Chef

What ever you do you are always under the jurisdiction of your Garrison and the Legion. Your GML is responsible for clearing your costumes, the LMO is responsible for keeping any eye on those GML's. If you start stepping outside of the rules and regs of the Legion, or your involvement in an ART starts to interfere with the Garrison workings (as has happened with some of the other iterations of this programme in other detachments) then you will be subject to the decisions made by your Garrison Commanding Officer. If The Garrison CO feels for what ever reason that the ART is causing a problem within their Garrison, he can shut it down or ar least look to reprimand or bring charges against those individuals within it. The ART programme is not sanctioned by the 501st and is not an 'official' thing. They don't have any official status or standing within the Legion at all. The Detachment has no authority in the running of the Garrisons, or the Legion and is merely an information resource with regards to the costumes themselves. The LMO's have given some responsibility over the CRL's to the Detachments, because we are more knowledgable on the specific costumes, but even those changes to the CRL have to be agreed with the LMO's. Hence why you are always under the purview of your local Garrison Commanding Officer, who are in turn under the jurisdiction of the Legion as a whole.

I'm pretty sure Stefan will have some paint kicking about. He'll probably be able to sort you out.

It is with great pleasure that I can announce that the CRL for the 'Animated Scout' from the Rebels SW series has now been completed and is LIVE. The details can be found here. http://databank.501st.com/databank/Costuming:TB_scout_trooper_-_sw_rebels This costume is dedicated to the memory of Jim Griffin because this was the last thing that he was working on along with Steph and Pete at the time of his passing. They all put in an amazing amount of hard work in getting this completed, and it is tinged with a little sadness that he didn't manage to see it come to fruition. But it is now completed and is an active costume on the rosters here at BSN. Well done to Steph for being Number 1, and the model for the CRL photos. Thanks to Pete for the donkey work on the CRL wording. Jim. This one is for you!

It's that time of year again folks. The past 12 months have been a time of monumental change here within the Pathfinders and it has not all been plain sailing. But that said, I would like to have think we've held off a weather helm and kept a good course. The recent and tragic loss of Jim, my good friend and Executive Officer has hit us all hard, some harder than others but it has highlighted to me what it means to have a good team and a good wingman. And it is with that loss I have decided that I am not going to continue my stewardship of the Pathfinders. Jim and I never held our positions because we felt they incurred some position of power or status. We held them because it was our solemn duty to do so to you the members of the Pathfinders. We stepped up because there were some big decisions to be made and some definite directional choices that needed to be managed. We came at a time when there was a huge bump in the road and there was a lot of work to do. Most of which I would like to think we accomplished without any real undue upset in the workings here. The Shoretrooper was ensconced here within our ranks, and with the diligent work of the team, the level 2 specs have been set in place. The new forum skins to reflect all the costumes here have been provided to allow you all to tailor your forum experience to your personal needs. The Armoury Teams were expanded to incorporate more of the core members here to allow them to pass on their valued knowledge to you all. Changes were made to the CRL's to better reflect some of the newer details that we had discovered or clarified in recent times, and the addition of the 'long rifle' onto the main CRL was a small but important inclusion that has been years in the coming. We implemented the "vendor policy" to at least try to give some protection back to the membership and be responsible to you all, in a way that we would expect our vendors to be also. The 'Rebels' Scout is on the verge of being accepted onto the roster due to the hard work that Pete, Steph and Jim put in over the past year. The completion of that I would like to think will be part of Jim's enduring legacy. So with that it is time to hand on to the next generation and I hope that who ever is to come after me will do so not with the thought of "I must be the Pathfinders CO", but one of "it doesn't matter that I am, the position changes nothing". And in stepping down, I can assure you all that nothing will change here for me either (apart from less governance and more freedom). I shall remain, I'll continue to support you all as best I can. I'll offer guidance and opinion just in the same fashion as I always have. If, in the end there are no nominations, I shall accept my pending one just to allow you all to ask the questions of your prospective new CO because I feel that it is right that nobody should just walk into a position, but they should be there to justify their desire to those who they wish to represent. It's been a good year, and despite the heartfelt loss of Jim's passing, I have to recount the words of Yoda. Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the force. Mourn them do not, miss them do not. Jim... We did good. You'll always be here. Never gone, never forgotten. Tip of the spear.

Thank you all for your kind words, I am sure Jim would have brushed them all off as 'Ahh, it's nothing!'. Anyway, Steve Leahy (Spec Ops CO) and I have been chatting and considering that Jim was just as passionate about the Spec Ops detachment, probably even more so than here and we are going to organise a joint memorial patch run in honour of Jim and as a fundraiser for Jim's family / charity of their choice. We'll keep you updated on this as we progress. Thanks Rob.

I emailed Hi-Tec years ago.... Whilst they were 'receptive' to the idea, it was with the caveat of massive customer buy in. And we were talking thousands, if not tens of. Even if it was just the sole. In essence the crux of the conversation was 'nice idea... probably won't happen!'. Anyway, things are 'afoot', and whilst nothing may come of it (certainly not for a while yet), the idea of re-creating the sole is one that is not new and one that has always been a bit of a 'slow burner'. But burn it does...

It is with a heavy heart and the deepest regret that I have to report the sudden and unexpected passing of our Executive Officer, my dear friend... brother, Jim Griffin. Jim sadly passed away on Monday due to diabetic complications. Jim was a generous and kind man always willing to help and spent countless hours selflessly doing all those behind the scenes web-master stuff for both us here on the Pathfinders and over on our sister Detachment, Spec Ops. His kindness and dedication were an inspiration to us all. His devotion to these detachments without any thought or reward for himself is without equal and not only shall the Biker Scout Network and Spec Ops be lesser dimmed places by his passing, but the world in general too. Jim is truly a great man and we shall feel his loss immensely. Our thoughts and sympathies go out to Jim’s wife, Darleen, his family and friends. We can only share in their grief and devastation at this terrible news. You have been taken too early but your legacy shall live on forever in our hearts. You will be remembered. Rest in Peace brother.

