Building a set of armor from Star Wars – whether it’s for a Stormtrooper or a clone trooper – seems like an intimidating process. The Dented Helmet forum user DW Design makes it look more friendly with his head to toe tutorial though; he’s been building armor since 2005. He goes step by step and explains trimming the armor pieces and going through the tedious process of making sure pieces that need to be seamless are. He explains:
First we are going to take all the items that need to be made seamless.
This is the forearms, biceps, thighs and calves.
When building the calves you will realize that after the initial trim they don’t line up very well.
Don’t worry, we will trim and cut them to make them look good.
I am around 6’ 1” and I like to trim about 1 1/2” off the bottom. I don‘t trim them until after the super glue, epoxy and fiberglass tape steps are finished.
Smaller trooper can trim more if they would like. Just always shorten it from the bottom.
I also leave the back spoon area in until after the seams have been finished.
It just much easier to work with when the spoon area in place.
Try to cut both the front and back as straight as possible, then do your best to make them fit together cleanly.
I will use my sanders, sandpaper and file to make this work.
With the first side done, you can uses one of the edges on the second side to mark your trim line.
Sand and clean up as needed.
Now that it all lines up, tape them together. Add super glue to the inside seam.
Once dried, now its time to add the epoxy and fiberglass tape. Pre trim your tape so it is ready to go.
Use something round to mark the areas for mixing the two part epoxy.
I like to do this on the actual pieces so that none of the epoxy is wasted. I then use a rubber glove to run the
epoxy along the inside seam. Once applied, lay the fiberglass tape down, use your finger to press the fiberglass
tape down along the inside seam. Mix another batch of epoxy and cover the top and edges of the fiberglass tape.
Also run a little epoxy along the outside seam to fill in any holes or spaces.
He provides photos and notes for every step along the way, and you can read more at The Dented Helmet.
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