Velcro Connecting

Let's start out by saying Velcro is the preferred method of connecting armor together for the common man these days. Velcro has recently advanced their sticky back adhesive to a point that holds very well to the slick plastic and holds up well in summer heat. This cannot be said for the velcro that I tried when I made my first trooper suits in 1995.

After our troubles with velcro back in '95 we went to a Riveting and Buttoning system that worked extremely well, but was a little daunting for the common man to do. In this page we'll show you how to place "modern day" Velcro onto a suit and that way you are not turned away from buying one of the many fine trooper kits out on the market today.

Almost all the trooper kits out on the market today are connected together the same way. There is almost only one way to connect the suit together. Velcro and elastic connect the abdomen with the back and to hold the thighs up, elastic goes from the abdomen to the thighs. Velcro attaches the thigh, calf, forearm and bicep halves together where the plastic joins up.

The Shoulders are connected by hanging velcro off the shoulder part of the chest armor. Velcro attaches the biceps and forearm halves together just like the thighs and calfs.

For the helmet you usually use HOT GLUE to connect that together. Some people use plastic cement to connect the helmet together. IT's alittle more time consuming, but you get a stronger hold. The back thermal detonator is usually hot glued together also.

There might be some screws associated with some of the kits. These are usually easy enough to assemble together if you have the drill and drill bits to make the holes.

All in all assembling a trooper costume should take 20 hours to put together with velcro. Using the rivet button method that we go into detail with after this page can take as long as 60 hours to put together. Remember though, doing something right always takes time. I have a friend of mine that owns a trooper amor that he has put over 300 hours into. It is right near perfect too.

Anyways, that is the Velcro section of Connecting the suit together. If you want to see the HIGHLY detailed steps I've come up with to connect a suit together with metal rivets and button snaps... read on.. If not... then just run over to the Details section.