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Greetings Pathfinders! Thank you once again for allowing me to continue to serve you all as Detachment Leader of the Pathfinders for the coming term. And what a fun term we have coming up! 1. The 20th Anniversary of "Revenge of the Sith" ROTS turns 20 this year, which means so does the Kashyyyk Trooper! The 2nd CRL of our Detachment, the Kashy has had a small but steady following here since 2006. We've always had between 50-60 Kashys at any given time, but with more propmakers offering Kashy parts, now is the best time to get into this CRL. And our Kashy DCA @Jakeputt, is here to help you be successful! This also means we'll be offering Kashy 20th Anniversary merch this year. We know Kashy merch is not one of our bigger sellers, so we're hoping to entice you all with some great design! And currently we are working on a CRL for the Kashy Heavy from Battlefront 2. If this interests you, feel free to chime in 2. The 25th Anniversary of the Detachment! Doesn't it feel like the 20th was just yesterday? Hard to believe but we are now in year 25 for the Pathfinders. From a Yahoo group to the mighty forum we are today, the Pathfinders have come a long way! And we'll be offering some commemorative 25th Anniversary merch this term to celebrate. 3. Celebration Japan! 18-20 April 2025 is almost here and we can't wait to see the Pathfinder group photo! I unfortunately won't be there this time around, but I will be jealously viewing all your photos. If anyone is interested in helping organize the group photo, please let me know and I will assist any way that I can. 4. New CRLs? We've already seen Scouts in the "Andor 2" trailer, so there's a good chance we'll be seeing a new CRL for them (unless they are just CGI copy-pastes from "The Mandalorian"). We are also working on the above-mentioned Kashy Heavy. "Andor" is also known for being very Shoretrooper friendly, so we will keep our eyes peeled for any ST sightings! 5. Videos! For the Kashyyyk 20th we will be doing the Kashy CRL walkthrough. And I am going to do that ROTJ Soft Goods Video once and for all this term! I apologize for it taking so long; the scope of it has been a bit overwhelming. But until then, we have great tutorials for just about everything soft goods related in our Scout soft goods armory https://forum.501stpathfinders.com/forum/145-rotj-biker-scout-soft-parts/ 6. Staffing And with a new term comes the usual flood of PMs asking me for a staff job. Folks, the bunker is full up with some of the best Pathfinders around! Take a look at the awesome team pictured above -- these troopers have put their time in, paid their dues and know the costumes inside and out. If I ever need to replace anyone, it will come from folks already on the forum who are showing that level of aptitude. I'll take our newest armor, @MikeRadness as an example. He never asked me for anything. He was already here on the forum, doing the work. And when someone goes so far as to get THREE L2s for their various Shoretroopers, an Armor Team spot was a foregone conclusion. Looking forward to another great term! From the bottom of my Imperial heart, I want to thank you all for your support! Mickey Bukowski TB/ST-81974 Pathfinders Detachment Leader

The most accurate kit is sold by Imperial Surplus. However if you 3d print there are options that are even more accurate. Namely the Mr Paul armor files and the Nico Henderson helmet files

That sounds more like a description of the WTF v1 helmet I guess Skynet is not quite ready to wipe us all out yet

Went to an armor party over the weekend. With a lot of help from Stryker and Delta, we cut and sewed all the elastic straps and put the velcro for the knees, forearms, and biceps.

JB Plastic Weld is what I used. Make sure the surfaces are clean and dust free before applying the weld. As for placement, I recently discussed this in another thread and posted pics on where my reinforcements were placed. You’ll need to apply heat to the reinforcement pieces to soften them up so that they will conform to the shape of the armor. Of course you’ll want to just apply the heat to the reinforcement piece apart from the armor and not directly to the armor itself.

The neck seal is an optional accessory. It is not required for clearance. It looks like it should be fine, based on the photos. Neck Seal Black fabric only; no rubberized or leather parts. Trapunto-quilted ribbing. Conceals the entire neck. Must be worn under the collar of the undersuit. OPTIONAL Level two certification (if applicable): Neck seal has a velcro closure. Closure is no wider than .5 inches (12mm).

