dankelzaga

Deep breath my friend. Lots of help and info out there. Try to take things one step at a time. I'm horrible at this sort of thing and I made it through. There are many of us right here in your own backyard that help as well. Frankly, I'm not able to completely dress myself without some form assistance and likely never will. The thing is....if you think about..when will you ever be completely alone trooping? There is always going to be someone around to give a hand. It will get easier and easier as you go along. If you are trooping an event there may even be another scout there. I've never had anyone not be willing to help me out. Even if you are not at an event you will likely have friends/family around to assist. At any rate, tons of great stuff right on these forums. Pick a section of the project and whittle it away one step at a time. Best of luck.

Looking good my friend! Nice to have another trooper less than 20 minutes away from me. We'll be dodging trees together in no time. Has been great watching your progress here and on the Garrison forum. You obviously are down to business on the adjustments...won't be long till approval.

Welcome! There is a healthy number of scouts here in Michigan. Just holler should you have need. I'm sure any of us would be more than willing to help you out.

Thanks so much for the update...very exciting. Looking forward to seeing the end product.

Option 1 here....with the exception that I have each end in the thigh boxes attached (inside the thigh box) versus going straight through. It allowed for easier adjusting for me personally.

Hi all--this is just something minor but it really bothers me when I'm trooping and I'm curious how some of you handle it. I notice that my bicep armor constantly lifts on the ends. Because the strap is higher on the piece it tends to pull a bit lifting the bottom upwards. I'm thinking I should just sew a long strip of velcro onto my suit and match it up with a long strip on the entire length of the bicep piece. It is just constantly irritating me (although barely noticeable in pics). Just interested to know how some of you attach your armor in addition to the elastic. Thanks

Thanks for the feedback. I'll definitely address the items you mentioned. I had some of the things in mind already on my to-do list but I'm just hesitant to make final strapping cuts, the cloth shoulder bits, pouch final placment, etc without having the actual black undersuit and vest on. I was scared their could be just enough bulkiness versus the orange suit to throw something off and make it a mess. Hopefully I'll get the suit and vest at some point in the not too distant future. Thanks again!

I haven't, but mine is fairly new and I haven't trooped in it..just worn it as I work on completing my build. It looks great and I'm very happy with it....but that certainly sounds concerning to me. For the cost and wait time....I would be very upset if I were to see any issue at all. I received mine last September btw...at this point in time it is still fine.

Hi all---Thought you would all get a laugh out of this. Obviously I have an issue here but I'd like some feedback and critique outside of the orange rebel pilot flight suit and missing vest. Unfortunately, I've been sitting on everything I need except for the flight suit and vest and want to be as ready as possible for when it is finally completed. Some serious delays in its production from the vendor have really delayed my build. Things to be done once suit arrives: 1. Second strap on knees 2. Final adjustment and fixation of the pouches 3. Final placement of the back hip box straps. I specifically wondered if where Im holding the hip boxes looks good? Thanks for any feedback! I could not have even come close to this without all of our feedback and help. This forum and the people here are wonderful. Dan (I posted one pic and a link to an album with other pics). I http://s1121.photobu...utGreatPumpkin/

I have a finished MC helmet. Mine has 4 areas of sponge type foam padding. Two in the back of the head area, one along the brow, and one in the top of the head area. I don't have a particularly big head and don't wear glasses and it is pretty snug. I may actually cut a bit of the foam out to make a bit of room. I also don't run with fans or anything. I could likely fit a single fan but it would be a tight squeeze. I'm very happy with it. Keep in mind there is a pretty good wait even if just ordering a helmet.

I'd like to weigh in a bit on this even though I'm fairly new to this particular forum. I have been costuming for quite some time however so I do feel comfortable speaking on this subject. One of the biggest problems I've encountered seems to be the automatic defensive "circle the wagons" responses that comes from anyone complaining about products that are made (or better yet--time frames for products that are made) from a particular vendor. It seems that more often than not...anytime a complaint is made or questions are raised about the quality or timeframe of products, some type of response such as "Well...you know these people do this in their free time. These people don't have to help you at all. Without these people you wouldn't have anything so suck it up. Real life comes first. These people aren't a true business..you shouldn't expect business like service, etc, etc, etc. In many cases..someone with a legit and appropriate complaint are made to feel like a mean spirited whiny child. Yes..the suppliers of these items are very helpful. They are appreciated and I realize their products come with hard work. BUT.....they are receiving hard earned real money that is taken for the most part tax free for their efforts. In many cases we are certainly not talking about a scant amount of money. As I said, at times anyone who is not in the circle or new...often feels intimidated by complaining or bringing a legit problem to light.....it should never be that way. BTW...my comments are general and apply to the many forums and various costume relationship/encounters I've had. I just think the topic is extremely valid in all settings.

For mine I just used a spare piece of ABS plastic that another trooper had lying around. Send a shout to any troopers in your area and you can likely get ahold of a small piece.

Looking forward to watching your build! Thanks for sharing. I'm currently working on mine also. Unfortunately my order for my flight suit and vest is taking double what the initial projection time frame was and still isn't started but I have everything else ready to go. Hate looking at all of it in the corner knowing I'm at at complete standstill. I'm glad we have the great resources here to help us with our build. Keep us updated.

One more post and I'll be done...the thing is..I'm seeing posts about not wanting some of the "newbies" to simply show up here, get what we need, and not be a part of the community. I'm a bit older and likely naive but I just don't quite get that. The reason that many of us come here is to get the information and items we need so that we can gain approval and become part of this community. I can't imagine the goal of this forum would ever be "Let's make it as difficult as possible to gain new members". I for one, 100% want to be a part of this community....but the thing is...I will never be a true part of your community until I'm approved. It's a bit difficult to become a part of your community when I can't really contribute yet (other than attempt to provide advice to other people newer than myself that are asking questions you all have already answered for me)..and I certainly can't ever get approved if I'm waiting month after month after month for items I paid in full for with no end in site to the waiting. Some of the nicest items I actually did receive...came from the random trade posts...versus the "approved" vendors that I would likely be directed to by someone if another system or trade forum lock out were put in place.

Greetings..I am certainly one of the newer members here but I def would like to add my thoughts or simply add some "stress" to the points some of you already make. Locking out a new member from the trade forum is not a good idea imo. While I certainly appreciated the "vendors" post. It didn't cover everything and there are quite a few very nice items that I've acquired from the trade postings that I would never have gotten otherwise. If you do lock out us "newbies" someone is going to have a very full agenda of constantly redirecting people to certain vendors. An example of this is the wonderful hyperfirm blaster that I was able to purchase. These aren't available all the time, yes we know the vendor, but they aren't always available and there isn't a current link to them on the vendor page. I feel like my being diligent relative to checking the posts daily... was in turn rewarded with a very, very nice blaster. I'm going to assume that more often than not we are dealing with "difficult sellers" versus " difficulty buyers". I realize this is a general statement but typically a buyer pays for something that they are seeing advertised, waits for the item, and then expects that item to be as described. There are certainly very picky buyers, and very impatient buyers...but that sort of thing can usually be cleared up with initial communication. The fact is...a buyer is trusting a seller with their hard earned money via these boards...it is the seller who must in turn "earn" the money they are receiving. You generally don't walk into a brick or mortar store or any other on-line business for that matter and expect to receive a hassle if your unhappy with either the service or the product. In contrast to the impatient and "never can be pleased" buyers we have the sellers who don't come remotely close to projected wait times..or remotely close to quality in regards to advertised product...or who have zero inclination to make good on their poor products. I see this as a much more serious problem. So....I am very happy you all are looking at this. My solutions or advice for some of this is 1) NOTHING..should require payment in full up front. Half down would be acceptable and the other half at time of shipment would be my advice. There is absolutely zero incentive for sellers to finish my products when they have all of my money up front. 2). If your going to use this site to sell your products...then you must have a plan for unhappy customers and state it up front. Money back, adjustments , replacements, etc. Have something in place. Again, thanks for looking at this..it is very much appreciated.

Thanks a million everyone...I really really appreciate it.

Hi everyone. Question 1. I have my cumberbund, pouches and chest armor ready to go. I'm a bit confused on how you all attach the pouches. I have the velcro flap on the pouches but am unsure of the best method. Do you all place velcro under the chest armor and the pouches simply hang from there? Or do you also physically attach them to the cumberbund and then also use those flaps? If anyone could provide some tips or a picture of your set up I'd sure appreciate it. Question 2. I'm a bit of a barrel chested guy. As my waist is thinner but my lats and chest wider..my cumberbund fits well but tends to want to slide down. Is there any reason I can't have a seamstress attach two suspenders to help keep in firmly in place? The suspenders would not be visible as they would be attached on the back side of the cumberbund and the straps would be hidden beneath the vest. Thought I would ask at least. Appreciate any assistance.

Thanks a ton for the feedback and advice. Definitely the reason to put things up on there for input. I'll work on those back stickers as I obviously made a mistake. As I really examine it I do have a bit of an upward curve there. I wonder if I'm better off just buying a new set of decals or trying to fix those. I'm awful scared that when removing them I'll mess up my paint job. Any advice on a way to cleanly remove decals? Thanks again

Finally have my helmet finished and wanted to share with you being as many of you have helped me with this project along the way. I'm currently awaiting the undersuit to be finished so unfortunately I'm at a complete standstill. I have my armor finished, boots done, blaster in hand, etc but can't really do much else. I don't want to finish up my strappings without having the suit underneath to measure. At any rate, here is my helmet. I really am happy with it. As always..thanks to everyone on these forums for always being so friendly and helpful.

Thx a ton for the advice...seems like every single step I'm so anxious/nervous that I'm going to mess something up lol. I appreciate everyone's patience with questions. The good news is I'm actually making progress and may even have some pictures to post soon. I made it through the hump/cap/back process and am pretty proud of myself with the results.

Hi All--I just want to be absolutely sure before I glue these things down. I have the DJ greeblies and the SC detonator. I've read all the threads I can find on these and am seeing some conflicting pictures and finished products on orientation. Everyone has the "square" greeblie on the left, however in some cases I'm seeing the two tabs on the top, and on others they are down. Is this one of those "either way is fine" deals or ??? I'd just rather be safe than sorry and get your input. Thanks as always.

Not sure if this was something you were looking for also...but for the tank detail lines...my local auto store had 1/8 pinstriping in both black and red and it was very cheap. I thought it worked very well (I used the red for that little line of detail on the tank topper although I know some just paint). I felt like the red pinstripe allowed less room for "unsteady hand" error. I personally went with the 4 rank bars. I was a corporal E-4 in the Marine Corps and was happy to be able to carry that over to my scout outfit in some manner. Making 4 bars versus 6 was also less room for error relative to my inexperience with all of this.

Can't tell you how much I appreciate this thread and your tips. I'm so completely new to all of this. Working on my bells now and going to attempt this trimming business. Again, being brand new.... What tool do you suggest for the true trimming? I've just been using various grades of sandpaper for finishing and haven't yet needed to "trim". I'll purchase whatever tool/tools you recommended for this. Thanks again.

Rob----thanks a million. I really appreciate the input.

Thanks--I appreciate the tips. I think the fact that when I compared the two toppers the missing hole in the DJ one threw me. The DJ topper is also a fair size bigger than the SC one overall.