Shoulder Strapping

[JohnQTK5122]

This might have been answered before, but I'm having trouble navigating the new forum layout, so I'm reposting.

Since the plastic ribbed straps that hold my chest and back pieces together won't stay glued on anyway, I figured I should replace them with the correct kind of cloth strapping underneath.

I can't actually see the straps in the screenshots (can't find the screenshots now, but I've looked before).

Should the cloth straps be white or black or some other color?

Thanks,

John Q.

TK-5122

[firebladejedi]

White straps for the shoulder conections

[TD-1536]

Keep in mind that the Sandtrooper armor was developed before the finished product we see on the Death Star and Tantive - the clean white Stormtrooper. As such, the Sandtrooper lacked a lot of detail - including the ribbed shoulder/collar bone straps.

What confuses people is how and it's understandable. All the recast and fan made armor over the years simply lacked enough of the chest piece that extended up and over the collar bone. Some people are thin enough to take a TE or AP suit and still make it work, but for most everyone else we use a cloth strap. Once the pauldron is on and you have a shoulder mounted ammo pouch, you can't even tell - but it is canon for Sandtroopers.

Solution = get some black elastic and attach it to your armor with E6000. Have one side attach with industrial velcro.

[TD-1536]

White straps for the shoulder conections

white or black works.

I used white the first time to simulate 'more plastic', but re-did it using black.

[JohnQTK5122]

So, there aren't really any cloth straps visible in the movies? I haven't seen them in any of the screenshots I've looked at.

My chest and back pieces (and shoulder bells) attach with snaps to wide black suspenders, so I don't really need cloth straps to hold the armor on me, I was just going to install some because I assumed they were required to be a sandtrooper because they are seen in the film.

I might just add black strap anyway to hide the snap that holds my shoulder bells to my suspenders, but it'll just be cosmetic, not functional.

As you said, my backpack strap basically covers all that stuff (and the other side is under a pauldron).

Thanks.

By the way, Mike, did you know TD1536 is the name of a computer virus? How many people have their own action figure AND their own virus?

[TD-1536]

yeah, you never see the actual straps (which I' sure is some kind of fabric strap underneath the armor parts). But what you do see is the elongated plastic of the chest armor extending further up the collar bone.

[troopermaster]

They used white 2" wide elastic originally, that was simply glued to the underside of the chest and back plate.