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Last info update: April 28th, 2007.
Where to begin... it's easy to just dive into this stuff, buying a armor kit off ebay and just slap it together and the next thing you know, you're trooping with the 501st. While I admit I too, had similar aspirations a over three years ago, the fact that I've put so much effort into this web site shows otherwise. I've learned quite a lot and I think it's only fair to get this information out to all aspiring Stormtroopers, prop collectors, whoever. Depending on your level of commitment, dedication and attention to detail will ultimately determine where you end up. Most of you will end up owning a FX kit, joining the 501st and call it a day. Others, with an equal obsession like mine will want to know more, will want exacting detail and screen accuracy. I hope to give you that information here. Without further haste, let's dive in... OK, first things first... I get emails all day long asking what's the best, yet most affordable armor available. Getting tired of answering the same question a bazillion times here's the bottom line. If you want Stormtrooper armor, prepare to spend at least $1000 when all is said and done. After you buy all the materials, tools, extras, etc. your final bill will be close to a grand even when purchasing the cheapest armor set available, the FX kit. Not to mention the amount of time it takes to get it all done... this is NOT a Halloween costume or one-off fling. It's an investment in time, money and intro to the hobby of replica prop creation. With that said, let's go over a few venders and get your facts straight. All information stated here is public knowlege or as stated directly from the maker.
Real Stormtrooper armor and what you need to know. The original armor was sculpted and based off someone approx. 5'11 and probably no more than 150lbs. in weight. Stormtroopers were very skinny! The only reason I'm pointing this out is because I get a lot of questions asking "what armor will fit me?" If you're a relatively thin person and not over-weight, then you can wear the AP or TE armor just fine and look like you walked out of the movie. But, if you are larger, then your only option may be FX which can be scaled up or down to fit smaller, but most certainly larger folks. Most of the original stunt helmets were made in a tan color HDPE plastic and painted white. You'll notice all the ones that survive to this day have many paint chips and you can see the tan color underneath. HDPE is a type of plastic that is notorious for not taking paint very well. This type of plastic was most likely used for a few reasons. First, Andrew Ainsworth who vac-formed the original Stormtroopers also was at the time, making fish ponds out of the same plastic, so he had plenty in stock. Secondly, it lends it self to being easy to pull off the mold and would be essential in making 50 plus helmets quickly with such difficult undercuts. The Hero helmets, most notably worn by Han and Luke, were probably made out of gloss white ABS plastic. The armor was also probably vac-formed in a type of gloss ABS plastic. Take a look at the following original pictures to get a better idea of how things were assembled and how they should look.
The FX Armor Kit Easily the most affordable and obtainable armor kit out there. Numbers around 95% of the 501st legion are known to wear this kind of armor. Now, what it is and what it's not... The FX Kit is a nice, complete, solid kit that comes with just about everything you need. It's fairly easy to put together so long as you have patience and some modeling skills. It will take time - lots of it, almost two months for me to build correctly. Now, to the uninitiated, this armor looks pretty much what the movies looked like. However, that would be incorrect. The FX kit is extremely INACCURATE in every detail. Every aspect is oversized, symmetrical (the original movie used suits were highly asymmetrical), the helmet is way too large and quite frankly - in my opinion - looks like shit. Don't get me wrong, my first kit was a FX and I loved it... I was as happy as an eight year old boy on Christmas morning. But, over time as I did more research I learned the hard facts. I will say that if you're new to all of this you really SHOULD start with an FX kit. Making Stormtrooper armor is unlike anything else you've done. It's part model making, part clothing fabrication and you're the final mold. It's takes time and practice to get it right and if you're going to mess up, at least it's just an FX kit. Another note of consideration and why I think the FX kit is so oversized, is that it can be made to fit just about anyone. It can be cut down to fit a small, short person, or shimmed up to wrap around a larger person. Anyway, if you're aware of your body type this may play into what armor you eventually settle with. FX Armor Construction It took me roughly 50 hours to finish the armor, and about fifteen hours over three days