Lancer Build Tutorial

[Strider]

I was asked recently if I could provide a tutorial which could serve as guideline for Lancer builds reflecting the latest updates to the standards. Of course I can I'm planning to cover the hard- as well as the soft parts in the build plus tools used and tipps and tricks I've learned on my personal journey.

First things first, the armor kit. The following pictures show the trim lines of the armor:

 

This is the Dremel tool which I'm using to cut the slits:

 

Strapping kit needed for the build:

UPDATE for Point 11: The elastics for the upper arm armor are 50mm / 2inches.

[chillywill22]

Thank you for doing this. Its going to help out a lot of people including myself on becoming lancer if they want to. I will deff be watching this thread so I can see what all I need to do on this :)

[Aliaz]

Great initiative. I'll be watching this thread, just waiting on my armor to arrive.

[Dmorja]

Looking forward to this.

[Chopper]

My SC armor is due to arrive any day now. This thread is most timely, so thank you!

[Strider]

1. Making the Cummerbund

 

The first thing was sourcing the right materials. I've tried out a variety of webbing and fleece materials and found the ones below most suitable (the actual fabric/type is unknown):

 

- 100% white cotton with a mercerized satin finsh ("polished cotton"). The weight is about 350g per meter or 115g per m2

- Volume fleece 200g/m (I used it for both although I think the cod piece had actual more "volume" than the CB)

- White foam rubber for the lower section of the cod piece

- 2 inch black elastic

- 2 inch white velcro (male/female)

 

To achieve screen accuracy I did the CB and the cod piece seperately (since it took me about 5 iterations of the cod piece to get it right it also saved me quite a bit of work 😉

 

As this is something that has to be fitted individually there's really no use in creating a template. To get the measurements you basically measure your chest width and your waist and then add some lenght for the seam overlap. The original CB's had a width of about 8.5-9 inches and go from the top of your belt to the middle of the chest/back strap. However, since different armorers make different size chest pieces I would advise tailoring this to your individual measurements.

 

Reference pics:

 

 

 

I've scaled up a picture of the cod piece from the Star Wars costumes book as a rough guide for a template (including seam overlap). Altough in the picture you can see the black 2 inch elastic is attached to the front of the CB I've decided to attach it to the back as it is not seen in the film. However, presumably the cod piece attatches to the vest so that would be another option.

 

Completed CB an cod piece; there are 6 seam lines (or 5 chambers on the CB spaced out by an inch each):

 

 

 

And here's how it looks on the mannequin:

 

Here is a template that may serve as a rough guidline for the dimensions (lower part) of the cod piece. Please note that this would need to be printed in DIN A3 or divided into some A4 sheets:

https://bit.ly/2HdgaCq

[Strider]

2. Making the pouches

 

First off, I have to apologize if some of my descriptions below are a bit dodgy but explaining sewing wasn't really what I majored in, lol.

 

Well, here we go: First fold the cotton fabric and use the templates (found on the bottom) to draw the cutting lines:

 

After the templates have been cut out you should first sew on the velcro for the closure. Then the flap is sewed together and ironed afterwards. Remember that the outside of the flap are facing each other when they are sewed together.

 

Next thing to be sewn are the hangers of the pouch (which will be sewn or velcroed to the cummerbund later on). Again the outsides are facing each other when sewn together and the top end is left open.

 

 

The markings on the picture above show where the flap and the hanger are attached (by pins) and sewed. It’s approximately 5,6cm from the front sewing edge and 2cm from the upper edge.

 

Please note that the flaps on the two pouches are inverted towards each other (see picture below).

 

Subsequently the hangers are attatched (with the closed side) to the pouch and sewed to the back side of it. The back of the closing flap should overlap with the hanger by about 2 - 2,3cm.

 

Last but not least the templates. The dimensions were modelled of from Gino's scout on the SWOC (which in turn were derived from the original templates). However, depending on your height and your armor you might want to adjust these measures.

 

Link to Pouch template: https://bit.ly/2KQSl4t

[Aliaz]

Nice. Do you fill the pouches with something to get a better shape?

[Strider]

Nice. Do you fill the pouches with something to get a better shape?

 

I used styrofoam to make the boxes inside which I can still use to store stuff. You can really use any material, the importat thing is not to fill them out too much otherwise the pouches become too edgy.

