Witness

Congratulations James!

I understand, neither was I.

Show me somewhere I can buy an Altmanns off the shelf and I will consider it available for purchase. They are very close in weight. Of course the Altmanns is better as a bucket, I wish I could have one, but most folks will either never be able to find one for sale, or be able to even afford one. And, I did say "probably"

Correct, my mistake. Dunno why I put PVC.

By request, I am posting what I have in the way of pictures showing what needs to change to make a KS helmet go from 501st approved, to Lancer approved. At least mine was approved (please don't take it back waaaaaah). The KS bucket is probably the lightest and largest of the main fanmade buckets. It's made from very thin ABS and is flexible. You have to be careful when making any changes to it as to not bend the plastic too far or mishape it. This is a KS preassembled bucket as it comes from them. Alone, this is 501st approved, but there are some glaring problems when you want to talk about film or Lancer quality. #1 Snout Greeble The KS snout greeble is by no means accurate to the film greeble. The snout section is also black and grey from a sticker they apply. This unraised snout is also not accurate. Below is a photo of a screen used scout bucket snout as seen in the BSN photo gallery. Notice the raised plate holding the greeble from the snout. The main snout is painted a satin black and the plate and greeble body are painted a light grey. The aerator is also painted satin black. For my snout greeble I used a hollow MC greeble that came with a plate attached. With a little sanding, I was able to get the greeble and plate to sit properly on the KS snout. Below is my bucket with the snout painted and greeble and plate added. #2 Bolt Covers Also notice the KS bolt covers in the original picture. They are not accurate either. The KS bolt covers are a plastic furniture foot cover that you would add to the bottom of a table leg to place the table on a hardwood floor. They are being held on with goop and can be pryed off but not so easily, so be careful. You then need to cover the bolt with a bolt cover or replace the bolts all together. I covered the bolts with 7/8" plastic discs that I had around. I use the disks for elevating a plate of glass which covers my wooden desk at work. They are clear and perfectly round so they fit nice. I painted them the same grey as the snout plate and gooped them on. Below is how the covers look. You could also replace the covers and visor screws and nuts with screen accurate 3M bolts if you can find them. There are other threads about these on the forums. #3 Bottom Neck Trim Not really pictured, but you can sort of see there is a thin piece of plastic edging on the neckline of the bucket in my snout picture that is also removed. This is put in place to strengthen the plastic on the KS bucket to prevent the back bottom of the bucket from deforming. You can strengthen this with a plastic strip glued to the unside of the bucket where it cannot be seen, or reinforcing with a bondo material on the inside. I used a plastic strip on the inside to make it stronger. You should also paint the inside back of your bucket black so it looks black inside when people peer into your ear holes. The screen covering which comes already on it is adequate to prevent most people from viewing inside. There is nothing else needed to make it Lancer approved. You now have an approved bucket that is easy to wear, comes in a very large melon sized head accomodating size, and weighs next to nothing, so it's very comfortable on long troops. I added fans and batteries to mine and it's still extremely light. If anyone has any questions, please ask and I'll try to answer them best I can. **** I would like to add, that no particular item of the costume you have is "lancer approved", but can be made to the quality allowing you to apply for lancer. Lancer approval is based largely on the overall appearance of the costume, fit and finish all coming together. ****

Thank you everyone! It's an honor to join the Lancers. Now to help some other bikers make the grade!

Thank you!

The suede is a furniture grade suede from Jo Anns. I didn't like the look of the faux suede. It is actual suede, just very thin and dyed very dark. I may replace it with some from Tandy at some point if it doesn't wear as nicely as I hope. It should fade and roughen up as time goes. The shininess is not apparent in person. Also, white lip will be gone!

glad it's acceptable, NEXT!

Those were an odd find. It is an inch and a half width elastic that is almost as firm as a piece of webbing. I found it in a bin at Jo Ann's when I was looking around for elastic for a chin cup. I never did do a chin cup. I found this stretchy webbing material and used it because I thought the webbing would be too stiff and I would rip it out when I bent my leg too far, and that an all elastic would be too stretchy and eventually stretch out from kids grabbing at me. I hope it's acceptable, it works great on the legs, tight enough, but not too tight.

I'm getting a complex waiting to hear. If nothing, my costume is sturdy, spent 7 hours playing laser tag against the public for Make A Wish yesterday and my costume didn't fall apart. Sweet.

Old bolt covers New bolt covers

At the risk of being stupid and being told to go read some FAQ somewhere, what do earth magnets do and how are they used? I see reference to them all the time but have never seen anywhere (at least where I have looked) explaining what they are used for and how. Could someone educate me?

Ahah! That is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you sir.

Cannot find this answered elsewhere (probably not looking hard enough) so I will ask here. I have been looking at all the pictures of people with mudflaps, the film stills and other photos and still cannot tell. The mudflap is a single piece of black suede material and is attached on the backside of the undersuit. Is the mudflap attached only at the top leaving it loose on the sides and bottom? or attached all around like a butt pad? or other?

I resemble that remark! I have spoken with one of the guys at KS because I have a gigantically freakish noggin (25" circumference not including ears) and he assured me that their bucket would fit me, because it fits him and his head is bigger.