Greedo10360

Hello Boris and welcome! I also have an Altmann's helmet like Retrofire and absolutely love it. I've heard that it is a little larger than some other helmets and fits a bigger head better. I like it because it is roomy on my head and seems to have good airflow. Anyway, welcome and good luck on your build. Mine is almost done and I am very excited!

Thanks for the input. Good stuff! Got some work done on the knees today and believe they are lancer ready. I initially used a washer that was a little too large and popped right off, so I used the some of my last strip of TK abs to build new washers so I could add the 1/2 inch top elastic. Painted the outside white: One more piece now finished! Quick question though, as I don't have a ton of experience with rivets. In putting two of the four rivets in, the metal ball that pulls in popped out. The rivet's metal was bent and they are working for now, but I assume these are weaker than if the rivet worked properly. Anybody have any input on this? Leave them until they fail or drill them out and try again? Any idea what caused this? Here is a pic of what I'm talking about: Thank you!

I found some in eBay. It's 35mm and I have ordered some from Russia and China. It's a race to see what will get here first.

Good catch on the bunching. That's one of the issues I've had with this flight suit. I'll get some elastic on the bottom to see if that will fix it. Thank you!

Happy new year everybody! I've got some exciting updates but first I want to start out with a rave about my new boots and bund from Chrisx909x. Excellent product and worth every penny. Here are the boots: And here is a dry run with the bund. Still need my flak jacket so I'll need some Velcro to keep it up, but I was just excited to try all the parts on: Now, on to my progress today. I finally manned up and cut my suede. I want to go lancer, so this was real suede, so I was hesitant to mess it up. Measure twice... Still trying to use the racing suit, so I pinned them in place. I'm pretty happy with them: And the butt flap is also ready to be put in its place: After some help from Retrofire, I swapped the elastic I had holding the sides of my chest/back with white cotton webbing (again for the eventual lancer submission). I sewed on elastic at the very ends so it will have a little movement. Then I nearly finished the sewing of my belt, drop boxes, knee elastic, and the over shoulder cotton webbing. The drop boxes originally had 1 inch nylon webbing so I swapped that out for 1.5 inch cotton webbing after consulting with Retrofire (again, thanks for the help). Anyway, I'm real happy with my progress. Seems I need to get the flight suit sewing done, make the flak jacket, get new 1.5 inch buckles for my drop box webbing (on order), finish the belt (and rivets), rivet the knees, and then get the 35mm black elastic for my shoulders and biceps and I should be nearly ready to put it all together for fitting feedback. That's really not too much stuff! As always, comments and critique are welcomed.

Thank you! I've never learned to sew and it is a skill I've always wished I picked up. My mom is a quilter so she's really been enjoying teaching me, so quality time is a nice by product of this hobby! That said, I still got my cumberbund, pouches, and cod from Chrisx909x as I didn't want to push my skills that far. They were just received and are amazing! I'll post some pics soon.

Well done and I wanted to thank you for your build thread. It's one of the resources I've been using. I look forward to joining the ranks a few months after you.

Started seeing if there was a way I could make the racing suit work as my jump suit. I think I can, so I started out by trying to come up with a template for the riding patches. I've received a lot of help in this regard, so thank you all. I cut up an old pair of shorts to make my own template. Thankfully, they were reversible, so one cut gave me two templates. And then pinned it to the suit. Feeling confident in my ability to put on the suit without getting stuck by a needle, I put it on and took several crotch selfies. First time for everything! So, any input on their shape and how they would look? Do they ride high enough above the knee and come far enough to the front of my thighs? I want to really dial this in before I cut my suede. As always any input is appreciated!

Looking forward to watching it all come together!

Congrats on your new journey! Looking forward to seeing your progress. I'm in the midst of mine and love seeing other people's work so I can compare what I am doing. Good luck!

And because it's snowing out, I did the cloth shoulder pieces. And then got my belt started. Going to keep the belt half finished until I get my bund so that I can dial in the sizing around the waist and the length of the drop boxes. Also, in trying it on, I'm going to have to get creative in getting my TD to attach. There's a lot of good build threads on here that use magnets, and that is probably the solution. Anyway, any comments or critique are welcome!

