scout.trooper

Whew! Been a while since posting but busy busy! Solved my tank-attachment issue by going to the local hardware store and showing one of the employees what I wanted to do. As soon as I pulled the scout back plate out of the bag, he asked "Is this for a stormtrooper?" I said, "Scout trooper, but yeah." He was more than happy to help! I was going for a nut and bolt solution, but he said he had a better idea and brought me a screw used for electrical components with an oval top (see below) It fits like a dream! The only downside is that I get a little gap between the tank and the back plate. Even though there's a gap near the bottom, the top is right up against the back plate like it should be. Put a rubber washer (found in the plumbing aisle, not the screw aisle... who knew?!) on the inside to prevent the plastic from cracking. After all that, I did my first riveting job (with some help!) to attach the rest of the tank to the back plate. Completed the duck cloth covers for the shoulders. Had to do this several times as I just couldn’t get the right size down. So, several attempts later, I finally made a pair I was happy with. Hand sewed both of them and the elastic holding them together. Decided on Velcro to hold the front and back plates together, so I started by sewing “knots†for the slots on the inside of the back plate. That way, I’ll only have to worry about detaching the Velcro from the front side instead of the back to get out. These knots are just the elastic folded over 4 times and sewn together. Hand sewing that much elastic really isn’t as hard as it seems… as long as you push your needle in between the rubber strands (instead of through them, which causes a lot of resistance), then its easy going. Hand sewn with love. I’m getting better at stitching! (I cook too, fellas! ) Finally, I attached white Velcro to the inside of the front chest plate (had to cut around the grey sticker indent). Then hand sewed on the opposite Velcro to the elastic and sewed an “X†down the middle for good measure. (Yes, I’m wearing a band-aid because I stuck myself with the needle real good… don’t judge ) That’s all for now… plan to tackle some flight suit mod

Happy building!

Paint looks good! Welcome to the scouts!

Take a look at post #44 on his tutorial thread... it seems like the belt might've been sent to him segmented, but it looks like he still did some trimming.

I think in PandaTrooper's tutorial he segmented the pieces for a better fit... trimmed down some of the extra plastic on the belt between boxes. I'd take a look at his build if I were you. Don't know if a segmented belt would be cleared for Lancer, tho.

It's going to be amazing. I remember when I got my box... the first thing I did was dig through the foam popcorn pieces until I found the helmet, pulled it out, unwrapped it and I was 8 years old again seeing Star Wars for the first time! Magical.

Decided that foam was the best way to go. Got a 16" x 16" x 2" semi-rigid foam block for $5. Measured out my pouches, drew a quick outline, then cut it out with an exacto knife. Worked perfectly!

jameserec, That's a really good idea. I thought about the wood block but I think the "C" shape will work. Bobik96, Holes were already drilled when I got the kit. Yeah, I know that bottom rivet has to be there for clearance so if I have trouble with that "C" spacer, I'll probably end up gluing that in there then securing it with a bolt for extra hold. cucblack, Those look interesting. I'm guessing that they get screwed in by hand with a wrench or pliers then secured with a nut on the backside? If I go with the wood block, this might be the best way to secure it with some glue for good measure. Thanks for all tips, scouts! This tank has been driving me nuts for months now

I've got an MC kit and I can't for the life of me figure out how to attach the tank (or "back hump" as some might call it). The back armor plate and the tank are two rounded pieces, the tank being more rounded than the back. The two don't join! There's a good 1 1/2 inches separating the two from the inside (see below): How it sits: Slightly parted so you can see the distance of separation: There's no way a rivet would go from the tank to the back plate. Anyone else have an MC kit who solved this problem? Or, anyone without an MC kit, have any ideas on how to join the two? I can't finish the rest of the chest armor until I get this damn tank attached.

