01Hawk

Thanks! I just wanted to make sure I got the soles as close as possible. I would rather spend the $ on something relatively comfortable. Hope to get a pair this week and get started.

Does anyone have a pair that they can post a pic of the sole color? Like a well lit pic the closely shows the color. I have the screen caps but honestly think they look light than the average work boot sole. I can't find a pair of US boots that I can try on in a store that are close. My Target doesn't have boots. The Walmart ones ( which I hate shopping at ) don't look like good match soles. Payless has 2 styles - one is too dark I think and the other which is closer are steel toe. Thoughts or input would be appreciated. Hate ordering shoes online cause the sizes vary from make to make

Thanks Christian. I dont think the visor will easily accept the 3M bolts as the face of the bolt is too thick and there is minimal indent in the visor. I worked on it today, gluing 3 plastic washers together to try and space the one side out and it made it better but may need one more washer. Problem is now it through off the fit of the other side and kinda twisted the face ( visor isn't glued to the faceplate yet). I am going to get more washers and now shim the other side. Is there something with the way I glued the top on that would mess this up? Does everyone else's fit flush along with flush bolts? Aside from heating the visor and rolling the hole inward to make a pocket I don't see how the bolts would ever sit flush. Does everyone else's lines at the ears line up?

What kind of bolt do you use behind the disc. Your solution looks really good

Thanks again Christian. With this being a fairly common helmet I was hoping to have some people share their experiences to see how they overcame it or if it is just mine. Aside from gluing the lid in the top there really isn't much adjustemnt. The 3M bolts won't be long enough if I have to use washers to space out the visor to meet the back half of the helmet. I do have a lot of picture of yours and they definitely help! In looking at some other pictures of people with their helmets on it seems some people just let it go and have a huge lip/gap with the visor to the back piece- I don't want that- I want the side lines to be as even as possible and th visor to be relatively flush to the back. The left side of the helmet fits much much better. I will work on it this weekend since I kinda want to get this together and done.

Here are pic of my CB suit patches. Hope they help. I can try and get better ones when I have someone here to help take the pic

As far as the pieces and fit... I really think it is in the mold or something. I need the entire shell to be wider to fit better at the visor mount. It fits better with washers spacing the left side mount area out. The other side fits pretty nice. There really isn't much you can do to adjust anything on it that I am aware of. Hopefully others who have put the SC kit together to help with their experiences. Please note the holes are just rough cut till I get everything lines up and then I will clean them up.

Thank you very much for the advice Christian! As far as the bolts go .. I have 3 I am working with : black one ( from Lowes Hardware) , silver ones came with the SC kit and the gray 3M ones. The black ones I have cause I need longer threads to use the shims I think I am going to have to use to get the fit correct. The silver ones fit the best as far as being flush. The 3M ones will not sit flush at all. The reason they won't sit flush is because the indent/recession in the visor isn't very deep. On the fiberglass ones there is good bit of depth to the indent. I am going to try and fix this with heat and maybe a metal ball or some round object.

Shimmed with plastic washers and a different ( longer threads ) bolt. Obviously I would need to get the bolt seated in the visor better but will this be ok??

Thoughts? The one side is not even close to sitting flush. I can put a strip of Velcro or something to shim out the part that is by the ear but the part where the bolt is is a mess. I can shim out the upper part with plastic washers or scrap ABS but it has to go between the faceplate and the back/upper shell and needs to come out a good bit. I was going to shim the visor to the faceplate but the. The bolt won't lock in the square hole I made since the squared part of the bolt is not that long.

Big or not, that looks really cool! Good job!

That was actually the first thing that caught my eye Chef. For the $ I would like it all to very flush and inline ( part of being around auto body repairs too long I guess)

I like that the CB helmet looks more proportioned ... It looks more narrow and less flared out side to side along with a decent height.

Not sure if you added it already but don't forget the round button on the tanker topper.

Thanks for all the advice! I am going to have someone bring theirs over to teach me how to sew and see how that works out. Bought enough vinyl to practice with and have a spare RedKap suit as well to practice with as well.

Any thoughts on how to correct ? The other side lines up great.

One advantage of the efx helmet , which I think looks nice, is you can actually buy one unlike the LW helmet it is being compared to which doesn't seem to be available. I like the ears better than my SC one.

Got to drilling holes and playing with various bolt kits ( one I bought here and one that came with the SC helmet). I think I am sticking with the SC ones as they sit more flush than the other. The right side is not lining up- Sits in too deep compared to the back shell. I am going to get white washers for now and see how it looks shimmed and may make plastic spacers for it and glue them in. The sides will need to be velcrod down. The bolts will obviously be painted grey

Hobbytown USA sells sheets of ABS too. Comes in helpful for making reinforcement plates etc. not sure if you have one by you or not

I would think thin metal would work also ( I bought strips of abs and used a hair dryer )

I would have to measure the diameter but the silver tube is very much like swimming pool filter hose which comes in 1 1/4 " and 1 1/2 "diameters. I will check my SC one.

I cut a bit more off the upper part of my SC .. Mine is def not symmetrical but I wanted the opening to be bigger.

Thanks for the input! I don't mind spending money on the stuff if it is something I am gonna use ( as with any tool I buy). Part of the reason I got involved with this is to develop a new hobby and part of the fun would be making as much of the stuff myself vs buying it. I want to do a Jawa for my kid after this and a Fett too. With any hobby it is better to learn from the experiences , and mistakes, of others so I can focus spending the right amount of money in the right places. Appreciate the help.

Thanks Chex. After seeing how cheap material is I am just gonna buy a sewing machine and practice making stuff... Most I stand to lose is a couple dollars and best case is learn a new skill.

Is there a reason why very little is made in the US for this stuff? Obviously there are quite a few people in the 501st community. Are there soft parts vendors that are available here? I don't have an issue with ordering from outside the US, just curious and it is on topic for the original post.