[Aliaz]

 

I used styrofoam to make the boxes inside which I can still use to store stuff. You can really use any material, the importat thing is not to fill them out too much otherwise the pouches become too edgy.

Good tip. It was storage I was thinking of, IF you have the pouches why not use them?

[Chopper]

Does anyone try and add a bit of weight to the pouch packing material? Would that help them hang better?

[Strider]

Does anyone try and add a bit of weight to the pouch packing material? Would that help them hang better?

 

Well, when trooping I usually have my mobile, trading cards and some other stuff in the pouches but that doesn't really make a difference to the shape because I've used heavy canvas. If you're going for the "hanging look" like in the SW costumes book I'd go for a lighter or smoother fabric for the pouches.

[Strider]

The chest and back armor is probably the part that needs the most attention of a scout build so let's start here

 

First off, you should put the armor on and make sure it sits correctly, i.e. cutting off any excess of the bridge that connects the back and front armor:

 

To connect the bridges my personal choice is the self-adhesive Tesa extra strong. First I glue in the zip tie anchor (doesn't really matter if you glue it on the chest or back part) and then I attach the hook velcro. After that I cut the hook part in shape (see pictures) and stick 2 pieces to each other so that the hooks are on both sides. Then I connect the chest and back armor.

 

After that I glue in another zip tie anchor in the shoulder bell and pull a (detachable) zip tie through both anchors so that they form a loop. The advantage of using a detachable zip tie is that you can more easily adjust the distance to the armor later on.

 

A bit lower in the shoulder bell I've just used a heat gun to form a piece of scrap plastic in the appropriate shape, glued it in and attached a loop strap of 1/2 inch elastic (actually you have to put that in before you glue it ;-). Make sure before that the elastic strap has the correct lenght to hold your shoulder bell in place so it should be neither too tight nor too loose (casual 😉

 

The shoulder bridge straps don't form a loop but have the loop part of the velco sewn to each side so that I can just stretch them around (the shoulder bridge material is elastic).

 

Comparison to screenshot:

 

The top of the tank is attached by a 1/2 inch elastic strap that is riveted from the inside of the tank and using a washer on the top of the tank top greeblie. The elastic goes around and inside the armor and is attached to the inside with velcro e.g.

 

 

Here is a quick comparison of the tank topper with the one from the screen used scout in the MoM exhibition:

On the bottom of the tank I've just used a screw and a nut to fix the tank from below and give it more stability. This is a personal choice. If you want to go all the way and do it prop accurate you can pull the elastic underneath the back armor and rivet it to the tank (where the scre is instead).

 

As you may have noticed the black stripe and rank bars are a bit different to the other scouts. I've tried to emulate the "Hero" scout here who (almost) captured Leia:

 

Last but not least the strapping that connects the back and chest armor. It's a 38 (1,5 inch) cotton webbing:

 

Magic of Myths exhibition reference:

 

[Strider]

The next parts are the upper and lower arm armor and the knee guards. I guess the pictures speak pretty much for themselves but if you have any questions just let me know

 

Elastic sizes:

Knee guards: 20mm-25mm (1 inch) lower strap, 12mm (1/2 inch) upper strap which is riveted to the knee.

Upper arm armor: 50mm (2 inch). This will be updated in the Lancer specs soon.

Lower arm armor: 25mm (1 inch)

 

 

[Strider]

Since I was re-doing my pouches anyway based on the new measurements Mickey (Bikerscout007) got from Gino's scout at the SWCO exhibition I thought I quickly show the process of dying them. No big magic to it just a couple of guidelines/ rules of thumb:

 

- You can basically use any kind of black tea for it

- The degree and speed of dying them depends on three variables: Amount of tea bags (I use quite a bit more as I would if I made a regular tea), water heat (not above 90 degree celsius, 194 Fahrenheit), the time you leave them in the dying pot (usually something between 5-30minutes)

- The larger the pot the better as you want to avoid tea stains. Also regular stirring helps.

- Less is more. If you look at the references (below) the color difference is very subtle.

 

Btw, if you want to give it a try yourself here's a link to the template I made >>> https://bit.ly/2KQSl4t

 

 

Reference shot from SW blu ray:

[ShaunPug]

LESS IS MORE! Remember that people!

