Fox

I've been busy with this and other stuff. Felt I was very close and submitted what I had. Took a couple extra pics as requested and well as you can see by my Avatar and the picture below, I'm ready for patrol. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GgYh2DvXs9oAinSYxjKJZLBfrEO070l8/view Even though it's approved I still consider this a work in progress. Like with my TK once I start using it more I'll upgrade and tweak things. Yesterday I bought some knee pads to wear to protect my knees from the Scout's plastic ones. Can't wait to try it out in public.

Small update did another full suit test fitting in the mirror and felt everything looked good enough for some submission pictures. Stepped over some large boxes to reach my camera, bent over to pick up my blaster, dragged a chair out of the way and do see where I'm going with this? Everything that was "in-place" got knocked off center from all the moving around that I did. Set your shooting spot up first before getting suited up. I do think one of drop pouches might be too low or I might lean to the side when standing. Funny thing is looking at what has been approve by my garrison these last couple of years mine looks alright even with these sloppy pictures. I think I do want to see about adjusting that one pouch first.

Found somebody willing to do it no charge. I gave them a hefty tip. Took about an hour. Won't earn level 2 but will qualify for level 1. Going to work on a few fine adjustments. Mainly figure out where I want things to rest and sew on little patches of Velcro on the jumpsuit to anchor things.

I'm currently putting out feelers for a tailor. I play an ever so small part with the local creative community. I have two of these cummerbunds to play with but I'm seeking out a skilled help before I attempt things.

Last night I did my best to hand sew over the many missed gaps from the machine. This morning I did the other side entirely by hand. Took less time and looks better. Not perfect by a long shot but it is black on black and hidden under the white belt. Did a test fitting and the thermal detonator does conceal the bridge I made for the white belt. I've decided not to sew the cod piece on to the vest. As I'm fairly tall and I'm bound to rip all the stitches out if I move the wrong way or even tear the vest itself. This also reduced the cod piece from bunching up. I'll just have to sew in some Velcro on the jumpsuit not only to help keep things in place but to act as marker of how high or how low things should go.

Among the supplies I bought was one of those mini-sewing machines for the simple tasks that I could do by hand but would take too long and wouldn't look pretty. Even though these little things would be hidden under other parts of the costume I wanted to a pretty job this time. Practice first on an old shirt. The provided instructions weren't very helpful. Found a helpful video someone made and felt comfortable enough to try it for real. Since it came with white thread pre-installed, I decide to tackle making a bridge for the belt. I think it worked fine for this. For the next job I needed to remove the white thread and replace it with black. Somewhere during this process, I guess I touched the tension knob. Apparently from some of the reviews the tension for machine is impossible to reset. All the work I did with the black thread looks worse than if I did it by hand. Maybe this is my fault for not buying a real full-size machine, but I don't intend to ever do more than simple things when it comes to sewing. You don't by professional grade frying pan if the only thing you're going to make are grilled cheese sandwiches. Hours I spent trying to troubleshoot it I could actually finish a few things if I had done them by hand. How do I know it is the machine and not just my lack of skill? The next day after getting the machine I got Amazon message from the maker saying in order to have a better experience please follow these instructions. To me that's pretty much admitting your product doesn't work as advertised. Time to see about returning it.

Riveted the holster to the boot. Did a few practice rivets before attempting. Of course, I let the backing plate slip when doing the second rivet and it didn't secure with the boot. Then spent about 20 minutes to remove it without damaging the holster. Was then able to fix it and do the remaining two. Next step later this week Velcro those belts.

Imperial Boots/Keep Trooping did the soft goods.

First purchase of materials to finish this made. Should get what I need to attach the holster to the boot, extended the belt and to work on the cod's straps by next week. Doing these first next weekend before I try the cummerbund. I'm confident with my ability to sew on some Velcro and anything that is hidden from plain sight. Cummerbund is something I might seek actual help with.

That's not the Velcro stitching. It's the maker's label. I ended up with 2 cummerbunds because the first had the wrong pockets. Both have Velcro on the inside but only one has the maker's label. I'll use the one without it. Also got 2 cods as well. Guess I could sew one on top of the other to double the thickness.

Safety pin fitting before any cutting and sewing. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jr4jHKsD5KxzUORzXwUN1eFM-REaSYyd/view?usp=sharing If things are a little sloppy that's because everything is held together with safety pins. The pouches were placed an inch away from the last vertical line on cummerbund. I pinned the cummerbund closed with the back facing forward and then rotated it around my torso. In doing so the pouches got pulled to the side. Height of the unmodified cummerbund is 11 inches. In this photo I folded 2 inches of it under itself making it more like 9 inches in height. Length of the cummerbund is about a foot too long. Making everything bunched up in the back. I feel like I want to pull the cod's lower elastic tight as it looks like it's just hanging but when I do that it bunches up the fabric of jump suit it feels like I'm trying to steal hotel bath towels by hiding them in my pants.

I'm making a shopping list. One thing I'm unsure about is the type rivets for the holster. I know they are 3mm silver, but Amazon is throwing like a thousand different types at me. Is there a technical term for the type of rivet to speed up my search?

Just tried attaching the cod with the vest using safety pins and it works pretty well. I'm now in the safety pinning things in where I want to place them phase.

4. And I'll need to sew on the pouches.

First test fitting armor with soft goods. Keep in mind that the cod piece is held up by a loose knot. I have to sew on the Velcro. Cummberbund is held up by fiction. With the jumpsuit on the two ends of the main belt don't even touch. Camera is in auto-mode making things too bright. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XSZKP4rVyU2gL9FBX2GNrY7bl14QBej7?usp=drive_link A few observations. 1. While you can dress yourself (as I did). I think it would help to have someone make fine adjustments. 2. Neck seal pretty much just there to traps in all that body heat. 3. The lower edge knee armor really digs in. Have to add padding of some sort. 4. Helmet starts to open when you bend over. Might add some Velcro to keep it shut. Face plate in the fully open position locks in place but makes a popping sound when pulling it back down. I'm not going to lock it in place like this as I fear over time it will cause it to crack. 5. The bigger Jumpsuit feels better. Those elastic thigh straps were cutting off the circulation in my legs. Things I need to work on: 1. Attach Velcro to cod piece. 2. Create a bridge for the belt. Thermal detonator should be long enough to cover it. 3. Cummerbund is too long. In one picture you can see that I wrapped one end under the other. Black strap I'm holding is to show where the Cummerbund closes in the back. I think it too far off from the center I'll have to trim some of the length off. Guess I'm buying one of those handheld sewing machines.

Feels much better with padding. Still waiting for my correct size jump suit to arrive today. In a meanwhile I did an over the t-shirt fitting with the armor. Only other possible problem area is the belt. They asked for my waist measurement. Maybe the outer end of the belt is that measurement. Going to have to sew on bridge of some sort to give me more room. Also have to attach the holster to my boot. Latest RS video actually shows them cranking out a bunch of orders. Mine is among them. The smell of paint on the helmet is still fresh. Went with the pre-weathered option. It a good amount of weathering in my opinion. From a distance it looks clean. Up close you can see that it's not.

Got my armor less than an hour ago. Inspecting all the pieces starting with the helmet. I was afraid my head might be too big for it, but I can get over my head. Problem is the hard hat adjustable plastic liner pushes inwards on my temples. While pains me to do so I cut it out the helmet and replaced it with padding. Might be less accurate but I'll rather have a piece of padding pushing against the sides of my head than hard plastic.

As predicted, I just got the shipping notification from Keep Trooping. Ina week I should have all the hard goods and soft goods.

Got a shipping notification that my armor from RS Prop Masters is on the way. Might as well start a topic for it. By the time I get it I'll have "every item" I need. Quotation marks are used because Keep Trooping should be sending me out the correct sized and fixed soft goods sometime soon. What I have from them is okay for a test fitting with the armor but needs a bunch of work to be fixed. I think my Garrison is going to a con in January it would be nice to have it ready by then.

Update according to them their cummerbunds come in an unassembled state. Taking a look at it this morning I noticed that they didn't give me opposite pockets for the cummerbund. Instead, a right and left pockets I think I got two right pockets. Working on fixing the other issues such as missing and wrong sized items. I want you to know that what they make is good stuff but however was assembling my order really messed up. My previous order from several months ago was perfect. Another question cummerbund does the back closure need to on the center of the back? I'm thinking of just wrapping the excess length under the other side. So, instead the back closure being straight down the center of my back it would close off to the side of my back.

I've contacted them. It has only been 12 hours since I did and waiting for a response. My post here was trying to figure out if getting cummerbund like this from them is normal.

Thing is they are sold in all the usual sizes Medium, Large etc. I've ordered from them before and being based in Asia their sizes run on the smaller side. Which is why I'm so surprised by the length of mine. They don't provide flight suits big enough for this thing. The listed sizes of the cummerbunds they make should match up to the sizes of the flight suits that they make. I wish this was my only issue. They sent me items in the wrong size, items I didn't order and didn't include half of the items that I did order. My first order with them was 100% correct this one I'm wondering what is going on. I will ask my local garrison to direct me in the right direction of someone who can fix it. I don't have my armor yet, so I'll wait so it is tailored to match with it. I honestly thought any tailoring would be for minor adjustments.

Is these supposed to come unassembled? I didn't read anything that said assembly required. None of the Velcro is sewed on the cod's straps. I can sort of sew on a button. Maybe I can do this. The cummerbund is another story. Pockets are not sewed on, either is the Velcro and the length is long enough it wrap around 2 people. Fixing this item is beyond me.

Been trying on my pilot suit again. It fits my torso from stomach to shoulders like a light-weight jacket. Not too tight and not too baggy. Vest & cummerbund is sold as set. The vest has to fit over the same shoulders, and it makes sense to order it in the same size as the jump suit. I'll worry about the cummerbund once I get it.

I have their basic pilot jump suit in 2XL. I'm normally a XL size person. For some reason I just thought it would be a good idea to order a size up and I was right. Arms, legs and collar are a bit roomy but fits my torso and shoulders without stretching any of the waist elastic. I'm almost 6'4 so I need to be able to pull it over my shoulders and bend over to put on shoes without tearing something. Does their Biker jump suit have the same basic fit or is it looser or tighter? Guess I should also ask how tight can you pull the Velcro on the vest & cummerbund? I'm thinking if I get the jump suit in 2XL will a 2XL cummerbund and diaper slide off? My waist should fit a Large according to their cart. Thinking at least an XL because it has to fit over the jumpsuit. But also thinking could I take the 2XL and just pull it to fit me tighter.