I use the XtremeGadget voice amp to create the Stormtrooper amplified voice effect. through XtremeGadget.com. You can get black cotton/lycra scuba dive skins for the bodysuit for $40 at Island Scuba. Inexpensive, black chemical gloves at your local hardware store for about $5 are exactly what were used on screen. Boots can be found for $60-$80 directly at Champion Attitude Boots. Shoulder Pauldrons are available through theForce@pacbell.net.

*Updated 07/18/05*
ANH Armor
The molds of the actual, screen-used costumes as seen in "Return of the Jedi" were restored, by GF, to the original "A New Hope" look. For the latest ANH (screen-accurate) armor and helmet info click here.
The TE helmet is cast from molds of an original ANH stunt helmet. Here's a comparison photo of both kits.

After vacuforming, before trimming:

Before weathering:

After weathering:

ANH Armor Assembly Tips
One thing that helped in trimming was getting a pair of Tinner Snips from Home Depot to trim the big pieces. I used a sharp utility knife for the smaller pieces. When using the knife, lightly score the plastic, bend and snap.

I assembled it, then lightly rubbed it with steel wool and painted it with Krylon gloss white.

When gluing, get some clamps as well.

Also, buy one of those lifesize cardboard Stormtrooper Standups on ebay. Brak's Buddy's got some great photos and info on making a clamshell of the abplate/rearplate as they did in the movie suits. They used rivets on your left side, but on the right, they just let the belt hold it together.

On the shins, my legs are skinny enough that I ABS-glued them at the top and left it unglued the rest of the way down. That way they kind of clam-open a little to allow my heel to fit in, they they spring closed once they're on. I believe that's how they were done in ANH (See the opening seen and look at the troopers calves from the back)

On the shoulders, I added a strip of black strap material with velcro as a bridge between the shoulder bell and the shoulder straps.

For the belt, get some thick leather and trim it to the height of the ammo belt, then paint it white. I got a 3" piece of 1/8" thick belt leather from Tandy Leather, sealed it with 3 coats of Kilz2 sealer (white hardware store primer paint), then spray painted it flat white. Rivet or Snap it to the abplate. Then rivet it to the ammo belt so everything stays put.

And yes, I know the knee plate is too high, I've since repositioned it. I've also redone the weathering so it's not so harsh. Love that removeable craft paint!

When suiting up, I put it on in this order:

• 1. thighs
• 2. shins
• 3. boots (that's tricky, I have to tuck in the boots)
• 4. abplate/cod piece/belt/rear (all connected)
• 5. chest/back/shoulders (connected)
• 6. biceps
• 7. gloves
• 8. forearms
• 9. handplates
• 10. helmet

To Wear:
In ANH, the ammo pouch was attached to the backpack strap. This explains why no Sandtrooper without a backpack ever wore a shoulder pouch.

Cut off the loops on the back as close to the pouch as you can. Superglue the ends together and screw or rivet it to the back of back of the ammo pouch. Then rivet the other end to the top of your backpack strap.

To Dye:
The only prep I did to the leather was wipe it clean if it was dusty. Just paint on the leather dye, it dries fairly quickly. After it dries, hold it in the sunlight. If you see green showing through, it may need another coat.

Open the flaps and lay out flat, spread out, face down. Cover the back with dye and let dry. Then do the front, starting in the crevices between the pockets. This is done easier by bending it back to spread open the crevices. When dry, spray on the Leather Shene just like you are spray painting. The shene coat is essential, otherwise the dye rubs off easily and all over everything.

Reference Photos:

The finished product:


*Updated 10/14/06*
Mini Trooper Costume
by Andy

So you already have your own Stormtrooper costume, but your kids are stuck passing out the candy. Follow Andy's easy tutorial to make the coolest kid-sized trooper armor in the galaxy. Your child will be able to move easily, with no hard edges to pinch!

Materials
I've attached a pic of the type of foam sheets I used, and the glue. Almost all the armor was from 3mm thick (a few detail strips were 2mm) white foam sheets. The bigger 11x14 sheets are best because some pieces are large. The glue is called Omni-Stick, and works beautifully for gluing the foam. It's somewhat thick and gets tacky fast, but I still pressed the pieces together with a board and weights to get a tight, smooth attachment. I also used a bunch of velcro, and some black elastic strips to hold certain parts together with some flexibility. The whole idea with this costume is that she could wear it with comfort and flexibility, allowing her to still run around and have fun without worrying about pinching herself or wrecking her costume. (Although the shoes and white foam armor picked up dirt pretty easily, as you can see from the pics.) My idea is if the costume is uncomfortable or fragile, it's not worth wearing! :-)

Arms
I started with the arms, since they were the simplest pieces. The hardest part was making the patterns, custom fit to my daughter. I cut and taped paper until I had a good fit, and then cut that shape out of the foam sheet. The 3D stripes on the armor are just thin strips of foam glued onto the surface (with square holes cut for that forearm piece). I glued on velcro strips to make it easy to get the armor pieces on and off. The glove was just a tight-fitting knit glove we found, and I glued the armor piece onto the back. (Unfortunately the glue had soaked through the glove and was itching her hand, so I ended up putting another 2mm piece on the INSIDE. There is probably a better way to do this.) The arm pieces were snug enough to stay in place on her arms all by themselves.

