Stormtrooper Armor

Spent a few days on the armor so far and made countless trips to Tokyu Hands to get all those bit n bobs needed. This is what the armor looks like so far - still need to make a ton of straps and stuff but I should be able to go out in it within a few weeks...

The arm bits need to have a bit of sponge to stop them from rolling around, falling down and generally being annoying. Got the sponge from Tokyu Hands for about 430 yen.

This is me just about to get to grips with the armor. Stuck on the Starwars DVD to get me in the mood.

The back has to be cut in half - the seller or the armor knew damn well that this should be done but the bafoon left it.

My wife catches me off guard as I adjust the thigh pieces - I still have to add extra straps to stop them rolling around and falling down.

Still needs a lot of modifications...

Sanding down the back of the knee.

If only Danny Choo aged 10 could see me now (he would think "hey cool" or "what an idiot")

The cod piece should be cut to allow more mobility, stop the cod piece from digging in to yer leg and I also need to attach it in a way so that I can go for a pee without peeing all over the armor.

By the time I was halfway through, the spare room was a right mess.

More mess...

The back of the thighs should be cut so that you can actually walk.

The forearm pieces should also be cut - otherwise they will cut you! They dig into your wrists and the blood leaves a mess.

Got a glue gun for about 1400 yen from Tokyu Hands - used for gluing on extra bits n pieces.

The belt that comes with the suit is two pathetic sad sad pieces of ABS plastic which does nothing apart from make you look like a right prat (and is not movie accurate). So I got some leather from Tokyu Hands for about 5000 yen and made my own. I was really annoyed that I had to actually pay for leather - back at my dads studio I could nick all the leather I want! This is what many troopers do (make belts - not steal leather from dad) and you dont have to screw the belt on like the ABS belt.

The shoulder parts were stuck on using the velcro that came with the suit (which was as useful as a whack in the shins with a club wrapped in barbed wire (ie not very useful)). So I riveted these parts on which works well.

This is another example of how passionate our friend at COSTUMEJUNKIE is at making suits for his clients. What a bafoon (I am a bafoon too for believing that I was going to receive a quality ready made armor).

This is Car Mold. Its normally used on the edges of a car door to protect the door from being chewed on by gerbils. What I intend to do is spray this white and have it going along the edges of the suit. I have seen other troopers do this and it makes the suit look about 52 times cooler.

The bottom of the leg pieces have to be cut too otherwise before you know it you will have lost 5 liters of blood from the cuts that have been made in your ankles.

This is a small amount of the velcro that I had to remove from the armor that our friend COSTUMEJUNKIE put together. grrrrrrrrr.
More to come as the suit nears ready-to-go-about-Tokyo mode.