Ran into a few problems... mainly my sticky elastic pulling away from my armor pieces. It happened on all of them It seems that the problem was the tighter I pulled and set the elastic on the armor, the more overhang I had on the sticky-back elastic. This caused the edges to pull up. I pulled off the old stuff, wiped down the plastic, then laid down some new sticky-back velcro further away from the end of the elastic loops. It seems to be doing fine, but I'm still getting a little bit of "pull up" on it. Thoughts? I was also thinking about doing this as an alternative if the velcro kept pulling up: Would this type of closure be acceptable for clearance? I'm just afraid that this would put too much stress on the slots that were cut into the plastic since the elastic would be pulling on the weakest point of it. Bought some 2" thick semi-rigid foam for the pouches. I measured the pouches as best as I could and came up with a rough outline. I then used an exacto knife to cut the shape out. The result is a pouch rigid enough to hold shape but is squishy enough not to hurt when you bend down (thanks to all those scouts who replied to my thread about what they use in their pouches!) [ So when I'm ready to sew these pouches on to the bund, do they get sewn on like this: Or like this?: Started on the chest armor. Got the 1 1/2" white elastic in the slots. Was going to follow PandaTrooper's tutorial and just velcro them on the inside but, with all the trouble I had with that on the arm pieces, I don't know if it will hold. Was thiking about 2 different alternatives: Sew one end shut (as shown by the safety pin below) and then velcro only one side inside the armor. Would this be okay for clearance or does it have to be a seamless piece of elastic that's attatched to the inside armor?: Or just have one piece of elastic go all the way around and attatch it to the front by a snap buckle: I'm having doubts about that last one because if the buckle is in front, it would probably dig into the chest area. Anyway, got the velcro attatched to the inside shoulder plates. This is where the "T" belt will go that will attach to the shoulder armor. That's it for the chest armor right now. I'm not going to finish the straps until I can figure out how to get that damn tank attatched to the back... I cut up my heavy cotton shirt to prep it for sewing. I will be taking the sleeves off as well as hem the bottom and neck (sleeves to be re-attached later!) This is the first try: I re-measured the vest with the armor on and realized that it was still too long. I marked the shirt with chalk, cut it again, and modded the sleeves and neck. The sleeves should reach just below the shoulder bells (after hemming) and the neck should be slightly lower than the top of the chest "U". The next problem were the greeblies that came with my belt pack... the flat bottom of the rectangle and the button greeblies made it impossible to attach: Rectangle: Button: I tried sanding it down to round it out but that didn't work. The rectangle greeblie itself was even too big for the belt pack face... it's right up against the zip tie: So what's a girl to do? Well, with some hot jams on my ipod, 5 hours of time, and a LOT of patience, I built new greeblies with a 3D modelling program and printed them out in black plastic with a 3D printer. I also scaled the greeblies down and rounded out the bottoms so they would fit in the recess of the belt pack. Original on top, new one on the bottom: Rounded bottom of the rectangular greeblie: Rounded bottom of the button: New rectangular greeblie on the pack: How it sits: Button: Let me know what you think and if they would pass clearance. I know you can see the print lines, but I think with a little sanding to smooth them out it should be a perfect match.

Or I can just add in velcro to the inside top of the helmet and put the other velcro piece on top of the foam pad. That could work.

Been looking that extra helmet padding and found this: http://www.motorcyclecloseouts.com/sport/helmet+parts/bell_replacement+liner+for+rs-1+helmets For $20, it looks pretty comfortable. Don't know about size but if it's big enough, I can just stuff it inside the helmet without having to glue it in there.

Spiders do it too. Maybe I have super powers...

That's a good point. Didn't think about bending/interacting with people.

So, yeah, was having a bad day... Now I'm not! I know I'm missing my pouches, my bicep armor plates are a bit saggy, I'm not wearing a flak vest, I'm pooping white webbing (because I forgot to cut off the extra stuff from the belt) and yeah, I'm doing the Superman pose so my belt stays up... but it's a scout!

Just got a message back from Marcel... 2" is for Lancer status, 1.5" is fine for non-Lancer.

