Arc Trooper Foot Armor
Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 8:50 am
So, I've now had an opportunity to do several troops in my Arc Trooper costume. I made it almost 4-1/2 hours my first night out and found a few pinch points and such that I intend to document how I corrected in another thread.
One of the items that was particularly annoying was the foot armor. After a couple hours of trooping I kept having to have the NCS adjust them so they wouldn't flop around. The kids taking photos were constantly hitting them and knocking them around. There was also the issue that they weren't exactly flexible. I had mounted them according to the recommendation from Imperial Surplus and while they never fell off, I wasn't entirely happy.
So, I did some brain storming and this is the solution I arrived at. I took a visit to Joann's and purchased some dark grey vinyl and some 1/8" foam padding from their home decor section. I then spray mounted the vinyl to the padding and used Kevin's foot armor to trace a pattern.
I used a strip of sticky-back velcro along both sides of the armor and attached it along the tops of the soles (no picture). The padding behind the vinyl gives it a nice apparent depth and yet remains flexible. I'll be doing my first field test this weekend but I'm fairly confident this will me a great solution to the problems I was having. Here are some shots of the armor on my shoes and a side by side shot with the plastic armor. Since these were taken, I've sanded the vinyl armor to take off some of the sheen.
Vinyl Armor on the left. ABS armor on the right
One of the items that was particularly annoying was the foot armor. After a couple hours of trooping I kept having to have the NCS adjust them so they wouldn't flop around. The kids taking photos were constantly hitting them and knocking them around. There was also the issue that they weren't exactly flexible. I had mounted them according to the recommendation from Imperial Surplus and while they never fell off, I wasn't entirely happy.
So, I did some brain storming and this is the solution I arrived at. I took a visit to Joann's and purchased some dark grey vinyl and some 1/8" foam padding from their home decor section. I then spray mounted the vinyl to the padding and used Kevin's foot armor to trace a pattern.
I used a strip of sticky-back velcro along both sides of the armor and attached it along the tops of the soles (no picture). The padding behind the vinyl gives it a nice apparent depth and yet remains flexible. I'll be doing my first field test this weekend but I'm fairly confident this will me a great solution to the problems I was having. Here are some shots of the armor on my shoes and a side by side shot with the plastic armor. Since these were taken, I've sanded the vinyl armor to take off some of the sheen.
Vinyl Armor on the left. ABS armor on the right
