TB-1019

Hah! Sorry for resurrecting a three year old thread but when I saw our garrison pauldron photo (above) I had to laugh. We took it as a goof on the proliferation of pauldrons and, as an extra goof, the Sandies took theirs off in the photo. I'm the scout in the front row wearing my clone commander pauldron. Anyhoo, I'm happy to see my brassard inspired others. I used to love wearing it whenever canon concerns weren't an issue, usually during events when I wanted to help promote the garrison, the detachment and the Legion.

No problem, David. Good luck with yours! Be sure to post pics, I'd like to see how it turns out.

There was a long thread on this a couple of years ago and I posted a couple of pics showing the shape of the item. Here is a LINK to my post in that thread, if anyone is interested in making one of their own.

That scout with the brassard was me, and I wore it to a cystic fibrosis charity walk in order to help promote the Legion, my garrison and this detachment. For the record, I never, NEVER wore it to a canon event. John, I'm not a fan of attaching patches directly to my armor either, which is why I made the brassard. And Jake, my back plate wasn't about to fall off. I had lost weight and the photographer caught me slouching. I know this might not be some people's cuppa tea, but *shrug* I feel that any scout carrying a BFG looks like they're trying to overcompensate for something. Different strokes and all that.

Speaking from past experience, what the Lancer review committee is looking for is the overall costume presentation. Don't think of it as buying individual parts, think of what all the parts in combination present as a final look. What you want to aim for is an aesthetic where your cummerbund and armor pieces do not force your undersuit to bunch or puff out. Flightsuits tend to do this while racing suits tend not to. Obviously, if a racing suit is too large for the wearer, it will bunch out too, but they are tailored differently than flightsuits and, again, tend not to on the average wearer.

I think I was one of the first to try the method of securing the faceplate with rare earth magnets. I mounted mine on the inside surface of the helmet cheek area. I used ABS coated magnets to help keep them protected and to be able to secure them to helmet. On the inside of the overlapping faceplate, I used a 1.5"x3" piece of sheet steel to give the magnet something to grab. In this last pic, you cannot see the steel strip because it's under the perforated vinyl on the edge of the faceplate. In the second pic, you can see the faceplate in the closed position and the white magnet has grabbed the steel strip.

One thing I would like to add, if I may, is that I noticed by your location that you are in Arizona. You are very likely going to find that keeping the Rubies helmet from warping in the Arizona heat to be a near impossible task unless you reinforce it with metal wire loops and fiberglass along the inner surface (making the already small space smaller). If the idea of constantly tweaking and repairing your helmet after every use like a finely tuned Italian sports car appeals to you, by all means go for it. Otherwise, your time and money can be better spent with one of the fan made replicas like KS or MC makes.

I think Dave hit the nail right on the head when he said, "If the person had a quality product, they would no doubt at least come here and try and show it." Honest sellers tend to come right to the source (the detachments) to get exposure where it counts instead of casting their lines and trying to get bites on eBay.

Sounds like he's describing the old Gempler's PVC boots to me. Some of the other old timers out there will know what I am talking about. They look like this: My first pair of boots were something like these. As to whether they are acceptable now or not, I am not sure. Back a few years ago they were but almost everyone goes with the boot tutorial boots, which is really my recommendation.

Congrats, from one Jay to another!

Whenever someone claims something is "accepted by the 501st", take it with a grain of salt. Buying a Ferrari might get you into a Ferrari owners club, but simply buying armor doesn't get you into the club. Talking with Bluecyclone gets you going in the right direction. The makers he can recommend are good to great starting points. After that, you still have to assemble and wear the armor properly in order to become a 501st member.

I'll be there, but not as part of the 501st. I'll be with the Colonial Marines.

Thanks, Bob.

No worries, Dave. I like to think of this time off as a sabbatical. I don't intend on being a non-scout forever.

Ahh... I miss that thread. Good times, good times.