Shada

Did my helmet liner yesterday - rather than gluing it in, I stuck velcro to the bits of the helmet outside and to the inside of the bucket, so I had room to adjust it: (the helmet liner had 6 straps rather than 4. I've just attached 4 to see how they go - may attach the others later or cut them off) Then did a full test in my armour, including an Aker fitted into my left pouch and (according to my family, nicely audible even with my helmet on). Here's the front-on pic - I'll add the full set of 4 to a pre-approval thread: I'd love feedback from others. I can see my bicep pieces need to rotate round to the front more, and my left drop box is a little higher than the right (I suspect I need to lower the left rather than raise the right), but otherwise it seems to make the reference pics. I have plans for building some TD clips over the next week as well. Eventually, I'll carve my soles, weather it a bit more and go for Lancer, but my main goal at present is to get basic approval so I can troop at Armageddon (basically NZ's version of comic-con) over 4-6 June. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I copied Mustangman's Velcro approach with the rivets merely decorative and it worked fine. Looks good, holds well and is removable if needed. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And now I have a bucket Spike's big brown box arrived today (I was actually bigger than the box I got my SC armour in). Just holding reminds me of how elegant the TB design actually is: All going well, I should be able to put some pre-approval pics up tomorrow or the next day and be ready to submit for approval this week! It's been a fun journey so far, and I've really appreciated all of the tutorials and advice on BSN, so I've excited to be this close to finishing.

Congrats Retro. I've appreciated your advice as I've been doing my build too. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Wookieevader - I'll try that on my next fitting 😀 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

SC's are basically stickers - worked fine for my tank. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Retro. I'm not sure what happened with the side view either - I cropped it but it looks like it squished instead 😟 Do you mean the connection between the front and back armour at the shoulders? I'm wondering if I need to curve the front armour more as it seems to meet at a tighter angle than I expected? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Have now finished the vest (using the pinned post, but marking the sleeves more of a traditional raglan shape) and pouches, complete with foam core lining to hold their shape (with a cut-out for comms gear): I don't have my bucket yet, but have sacrificed a hard hat to get the liner. I'll see how much of the white material I need to cut away to make it fit once the helmet arrives: It's very satisfying to be able to turn all of the components in my signature to green completed text! Here's what the whole ensemble looks like now that everything south of my chin is built, subject to any feedback others can provide: Just looking at it, I've realised that the tabs I have holding my pouches to the bund are sticking out from under the armour and look ugly, so I'll need to tidy those away (probably adding some velcro under the armour), and you can see a bit of excess strapping poking out from under my right dropbox (I'll cut that to size next). Does anyone see anything else that will need fixing? Thanks for any tips you have Shada

Thanks for the tip - have asked Benwbell about his technique Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Retrofire. I'll raise the right Dropbox - do you think the left one is at the right height? I've made cotton straps for the shoulders but haven't put them on yet as want to check the t-strap placement with my vest on first. And, yes, will go for Lancer eventually - once I overcome the psychological barrier of carving up my boots😀 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's all coming together now - lots of progress in the last week. Started by making some cotton straps to cover the shoulder joints, using leftover bund material and velcro. Once I've finalised my t-strap placement, I'll sew these onto it so it neatly covers the joint. Went to my first armour party last weekend and played with a power sander! Used it to size and shape my holster, which I've now attached to my boot with rivets holding it on and an elastic/velcro strap inside to secure it to my calf. Also found some white car touch-up paint so I could whiten the rivets on my knee armour. Today was Decal Day, as I've added all of SC's stripes onto the tank and chest now. Final hard armour adjustment was to build some magnetic connectors for my TD, which I'll connect once I find a long enough rivet! Started on the vest - basically using the pinned pattern, but angling the sleeve cut to make it more of a raglan-style, as in these photos. I've done most of my flight suit conversions myself, but sought help from my partner's mother this weekend. She has sewed the suede on, making it look a lot easier than it would have it I did it, then also took a heap of the bagginess out to make it much more form-fitting for Lancer standard. Finally, I've also outsourced the tricky task of sewing my newly-ribbed sleeves back onto the shirt! Here are some near-final photos of the assembly as it stands. Still need to finish vest, attache velcro to the suit to hold the bund in place, size the drop-box straps, attach the TD and make the pouches. … and I'm hoping for a delivery from Spike in the next week or two! Shada

Thanks. I copied your approach and think it's a great idea - easier than building a shelf, holds well and gives me a storage option if needed (not that I can imagine putting my lunch in it!) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks khazara Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Scavenger - the place I got the hide from (www.nzlsl.co.nz) says they're between 8-10 square feet - I figure I've used just under half of it, so around 4 sq ft. Cost me NZ$25, although I suspect the shipping to Kentucky might be a little more... Retrofire - thanks. A couple of wrinkles aside, I'm really pleased with the boots. All that time sitting in a hot car stretching vinyl has paid off!

