NegativeEleven

A friend passed on the link to "heather grey 1 x 2 ribbed knit" from fabric.com that he says originated here. It's a very light grey. I'm gonna try dying it with the grey dye I have left over from making Boba Fett gloves. Those always turned out too dark. I'm posting here as a placeholder to put up my progress. https://www.fabric.com/buy/0451285/2x1-rib-knit-heather-gray

Got my sheet of closed-cell polyethylene foam from Grainger today. This looks nothing like the foam on chest/back in the CRL. I am not an expert on plastics, but this hardly looks like "closed cell." I am just gonna get black EVA foam sheets from Michael's to do this. That is much more like what the CRL pics have. I might go with 1/2" floor mats for the belt part cause that is gonna need to be much stronger than this stuff.

You had to paint the hip parts tan, right? or is the main piece black, with tan hard plastic on top? (Sahara Beige, I know). Is it just the connective pieces that are foam? Neoprene is like wetsuit material, right, so more like a fabric than craft foam? That is probably a better way to go for mobility and comfort. The Captain CRL looks like black foam with tan paint flaking off real bad. On the Grunt CRL pic, that connector is tan, unweathered, and could just be another ABS/HIPS piece there. Can only see it on the back. I'm totally missing hip and thermal det parts from the box of armor I bought, but there's 2 guys in town already working on Squad Leader, so we don't need a 3rd and those look easy enough to make myself, but I wanna get it right.

So you're saying any foam is fine and I could probably just get the 1/4" thick 12x12 black square craft foam (EVA) fron an art supply store for the chest? Better to get it black if you can not deal with paint on a spot like that which needs to be flexible. Was gonna use 1/8" sintra for the hard parts on the hips. Foam of some kind would better for the big parts, so I will probably still order that big sheet. There's always mod podge or Smooth-on XTC3d to coat foam before painting. I hate plastidip. The way it peels off, so messy.

Ok, so I looked at the recommended foam linked in the pinned post about hip armor. That's 1/8" thick Plastazote, or closed-cell polyethylene foam, in a sheet 33" x 31" for like $32. I did a bit of searching and found 1/4" thick closed cell polyethylene foam sheets, 24" x 54" at Grainger for $12. I'd prefer thicker for the hips, cause that's gonna get bumped around a bit. I was just wondering about how tough it is to paint, cause this stuff only comes in "charcoal" not "black." Does it stay flexible when painted? Do you coat it with something first? Everything I've read says it doesn't absorb water like other foams, so it should be paintable, right? https://www.grainger.com/product/GRAINGER-APPROVED-Water-Resistant-Closed-Cell-5GDK0 - select pick up in store to avoid shipping costs. That's where I buy ABS sheets for vac-forming.

I see you've gotten better at printing since we traded parts on the mercs forum so many years ago. I got a 2nd hand kit (very early as far as ST's) and am trying to figure out what needs to be replaced and if I'm capable of fabricating it myself. Might message you if you get those files working for yours. Been sanding and carving away at the the old resin 850 helmet I got and it's got some real issues that I don't think putty and sandpaper are gonna fix. I wouldn't wear something that big, 3d printed though. Gonna have to find vac-formed shins too, cause all I got were the resin front details and buckles in this box.

I believe that SC based his on the Rubies/Don Post one, which was assumed to be correct aside from the cheap vinyl construction. Interesting to see side-by-side cause I don't think any other vendor has access to a screen used helmet (maybe Altmans, as they were officially licensed to make theirs). Honestly, I emailed SC earlier this year about replacing my 2013 armor and he told me to buy from RS for the accuracy. I've had bad experiences with RS and that combined with the price makes me lean more toward SC for armor, but I understand RS has the most screen accurate parts.

These are the $60 ones from Journeys. Brand is J95. I would need to darken the sole, but other than that, these work, right?

Awesome. Thanks!

Coyote brown nylon looks nothing like the CRL picture. The text of the CRL says "nylon," but the picture looks more like canvas. I'm at an army surplus store looking at coyote brown nylon belts from Rothco and they do not look like the CRL at all. Thoughts?

So, I got a pair of brown J95 Jump Chelsea boots from Journeys (can only find link to the black ones on the website - https://www.journeys.com/product/mens-j75-by-jump-chelsea-boot-black-370944?c=3302 ) to wear with my Mandalorian. They were only $60, cheap for leather boots. I recently got some Shoretrooper armor and figured, hey, these are perfect. The sole is more dark brown than black, but the CRL doesn't say anything about the sole and the ones in that picture don't look real black.

just saying I have done a lot of spray painting and Krylo n Classic Grey is the most inconsistent I have seen outside of budget brands or very, very old cans.

I'd stay away from Krylon classic grey. That's what I used for my full size death star wall and every time I spray (been repaired and repainted many times in 6 years) that color comes out different. Even the beginning of the can will be different from the end. It's got to be the most inconsistent color of spray paint I have ever used.

I tried putting an ice pack in my back tank (screws to the L-braces inside backplate to remove it) at DragonCon 2014. That was a mistake. Condensation on the tank dripped down my back and I was soaked by the time I had walked from the Ritz to the Hyatt.

in the side view, the face should line up with the visor, not stick out at all. That will make it fit flush against the rest of the bucket. Just push the face forward a hair at the bottom before you glue. You might want to go ahead and drill out the holes for the bolts, maybe not full size, but just enough to be able to stick something thru and keep it lined up there while glue dries. edit: that tape around the bottom is probably forcing this

My sale thread is pretty old, but I can still cast blasters. I will say mine are the size of the Kenner, so not acceptable for Lancer. There are definitely a lot of basic level approved scouts carrying them though. Thanks for including me (NegativeEleven) on the list.

Also, has "pouches affixed to bund" always been in there? The one Han throws against a tree clearly has pouches attached simply at the top cause they flop all the way up.

Aside from different ways to hang pouches and new cummerbunds as my waistline grew, I haven't worked on my scout much since approval in 2013, but it looks like I picked the right time to give up on Retrobrite and just paint all the armor. I was about to order new elastic, and thought I should check to see if the sizes had changed. They have, I see. I know I probably missed a bunch of conversation on this, but shoulder bridge material is now supposed to be the same color as the pouches/side strap/drop box strap. I disagree. My GML made me do that for approval initially, then we got a new GML and I showed him screen caps and talked about how that wasn't even in the CRL at the time. I think the pouches, side straps (under arm between chest and back), and drop box straps all match, but the shoulder bridge is always white. I had it white (with everything else off-white), had to lightly spray paint elastic to get 501st approval, then 6 months later made new white ones and I thought I was done. I know it's optional, but is there a screen example of this?

I safety pin all my Velcro closed before washing. The times I have forgotten to do this i have had fabric shredded by velcro. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

Just saw this. Thanks NC. I don't come back here as often as I should. It's been a year since I have poured a blaster, but the mold should still be intact if anyone wanted one. Since Duff and DVH started offering blasters in 2015, I figured I'd just step aside since theirs were so much more accurate. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

I have said before, when I carry a big gun, I prefer Dengar's Valken 38, even if the new Battlefront only put it in Clone Wars snipers' hands. Based on the old Battlefront games, the only source when I started building, the barrel shroud is square, not round. Still, thanks for getting this change thru. It's a discussion that has been going on here since before I started my journey to 501st approval 5 years ago. I do hope most scouts will still be carrying just a holdout blaster, cause we are "bikers" first and "scouts" second. You can't very well use a sniper rifle while driving a speeder bike! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

2 months old, so maybe I am too late but... saw this and have to point out, the horizontal lines should be level. the tube shape of back of helmet lines up with ridge on visor and top of back part lines up with top of visor. Your visor looks like it's leaning down/forward. You may have trimmed too much. You might be able to cut the hole in the main helmet to bring the bolt back a little. Then trim visor's back edge a little to make the face come up a little. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

I don't know if "beautiful" is the word I would use. I just sold a friend's RS TK for him and it took a while to find a buyer who was familiar enough with the original to know that the bumps are screen accurate. It's beautiful to us, but not necessarily to the general public. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

I hit mine with Rustoleum crystal clear for the UV protection after i used Retrobrite to try and reverse the yellowing. Maybe car wax is what you want if you're just trying to keep the black from your blasters from rubbing onto the armor. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

Got mine at Lowe's. The bolt top is 1 inch diameter. I think the bolt is 3/4 inch long. Not sure if total length is measured or just threaded part. Threaded part is 3/4 inch, but whole bolt length is just under 1 inch. I painted it with Rustoleum Winter Grey. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk