Cummerbund and boots are a hot mess... "Caveat emptor." (Pic heavy thread!)

[Guest Axelay]

Disclaimer: Please understand that I'm not trying to be overly dramatic or throw anyone under the bus with this thread, but I think that instead this should be an example of what not to do (or buy). Primarily, GET LOTS OF CLOSE UP PHOTOS BEFORE BUYING ANYTHING CRAFTED. I know that this may look bad, so mods, please feel free to edit or lock this. I don't want this turning into a bash fest. I'm not going to name names, but you should be able to connect the dots and figure out what to avoid.

 

If you've seen any of my threads (e.g. pleas for help), I'm trying to put together my very first Scout Trooper costume. I bought a suit through eBay last month, and I got what appeared to be an amazingly good deal. Most of what I got required some serious TLC, and I know for certain that the 501st would not approve of this suit. I'm hoping to change that, but it's an uphill battle. Thanks to many of the generous members here, I've been getting closer... until I hit another setback this weekend. The person from whom I bought the suit had promised to supply me with custom-made boots and a cummerbund as part of our purchase agreement, and I was willing to give him a chance. Well, this is what I received in the mail.

 

First, the boots. I'm almost trying to convince myself that there's some way to try to salvage them... but I don't see how.

 

 

 

 

 

And now the cummerbund... There's just nothing which I can do to save this. It's not good.

 

 

Stitching is not straight. I don't know what the material is. Some kind of cotton with padding. (Reminds me of a mattress pad cover...) It's also not exactly clean.

 

 

 

The velcro isn't stitched in. It's just sticky-taped in. Note the fraying on the edges of the seams.

 

 

One of the pouches... Oy vey.

 

 

 

Let me state flat out that I am not angry with the seller. A bit disappointed, yes, but I honestly felt like this was going to happen after observing the level of... attention to detail... which was paid with the rest of the armor. It wasn't even remotely close to being able to pass 501st standards when I got it. I'm already in contact with members here who craft high-quality cummerbunds and boots, and I'm hoping that I can work something out for replacements for these before Halloween.

[jyjellyfish77]

This a great example of buyer beware. eBay is not the place to pick up items like this. You've gotta try to get back some money from this joker. At least destroy them on the feedback to discourage anyone from even thinking of buying again. I'm sorry that you're having to go through this. Good luck.

[Guest Axelay]

Well, I don't really feel like I can do that. The transaction was closed several weeks ago. I'm generally happy with the hard armor, riding suit, and gloves, but these two pieces weren't technically included in what I bought. He said he'd provide them, but I was doubtful that they would be super high quality. For as little as I paid, I can only be so angry. I think the best thing to do in this situation is to make others here aware of this and have them "move along, move along." Lesson learned for me.

[Chef]

The bund... I'd junk that straight away.

 

 

It's nothing short of comedy. Not for you obviously.

 

The boots... there may be some salvage ahead. And if there isn't.... you're going to end up with a set of base boots anyway! So all is not lost.

 

 

The zip in the back... no idea why, when the velcro is there.

 

The salvage of the boots is going to mean carefully pulling them apart.

Remove the dog bone and put to one side.

Remove the frontal strip and put to one side.

 

Now, carefully peel up the toe cap part and get it loose. Now warm it up with a hairdryer or heat gun and give it a jolly good stretch down over the toe. That should get rid of that nasty fold.

If it does, glue it and pin it in place. Leave it to dry. Cut off any excess when dry.

Then replace the trim (could probably do with being a bit thinner) and try to pull it a bit further back....

 

When adding the dog-bone back in, give it a heat and stretch it a little on the edges to bring it down and hide that join.

 

If none of that works... pull it all off, buy a metre of vinyl, follow the tutorial and make your own.

[4505Marcel]

Holy cow their just bad full stop, sorry you got short changed bro

[Chex]

That just makes me cringe, looking at it. Yeah, bund is toast. Like Chef said, boots can be salvaged. If the vinyl or leather can't, then just scrap it, keep the base boot, and go buy some vinyl and do the boots yourself following the boot tutorial here.

[bjsavage7]

Oh my! So sorry to see that's what you received.

[Smiling Fox]

Even if the auction closed weeks ago, you may still get a refund from buyer protection. I have had good luck with this, the few times I have had a bad buying experience. Notify eBay immediately and request a refund. They will work with you. Especially when they see the pictures.

[Guest SUP_Ronin]

Ouch. That bund looks like an old diaper made out of a mattress protector. Hopefully you can work with the armor, and all is not lost. I think the suggestions are noteable on what to do. I'm doing the KS shuffle waiting on my helmet, now overdue. Then once I get that the way I want it, i'll be on the lookout for this stuff. Hope it goes better for you from here on out. Cheers.

[Darth Voorhees]

Hey Bro, im pretty sure i have enough vinyl here to redo a set of boots...i can include it when i send your newly painted helmet back to ya

[Guest Axelay]

Hey Bro, im pretty sure i have enough vinyl here to redo a set of boots...i can include it when i send your newly painted helmet back to ya

 

That would be AWESOME. I stopped at 2 different fabric stores yesterday trying to find the right kind of vinyl, and neither of them had what I need. (Much more ivory instead of pearl white.) Thank you once again!

[The Dark One 508]

I wonder if you bought it from the guy that sent in 3 offers on mine and retracted the one that passed my auto decline and then sold HIS TB armor for that price. He looks to pretty regularly have scout cumberbunds and boots for sale on ebay and appears to be migrating into armor.

 

Made me upset he did that, it was a dirty salesmanship thing to do.

 

EDIT: after reading your other post it WAS mpeterson78.

[Darth Voorhees]

That would be AWESOME. I stopped at 2 different fabric stores yesterday trying to find the right kind of vinyl, and neither of them had what I need. (Much more ivory instead of pearl white.) Thank you once again!

 

No problem brother! Scouts helpin scouts!

[Griffin-X]

Well, I don't really feel like I can do that. The transaction was closed several weeks ago. I'm generally happy with the hard armor, riding suit, and gloves, but these two pieces weren't technically included in what I bought. He said he'd provide them, but I was doubtful that they would be super high quality. For as little as I paid, I can only be so angry. I think the best thing to do in this situation is to make others here aware of this and have them "move along, move along." Lesson learned for me.

 

I'm sorry you went this route Eddie. Glad the armor is at least working out. IMO...your feedback on the seller was way too nice.

[Guest Axelay]

On the one hand, almost all of the hard armor is complete and undamaged. (In desperate need of a good cleaning and polishing, yes.) Y'all have let me know that I got a good helmet. The riding suit and gloves appear to be to spec. The blaster is a major question mark, but I think I may be able to save it now that I have a suitable scope for it. The only thing which is a problem for me now is the boots, but I'm going to give those my best effort and follow the tutorial here as closely as possible. With luck, I hope to be able to turn this armor into a phoenix.

 

I'm not furiously angry. Disappointed, yes, but I think that this is all still salvageable with time and effort. I don't think I fully appreciated all of the finer details of putting together a truly GREAT suit until after I started reading here. As they say, "the devil is in the details." Fortunately for me, I love attention to detail on a good costume. I just flat out lack the technical skill to be able to do it exactly the right way, so that's why I like to get as much advice as possible. This community has been EXTREMELY helpful in this regard! DarthVorhees is helping me refinish and repaint the helmet. I got a new snout + riser as well as accurate bolts and a chin cup from LoneWolf. And I ordered a vest and replacement cummerbund from Cucblack - who is doing everything possible to see that I will have these before October 30th. I hope to be able to do y'all proud when I get it all put together.

[Griffin-X]

You have the right attitude Eddie, and that will take you very, very far. Heck, most of us learned as we went along, and I'm no different. In no time at all you will be helping out members and paying forward what you have learned.

[Quinxx44]

I wish i had seen this earlier. Ordered a pair. While they aren't as bad as this, they could use some work. Took a very long time to ship (longer than advertised) amongst other things...... Lesson learned: Stay within Bikerscout.net

 

Edit: if anyone would like further details or information feel free to PM me.

[hogget]

What's the quality of the hard amour? And flight suit? I've seen it a few times on eBay and have had my squaddies ask me I've steered them clear as the boots on the eBay site are shoddy looking at best and the bund is a total wreck in my opinion

 

[Chef]

from what I remember, this armour was SC and the lid was an MLC one.

 

If he keep putting armour/lids up, then he's either buying stuff and re-selling it... or dare I say it... re-casting it.

 

You'd need to speak to Eddie. He knows what kit is was.

[Quinxx44]

All I can say is I would personally stay clear. If it seems too good to be true.. It probably is. Just a quite unpleasant buying experience.

[hogget]

from what I remember, this armour was SC and the lid was an MLC one.

 

If he keep putting armour/lids up, then he's either buying stuff and re-selling it... or dare I say it... re-casting it.

 

You'd need to speak to Eddie. He knows what kit is was.

 

I was thinking the same thing that he may be re-casting

[Black Wolf]

Thanks for the heads up from Gav from my squad for pointing me in this direction

 

I've been looking at this kit as my wife wanted something to join the Legion. But I was very wary especially and decided to ask a number of questions, when he started bombarding me with messages to buy it now for less than it was listed for!

 

The guy is very pushy with his emails and offered to do the whole lot for $500 and told me that it costs him $590 to buy just the armor alone before putting in the labour time to build it!

I asked how that even makes sense if he wants to make any money out of it?! And he insisted it was all customer service!

 

I then asked for further photos and he said he would have to buy another kit first, until eventually he 'remembered' he had a website and sent me the links.

 

So here we go:

 

http://www.bikerscou...m/Services.html

Note how Michael's costumes is also sharing the name Armor-Depot

http://www.armor-dep...eplica-prop.htm

 

Recaster?

All begins to make sense with how he will obviously NOT be 'out of pocket' by paying $590 for an SC kit, as he's making them himself.

[Chef]

The armour depot shots look like KS...

 

Maybe he's moved on to SC.

 

 

From Axelay's reply, he does state that he gets it from elsewhere. Whether they are one and the same person it would be difficult to say.

 

 

But either way, I'd say judging by the standard of work on those boots. I'd avoid.

[Griffin-X]

He's buying crap armor from Armor-Depot.com, a known recaster, and then reselling it with his "mods" on it.

 

So, to recap, buying a turd, polishing the turd with stoopid wax, then reselling it to an unsuspecting victim. Bad, bad, bad...!

 

BTW...Armor-depot.com is...

 

Admin Name: Dustin Slead

Admin Organization: Armor Depot LLC

Admin Email: karissawhitehill@hotmail.com

[The Dark One 508]

I'm still trying to figure out his motivation for sending in offers on the armor I had on ebay. Either he's one of those types of people that buys low and resells at higher profit; or he was just sending in offers to see which one stuck for an idea for how much to sell his.

 

Either tactic is kind of dim if you ask me...and a dim person is not someone I'd be willing to enter a business transaction with.