I got most of my stuff from Joann Fabrics but their selection has been really bare lately. Tried Hobby Lobby too... little bit better selection but not what I need. Never heard of Hancock Fabrics... sounds cool but it's probably local to where you guys are. I'll probably end up getting that 2" elastic from online. Now I just can't find the 2" black velcro. If the side-by-side 1" velcro will pass inspection for non-Lancer status, then I guess I can do that.

Hey, all. What do the scouts put inside the pouches? I don't mean "my car keys and wallet"... I mean does anyone put anything inside so the pouches hold their shape? I was thinking of putting together a rectangular bucket of some kind, padding on the inside so anything put inside doesn't make a 'clunk' noise everytime you squat down to take a picture.

Also, does anyone know where I can find: 2" sewable black elastic 2" black sew-to-sew velcro (not sticky back)? The elastic is for the thigh straps for the flight suit and the velcro is for the back of the flak vest. Haven't been able to find any either locally or online. Or would it be okay to use x2 1" velcro stips put together for the back of the vest (if they were set down vertically next to each other)?

Okay, ran into a small problem... Read the CRL and it says the check and back armor need to be attached by 2" webbing or elastic. Well, I went out and bought some but didn't realize how big it is. My armor indentions are only 1.5" wide and, if I were to try and extend the holes, I'd be running outside the indentions and into the armor plate itself which would probably ruin the integrity of the plastic in that section. Below, the 2" elastic I bought with dotted lines to better see the width. The actual measurement of the indention Is 2" webbing/elastic an absolute MUST? Or can I get away with 1.5"? That's just the way the armor was made. There's also good news... bought the necessary materials for my vest build (thanks to Thing who provided me with an awesome tutorial!). Below is the heavy weight cotton shirt with dotted lines showing how I plan to cut it up. I'll end up removing the sleeves, making the fabric-batting-fabric sandwich Thing told me to do, then re-sewing the sleeves on. I'll be using the bottom half of the shirt for the other half of the sandwich. I also plan to cut the neck a bit wider then just hem it a bit so there's no fray.

I bought a small set of leather needles for hand sewing... haven't had a chance to use them yet. My sewing machine did the butt flap with faux suede just fine with a regular needle, just used heavier thread. I think the only difference is that leather needles have a triangle-like pointed tip.

Oh, I gotcha! I will try that, thanks

Finished the forearm plates! (Also, if anyone know how to make these pictures smaller, let me know!) I then noticed that for the front and back plates, the strap holes were too narrow. Took an exacto knife and trimmed the insides a bit. When I got closer to the shape that I wanted, I "shaved" the plastic away instead of sawing it. It was a bit rough on the inside (don't want the straps to get snagged), so I took a fine grit sanding sponge and sanded the inside of the armor. I didn't do the outside of the armor because it removes the finish and the rough plastic was mainly only on the inside anyway. Received my bund this week (thanks, Jim!). It's a bit snug for my frame so I've decided to extend it a bit. I only really need a few inches extra. My thoughts were to add fabric to the left side of the bund (the soft velcro closure side), remove the soft velcro, then re-sew the soft velcro to the new piece of fabric. About how much extra room I need to add A piece of paper showing how I plan to add the fabric. Hopefully, the end product will look like this but without the soft velcro showing Tips appreciated, especially in regards to the bund extension. Anyone else had to do something similar for their build? I want to make sure the bund passes inspection with my mods.

I actually got mine from Kohl's. It's not suspenders but a woman's elastic belt. Went into the store and they were on clearance. They hit 1 3/8th exactly. I bought 3 Everyone kept saying that the blue and pink zebra strips suspenders I found on amazon wouldn't pass clearance (d'oh!).

She can sew!!!! Started hand sewing the elastic straps on my smaller armor pieces so it doesn't fray. Did a "back stitch" (I guess that's what it's called) with heavy thread and a needle sharp enough to make you swear when you stab yourself in the finger. It looks kinda sloppy in the pictures, but it's pretty sturdy and in the end that's what I was going for. I then sewed on the elastic over the fold-over to make it super strong. Was able to finish only one of the forearm guards. I've got the other one, both elbow, both bicep, and both knee pieces to sew. Anybody know a good song to sew to?