bugdozer

Looking forward to seeing more of this! I'm building a Vader suit for my six year old right now.

Just out of curiosity... has anyone in the 501st actually approached Steve Sansweet or anyone about accessing the real thing in order to get accurate layout/measurements? If done carefully and with diplomacy it could yield results.

Yes, I recall a sandtrooper at Celebration Europe who looked like he'd been rolled in a swamp... a bit much.

I'm interested to know where people stand on weathering. I know the majority of biker scouts in the film were on Endor and looking a bit grubby, but there are some nice shiny ones on the Death Star and I think I prefer the shiny new looking effect. Does the 501st have an official policy on scout trooper weathering? (I know snow troopers for one are required to have it). Also if you do go down the weathering route, are you allowed to do it to the blaster as well? The plain black blaster look always strikes me as looking a bit too much like what it is, i.e. a fake rubber gun.

And here they are... Size M (based on their chart) they are snug but not tight. I think a larger size might be a little loose in some directions but to anyone dithering between two sizes, I'd say choose the upper rather than the lower. The first piece of my costume, too!

Mine are in transit. Now I'm worried they'll be too small, even though I went with their sizing chart.

I know someone who is a professional costume designer, who is heavily into various cosplay genres (and is even a Slave Leia from time to time). Since my sewing skills are rubbish, I asked her if she might be able to help me out stitching the suede onto my flight suit. But she got skittish when she found out it was for the 501st and is worried she won't get it to look right for, as she called it "their insanely detailed specifications". I can understand she doesn't want to be the cause of me failing entry. But it occurred to me that in looking through all the in progress builds on here and the UK Garrison board, I've not seen any comments saying "nope, that suede won't pass clearance". Does anyone here know of membership being denied due to that issue alone? It seems to be hard to get it wrong.

OK I sent another. It's in Outbox.

Chef, I messaged you on the UK Garrison board. It's not showing up under "sent messages" though, weirdly...

For my hard armour, I see lots of recommendations for the SC and MC sets. I believe either are of fine quality, but I do want to get the one which is the best size for my body. I'm 5'10" tall and weigh about 70kg (sorry I don't know what that equates to in US pounds!) So I guess I'm average height and slim build, of these armour sets which do you think would be the best fit for my body? I know I can trim it to an extent and the advantage of the Scout over the Stormtrooper is the gaps between the sections allow for a certain flexibility, but I want to get the look right. BTW if anyone has any other recommendations feel free to message me, especially for parts to source in the UK. Got my gloves, boots, cummerbund and pouches sorted already but little else.

I don't know what this means

Reassuring to know you got them from the same place I did! Marcel has told me he makes some components and I've seen recommendations from other members of gear he's made, so I want to talk to him about some bits and bobs. I am 5'10" in height and fairly slim, and my head isn't big at all, so I reckon even the smaller varieties of helmet would do me.

Well, I just ordered the first part of the costume - the gloves. I figured if I am intending to join Vader's Fist... start with the fists!

Thanks for the tips. I have sent a registration for the UK Garrison forum now.

OK, obviously I need every component of the costume in order to become a Biker Scout. But also, there are gonna be some components I need to get before others - for example in order to trim armour to a proper fit for me I will have to have the flight suit under it already. At the moment I have no costume at all. Can anyone offer any advice on what parts I really need to obtain first? Also, if there is some piece that's incredibly difficult to obtain then maybe I should aim for that first, to avoid a situation where I have the costume 95% completed and then get stuck?