Stormtrooper Thigh Trimming for Flexibility

[Jodo_Kast]

Keep in mind that I'm still waiting on my leg pieces but looking over some assembly tips I saw that if you want to be able to bend your legs, you may have to trim the backs of your thigh pieces at the bottom. The site (can't recall the URL) said that the cutout wouldn't look pretty but it wouldn't stand out too badly.

I did up this quick image to illustrate what I'm talking about. You can see that with the piece on the left that section "B" has been cut out to keep the bottom of the thigh from digging into the top of the calf.

A = back of the upper thigh

B = cut out

C = back of knee

What I thought of doing was making the cutout so that I could at least bend my knee at a 45 degree angle but then attaching some white elasticized fabric to the inside of the thigh to create the illusion of it being a full untrimmed piece. The elstic fabric would also act as a but of a buffer should I fall of accidentally bend my knee past 45 degrees. Just wondering if anyone has done a similar mod or if there is another option I haven't thought of yet???

[SethB6025]

When I cut mine, I started at the sides and cut at a slight arc. (did the same on the calf. It isn't as noticeable as the angled cuts. Good idea with the elastic. It might protect you a little better from pinches. Also, if the top of the thigh has no flashing (like f/x) you can go to town cutting and no one will notice. That way, as opposed to cutting a bunch from the bottom, you cut from the top and the piece just sits higher on your thigh.

[TD257]

I did exactly what your diagram shows, but instead of corners, I rounded the edges to smooth it out. It still cuts some, but not enough to leave trooper tracks.

[TD3269]

I did the start from the sides and work your way around to the back using

arc worked well for me also. Looks allot better that way.