Tips & Tricks More trooper mods

Oh and Mirax ? Kudos on the Slave Leia one too !!! (hope your hubby doesn't put a bounty on my head for saying that )

Chris !?!? - Congrats on the newborn my friend - and yes, you can take a few shortcuts on some things but as you go along with your armor, you'll want to put more quality to it

Keep in touch friends !!!

TD7012 - OUT !!!

John Laurel

We personally chose the boots from the caboots site-they are great. I like the style a little better than the mariachi ones...and they shipped quickly and they are of great quality. As far as the expenses...we have been working on Jason's armor for about a year now...due to money reasons. We chose not to take the "shortcuts" and buy the best-even if it took longer to do so...my perfectionist nature kicking in I'm afraid...so we would splurge on the boots...and then a month or two or three later splurge on the good bodysuit...and so on and so forth. We just could not afford to go do it all at once.
The caboots are great...but I want to talk helmet fance now...what are you all using/doing and what do you like???? This is one piece that we do not have yet-his helmet will be wearable without it-since I did the mouthpiece mod-but for conventions we would like to have it.
QS

Hi QS - helmet fans are great for those that live in hot climates and it's also good to keep the lenses from fogging up. At the moment, my Monster Cloning Facility co-worker and I are still working with different CPU fans to see what can cool us down better since we live in South Texas with humidity thicker than pea soup

I would say if you live in a warm climate or you have the worst sweat glands in the world (like me) helmet fans are a necessity. If you live in a cool climate, you may have ample ventilation with the mouth screens and if you have some space left some where around the lenses. Other than that, some anti-fog for the lenses would also be good to have, a Trooper with an obstructed view can be dangerous

Take Care Friends

TD7012 - OUT !!!

John Laurel

Thanks ObiJuan, and no bounty, I promise. I used the little CPU fans from radioshack for my Jango helmet. Unless there is something better out there, that's what I'll use in hubbys helmet too. They aren't terribly loud
and kept me fairly comfy and did help with fogging. I had a helmet gasket on and when the fan batteries died I had to take it out cause it was too toasty and foggy.

Any one have info on voice amps? I know they're discontinued, but i would imagine a few radio shacks must still have one or two in stock. i've seen them on ebay going for some big bucks, and am curious about what people may be using and where to find a reliable source.
thanks for all the posts, too. this is a very helpful thread, since armor tends to be quite a different beast then fabric costumes.

Actually, one of my buddies on TDH just found 3 at his radioshack ( I scored one of them for like $14 and hoping to get a second) and he's going out to check for more in his area so they are still out there in stores.

Wal-Mart in Canada has Hallowe'en stuff already (surprise!).

One thing we've found is a voice changer box for $7 It has 3 settings, monster, alien and normal.

In the normal setting it simply amplifies your voice. Its fairly audible in a normal room setting, not sure hwo well it'll work at say a convention.

At $7 Canadian its cheap enough to buy a second one and try to modify it though.

I'm sure its available in the US as well.

Excellent. I've seen them going for $40 on ebay, and that seemed a little high. Just ordered my boots last night, so I'm a neck seal, gloves and lots of gluing away from trooping!

We have one of the Halloween amplifiers right now...it works better than nothing at all...but if I can ever score a Radio Shack model then we will upgrade to one of those.
QS

Here's some info that might help... the amplifier is called "Headset Microphone Voice Amplifier" (perhaps one of the most fitting names I've ever heard). It's model #32-2015, goes for $12.50. If you call your local Radio Shack, they can tell you if they have any in stock, or if any other stores in the area do. I found out today there are 6 in my area. I tracked one down, it was missing the headset, so I didn't get it. But now I know where I can find one.

Yeah, I just scored 2 in a town about 1 hour away so a friend is picking them up. Now I have one for Jango and 1 for hubby. They wanted to charge me $29.95! And I told them no one is selling them for that so they said I could have them for $14.95 which they said was their cost.

excellent. I was pretty peeved about the incomplete one at my local store, but I'm going to hit the other ones tomorrow and see if I have any luck.
BTW Mirax, your costumes rock! Congrats on a job well done. I checked out CPU fans while I was there, and they ran about $14. There were a few different sizes, and I'm not sure what would work best, and whether or not one or two fans are better.

