Chef

But they're massive... You'd need one hell of a former.

Hey Scott. It's an interesting observation, and would certainly make production easier, because getting that side off the bucks can be a real dog. But I do think they were indented. If you look here.... http://www.starwarshelmets.com/real_Biker_Scouts.htm scroll right to the bottom to the 2nd from last picture. You can see what appears to be a unfinished production lid, and you can clearly see the indents on the back. I think the paint job they've given the lid is definitely there to accentuate the indents, that's for certain. And it may well be that in production, they just had weaker detailing with faster pulls or maybe a buck revision. I had to do it, because my first buck those indents were too deep and I pretty much destroyed the pull trying to get it off. Mine are now about as deep as I can go, and still get it to release. Maybe they had the same issue?

There is argument for both when you go through the screen grabs. Most people nowadays tend to have it the other way up as Patrik mentions. I doubt it will be a clearance issue. Everything looks to be coming on nicely. The ribbing on your bund looks a bit wide, ideally you want to be able to see all the ribs between your pouches when they are in place. And the pouches don't want to sit under your armpits. The ribs want to be about 1" wide each, or less depending on your body size. Again, probably won't be a clearance issue (depending on your GML), but something to be aware of.

Looking good. Keep an eye on those biceps, stop them from twisting round the back of your arms. Get some padding in the pouches (not much), just to give them some shape. It's all coming together nicely.

If you use the same material as the pouches then you should be golden.

Now I know this next post is not lid related in any way.... But seeing as I've started here. I just end up carrying on! This is going to be massively pic heavy... apologies. Blaster and Scope now all cast and sorted. finished blaster along with its junior. Blaster in the holster. The new bucks... Extended biceps, new belt. And the thermal det... nothing new to this, but I've put on the two belt hooks at either side of the main get.

I think it's likely to have been the latter. But yes... rather rubbish. If you put an offer in, and the person accepts it, I'm sure you're bound by the T&C's of the bay that you're obliged to complete the transaction. He does sound like an all-round douche.

The armour depot shots look like KS... Maybe he's moved on to SC. From Axelay's reply, he does state that he gets it from elsewhere. Whether they are one and the same person it would be difficult to say. But either way, I'd say judging by the standard of work on those boots. I'd avoid.

from what I remember, this armour was SC and the lid was an MLC one. If he keep putting armour/lids up, then he's either buying stuff and re-selling it... or dare I say it... re-casting it. You'd need to speak to Eddie. He knows what kit is was.

Post pictures of what you have bud, and we can see where the vac issues are occurring. I suspect you don't have enough vac holes in the visor area and/or they are not right near the deep indents. Because that area is effectively a recess to the rest of the buck, you really need to vent it all, because if any of the small creases or vac holes get covered up, you're effectively cutting off all the vac/venting to that area and will result in a weak pull. Post a pic of the face plate buck directly from the front, and I'll annotate it for you with where I think all the vac-holes should be. They don't need to be big (only say 1.5mm each), but there does need to be LOTS of them.

Yup... I've done the very same method on a few plastic lids now.

Hey Alex, I'd be very happy with your first step into the world of costuming. Very neat job. I did say it was fairly straightforward. Do the boot soles for definite. I wouldn't concern yourself too much about the dog bone. Yes it does come over onto the sole, but it keeps that join nice and tidy underneath. Well done.

Looking sweet, keep us posted.

http://www.shop3m.com/replacement-parts-and-accessories-for-face-and-head-equipment/3m-speedglas-headband-mounting-hardware-9000-welding-safety-04-0660-00-37141-aad.html Just in case anyone fancies a set.

At the back, they want to sit pretty much under the Thermal Det. I know on this pic, there isn't a thermal det in place, but you get the idea.

Likewise, I think the amount of people who will do an 'animated' version will be very small. They are subtly different from the standard versions, and I don't think that many people will go down that route. For example, Craig is the first.... They are such a small simple item that I think most people will be able to scratch build them.

