Pandatrooper's SC Biker Scout build

[vikingtrooper]

sc armor comes in 3 days wohooo

[vikingtrooper]

armor came today so build in progr. Do what i can make it awesome.

[Pandatrooper]

Sorry for the lack of replies, been busy with work and my wife and I are expecting a baby in a month or so.

 

I finished the riding patch (not sewn yet, and making a tutorial) and the butt flap. For the butt flap, I realized my flight suit had belt loops. So I used snaps on the top of the flap and snapped it to an elastic belt, threading it through the belt loops. Makes the butt flap removable for easier suit washing, etc.

 

I simply measured out a rectangular shape, the width of my hips the length just under the butt cheeks if it was to "hang". I left extra material to sew a folded edge for a cleaner look. It's not shown, but I also sewed in a thin layer of black vinyl naughahide (fake leather) to thicken the suede slightly (cheaper than using 2 layers of suede!)

 

Finished butt flap.

 

Riding patch coming soon!

[Southscout]

Oh, how we have been waiting on new updates from you Terry

 

Good luck, and good luck with the baby! Good thing, you'll have plenty of early mornings so you can do more

[Pandatrooper]

Oh, how we have been waiting on new updates from you Terry

 

Good luck, and good luck with the baby! Good thing, you'll have plenty of early mornings so you can do more

 

Thanks Patrik. The build is going slower than I wanted too, but lots of baby things to prep for! I've decided not to try and go for Lancer with my SC helmet, there's just too many modifications required and I'd rather wait for a Lonewolf helmet or the like to become available and spend the time on that.

 

I just need to finish my pouches and boots and sew the riding patch on, and my basic scout will be complete. Lancer will have to wait til later.

[ShaunPug]

Are there any helmets that are Lancer qualified "out of the box?" This is the one remaining piece that I need in order to have all my pieces for the Scout, but I'm not sure which one to go for. So far, I'm preferring the look of an MLCv3. Of course, if a Lonewolf became available I'd be all over that.

[vikingtrooper]

yes lonewolf helmet so awesome nice and fits my head good think 1:1 scale

[Pandatrooper]

It's been a long time, but finally - updates! My baby daughter (8 weeks old) has been taking up most of my time, so I only have a little time between feedings, diapers and baths. Good times!

 

Boots were started about 8 months ago! I already heated the vinyl and formed it to the toe shape.

 

I replaced the round profile hard laces with soft flat laces for a lower profile, and used a barrel lock for the ends, cut them shorter.

 

I made this cool little tool to test out that wraps around the toe of the booth and keeps the vinyl tight. It's just a curved section of ABS plastic with a curve I cut into it, holes drilled in the ends and elastic cord / barrel lock to tighten it.

 

You can see how it keeps the vinyl tight to the sole of the boot

 

Sanded the lower portion of the boot before applying E6000. I also drew pencil lines to indicate where the vinyl lined up when fully heated.

 

Pre-gluing

 

E6000 applied with a paint stick

 

Both sides applied, let it tack up a couple mins.

 

Initial pull down to line the vinyl up to the original placement with the pins. I smoothed out the vinyl to make sure there was full glue to glue contact.

 

I then wrapped the little tension tool around the toe of the boot, and tightened the elastic cord. This cinches the vinyl right around the whole front half of the boot.

 

Pin it down!

 

While the glue dried overnight, I cut out my calf sections

 

I've sewn the top edge and added the velcro to the sides

 

I added this small detail, this fabric tab which is thin 3/4" cotton webbing for a pull tab. As seen on the MOM boots.

 

Original boots from the MOM exhibit. I have seen the pull tabs in a couple of pics, so I thought I would add them.

 

The next day, the glue is dry and check out the tight seam! Brought the vinyl nice and tight to the sole.

 

Finished toes, still needs the 1/2" strip

 

I glued the calf sections in place, also using E6000. I'm not going to use rivets (don't need them digging into my feet) so I just used some rare earth magnets and some tape to hold the vinyl in place while the glue cures.

 

Will cut out the dog bones tomorrow!

*A note re: lancer spec - I'm going to cut the slots in my soles at a later date.

[boetscher]

Yeah Terry is back!

Great work as always!!!!

[Southscout]

Hooray!

 

And big congratulations on your daughter! So what will be her first costume?

[bjsavage7]

Wow, that stretching thing for the boots is ingenious. I'll have to remember that for when I make some new boots.

[Pandatrooper]

Hooray!

 

And big congratulations on your daughter! So what will be her first costume?

 

Thanks Patrik! I made this for my daughter Emma for her first May the Fourth a couple weeks ago.

 

Here, she is contemplating the Force... or the time of her next feeding.

[Southscout]

I think I just got an overload of cuteness..

[Pandatrooper]

OK, one more pic and it's back on topic to building armor.

 

Pre- robe Yoda

[Griffin-X]

Cute...!

[Heavy]

She´s just so sweet... Congratz, you did a great job there trooper and the mum too

[StudioCreations]

Congrats on your new bouncing baby girl! We expect great things from her.

[Pandatrooper]

Thanks all, she's a handful already.

 

Back on topic - finishing the boots!

 

In the previous pics, I had started to glue down the calf section, but a few hours after I glued them, I decided I didn't like how they looked, so I removed the calves and sewed all new calves with a slightly narrower ankle area, and more taper to them. I have realized that with the hiking boots with the padded ankle, it's harder to get the tight ankle look like the screen used boots since the Sierra's had a fabric upper with no ankle padding. I figure these boots will do for now, and I will upgrade the soles for Lancer, but in the future I may make another pair using more accurate base boots.

 

Here, I have glued the uppers on but I didn't like the gaps at the bottom

 

So I applied some more E6000 under the loose edge and clamped a few small paintbrushes to push in the vinyl tight to the boot sole edge

 

Upper glued on (the torn up area around the instep is from me removing the first pass at the calves. This will be covered by the dog bones.)

 

Sewn the details on the dog bones. I probably resized the dog bones 5 times going smaller each time until i got them to what I wanted.

 

Test fit. I think I still trimmed the dog bones by a 1mm smaller after this pic.

 

1/2" toe trim glued in place. Better photo of the completed calves

 

Finished boot pics to come, but I moved onto the holster for now.

[Pandatrooper]

For the holster, I trimmed it down to match the screen used look, added more rounded corners and marked the locations for the rivets.

 

 

 

This is how the holster comes from SC. I'm a fairly slim build, so I heated the holster body and curved it more to conform to my leg better, and to avoid the weird "sticky outty" shape when it's rivetted to the boot calf.

 

After heating

 

One of the tricks I wanted to do was to secure the hold out blaster with rare earth magnets. Here, I made a new trigger guard from 1/8" thick x 3/4" wide flat steel. I simply traced the dimensions from my original trigger guard, put the metal into a vice and bent it to shape.

 

I drilled counter sunk holes and tapped the blaster for the small countersunk allen bolts. Note they aren't fully tightened in this pic. And of course, the trigger guard will be painted black.

 

I used a 1/8" thick piece of ABS and rivetted 2 steel magnet cups to the strip, using 1/8" rivets on the inside. The steel cups amplify the strength of the rare earth magnets.

 

 

I made a shim from more ABS that surround the magnets but leaves enough room for them to stick out of the surface of the holster slightly.

 

 

Here's the matching hole inside the holster

 

Test fit the magnet housing inside the holster

 

Good fit, the magnets just stick out slightly.

 

Test fit.

 

The magnet housing will be glued in place with Plastic Weld and riveted to the holster.

 

I trimmed out the outer shell of the holster to make room for the magnet housing (I could have glued it on top, but the SC holster parts do not lie flush, and I didn't want to bother reshaping it.)

 

Test fit (not tight) of the outer shell and holes were drilled for the magnet housing

 

You can see the tabs where the outer shell will be glued down

 

The magnet housing is glued and riveted down, and the outer shell is glued in place with E6000 after sanding the surfaces. I used rare earth magnets to hold and clamp the outer shell in place. Old TK armor building trick.

 

I'll post a picture or video once everything is done, but the blaster is incredibly secure in the holster. I can flip the boot upside down with the blaster inside, and shake the boot pretty hard and the blaster will not fall out. All you need to do is grab the holster and twist slightly, and the magnets will release the blaster.

 

I will also be doing some special strapping / rigging inside the holster to secure it to my calf.

[Pandatrooper]

While the holster was curing, I drilled a hole into the side of the blaster, counter sunk it, and tapped it for an allen bolt to hold the 2 halves together. Not totally required but I want the blaster sturdy, plus you don't really see the bolt once the scope is on.

 

I added electronics from a Hasbro Boba Fett blaster inside the hold out blaster.

 

 

I upgraded the scope to a cast from a real Singlepoint scope from Smitty - awesome detail! You can even read the words "Single point" cast intot he plastic. I drilled and tapped holes to secure the scope to the back plate.

 

I drilled holes into the ends of the scope and used a unibit to enlarge them, to reduce some of the weight of the blaster. I might cover it with a reticule or something later.

 

Completed pics of the blaster and holster to come, once the paint and glue cures.

[Pandatrooper]

Holster has cured. Here's the magnet housing inside the holster

 

And the open side.

 

I found that the magnets were actually too strong, making it slightly hard to remove the blaster. So I simply laid down a small strip of white sign vinyl over the magnets. This is actually good in that it just softens the contact of the trigger guard to the magnets, and it prevents the trigger guard from being scratched up.

 

Painted the trigger guard and countersunk bolts with black paint, and gave them a matte finish.

 

I've also finished attaching the holster to the boot calf. I curved some pieces of ABS and riveted them inside the calf vinyl, but I also sandwiched in some 1.5" elastic that I sewed velcro on. This will brace the holster against my leg, and makes removing the hold out blaster super easy and is less wear and tear on the vinyl. *Note, I ran out of black thread and subbed in tan, that's why the stitching looks so gnarly.

 

I also added some foam padding to space out the holster from my leg, to somewhat center my leg in the boot and not make it look offset.

 

Hold out blaster is now super secure inside the holster. I might still trim the holster and pad the inside slightly so the blaster doesn't wobble inside. Regardless, the blaster does not fall out.

 

 

 

Boots are more or less complete. I just need to cut the soles, and paint the edge sole solid tan, and weather them.

[Griffin-X]

Nice work on the holster Terry.

[Pandatrooper]

Thanks Jim. last few things are the pouches and some small tweaks to the helmet.

[stormsurge]

This is brilliant Terry, I'm really enjoying your build, some really great ideas in there!

[Pandatrooper]

Thanks Conor, glad you like it. I just finished the pouches, will post pics shortly.