ANH Strips on AP Armor?

[TD 8733]

What are your thoughts on this guys?

[TD 8733]

My bad it seems this has been briefly touched on. Feel free to give your thoughts on the issue though.

[TD-1536]

I have mixed feelings for a couple of reasons.

One, The original TE molds from which the AP is derived from, fit together perfectly when assembled with strips overlaying the seams. The molds are clean in that they line up.

On the AP, However, I think the molds have been tampered with, more so with the thigh pieces, which I'll go on record saying he or someone else purposely made them larger to fit larger legs. On the last two AP kits I assembled, I had to cut a substantial amount away to get them to look like the TE legs. Problem is, when you do this, they don't line up as nicely as the TE legs do. So at that point, it really does not matter if they're overlapped or not because the original look has already been altered.

[TD 8733]

I know what your saying Mike. I built my AP then looked at the legs and even though they were FAR! smaller then FX armor they still could be smaller. So I

took them apart and cut a considerable bit from the legs. They fit perfectly now but as you said whats the point in strips.

[Rolf]

True.

On the AP you dont have to do the stripes on arms and legs, to keep them together.

But ill done it for accurate ANH look enyway, and looks fine to me.

Regards troops.

[tk-4224]

i´ve done this on my mfx armor

looks better than overlapping

[troopermaster]

On the AP, However, I think the molds have been tampered with, more so with the thigh pieces, which I'll go on record saying he or someone else purposely made them larger to fit larger legs.

I've noticed that too Mike.The thighs look way too wide at the bottoms as opposed to the GF suit.I was thinking it was just how they had been assembled to fit 'larger' troopers,but looking at more and more suit's being shown off they have the same look.AP should remove the joining strips on the backs anyway,they are ROTJ!

If your going for ANH or ESB look,you should really have the strips on IMO.I know it's easier to just overlap them but it's not much more trouble to add the strips and it looks much more accurate.

-Paul.

[1970s]

Hey Guys,

I have SDS armor - the strips came down all the way to the bottom edge (of the upper leg armor). So I cut the strips down, and sanded them untill they were gone - then I added the part line (with and exacto knife) to make the armor look more like ANH. If these were the original molds (which I don't think) - He cut the front ends of the lower half of the upper leg armor (where you knee is) to be flat. See my pictures below. Was there strips on the backs of the upper legs and on the middle and lower arm amor?

Thanks,

Jack Vartuli

RedFox@optonline.net

[troopermaster]

No I don't think they are supposed to be flat.AA must have made them that way thinking that the joining strip goes all the way to the bottom when stop at the raised edge/lip.

The actual joining strips were only on the fronts of the legs and forearms.The backs were plain and butted up and joined with a strip glued on.I reckon they were made that way to allow for a bit of adjustment when assembling,unlike the ROTJ suit's which were just glued shut in the moulded strips.

[1970s]

It looks better cut than the way I puchased if from SDS - with the strips going all the way to the bottom.

thanks,

jack v.

RedFox@optonline.net

[1970s]

But again - that flat area does stand out as incorrect! - Still looking forward to your armor.

Thanks,

jack vartuli

Redfox@optonline.net

[TD 8733]

Hey Mike! Who took your avatar? They replaced it with some dude with glasses.

[TD-1536]

Hey Mike! Who took your avatar? They replaced it with some dude with glasses.

yeap. It's a little more personal.

Everyone's got a bucket in their avatars, I felt like doing something different. Besides, it was taken on a beach full of sand dunes!

[clutch]

Interesting. I never paid attention to the AP legs. I glued my GF's together overlapping with no strip because I didn't know any better at the time. The small thigh pieces did inspire me to shed some pounds though. I'm at 168lbs now. Haven't been at that weight since highschool! [end of motivational speech]

[Muad'dib]

And here I thought it was Elvis Costello.

[TD-4510]

OK, I am a little late here..Can someone provide pics of what they mean? I am getting ready to assemble and it would help alot.

[troopermaster]

We are talking about how the clam shell halves are held together.Instead of overlapping each half and gluing together,each half is butted up against each other then a thin joining strip is glued over the joint and keeps the two halves together.Just remember to leave the backs of the shins open

[TD-4510]

Are the thighs on the AP shaped correctly? Or is it going to end up looking fat legged like an FX set? in other words, will I have to trim off any extra strip area to get the alignment and appearance looking good? Am I correct in thinking that the strips that glue on top shoud be 3/4 of an inch wide? Did you guys put strips on the back of the thighs as well?

[troopermaster]

It sounds as though the AP thighs have been altered so you may have to trim more off the back strip,but better get confirmation from someone with an AP suit.

3/4" sounds perfect to me.All the arm and leg parts have the joining strips front and back.The back of the shins have the strips glued to the outer half only so they can open slightly to get your foot in

[TD-4935]

My AP thigh pieces while i was testing how and where to cut/glue seemed a little wide. The right one more than the left. before i decided to go for the ANH strip i taped them up just using the overlap and found that they were gaping open at the back. this made up my mind about the ANH strip. i also realised that velcroing the back would be pointless as they always wanted to spring open.

on the whole i did have to trim alot off the right thigh, the left one seemed more natural.

The ANH strip also reinforces the join (i put a strip inside as well).

on a slightly different note, the inverted v contour of the thigh pieces where it sits on your knee seems more 'accurate' on the AP than the SDS.

I am very quickly realising certain things about a certain suit.

finally with rgards to trimming, just try things out, tape up mark out, mark out again, trim in stages. you can make them feel snug on top of

the knee, leave a bit more room at the top.

Simon

[TD-4510]

Cool, Thanks!

[TD-1536]

I personally think the thighs of the AP armor ARE purposely too big, to accommodate more 'customers'. If your legs are thin enough, it's recommended you trim off at least a good two inches or more! The last two AP suits I assembled, needed this alteration.

[Rolf]

I personally think the thighs of the AP armor ARE purposely too big, to accommodate more 'customers'. If your legs are thin enough, it's recommended you trim off at least a good two inches or more! The last two AP suits I assembled, needed this alteration.

Correct, ill also cut some off. But ill dident clouse it up on the back, because if i do ill can get em on my full size doll here.

But there is still one thing ill not sure about.

Should we AP people cut the hole over lap off, and then the stripes to clouse up.

On my AP ill just put the stripes over the over lap, and cut some off behind, where there is no over lap on the one side.

How dos that sound

Peace out bro´s.

[TD-4935]

i cut a quarter of each side off then taped them together to see how they fit, adjusted a few times (it ended up being more like half of each overlap trimmed away) then glued the extra strip to one side, let it dry then made sure the trim was good when they fit together then glued the otherside on, i used a strip of wood when clamping to get an even bond.

then i glued another strip inside because the back was still a little off and wanted to spring out a little so i figured a little reinforcement would be good. i then glued the back seam.

i paniced throughout the whole affair.

Simon

[TD-4510]

Thanks for the replies everyone.