Chest armor LED cut-outs

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Before I massacre my chest armor, does anyone know wher I can get a template so I can position the openings correctly. What has everyone been using?

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Here are the measurements for the slots in the chest BB came up with based off the MoM suit:

Top slot is 1/8" tall
Bottom slot is 1/4" tall
Slots are 1/4" apart.
Slots are same length; 1 5/8" long

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

I need to know where to cut them in relation the the armor chest plate. How far down and to the left and so on.

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Best thing you can do is get a straight on shot of the breast plate, blow it up to life size (will fit on an 8.5X11" sheet of paper and then lay it over the top of your piece of armor and mark it that way. Your armor probably won't match up exactly to the real deal but it should be fairly close. This is how I plan to position my slots.

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Here here.....buly Art just buly!

Jimmy

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Great idea, Brak's. Thanks.

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

You also want to make sure that the opening you make matches up your led's:]

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

You might also want to cut some strips of tape to size and stick them around till you're happy with the placement. Then just trace them, remove and cut.

Good Luck!

-Sarge

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Me again,

someone wrote that the led´s are to big.
Maybe we can work something out with lightsheet/
electro-luminescent
Thats the thing what the prop builder use for lightsabers.

Robin
Fett2210
elfadil@aol.com

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Brak's Buddy wrote:Here are pics of Jbarela's metal chest plate with Shackman's chest light installed!

Jbarela

The lights look great mounted in the armour.

Can you please tell me what you used to cut out & finish the openings for them.
Did you have to insulate the lights from the metal chest plate?

Thanks
Nathan

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Thanks, Nathan...

Very tough proccess for me anyways...I first scratched my template and then started drilling out the slots with a drill bit slightly smaller than the slots opening, this was very time consuming as I only had one chance at it so I did it slow...very slow...but once I had most of the center drilled out I then stuck a flat file in there and went to work squaring it out..I have yet to open the slots both top and bottom ever so slightly...like maybey 10 or 15 more passes of the file...I did this because I was mutilating the back of the armor so that my display will sit closer to and better to the armor..dont think that made sense but if you look at my pics of the back of my armor you can see just how thick the metal is now that I have removed a good portion of it or else it would still be as thick as the rest of the armor so that when you look at the armor dead on the display would clearly look recessed behind the armor and not accurate looking. I have not actualy mounted it yet as I have a new display comming to me with the connector pins mounted on the back of the display board. But for the most part the LEDS and Character display blocks are going to sit flush against the armor...the only thing that I will put inbetween the armor and the display will be some sort of dark plastic or window tint to give it that movie effect when it is not on....

PM me if you have any more questions or if I was not clear....

JImmy

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Wow! Those look great jbarela!

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Thanks Jimmy.

Understood that perfectly, ill try the same with mine.

Thanks again
Nathan

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Can someone point me to measurements for the size/position of the slits in the chest plate and the right size LEDs to use? For now I plan on just leaving a piece of dark plexi behind the slits but eventually I'd like to try and get some real working LEDs going. I could swear I saw the dimensions posted somewhere before but I can't find it now...thanks!

Mark

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

I have Shackman's LED set and believe me, they were worth every penny of what I spent. He does do great work. A must for any costume.

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

I'm not sure if Shackman is making these anymore. However, he was more than willing to share his schematic drawings and photos of the unit with my brother and me. He was very helpful.

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Mafight, here are the dimensions for the left breast slits (as provided to me by Richie). TOP: 2" wide x 1/4" tall. BOTTOM: 2" wide x 3/8" tall. The gap between the top and the bottom slits is 3/8". These dimesions will accurately fit a set of ShackMan's lights which, by the way, Richie sells for $100.00 (no, I don't have a set, YET). Hope this helps.

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Here are pics of Jbarela's metal chest plate with Shackman's chest light installed!

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

That looks great!

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Hey I wanted to let you all know that have these displays from shack, that there is a problem with them so far that I just found out...the top row of LEDs are exactly the same leanth on the board as the characther LEDs. The problem is that the slits on the armor are not supposed to be cut out the leanths as the top LEDS but rather the same leanth as the character leds, but even more specific where the actual character on the Character LED block is located and not by the leanth of the five blocks together. some of the top LEDs flashes are unseen as they are hidden behind the armor. So that also means the top sequence is not showing correctly as per the movie.....we may need some reprogramming...looks that way to me so far. If I did not explain it well I will try again.

More to follow..

Jimmy