Aradun

Congratulations! Welcome to the Legion and the Pathfinders!

Good luck and keep us posted!

Looking forward to seeing that first suit up. That’s when the dream starts becoming reality.

I’m really digging that fabric chef uses!

Good call Bill. I had to make that same taper cut for my vest to eliminate the flare. End result looks good.

Ditto for me as well. It’s not a lot of weight, but for me, the added weight sitting on the small of the back did cause a little ache at the end of long troops, which was unexpected.

[mention=89519]AZMandoPaz[/mention] Not that I’m aware of, but part 3 of RS Props helmet build on YouTube may be helpful as you watch them install the bolts: Also, keep in mind that not all helmets are designed for the visor to remain up when lifted. As noted by Chopper above, the SC helmet is not designed to remain open when lifted, whereas, the RS is.

Chopper has you squared away with the repairs. You noted that one of your desired improvements is Lancer status. If that is your goal, you’ll need to remove the mesh from the ears anyway. Per the CRL for basic approval: “Earholes are cut out -- mesh or paint is not acceptable: Area behind earholes inside the helmet is blacked out, either with paint or tape. No interior white should show from the outside of the helmet when worn” So, if you plan to take the mesh out for your crack repairs, don’t bother replacing it, and then add some black gaffers tape inside the helmet to cover any white that may show when looking through the ear holes. The visor bolts need to be concave. Per the CRL for Lancer: “Helmet bolts are Gray 3M bolts or other replicas with concave centers. (Visible bolt head diameter of 22mm).” Again, if you’re making upgrades for a possible Lancer submission then pick up a set of bolts like these: http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/10270-fs-accurate-tb-helmet-hardware-kit-headband-kit/

Great job Mike! Congrats and welcome to the ranks!

Now let’s get er done! Yeah! Baby, Yeah!

RS has a series on how to build their helmet that you might find helpful. Here’s the link to Episode 1:

Great solution and easy fix to the bund Bill. It looks great! And you’re rockin that new Carida Tour shirt brother [emoji1787]. As an aside, you and [mention=89509]mrbill8128[/mention] have inspired me to work on a new flak vest. I grabbed the same pattern and it came in yesterday. Troopers helping troopers [emoji6].

Hey Bill! I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like you’ve got one extra rib in the front. Per the CRL: “Front of cummerbund has 5 ribs of equal width made of 6 vertical stitch lines, centered between the two fabric pouches.” You’ve got 6 ribs and 7 vertical lines. Over all the bund looks great; perfect height and closure centered on the back. It’s just that extra rib needs to be addressed.

Just make sure to round the tops of the front patches. There are a couple of older threads that show the front patches squared off at the top. If you square off those corners they will likely end up poking out from behind your cod, which would be an issue.

Can’t wait!

Pouches look way better now Bill. The only thing that caught my eye aside from the pouches was the dog bones on the boot. They look like they are flaring out and are lifting away from the boot where the double stitch lines are. If they are flaring, a dab of e6000 to tack them down to the boot is an easy fix.

Give this thread a read. It has some great tips on how to keep things together while trooping. http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/w18894-some-tips-for-keeping-your-scout-costume-together-while-trooping/ As you troop, you be able to easily identify areas where a little Velcro or tightening of straps will help keep thing together. I do recommend that if you add Velcro for your knees, that you place the Velcro on the bottom half of the knee armor and not the top. That will allow you to kneel down for photos with the wee ones and occasional pet.

Awesome brother! Now the real fun begins!

Nice work! As to the holster, it’s not going to be the removal of the blaster that will stress the rivets, but more the holster catching on objects as you troop because it juts out from the side of the boot. As Pete said, using large backing washers should do the trick, but I’ve seen some scouts use one of those flexible “For Sale” signs and create a 1” strip that runs from one washer to the next across the top and again at the bottom. No chance of that tearing through.

Coming together nicely. Finish line in sight!

One step closer to having the dream fulfilled!

Congrats Trooper!

Some scouts also employ a small Velcro piece towards the back bottom of the pouch that secures the pouch to the bund in addition to the Velcro on the tabs. That keeps the bottom of the pouches secure to the bund when bending over or leaning forward.

For photos, most will use an image hosting site like Imgur, or the free Tapatalk app for your phone. They seem to be the main go to’s. Here are two posts that talk about other methods of inserting photos. http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/22990-sharing-photos-with-dropbox/#comment-215704 http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/23053-faq-how-do-i-post-images/ You don’t want to use the forum’s feature for photos. It’s capped for each member to keep operating costs down and the file sizes are very small and low res making it difficult for armors to see details. Let us know if you have any questions.

Everything looks great! Keep up the great work!