BuckeyeTK

Quick update - my costume has been approved so now I'm officially a TB & a TK! I get back to finishing up this build thread soon, we have a big Con going on in Cincinnati this weekend and I have been super busy finishing the costume up and getting costumes packed and organized for the weekend. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Haribon - much appreciated!

Chest / back / shoulders I'll start with the strapping for my shoulder assembly. I looked at a lot of different examples of this assembly but the one on Dauitsch's Lancer request really stuck with me, so that is what mine is based on. This version is made using 1.5" lightweight cotton strapping & the side straps are the same heavyweight strapping I used for my belt boxes For my tank I have attempted to recreate the version seen on the hero scout that shares a scene with Princess Leia. 4 bars on the tank. You can also see in these pics that I have installed the .5" elastic strapping to the tank (which I believe is going to eventually become a Lancer requirement... maybe ) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Okay, going in somewhat reverse order (if anybody is looking closely at the photos) here is my belt assembly. First off I cut my 1.5" canvas straps for my belt boxes and installed snaps for attaching to the belt, then I made and installed snap plates for the front anchor points on the plastic portion of the belt. I also made a slightly different type of snap plate that gets sewn to the nylon for the rear belt box anchors. Here are a few pictures of it all laid out prior to assembly. I have the belt completely assembled at this point all except for riveting it in place. I still need to triple check and make sure it is the correct size before I take that last step! (Finished pictures go here)

Here are some pics of my TD, don't have much of the assembly process but it based off of the build that Pandatrooper did using neodymium magnets to secure and center it in the belt. (I will come back and do an edit a bit later to go into a little more detail on a few things when I have more time) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The riding patch sure was an adventure. I started by creating my own pattern. I did this by pinning some muslin onto the legs of my suit. Next I sketched out the shape I wanted, unpinned the fabric and trimmed out the pattern. Then I pinned the pattern back on to the flight suit to check and make adjustments After posting up some of these pics for feedback I decided I needed to modify the shape of the front slightly Once I was happy with my pattern, I laid it out on the suede, held my breath, said a prayer... and started cutting lol! After the suede was all cut, I carefully pinned it in place then sweet talked my mom into sewing it on to the suit for me - thanks Mom! (Pic of finished patch goes here, if I remember to take the photo when I get home tonight) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the feedback MJ, I built the boots quite a while back so I don't recall exactly why I glued those up the way I did. If I recall I think they may have slid down slightly while drying. I will have to come back and see if I can adjust this down the road. I'm afraid it is going to ruin the vinyl underneath and I don't have time to redo the boots at this point. I have to keep pushing ahead at this point because I need to wrap this up and submit my photos this weekend. Our garrison has a big event the following weekend and I want to be able to wear this for one of the two days of the event. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here's my helmet build. Fist step was to dry fit & tape the entire thing together... and then put it on because... well because It's a Biker Scout helmet! LOL Next up I sketched out a bigger & better widened lens outline & also sketched the outline for my ear holes Then I cut & sanded the lens area & ear holes Next, I masked off the helmet and sprayed the complete interior with black plastic-dip. This is something I did in my TK bucket and really liked. For some reason the black interior allows me to feel more relaxed when I'm closed in that little space, I always felt claustrophobic in my TK before I blacked it out. ...besides, I just think it looks more menacing! One of my biggest challenges was getting the accurate welding mask liner to fit into my SC helmet.... after lots of trials and tribulations I finally figured out that if I drilled some handy little grooves into the liner band that I could install it using the visor bolts & It would have a little adjustability in it as well. I also drilled out one river on each of the "tabs" that attach to the top of the band. In my pic you can see I have rotated them back towards the rear of the helmet to add stability to the band. Once I get time I will add some industrial Velcro behind those to anchor them firmly into place. More masking for the black snout outline... I think I redid this masking job 3 times! There were a few areas that did not come out quite perfect where I had a little bleed through the tape edges but I was able to get those cleaned up Next up I painted the snout, and my elevator bolts using Testors model master gray primer. (Right now my visor is bolted with elevator bolts. I do have the screen accurate 3m bolts on hand but I'm trying to decide if I want to use them as is, or cut the heads off and glue them on to my elevator bolt heads to allow for a more sturdy visor assembly) then I assembled it all and put my decals on.... and here is the finished product! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Okay... it has been a LONG time since I have posted an update. Have been extremely busy at work & similarly I have been spending about 80% of my weekend time working on the Scout build. I'm happy to say I have this project nearly done and will have a lot of pics I will be posting as I find spare time here and there to do so! So to start, here are some pics showing my holster mod & finished boot assembly. I am doing a modified version of what Pandatrooper did in his build thread, using rare earth magnets to secure the blaster while it is holstered. I used four 1/2" x 1/8" neodymium magnets stacked in two columns. I heated up a piece of scrap plastic and bent it to make a little housing to hold my magnets in place on the underside of the holster Once the magnets were set in place I added a generous dose of E-6000 to the area to secure them in place. My Polymer Armory blaster came with an aluminum handle, so in order for the blaster to stick to the magnets, I had to fabricate a replacement handle out of steel. I used 3/4" by 1/8" thick steel and ground it down to the appropriate width to fit my blaster handle. Then I painstakingly bent it in a vise to match the shape of the original, then drilled and countersunk the screw holes. Last but not least, I sewed and riveted in a 2" wide elastic strap with Velcro to help support the boot with the weight of the blaster in it Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did notice the hole was drilled through instead of making you paint the white circle. Wasn't sure if that was approvable for Lancer or not. As far as the "button" mine is on the opposite side of the slot from the reference pictures I have seen. Didn't know if that was going to be an issue or not. Figured I'd find out BEFORE I glue it in place Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I hadn't even considered the possibility of breakage! Thanks Chopper Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have a few questions regarding the tank topper & I haven't had much lunch finding what I'm looking for. Hopefully somebody can steer me in the right direction. First question is when painting the topper, is it flat, satin, or gloss black? Second question is specifically about the topper that came with my SC kit. I was looking at reference pics and I noticed a difference between my topper and the others. As you can see in the above picture, the knob circled in yellow is to the left and the open space is to the right. In the picture below (the SC topper) the knob is to the right and the open space is to the left. Is this topper acceptable for Lancer standards? If not, can anyone point me to where I can get a replacment? Thanks again for the help! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