Yeah, E6000 will leave you with pieces of a helmet and that's not going to cut it. You need a permanent bond. I recommend Devcon Plastic Weld for securing the reinforcement strips. https://www.amazon.com/Devcon-22045-Plastic-Welder-Dev-Tube/dp/B003NUGL9S

Yes, use a heat gun to heat the strips (away from the helmet), then once the straps are hot enough to be flexy, press them into place. Once they cool, they'll keep their shape and you can glue them in. You should have strips reinforcing along the entire seam line. There should be no gaps showing though, or else you risk seam cracking.

Did you keep the bits you trimmed? You're going to have to glue plastic bracing on the inside to support the helmet either way. Once you have the interior braces in place, you can make ABS paste out of the scrap plastic and fill in the gaps. Any other finishing can be done with spot putty. https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/42866-how-to-make-abs-paste/

I ended up useing JB Weld plastic weld and it worked great. Had some difficulties with shaping the reinforcement pieces but that because I'm not the best with a heat gun. Thanks everyone.

I'll never give up my Alt. It's the only reason my bride can pick me out of multiple Scouts😆 #475 forever!

This week I took the 3d printed pieces and sprayed them down with rustoleum sandable filler primer. I then painted them with satin black. I think they turned out really well. Now I need to start sanding my blasters...

Small circular velcro tabs are another option, if you are having issues with keeping the front visor closed:

Now that MegaCon is over and we've had some time to rest up, I decided to get back to work on our biker scouts. Today with help from Stryker, I placed velcro on the inside of my knees, upper arms, and fore arms where he told me. I made sure to rough up the plastic and then I added e6000 to help with the sticky velcro. Tomorrow I will go back and add e6000 around all the velcro edges. After that I cut the 1.5" nylon holes in my belt and the belt boxes.

There is some size information in this post:

I have my cod attached via Velcro to the bottom of my flak vest. In the photo below, you’re looking at the front of the cod. The stitching at the top is the Velcro that attached to the flak vest. The Velcro patches that are visible mid cod are to secure my belt in place.

If you can find something that's more for plastic, that would be better. JB Weld does make a plastic bonder, and you can get it at Crappy Tire. I'd probably pick that as it's actually made for plastic.

Hey Fog, not sure how I missed this post. There’s no requirement to have the side bridges permanently affixed. Mine are. But I can see how removable bridges could be beneficial. The CRL just requires the “Chest and back plate meet flush at the sides.” Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good weather today. Did a quick run outside to spray the chest armor Took out the old flexible ruler to get the 38mm Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Seconding this - Mr Paul's armor plus Nico's helmet is second to none. Done right, they're practically indistinguishable from screen used props. If you have access to a 3D printer, I can't recommend it enough. This is my Nico helmet I finished last year. It was my first time making a helmet. If I can do it, so can you!

Yeah, keep in mind that that AI generated answers are not necessarily going to be accurate. Certainly not to the level of nuance that comes with some aspects of CRL interpretation. Glad you reached out.

An oversight. When the Vendor list first went up, there had been so many horror stories about long wait times for the EFX helmet, so we didn't list it. No one had actually been approved in one at that point because no one had been able to acquire one! Since they now seem to be in circulation, I have added it.

Ok, with some guidance from Rob at RS, I was able to complete the helmet together and complete the mask construction. Will be applying Bondo, sanding and paint prep this weekend. For me the toughest part was trimming the helmet halves and final alignment before gluing. Rob’s guidance (for those stuck in this similar position) was: “Looking good. OK, best way to put this is, force it! The plastic will flex and needs a little manipulation to meet correctly. Not much, but you may find you need to trim a touch out of the “flat” area on the top. That’s fine, it’s not as perfect a half and half as you would assume. Try to line up your points at the back and the front then assess what the top wants to do. You should find you can get it to do what you want this way.”

The EFX helmet is approvable. For the Mando scout they used the EFX helmet on screen, so it's the most accurate for that particular costume. Most people don't tend to wear it due to limited availability and the fact that it's made of fiberglass and therefore heavier than the ABS helmets out there. It's also somewhat of a collectors item, so it seems to fetch a decent price on the secondary market.

Put some adhesive backed black velcro on the capacitor part on the inside of the handle, and some white velcro on the inside of the holster. Also fairly easily removable if you want to ditch using it. Other people have used magnets, but that's a bit more involved.