Legs
The legs were similar, but a bit more complicated because I wanted to add a little secondary curve for her calves and thighs (so it didn't look like a straight tube). I did this by making the two velcro edges - on the back of the piece - slightly curved. That way when velcroed together, they make a slight bulge for her calves. (You can see the slightly rounded back contour on the pics.) The strip around the top edge of the lower leg piece has to be a bit LONGER around than the actual leg piece, because of the thickness of the armor. Also, I made sure to cut the left lower leg piece to include the kneepad shape, and added a hexagon "ring" piece on top to give it some 3D. For the right knee I just made a separate strip and glued it on at the two ends only, leaving it a little loose in the center for flexibility. Note the elastic strips that go up from the thighs to the belt's side flaps. The thigh pieces had to be somewhat loose for flexibility, and would fall down if not for that elastic.

Torso
This is not as complicated as I first thought - basically the front and back torso pieces are flat and kind of featurless. The tricky part, again, was making a pattern to fit her and fit the angle of her shoulders. Many sheets of paper died to give me this information. Note the front has a top and bottom piece, purely for looks, not for shape. On the back I just added some simple shapes for the "0 1 1" design. On the shoulder straps, I just used 2mm strips with many little tiny strips glued onto them. I used elastic around the waist for flexibility, and the little white tab on the elastic was just for looks. Believe it or not, the hardest part of the whole costume was the shoulder piece - it has a very pronounced double curve to make that bowl shape. Note the shape of the pattern I used. The seam was fortunately covered up by the 3D strip on the outside, but holding the seam together while the glue dried was very tough. I suggest finding some sort of bowl that you can tape the foam onto tightly while the glue dries. Note also the elastic band around the bottom of the shoulder piece, to hold it down to her arm. The elastic at the top to attach it to the front torso is glued a few inches down from the top edge, so that when she raises her arms there is some play there.

Waist
Again there are some interesting curve shapes with these pieces. Also, the front and back "bibs" go up extra far, so when she bends over they don't pop out form under the torso. I even added an elastic strip at the top of the front "bib" that velcros to the inside of the torso front, to help hold those two pieces together. Again, more strips glued on for the 3D shapes. For the below-the-belt front and back, I cheated and made them separate (and not go down too far) to allow her greater freedom when sitting down. That's also why the thigh pieces don't come up as far, too. Note the side view pics - they show the angles everything was glued together at, to better conform to her body. Not doing this means the "bib" will pop out or the below-the-belt pieces will stick out funny. Note the velcro under the side flaps for the thigh piece elastic strips.

Helmet
I could not find any kid-sized replica helmets, so I made my own. I started with a costume 3/4 mask, which went basically halfway around the sides. I also found a kid's Police helmet similar to the one in the picture, except with a clear riot shield and white hinge pieces on the sides (more on this below). I removed the shield and stickers, and cut off the straps and the brim. I made sure to leave a little strip of brim to fit inside the black stripe above the eyes of the mask, to help hold the two together. I also cut the top of the mask off, above that black stripe. Then I drilled some holes in the helmet and used a nail to go through the helmet hinge piece (worked great for the ear shape), the mask, and the helmet, bending it over on the inside. You can use screws for this too - I was having trouble finding a glue that held the mask to the helmet well enough (lots of strain on it) so I just did the screw/nail. The back of the police helmet was cut too high and looked funny, so I just made a "skirt" of foam sheet and glued it around the back. It didn't have the classic shape, but worked well enough for me. Then I added some padding to the inside to help hold it on her head without a strap (I don't like tight chin straps, so I doubt she does). The trick with this is to A) make sure there is just enough padding on top so her eyes line up with the eye holes, and B) put some padding on the back UNDER the curve of her head, so it tries to pull the helmet down rather than just sitting on top of her head. I also replaced the mask's eye lenses, because they were too dark for nighttime trick-or-treating, and so bulged out that they were blurry and bothered her. I cut new lenses out of the riot shield - if you DO get the helmet with the green shield, so much the better!

Shoes
I found some Faded Glory shoes that seemed perfect, except they were suede and not smooth leather, and not white. I dyed them white, and just ignored the suede. :-) I looked for white boots more like the real thing, but never found anything I liked. Plus, not having to tuck them up under the leg pieces made the leg patterns simpler.

Waistpack
I used two small saline solution bottles with the tops cut off and fit them together. I added two strips of foam and some velcro to attach it to the back of the belt. I wanted it to be able to come off so she could sit down in a car seat or chair.

Shoulder Pouch
I made her a pouch for two reasons - so she could go trick-or-treating withough a costume-killing plastic bag :-) and so that if she wanted, she could holster her blaster. It's simply a long rectangle of heavy black canvas stitched together on the sides, with enough for a flap left over on one side. The strap is just a common black web strap. I just made sure to make the pouch wide and long enough to fit her blaster in. (Which, by the way, is just a store-bought toy.)

Undersuit
Pretty simple - just heavy black tights and a black turtleneck, and black socks!

Hyper-firm blasters from Sci-Fire.com. These are not real, they're rubber! Contact John for more info.
Lewis Gun:
E-11 (Sterling):
MG-34:
Beautifully screen-accurate blasters made of lightweight Hyper-firm rubber from Sci-Fire. The tiniest detail on these is so clear you'll swear it's the real thing. I own the MG-34, the Lewis Gun and I've seen the E-11 up close in person. Exquisite and indestructable. Great for letting fan kids hold a blaster without fear of breaking it. Made exactly like Hollywood stunt guns by a well-known Hollywood prop-maker. Also available were Boba Fett's blasters and Tusken Gaffi Sticks - both of which I've seen and handled in person - they are amazing.