Geographer

I started with the coveralls because it served as the base of the whole costume. The relatively simple modifications you have to do for it also makes it a good place to begin. Then I would suggest putting together the chest/back plates and the belt. Once you see where these bits of armor rest on your body, you can figure out the measurements for the cummerbund (which, in my opinion, was the most annoying part of the costume to deal with). Then I'd go ahead and put together the rest of the armor bits!

Hey Chunk sorry for the super late reply. I didn't prewash the material (completely didn't even cross my mind) and that's exactly why I've been afraid to wash it until recently. I'm also pretty sure the jumpsuit wasn't prewashed either and that's what's causing a lot of the black dye transfer to the bund. I think im going to take woolite to it like you suggested. Putting it in the washing machine on cold and gentle cycle got rid of some sweat but the black dye is still there. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Sorry about posting this in the wrong section, guys! I'm doing this all on my phone and I must have pushed something by accident. Could this please be moved to soft parts? Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Hello scouts, I've put a few miles on my scout trooper costume with the amount of trooping I've done and it's starting to show. This is especially true when it comes to my cummerbund. I seem to have sweat through my jumpsuit in the summer heat and now some of the black has been transferred on my bund. I'd like to wash it to get it back in order, but I'm really unsure on exactly how to do it. I made the bund out of duck cloth with 80% cotton / 20% polyester quilt batting inside. Anyone have experience washing a bund similar to mind or is anyone an expert on washing fabrics? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

You mean a mic tip that acts as a speaker? Give this thread a look: http://forum.bikerscout.net/index.php?showtopic=15254

Hey Tarrif! I, too, am a taller scout. I'm 6'3" and can confirm that SC armor will fit you well for your height. As far as for your head goes... SC's bucket might not fit you very well. People with smaller heads than I have had trouble fitting into it, and I think our heads are similar sizes. I definitely recommend looking at spike's "barn find" helmet thread in the trade sub-forum. He is selling Altmann helmets and it fits my large head great with lots of room to spare. I couldn't recommend it enough!

Thanks Nigel! I guess I am super impatient because it felt like it was taking an eternity to complete this. I've never done something this ambitious so maybe that's why. I hope my speed can be an inspiration for all future scouts lol Taking it a bit slower might have been a good idea just to work out some of the kinks before completing it, though (mainly in that damn cummerbund). Still, feels super good to have it officially completed and approved!

Thanks Ted! It's got a few noticeable issues, but man does it feel great to have this done.

Hey Everyone! It's been a long time since I updated this, but I have a pretty major update and wanted to share it. The build is by all means, done! I had a bit of trouble for a while with the sewing, but I finally managed to make my pouches and finish the details of the cummerbund in time. It also took me about three weeks because of my lack-of-time, but I finally finished cutting out the notch details in the boots. (I have the calluses on my fingers to prove it!) ------------------------------ Please be warned, this is by no means a perfect build and there are quite a few things that will need to be fixed/upgraded as time goes on. It's mainly the cummerbund that needs some touching up to do. First of all, that camel toe effect is... yikes. Not a huge fan of that. It also needs to be tapered in the back to stop the sides from flaring out of the bottom chest armor. The pouches also seem a bit too low for where they probably should be. An inch higher and it'll be good! Finally, I swear I've sewn on the seven lines needed in the front of the bund, but they really didn't come out that prominent. I don't know how that happened, but they're there when you look at it up close! Yes, some things look a bit sloppy, but nothing that can't be fixed in the long run! I'm surprised I even got it done at all, and probably wouldn't have without the help of my friends and the NER! Overall, I'm super happy with it and can't wait to start trooping in this thing. Here are some pics of the whole thing together: WARNING! ULTRA SLOPPY BACK PICTURE. TOTALLY BUMPED INTO SOMETHING BEFORE THIS WAS TAKEN!

Hey all, I'm finally on my last part of my build which are the pouches. I know one of the requirements for the pouches is that there are no visible stitches, but I'm new to sewing and I'm confused on how to do that with the flaps. I'm using a pattern that calls for tabs on all the sides of pouch, including the flaps. I assume these are there to fold and stitch in order to give a nice, clean edge. Though I can't see a way to do that without the stitches showing on the outside the flap. Anyone have any tips for hiding stitches on the flaps? Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Soooooo. Very. Clooooose. This update is mainly about the cummerbund and the thigh suede patches. The cummerbund... boy oh boy. It sure took a while to get going but it's finally done. Well, I say that but in reality this will be Cummerbund 1.0. It has a couple issues that I think can't be completely fixed so I think a new cummerbund will be in order soon. This one doesn't look too bad when it's all on. It just isn't perfect. Here it is: It looks pretty wrinkly and the lighting makes the lines hard to see in this picture but I've sewn 7 lines into the front of the bund when I think I should have stuck with 6. Also, the major issue is that I made the bund too short so I added material to the back end so I can close it nice and tight. I haven't taken a picture of it, but I think it's mostly covered in the back by the overlapping side. It's just unfortunate that I didn't add those extra couple inches at first so it could have been avoided. The codpiece also does that "camel toe" thing, especially when it's too tight. I've seen pandatrooper's fix for this, but I think that is more worth doing for Cummerbund 2.0. In the meantime, I'll try and come up with a jury-rigged version that wont make it look... well like a camel toe. Speaking of that, here is the pinned version of my suede thigh patches: I had no help at all pinning these so they probably aren't completely perfect , but they look pretty good to me. It's been suggested to me that I take this to a tailor because these can be a real pain in the butt for a novice sewer. If anyone sees anything insanely wrong, please let me know! ------------------ Hopefully this will be one of the last updates. After I craft these pouches, it should be approval pictures time. If only work didn't get in the way this would be gone by the end of the week!

Alright, time for another update! My job has it where the only chance I get to work on my scout is the weekend so that's why updates have been slow. I'm really happy to say that the build is finally almost done! Here is a picture of the entire costume so far (sorry about the terrible quality and the fact that it was hastily put on). To me it looks like it's nearing completion: The only two things missing from my costume now are the dreaded cummerbund and the just-as-dreaded suede patch. I'm deciding to bring my flight suit and suede to a tailor to get sewn on professionally. As far as I've read on here, those patches are just too much trouble. I'm going to attempt the beginnings of the cummerbund with my girlfriend this weekend and we'll see what happens. If it's a complete disaster, I'll be looking out for one on here! So here's what I got done since my past post: ----------------------------------------------- Boots: The boots are now pretty much 99.5% complete. They came out amazing and I really need to thanks Navajo Bro for how great they look. The only thing left to do now is to cut out the details on the bottom wheat part of the boots. We followed the boot tutorial on here and it worked like a charm. I'm just thankful my feet stopped growing at a size 13 US. Otherwise finding the base boots might have been much harder. Vest: The next thing we (my girlfriend, mostly) did was put together the vest. We just followed the vest tutorial on here and it worked out wonderfully and saved a ton of money doing it. These were two black 2XL heavy cotton t-shirts and some batting in the sleeves. Take a look at the results: If you look at the first full ensemble picture I posted, you can see the vest flares out from the bottom of the shoulders bells like it does in the scout trooper crl. I really recommend going a t-shirt size larger than that you normally wear for this reason. Everything, to me at least, seems perfectly sized and at the right lengths. Helmet Padding: I was super concerned about using a hot glue gun with my helmet due to potential plastic warping and I wasn't much of a fan of how the 1" yellow project foam looked when I test-taped it into my bucket so I decided on a different approach. A member on the NER forum suggested I take a look at Condor helmet padding like he had in his scout bucket. These helmet pads felt way better than I imagined! Not only that, but they keep my helmet incredibly secure on my head. I thought that the sheer size of my massive planet-like head would rip the side-cheek pads right off each time I put on the helmet, but they hold on strong each time. I must have put on the helmet 10 times now without any issues. Here is what it looks like inside my Alt: Thermal Detonator: And here's a quick picture update to my messed-up TD. It has since been fixed and here's what it looks like now: - I'm really excited with the progress we've made with this costume and I'm even more excited to be so close in finally joining the 501st with it. So far I've had a blast hanging out/making my armor with them and can't wait to finally be a trooper Just a little more and I'll trooping out there!

Thanks for the kind words Retrofire! You can't go wrong with the SC kit. Jeff was super speedy with the delivery and was quick to awnser any questions I had. You'll love it and it's really easy to put together! Haha the backwards TD greeblies were something I was going to address in my next update! Those are pretty embarrassing because I was trying to be super careful about the placement while doing it. I was looking at Pandatrooper's build and the picture he had put the rank badge turned 180 degrees, so that's what I did with mine. No worries, though! It has since been fixed, the hose painted the proper shade of grey, and has been re-assembled to (hopeful) perfection. Good eye, Peter! I bet you'll have yours done error free once you get it!

Here with another major check off the build item list. My Altmann helmet came in from Australia and I am absolutely ecstatic! I wanted to show off some of the pics because it's a helmet absolutely worth showing off. I also know a lot of people consider this helmet when looking for their first, so maybe this can be a decision making tool as well. Here it is, the Altmann scout helmet: If anyone is interested in the rest of my build it is nearing it's completion. I'll have pictures of the parts I've been working on hopefully by next week. The boots are pretty much complete, the vest is pretty much put together, and and besides that the hard parts have been put together. The final beast in the way is the cummerbund and, with the help of my girlfriend and tons of reference photos, it will be conquered.