You're best off with something that bonds the plastic directly, like a plastic weld and not E6000 or CA glue. I'd do a test before you use the ABS cement. I can't remember if it gets warm when used... possibly affecting the RS chest negatively. Do a test and go from there. Make sure that whatever piece you use, you make the reinforcement a single piece that gets bent over the back of the crease. Stronger that way. And you don't need a huge piece, maybe about 1" is enough near the bottom of it, just above where it dips in.

Finally after a long bout of procrastination. I finally finished my scout. Few tweaks too be made with suiting up. But over all I’m happy with the turn out. https://imgur.com/a/ysEiD4I

After the past few years of doing Pathfinders PR as head of Recon Fatale, @Jennk182 has decided to step down so she can concentrate on other things! I'm sure she has her hands full with Imperial Scottish Garrison Thank you, Jenn, for your leadership of Recon Fatale these past few years and putting a spotlight on the ladies of the 501st Pathfinders! Stepping into that role is none other than @Feliscout, Sarah Silverman-Pucci! Besides being a 15 YEAR member of the 501st Legion as of 2024, Sarah is also one of the very few Pathfinders to have reached Ranger status. Her enthusiasm for the Pathfinders and Recon Fatale made her a natural pick to be its new chief! Sarah will be in charge of the Recon Fatale social media, so if you have pics you want shared, she is the Pathfinder to talk to! Let's give a big hand to Sarah and Jenn!

Hey everyone, I hope y'all have been enjoying the posts. For the female and female identifying Pathfinders, please tag @recon_fatale and #reconfatale so I can reshare your posts and feature you. I try to scour IG going through tags, trying to post pics that haven't been posted already, not posting the same member or Garrison repeatedly and also checking that the member is female identifying and a current member. So far it's been pretty RotJ scout heavy but obviously I want to feature other Pathfinder types. I know it's winter in the northern hemisphere so there aren't as many troops but I still hope to see some bad girls doing great out in the world. Also I'm the states it's Girl Scout cookie season soon so that's some great opportunities for fun pics. Sarah TB-2748 out

I want to preface this by saying that there’s nothing wrong with your bucket, even with the chin strap visible occasionally. These “imperfections” that were a part of the original costumes are a part of the charm of Star Wars costuming. But being a bit of a perfectionist myself, I understand the need to “fix” these imperfections. If it really bothers you and you want to go the magnet route, I’ve marked on the photos below approximate placement. You’ll have to get a feel for this through trial and error for best placement on your bucket. Using your photo. I’d start by putting a magnet on the inside of the face plate where the red mark is. Then place a magnet just below or in front of the chin strap on the dome so that it lines up with magnet on the inside of the face plate. You’d use the same process if you went the Velcro route too. If the space between the faceplate and the dome in this location is too narrow, you may have to put the magnet on the inside of the dome, as indicated below with the red mark. Be mindful that these are just general locations to give you a visual reference. You’ll need to figure out the best placement for your bucket.

The chin cup is optional and not required for approval, so if you are not pleased with the aesthetics, you can completely remove the strap and chin cup. If you’re looking for a way to keep the chin cup, but prevent the strap that runs along the side of the dome from being exposed when you move your head, consider adding magnets to the problem side to hold the visor in place. That should keep it from moving when you lean forward or turn your head.

Hi Pathfinders, I'm very pleased to announce I have joined your ranks today with the approval of my Shoretrooper Captain. Looking forward to serving the Empire in my new armour 🫡 Many thanks to all here on the forum who helped me along the way! ST-12775 https://www.501st.com/members/displaymember.php?userID=35535&costumeID=124

I have some interest in taking over making the Alt, watch this space cheers yours in the force Spike

I'd be careful. I actually bought a Jet Trooper file set from them and they were kinda low quality and not really made for full size 3d printing. By that, I mean the entire jetpack was 1 piece. There's no way to print that unless you cut it apart and remodel some parts, and that would take a while to do and get a good result. If I was printing a file for a 1:6 figure, they'd be great, but not so much for 1:1. It's not super expensive, but I worry that the back plate is all just 1 piece, which makes the detailing for 501st clearance tricky.

Thanks a lot!

