indylead

Another vote for Alt. It was one of the reasons I looked for one (that, plus I have a big head!). Somewhere on here was a thread or two discussing the sizes; someone had collected some numbers, if that helps. That was what I used to make the decision. One issue with glasses is the fogging - but there are other threads on that

Ooops....got caught up with trooping and other projects and never reported back to this. After a year of trooping with the longer redkapp suit - much, much better. Much less tight over the knee and crotch when I crouch down, and far more comfortable. Also of note...double-ended zip. This is the best thing ever to wind up your fellow TKs as the (male) Scouts can visit the toilet without having to take anything off I also didn't need to do too many mods on the suit. The legs were a little tighter so didn't need to be changed; the rest was pretty much as normal. Don't over-estimate the ability to crouch down to get on a level with kids. We're a little less scary that way, plus I can sit the ewok (Number One Suspect) on my knee next to them - he's a huge hit. Only downside is it's hard standing up again later in the day

I've been using a motorcycle visor spray on both the visor and my glasses and it works a treat. Hint - do NOT let your TK friends borrow it to use - it dissolves the green coating on their visor. I've put a small fan in the snout, blowing air downwards when I'm trooping in cold weather -- this way moves my breath out of the helmet rather than into the front of the helmet. In hot weather I reverse it to blow the air up over my head instead to keep me a little cooler.

I added a 3D printer fan to my helmet, run off a 9V battery. It was more to keep the visor and my glasses from steaming up; I've orientated it to send my breath downwards out of the helmet. However...given the size of it (2" x 2" x 3/4") it would probably fit elsewhere in the helmet (buckets of space...pun intended) to move air around to cool you.

Pittards in the UK.

New redkap long received and initial signs are it'll be just fine. Will report back once I've finished modding it. Thanks, everyone.

This was the last thing I did on my costume as it was pretty daunting. I did manage to do it without undoing any seams or special sewing machine attachments. I had a two-piece patch, one at at time. I used lots and lots of pins to keep it in place. Then added more pins. DO NOT FORGET THE ELASTIC STRAPS Then more pins. Just to be sure. Then just go very slowly, very carefully. It's tricky, for sure, but I did get there eventually. Of course, I now get to do it all again as I'm changing my flight suit. Yay.

I suspect most of us are far to old that parcels should be exciting....and yet we've all been there Good luck with the build!

I was thinking of a screw-on end - but the elastic would be easier with the caribina as a backup.

Cheers, Oblivion. Not sure I would trust my house and bike keys to a push-in end

Welcome, ScoutAdept. With enough sponge padding or a hard-hat liner I would have thought you could make any bucket fit. I think some people have used motorcycle helmet liners, too, although from experience that would be far too hot for me. You get used to the weight - people still think my motorcycle helmets are heavy, but I don't notice it - and Scout buckets are a *lot* lighter!

I like the sound of that, Oblivian - any more info/photos?

Glad I read this as I've just upgraded to the red kap and after the first troop with no pockets wondered what I was going to do with my keys (pouches are removable and whilst fairly firmly attached with two press studs, having my phone, house and bike keys in there made me nervous!).

LOL I thought that might happen with the riveter...but not yet. I do however have some very neatly arranged computer cables as *someone* had a shedload of velcro left over.

I have an Altmans with a 3D printer fan in the snout - keeps the visor clear and cools my face. I'll add a second once summer arrives. It's very quite, even after moving from a 6V set up with AA batteries to the 9V. Not expensive, and plenty of room in the helmet for the battery pack (9V switched holder) in the bulge at the bottem of thh helmet. I do need to work out the best way of working it with the mic I just bought - the mic does pick up the fan noise. I think I just need to play with the locations. I've tried a throat mic but can't get it to work at all for me.

After several years with a motorcycle and wearing glasses I've tried and given up on all the 'put X on your lens' ideas - they may work for some people, but when you have three surfaces fogging up the coatings make it just as hard to see. Since any form of ventilation does work, I went this route and added a 3D printer fan in the snout that blows air up into the visor. I can also feel this on my face, and it keep my glasses clear as well. 9V switched battery holder wired directly to the fan. Both are velcroed in place for easy removal. Total cost if you get it all right first time isn't high, and I'll add a second just as soon as it gets warm enough to need something more.