- My belt appears to be misassembled. The "thighs" are placed on top of the "buckle." In this photo, the "buckle" is on top of the "thighs," which I think looks substantially cleaner. Is this correct? With the SC Belt, it's 3 parts. So you have to join it. There is no 'right or wrong' answer to this because the screen used belts were one piece. Having the them underneath so the join faces rearwards is cleaner, so I'd go for this. - My belt has been assembled with rivets in the webbing for the "thigh" boxes. I'm assuming that this is flat out wrong. It doesn't look very aesthetically correct. The rear webbing straps for the drop boxes, 'should' attach at the rear near the TD, hiding this away. I normally sew mine on. - How wide should the webbing be for the "thigh" boxes? Is it the same width as the webbing which passes around the back of the belt and thermal detonator? The drop box straps are 40mm, the belt should be 50mm. - Finally, I have no idea why, but the "thighs" on my belt have 3 rivets at the very back where they join the webbed belt and pass around the back of the suit. I'm guessing that there should only be 2 rivets in each section, but I think I read in one forum post that the original costume only had 1 rivet in each section. Which is correct? The screen used belts were only secured at the rear with ONE single rivet. This was left silver too. How you do it is up to you. But Lancer would only accept ONE.

Thanks buddy. It's that constant looking at it and going... "Bugger... better change that!". Still a few more to go here and there. Been doing some work on the armour bucks too. Scored a real Singlepoint scope for the Blaster. Now I know this is the rounded end version, but I was more interested in the smaller turrets that you don't often see. I've altered the front to a tapered tip and is now ready for casting. I've made the shoulder bucks larger and deeper, for the slightly bigger amongst us. I've tweaked the bicep armour, so it's 15mm taller and increased the slot size to take the 38mm webbing. Altered the angle of the webbing slot on the chest plate too, as I noticed that it is canted ever so slightly and not directly up and down. It need to be a little bigger, towards the bottom of the plate too I noticed after a bit more looking... I shall be doing this before any test pulls. Then lastly, I've re-done the belt. I noticed that the V on the front part doesn't extend all the way to the top, so I filled that in, and also curved the boxes, so they follow the body line better. Plastic is on it's way, so I'll be doing some test pulls end of the week.

The sideshow stuff is a close enough representation (yeah, they got some bits wrong... but that's just us knowing what they should look like) for it to a 'scout' and not something different. I know on that statue they've got some of the small details wrong, like the pouches the wrong way round, but essentially everything is where it should be. So with consistency amongst the SideShow stuff ( try to see the Games as separate entities), then the argument 'should' be a relatively simple one.

The bund... I'd junk that straight away. It's nothing short of comedy. Not for you obviously. The boots... there may be some salvage ahead. And if there isn't.... you're going to end up with a set of base boots anyway! So all is not lost. The zip in the back... no idea why, when the velcro is there. The salvage of the boots is going to mean carefully pulling them apart. Remove the dog bone and put to one side. Remove the frontal strip and put to one side. Now, carefully peel up the toe cap part and get it loose. Now warm it up with a hairdryer or heat gun and give it a jolly good stretch down over the toe. That should get rid of that nasty fold. If it does, glue it and pin it in place. Leave it to dry. Cut off any excess when dry. Then replace the trim (could probably do with being a bit thinner) and try to pull it a bit further back.... When adding the dog-bone back in, give it a heat and stretch it a little on the edges to bring it down and hide that join. If none of that works... pull it all off, buy a metre of vinyl, follow the tutorial and make your own.

Not quite for me, but my daughter would go 'nuclear' for something like that. Nice one.

Well, yes. I agree that a GRP (fibreglass) bucket does have a certain "je ne sais quoi". I myself have both a GRP bucket and a plastic one, so I know exactly what you mean. But if you're looking for screen accuracy, then really you need to be looking at plastic buckets, because that was used on screen, and beyond that you need to be looking at the 5 part (split half) construction method as per the originals. LW is one of two lids that I know of currently that use this construction method and is more accurate in terms of detailing, material and method. For the screen accuracy fanatics out there, no matter how accurate a GRP bucket is, it's still not made of the right stuff.

Only by and inch or two. If you bring it level with where the strap goes under, you'll be golden. But further than that, looking good. Pouches look a good scale, they'll sit nicely between the chest and belt.

For the thing you're doing bud... I'd say scratch building it will be the way. It's a relatively flat piece, so the three little upper rectangles you can do from plastic card and the main snout, you could do from a bottle cap with some the middle cut out and some mesh inserted in there. There's little point in buying a replica snout, as you're going to be taking most of it out.

Well, having ridden my bike (no longer in service) with mine, I can say they fare incredibly well.