Chopper

When I stitched the velcro onto my pouch tabs, I just tried to keep the stitching towards the edges and I didn't stitch the bottom edge. I also didn't do any diagonal stitches or anything like that. I don't move my pouches all that much, so it just needs to hold. It's not like my knee or bicep armor, that I'm putting on and taking off all the time.

Looks pretty good to me.

Oh nice. I have one of those bags too. There's very little information to go off of, aside from the brief point that we see it on screen, so it's hard to be super specific in the CRL. The straps can be nylon/polypro/cotton webbing. I used 1" cotton webbing for mine, but any of the options I mentioned will work. You can get a sense of the strap length vs a person from the screen photos here:

Good luck my dude. Sounds like you're on the right track.

Nice Chris, that looks a lot better.

Hey Chris, I think the front side looks good. The only item you want to be aware of, in terms of shape, is to make sure that the squared ends on the upper left and right don't show from under your cod. Just eyeballing, but I think it's ok. The patch on the back looks a bit too large, I think, as the front and back shouldn't be equal in size/shape. I've made a quick mark in green about where the back side patch should be.

Again, before you do any surgery, the question is how it all looks from behind the codpiece? The cod sits on front, so it covers quite a bit and you might not need to adjust anything.

You take the zipper off, resew the coveralls, and then either sew the existing zipper back on, or, if it's too long, then you get a shorter zipper. And looking back at your initial suit up photos, are you sure the crotch is too low, especially before you do any surgery to the coveralls? It looks ok in this photo?

I think the corrections you've made to the riding patches sound good. If you've got a photo, it'd be easier to verify, but just eyeballing what you had before, along with your stated changes, I think you're in the right ballpark. There are plenty of folks who have tailored the suit to bring the waist up, but I've never heard about anyone making an adjustable roll with snaps before. That said, as long as it' s all covered by the bund, then it should be fine. Just make sure that it doesn't end up giving you an odd looking lump around the waist that shows up from beneath the bund.

It's totally a good way to go. Proceed! 😁

Yeah that looks fine. You're good.

The white marine vinyl from Joann fabrics is commonly what most people use, yes. I can't recall if you already posted a photo -- how much grain is there in it?

The original pouches were actually sewn onto the bund. You don't need to do that, but if you want to sew velcro onto the pouch tabs, then you should just try and keep the stitching close to or along the edges, so it's not too obvious. And don't do a diagonal stitch through the center or anything like that. For the bund, you do not need to hide the threading at all. In fact, on screen you could see the stitching to attach the velcro along the back.

I would look at @Sabrina's build here, as she had similar issues and ended up using a little heat to bend the shoulder bridges to fit more comfortably.

What brand of helmet are you working with? It's not even all the way around. My RS is about 14mm along the top edge and 12mm along the sides. There's no exact measurement, just try to get close to what you see here, if you can.

What you've got right now looks great. Keep it up.

Hi Chris, looks like you're on to a good start. The only additional advice I can offer right now is to steer clear of using the shrimper boots as a base. There are some folks who did use them, or something similar, for their scout boots in the mid-2000s or so, but times and standards have changed significantly since then. If you'd like to build your own boots, I'd stick with getting a gum soled work boot and building it up, as per Cheesewhoopy's tutorial here: http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/19708-biker-scout-boots-tutorial/ Gio at Crowprops also makes an underboot that uses his version of the original sierra sole. Or if you want to buy a pre-made boot, then there's Imperial Boots.

Hi Andy, just as a follow up -- the Armory team took a look at the current IB bund and, even though the twill fabric is better than the canvas-like fabric they had used earlier, it still doesn't fit with the "smooth white cotton fabric" similar to what was used in ROTJ. It's fine for basic, but we're very sorry to say that it would not clear Level 2. You should be able to find a cotton/polyester blend fabric that has a similar look to what was used in the film. Given your excellent construction of the pouches and working from Mickey's tutorial, I have no doubt that this should be quick work for you.

You can usually find pieces of black pig leather suede on ebay that work for the riding patches. This, for example, should do the job: https://www.ebay.com/itm/283761786191?hash=item4211853d4f:g:zH8AAOSwjyZeMeFe

I think you may find this post useful:

Thank you again for letting us know about this, Andy. We'll take a look and get back to you in a moment.

Hi Rob, thank you very much for your patience as the team reviewed your Level 2 application. Here's what we have -- Helmet The putty used to seal the two-piece dome is cracking off along the back and needs to be repaired. Flight Suit It's difficult for us to tell if the suede used on the IB flight suit is real suede or faux suede. Could you please supply some additional photos of the riding patches? The legs are baggy and will need to be better fitted by taking them in slightly. Upper Arm Armor Dressing Adjustment: Next time you suit up, please make sure to rotate the upper arm armor to the 9 and 3 oclock position to your left and right. Forearm Armor Dressing Adjustment: Next time you suit up, please make sure to rotate the upper arm armor to the 10 and 2 oclock position on your left and right forearms, respectively. Back Armor Can we please see a top down photo of the tank topper greeblie? Cummerbund and Codpiece The CRL for level 2 calls for "smooth white cotton fabric". The IB cod and bund look like they're made of a denim or canvas material. This is fine for the pouches, but the cummerbund and cod will need to be replaced with fabric that fits the Level 2 CRL requirement. Belt Dressing Adjustment: Note that your belt is dropping forward. You might want to use some velcro to keep it in place in the future. Detonator The detonator is silver colored. You'll need to paint the existing tubing neutral grey. Knee Armor Can you please provide the top elastic measurement? Boots The new Imperial Boots are great, however they still have a horizontal stitch at back seam, which has been an issue for Level 2 applications in the past. We recognize that the stitch is structural, but it can be filled with a bit of paint or caulk to make is less evident -- please reference what equuspolo did in his Lancer app, Holster The cuts in the holster are a bit too large -- they should be fairly thin as per the CRL and screen reference. You can put a piece of thin styrene behind the cuts, fill the large gaps with ABS paste, and re-cut with a thin dremel cutting wheel. Round off the hard edge cuts where the blaster fits in. See attached photo and screen ref below. Blaster The singlepoint scope of the blaster should not be hollow. It will need to be filled in. See screen ref photos. Also if we could please see a barrel front photo, that would be appreciated as well. I know it probably seems like a lot, but you can work through it with some effort and determination. Please let us know if you have any questions or need any clarification. Thank you again for your time and patience!

That looks really good.

Hello and welcome! Well, you picked the two most accurate scout makers available right now. With RS, I believe the plastic is a little thicker than Cf0. Also RS is quite expensive, so there's a cost difference as well. With Cf0, you'll likely have to trim all of your armor yourself, while RS comes assembled. I believe you can also request for RS to trim but not assemble your armor if you want to do that part yourself. The helmet from Cf0 is the Lone Wolf helmet, which was the top helmet for quite a long time. The RS helmet is cast from an original ROTJ scout helmet, so there's no beating that one! With the RS helmet you'd be getting an assembled helmet, while with Cf0 you'd need to assemble your helmet on your own. Again, there will be a cost difference. You can't really go wrong either way, it just comes down to how much time, effort, and funding you want to put into it?

Oh and just an addendum -- I believe the IB pouches are made of canvas-like material, right? That should pass for Level 2. However, the feline weathering is probably a disqualifier...😁