TE Armor assembly

[AnsonJames]

Hello All,

I've just managed to pick up a manequin and I'm starting to assemble my TE Sandtrooper armor.
First of all does anyone have copies of any TK armor instructions (for placement of the straps,velco,etc) and secondly I've noticed that once cut the strips on the biceps are different widths - would it be accurate to shim these with the extra Styrene I got with the Armor?
What width is accurate (if at all) for the bicep shim?
Thanks in advance for your help folks.

Anson

 

[Trooper TK409]

I've got a few tips on my site under "ANH Armor Assembly Tips"
http://www.tk409.com

 

[AnsonJames]

Originally posted by Trooper TK409@Jan 17 2006, 01:54 PM
I've got a few tips on my site under "ANH Armor Assembly Tips"
http://www.tk409.com

[snapback]1161057[/snapback]​

Thanks for the link to your site - it's excellent.
Did you shim the arms and the bicep parts when you built your TE?

 

[hansoloway]

The biceps are supposed to be different sizes, so don't do any modification unless you can't get it to fit otherwise. Same thing with the forarms. Also, my suggestion is not to use velcro, but strap it using black elastic straps and snaps, if you plan on wearing it. Good luck with a great set of armor.

 

[TK1536]

Check my banner as well.
I'll be doing a massive update in the next two months as I complete my second TE Sandtrooper, but for now there's more info than you'll ever need.

 

[CMANavy]

Well the two best guys with sites about TE armor have checked in. Just about every thing you need on on ther sites. Now when you need ot make parts fit something bigger than they were intended, I am the person to talk to.

For the biceps I know your problem, the left one (small) one was not going to fit me. So what I did Is I swaped the front parts. Large front to small back and large back to small front and then trim them to make them look uniform.

Here is an old pic of when I had just put them together.

http://www.hunt101.com/img/316018.JPG

 

[AnsonJames]

Originally posted by CMANavy@Jan 18 2006, 08:42 AM
Well the two best guys with sites about TE armor have checked in.  Just about every thing you need on on ther sites.  Now when you need ot make parts fit something bigger than they were intended, I am the person to talk to. 

For the biceps I know your problem, the left one (small) one was not going to fit me.  So what I did Is I swaped the front parts.  Large front to small back and large back to small front and then trim them to make them look uniform.

Here is an old pic of when I had just put them together.

http://www.hunt101.com/img/316018.JPG

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Thanks for the help so far folks - the insane thing is that the smaller bicep won't fit me properly unless it's shimmed but I'm concerned with accuaracy. I don't want to put a shim on unless that actually shimmed the real biceps.
Does anyone know if they did?
Am I mad?

 

[JBReplicas]

Im having the exact same problem, ideally I want it to look as accurate as possible, the way the armour fits my build seems spot on to me, but I would like to know where was shimmed on the real suits, or more details on other peoples armour and where they shimmed.

 

[troopermaster]

Hey if the armour doesn't fit you right then by all means shim it as much as you need.Don't worry about being 100% accurate.You have nice armour and should wear it whatever it takes,unless it's to be displayed of cource.

The ANH suit's didn't need shimming as most of the guys were very skinny.Also,the real suit's didn't have the overlap on the arms and legs so they could be trimmed to fit and then a strip was glued over the joints.

-Paul.

 

[Trallis]

can anyone show me a close up of the side joint on a forearm, shin, etc. that they did on a TE

 

[TK1536]

Originally posted by Trallis@Jan 18 2006, 01:45 PM
can anyone show me a close up of the side joint on a forearm, shin, etc. that they did on a TE

[snapback]1162187[/snapback]​

Sure, I'll take some pictures this evening of my recent build. Stay tuned.

 

[Trallis]

awesome, i'm having a tough time deciding how i want the plastic strips to look

 

[hansicle]

When I built mine, I shimmed the thigh pieces together side by side, to give it the same look as the movie version, but before I glued the front strip in place, I cut a few short pieces and was able to tac them on the inside and try it on. Once I had the width correct, I tacked on a few more pieces on the inside to hold it, so I wasn't trying to glue an 18" strip down the front all at once with the thighs splitting open and making a big mess.

 

[KevVader]

Clutch has a great armor assembly tutorial that's been archived....

 

[Trallis]

yah.. but clutch decided not to do the plastic strips i believe.
I really want to see how people do those

 

[dirtydave]

the biceps on my GINO armor are a little tight so i shimed the back seem and left the front without a shim so from the front it looks accurate.

 

[TK1536]

These are some recent pics i took for a buddy of mine looking to weather his armor.

You should be able to see some of the construction. There is no over-laping, and all pieces are attached using additional HIPS. I wouldn't take this as 'bible', because I took into consideration that there is no perfect Stormtrooper. They were all quickly assembled and vary from each other to great degrees.

 

[AnsonJames]

Originally posted by TK1536@Jan 19 2006, 04:22 AM
These are some recent pics i took for a buddy of mine looking to weather his armor.

You should be able to see some of the construction. There is no over-laping, and all pieces are attached using additional HIPS. I wouldn't take this as 'bible', because I took into consideration that there is no perfect Stormtrooper. They were all quickly assembled and vary from each other to great degrees.

[snapback]1162556[/snapback]​

Thanks.
Great photos and jolly nice weathering.

 

[Trallis]

thanks buddy.

 

[JBReplicas]

Great photos, just what I needed to see, thanks...