Chopper

More fitting and tweaking going on, which, of course means more masking tape. Buckles and shoulder straps are attached. I made a shim out of scrap plastic and angled it to fit with the dremel. The buckles are pretty firmly on the chest armor now. I also moved the shoulder bells in a bit. I think that makes a big difference, based on my last photo. At this point, we're onto fitting the skirt and back plate. I got the back plate centered on the belt plate. Now it's clamped and the glue is drying outside. I can already tell that I'm going to need to work on adjusting the skirt. It's too big on me. Just to get it to sit even alright on my body, we had to move the attachment point up about an inch and a quarter above the belt line. Here's where I'd like some guidance -- I tried to size myself next to this common ST Captain photo from the web: Should I bring my ab armor up more? Should I bring it up so the chest armor sits at about the yellow line on the center ab greeb? (See photo below) This would bring the skirt up, though it'd still be too wide for me, circumference-wise. Should I cut the skirt at the red marks, trim it down, then re-glue it together? I was also looking to bring the skirt back attachment point down, by cutting the skirt at the red marks below, then re-gluing. Observations and guidance are welcome!

Did you ask Mon Cal about exchanging for a size up? There are a few vendors for undersuits -- KirptonTop on Etsy (always select FedEx shipping), Steph's Imperial Outfitters on Facebook. KriptonTop does everything made to measure. I believe Steph does hers in runs. As Dmorja said, other folks choose to tailor their own softgoods using either the RadKap coveralls, or Colossus coveralls. I like the Colossus ones better, as they breathe a bit better and aren't super short in the torso, like the RedKap. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BK87DYM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007EZ1DB4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Wunderbar!

1. I attached mine with velcro alone the top tabs and sewed a small tab on the bottom to keep them from flopping around. It's worked great for the past three years. 2. I secured my bund to the flak vest only -- this is one of the advantages of having a longer vest. I did attach my chest armor to the upper portion of the vest with veclro, to keep it from sliding back and forth. 3. 3/4" seems a bit thick for the bund. I think mine is only 3/8". But before making any sort of call, it'd be helpful if you could show us some larger, close up photos for scale. If you haven't seen it already, I did a whole thread on tips to keep your costume together. Take whatever you need from it, but maybe it'll be useful for you as you continue your build? http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/18894-some-tips-for-keeping-your-scout-costume-together-while-trooping/

Ok, yeah, that looks pretty similar to how it's rigged on the screen used photo. I'll try and carve something out of scrap plastic.

Hah I don't have a belt sander either -- just a dremel. 😁

Some more progress. Straps are heat formed and glued to the mounts. Working on finding the proper fitting for the buckles now, before I glue them on. Hard to take a good photo of it, but a big challenge is the angled nature of the collarbone area where the buckles sit on the KW armor. It's not a flush place for the buckle to sit, so there isn't a lot of contact area. This is a little concerning for when it comes time to glue it on. There have been a number of challenges with putting this kit together so far, but for anyone else building this particular kit, I think fiddling with the strapping and buckle mounting is probably the biggest one. I found an underside photo of one of the screen shoretrooper costumes, which shows some shimming underneath. I'm going to try and make some shims out of foam to put underneath, but given how this armor is set up, it's going to have to be slightly angled in order to make everything flush.

Really great work on the vest build, Dennis, and thanks for documenting the steps for the future. Some small advice, but you you may want to shorten it a bit -- the way it looks now, it'd likely be underneath your belt at present length. I'd guestimate that you try and shoot for a spot maybe 1 or 2 inches above your navel. Even brought up a bit, you should have plenty of space for securing the bund/cod/armor.

You could always post a WTB thread here, and see if anyone is interested in selling one: http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/forum/155-trade-forum/

Better. Definitely better, dude.

I can make it work

I found this. Is that the one you're thinking of? Looks like the back plate and back of the belt plate is all one piece?

The bicep position isn't too bad, they might be a bit big, and could benefit from tightening the strap slightly. The flak vest sleeves are a bit long, maybe an inch or 3/4". Now this is getting into Lancer territory, but it would help the overall look and bicep positioning.

Hyperfirm went out of business maybe 2 years ago. You may be able to purchase one of their blasters second hand though.

Hey folks, I've been looking through a number of build threads to try and get an idea about how best to attach the plate on the back of the ab armor. I saw that Mickey used magnets in his thread. Has anyone used velcro? Snaps? Do we know what the screen used costumes used? Just curious to see what methods folks have used. Thanks!

This is the bag I use for my helmet: 5ive Star Gear Gi Spec Military Helmet Bag, One Size, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0087771N2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_I84BEbS2DJKBX I just added a web strap to the handle for easy carrying.

Out of stock on Amazon, but this is what you're looking for on a vendor site: https://www.runnings.com/hobart-face-shield-replacement-lens-shaded-770580.html

Ab armor back zipper -- DONE!

I used snaps for mine. Helps when your straps get horribly twisted in your bin and you need to sort it out quickly.

Flat or matte will work just fine.

Those shoulders were irking me, so I brought them in a half inch and I dropped the ab armor a half inch as well. Funny how such small adjustments can make the whole costume look better...at least it does to my eyes. (Sorry about the mirror shot. Not great for details, but it should show the better positioning) Another thing I did this past week was to reduce the width of my undershirt sleeves, as well as to hem the cuffs. Looks and fits a lot better. I also heated up the shoulder straps and set them up for gluing once they cool down in place.

Are those the same straps you're using to connect your chest and back armor? If so, I don't think you need to dye them, unless you wanted to do so anyhow.

Chef is a former Pathfinders Detachment Leader and many scouts have used his armor for Level 2 (Lancer). Even though the following Lancer app isn't complete yet, you can see some example photos of the armor in the recent application, here: http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/21228-tb-64287-lancer-deployment-request/&tab=comments#comment-194224

Not necessarily. Depends on how much of a shade difference you're talking about. Can you post a photo?

This was changed maybe 2+ years ago, if I recall correctly. While a lot of details were revealed with the hi-def blu-ray footage, we weren't able to determine a consistent measurement on the strapping. Lacking access to the original armor strapping, it was decided at the time that either measurement was acceptable.