to do the helmet. And even after that, I was still doing lots of small modifications for better fit and finish. The manual that comes with the armor set is less than helpful when it comes to instructions and leaves a lot open to interpretation. I found myself numerous times quickly grabbing my laptop to pull up some ones web site to get tips on assembling this or that, many of which are excellent. The ABS cement that comes with the kit takes a long time to dry, up to 24 hours. If you're like me, I bet you're too impatient to wait that long. Devcon Plastic Welder to the rescue! This two-part epoxy/resin can be purchased at Wal-Mart for a few dollars. I ended up using three to four tubes for the entire suit and it dries fast - in less than 15 minutes! Don't use the Velcro that comes with the kit. Purchase a box of Industrial Strength Velcro from Home Depot. It's a little pricey, but is perfect for secure bonds. For example, on the calf armor parts, I used the Plastic Welder on the front and used the Industrial Strength Velcro on the back to slip them on and secure them easily. Although you don't have to do this (I first started with Velcro and over time, just wanted something more reliable) you should use rivets and industrial snaps as much as possible. One of the pictures below is a good example of how to 'put together' the main body armor - I used an elastic material as the hinge, and secured it to ABS plastic using E-6000 Epoxy glue. Also, since I'm a rather thin guy, the armor tended to slide off my forearms and calfs, so I purchased some foam insulation strips (the kind used on the sides of window-mounted AC units) and hot-glued them at strategic points in those armor parts. They slide on and off very easily and stay put. I also cut both the abdomen and butt armor pieces to make for better movement, both of which are attached with wide elastic material held in place with E-6000.You'll definitely want to cut the abdomen/crotch piece separate from the main body in order to urinate. I also had to custom sew a second zipper in my black under suit because the main zipper didn't go down far enough. Unless you do this, you're faced with taking half of your armor just to take a leak. The O2 Canister/Thermal detonator is probably the single most perplexing item of the whole kit. I originally just secured it using industrial Velcro, and that worked fine. But, I was always worried some kid might run off with it and was constantly checking to make sure it was still attached. I would suggest using industrial snaps or screw it permanently to the ABS belt. That's about it! Once you get your kit together, you'll continue to cut and modify things for a cleaner and more comfortable fit. So far, my longest tour of duty in armor was eleven hours! FX Helmet. While not entirely accurate and slightly oversized, it's still relatively nice. The first thing I did was bore out the nose bridge holes for better ventilation. This is best achieved using a Dremel routing tool, then sanded nice and clean. The area was then masked off and spray painted gloss grey, to match the vinyl stickers that are used to detail the finished helmet. I then used a mesh 'screen-door' material doubled up and hot-glued in place to cover the holes and hide my face inside. Word of note - the ROTJ and ESB Stormtrooper helmets nose bridge are entirely black, ANH is black and grey. Other than that, making the helmet is pretty much straight forward as outlined in the manual that comes with the kit. Another suggestion that's not mentioned in the manual is to temporarily tape all the parts together to test fit and make sure they fit. This is VERY important when gluing the helmet head straps in. Heed the warnings - TAKE YOUR TIME! Measure twice, glue once. My next modification was to internally cool the helmet. I purchased two 12v computer fans, switches and 9v battery connectors at Radio Shack. This process is described in depth over at www.jedi-academy.com, and they even give the Radio Shack part numbers, which was VERY helpful! One thing that I discovered when doing the mod, though, is that most troopers were just hot-gluing the fans to the inside of the helmet. I temporarily placed it where most suggest you do and noticed there was little to no cooling effect, mainly because the fans weren't drawing in air from anywhere. So, I opted to place them OVER the nostril vents I created earlier. Not only is this invisible from the outside, but it draws in nice, cool air. Highly suggested! Lastly was the task of wiring up the speaker system. I opted to have everything in the helmet, no external wires. I installed tiny train speakers in the aerators and wired them up to a RadioShack poweramp that I disassembled and installed in the back of the helmet. Consult this tutorial for instructions. Lastly, I hooked up an internal microphone. Finally, since the bubble lenses obscure your vision AND since I was converting to a Sandtrooper, I installed flat green lenses cut from a welders mask.