I don't know if the helmet bag on Trooperbay is wildly overpriced as far as bags go, but that's what I have and it fits my Atlmann scout helmet just fine.

Hey can I ask where you bought your padding? I'm looking for some military grade padding for my future Altmann as well! Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Just to elaborate, Lancer status refers to an extra set of costume requirements on top of the basic 501st approval requirements that would make your costume even more screen accurate. For example, and as Nexous pointed out, a scout can use faux suede patches and flaps to simply pass basic approval, but you must use real suede patches and flaps if you want your scout to have "level two certification" (or Lancer as it is called here). Lancer applies to both scouts and shadow scouts, though both have slightly different Lancer requirements (if I remember correctly). If you check out the scout trooper costume reference library (CRL) on the 501st website, you can see what alteration/modification/requirement would make each part Lancer spec by looking at each items "level two certification" bullet points in blue text. You may already know this, but I just wanted to elaborate in case anyone reading gets confused (it confused me a bit when I first started researching all this). And if anyone has more experience with this than I, please correct me if I got something wrong. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I may be in the market for a cummerbund w/ pouches after I try and (most likely) miserably fail to make my own so I'll be following your progress on this closely I'm no expert by any means but those pouches look good to me. Good luck and I'm excited to see more of your work!

Thanks for the clarification! I updated my post to reflect your more accurate information. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

A lot of it depends on what your budget is, how much work you want to put into it, and what your head size is. LoneWolf helmets are said to be the best, but they are also incredibly rare and it seems that LoneWolf is no longer making them. If you find one you should go for it, but you might be waiting a long time. The scout helmet I've seen most recommend here is the Altmann which is made by Spike here on the boards. It comes ready out of the box (well, minus the liner), it has a chin cup to meet Lancer spec, and it's recommended for big heads. You can check out his thread in the trade forum once you have 5 posts (post once more and you should be good!). I'm still waiting for mine, but you can see how many people love their Atlmann's once they get their hands on it! It's also a huge plus that Steve (Spike) is active in the community. Studio Creations (SC) also makes a helmet alongside their fantastic armor. You have to put it together yourself, or you can pay $200 on top of the helmet price to have it assembled for you. Be warned, it runs on the smaller side so if you have a small head you should look elsewhere. Though I've heard very little complaints besides the size issue. You can also get the MLCv3. It has bit of a narrow look in the face plate. This isn't a bad thing, just personal preference! Edit for better information: According to Tim, the helmet from MLC actually comes very quickly (just two weeks in the States)! I had it associated with the MonCal scout armor which I've been hearing takes a while. Kropserkel (KS) makes a helmet with their armor but I'm not too familiar with it. It seems like a fair amount of people here have them, though! I don't have my helmet yet so I'm no authority, but I thought I'd share some of the names I learned and some helmet knowledge I picked up while surfing the boards for awhile. I'm sure someone will come along who has multiple helmets and can tell you way more than I can! Also, you already learned one of the major things when it comes to these helmets. Stay. Away. From. Rubies! (Also don't trust eBay until you consult your finding with the knowledgeable folk here on the boards.) Good luck! Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Thanks for that belt guide, Jim! I'm definitely going to redo the belt to act as one solid piece, but I think that will come after general approval (I'm so excited to get out there and troop!) Issues/Questions: Some scout build's I've seen have an all-gray thermal detonator while others have the one I got with SC. Which is appropriate and does my TD need repainting? Are my pin-stripes on the tank place correctly? Something about them seems off and I can't get it right no matter how many times I replay the vinyl. Are my shoulder straps looking alright (the ones that connect the shoulders to the chest/back)? Does the black elastic go over or under the cotton webbing? For the real suede riding patches, do I sew on the suede directly to the flight suit or do I put Velcro on both the suit and the patches for easy removal? I'm hearing tons of different methods for this and I'm unsure what path to take. Even more progress have been made! I have to thank Navajo Bro once again for showing me how all this is done / letting me use his workshop space / measurements / putting together some of the trickier parts / food! Together we completed about 90% of the hard armor plastic pieces. This is the finished product (sorry for that stupid head in the picture)! I noticed from this picture that the Redkap suit is a little baggy in some places This is especially true above the knees. I think this can be fixed once the boots are complete, but if that doesn't do it I think I'll be able to take the bottom of the legs in a bit to make it more form fitting. The collar of the Redkap has been folded, stitched, and we've added the Velcro strap for a Mandarin collar. Here's a picture of the back. We also got the thermal detonator done as well. I was really surprised to learn it's all held together by zip ties and juice bottle caps (and glue). I am really confused about the color, however. I've been a few builds weere the TD is colored grey... but others were it is colored the way I have it? Does this need to be painted grey? Thermal Detonator: Here's the thermal det up close. Some of the greeblies have some excess glue but that'll be taken care of. Also, the cuts for the zip tie is a bit rough but making that cut just big enough to fit it was a doozy: Chest/Back Plates: Since that picture, I've added the tank topper decals as well as the grey square decal on the front chest plate. Here's nearly what it looks like now: It's nearing completion, but it's just missing a few little things. For one, the white fabric loop which covers the shoulder bridges is missing, and we kinda forgot the rivet on the tank topper... that'll be fixed soon! I'll make that fabric loop at a later date, but I've actually been working on the tank's missing pin-striping while I've been type this. This is my best attempt so far: I've pulled up a ton of reference photos and I keep seeing different positions/lengths for both vertical and horizontal stripes. I didn't press down too hard on the vinyl stripes for this reason. I want to be able to easily peel off the stripes because I know they will need some replacing. Something about the pin-stripes just seems... off. Also, I'm not sure why I stopped at 4 rank stripes. It just felt right! What rank would that even be? Here's a head-on view of the tank if it helps: We used cotton elastic to connect the chest and back plates. I'm definitely thinking about rounding the plastic edges. Not that I feel it, I just think it might look better: This is the T-strap connecting the top of the chest and back plates. The white fabric is cotton webbing instead of nylon just to make it more screen accurate. Though, this part is covered by a white fabric loop, so how would anyone know if this strap is cotton or nylon? Regardless, we stuck with cotton. Also, terrible posture warning: Forearms/Biceps/Shoulder Bells/Knees: Unlike our first attempt with the forearm pieces which was secured by sewing the elastic, we decided to use velcro to make things more adjustable. This was important because I've yet to make my vest, and the shoulder bell straps are sure to need more clearance. Here's the line up: Boots: We also got started on the scout boots! I got a pair of KMAX2's from Kmart for $20 as the base. It has a really great wheat sole which is perfect for the scout boot. The fabric is white marine vinyl I picked up from Joanne's for $20/yrd (1 yard seems to be more than enough): Next steps: Vest: should be completed in a day. Cummerbund: I have the duck cloth, the batting, and the sewing machine. Putting this together seems pretty intimidating... but it will be done! Suede patches: I got a 4 foot black pigskin suede split from Tandy Leather which seems like it'll be enough.

This is also helping me out with my tank pin stripe placement right now. Did you guys have to trim the largest pin stripe (the one that goes horizontal connecting the other two stripes) so that it wasn't too wide? Mine looks too long on both sides even when I have it centered.

I'd love to install in a self-contained speaker in my helmet when it arrives. I wonder if anything special would need to be done with an Altmann to install it. Ukswrath's system looks great and simple to put it. Count me as interested! Also cool video! It was clear and I liked the editing.

Hey Jim, thanks for the reply! We were going with the instructions that came with the SC armor which called for the rivet set up we had there. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to go with those instructions to the letter? I wasn't planning on going Lancer right out of the gate, but I would like to at some point after I get approved. I'm still not familiar with working on ABS, but are there methods do remove the pop rivets and fill in the holes if it came to that? Or would an entirely new belt in order? Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Actual build progress! I want to thank Navajo Bro (BSN member and the Northeast Remnant's XO) and my girlfriend for helping me out with these parts and showing me how to get started in general. I feel much more comfortable with building after spending a few hours working on my armor with him. The belt has been built! Bro and I followed the instructions that came with the SC armor which called for the three belt pieces to be riveted together. This disqualifies the belt from meeting Lancer requirements, but that's fine because I'm only trying to get as close as I can to Lancer (though one day I'll get there)! I'm planning on painting the rivets white to not draw too much attention to them. If you have any criticism on the belt, please let me know! The Completed Belt Riveted Side Boxes Screws holding the elastic drop box straps to the overall webbing It fits well! Anyone have any criticism about the drop box length? I'll put up a full body picture to get a better sense of scale in a moment. (Click to enlarge) Besides the belt, we also worked on the forearm strapping! I had a vague idea on how to sew the straps before, but watching how it was done was super helpful. Both sites are sewn close. No snaps or anything of the sort. Do you guys think this is the best way to keep the straps on? I still gotta do the knee straps so I could try another method if its more secure. And here's everything so far all put together! I apologize for the mug shot (and the toilet paper). Hopefully there will be a scout bucket covering that up in the near future! I couldn't figure out exactly how the forearm pieces went on in relation to the gloves, but I imagine the upper lip of the forearm pieces go over the gauntlet part of the gloves? It's probably hard to tell if everything looks good without all the other pieces in place, but let me know if anything seems off! Finally, I wanted to post about the greeblies. We did the tank topper and the bicep last night and the good thing is they're not falling off. That's a huge plus! The tank topper has some overflow residue issues and I'm still trying to find a way to elegantly remove the residue without pulling off the greeblie. Does anyone have a method on how to do that? The good thing is I think it is almost ready to be riveted to the back piece!