Looking For Stormtrooper Armor to buy?
Licensed armor is HERE!!!!!
Rubies Official Licensed Supreme Edition Stormtrooper Costume has finally hit the shelves!!! Coming in at a high-ticket price, it is a bit expensive. But we are talking LICENSED armor... not fan-made props here. Rubies has to pay Lucasfilm for the privledge of making official armor for the fans, so they are going to charge for it.
Currently I am recommending Amazon.com for purchase of the Rubies Costume. Amazon.com sellers have to adhere to Amazon.com sales rules, and Amazon is a highly trusted seller.
The armor quality is good. It is a flexible urethane Vinyl material similar to the Rubies Inc. Star Wars helmets, and that material will last decades, so that's nice. One complaint by buyers right now is it lacks a thermal detonator, but I might be offering those up as accesories myself within a week.
I do recommend buyers of the Rubies armor to be prepare to modify the armor once you recieve it. The supplied elastic and velcro straps are inadequate to hold the armor together for periods of time over 15 minutes or so, so replacing the supplied parts with 2 inch wide velcro and 1.5 inch wide elastic straps is a must. MOre tips on modifying the armor are at teh bottom of this page too.
Note: Windlass Studios are supposedly going to start selling their own licensed SUPER DELUXE Stormtrooper armor in mid 2009.
Fan-Made Armor
Below is a list of reputable Costume Armor Dealers that we know of that sell the ABS fan-made armor. Question these dealer thoroughly. It is a buy-at-your-own risk kind of thing. We are only offering up this list to aid the fans in their search for armor.
- Armor FX (AFX)
- Authentic Props (AP)
These two armor makers generally will deliver to the fans with good customer service and attention. You'll ned to hunt down these armor makers email addresses yourself though, or check on ebay, as I have not the authority to post theie email address here on the site. The makers do not mind me telling you that their hand-made armors are on the market and available when approached via email.
Biker Scout Armor Kit - Studio Creations is doing a small run of fan made Biker Scout armor (Speeder Bike riders from RotJ). Click here for more details.
Rubies Armor Modification Tips
Mainly you'll want to replace the 3/4 inch elastic tabs on the armor with 2 inch wide tabs of sticky-backed INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH VELCRO. Seen here in this image....
http://www.patcave.com/sunosub/velcro1.jpg
...it comes in a 5 yard-roll box also.
It's in the same section as the regular Velcro, just look for "industrial" on the package - it just costs a bit more. Get it at Wal-mart, though. I just discovered it's about $3-4 cheaper for the exact same thing. It's back in the crafts section.
Next, you want to replace the skinny elastic ties with wider (1.5 or 2 inch) elastic with velcro tabs sewn to them (non-sticky velcro). The wider elastic ensures the armor parts will stay clamm shelled to your body as you move around. the original skinny elastic and velcro just does not ahve enough strength to hold things together for long periods of use.
For the shoulder areas of the costume, use my T-Strap system/idea for attaching the shoulders joints , shoulder pads and bicep armor all together in one fell swoop.
T-strap diagram....
These instructions on assembling the chest and arms are a bit old, but they show you the basic harnessing process for attaching the parts all together. Just disregard the mentioning of button-snaps and concentrate on the techniques of harnessing that are shown in the tutorial...
http://www.studiocreations.com/howto/stormtrooper/st_assembly/chest.html
The thighs can be attached to the abdomen armor with 2 inch wide straps also. You can rig up a suspender strap system to help with the hanging issues, to, but it's not 100% necessary. IF you have time, research that system, if not, you should be okay with just the 2 inch wide elastic holding up the legs from the abdomen armor.
Hope these tips help,
Studio Creations
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