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| TE or Trooper Expert Armor Trooper Expert's (or TE) armor and helmet is very movie accurate, in my opinion. It is purported that his helmet is a recast of a ANH, and his armor is from ROTJ, then modified to look more like the ANH armor. From here out, the casual reader may find this of interest, but if you're going to potentially own a TE kit, you should find plenty of info here. As of January 2006, TE is no longer making armor and has sold his molds to an undisclosed party. The new owner is making them under the name TE2. Disclaimer: Some of the following comments are made to differentiate the TE from the more commonly found and owned FX armor kit. Please note that from here out, when I make a suggestion on construction or painting, that I'm doing so based on the ANH design and look. ESB and ROTJ Stormtroopers all have many differences. I will also make assumptions based on your purported knowledge of the popular FX kit, but only for technical reference. MyTE kit came completely untrimmed except for the helmet, which was already assembled. I believe this to be because TE is somewhat known for the quality of his helmets, and as such, prefers to assemble them himself so they're correct. Everything is made of Styrene HIPS - a much lighter plastic than ABS, but lends it self to being easier to form details into, hence the quality and detail of the helmet. Because of the stark plain white appearance of the styrene plastic, I had to paint it to achieve the desired gloss white look. TE suggested using Rustoleum Gloss White. While not a 'plastic bonding' paint, it's finish is superb. I did test paintings with both the Rustoleum and a plastic bonding paint, and can attest that the Rustoleom finish was far more suburb. If you take this route, I would suggest using the Professional Rustoleum Gloss White in the taller, silver can. SKU# 7592, as opposed to more commonly found SKU# 7792. For reasons unknown to me - SKU# 7592 dries substantially faster!
Most painstakingly of all is the trimming and sanding. While rather straight forward with a Dremel, Sandpaper and a large utility knife (aka carpet cutter), it took me roughly three weeks working every other day to get every thing finished. When cutting, it's a good idea to have as many up close reference pictures as possible to compare with. The last thing you want to do is cut off more plastic than you actually needed. For almost all the curved cuts, I used a Dremel cutting wheel, then followed up with the sanding wheel, then sandpaper for final finish. For more long, straight cuts like trimming the belt, I used the utility knife blade with a metal ruler to cut straight score lines, which could then be snapped off, creating very straight, clean cuts. Armor Construction. While I highly suggest building a FX Stormtrooper kit first, it's not required if you're patient enough. I, on the other hand am impatient, but seasoned enough to not make too many mistakes. It often takes me a few tries to get it right. With that said, I took my time assembling this kit to both look and feel good, as well as being as screen accurate as possible. To start, I incorrectly overlapped the leg armor pieces, but if cut correctly, you can see where the edges were designed to meet up flush. I used this cut and glued them together accordingly. There are additional strips of plastic that you're instructed to glue to the front seams of all four armor pieces. I later learned that you do NOT overlap any of the pieces - arms or legs, and that they are held togther with a plastic strip on top of the seam. While I didn't do this (learned too late), my end result was still very good, however, I think I'd look better if I cut the calf strips down to 3/4 an inch. At any rate, because the strips are perfectly straight and of uniform thickness, the finished look is excellent. If you're of thin build like me (6', 155lbs.) The shin/calf armor will wrap around your leg just fine. While test fitting, I noticed that because I had yet to apply any Velcro, etc. to secure the backs, that they swung open just like in ANH - for reference, watch the first scene during the Tantive IV breech. As the Stormtroopers are running down the hall, you'll see the backs of their calfs opening up. I wanted to duplicate this look but still be fairly practical. As such, I attached only a small bit of industrial Velcro at the tops of the back of the calfs and left the rest to open naturally, duplicating the films exacting look. This also prevented them from turning around my leg as I walked. Both knee armor pieces should be riveted in place with one rivet on each side. The right knee cap - the one with the boxes - should have it's back edges rounded off and not left square like it comes. With regards to the breast plate and shoulder straps, according to screen shots, it looks as if the front straps were permanently attached while the backs are held down with rubber bands! It was later learned that there is another strap underneath the visable one, that holds everything together and was adjustable. Also, if both the front and backs were permanently attached, you couldn't fit your head in! Trust me, I learned the hard way when test fitting with masking tape. Another common mistake that FX kit owners make, is thinking that the black buttons on the ab are all black. They're not! They're actually grey and blue - the same gray and blue colors used on the helmet! Conveniently, if you desire to be a Sandtrooper, these extra button boxes are included separately. As-is, the ab plate is perfect for Sandtrooper conversion which does not have the center buttons.