I just bought a small hand-held one for a few euros - it even came with the right sized rivets for the boot. And useful to keep in case I have to repair the boots!

Yeah - but being able to kneel down for photos with little kids would be useful too.

Had to laugh though - Gearing up for my first troop, everything on apart from gloves, bucket and balaclava. Drop balaclava on floor. Go to bend over and YOWIE!! that's not going to happen...

Thanks guys. Sounds like the Redkap long should do the job. Once I've worked out which one to keep, I'll put the others up for sale!

Hard hat liner here, too, for my Altmann. Funny, I literally just added the photo to my build thread, but I know Oblivian has already found it! I've just done the nuts up finger tight so as not to over load anything. This isn't enough that the front will stay open - I've no need to try that, and would be reluctant to I think!

It's tricky as the elastic is folded over plus the velcro - I could make the slots wider, of course. I will go back and look at this at some point, but I've a few other things I want to tweak first. Snap fasteners are probably the way I will go, too. I picked some up after seeing a TK build video, and have already used them to hold my pouches on (2x 15mm fasteners per pouch) in place of the crappy sew-on ones I originally used.

And finally, the helmet liner. I originally used velcro to hold pieces of foam - one on top, one behind my head and one on my forehead. I found after the first time out that whilst this was comfortable enough, except when I turned my head fast, or nodded, the helmet tended to move independently to my head. Many people suggested using the liner from a cheap hard-hat, so I went the same route. For about €6 I picked up a cheap one from my local hardware store. A few minutes work with a dremel cut the moulded clip out of the hat. Handy hint - remove the liner from the clips first - you wouldn't want to cut through this with the dremel folks, would you? Once I had the six clips (the blue parts in the photo), I cleaned up the edges, and hot glued them in place inside teh helmet. I had to play a little, but as you can see there is one on either 'sideburn' panel, two on the forehead and the last two behind the head. This is a whole lot more comfortable to wear, plus holds the helmet on my head. I did find halfway through my first troop that three clips had come adrift, and by the end of the day only one was still glued in place. I've now used two-part epoxy to hold them, as I'm having a poor success rate with both hotglue and E6000 on this build. I'm generally using hot glue as a 'first pass' to check things are working, then once it gives up I can remove it and use epoxy.

Some more photos that I didn't really capture well during the build. This shows the cooling fan I used. The fan is a cooling fan from a 3D printer. I used this one from eBay (3D Printer 12V 2 Pin DC 50mm 5015 Blow Radial Cooling Fan). This fits neatly into the snout, and can be angled to blow air directly onto the inside of the visor, plus you can feel it on your face too. It's pretty quiet, too, although the noise is picked up by a mic located nearby (more on this another time!) Two wires run to a 9V battery switched box. This is a PP3 switched box also from eBay. I originally used a AA battery holder wired up with a switch, but decided the higher voltage was going to put more air through, so upgraded and tidied the wiring. Also, the box has an integral switch and whilst I can't switch it on/off whilst wearing the helmet, I've found that is not a problem. The fan, battery box and wires are all held in place with velcro, and can be removed. Having already wrecked one fan (the fan spindle is open, so go easy with the glue. Not that anyone would be careless enough to glue it up), I have a couple of spares on order so I can make up a replacement in case I need it. Don't ask why the battery box has velcro on the top. We don't talk about that. Lets just say it's velcroed to the helmet with the 'right' type of velcro.

I shouldn't worry too much - I've not used the front slots on my armour - I pass the elastic straight to the inside face as it's too fiddly to thread the end through the slot once I have the armour on. My plan is to extend the lower strap so that it threads through the front slot permanently, but has enough play in it that I can tighten it up once the armour is on. Happy to help To be honest, I wanted to use Pandatrooper's elasticated one, but I just couldn't get my head around the best way to make it work with my shoulder straps and the larger gap that I needed, so went with (to me at least) a simpler solution.