...so more like this? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have been working on this pattern most of the day. Just wondering if I have the size and shape correct. It's not laying quite flat because the pattern is light weight muslin... the heavier weight suede shouldn't have this issue. -thanks for looking & hopefully for leaving me some feedback. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you very much! I think the biggest secret to my success was keeping the blades sharp. I used a piece of sandpaper and resharpened the blades after every few notches I cut out. Some other things I did that seemed to work help were... when I cut the vertical notches for each groove, I made them slightly narrower than the width of the chisel tip blade. By doing that I was sure to completely cut out the chunk in one pass as I pressed it down through the sole. If the chunk did not pop free at that point, I would leave the chisel blade in place while using the standard blade to cut the vertical notches a little deeper until the chunk would free up and pop out of the groove. Does any of that make sense? It is kind of hard for me to describe... I am a much more visual person. Wish I would have made a short little video clip as I was cutting these out.

Not much to show for this process, but you get the idea. Rip the seams and get rid of the pockets! Once again, not much to show for the actual tailoring process but here are the finished results. We had to take quite a bit in on the legs, and arms. Also had to shorten the legs & arms. I had a major case of "diaper butt" so we took a little in on the seam that runs from the crotch up to the back band & then also took in some along the bottom of the back waist band to raise the rear end up a tiny bit. We pretty much took out as much from the crotch & rear as possible while still allowing me enough room to get in and out of the suit. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I got quite a bit accomplished this weekend. Completed the knees, forearms & biceps. Also did a lot of work to the flightsuit. Removed all the pockets, and with the help of my Mom, was able to pin it up and take it in so that it has a much more tailored appearance & a much less saggy baggy rear end. Thanks Mom! Sanded the edges on the knees, forearms & biceps. Made some reinforcement strips and glued them inside the return edges on the knees to make a stronger anchor point for the knee rivets. Sewed black hook Velcro onto the black elastic straps & cut white loop adhesive Velcro to attach inside the armor. Drilled a hole in the top corner of each knee on the return edge, using a 1/8" drill bit & then attached my 1/2" elastic using 1/8" diam, 1/4" grip aluminum rivets. The slots on the biceps come precut for use with 1 1/2" elastic. Since I am using 2" elastic to adhere to the Lancer requirements, I had the lengthen these slots to 2". Here's the finished product! Following Lancer standards, I used the following elastic sizes for the strapping... Knees: 1" bottom & 1/2" riveted into the top Forearms: 1" Biceps: 2" Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you very much! Its fun to stumble through new processes & learn new methods for doing things.