Utility Belt Even with my FX, I wanted to create a much more accurate belt as seen in ANH. Remember when Han and Luke wore the belts after exiting the trash compactor? They seemed rather pliable didn't they? Not made of large ABS Plastic strips like the FX kit would have you to believe. To duplicate this look, I first looked into using a white elastic material but could not find one of appropriate width, which is 3.5 inches. So, I approached a local custom leather shop and had a long strip cut. Unfortunatly, the leather shop cut my belt 3.75" in width - not 3.5". Why is this a problem? Because the edges of the plastic part are supposed to be cut to tapper down towards the leather belt. Since my leather strip now equaled the exact width of the plastic part, making these cuts was kind of pointless. I then applied numerous layers of white leather dye, then a final few coats of flat white enamel spray paint, then a final leather lacquer seal. I then applied industrial Velcro as the attaching agent. Lastly, hung the drop boxes as you normally would even on a FX kit. Another interesting thing to note, are the three dimples that ornate the belt - one in the middle, one on each side. These had to be cut and glued in place, while the two on each side were designed to cover either the snap or rivet, whichever you choose to attach your belt. On the TE suit, I used screws with a nut on the inside body to secure it. UPDATE: I have since removed the leather belt and replaced it with correct canvas. See the belt on my TE Sandtrooper for reference. Thermal Detonator The Thermal Detonator should be a total of seven and half inches long. Included in the kit is only the two end caps and top-plate. You'll need to purchase a piece of drain pipe, PVC, whatever, in the 2 inch width. While most builders of FX kits usually attach this to their belt using velcro, or permanently screw it on, the screen-used version was simply clipped on. To make my armor as screen accurate as possible, I duplicated this attachment method. While not entirely practical, some sacrifices have to be made. The clips are simple bankers money clips found in your local Staples or Office Depot type store. They are easily bendable, after which I attached them to the PVC using Gorilla Glue - a super strong glue that bonds things like metal to plastic. The original clips were secured using rivets, which I'll do later both for extra strength and accuracy. (Thanks J.B. for the tip!)
My original TE ANH Helmet (smooth cap) While the helmet came already assembled, there still remained much left to finish it. First task was to paint it gloss white. Next was to hand paint all the details. While decals would've been preferred, the original ANH helmets were hand painted. (as a side note, ESB and ROTJ helmets had decals!) If you need to purchase decals or the blue stripes for any of the Stortrooper helmets, click here. Because this is a 'Stunt' helmet, flat green lenses were required. I was able to cut my own from a plastic green welders mask. For the helmet liner, I installed a liner like in hard hats for it's durability, adjust ability, and secure comfort. However, finding a liner with appropriate clips (like the one provided with the FX kit) is very difficult to come by. No problem. For $7.00, you can purchase a generic hard hat and with a Dremel, make quick work of it. As shown below, cut out the clips the liner 'locks' into. Sand them down nice and clean, test fit in the helmet using masking tape. Insert the liner and see how it fits. Make sure your nose is not up against the face plate and that you can see well. Once you got that, remove the liner, mark off the positions of the clips and use a combination of Devcon Plastic Welder two-part epoxy and hot glue to secure them to the inner walls of the helmet. I doubled up the epoxy and hot glue for extra strength. Lastly, I needed to acquire a pair of accurate aerators. They are commonly referred to as 'Hovi Mix'... why, I have no idea. Regardless, you can purchase a pair from this fine artisan in the UK, for $25. As of April 2007, I've trooped with this helmet no less than twenty times or more, including trips to Las Vegas and Indiana for C3. I used a charcoal stick to add scuff marks for a more realistic screen-look. Here are some new, updated pictures for 2007...
Wiring up the helmet This is how I wired up my ANH TE helmet. While it's really functional and cool, for volume, it's not the best solution, just FYI. I installed fans and a completly hidden sound system for projecting my voice. Wiring up the fans is simple enough. Consult this tutorial for wiring order. I used a black cable gathering tube from Radioshack to keep all the wires contained and hidden on each side. Getting speakers in the helmet was a bit more tricky. First, the Hovi-Mix aerators are not wide enough to accept a speaker inside them like the FX kit aerators, so the speakers would have to be mounted inside the helmet. Using a suggestion from the RPB, I figured out that the inside of spray paint caps would be ideal as speaker holders for the inside of the helmet as well as aid in keeping feedback to a minimum once stuffed with a bit of foam. The following pictures outline the entire wiring setup and install. For additional parts list, check the accessories section.
My TE2 ESB Helmet (bumpy cap) This is one of my newest helmets, a TE2 bumpy cap, acquired from the new owner of the original TE molds. I requested it as raw parts so I could assemble and paint it as I liked. Since I already had a ANH, I wanted to duplicate a more roughed-up, ESB helmet that resembled a particular screen one. Like my ANH Sandtrooper TE helmet, I started by painting it Krylon Fusion River Rock Satin, then masked off certain areas with brushable latex, then painted it white with Krylon Fusion Gloss White. Decals were used for all the traps and blue stripes, the mouth, ears and frown were hand painted. I also used charcoal to add scuff marks.
And finally, here are some finished promo shots of me in action, taken around April 2005. I've already modified many parts to be more accurate, hopefully I'll get some new pictures taken.
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RT-Mod Helmet
Before I ever got the Trooper Expert armor, Over time I became rather unhappy with the inaccurate look of the FX helmet. I didn't like the over-size look of it and it's just not accurate at all. Like usually everyone new to this hobby, I searched ebay for the RT Canadian mod Stormtrooper helmet. I got it on Ebay starting at around $150. However, these were HOT items and bidding gets furious. In the end I paid about $210 for mine. While not entirely accurate compared to a true ANH style helmet, the casual prop collector would be hard pressed to tell the difference. The kit comes unassembled, with aerators, lense material, rubber stripping and decals. Luckily, my helmet comes with the eyes not cut out, giving me the opportunity to cut the left eye slightly asymmetrical to the right eye, giving it the true ANH Stunt look. Do your research and you'll see what I'm talking about. Anyway, this helmet was much easier to put together than the FX version. Even though the kit came with rather nice custom made aerators (not faucets, like the FX kit) they were not wide enough to install speakers into. UPDATE: He now includes the accurate Hovi-Mix aerators. I used a set of fairly accurate custom made Aluminum Aerators I'd purchased on ebay, but never used. My plan was to insert the small train speakers in them and wire the helmet just like my first helmet for voice amplification. After a few days of cutting and milling, I eventually fitted them with the speakers and wired it up - works great, looks perfect! I also cut out the nose holes for ventilation and installed flat green lenses. The helmet did not come with a hard hat head-band, so I simply purchased a hard hat from Lowes that had one. Consult the photo above for cutting up the hard hat to make use of this liner. In the end, I painted on the sand and put it in service as my primary Sandtrooper helmet. Lastly, there has some talk in the RPF about the face of this helmet being a recast of the face of the TE helmet. Since I own both, I've compared them and they do appear very similar in every respect. Below are a bunch of pics how I modded mine and compared it to both my FX and TE helmets. UPDATE: I've sold this helmet off along with my FX Sandtrooper gear and back pack.