The answers are all found in the CRL Lens is black in color and obscures wearer's eyes. Earholes are cut out -- mesh or paint is not acceptable: Area behind earholes inside the helmet is blacked out, either with paint or tape. No interior white should show from the outside of the helmet when worn.

Agreed you want a glue that's specifically designed to bond plastic, not metal.

Starting to get around to putting the reinforcement strips in the helmet. Up until now I've been using E6000 as my go-to adhesive, and that's just not cutting it. The drying time is too long - it's simply not practical to keep in place with both halves lined up. I see in the RS Prop Masters helmet tutorial video, they use CA glue and activator spray. Would this be the best option then? I found some near me that I think should do the trick, but as always, a second opinion would be appreciated: https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/instant-bond-multi-purpose-adhesive-super-glue-with-instant-hold-activator-spray-small-2-pc-0671034p.html Any other tips or advice when it comes to adding the strips?

It happens also in IRL so amongst other things I’m going to get one of the braces that corrects the alignment by pulling the shoulders back to align it so it ‘ learns ‘ how to be again if that makes sense. it’s just been an issue since I moved up here and had to transition to a desk job in costume I have insoles in the boots which are great but I’m pretty sure now reading your post again that like you say it’s not lined up so pressure on my lower back gets worse. https://amzn.eu/d/d6nJN8f is one I have seen. Thanks MJ

More painting Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Trimmed As recommended, to trim the return edge. Both biceps done. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thats pretty much it! Calling @Jakeputt and @BikerScout007 to give review on the following for the CRL.

Finally progress on the greaves Had cut this part cos Imperial Surplus videos cut them for Tank trooper. Had to do some repair work. On both sides Mounted the sniper plate too much “forward” had to rip it off, patch it up sand off the glue and Abs on both pieces. Moved in back. I think this is the final placement for everything. Will work on the straps next. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Anybody wants to trade ART patches? I ve got some 65th Pathfinder company patches. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi folks, because it's more fun to have more than three unfinished projects at the same time I thought to myself "why not start another one?!" Ok to be honest it's been growing in my mind for a while now. I've bought @MrPoopie JFO files some months ago and printed some smaller parts on my own printer. The bigger parts gave me some headache so I asked a member of my local garrison If he could print the files for me. I just recently bought my DLT-19x and a Jawa Blaster (another unfinished project) from him and was stunned by the quality so this was an easy decision. The parts just arrived yesterday and I have to say I don't regret it at all. Because this is the best and most active detachment of the legion (in my eyes) I don't have any doubts that I'll get this one done that it's easy for my local GMO to approve the build. Thanks to the super detailed WIP by @Aradun, @MrPoopieand @RickyBoyBlue, I do have some awesome resources to follow. For the parts from my ROTJ Scout which need to be modified I'm thinking about buying new additional parts because I want to display the parts on one of my busts. But this is something I need to think about. The first part I want finish is the baton because I want to put some electronic inside and it's the same with the Jawa blaster so both projects may profit from each other. 😅 Well here are some pictures from the printed parts. As I said this might take some time but the WIP will help to get this one finished. Besides this project I'm preparing my Lancer application because this is something I wanted to do for while now. And for those of you who might wonder what "Knüppel frei" means it is MP or Anti Riot Police slang for "Go, get them" but maybe with a little negative touch... 😄And "Knüppel" is the baton. Cheers

Here’s our first patch for Garrison Carida’s 27th Elite Recon! Features: Scouts (from left to right) @Worst TB42987, @haringjr TB11375, and yours truly. Pennsylvania Keystone and State colors of blue and yellow. Our Garrison cog: blue/red Created from this photo: (photo credit: Ron Hoffman TK15310) Shout out to Sold Out Swag (https://soldoutswag.myshopify.com) for production!

Today's updates include strapping for the biceps and shoulder bells. I'm pleased with the fit and positioning of the straps, and they hold up really well when kitted up for test fit.

Here are the files: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Nv2uJVTC3oZ6alMAWBKGgcU5JvpBOa2N/view?usp=drive_link Free for any Pathfinders guys to use.

Thanks. I also like to avoid supports. Here are some photos of how I sliced the body. It was all able to print without any supports. Sent from my Pixel 5a using Tapatalk