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Most of the video is accurate, but there are several things you are going to want to do differently for a cleaner look. The first thing is don't wrap the vinyl around the toe following his method. You are going to start at the toe with the pins, and then heat the vinyl so you can stretch it. Heat, stretch, pull tight, add more pins on each side. Keep repeating that process until you have it pinned all the way back. You want the flat piece of vinyl to hold a three dimensional shape. It makes it much easier to apply the glue after you've got the shape. By doing it this way, you'll be able to have less observable wrinkles. The second thing is the "dog bone". The guy didn't bother to put the 2 rows of stitches on both sides of each. Trust me, it looks way better when you do it. I'd also round off the sharp corners on the holster before you mount it. That will keep your holster from potentially ripping through the vinyl. Lastly, the way he attached the calves to the boot is the same method I used to mount mine. Most use a rivet to attach that section. If you're going to use the method in the video, I'd actually add a little more glue since a rivet won't be used. Hope that helps Cole.

The video link doesn't work. If you post the direct web link, I'll check it out for you Cole.

If the shop comes through Jeff, post the name and location on here for future reference. You never know when another Japanese based scout might endure the same agonizing search you've been going through. Any info is good info.

Yep. The thigh strap should be higher, as well as the top of the riding patch. you want it to wrap around the zipper on both sides by a couple of inches. Think about leaning forward on the speeder bike. Your zipper area would be taking the wear while you were straddling the seat. The top of the elastic is going to be about flush with the bottom of your crotch. It's pretty much in the middle of the riding patch.

At the waistline Jim. Your belt shoud ideally cover the top of the mudflap.

Thanks Forrest! I'm very excited to know that I'll be able to sit in comfort (in costume) during the Episode 7 premiere! Should make for a very fun evening Plus, should I fall into a body of water (pool/lake/river/sea), my tank can now double as a floatation device!

Success!!!! My detachable tank is a reality now. The method I conceived worked perfectly. This is how I accomplished it. Since the tank isn't a perfectly uniform object. I couldn't attach it to the box by normal methods. I had 2 choices in mind to accomplish this feat. The first was to make a mold of the tank with the box in it's proper place. Since I would have to buy mold making materials, releasing agents, and materials to cast with, I decided against this method. I was also concerned with the amount of weight that it would add to the tank. Plus, I'd have to glue the box into the mold, and wasn't sure if all these items would properly adhere together. A lot of variables there. So the only other solution to me was to use foam to accomplish it. It's lightweight, sticky as it sets up, and fully moldable. I thought about using cans of "Great Stuff" that you can buy from Lowes, but realized it would be extremely difficult to use considering everything had to happen in a backplate/tank sandwich. You've got no visibility whatsoever that way. After deciding against that, I bought a 2-part urethane foam kit (a.k.a. pour foam). It's the same kind of foam that's used in boat hulls for buoyancy. You just mix the 2 parts together with a staight 1:1 ratio, stir it quickly, and then pour into the tank. It sets up in about 45 seconds, and is done expanding within about 2 minutes. After expanding, It actually takes another 5 minutest to totally cool off, and set in it's final form. I went with the 2lb density because: A: it's more lightweight, and B: it's cheaper. Here's a pick of the kit I used. As I said in my last post, the amount of magnetic pull on the base box worried me. I was afraid that the box wouldn't adhere enough to the foam and cause them to come apart after it was set. Even worse, the foam might break apart as i pulled the tank apart. The only way to figure it out before commiting to the tank was to make some test runs. Since the shape of a 2 liter bottle is close to a tank, I cut one down to tank size. I used a 20oz bottle as my box substitute. I poured what I thought was a small enough amount of each part, and mixed them togeter. As you can see from the top picture, that was way too much. The 20 oz bottle was super secure after the foam set, but I was worried the bottles shape contributed to being held firmly. I made a second set up, and used a lunch meat container as my box. I also ended up using one of those medicine dose cups that come with cold medicine to properly measure out small amounts of the 2 part foam needed. On the second test, I used 10mlL of each part. That was definitely closer to the amount I needed. The container held equally as firm as my first test. Since, that container was a little larger than my box, I found another box to use for a third test. On the third test, I used 15mL of each part. Now I was ready to commit to the tank . For the final product, I used 20mL of each part. After pouring the mixture into the tank, I kept the sloped edge of the tank level so it would concentrate the foam evenly around the box. I then held the backplate and tank together in position for ten minutes to ensure it set properly. Then came the moment of truth as I pulled them apart. It set up perfectly, held the box inside the tank, and wasn't easy to get apart. You have to pull it apart around the lip of the tank. The foam didn't expand completely evenly around the box, so I used some sanding attachments on my Dremel to even out the surface of the foam. Upon completion of the box attachment, I added my tank topper, decals and a dummy rivet in the bottom mount hole. Here's the finished pics of the tank mounted in place. Eventually, I'm going to add a tether strap inside to prevent the tank from hitting the ground if it ever breaks magnetic contact. Also this weekend, I added the pouch mount strips, and attached the webbing to my belt. I only have to start adjusting everything for fit. I'll finally be donning the entire suit sometime this week, and taking submission pics shortly. I would have been done this weekend, but some family came into town unexpectanly. Oh well, soon enough!

lol, I like my new nickname. Bazza has a has a nice ring to it Thanks Forrest!

