Greedo10360's TB Build

[Greedo10360]

The greeble on the TD is correct with the two rectangles at the top (like you have it). If you are using pandatrooper's thread as a reference for this piece, his picture has it upsidedown.

 

Thank you! I was using pandatrooper. Glad to know it's all good.

 

Spike, the piece is so perfect (all the armor is actually). Unless it will hold up basic or lancer approval, I may just leave it.

[Retrofire]

No it won't hold up a basic approval the CRL states nothing specific about the t-bits only that the armor will have them:

 

Upper Arm Armor

For 501st approval:

• Gloss white, semi-gloss or lightly weathered.
  
• Armor has a recessed area with a "t-bit" detail attached within.
  
• Black elastic is used to secure the armor around upper arm.
  

 

It is only specified in the Lancer standards that the two "dots" face forward:

 

For level two certification (if applicable):

• Film-accurate "T-bit" detail is mounted to armor.
  
• T-bit circle detail piece faces forward on each arm.
  
• Armor is secured around the arm with a 35mm ( 1 & 3/8") black elastic strap.
  

 

Spike I certainly didn't intend to question your work because I think it's excellent. I was just going by what the CRL states but you make an excellent point and it's got me searching my archives for LFL scout pictures. What I wouldn't give for an hour with Ira Keeler. I got about a thousand questions I would like to ask him

[Greedo10360]

Thanks Peter. My other hobby is Warhammer and Warhammer 40k, so I'm going to just sand down the one side and model up some circle detail. Hit it with some black paint and all should be good. Love all the help on here!

[spike]

Retro, all good mate, research can be frustrating, all input is welcome.

 

Greedo, happy you like the armour, I've also made warhammer ,smallish suits to run around in at a convention, 1987, Ultra marines, 3 and a black medical suit.

[Retrofire]

Retro, all good mate, research can be frustrating, all input is welcome.

 

Greedo, happy you like the armour, I've also made warhammer ,smallish suits to run around in at a convention, 1987, Ultra marines, 3 and a black medical suit.

 

Thanks Spike!

 

Small world. I was a big 40k player back in the day. My favs were Eldar and of course the Marines. I wonder how much Games Workshop made off of my paychecks:)

 

Love to see pics of your Marine costumes Spike.

[Greedo10360]

Felt like I made a good dent of progress today. Still waiting on the proper sized elastic and to get to a sewing machine, but I started with padding inside the helmet.

 

 

Fits pretty good and I don't know if I'll even need fans because the bottom is so open. May need a few troops to decide.

 

 

I moved on to working on the greeblie. Seems to be some dispute as to whether both sides were different but since my goal is lancer status and the CRL says the dots go forward on each bicep, I shaved them down and built some for the other side.

 

 

I hope this is sufficient. Any input? Here they are after a fresh coat of paint. I haven't reattached the one I worked on yet, pending input.

 

 

I bought and used all the velcro they had at Joann Fabric to start getting the rest of the pieces ready for when my elastic comes in. I'll need quite a bit more and have ordered it.

 

 

Lastly, I started working on the belt and am using pandatrooper's method.

 

 

 

 

Felt like I really made a good dent today given that I'm still missing supplies but they are on their way, thank you eBay!

 

Any comments, corrections, or anything at all are certainly welcome! I'm about stuck for now until my supplies come in or I hit a sewing machine.

[Retrofire]

Looking good so far! If you need something else to do your knees will need the 0.5" elastic riveted to the top. Add some scrap plastic to the insides to strengthen it then you can rivet the elastic in. Just make sure you size the elastic in your flightsuit or jeans so you get the length right. You don't want to have to drill rivets out if you don't have to:) I think Panda covers that and I think it's in my build thread too if you need. Keep up the good work!

[Greedo10360]

Not much I can do today but took the advice from Retro and started shoring up the knees for the eventual rivets:

 

 

Now I'm really running low on extra TK plastic!

 

Anyway, the only other thing I could do today was try to tape the chest/back together to see how it fits (ignore my ugly mug, it will be covered while trooping! ). I'll be in trouble if my head gets any bigger! I may need to invest in a heat gun to get it just right but here it is without any cuts or adjustment. Any input would be helpful, but I'm pretty sure the back needs to come down a little at the back shoulder. And yes, that's a Boba Fett Christmas sweatshirt! Lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

And thanks again for any and all input!

[Retrofire]

You're doing exactly what you need to do and that's take the time to get the fit right. Remember the measure twice cut once adage. You don't want to make a mistake that you'll regret later so keep up the test fits and get everything right on the first go.

 

If you look at the last picture you have a bit of drop on your back armor. It could be that the bridge overlaps aren't even though. A good way to get/keep the chest/back level is to sit them both on a level surface then overlap and tape the bridges. Since I'm a pipsqueak I had to trim the bridges down and heat them up to pull the two pieces in but you may not have to do that you want the two pieces to line up so the side strapping is as level as possible. Remember that this part also goes over two pieces of soft armor (flightsuit & vest) s9o make sure you keep a bit of room to account for that.

 

Looking at the pics it doesn't seem to that you'll need to "bend" the bridge straps in. It should be about center over your shoulder and it looks ok to me.

 

Keep up the great work and stay patient it will pay off in the end.

[Greedo10360]

You're doing exactly what you need to do and that's take the time to get the fit right. Remember the measure twice cut once adage. You don't want to make a mistake that you'll regret later so keep up the test fits and get everything right on the first go.

 

If you look at the last picture you have a bit of drop on your back armor. It could be that the bridge overlaps aren't even though. A good way to get/keep the chest/back level is to sit them both on a level surface then overlap and tape the bridges. Since I'm a pipsqueak I had to trim the bridges down and heat them up to pull the two pieces in but you may not have to do that you want the two pieces to line up so the side strapping is as level as possible. Remember that this part also goes over two pieces of soft armor (flightsuit & vest) s9o make sure you keep a bit of room to account for that.

 

Looking at the pics it doesn't seem to that you'll need to "bend" the bridge straps in. It should be about center over your shoulder and it looks ok to me.

 

Keep up the great work and stay patient it will pay off in the end.

 

Thanks Retro! Your input has been invaluable!

[Greedo10360]

Made some exciting progress today. I'm still waiting to receive the 1 3/8" elastic that I need for the knee, shoulder, and bicep but I was able to do quite a bit of sewing. This thing is starting to look like a scout. I even finished the forearms! After the helmet, this is only the second part of the armor that is done! Lol

 

 

I think my chest/back may be done as well so I put together what I could, but I still need the elastic for the shoulder to arm attachment. Still, I put it all on for a test run.

 

 

The elastic on the side seems to keep the front and back at a much better place than my test run. This is only 1 1/2" elastic and I think I need 2" for lancer spec, but that requires adding 1/2" to the armor holes and I was just not prepared to do that yet, so I'll seek basic approval first. It's a moderately easy fix I can do at a later date.

 

 

I may investigate for a stronger Velcro on the shoulders as what I used works but is pretty thin. Maybe I could sew it to something to make it slightly more rigid.

 

In doing this, I also tried on the flight suit again and was a lot more happy with the fit. Maybe I lost a few pounds. Lol. At any rate, I'm going to revisit it to see if I can make it work.

 

Next, I'll be working on the belt and drop boxes but can't do too much until my bund gets here.

[Greedo10360]

And because it's snowing out, I did the cloth shoulder pieces.

 

 

And then got my belt started.

 

 

Going to keep the belt half finished until I get my bund so that I can dial in the sizing around the waist and the length of the drop boxes. Also, in trying it on, I'm going to have to get creative in getting my TD to attach. There's a lot of good build threads on here that use magnets, and that is probably the solution.

 

Anyway, any comments or critique are welcome!

[Retrofire]

Wow! Looking really excellent! The side strapping looks to be spot on. Once you get everything together you can do your fitment suit up and dial everything in then.

 

For the TD I ultimately went the magnet route as it makes putting it on as simple as reach and lock into place on your belt. I found that looping it through the belt made it harder for me to suit up which is already hard once you start putting all the various pieces on so I went with the magnets. I got the idea from Pandatrooper and recreated it on my build thread so you can look either place for pointers if you need but it's pretty easy to do.

 

Keep up the great work you'll be posting pre-approval pics in no time!

[Greedo10360]

Started seeing if there was a way I could make the racing suit work as my jump suit. I think I can, so I started out by trying to come up with a template for the riding patches. I've received a lot of help in this regard, so thank you all. I cut up an old pair of shorts to make my own template. Thankfully, they were reversible, so one cut gave me two templates.

 

 

And then pinned it to the suit.

 

 

Feeling confident in my ability to put on the suit without getting stuck by a needle, I put it on and took several crotch selfies. First time for everything!

 

 

 

So, any input on their shape and how they would look? Do they ride high enough above the knee and come far enough to the front of my thighs? I want to really dial this in before I cut my suede.

 

As always any input is appreciated!

[Forest Ranger]

Nice progress on the build! I have to applaud you for going the route of doing your own sewing.

[Greedo10360]

Nice progress on the build! I have to applaud you for going the route of doing your own sewing.

 

Thank you! I've never learned to sew and it is a skill I've always wished I picked up. My mom is a quilter so she's really been enjoying teaching me, so quality time is a nice by product of this hobby!

 

That said, I still got my cumberbund, pouches, and cod from Chrisx909x as I didn't want to push my skills that far. They were just received and are amazing! I'll post some pics soon.

[Greedo10360]

Happy new year everybody! I've got some exciting updates but first I want to start out with a rave about my new boots and bund from Chrisx909x. Excellent product and worth every penny.

 

Here are the boots:

 

 

And here is a dry run with the bund. Still need my flak jacket so I'll need some Velcro to keep it up, but I was just excited to try all the parts on:

 

 

Now, on to my progress today. I finally manned up and cut my suede. I want to go lancer, so this was real suede, so I was hesitant to mess it up. Measure twice...

 

 

Still trying to use the racing suit, so I pinned them in place. I'm pretty happy with them:

 

 

And the butt flap is also ready to be put in its place:

 

 

After some help from Retrofire, I swapped the elastic I had holding the sides of my chest/back with white cotton webbing (again for the eventual lancer submission). I sewed on elastic at the very ends so it will have a little movement.

 

 

Then I nearly finished the sewing of my belt, drop boxes, knee elastic, and the over shoulder cotton webbing.

 

 

The drop boxes originally had 1 inch nylon webbing so I swapped that out for 1.5 inch cotton webbing after consulting with Retrofire (again, thanks for the help).

 

Anyway, I'm real happy with my progress. Seems I need to get the flight suit sewing done, make the flak jacket, get new 1.5 inch buckles for my drop box webbing (on order), finish the belt (and rivets), rivet the knees, and then get the 35mm black elastic for my shoulders and biceps and I should be nearly ready to put it all together for fitting feedback. That's really not too much stuff!

 

As always, comments and critique are welcomed.

[Retrofire]

You got a whole det here wanting you to be successful with your build and it's looking really good so far. In that first pic it seems that your flight suit is bunching above your boot line. I got the idea from other scouts to sew elastic stirrups into the bottom of your suit to keep everything tight when you get the suit and boots on. If you're still sewing that might be something you want to consider. Keep up the great work it's awesome to see it coming together. Take it slow and easy and be methodical and it will pay off.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Greedo10360]

Good catch on the bunching. That's one of the issues I've had with this flight suit. I'll get some elastic on the bottom to see if that will fix it. Thank you!

[Greedo10360]

Thanks for the input. Good stuff! Got some work done on the knees today and believe they are lancer ready. I initially used a washer that was a little too large and popped right off, so I used the some of my last strip of TK abs to build new washers so I could add the 1/2 inch top elastic.

 

 

Painted the outside white:

 

 

One more piece now finished!

 

Quick question though, as I don't have a ton of experience with rivets. In putting two of the four rivets in, the metal ball that pulls in popped out. The rivet's metal was bent and they are working for now, but I assume these are weaker than if the rivet worked properly. Anybody have any input on this? Leave them until they fail or drill them out and try again? Any idea what caused this?

 

Here is a pic of what I'm talking about:

 

 

Thank you!

[Retrofire]

I would give that washer/elastic a tug and if it doesn't cut loose on you I wouldn't worry about it. I've never seen that part of the rivet come out. I used the Stanley steel rivets for my holster, belt, and knees and I didn't have any issues like that occur. I would avoid using the aluminum or plastic rimmed rivets as the steel is much stronger.

[Spanky101]

Hey Mike, looking great buddy! You are doing a way better job than I could have ever done. Keep up the good work, I will be following with interest. Hopefully I'll see you on a cross border troop some time in the future.

Keep up the great build, all the best!

[BikerScout007]

Looks like your pouches are reversed. You want the straight side on the inside and the angled side on the outside

 

Looking good, man!

[Greedo10360]

Looks like your pouches are reversed. You want the straight side on the inside and the angled side on the outside

 

Looking good, man!

 

Thank you! I got some foam in them now too so they look pretty good now. I'll get them swapped and need to figure out how to secure them, probably velcro on the vest. Great product from Chrisx909x. Only waiting on a few last pieces and I can do my last bit of sewing, rivets in my belt, and get some basic submission pics put together! Excited to join the club.

[BikerScout007]

For Lancer, pouches need to be attached to the cummerbund, just FYI!