Biker Scout Boots Tutorial

[cheesewhoopy]

Materials Needed:

- High qaulity marine vinyl or leather (one yard should suffice 

- White thread

- E6000 Glue and CA gorilla glue 

- 1” Velcro  

Tools Needed:

- Sewing machine 

- Hair dryer/heat gun 

- Scissors

- Exacto knife 

- Pins/tacs

- Magnets/clamps 

Part 1: Cutting the soles 

You will want to use a pair of boots that have a softer/gummier sole. I recommend “Kingshow Water Resistant Premium Work Boots” found on Amazon. 

Pencil out the pattern you want on the soles.

 

Then use an exacto knife to cut out the details.

Cut into the pattern very shallowly, then slice through like bread to cut it off. 

Rinse and repeat on all penciled in patterns until complete.

 

 

[cheesewhoopy]

Part 2: The Toe 

The first thing you will want to do is cut out a piece of vinyl or leather to cover the toe and place a few tacs in the front. 

Then take your heat gun or hair dryer (preferably a pink one with flowers on it) and begin to heat the vinyl. This will allow you to stretch the vinyl over the boot. 

As you heat the vinyl, pull it over the boot and tac it down on the soles. 

Continue this process until the vinyl is perfectly shaped over the toe of the boot. 

Use a marker to draw a line on the boot where the vinyl ends. This will help you know how far the glue needs to go. 

Let the boots sit like this, tacked, for a little while so they retain the shape. You can take the hair dryer and heat the vinyl more while tacked and then let it sit and cool off. Leaving it tacked for 10-15 minutes should suffice. 

Then take all the tacks out except for a few in the front and start putting generous amounts of E6000 on the area where the vinyl will be. Go all the way back to the black lines you drew. 

Using a Popsicle stick, smear the glue around like jam. This will provide better coverage. 

Now, reheat the vinyl a little more with the hair dryer, then tack it back over the toe to glue it in place. You may need to play around and do some stretching. Let it sit for a while so the glue can adhere. 

E6000 take 24 hours to cure and maximum strength is reach at 72 hours. However, you can leave it for 30-60 minutes and it will stay in place enough to move on to the next step. 

Using an exacto knife, cut the excess vinyl off. 

Then cut a long 1/2" strip of vinly to wrap around the toe. This strip does not have to be a perfect. When you pull it around the toe it will even out. 

Using CA gorilla glue,which cures faster glue the strip around the toe. You can use E6000 but again it will take longer to cure. You want to use E6000 on the rest of the boot because it has the ability to flex which CA glue does not.

Once you glue the strip around the entire toe, you should be left with a nice clean looking front end of the boot. 

 

[cheesewhoopy]

Part 3: The tube

You will first need to take a few measurements:

- Circumference of the largest portion of the calf

- How tall you want the boot to be (This can be determined by putting your knee armor on and measuring from the bottom of your foot to about an inch under the knee armor. If you don't have knee armor, measure from the bottom of your foot to the back of the knee where it bends and then subtract approx 3".)

*Be sure to add an inch on both side of your calf measurement to account for the overlapping velcro*

*After that add an extra 3/4" to account for your socks/flightsuit*

*Be sure to add an inch to your length for folding the top over*

Now that you have those measurements, flip your vinyl over on a flat space and make a square with them. For example in the photo below the measurements are 16"x18.75" after adding the extra needed. 

Then flip your boot over and measure how wide you need the front opening of the tube to be. 

You will also need to determine how wide the bottom of the tube should be. This measurement can be found by placing the tape measure roughly an inch before the heal and measuring to the center of the back of the boot. 

You will then want to add about an half inch to account for the overlap of velcro. In the following picture the actual measurement used is where the arrow is. 

Now, find the bottom center of the square you made on the vinyl and using the measurement from the bottom of the boot, create an opening that will be cut out to fit over the boot. I recommend adding about a 1/2"-3/4" on each side to that measurement. Your opening should look something like this. 

The height of the opening depends entirely on the boot you use. Start with the opening really small and make it bigger as needed when you are fitting it over the boot. 

Next, you will draw out how wide the bottom of the tube should be based on your measurements. For example, 6" is used as seen the photo below. You will want to use a ruler to make an angle from that 6" mark to top corner on each side.

Now cut it out.

Use this as a pattern to make the tubing for the other boot. 

Fold the top inch over and sew it down using white thread. 