....and HERE. WE. GO! I finally have enough photos compiled to begin making a build thread, so I figured it was time to get crack'n. I don't have a ton of spare time to work on this build so it may be a few weekends between updates so bear with me through this not so fast process. I would love to hear people's input as I go, so please feel free to comment! * note: My plan is to try and build to Lancer specs as I go so that when the time comes, the Lancer application will go fairly smoothly (hopefully). I followed the same approach with my TK (building to Centurion) and that has worked out pretty well. Costume Components & Sources: Armor - SC Helmet - SC (kit) Flight Suit - modified Red Kap Coveralls Gloves - Wampa Wear Boots - made by me using boot tutorial Pouches - made by me Cummerbund - made by me Flak Vest - patterned and made by me Blaster - Polymer Armory (hero kit) Thanks for looking & hopefully helping me along through this adventure!!! So I decided to begin from the ground up... Boots, that is! I ordered the work boots online from Kmart, the ever popular (and more importantly, inexpensive) Texas Steer Work Boots. I searched high and low for a pair of boots with a solid color sole (which is a requirement for Lancer) and this was the first affordable pair I was able to find. My white marine vinyl came from JoAnn fabrics (with a 40% off coupon) I got 2 yards which actually left me with almost enough to make a second pair of backup boots! I figured more was better since like most of us, I was learning as I went through this process. The 1" wide sew-on Velcro was another hard to find item locally. I ended up ordering mine on Amazon. I bought 2 yards (1 yard was enough to do one pair of boots) ...enough talking, here are the pictures! Cut the soles to mimic the ribbing seen in the on screen boots Stretched and pinned the vinyl over the toes, then left to sit in a hot car to heat up for about an hour. Repeated that process 4 times. Spread glue (E6000) on the toes of the boots then stretched and pinned the vinyl back over them and left to dry for 12 hours. After trimming away the excess vinyl, I cut 1/2 inch wide strips to finish the edge around the sole, glued them on and taped them up... for 12 hours. Made a template for the calves, cut them out and taped them on for a test fit. Turned down the tops and sewed in woven cotton pull tabs , then sewed Velcro down the vertical edges Glued the calves to the boots, then taped them down with blue painters tape and left to dry for 12 hours. Cut & sewed the dog bones ...and that's all I have to say about the boots! (Holster will be attached a bit later. Thinking about modding it to add magnets like Panda Trooper did in his build thread) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have pads in my TK bucket and like them very much, however I was thinking the headband might be a better method in the TB due to the flip up visor. I already spent the money on the headband kit, hate to waste it and spend more money on pads. ...I was thinking along the lines of mounting some type of hardware farther back in the helmet to secure the liner the way it is made. Another thought was to drill out the rivets on those mounting tabs and remount them in a way that might still allow me to use the visor bolts. Third option would be to try and rig some type of Velcro mounting system to hold it in place. I will keep brainstorming, just hoping someone who has already tackled this obstacle will stumble across the thread lol

Looking for some tips / pics from anyone who may have installed the 3M helmet liner in their SC helmet. I ordered mine through through the forum assuming the mounting brackets would just line up with the visor bolts... boy was I wrong! Lol I'm tinkering with a few ideas on how to modify this so it can be mounted in my helmet and would love to hear from anyone else who has done this successfully. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Continuing work on my SC helmet & was wondering if the sides of the visor get tacked down to the face mask with glue (like in the pic with the blue tape) or if they are left unattached as in the other pic Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

sounds good, I'll give it a try Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do you recall what temp you set the oven to? I do have a heat gun but the oven seems like it would heat more evenly Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk