Other Modifications
There are a few other modifications I have made to my armor for convenience and comfort.
First off, there was a lot of trimming to be done. I am 5'9", and the standard issue Stormtrooper suit is sized to fit someone up to 6'4". I found when I put the armor on, a lot of the black snaps on the ab piece were covered by the chest piece. So I cut about and inch and a half off of the bottom of the chest piece. I also cut about an inch off the top of the ab and lower back pieces, to give me more breathing room. Whew!
I also cut at least an inch off the top of each thigh piece. Before doing this, the thighs were so tall that I couldn't lift my foot over a step without stabbing my groin. I also trimmed some material out of the width of each thigh piece, but have since regretted doing so. Since buying my armor I have gained enough weight that the trimmed down thigh pieces would no longer fit me. So recently I have cut them open and installed shims in the back.
Another thing that a lot of troopers do is to seperate the cod piece from the ab piece. The reason for this is flexibility, as it allows you to bend over and walk more comfortably. It also makes using the restroom (for male troopers) a bit easier. To seperate the cod piece, I simply used an x-acto knife to cut along the line at the bottom of the ab piece. Then I reattached the cod piece using some elastic straps hot glued in the middle, and some velcro straps on the outside. This keeps the cod piece from flopping around, but still provides some flexibility. And by undoing the velcro I can flip the whole piece up.
I cut a little bit of material from the inside of each forearm piece, to keep them from pinching the inside of my elbow. Then I hot glued in some small pads to hold the forearms firmly in place.
The hand plates came with one velcro strap for each, which allowed them to move around a lot. So I replaced them with two elastic straps on each, hot glued to the inside. These simply slip over the hand and stay firmly in place.
For my black bodysuit, I use cycling tights on the bottom, and a custom made top. The top was made using a cycling jersey pattern from the fabric store, and then I just added a few special features for trooping like a taller neck, and thumb loops at the end of each arm to keep my sleeves from bunching under my armor. For gloves, I ordered some Hatch-Nomex Flight Gloves online, from the One Stop Knife Shop. These have leather palms and fingers, with a cloth back. They are long enough to extend well under the forearm armor pieces, and look incredible. Many troopers use these gloves.
Another thing any well prepared trooper should have is some no-fog solution. More than anything else (even fans), this works to prevent your lenses from fogging. A trooper who can't see, can't shoot. I use "Perfect View Anti-Fog Drops" made by TYR. This is available at many sporting goods stores.
