TD-4510

Congrats Mike, you'll do fine! Sorry to see you go Tony. Now you can make more eh, stuff maybe? You guys all rule! I LOVE THIS PLACE MAN!!!!

One thing is for sure. The AP I have is not built for speed. I have already put some cracks in the stressed areas like the Abs and a knee plate. Just from fitting it and wearing it around the house. My old RT never cracked. It was alot thicker too. The AP is nice to look at though. Yesterday I suited up and just stood in front of the mirror and looked at it. Its too cool. I have been marching up and down the street to field test it for the Rose Parade too and the neighbors are like....WHAT THE **** IS THAT?! I think the molds may actually be made of composites. I see evidence of repair and there are alot of holes drilled for better vacuum. Judging from the untrimmed parts I got it also looks like they are mounted on a flat surface to keep thier shape. I also think that he is using a 0.060 guage thickness and not 0.080 as he claims. The stuff is pretty thin.

You guys should download the PDF catalog its pretty sweet.

Your the best Dad in the world man.

If you are 5'8" your armor will need alot of trimming. The tops of the thighs and bottoms of calves as well as the shoulder straps and chest and maybe back too. I had to trim all these areas and it was alot of work.

Thanks guys! I am going to install fans in the helmet this week and trim the cod a little as well. I went out yesterday and purchased white gaffers tape, and superglue and some Dr. Scholls. I wanna thank Tony, Mike H, Seth, Starwarshelmets.com, Authentic Props, Simon, TK-409, troopermaster, and everyone else who helped or gave advice along the way. I really appreciated your help.

Well, I know its not dirty but here it is. I have been working on this thing since March. Please tell me if you see any glaring mistakes that can be corrected. Remember that I will be marching for 5.5 miles in this thing, so if you have any tips, that'd be cool too! I hope to make another for sandtrooping after the parade pain wears off!

Cool I will give em a call! Thanks!

Where did you get yours? I have searched everywhere locally and I cant find anything. Online they are cheap but shipping costs more than the welding mask does.

Its hard for me to see the crease, can you show a better pic of it? Not that it helps you in any way, just interested!

already looks better than mine did. AND it appears that you cut everything correctly too!

definetely gets me thinking.... Maybe he will give the kits to us at a lower cost if we bulk buy.

He probably made that entire kit in twenty minutes.... I could see paying 30.00-$50.00, but $138.00? Thats taking advantage a little, at least I think so. Its not that detailed. Pretty simple really. Dont you think?

Thats about $4.00 of plastic and $.10 worth of PVC pipe! El rippo.

Before you trim them look at some reference pics. Most troopers wore the biceps very low and well away from the arm pits. They shoulld almost rest a bit above the crook of your arm I think.

Stick with the flat lenses. All the bubble ones will give you problems as you said. Just good old acetate will work.

My only complaint with my RT-MOD armor was the chestplate, shoulder bells and backs of the knees. All could be improved a bit. But for the most part, I really liked the way it felt and at times I miss my RT. WAY more comfortable than my AP is, for sure.

I had the RT-Mod armor. its very thick and very glossy. Its priced nicely and when I bought mine it came pretrimmed with the helmet fully assembled. The guy is an artist and really does an excellent job. If you are 5'8" and about 175-200 Lbs, this kit will feel like it was made just for you. Its a good medium as far as accuracy goes. More accurate than an FX and cheaper than an AP. Oh yeah, even though the RT is made of ABS, the pulls are Hella tight. His vacuum table has a huge tank that really pulls in the detail considering that the ABS is the thickest out there at .093 My AP although way more accurate paled in comparison. The kit has faucet heads for mic tips wrapped in electrical tape and flimsy acetate for visor material. Also much thinner than the RT. I will try to attach a pic of my old RT armor...

My TE2 is very thick compared to the AP I bought. The AP was very thin around the front of the dome and overall pretty fragile. BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT THAT SHARP ANGLE. Dont force the dome to be in a certain position or you will crack the plastic right there in the corner by the ear. Once you have the helmet faceplate in the position you think looks good, tape it in place on the inside and stand back and see if its all even and what you want. In ANH the alignment varies sooooooooo much it really could be anywhere you want. As far as trimming goes, if you look close you can see the trim lines pretty clearly. Looks like you trimmed the mouth pretty good. I think I overtrimmed mine a bit. I wouldnt try to be too accurate on the entire look though, the originals look terrible!

My chest plate hangs way too far over my ab plate. I looked at Mark Hammills armor in ANH and it looks like the prop dept. trimmed about a half inch off the bottom of the chest plate as well as the bottom of the back piece and both ends of the shoulder straps. Has anyone else trimmed the AP armor to fit them in the chest or back areas? I am 5'8".

THESE LOOK GREAT ON MY DESKTOP THANKS!!!!!!

I have the AP and I painted it because I did a poor job gluing it together. If you just overlap the two halves of most parts when gluing then it doesnt get too messy. I however decided to go the longer more accurate route of adding the strip to the two halves and not overlapping them. This method was very messy for me. I ended up sanding the whole thing down and scraping the glue off as needed. It looks great now, but PHEW! What a pain in the butt I caused myself. I also chose the Rustoleum professional gloss white in the tall can. It was an incredible finish where I didnt have alot of sanding. However, where there was considerable sanding it just krikled and fish eyed and orange peekled. I ended up putting several coats of Krylon Fusion gloss white on and wet sanding between coats. The finished product looks the business, but it was alot of work. I felt like I was doing bodywork on a car! I havent had any chipping issues yet, but the paint is already starting to get hairline cracks in areas that flex alot. There is no way to avoid this I think. I also have to say that I was VERY WORRIED about the finish. The armor is for the Rose Parade. If I was going sandy, I wouldnt sweat the small stuff. Sand it down lightly with 600 grit. Make sure its clean and grease free, and paint it with thye Kryon Fusion. The finish is acceptable and after the dirt and all.... Its awesome. I wouldnt trade my armor for another set of anything at this point. TOO MUCH WORK into it.

Did AP mention when he would be able to make me another helmet?

****!

I would assemble, cut, sand, final sand with 600 grit, primer, wet sand with 600 then paint. Then if your feeling lucky sand again with a high grit sandpaper and buff out to a nice luster with polish. if your using the rustoleum stuff, make sure that the surface is finish quality and smoooooooth or else you may have problems with it. Like I did. If she's going sandy then dont worry too much about it.