Greetings Friends, I picked up one of those Halloween voice changers ($4 US) - May see if I can do some mods to it to make it sound better

This thread is getting infectious

I'm glad I got the chance to share some experiences my buddy and I had with armor assembly and mods and I look forward in keeping in touch with everyone here

Keep on posting Friends and TAKE CARE

TD7012 - OUT !!!!

John Laurel

Thanks christoff88. I used the smallest CPU fans for Jango- I installed 2 of them. They aren't too terribly noisy, I think the larger ones are(but I don't know that for sure).

Mirax is right about the big fans, they can be loud especially if your helmet Echoes - echoes - echoes !!!

Thought my head was stuck in a jumbo jet engine for minute there !!!

Small fans are the ticket, just gotta figure out how many and where to place em . . .

Take Care Friends

TD7012 - OUT !!!

John Laurel

Ok so you guys have it easy being able to mod your armor so you can make going to the bathroom easy. I just got my armor and haven't put it together yet, but does anyone know any tricks for modifiying it for us female troopers who have to actually sit down to pee? Hehe. Any help would be appreciated.

Hhhmmm... good question. Off the top of my head, I'd say do the old C section (cut the abdominal and back piece in two) so you can remove or lift them up, and go with the under armor. it's 2 pieces, pants and shirt, so you should be able to pop a squat without too much trouble! Hope that helps. ;-)

Do you have any pics of where exactly to cut to do the C-Section. I've seen it referred to several times on different sites but haven't seen any pics and want to do this for hubby's armor.

Will get some pics for you all posted

TD7012 - OUT !!!

John

Thanks!

On the back piece, you cut right along the seam that's already there. On the front, I believe you make the cut right at the bottom of the belly section, underneath where the belt would be. I would wait, however, for my man Obijuan to post some pics before you slice and dice.
On a side note, I got my boots today from champion attitude. Well worth the money, they are a sight to behold, and very comfortable. I would recommend, though, if you're the least bit flatfooted, getting some inserts for arch support.

ObiJaun....can you shoot me some C-Section photos too? My armor will be in tommorow! My Pauldrons showed up yesterday....now comes the fun time of glueing..sniff sniff....nice....yeah...real nice....

I am trying to get as much of this done before christmas with out my hubby knowing about it. I realize that some of the pieces will probably have to wait to trim until after x-mas so I can fit him correctly but what can I work on before hand without needing him as a model?

Ladies and Gentlemen, myself or my fellow Monster Cloning Facility partner Jim will have pics for you soon - But my buddy Chris is dead on when he said about cutting the back piece, the trick (and we found out about this AFTER we took two flippin days to do the Imperial C-section) is to first use some masking or electrical tape to protect around the areas you are going to cut, then with the SMALLEST drill bit you have, you are going to drill small holes down the cutting area with a dremel or drill to make it easier to cut with an exacto (a regular one not a hot knife). I highly recommend this way over you using a cutting wheel cause when your ABS warms up, it gets messy !!! After you make your "Cut along the dotted line" Dotted Line, you break out the exacto and Cut along the dotted line

I will see to it that you all get pics or if I can find someone that has this done to their armor, I will PM you all the link

Mirax: You are concerned about more trimming to the armor, the main pieces that you are gonna trim or fit to your hubby are the leg pieces (thighs and calves) the biceps (which reminds me, I REALLY need to stop working out cause my arms are getting FREAKING HUGE :: in my Ahnuld voice :, and I have even seen some people cut behind the knees and thigh pieces for easier leg movement. If you want to have a way to see how it will fit on someone, you can start by using duct tape to hold the pieces together, just remember to use the duct tape on the inside of the pieces if you wish to be mindful of the shine on your armor.

Hope that helps you start a bit, remember Plumber's Goop is a Godsend and if you mess up with it, it won't make you buy a new set of armor like ABS cement would . . .

Take Care Friends and I shall check in again soon . . .

TD7012 - OUT !!!

John Laurel

What is the story on the Plumbers Goop? Why will it not make you buy a new piece if you mess up?

P.S....Ten minutes ago....my ARMOR just showed up thanks to UPS right to my desk....I am so excited I may take the rest of the day off!!!!!