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| British Sterling/E-11 Blasters While most troopers are content with using the Kenner toy blaster, I'm more concerned with an authentic look. I mean, if you're going to spend a lot of money on armor, why ruin it with a toy gun? However, you really should get a Hasbro/Kenner blaster for some events where kids are present. Anyway, the first Blaster I purchased was a resin-cast replica model. A resin model kit comprised of 27 parts and is exact in appearance to the original. Once sanded and painted properly, it's perfect. However, because it is made of resin and held together with Super Glue, it's fragile. However, I've used it at many trooping events thus far, even had lots of kids handle it, even a few dumb-asses... and it's held up fine to my surprise! You can purchase this blaster at http://www.sterlingsmg.info/. If you're really serious, you can try and find a REAL deactivated Sterling machine gun. They are a fun project to work on but you'll also need to purchase a Hengstler 464 industrial totaling counter (this is not mandatory, it seems most E-11's were devoid of this item, as they were prone to falling off during production) This was an 'extra' item added to the movie design to make it look more 'sci-fi' and less like a plain machine gun. You'll also need to purchase a scope or scratch make one. Check out TK-560's web site, he's made some awesome scratch made E-11 Blasters and has some good tips on making your own. There is also the PVC Blaster Builder's club. They have plans and directions on building Blasters from scratch. However, I found their plans to be a little light on detail. Eventually, I broke down and bought a real deactivated Sterling for around $300. I then bought an awesome M19 scope and vent rails from Blast-Tech. I made the scope rail by hand by cutting and fitting an actual piece of steel to the top of the Sterling. However, since I'm not a welder, I had to secure it with Liquid nails, which works surprisingly well! After much sanding, priming and painting (and hacking a 32 round magazine down to roughly a 10 round one) I've got a true to screen accurate E-11 Blaster. UPDATE: I've
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Stormtrooper Fun Facts
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 During the Carbon Freezing chamber sequence, a TK with his shoulder falling off can be spotted. |
 In the scene when the Falcon is first captured, all the TKs are holding their guns with their left hand. |
 The helmet seen here in TESB, recently sold for over $30,000. |
 The TK entering the Falcon sure has a very convenient item on his belt. |
 The trooper seen here, during the Tantive raid is missing his left knee cap... but if you closely, it's actually on the wrong side. |
 Look, white gaffers tape. Also notice different color usage on the buttons - they're not all black! Click to enlarge and get correct colors. |
 The marksman trooper who shot Leia, also left his blue stripes at home. |
 Good shot of how the holster is actually attached, as well as the way the canister clips on. You can even see how the clips have marked the paint job. |
 Notice the 'swoops' on Luke's shoulder armor face forward... |
 ...while Han's face backward. It's now believed that there was only one shoulder bell, and it was duplicated for the other side. Interestingly, the Sandtroopers do not have this swoop! |
 During the Tantive raid, you can see the calfs of the trooper armor split in the back. |
 Also during the Tantive raid, you can see that Stormtroopers are just as skinny as me! It's also plausable that the chest piece was riveted to the ab plate. |
 The elusive and mysterious Space Trooper. Only seen for a few seconds when the Falcon first docks on the Death Star, but it's clear they have very unique and undocumented back packs. |
 In ROTJ, the Stormtroopers once again become left handed. They are seen left handed through most of the film, too. |
 In Both TESB and ROTJ, Stormtroopers have totally different hand plate armor, as well the bridge or frown of their nose is entirely black. |
 In ROTJ, on virtually every Stormtrooper, the ab button plate is devoid of painted buttons or upside down, compared to the first two films. |
 Hey look, more gaffer's tape! |
 In this scene in ESB, you can see Han almost ripping off the TK's helmet on the right. |
 During another scene in ESB, this TK gives up his weapon, and also needs to do the famous "Picard maneuver". |