Made some exciting progress today. I'm still waiting to receive the 1 3/8" elastic that I need for the knee, shoulder, and bicep but I was able to do quite a bit of sewing. This thing is starting to look like a scout. I even finished the forearms! After the helmet, this is only the second part of the armor that is done! Lol I think my chest/back may be done as well so I put together what I could, but I still need the elastic for the shoulder to arm attachment. Still, I put it all on for a test run. The elastic on the side seems to keep the front and back at a much better place than my test run. This is only 1 1/2" elastic and I think I need 2" for lancer spec, but that requires adding 1/2" to the armor holes and I was just not prepared to do that yet, so I'll seek basic approval first. It's a moderately easy fix I can do at a later date. I may investigate for a stronger Velcro on the shoulders as what I used works but is pretty thin. Maybe I could sew it to something to make it slightly more rigid. In doing this, I also tried on the flight suit again and was a lot more happy with the fit. Maybe I lost a few pounds. Lol. At any rate, I'm going to revisit it to see if I can make it work. Next, I'll be working on the belt and drop boxes but can't do too much until my bund gets here.

Thanks Retro! Your input has been invaluable!

Not much I can do today but took the advice from Retro and started shoring up the knees for the eventual rivets: Now I'm really running low on extra TK plastic! Anyway, the only other thing I could do today was try to tape the chest/back together to see how it fits (ignore my ugly mug, it will be covered while trooping! ). I'll be in trouble if my head gets any bigger! I may need to invest in a heat gun to get it just right but here it is without any cuts or adjustment. Any input would be helpful, but I'm pretty sure the back needs to come down a little at the back shoulder. And yes, that's a Boba Fett Christmas sweatshirt! Lol And thanks again for any and all input!

Felt like I made a good dent of progress today. Still waiting on the proper sized elastic and to get to a sewing machine, but I started with padding inside the helmet. Fits pretty good and I don't know if I'll even need fans because the bottom is so open. May need a few troops to decide. I moved on to working on the greeblie. Seems to be some dispute as to whether both sides were different but since my goal is lancer status and the CRL says the dots go forward on each bicep, I shaved them down and built some for the other side. I hope this is sufficient. Any input? Here they are after a fresh coat of paint. I haven't reattached the one I worked on yet, pending input. I bought and used all the velcro they had at Joann Fabric to start getting the rest of the pieces ready for when my elastic comes in. I'll need quite a bit more and have ordered it. Lastly, I started working on the belt and am using pandatrooper's method. Felt like I really made a good dent today given that I'm still missing supplies but they are on their way, thank you eBay! Any comments, corrections, or anything at all are certainly welcome! I'm about stuck for now until my supplies come in or I hit a sewing machine.

Thanks Peter. My other hobby is Warhammer and Warhammer 40k, so I'm going to just sand down the one side and model up some circle detail. Hit it with some black paint and all should be good. Love all the help on here!

Thank you! I was using pandatrooper. Glad to know it's all good. Spike, the piece is so perfect (all the armor is actually). Unless it will hold up basic or lancer approval, I may just leave it.

Started working on the easy parts while I wait for some additional supplies. Got a few straps for the forearms ready to sew. This is 1" elastic. Moved on the checking out the biceps, but they need 1 3/8 inch elastic, which I have ordered but don't have yet. In looking at them, the greeblies are the same. Shouldn't one of them have the dots on the other side? Perhaps a veteran builder can opine. I also checked out my thermal detonator and it looks like the greeblies on the left are upside down? An easy enough fix if so, just thought I'd throw it out there first, that's why I have this thread, after all!

Well, I mothballed the racing suit for now. Still going to work on it but ordered one from Max's Sci Fi in the mean time. And HOT DIGGITY, look what came in the mail today! My Altmann's armor and bucket! The lense on the bucket popped out in shipping, so I got right to it. I just love this helmet and it is huge inside, so I can't wait to start working on it. I ran out and started buying elastic and velcro. I then re-read Pandatroopers build thread. Lots to do!

Quick question regarding your loop Velcro. For the parts you attach to the plastic of the armor, did you use E6000 or just the sticky type of Velcro you can buy at the store? Thanks!

Looking good. Just wanted to thank you for posting such detailed photos. My armor should be here soon and I'm watching your build since the pictures are so good. Good luck!

Congrats! Great build too!

Thanks! I've been wondering this too.

Haha! Thank you for that. Shouldn't be too difficult. Maybe I can do this myself yet!

Thanks for the suggestions!