Cover Strips for Armour

One of the defining details for any ANH trooper armour build is the use of the cover strips on the arms and legs.

The use of these is down to the way the original armour was designed, sculpted and made; and is still the way any fan made armour is produced - having 2 parts to the armour parts made seperately and glued together.

One way to overcome the unsightly seem left by the way the armour was assembled was to add a cover strip over the top and bingo - straight away the seem is gone. It also adds a certain depth and look to the armour.

So the correct method for arm and leg assembly is to have the two halfs of the armour butt together flush - and then glue the strip on top.

So onto the size of the cover strip needed. The industry standard for the shins if you are trying to get your armour as close to the screen used examples is a strip 23mm wide at the front, to match the thighs; but most top builders use a wider strip at the back, which is normally 25mm or an inch wide. This is because the shins are the only part of the armour that open up to allow the wearer to slip them on and need just a little more covereage as the shins have a tendancy to open up a little when walking. This info is from troopermaster after looking at real screen used suit in person, so thanks to him for sharing. Its not known if all the suits were the same, but its highly likely.

Now the size of 23mm is applied to the shins at the front.

And the size of 25mm is applied to the back.

Replica armour before strips

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Replica armour with 20mm strip on front

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Replica armour with inch strip on back

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LFL reference pic

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