StoutScout

Looks great! Did you need to do any trimming on those shoulder bells? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

Thanks! I was able to put on the flight suit and boots for the first time last night and discovered that I should probably hem them up a bit higher. I had originally measured the hem of the pants while it was outside of a pair of shoes I had on. With the pants of the flight suit going inside the boots it means I need to make them probably an inch or so shorter. The stirrups are a great suggestion and have been part of my plan, I just need to buy the elastic. Pics to come when all finished. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

I posted a detailed tutorial of how I made a mandarin collar using Red Kap coveralls on my work in progress thread. It can be found HERE

Here is a separate post for detailed instructions on how I made the mandarin collar for my flight suit. This was done with a Red Kap suit. After having removed the rear pockets from the suit I measured the width of the collar itself: It came out to be 3 inches. I then took the pocket I had removed and measured down 3 5/8 inches: I cut along the line, tucked the 5/8" over and pinned it: I then ironed the fabric to get it good and creased at the top: I then sewed along the line of pins, removing them as the came to the needle: Next I pinned the piece to the collar of the flight suit: Sew on the hook side of the velcro to the collar extension. Make sure it is the entire width to keep it from flopping over. Finally sew the hook side of the velcro to the other side of the collar: The finished product (if you read my previous post you can also see the finished hemming of the arms and legs):

As previously mentioned, I have been doing a lot of sewing practice and it has mostly been with the flight suit. I bought a Red Kap suit and of course it came in and was huge on me! Time to learn how to hem and let in the pants! First the let in part of it. These things are meant to be worn over pants and as such are very baggy in the legs. I did the "Pinch and Pin" technique to figure out how to make them more fitted to my legs. Basically you pinch the excess material in the leg and pin where you'd like the new seam to run. I needed to bring them in 2 inches. Turn your suit inside out, and pin up the distance you determined. You can see I also cut out the pockets... Sew it up! You can barely see it, but there is the finished seam: The result! Here I'm pulling out each leg. The left leg has been let in, right leg has no modification to it: Being on the shorter side I often have to get my pants hemmed up. I decided to not take this to my tailor and try it myself. I needed to hem up both the legs and the arms. I followed and it was great! Hemming the sleeves (the process is the same for the pants) Roll the sleeve to the desired length and pin: Measure 1.25 inches and draw some lines: I don't have pictures for the remaining steps but as I recall them: - Turn the garment inside out - Cut the excess fabric to the line you drew on - Fold the hem up and stitch it up. Again, for step-by-step instructions.

Time to finally update this post! I've actually been working a lot on this since my last post, if it wasn't the boots, it was sewing, sewing and more sewing (mostly flight suit related). First I'll post the progress (and completion of) the boots! Tops glued down and pinned: Glued down and excess cut off (also joined by a couple of friends): Toe trimming glued on and taped into place: Cutting out the calf part of the boot: Folded down about a half inch of the top, taped it down and ironed it to make sewing the top stitch easier: From there I had a bit of a delay. I had the hardest time finding 1" sew on velcro. Everywhere I went (Joann's, Hobby Lobby, Walmart, Sewing stores, Hardware stores) only had stick on velcro or only up to 3/4" sew on. A word of advice to novice sewers like myself, do not even try to sew on the the stick on stuff with a machine. It just gums up your needle and will constantly screw up your thread. I finally went to Amazon and found some, sewed on the velcro, glued on the calf pieces and dogbones...DONE!: I'm so happy with how they turned out!

I'm doing this very alteration this weekend! Nicely done.

I am on day two of stretching out the toes. I have had to use a hair dryer to heat up the vinyl and it seems to have gone well so far. Thanks for the tip on the tongue depressors, I hadn't thought of that. Thanks! I am planning on SC for armor, are you recommending them for the helmet as well?

Hi everyone! I have never done anything like this before and after a lot of research and careful planning I have finally started my build. As the topic suggests, I am less than average height (5' 6") and that has been a big concern of mine when looking into what I wanted to build for the 501st. Obviously I landed on the Biker Scout and I am very excited about the path forward. My plan is to work on the more affordable soft parts while I save up for the hard armor. First up, the boots! I spent about 1.5 hours per shoe using the 'push and pop' method. Tools used were: Size 8 Texas Steer (Wheat) from KMart ($20) Xacto knife Type A with #11 and #17 blade Drill with a 5/32 bit to drill out the speed laces New flat laces I then wanted to get a good idea of how high up my leg I needed the boots to go. I printed out a template of the knee piece using dimensions I found here then created a cardboard version of it: After putting the cardboard knee piece on my knee, I used a tape measure to figure out how high I needed the boots to be, making sure there would be enough space between the knee armor and the boot. Using the measurements I got and the boot tutorial I created paper mock-ups of the various pieces I'll need to cut out of vinyl: I affixed them to the boot, tried it on with the fake knee armor and was very happy with the result: Using the paper templates, I took to the vinyl (Marine White Vinyl purchased from JoAnns which I bought way too much of!!) To me the most intimidating part of this entire build is the sewing aspect of it. My intention is to make every part of it myself, so I had to dig out my wife's sewing machine and teach myself how to use it. Having never used a sewing machine in my life I figured some practice was in order: I used some spare fabric we had around the house and cut out a boot dogbone. Could this be the new look for Lancer?!

Hey Nick! Short 5'6" trooper-want-to-be here! I have all the same concerns as you and am researching like crazy. It seems that going TB is a great choice for us. With the soft armor being something very customizable (Flakk jacket, flight suit and cummerbund/codpiece) you don't have to worry too much about ruining the expensive plastic. I haven't ordered my kit yet but I've been pointed to SC for people our size. I'll be starting my build soon enough and when I start my build thread I will make sure to point out modifications needed to be made for those of our stature.

Are there any pictures out there of the just vest with the cod attached to it? I'm trying to wrap my head around how that works because all of the vests I have seen seem to be cut fairly short. Or am I somehow confusing vest with flight suit?