*After new research use white thread instead of brown for lancer specs*

Sew down velcro on the each side using brown thread on the outside. The outside flap should be facing inside and not visible from a side view, so be sure you plan accordingly on each tube. 

Velcro the tube shut and check to see it fits.

Draw a line on each side,so you know where to glue.

Spread E6000 on one side with a Popsicle stick.

Use CA Gorilla Glue on the outskirts of your E6000 to ensure a good hold. 

Place the side of the tubing on the glue and push down firmly for a 10-15 seconds to get it to grip. Then clamp the top corner. *Put a scrap piece of fabric under the clamp or else you will leave an impression of the clamp in the vinyl*

Repeat the same process on the other side and your tubing will be glued down. 

 

 

 

 

[cheesewhoopy]

Step 4: The dog bone

I will try to find a way to upload the dog bone I use, but for now a picture will have to do. When making the dog bone be sure it is long enough to reach over the boot and have the edges touch the top of the sole. 

Trace onto vinyl.

Cut out and sew two white curves on each side.

*Use white thread, not brown* at the time of this tutorial it was thought brown was correct but white is correct for lancer. 

Use CA Glue to adhere to the boot. Be sure to center it over the seam line of the tube and toe. 

And just like that you have a boot!

Stay tuned for a cummerbund tutorial in the future!

[Digger]

Question: why are you using brown thread?

 

I have been using white thread on the boots so far, is that wrong?

[cheesewhoopy]

On 10/19/2018 at 4:34 AM, Digger said:

Question: why are you using brown thread?

 

I have been using white thread on the boots so far, is that wrong?

If you look at the screen used ones, Brown thread was used. 

[Chopper]

Awesome thread and great tutorial. After looking at the images though, I've gotta ask -- are you sure they used brown thread on the boots? To my eyes, it looks more like white thread that's gotten dingy from dirt and weathering.

In the first photo, from the costume exhibit, the horizontal thread at the top looks like it goes from brownish near the velcro seam, to more white as it get closer to the holster.

I also found this other photo from one of the costume books where the stitching also looks white:

[CatfoodRob]

Is thread colour important ? If you use white it will soon turn brown when younweather the boot , and if you use brown it is pre weathered .

I think it's more important is to get the stitch length and pattern to match the screen shots .

 

[cheesewhoopy]

On 1/11/2019 at 6:32 PM, Chopper said:

Awesome thread and great tutorial. After looking at the images though, I've gotta ask -- are you sure they used brown thread on the boots? To my eyes, it looks more like white thread that's gotten dingy from dirt and weathering.

In the first photo, from the costume exhibit, the horizontal thread at the top looks like it goes from brownish near the velcro seam, to more white as it get closer to the holster.

I also found this other photo from one of the costume books where the stitching also looks white:

You may be right! I have never seen that photo before. The way they did costumes, some of the boots could’ve had purple thread for all we know lol I’d be fine with switching back to white thread. 

[BikerScout007]

9 hours ago, CatfoodRob said:

Is thread colour important ? If you use white it will soon turn brown when younweather the boot , and if you use brown it is pre weathered .

I think it's more important is to get the stitch length and pattern to match the screen shots .

 

I tend to agree with this, as long as thread color doesn't go beyond white or brown.   

[Trooper Tim]

I’m Thinking of ordering some white Vinyl. 

Question: How much vinyl material was used building your boots?

Thanks

[cheesewhoopy]

On 2/21/2019 at 6:51 PM, Trooper Tim said:

I’m Thinking of ordering some white Vinyl. 

Question: How much vinyl material was used building your boots?

Thanks

Sorry for the late response, just saw this post now. I Would say pick up a yard to be safe. You probably will not need an entire yard, but it will be good to have in case you make any mistakes. 

[Trooper Tim]

Awesome, Thanks !

[CatfoodRob]

What width Velcro did you use for the rear closure ? The c.r.l. States one inch , fair enough , but the on screen boots look more like 3/4 inch width . 

[greenyone]

I'm curious as to how well the E6000 holds up over time.  I ask because other boot-makers suggested using Barge Contact Cement.  Is there any advantage with using one or the other?

[cheesewhoopy]

56 minutes ago, greenyone said:

I'm curious as to how well the E6000 holds up over time.  I ask because other boot-makers suggested using Barge Contact Cement.  Is there any advantage with using one or the other?

I have been using my boots for two years now with no issues. I have done a parade in the rain, walked around Celebration in Orlando for hours, and done several other troops. E6000 works great because of how flexible it is. I can’t speak for the Barge Contact cement as I’ve never used it. 

