FX Armour

Ever since I saw ANH first time round at the age of 11, I have wanted to get my hands on a set of stormtrooper armour. So what better time than now (in my second childhood ) to get building :).

The kit was relatively simple to assemble, needing trimming and sanding to finish the edges. I used a lot of references found on the UKGarrison site, particularly Tony Barnett's very helpfull "snap system tutorial", which I essentially copied with a few changes (using black polypropylene webbing instead of elastic).

I cut the groin and butt pieces to enable sitting etc. these are hinged with snaps and polypro webbing

The Ab panel buttons where replaced with 11mm cover button inners, primed and airbrushed with Humbrol Midnight blue and dark grey (reference info again from the UKG courtesy on Mr Barnett). Snaps have been added to secure the belt.

The ABS belt has been replaced with a full wrap around white leather belt to which the ABS section is rivetted (rivets painted white). Snaps correspond to those on the Ab plate to secure the belt. The drop boxes are rivetted to the leather belt, with a self adhesive foam strip attached to stop scratching of the thigh armour.

For the chest pieces I glued the shoulder straps to the front plate, and then attached industrial strength Velcro to the back plate and straps. A snap is placed at the top of the shoulder to attach the sleeves of the armour "T-shirt". As with he drop boxes I used a strip of self adhesive foam to prevent scratching of the buttons. The same foam strip is used in the shoulder bells.

The helmet has had vents cut in the frown, and black mesh placed behind (see RT Mod page). The calf and thigh pieces where glued at the front with a shim made for the backs of each piece ( the shim is a strip of ABS -left over from the belt- with two strips of industrial velcro hook superglued to it, the loop strips are superglued inside the armour shell of either side.

At the suggestion of Ian at the UKG I added some additional elastic straps to the parts below, and guess what? It now fits properly :)

Completed Armour shots

1st on the left, that's me that is :p