I think I died my new pouches for about 2 minutes to get the right color with 5 tea bags.

 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

 

[kayelbe]

Since I was re-doing my pouches anyway based on the new measurements Mickey (Bikerscout007) got from Gino's scout at the SWCO exhibition I thought I quickly show the process of dying them. No big magic to it just a couple of guidelines/ rules of thumb:

 

- You can basically use any kind of black tea for it

- The degree and speed of dying them depends on three variables: Amount of tea bags (I use quite a bit more as I would if I made a regular tea), water heat (not above 90 degree celsius, 194 Fahrenheit), the time you leave them in the dying pot (usually something between 5-30minutes)

- The larger the pot the better as you want to avoid tea stains. Also regular stirring helps.

- Less is more. If you look at the references (below) the color difference is very subtle.

 

Btw, if you want to give it a try yourself here's a link to the template I made >>> http://docdro.id/BqgX7R6

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, is this a Lancer example? I thought the pouches couldn't have the velcro stitching showing?

[Dragon_a]

I really like that way of strapping the back and chest armour using one piece. Much easier to get on and off yourself than the 'standard' two short pieces that velcro under the armour. Think I'll be changing mine soon.

So is this and using the elastic to attach the 'hump' a lancer requirement?

[Stroker]

Loving this! I'm waiting Strider.....

[BikerScout007]

So, is this a Lancer example? I thought the pouches couldn't have the velcro stitching showing?

 

We've gone back and forth on the pouch velcro stitching. It has to be LIGHT. If you can see if from a distance, it's too much. It should be barely visible.

[Strider]

On 5/3/2017 at 2:05 AM, kayelbe said:

So, is this a Lancer example? I thought the pouches couldn't have the velcro stitching showing?

 

Yes. I've shown some reference pics below which clearly show the stitching. Regarding a "light" stitiching, you can either stitch it or not, in my experience it's hard to do a LIGHT stitiching 😉 What Mickey is probably referring to is that the color of the thread has to match the color of the pouch in order to blend in with it.

 

 

On 5/3/2017 at 2:36 AM, Dragon_a said:

I really like that way of strapping the back and chest armour using one piece. Much easier to get on and off yourself than the 'standard' two short pieces that velcro under the armour. Think I'll be changing mine soon.

So is this and using the elastic to attach the 'hump' a lancer requirement?

 

Thanks, bro. No, it's not yet a Lancer requirement but we are currently debating whether to make the tank strap a requirement. What I'm basically trying to do in this thread is to incorporate anything we know about the assembly method up to date into this tutorial regardless if it is a Lancer requirement yet or not. You can never go wrong with screen accuracy 😉

 

 

 

On 5/3/2017 at 2:37 AM, Stroker said:

Loving this! I'm waiting Strider.....

 

Thanks, buddy. Working on it - shouldn't be long now!

[BikerScout007]

No what I mean is there shouldn't be anything in the pouch flap that would make the stitching noticeable from a distance. Sometime people put batting inside the flap and then the stitches are very obvious from a distance

 

Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk

 

 

[Strider]

No what I mean is there shouldn't be anything in the pouch flap that would make the stitching noticeable from a distance. Sometime people put batting inside the flap and then the stitches are very obvious from a distance

 

Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk

 

Agreed - thanks for clarifying!

[bikerscout73]

Why do they have the word optional in the lancer standards.....it shouldn't be optional. That's the only thing holding me back from going lancer.......because I feel there are to many lancers that shouldn't be. Strider your scout is tight same with Gino. Those two suits is what we should be going by......to many people are slipping though the cracks. I'm very passionate about the scout trooper. And it makes me sad and angry when people don't take pride in there armor. Keep up the great work Strider

[Stroker]

I look at it like this as far as armour. We're limited to accurate armour. Very limited to biker scout armour period. Lancer is a rock and a hard place. I have different views on different armour. I think when a trooper gets a costume to the absolute best that it can be yes that's lancer. There's many of factors that play into the scout. TKs have it made in the way of armour. As for myself I've never felt comfortable going Lancer in any of my armour. However I'm waiting on a set as of now I feel that's good enough for lancer.