studio creations Lee's Super Fun Time Biker Build

[Hikuro1983]

What's going on biker fiends?! While new to the group not new to the cause, been a 501st member for exactly a year now and after several costumes the time has come to do something different! A while back I thought maybe it was time to knock another item off my to do list and that was a Biker Scout suit. I enjoy the TB's, they got a lot of love in ROTJ and I like motorcycles, so it kind of went hand in hand for me. The one thing that bugged me though was finding a good kit and the soft parts to do the job. I'm a grower not a sewer (Well not anymore, I'm shrinking YAY keto!) and I don't carry a lot of cash these days. But I did some odd jobs while working full time and managed to come up with the scratch to get a Studio Creations kit as it seemed like one of the best and easier to handle kits out there. I also have a garrison mate who's building one for his wife and seeing it in person really got me excited.

So after talking to Jeff a bit and having a deadline to finish in 2 weeks, my garrison mate Ralph and his wife agreed to help get the soft parts done while I get my armor from Jeff at SC and knock it down. I received my kit on tuesday so he was incredibly quick, responsive, and polite, all the things you want from someone offering their services.

 

Upon inspection, the parts were clean and crisp. Jeff apparently had redone his mold for the front and back torso parts and they look fantastic. Everything is trimmed very nicely, very little burrs or marks, almost none really, so kudos to him and his work.

 

Beginning work on the helmet as it's one of the most simplistic parts of the entire kit. I began by dremmeling the visor out that he was nice enough to mark the areas to cut out. I then used an exacto knife for areas I was having trouble getting at then went and sanded it down to smooth it out.

The one area I'm kind of having issues with though would be where the ears are. Which I pose this question to anyone who's done this. Where do you know to cut the hole? Is there a template online I can print and trace on or something? I dunno how far out is to far or anything like that...I don't wanna cut off to much! Also, since I"m aiming for Lancer status, what is the appropriate cover for these? Normally people use a screen mesh, but it's noted in the CRL that it's not to be used for Lancer. So then what do you use? Is it just a big open hole? That sounds kind of odd.

I was able to get a rough assembly, well, infact it's mostly assembled. Things just kind of fit into place and I'm fairly happy with the result. But before I seal the deal I wanted to show off how things look so if there's something jarring I should pay attention too that could screw up my approval please speak up. I matched the side lines going from the visor to the helmet pretty well I think. So imo, besides painting the snout and the greeblie, then adding some velcro for the closure, I think this thing is about ready to be buttoned up and done.
 

With any luck I'll have the majority of this thing done over the weekend. Ultimate goal is to be approved before a big convention, but testing next weekend after this one. I'll update as much as possible between now and then until it's completed.

 

[jabbasdead]

That armor looks oddly familiar.....

[Hikuro1983]

more helmet fluff.

worked on doing the ear holes...took me 40 minutes to find a format I could agree upon just to let the dremmel screw up the nice drawing I did. Little filing will fix that up nice and done.

dome is glued to the main body, it fit pretty well but to  help secure it I'll be adding tiny 1/8'' rivets on the front sides that'll be hidden by the visor.

Snout and Greeblie are painted and curing at this time, will install them tomorrow and get the visor mounted. Rest will be a cake walk to finish the helmet then off to work on the armor which is mainly installing pieces together and seeing how to strap stuff. I'm still hoping I'll be done this weekend.

[Hikuro1983]

Okay so basic assembly of the helmet is finished. I got a couple spots to tighten up, including installing helmet liner and chin cup strap and visor. But before all of those I wanna do a light bit of weathering. Afterall I'm the type that doesn't believe that armor should be shiny.

Was also able to work a bit on my hip boxes and belt. I came to the realization that the nylon webbing I have won't be enough to go around my waist.....it's short a few inches to do it right so that'll have to go on order which means it'll take a few days longer to finish the kit. I'm still in my projected range to finish before the convention but it'll be tight just to get the test run in time for next weekend.

Something else that's kind of bugging me is placement of the topper to the hump let alone how to secure the hump to my back. I can't believe drilling a hole from the top side and riveting is the only thing....so what's holding the bottom then from not being floppy? Just glue?

[BikerScout007]

Ear holes look pretty good!  You could go maybe a little wider on them.   Here is the RS Props Scout helmet for an example

 

[Hikuro1983]

On 8/19/2018 at 10:59 AM, BikerScout007 said:

Ear holes look pretty good!  You could go maybe a little wider on them.   Here is the RS Props Scout helmet for an example

 

Thank you for the advice, I'll look further into it if it bugs me going on, right now, feel pretty good with it.

 

Good news though is I've been working at it about an hour or two a day during my lunch breaks at work and after dinner when I get home from work. Here's some of what I've been doing....

Thermal

using an iphone repair kit screw driver to pole holes for the wire to go thru the T bit.
I'd say it worked perfectly.

strapping the biceps and forearms
Got to a good enough point I felt it was just right and finished it off.

a fellow garrison mate pointed out that the topper should be centered to the top of the hump but it's not depicted that way in the CRL. So now I got an exposed hole I could either fill or if it doesn't matter cause it's in the CRL clearly being on the edge, then I will drill the current rivet out and put it back where I originally had it so I don't have to dink with covering the hole. Any advice?

 

[Hikuro1983]

Installed the chin strap afterall

Also replaced cotton webbing with 1 inch black elastic so the ends met better
Thus I was able to place the loop with what material I had left.  Thus the shoulders are connected, and I'll sit back and await for my soft parts to arrive. I'll give it one last look over Wed. evening and submit my photos.

[spyder918]

Curious about your T-bits on why you wired them in verses just gluing them on?

[Chopper]

10 minutes ago, spyder918 said:

Curious about your T-bits on why you wired them in verses just gluing them on?

From what I recall, the SC instructions do mention that as an option for affixing them.

[spyder918]

17 hours ago, Chopper said:

From what I recall, the SC instructions do mention that as an option for affixing them.

Ah ok...just wanted to make sure it wasn't a Lancer requirement or something

[Hikuro1983]

actually t bits are glued onto the armor, and the wire adds extra security imo.

 

progress has been slow and painful. After getting most of my undersuit I did a test fitting and saw a lot of things needed to be adjusted. The cotton shoulder bridges needed to be doubled in width as the armor kept poking out, the cummerbund was far to high and way way to wide so it's getting trimmed down by 50%, and my pouches are far to large so they'll need to be unstitched, trimmed and resewn. The flight suit coveralls are 80% done. I have my crotch area,  collar finished and sewn the side pockets shut. but need to patch up the back a bit and add in the butt flap.  I'm heading out today to get suspenders for my cummerbund to keep it up better.....dunno if I'll get much done after that.

[Hikuro1983]

okay so busted butt today hoping I was gonna make some headway but...well here look:

The armor has to come further down, it just doesn't fit right being so high up like I'm being advised it really just doesn't work. But if I lower it down I have to make the loops bridging the two parts longer as well, right now I'm at 3 inches connecting 2 1.5 inch pieces of cotton webbing.  Suggestions? Also, I adjusted the the cummerbund so it'll go up higher, but the problem is stemming a bit from the vest but the armor is mostly just to high up on my chest.

[Chopper]

It's alright man, we can do this.

I want to say that, based on your side shot, your back armor seems a bit low. Shifting it all forward might give you an extra inch or so in the front. 

Your rig looked good in the t shirt photo from earlier. Is the flak vest changing the fit?

 

[Hikuro1983]

12 hours ago, Chopper said:

It's alright man, we can do this.

I want to say that, based on your side shot, your back armor seems a bit low. Shifting it all forward might give you an extra inch or so in the front. 

Your rig looked good in the t shirt photo from earlier. Is the flak vest changing the fit?

 

It’s kind of everything, coveralls, vest and cummerbund are adding more layers thus stretching the top armor. It’s also difficult to adjust the positioning where it needs to rest. I can’t see it very well 

[Chopper]

I have two small pieces of velcro on the front of my flak vest, which keeps my armor from shifting around too much.

Once we get your positioning locked in, you could do something similar if you want. 

One thing I recommend, if you haven't tried it yet, is leaving the side straps open, positioning and centering the armor on your shoulders, then worry about closing up the sides. 

 

[Chopper]

I'm sorry to hear that but I understand. if you do end up selling things off and get the urge to pick it up again, you might want to try and reach out to Spike to check out his Altmann Scout Armor.

[Hikuro1983]

After a lot of debating I decided not to sell the SC armor. I went back at it, hard core just recently as we're going to have a big christmas troop tomorrow and I wanted to get it done.

I went over all my parts for this entire week and made corrections here and there, realizing that the belt needed 1 rivet on each side not 2 so I had to cut some ABS plastic and melt it down to plug the holes. Then I went over the cummerbund and vest and really sized it the heck down, I must of trimmed off 6 or so more inches and even made brand new pockets reusing the material that was already made up....I mean they were so big I made extra! Added a strong magnet on my holster and hold out blaster to keep it nice and secure during my walk and to snap in place when I want to holster the blaster. Turned out really well!

In the end, I decided I wanted to be a scout with some experience under my belt, so I dirtied the snot out of it as well! everything, head to toe is weathered to give that well ridden look.

After I did some adjustments, just enough to make tomorrow work, I went outside and did a walk, scaring a dog walker and about 5 cars slowed down to get a look at me. My ringdoor bell camera caught me looking at it....

[Frank75139]

Nice work glad to see you stuck it out.
Not sure why but seeing you on the ring makes me want to put mine on one night and just walk around to mess with peoples cameras.


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[Hikuro1983]

Super close! Today was a field test, had 2 mishaps both easily fixable, and the rest is adjusting.

Today we were doing a christmas event so i decked out in a small string of lights donated by a fellow garrison mate.
First adjustment is raising the vest's bottom up about .5 to .75 inches all around to help keep that cummerbund in proper position and to keep the chest from pulling back and exposing the vest. It's superficial but I'm sure that'll go against my judging.

Another adjustment is the cod piece, it's to wide to the point it folds like well rather not say but you can get the point! We're gonna rip it out and trim it down an inch or two.

  Other than that,I had fun, the only mishaps I had was the belt falling straight down but luckily that was behind closed doors, and the thermal det. pack has a nearly broken belt clasp so I'll need to replace that! But if I fix the vest and cod piece I think I'll be pretty much ready for my approvals.

[Retrofire]

Good on ya for sticking it out! Glad you did as it looks good. Before you start chopping the cod it looks like it just needs an adjustment. Give this a try:
1 - put on your vest
2- put on your cummerbund bring it up to your pec’s so it rides a bit high.
3 - now the cod. It should sit at the front and not be pulled under your legs by the 2 inch strap that attaches to the back of the bund. This strap should be snug but NOT tight. That’s what makes the cod fold since it gets pulled under.
4 - put on your belt. Take a deep breath and get it tight to where it’s not uncomfortable. It should be at your belly button level and not on your hips.
5 - now for the chest/back armor. The bottom of the chest may ride on the tops of the pouches and that’s ok.
6 - now the cod should be riding just in the front with only the strap going underneath. You can also add interfacing or dense foam to the bottom of the cod to keep it firm.

Here’s how mine looks:


Note that the cod sits in front and is not pulled underneath.

I think you’re doing great and I recommend making a few figment adjustments first before cutting away at it. It might still be necessary but give this a try first. Hope this helps and keep up the great work!

[Hikuro1983]

Good to know. We’re just about done with the corrections but forgot, the plastic clips for belt placement for my detonator are stressed and will eventually break. Any quick recommendations to replace them?

[Chopper]

This is the metal clip commonly used to hold the det tube onto the belt. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010EAQUEU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_cTyeCbPMZCX46

[Hikuro1983]

Thanks! I’ll get those in order tonight to bad they won’t arrive for this weekend so I’ll have to be careful.

[Hikuro1983]

Photos got submitted, I’m positive I’ll have corrections as it’s tradition for me but won’t know until I hear back. Hopefully nothing with the cummerbund it can’t take another alteration.

[Hikuro1983]

Alright so got my clips and been trying to get them on my belt but they’re just so dig into the cavity of my thermal box that it’s hard to get them clipped to my belt. 

Could someone send reference images of how they got their secured? I almost feel like I need some spacer to push it further forward but I dunno. I’m sure there’s a simple solution and I’m just not seeing it!