Aye... I've got screen grabs somewhere, but my photobucket is borked due to their policy, so getting them up anywhere is a bit tricky for me at the moment. star-wars6-movie-screencaps.com-6751.jpg star-wars6-movie-screencaps.com-7057.jpg star-wars6-movie-screencaps.com-7658.jpg Hopefully those links will work. They're not the best as the screen caps seem to flit a bit. But you can see, certainly on the Leia one that it is not present. I can certainly say on Mr 4 it was not present. Mr 6 appears to be, although if there were more than one of these it's possible it was not on all of them, the centre picture is a bit inconclusive so I'm waiting on all the 'ahhh but..." bits to come (but I agree it would be a weird thing to not have done... ). And I'm trying to find a half decent picture of Mr 1, but it is tax return season so I'm up to my knackers in paperwork. I'm pretty sure there is one on him. We know it's on the MotM exhibit and you can see it as clear as day on some other screen grabs so there is no denying its existence on some of them, just not all of them.

Welcome aboard. You've already made your start. You're here in the right place. Have a search around, ask questions. Things you'll need to consider. Your physical size (some kits are better suited to different frames etc), budget, time scale, ability and ultimately your overall accuracy. If you're on a limited budget, then putting work in yourself by making various bits will reduce the costs. If your creative ability is limited, then you may have to be prepared to expand your envelope a little. You sound like a chap who can deal with a challenge anyway, so this shouldn't present a problem. Research is the key. But we're all here to help.

I don't see why the little things can't be added into the Lancer Specs as is. After all, that is what they are there for. We've got the vast majority of these bits as [optional] already, so just adding that little bit of extra detail in shouldn't be a drama. The smaller vagaries of the costume can be added in as a little addendum to the bottom of each section of the specs. For instance: something like that.

Whilst I have always strived for accuracy and encouraged everyone else to do the same I've never been one particularly for these levels and badges. The BSN has come on in leaps and bounds recently in terms of the accuracy of our costumes, the knowledge of the original costume and the details contained within it and that has only been down to the dedication and determination of everyone involved here at the detachment. The improvement in the standards has risen quite dramatically over the past few years, not least in the basic standard thanks to Marcel and his initial drive on base levels. This had driven the gap between the two (Basic and Lancer) to quite a small margin, but again with the continued determination from the team and everyone else getting on board behind it, the standards for Lancer were improved and this naturally meant a higher level of accuracy. This upward trend is one of my major goals, but it is a gradual process where people should not be seen to be 'forced' to adopt them, and having various levels does lead to a 'well I'm at SWAT level and you're below me' kind of attitude which is something that I don't hold any truck with. People should want to strive for the ultimate accuracy just because it is there... Not because there is a badge or some form of kudos attached to it. For the Scout, there are currently too many variables across the armour sets that personally make having a stringent upper third tier of clearance standard particularly unworkable in my opinion and has already been mentioned there are certain aspects of the costume that are practically impossible to recreate that mirror the level of detail required in other parts, so there is a massive disparity across the costume and it is not consistent. Boots for example. The stipulation of real leather is all well and good (not that i know of anyone who does that currently), but without a suitably accurate base boot (which we know doesn't exist, only in exceptionally rare circumstances where someone gets their paws on an original set of boots - and even they are probably not the 'correct' right boots), the boots will still look 'off' compared to other major detail parts on the costume. So to overlook those details yet insist on something like a wire wrapped TD tube does create a level of inconsistency. Personally I think it is much fairer to encourage everyone to just aim that little higher. We will always try to source the correct parts and give our members the best advice as to how to achieve the best that it can be, but the attainment of a 'badge' should not be the driving factor. Simply being awesome should be enough! But with all that said, the standard of costumes being produced currently by the members of the Pathfinders is taking a massive upsurge in the accuracy stakes and that makes me incredibly proud. That is all I could ever wish for.

All of the above.

Speak to Steve Honeywill (Radar) on the UKG Boards Paul. He's doing a pukka one for the DLT. Not sure how far along he is with casting it, but I've seen his prototype and it's good.

Hi Mike... I would suggest the bund isn't the issue, it's the pouch size. They do look very long. They should be around 5 inches wide, by 6 inches high. Any larger than that, and they're going to look a bit long on your frame. The bund itself should go up underneath the chest plate and tuck in behind that by about an inch (there should be no black gap between them), The smaller pouches will then allow your belt to sit that little bit higher (the drop box height is good in relation to the belt, so don't change that too much, maybe attach the straps a bit further towards the centre back). The bottom of the drop boxes should sit around the same distance above your crotch line as the top of the boxes are to the belt (around 1.5-2"), so your belt ideally needs to sit about 1.5-2" higher on your torso. The pouches themselves are on the wrong sides (diagonals outwards), so they will need swapping over. The cod section looks very narrow and in my mind would need to be much wider at the top, probably to the tune of about 3-4 wider. You should just be able to see it on either side of the buckles (but only just). Flightsuit, flak vest sleeve bagginess you know about... Hopefully that all makes some sense. Rob.

Nothing really much wrong with that buddy... Nice and tidy job. The bund closure should be right over left rather than left over right (turn it inside out, that'll solve that one!) If possible I would pull the cod up a little, getting it from under your crotch will remove the dreaded toe. Watch the top of your bund coming out from under the back plate (put some velcro on here to keep it in place) And be careful of the biceps rotating backwards. Put some velcro under the plates to hold them tight. Beyond that... Get it in. Good luck.