunky and I appreciate that he sent them to me. So here you go... We were out today so we didn't do anything with the armor. But I did get some help and my inner drop boxes are now sorted. After some measuring, cutting, and heat gun use I've now got something that will fill the drop boxes. They're not pretty and they need a good cleaning but they will do a good job once they're cleaned up. These fit my drop boxes quite well and will do the job.

Happy birthday, mate! Have a good one!

I like this skin. It's easy to read and it's easy on the eyes. The white was cool but sometimes all that glaring white could be a bit much.

Thanks to Mark for the ROTJ strapping diagrams he just sent me. They've given me something to think about as we strap this armor. The left shin has had the magnets removed and the rear Velcro added. It's safely done and off to the side now. Because these new parts are to be painted to match the TE kit we're holding off on attaching the sniper knee plate and the thigh ammo belt until after everything has been painted. I'm now putting thought into how to close the backs of my drop boxes. I bought a couple of Kev's inner drop boxes months ago but it turns out that they're too small to fit my TE drop boxes. Fortunately, I've got a few sheets of plastic so I'll figure something out.

The right shin was left clamped to cure for over thirty-six hours so I felt confident that we could remove the clamping magnets without worry. I also realized that the left shin and the upcoming thighs can be clamped by magnets alone and so we moved on to gluing snap plates inside the torso armor while the left shin cures under the magnets. Perhaps the magnets can work for the snap plates too but until I free up some magnets to find out, I'm happy to use clamps to do the job. Completely glued and Velcroed right shin armor Glued and clamped left shin armor (64 magnets to keep tight and even pressure along the entire length of the armor) The first of many snap plates glued and clamped in place The ROTJ trim is nicely locked in position. You can see TE's original strap connections between the upper back and kidney plate here... three strips of 25mm elastic glued to each piece. It's come loose in two spots. These strips will be replaced with elastic and snaps before we're done with this armor.

You're right, Mark. That detail is off on the RT-Mod forearms. It's a concession to their larger size and their ANH styling, I suppose. Since there isn't a requirement addressing this specific detail it may clear. But if it becomes an issue the forearms could be trimmed to replicate that detail. The RT-Mod forearms are approximately one centimeter longer than the TE forearms. Hacking off a full centimeter of length from the forearms is a drastic step that I'd really rather not take but it's possible if the issue was pushed. So far the assembly of these new parts has been smooth. I'm looking forward to gluing in the snap plates in order to set up the strapping but I want to finish the left shin armor before we start gluing in the snap plates.

This ROTJ kit isn't dead. At least not yet. After more than a year of waiting, this kit is moving forward. After some discussion with various folks I bit the bullet and bought new parts from RT-Mod. The RT-Mod parts assemble with an overlap, just like my original parts, and so I'm retaining the look of my ROTJ build even if I am using larger parts. I've replaced the biceps, forearms, thighs, calves, and shoulders of my original kit. These new parts fit me without trimming or shimming! The right side of my body is slightly larger than my left, due to a disability, but we're assembling each part in a size that would fit my right side so that, when worn, the armor will look balanced and proportional, even if I'm not. The RT-Mod parts arrived one week ago and my wife and I have plowed right into the assembly of the new parts. We've created all of our snap plates and we replaced the neck trim on my helmet with the more appropriate Seals Direct trim. No more black U-trim that came with the helmet. Since it's required for the ROTJ Centurion, we've also trimmed away the return edge from inside the wrists of the forearms. And we've re-glued the white armor trim to the armor... it was pulling off in spots and so we've glued and locked it back in its proper position. To assemble these new parts we're following the methods outlined in the Dave's Garage Youtube series. We've completely assembled the biceps and forearms. Everything is glued with E6000 in the front and clam-shelled with Velcro in the back. After the ill-fit of the original armor parts (which were glued in both the front and back) I decided to take no chances and we're clam-shelling everything. We glued and clamped the right shin last night and since it's been twenty-four hours since the clamping they can come off any time now. Once clamped everything has been untouched for at least twenty-four hours before we un-clamp things and add the last bit of Velcro. We put a heat bend in the main belt tonight (Thanks for the tutorial, Pandatrooper). Hopefully this will relieve any stress on the plastic once it's re-attached to the armor. There was a tiny crack starting on the belt due to the strain of the plastic being forced to bend when it was riveted to the ab plate. Hopefully this heat bend will remove that stress now that the belt has its own curvature. We've still got the left shin and the thighs to assemble. I'm not worried about those parts since we're taking things slowly and cautiously with this build. I am worried about the shoulder bells, though. The RT-Mod bells fit me well but they are ANH-styled bells. At this point we're planning on gently taking the heat gun to the bells to introduce the proper ROTJ pinched look. The thought of taking a heat gun to the bells is somewhat worrisome. All this updating without photos may seem hollow, I suppose. So let's put a few up... Right bicep gluing Completely glued and Velcroed biceps and forearms Belt with heat bend Glued and clamped right shin In the photos with the belt you may notice the color differences between the belt and the new arms. That's TE biscuit paint and gloss white ABS. When these new parts are ready they'll be painted to match the TE parts.

He is around. I've gotten a hold of him recently. His work schedule may delay his response but he has always responded to me.

Any idea when the ROTJ Centurion requirements will go live? I keep peeking in on the Centurion area to see if the requirements have been posted.

The ROTJ Centurion standards still state that the shoulder straps "shall be made foam other of flexible material instead of rigid plastic." That's still incorrect. The screen-used shoulder straps were vac-formed plastic. The flexible stuff was used on tour suits and other post-ROTJ suits.

I'm looking forward to seeing the ROTJ standards.

I've got an Under Armor balaclava with an open face. For trooping I intend to ponytail my hair, pull on the balaclava (to keep my hair pulled back), and then put on my neckseal. The ponytail will get held against the back of my neck and upper back underneath the balaclava and neckseal and it may get warm, but after all the years that I've had long hair I doubt that it will be any warmer than usual. *The above is speculation and intention on my part as I've never had the opportunity to troop in full armor yet.

This is a fantastic idea. I wonder if these specific cases are available anymore, though. An eBay search reveals many DS Lite cases but none like this one. Now I find a lot of crystal DS Lite cases with no lining or padding like this one seems to possess.

The fact that both dancers are male doesn't bother me. It surprised me as I wasn't expecting it but a dance is a dance. The lightsabers were the element that weakened the presentation in my eyes. As a Star Wars fan I cringed when I saw the lightsabers and I was dumbfounded. Using toys in the performance seemed to cheapen the overall effect.

Admittedly, I'm not sure how to react to this performance. It's definitely a first. As a pair, the dancing is quite fluid and good. The lightsaber toys were a bit much, though.

Alright, David. You've got my attention. I've been to two different news agents, a grocery store, and office works. I've found two different brands of paper fasteners and they each have cap diameters of 6mm. That's a bit smaller than the 3/8" cap diameter (9.5 mm or so). I'll PM you.