Ok, so this week I've completed the belt itself (just need to add the drop boxes), added uppers to the boots, cut/sized the holster (my first time with a power sander ) and also cut my suede. My big realisation, which was never mentioned in any build threads i've read, is that vinyl is a nightmare to sew Luckily, I started a test sew with a scrap bit and realised very soon that it tends to jam because the plasticky side sticks to the machine, so the stitches wind up close together and the bit that feeds the material through tends to damage the vinyl. I imagine professional tailors have trick to avoid this, e.g. a special foot or different settings, but I had to rely on trial and error and a bit of advice from the family. In the end, I realised that i needed a gap between the vinyl and the machine, so I just sewed it with a paper towel attached. Then, after the stitches were in place, I ripped off the paper towel and it looked ok. The final boot build: Dogbones were harder to put on than I expected. They dry-fitted ok, but then the vinyl was much harder to manoeuvre once wet with the shoe glue. I think it's passable, but a little more curved than ideal (but, hey, that's what they'll look like when worn-in anyway). My suede arrived this week and looks good - i ordered pig suede, but am pretty sure it's actually genuine Ewok-hide. I used a template from BSN with an additional front piece for the riding patches, then went for a 12x12 mudflap (which I'll attach with snaps). Jobs for the next week are to: size the straps that attach the drop boxes, tidy up the elastic/velcro combinations for the chest armour and t-bits, attach the holster and actually sew on the suede and thigh elastic (taking the opportunity to tighten the bagginess of the flight suit). This should mean my armour is all sorted when my bucket arrives in a couple of weeks.

Oops - double posted.

As a newbie, I'm finding this an interesting conversation. It makes me wonder if there are canonical (or at least plausible speculation) explanations for other markings? For example, is the gray rectangle on the chest a functional part of the armour or an identification marker? Could all the Endor Scouts be part of Grey Squadron, suggesting that other Scouts deployed elsewhere have other colours? And could the helmet fish hook decal mean something about squads, ships they're deployed from or ranks? Finally, as I've been assembling my tank, I've wondered what it holds? I assume it's not speeder bike fuel, but is it an air tank or an Imperial Camelbak? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tonight's progress: Attached fabric to belt with E6000. Will rivet tomorrow. Followed Mustangman's approach to velcroing the tank to the back piece. This worked incredibly well, as it was less effort than building a shelf, holds tight, is easily removable when needed, and looks pretty good (with some minor "screen-accurate" gaps). (green tape is my attempt at lining up the stripes). I'd definitely recommend this as a worthwhile approach for others. Shada

