Bulldog44[TK] Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 (edited) I am looking to buy a full armor kit from RS but not sure which route to go. This will be my first suit and not sure if I should assemble it myself or have them do it. The cost is certainly a factor but I am also interested to know if there is a down side to having one already assembled. On the other hand I am a bit worried if I screw up the build myself. Does anyone know if these kits come with some sort of instructions from RS? I have already mailed them but guess they are quite busy and have yet to reply. Any advice regarding purchasing / assembly of an RS kit is greatly appreciated! Edited October 23, 2012 by Bulldog44 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazmosis[501st] Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 (edited) Having one pre-assembled is risking more than the reward. Everyone is different. Armor should be built around YOUR body. If you pay to have it built and it doesn't fit......you know that result. Many things need to be taken into consideration when buying armor. What you can afford is a good starting point, but body type is another. RS Props has been labeled as THE most accurate ANH armor available. Because of this, it is designed to fit the build of the 1977 actors (approx 5'11" and 175 Lbs....roughly) If you are a bigger trooper, that needs to be taken into consideration. If you are on this website...THIS is your instruction page. There are MANY methods of building armor. Find the RS props builds and use them to guide yourself through your build. Whoever has purchased RS Props knows what they have bought and has done the research necessary to acheive the best results. Edited October 23, 2012 by gazmosis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Locitus[Admin] Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 They do not come with instructions. You'll find plenty of help on this forum though on how to do it. I built and RS-armour in less than 3 days this summer. The upside of buying finished is that they know what they are doing and will deliver a correctly assembled, made to measure armour. The downsides are that it's made to measure and if you're giving them the wrong measurements then it might not fit. Also, if something should happen to break in the future, you won't have as much experience in fixing it unless you've built it yourself. It's also a fun experience to build yourself and saves you a lot of money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldog44[TK] Posted October 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Thanks so much for the advice. I am exactly those measurements so I figured I have less of a gamble but there is never a sure thing. Still some time to think it over but I am leaning toward giving it a try myself and build it. Thanks again for both of your replies. I guess I need to do more homework and then decide. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhapsodyred99[TK] Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 I got an untrimmed RS kit, and I had zero experience building armor. It came with no instructions, but I pored over lots and lots of build threads (a few on here from RS themselves) that helped immensely. There are also tutorials and lots and lots of screen caps to help you out. That said it took a ton of work. Mainly because of my lack of experience I did things the long way around I am sure. Advice I have is to use E6000 the long cure time is no fun, but it is very forgiving and can be taken back apart if needed, and the excess just cleans up by rubbing it. Think of it as heavy duty Ribber cement. If you use glue and put too much it could melt your armor. if you use glue and later realize you messed up, you could be screwed. E6000 prevents all that. RS takes your measurements, they build the suit to you, so it 'should" fit, but as Mathias says if you screw up a measurement, or something needs repairing in the future you could be out of luck. The other downside of having them build it is time. They told me they had a 13 week backlog back at the beginning of summer. I have had a finished PP lid on order with them for 3 months... Not saying they are dragging thier feet, just reminding you they are really only two guys that have a lot going on and craftmanship takes time. If you were ready to go like I was you can get the unfinished kit, with the strapping pack they supply and be building in a week. It took me about 4 months to finish my kit working when I had time, experienced builders can do it in a week... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldog44[TK] Posted October 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 I will take your advice about the glue. A few concerns I have about the build would be the exact amount to trim off the parts, the strapping placements as well as the buttons,etc. I looked at a few builds and stills from the movies but not 100% sure if I can do a decent job. If I do go the self built route, I will probably take even longer to get it done. Still that sounds better than the wait you mentioned for a built suit, at least I will be able to set a pace. RS mentioned to me initially about a rough kit and a pre-trimmed kit/ painted details. How far is the jump from those two kits and then the overall pre-assemble? The builds I see on this site are the rough kits I assume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Locitus[Admin] Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 I would say most kits you see here are rough or raw kits yes. When trimming the limbs you mostly only need to consider the "front" of the pieces to be trimmed to a specific distance to nicely line up with your cover strips. The backs are simply trimmed to fit, IE you take away as much as you need. The torso doesn't involve much fitting and is more or less "one size fits most". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhapsodyred99[TK] Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 (edited) Mine was rough. I was afraid to get them to pretrim it as I knew I was bigger than the intended actor, so wanted the extra plastic which worked out great. Most here are going to be untrimmed or rough. get some lexan scissors and a good xacto knife and its not nearly as hard as you think to trim. I was a wreck trimming down my return edges at first I was so nervous! One word of caution, the helmet comes with some pencil lines on it. Do not trust those lines without checking! I blindly cut mine following the lines and screwed up my right side assembly by trimming too much off the cap n back which meant I had to cant the ear to the rear to cover the seam, which left more of the sunken cheek tube on that side showing than it should have. The helmet is a bit wonky(as is the real one) so be careful there! I seem to be the only one that has had that issue though so maybe the template slipped on them when they were penciling my lines. My helmet is not god awful, but other RS lids look much better. They were nice enough to send me a new ear (I had also blindly followed the pencil lines there) and I was able to better hide my mistake, but I plan on getting a new lid sometime to replace it. Dudesideous has a great build thread, and searching these forums will help you with coverstrip sizes and strapping. Edited October 23, 2012 by rhapsodyred99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldog44[TK] Posted October 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Thanks for the info. Need to sleep on all this. Can't believe how useful this site is! Really appreciate all the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arsey666 Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 I have recently bought a fully assembled suit of the RS guys, i love it!! I am lucky enough to live quite close to their workshop so it was easy for them to get accurate measurements for the fit, that said there are still a few tweaks that are needed, such as the backs of the knees need trimming because stairs are pretty hard to climb, and i have been told that the holster is hanging a little low, but these are all minor things to do, so I'm going to try and sort them myself. I must admit though i am seriously considering buying a kit to assemble in the future after discovering this community of troopers, It's amazing the attention to detail and skill that these guys have, I just wish I'd known about all this years ago. Good luck with your build or whatever you decide, and just try to be patient with the RS boys because they are really busy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyC Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 I just got my RS armor, but I had them trim it for me (like the original), I gave them my measurements, and it fits me perfectly… I also got the strapping system.. took me a bit to figure out where everything goes (no instructions).. lol I have experience putting together armor so I wanted to do mine on my own. RS props, their stuff is top shelf, most screen accurate armor out there, hands down IMO. Honestly, if you are willing to pay for the full set of this stuff, might as well go all out and get it either put together or at least trimmed. If you are worried about the sizing, take pictures of how you are sizing, just in case. -Jimmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldog44[TK] Posted October 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 Thanks guys for all the input. I think I will try the build but will probably buy a fully assembled suit too at some point. Rolf sent some great pics of the strappings for the torso area. If anyone else knows another good gallery of pics to refer to for all the other armor assembly joints and straps, please send me the link! It would be great if there was a full step by step assembly posted in depth but I guess that takes a lot of the fun out of it. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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