I'd drop the belt to where it naturally rides at the top of your hips Jim. Looks a little high to me from that pic. I thought about doing the stirrup setup on my flightsuit as well, and then decided against it . I just didn't want something to potentially cause a blister when I could keep the pants leg down with velcro inside the boot. Let us know how it works out for you.

Sorry Howard.

Looks like the tank rank stripes to me. They go on the top right hand side of your tank.

Me too bro

You won't have problems with SC. Jeff's customer service is fantastic.

I get the same feeling from WIP's Daniel. They help you pick up a trick or two for use elsewhere. Glad mine got ya thinking.

You're doing great Jim. Don't let this be an obstacle towards your completion. A solution will present itself, and you'll have a great costume finished soon. Keep it up! You're getting closer

It's not intended to attach with just a single rivet. The MC kit comes with a long 1/4-20 bolt to attach the bottom of the tank, and bolts for the top are supposed to mount through the angled piece that's glued inside the tank. If you only had one point of contact underneath, the tank would probably flop around a lot.

Thanks Howard. The reality is I could have been done by now without the mod. If things don't work out as I've planned, I'm going to slap it on with the bolts and tackle the mod later. If nothing else, I've got a cool storage container mounted to my back already It's going to be totally functional regardless.

Well I didn't finish up, but I got another step closer. I've only got a couple of minor things left to do, and the finishing touches on a big one. Still, I wanted to show some progress. I've finished my belt minus riveting the webbing to the front ABS belt. But that's a reall easy one. Since MC armor is a little smaller, I had to make a suspension plate to hold my snaps in the right plate. The hip boxes are done as well. Again, setting them in place is a final fit issue. Here's my TD ala the Pandatrooper method. As you can see the TD box is really small compared to a Don Jarr greeblie. I may update the box at a latter date, but it will do for now. I also made some brackets that I'll bend, paint, and mount after my submission pics are done. Since I made the TD removable, It got me thinking about being able to attend all the premieres we have coming up over the next 6 years in costume. So in order to do that in comfort without a lot of hassle, the tank needed to be easily removable as well. I wrestled with how to accomplish this for a long time during my build. The complex curvatures of the tank make it a little difficult to mount something in an exact position. After coming up with a solution, I proceeded to accomplish my goal. I started with a Lock & Lock box that would fit into the tank. I then made a plate out of 1/8" ABS. I made it double the length I wanted and scored it down the center. When you score and snap ABS that's that thick, it naturally leaves them attached at the opposite side of the break point. This allows you to gently bend it like a hinge. Now the two plates hinge together to form a plate 1/4" thick. The hinge point also helps to keep everything aligned. After making the plate, It was clamped together with the lid. I then drilled out 1/8" holes in all 4 corners. After I removed the lid, I used a 1/2" paddle bit in all four corners to drill through the pilot holes. I then used a sanding pad on my dremel to open the holes up slightly. Once that was complete, I test fitted the cups on the lid with some 1/8" rivets, and placed the plate on top. It fits pretty nicely! I had planned on using the rivets to mount the cups, but it started to open up the hole on the plastic box. I then switched to 6-32 screws. The magnets were also glued into the cups once I tested everything for fit. I added a piece of styrene underneath the base to hold the magnet base washers in place. Once I had a good fit. I glued together the hinged ABS plate. I then glued the plates together. Afterwards, I glued a #8 washer and the magnet base washer in each hole. Then I slapped some gloss white on the plate assembly. I found my rough center points on the back plate, and adjusted the mount height to the place I want the box to sit inside the tank. I glued down the plate with E-6000, and gave it time to dry. After it dried. I tested out the box. Fit exactly like I wanted! The tank won't be able to shift around up/down/side-to side. It definitely won't be able to come off with ease.The magnet pull is really strong. Maybe too strong. It actually worried me a bit, so I didn't go through with my idea as planned. I'm going to run some tests on some disposable objects before I commit it to the tank. Mission half accomplished! Round 2 coming soon...

I think Christopher might be talking about the sun visor guys. If that's the case, it only connects with the mount bolts . The SC faceplate is deep enough to put the mount bolts through both the faceplate and visor. You could also glue the visor and faceplate together if you desire Christopher. Theres plenty of room to do that.

Go Time! Have a blast on your build Tim.

Nice work Jim!

Nice work Howard! Hopefully they'll be able to find some information this time

The only problem I see with that Thomas is finding a thousand scouts that are willing to pay for those boots all at once. There's a lot of us who want the most accurate boots possible. And then there's those who are ok with what they have because it passed approval. I'm pretty positive that the accuracy lovers would be in the minority. The Legion only got to 10,000+ members a couple of years ago. If 10% of those were scouts, that would be the 1,000 mark. I think that number would actually be high as well considering how many costumes are approvable. And that's not even factoring in how many retired scouts there are. Maybe I'm wrong though.

I cut that section out on mine Peter. Your boots look great! The only thing I would have done differently is to leave a little bit of a line at the top of the soles all the way around. The detail you're talking about on the top of arch transition carries around the whole sole.

Gotta keep your sanity on a project like this somehow. Keep it up Luis. Looks great so far