Chopper

The vent indents on the back of the real helmet weren't super sharp either, but the top and bottom edges do taper and blend a bit into the helmet surface. See below.

It will likely not be visible and be covered by the belt/belt boxes if you leave it open. You should not need to remove the pockets entirely, regardless. I recommend you hold off on closing them up until you start to get your armor fitted. If you want to keep it accessible as a pocket, then you could certainly use velcro to keep it usable.

They key phrase in the CRL is "The suit is free of any visible labels, logos or zippers (including built in flight suit pockets)" The chest pockets will be under the flak vest and chest armor, so you can leave those. As long as you can't see the trouser slash pockets when you're armored up, you can leave those accessible too. Troopers tend to use those for ID badges, keys, etc.

Hey Jill. Welcome! Let us know if you need anything, that's why we're here!

Congrats!

You can get tailors chalk in various colors. It's designed to mark lines for straight sewing, but should come out of the fabric easier than pencil. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V07YRJC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_hGVZBb89ZMC8W

What armor kit are you using right now? SC? The joins between the belt boxes are a common failure point for most of the one-piece belts. I ended up reinforcing mine with extra ABS bonded with devcon plastic weld. I don't know of anyone making urethane scout belts. If someone had the proper printer and filament, you might be able to 3D print a belt in something more elastic, but I couldn't say what end the result would look like.

LW was talking about it here: http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/19236-hello-again/&tab=comments#comment-173742

One other note, if you want a good metric for appropriate weathering, check this topic: http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/17305-lancer-build-tutorial/&page=2 Strider has a post from May 11, 2017 and a youtube video that will hopefully provide additional guidance if you need it.

Hey, I just wanted to reassure you that your helmet weathering looks a-ok. The language in the CRL regarding weathering is meant to prevent folks from going full sandtrooper/mimban mudtrooper on their scout. With the scout, less is more!

Look no further than this link!

No problem! Happy to help out anytime.

Here's a thread I made last year with some tips and tricks. Feel free to take what you need from it.

Oh, those are b/c I'm relatively small and my chest armor was constantly drooping backwards while moving around. I put a little velcro under the chest armor and that kept it from shifting back. Just a personal preference to try and keep my own rig together. You wouldn't necessarily need it unless it was an issue.

Yeah, that's how my bund is attached to my vest.

SC is probably the most popular/common armor that you'll see in the US. Jeff ships fast, his armor comes pre-trimmed, and is made of thick and durable abs. The SC helmet tends to be on the smaller side, so what you've probably seen is that some scouts have gone with the SC armor, but a KS dome which can be a better fit for larger heads. While the KS helmet is a good match with the SC armor, I wouldn't recommend the rest of the KS armor kit. A lot of other scout armor makers have emerged over the years and the KS kit isn't the most accurate.

Hey Frank! Looks like you've made some great improvements in your build. Awesome work. For basic approval, the major items that stand out to me are: 1) your bund is drooping in the back 2) your drop boxes are pitched too far frontwards 3) your mud flap looks too wide 4) Your knee armor is on upside down Those should be easy to fix by pulling you bund up and pushing the belt boxes back a bit, so that they're centered. Are you using anything to attach your bund to the vest? For the mud flap, Level 1 of the CRL states that the "flap is slightly narrower than the width of the trooper and stops just above the troopers backside." I'm visually guesstimating, but it looks about an inch too wide on each side. For the detonator clips, many of us use these and rivet them in (riveting might not be an option, since your TD tube is already finished: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010EAQUEU/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 You're really close. Keep it up!

100%

Nice! Those look solid.

From some of your images on instagram, I noticed that you made it so the parachute buckles on the belt could be opened. They should not be functional. In the film, the straps looped behind the buckles as one piece. Also, please note that the upper strap on the knee armor, as mentioned by Dart, is secured with a 1/8" diameter rivet.

Very cool. Appreciate the updates. To answer your questions -- it does look my Mr. Poopie's T-bits have more detail than the originals. To my eye they look pretty similar to the Don Jarr T-bits, which have the additional flange between the "bolts" on the square part. Here's a photo of the screen used T-bit, you can see the difference: Regarding the helmet decals, unlike the hand painted TK details, the helmet markings on the screen used scout were waterslide decals (you can see how delicate they are in the photo below). The CRL calls specifically for "Decals are screen accurate", so I'd say no, don't paint them.

I'm sorry to hear that but I understand. if you do end up selling things off and get the urge to pick it up again, you might want to try and reach out to Spike to check out his Altmann Scout Armor.

It's really great to see someone doing a 3D scout build and thanks for posting your progress.

I just sent you a message. We'll get you sorted.

No problem my bro. That's what we're here for!