More progress and lots of questions I've got a few photos of this week's progress below - I was lucky to get some assistance today from Spark (Outpost 42's GCO), who helped me with some points, and mainly just gave me the confidence to start cutting some bits I'd been putting off. I also have a lot of questions that I need to resolve before moving forward on next steps, so I've put them near the front so people can see them and respond before wading through the rest of the post. Questions: Knee rivets - I've added the upper 1/2" elastic and riveted it on, which worked out well. However the 501st CRL says "Rivet remains silver in color." while a Lancer spec I downloaded says "one white painted rivet" - should I paint or not? SC decals - I plan to use SC decals for the tank stripes, but it also includes a red stripe and white circle for the tank greebly and gray rectangle for the chest. Everything I've read in build threads suggests these should be painted, not decals - is that correct or are decals ok? SC's instructions are to use velcro for the entirety of the T-bits, but that gives the shoulder a scratchy texture - I plan to go with elastic for the main T-bit and velcro on the ends - is that right? TD tube colour - I'm still not sure that the SC base colour is ok - it's definitely a gray colour rather than pure white, but looks lighter than the screenshots of the TB on the speeder, although not far off the colour in the MotM exhibit. The lower tube is from an old vacuum cleaner that I found that is the same diameter but a darker gray (almost silver). I'm going to assemble the TD this week so would appreciate others' views on whether I need to paint before I build. Riding patch - I've printed out the pattern and played around with sizes - I think this looks right as it goes to a couple of inches above the knee and is fairly visible around the front of the thighs (note that I plan to take in the coveralls as they're baggy, so am focusing on the length). Any suggestions? Other steps this week have been: Adding greeblies to forearms, TD and tank, using E6000 and clamps. Finished filing and sanding the edges. A lot of sewing of black elastic and velcro - all of the arms and legs done (aside from my T-bit question above). Started on white elastic that came with the SC kit but may not use as I'm likely to get some white cotton webbing to meet Lancer standard. Assembled the belt - I was wary of doing the full Panda bend/cut modification as it seemed to have a high potential for melting, so am trying it with just an E6000 connection - I'll keep this if it works and re-do if it fails. Stuck a 38mm plumbing part to the inside of the TD endcap, so it's got more to connect to. So far I've only done one as I'm using my other big clamp on the tank, so will do the second one tomorrow. Took a little curve off the top of the tank so it would fit more closely to the back armour, then made 3 cuts in my tank. I've decided to follow Mustangman's velcro assembly method so have made space for the straps and bought some extra stick-on velcro. All up, I think this was a fairly productive week. Next steps are to: finish the boots - adding the uppers and dogbones; attach the tank; sort out the chest/back elastic and t-bits; build the TD; order the suede for riding patches and … wait for my helmet to arrive from Spike (hopefully in about two weeks). Look out for those evil little teddy bears.

Hi Mustangman I've been looking at your thread and really like the alternative way of attaching the tank. Now that you've had it a couple of months, is it still working well and would you recommend it to others?

Oblivion - I agree with Retrofire, just keep moving . I've been reading both of your threads (and others) for inspiration, and you're way ahead on the actual hard armour, so don't stop now. I only cut the drop box webbing at this point because I liked Panda's approach of attaching it to velcro inside the box, rather than the SC default of having one strap going through both sides and then connecting to the belt - this meant sizing isn't an issue yet and it was an easy step to do without having to shape plastic! Not sure about your boot dilemma - is it the boot shape itself or the stretchiness of the vinyl that's the problem? I just looked at your boot pictures on the O42 thread and it looks like you pinned it to the bottom of the sole, whereas I put pins in the side first, which gave me good traction for the stretching, and then pushed more into the top of the sole (the sticky-outy bit). The other tip i found somewhere and followed was to stuff the toes with newspaper, so that the boot had a firm surface for stretching over.

More progress this weekend - I'm chipping away a little at a time but think I'm on the right track. Added the toe trim to the boots - I was really pleased with how it curved nicely around the shape of the upper sole: Followed Panda's approach and added snaps to the drop box webbing and inside belt, with a couple of fabric-covered ones to go on the rear of the belt: Added some shims inside the knee for the rivets to attached to: And actually built up the nerve to start cutting ABS by rounding the shoulder bell curves (using a Play-Doh tub to get the 1.75" diameter curve): Finally, I've got a local design shop to 3D print a blaster, using the files in this link: http://forum.bikersc...showtopic=12130 I have to think about what I'll do about finishing and weathering the blaster, but it's nice to know I have something to put in my holster once the boot is finished! I'm also looking at various build threads about how to hold it in, as it does rattle around a lot - probably will go with a combination of padding and a magnet built into the trigger guard. Plans for the rest of the week: work on the boot uppers (already cut, just need to confirm sizing and stitch velcro on), add greeblies to bicep armour and start cutting/sewing elastic and velcro for the arms and legs. See you round the forest.

Thanks Stroker - I'll stick to having it stop at the dogbone Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The finished, glued boots: I see most people run the 1/2 inch strip around the toes and stop at the dog bone. I'm thinking of running it all the way around the boot, so that the base colour is covered if the back bits ride up a little (which seems to happen in the MotM photos) - it's the sort of thing that won't be seen generally, but eliminates a gap if needed - is this allowed? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Chunk - yes, that was my first stretch (in fact I think it was the initial pinning before putting in the car). All up I repinned about 5 times, really seeing the difference in the last few as it started looking like it was painted on. I'll post some more pictures tomorrow once I've trimmed off the excess. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk