stasz

Acquired my KS second hand from Darth Voorhees so it was already upgraded with correct bolts, decals, magnetic closure, and snout greeblie (and assembled very well). Hoping to pick up an RS, LW, or Altmann's down the road.

Long story short: there are several viable options if you don't want to drop the coin on an under armor...

I got this one from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00S0YA5GM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1466015147&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=Self+Pro&dpPl=1&dpID=41Zgb6f5a8L&ref=plSrch Way cheap, light, breathable. And I like that it can go over my mouth, up to my eyes, or just over my chin without getting bunchy and weird. Very versatile.

I don't know of a reputable maker who's helmet doesn't open. My KS doesn't flip open 90° but enough to see out off with it up, and yes, get some sweet, sweet breeze.

Heck yeah! I ended up doing the same to my sleeves too. Nice trick, laying out the jeans as a template.

Were the boots "used" or built for you? If they were built using the common methods, you could still redo them yourself. Likely would have to replace the upper "stove pipes", but it might not be a total loss.

Put the feelers out to the Great Lakes Garrison Scouts! And got a lot of encouragement from our TK FireTeam and TS Squad. Hopefully we'll have this rolling soon.

Dog bones are there, they do look a little further down toward the toe though than usual. Your bund is a little bunched up between the pouches. That may be helped by the Velcro you mentioned adding. You could secure it to the inside of the chest armour or the vest. I see you angled your shoulder bells. Rounding the corners - though not required - really looks great especially with that angle. You're close! Nothing too major, but the boot Velcro and dogbone do jump out to me.

Welcome to bs.n, SK7! Have a good long look around these pages. A wealth of information and experience are at your fingertips (and a bunch of good, helpful folks both old and new)! If you're even slightly handy with a sewing machine, you can absolutely make your own soft parts - flightsuit (modified coveralls), cummerbund/pouches, flak vest... Going this route can save a few bucks for sure. More info and even patterns for some parts can be found in the Soft Armor section. SC is definitely good stuff and they are hassle free to deal with..As for helmets, some are good and easy to come by, some are great and harder to get hold of. The opinions you'll find are primarily in regard to fit (large vd smaller heads, etc...) There are numerous threads in the helmet forum discussing various buckets and their attributes. The costume will always need to be adjusted somewhat to each wearer to obtain the best fit and overall look. We have many "Girl Scouts". I don't think their builds involve any special or significant differences, but I would peruse the build (WIP) threads in the Biker Scout HQ section. There are different ways of attacking just about everything. Take your time, read read read, and most importantly have fun! If you have any questions, just holler. Good luck with your project!

Looks great! Nice job.

I I've begun to think of it like something similar to a claymore.

I can wear my glasses uncomfortably in my KS. I usually slip it though. As Fox says, sports glasses might work great. Think of swimming goggles. They hold tight to your face, and are low profile. Should be able to inquire with your eye doctor about getting them. I work in a chemical plant and have to wear monogoggles all day over my glasses, but they also make these prescription goggle inserts that I've often thought of converting to use in my bucket. They clip inside the goggles and hang just away from your face. Like glasses with no ear pieces.

This is fantastic! Thanks for putting it together, Strider!

A good rule of thumb is "just past" the bottom of the shoulder bell... No more than an inch

In hindsight I thought redbird might've been talking about those plastic ones too. We have two drawers full at work...

Now, if you wanna talk codpiece attached to vest... There's some spirited debate there, and compelling arguments "For", but without definitive info both are acceptable as long as the correct overall look is achieved.

I'm going to venture a guess here and say that the cummerbund is required to be separate from the flight suit because we KNOW it's separate from the flight suit. Think of it like Kylo Ren. "Couldn't I just have sleeves instead of the whole tunic? No one sees that part." This might be true, but we know the layers and construction, hence the requirement.

For Lancer class, the knee rivets are required to be white. I think Stanley makes white rivets. They're aluminum, pre-painted. seen them at home depot.

Haven't heard that approach, but as 007 said, the visual of the rivet is what counts. Whether it's functional or not is inconsequential. It's common practice to use a dummy rivet on the tank topper, and that's been acceptable. This doesn't seem any different.

Technically, it would be visible as the stitch lines are quite pronounced on the outside of the boot. Especially if you weather: I know it's one of those things that can be tempting to just use what you have and see if it slips by the GML. But at the same time it's easy enough to do it right from the get go, and not have to worry about potentially having to rework things.

With a pair of coveralls, elastic, real suede, and even paying someone to put it together for you, you might still come out ahead. The necessary mods are fairly simple for a coverall conversion: -Remove all pockets. -Stitch or Velcro closed slash pockets. -Create "Mandarin collar" neck closure (flip up the collar, and sew on a flap that closes around the front of your neck). -attach suede "riding" or thigh patches. Patterns can be found in soft armour forum. -attach suede "mudflap" that nearly covers your keister. -attach thigh bands (commonly elastic) around the thigh, attaching underneath aforementioned thigh patches. Real suede for Lancer, faux suede acceptable for basic.

Nope. It's a TIE jumpsuit. Thigh, leg, arm pockets would all need to be removed, and suede riding patches and mudflap and thigh bands added. For the price and the amount of work you'd have to do, you would be far better off to get a pair of RedKap or Dickie's coveralls for $20-30 and make the appropriate mods.

You may run into slightly different hues if you were to source a different bucket, and there's been tell of some different shades to different KS armor parts over the years, but as a general rule, the ABS as is will be fine. And I've not heard of SC having color consistency issues.

Very nice! I'll be following. I'm thinking about painting my KS a it's a bit yellowed compared to my armor. I tried the retro brite mixture last summer and it helped, but a nice new paint job will put it over the top.

I'm surprised it's CA glue! But that's from the cats that make it...