Pandatrooper

It doesn't dig in actually. The foam is slightly wider than the plastic insert by just a little bit, 3/16" on each side. So the foam is up against your thighs. I tried running around, crouching, etc. and it doesn't dig in. I'm sure it's not as soft as just foam or batting, but it's way more comfortable than a TK codpiece by far!

This is taken from my build thread here, but I thought this trick would be helpful for those sewing a new cummberbund / cod piece, or potentially for those wanting to modify their cummerbunds with an updated cod. http://forum.bikersc...topic=9781&st=0 I wanted to make sure that my cod didn't bunch up and result in "camel toe" syndrome, something that happens when the cod is sewn with the same batting as the cummerbund. I studied this photo very carefully, along with other close up photos of the cod. The top portion seems somewhat flexible, and the bottom always stays curved. The sewn arc stitches still have a "pillowy" look to them. Even when the Scouts sit on the speeder bikes, the top portion bends, but the bottom half holds it's shape. I was convinced that there was a curved form inside the bottom of the cod, almost like a cup in a jock strap. I tested sewing the cod using 1/4" closed cell foam, but the arc stitches on closed cell foam were too hard and didn't puff up right. I did a few more tests, and this is the result - no camel toe cod! First up, I measured out a cod piece that suited my dimensions. I know some state to make the cod 10" across at the top, but I tried a cardboard one and it was too wide (I have a 30" waist) so I reduced it to just under 9". Looking at reference pics, The "crotch" of the cod is actually quite narrow, and since the elastic is only 2" wide, I made the crotch 2.5" wide. I cut 2 pieces of material based on my cardboard pattern, one from 1/4" thick OPEN cell foam (the soft spongey kind) and 1/8" craft foam or "Fun Foam". I then cut and sewed my cod with 2 layers of the same material as the cummerbund. The trick to making "no invisible seam" on the edge of the cod (per Lancer spec) was to make the outer piece about 3/4" wider, and the inner piece 3/4" narrower. This will put the seam on the underside of the cod where no one will see it. This photo is the underside of the cod. Using a template, I drew the arc stitched "clam shell" shape onto a separate piece of scrap foam. This template will be used to create the clam shell shape of the plastic insert. The top of the arc lines are at about the halfway mark along the length of the cod. I cut the bottom 1/2" of this template to leave room to sew the 2" crotch elastic. The plastic insert is also 3/16" narrower than the fun foam and open cell foam. This way, the foam extends past the sides of the plastic. I transferred the clam shell shape onto a piece of 1/8" thick styrene. I then heated the styrene with a heat gun and curved it over a section of 4" diameter pipe. I purposely bent the lower half and kept the top half less curved, transitioning to a flat top. This plastic insert will prevent the camel toe effect of the cod. This is how all the materials will be sandwiched inside the cod material. 1/8" Fun Foam on the bottom (adds rigidity), plastic "clam shell" insert, and then the 1/4" open cell foam on top. I used hot glue to glue the plastic insert to the Fun Foam. Make sure to leave 1/2" exposed foam at the bottom for the elastic to be sewn on. I then used spray adhesive on both the bottom of the open cell and the top of the fun foam and clam shell insert, let it tack up, and pressed them together. Insert the entire cod stuffing into the cod material. Make sure you have the cod material right side up (wider piece of fabric is the outer cod, narrower piece is the inner). Also make sure the inner seam allowance from sewing the cod material is under the entire cod stuffing, otherwise you might see the raised edges under the outer fabric. Iron the cod material seams inside out if you need to. Pull the cod stuffing all the way down into the outer cod material. Make sure it's as far as it can go, so that the edges look puffy. Work the material so that you can't see the seams. Sew the 2" crotch elastic down, make sure the fold the end over first. Using the clamshell template I made earlier, I transferred the shape to the back of the cod and traced the arc line in pencil on the fabric. Draw a second line about 1/2" above the clam shell (I used a dinner plate to get a slightly larger radius). Pull the fabric tight, and sew the arc lines. If you want to be anal, don't sew the arc lines over the edges of the cod. The clam shell plastic insert now keeps the cod in a perfectly curved shape, preventing any camel toe from happening. I sewed the top shut by overlapping the fabric, and a seam about 2" below the top to keep the foam tight and flat. This won't be seen as it's covered by the belt armor. I then attached the cod to the bund. Finished cod / bund on my mannequin. I know there's no under suit shown here but I did a test fitting with the under suit and there's no camel toe, even when sitting. Hope this is helpful!

Cod and cummerbund update! I wanted to make sure that my cod didn't bunch up and result in "camel toe" syndrome, something that happens when the cod is sewn with the same batting as the cummerbund. I studied this photo very carefully, along with other close up photos of the cod. The top portion seems somewhat flexible, and the bottom always stays curved. The sewn arc stitches still have a "pillowy" look to them. Even when the Scouts sit on the speeder bikes, the top portion bends, but the bottom half holds it's shape. I was convinced that there was a curved form inside the bottom of the cod, almost like a cup in a jock strap. I tested sewing the cod using 1/4" closed cell foam, but the arc stitches on closed cell foam were too hard and didn't puff up right. I did a few more tests, and this is the result - no camel toe cod! First up, I measured out a cod piece that suited my dimensions. I know some state to make the cod 10" across at the top, but I tried a cardboard one and it was too wide (I have a 30" waist) so I reduced it to just under 9". Looking at reference pics, The "crotch" of the cod is actually quite narrow, and since the elastic is only 2" wide, I made the crotch 2.5" wide. I cut 2 pieces of material based on my cardboard pattern, one from 1/4" thick OPEN cell foam (the soft spongey kind) and 1/8" craft foam or "Fun Foam". I then cut and sewed my cod with 2 layers of the same material as the cummerbund. The trick to making "no invisible seam" on the edge of the cod (per Lancer spec) was to make the outer piece about 3/4" wider, and the inner piece 3/4" narrower. This will put the seam on the underside of the cod where no one will see it. This photo is the underside of the cod. Using a template, I drew the arc stitched "clam shell" shape onto a separate piece of scrap foam. This template will be used to create the clam shell shape of the plastic insert. The top of the arc lines are at about the halfway mark along the length of the cod. I cut the bottom 1/2" of this template to leave room to sew the 2" crotch elastic. I transferred the clam shell shape onto a piece of 1/8" thick styrene. I then heated the styrene with a heat gun and curved it over a section of 4" diameter pipe. I purposely bent the lower half and kept the top half less curved, transitioning to a flat top. This plastic insert will prevent the camel toe effect of the cod. This is how all the materials will be sandwiched inside the cod material. 1/8" Fun Foam on the bottom (adds rigidity), plastic "clam shell" insert, and then the 1/4" open cell foam on top. I used hot glue to glue the plastic insert to the Fun Foam. Make sure to leave 1/2" exposed foam at the bottom for the elastic to be sewn on. I then used spray adhesive on both the bottom of the open cell and the top of the fun foam and clam shell insert, let it tack up, and pressed them together. Insert the entire cod stuffing into the cod material. Make sure you have the cod material right side up (wider piece of fabric is the outer cod, narrower piece is the inner). Also make sure the inner seam allowance from sewing the cod material is under the entire cod stuffing, otherwise you might see the raised edges under the outer fabric. Iron the cod material seams inside out if you need to. Pull the cod stuffing all the way down into the outer cod material. Make sure it's as far as it can go, so that the edges look puffy. Work the material so that you can't see the seams. Sew the 2" crotch elastic down, make sure the fold the end over first. Using the clamshell template I made earlier, I transferred the shape to the back of the cod and traced the arc line in pencil on the fabric. Draw a second line about 1/2" above the clam shell (I used a dinner plate to get a slightly larger radius). Pull the fabric tight, and sew the arc lines. If you want to be anal, don't sew the arc lines over the edges of the cod. The clam shell plastic insert now keeps the cod in a perfectly curved shape, preventing any camel toe from happening. I sewed the top shut by overlapping the fabric, and a seam about 2" below the top to keep the foam tight and flat. This won't be seen as it's covered by the belt armor. I then attached the cod to the bund. Finished cod / bund on my mannequin. I know there's no under suit shown here but I did a test fitting with the under suit and there's no camel toe, even when sitting.

Thanks Rene. I am almost done, just finishing the boots as I was waiting for supplies, as well as the suede for my undersuit. I will be posting a few modifications to my soft armor that I sewed, and a special mod for the cummerbund coming shortly.

Note: I have updated the diagram on the previous page and I have posted it below as well. Currently, I labelled it with "no stitches for the velcro" visible on the outside. It would need to be sewn on the inner flap before the pouch is sewn together. If at some point we find a Blu Ray screen capture with detail that shows the velcro closure stitching, super-detail-seeking-scouts can easily sew the box and diagonal stitch on top of the flap to add the detail. Hope this diagram helps!

Looks good! Do you want me to send you some elastic shoulder loops? Looks like it will cover the gap!

I only put that there as an example. Happy to change or remove it.

Note, I know the MOM images aren't considered 100% accurate, but in the image above with the lighting enhanced in Photoshop, you can see some kind of "square" in the area of the velcro attachment on the flap. I'm fine with going either way (velcro stitch visible or not), I just wanted to point that out for discussion.

I think what Marcel means is that there's no visible stitches anywhere on the exterior of the pouch, and that the seam allowance is folded over, ironed flat but "visible" under the surface of the fabric. I enhanced the screen capture above, is this diagram correct?

Thanks all! Getting close to completion. Dan, I pretty much use lexan scissors most of the time. They can be found at hobby shops and are curved so that you can trim the tight cuts on RC car bodies. They look really small but thats because the handles of the scissors are bigger than the blades to maximize leverage. I have built many sets of armor and many more helmets using the same pair of scissors over 5 years.

From what I can see, the pouches have no visible seams on the front of the flaps. Its the two layers of fabric sewn together and ironed flat. You can see the 1/2" seam allowance under the fabric as the weathering often enhances the subtle bump. I know this pic is from the MOM exhibit and not the blu ray, but you can see the stitching for the velcro on the outside including the diagonal stitch. http://www.studiocreations.com/howto/bikerscout/images/washko_058_mvc-336f.jpg I also agree that the cod has no visible edge seam.

Shoulder bells. I find a lot of people aren't trimming or shaping their bells accurately to suit their build. I think the shape is very distinct on the scout and often overlooked, much like TK shoulder bells. The screen used Biker Scout shoulder bells have a very tapered shape. The top of the shoulder "dome" is not a perfect sphere, and from the side view the bell tapers about halfway down the length, ending with large radius rounded corners. Here's the SC shoulder bells out of the box. You can see they are cut very "straight". The bottom edge is straight and flat, and the sides of the bells are also very straight, and parallel to the lengthwise profile of the bell. The bottom corners are almost 90 degrees square. The first thing I did was heat up the bell with a heat gun, and curve the bend more. I heated the round dome part of the bell on low heating, moving the gun over the whole dome while squeezing the curve tighter. I then heated the straight portions of the bell, again keeping the gun moving while squeezing the sides. Be careful not to heat the areas around your fingers or you will get a sharp indentation in the bell (and burn your fingers!) Here, you can see the bottom end profile. The one on the left is curved more than the right. I know the screen bells look flatter from certain angles, but remember that they used much more flexible plastic. Plus the stock non modified SC bells curve radius looked really big and goofy on my slim arms. Side view. The left is slightly more tapered and narrower than the one on the right. This is the most important part, trimming the bell to shape. Of course, if you are a smaller trooper, you might need to trim the height and sides of the bells. I left them the stock size but reshaped them based on screen used images of the movie scouts. After a series of trimmings, I thought this looked the best and made this diagram. I measured from the bottom edge of the bell and marked a line in pencil 4.5" up the side of the bell. I drew a second mark 0.5" inwards from the edge of the bell. The diagram here shows a straight line (in blue) but you will curve this line slightly with sanding or you can draw a subtle curved line. At the new "corner" of the bell, you want to round off the corners. I have found that if you use a small cylinder or circle template, that a round object with a diameter of 1.75" is about right. Draw in this quarter circle (also shown in blue). Make these same markings on both sides of a bell, and of course on both shoulder bells. As a guide, I used the bottom of a plastic container for CA glue which was exactly 1.75" in diameter. Its important to round the corners but not too much or not too little. Trim out the shape and follow the lines closely. After trimming, I sanded the edges all the way around, and rounded the junction where it says "smooth this angle out". You don't want a sharp corner, you want to round the whole bell off. You can see what the new cut edge looks like if you lay the bells on a flat surface. I have attached heavy duty velcro to the inside of the bell, and sewn the appropriate 1 3/8" wide black elastic that wraps around my biceps (per Lancer spec). The top of the bell is attached to my T shoulder elastics via velcro. I still like to use velcro in areas like this so that I can fine tune the sizing. Finished shoulder bells.

Great catch Jeff! Perhaps I will upgrade my greeblies and cast some new sculpts / scratch built square bits in the future to coincide with an SC armor update!

From the Gus Lopez collection. Only one photo unfortunately, but cool none the less! Lots of other cool props too! http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=81150 http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_new

Draw a pencil line with a ruler, then score it with a hobby knife / steel ruler or use sharp scissors. I use lexan scissors, used for trimming RC car bodies. Then sand it smooth. BTW: I use E6000 on greeblies, etc. Sand the bottom of the greeblie, and the surface where the greeblie is to attach. Spread some E6000 on both with a popsicle stuck etc. Let it set up for 2 mins, then join and clamp. Let cure 24 hrs as suggested. You can rub off an extra glue that oozes out.

Hey Marielle, can you bring the front and back armor closer together? If you can close the gap, it would look better if you can make a canvas bridge much shorter. I made mine longer like yours on my build but got feedback to make it smaller. Upon looking at more reference pics, I agree with them. I have some more of that elastic that I used, but it's quite narrow - won't cover your gap. That's why I ask, perhaps you can use something similar? Good luck, build coming along nicely!

Ah, good feedback! Thanks for the advice Marcel and everyone!

I know the CRL and Lancer specs say "no visible pockets" on the undersuit / coveralls / race suit, but I just noticed this lighting enhanced pic on the BS.net gallery, and there definitely looks like a pocket under the thigh elastic. Thoughts?

Should be fine as long as its 2" wide and not too loose.

Very nice detail work Keith!

Some updates. Forearm armor. I noticed that in some reference pics, the forearm armor is actually flat the front edge, with a return. I hope SC does this with the forearms and biceps if they update their armor in the future. So for now, I cut mine at the front edge and added the return with a heat sealing iron. Original armor reference I now the SC armor proportions are not exactly the same, but I decided to modify it to add the flat front edge. Pencil guidelines drawn in. Sanded the edges, rounded the corners slightly. Cut the front edge and added the return I sewed some straps using 1" elastic per Lancer spec. I also sanded the edges and corners on the bicep armor, and sewed the 1 3/8" elastic for the bicep armor. One detail I noticed on the screen used scouts is that the bicep greeblie looks like it's in 2 parts, and the square sticks out more than the upper "T" part than the stock greeblie you get from SC or Don Jarr (they cast them with with the T being the same thickness). For the greeblies, I cut the top section of the "T" from the bottom using a thin hobby saw. I then glued on a section of scrap 1/8" plastic to shim up the square greeblie to make it sit higher. Filled in the edges and gaps with model putty and let it cure, then sanded the edges flat and bevelled the corners and back side. Then painted the sides satin black and glued them in place using E6000. I also glued in the T top part as well, but taped it in place since it sits lower. Much more accurate placement now. Completed biceps with elastic. Next up will be the shoulder bells!

Another SC build! Nice!

Thanks for the kudos all! My machinist friend just had a baby, so he is away for a few weeks. When he goes back to work at his shop, I will ask if he is interested in doing a small run and the costs involved.

I'm considering talking to my friend who's a machinist who could make a few sets out of steel. Depends on interest and cost I guess.

I think your cummerbund is way too low which is making the canvas pouches too low, overlapping the belt armor. The bund is hanging below the belt in the back, you shouldnt see that. Maybe some suspenders would help? The TD is also missing the greeblies.