 

[Digger]

I have done only 2 troops yet, however one contained 10 kilometer 'fun' run in rain and mud.
After the marathon i came home to find out one of my two flaps is slowly letting go already, but that is possibly due to not adding enough glue at the edges. I will add new glue there, no problem.

I used E6000, but before i did that, i tried get hold of some shoe glue and went to talk with the local shoe repair shop guy. The stuff he used was something that comes in very large bins and stuff like ShoeGoo and BargeCC is a lesser version of it that is available in smaller cans.

My guess is that Barge works better than E6000, but E6000 does the trick well enough.

[greenyone]

Something I found helpful in working through this tutorial.  If you have a boot stretcher handy, it really helps to keep the boot stiff while manipulating the vinyl over the toe.

[cheesewhoopy]

3 hours ago, greenyone said:

Something I found helpful in working through this tutorial.  If you have a boot stretcher handy, it really helps to keep the boot stiff while manipulating the vinyl over the toe.

Great idea! I always just stuff an old T-shirt inside lol 

[greenyone]

Aaron,  at the end of your tutorial you said 'tay tuned for a cummerbund tutorial'.  I'm anxiously awaiting.

[cheesewhoopy]

21 hours ago, greenyone said:

Aaron,  at the end of your tutorial you said 'tay tuned for a cummerbund tutorial'.  I'm anxiously awaiting.

Yes! I keep forgetting to take photos of the process as I just get so caught up in the work. I’m starting one this week that I will do my best to document, so I can get that tutorial going. 

[greenyone]

One other thing I found helpful in using these Kingshow boots.  The type of leather used is not smooth.  (I don't know the technical term for this type of leather finish) And the E6000 really soaked in to the grainy surface.  Because of this I fought with the white vinyl adhering well on the first boot.  It lifted back off very easily...even after a few days of dry time.  I had to keep peeling back the vinyl in places to smear some more glue in there.  Maybe this is less of an issue with a smoother tanned leather boot.  Anyway , on the second boot I applied and spread out a thinner coat on the boot surface and let it dry/tack up for a couple hours.  Almost like a primer coat.  I then went back and applied another coat (thicker this time) before stretching the vinyl over the boot.  Now it feels like I couldn't separate the two surfaces with any amount of force.

[762s]

couple suggestions ...
there are several kingshow version of boots ... i have the foreman version and they have a smooth surface

also, i would not suggest superglue be used as it becomes hard and you really want something flexible
just keep using the e6000 and use some tape to pin the trim piece/dogbone down ... once the glue dries remove the tape
plus, using a soft glue makes for easy repairs and no damage being done to the boot,vinyl or leather form the hard dried super glue


also, check out the boot cut outs here on the original boots...
http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/20025-reference-photos-of-the-inter-sierra-sneakers/

 

[greenyone]

5 hours ago, 762s said:

couple suggestions ...
there are several kingshow version of boots ... i have the foreman version and they have a smooth surface

also, i would not suggest superglue be used as it becomes hard and you really want something flexible
just keep using the e6000 and use some tape to pin the trim piece/dogbone down ... once the glue dries remove the tape
plus, using a soft glue makes for easy repairs and no damage being done to the boot,vinyl or leather form the hard dried super glue


also, check out the boot cut outs here on the original boots...
http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/20025-reference-photos-of-the-inter-sierra-sneakers/

 

Maybe CA is not the best choice but...I worry that the E6000 may not even create a good enough bond to the smooth side of the vinyl?  I ask this because I've only tackled covering the toe cap thus far, and any excess E6000 that got on the smooth side just easily peels off like rubber cement once it has dried.  I feel like maybe scuffing up the area that the trim strip will cover may help create a rougher surface for the E6000 to bite into.  Thoughts?

[cheesewhoopy]

21 hours ago, greenyone said:

Maybe CA is not the best choice but...I worry that the E6000 may not even create a good enough bond to the smooth side of the vinyl?  I ask this because I've only tackled covering the toe cap thus far, and any excess E6000 that got on the smooth side just easily peels off like rubber cement once it has dried.  I feel like maybe scuffing up the area that the trim strip will cover may help create a rougher surface for the E6000 to bite into.  Thoughts?

I don’t wanna sound like my way is the only way. There are a thousand ways to skin a jawa. But I can say I’ve made probably about 50 pairs of boots (including my personal pair) and I always use CA glue for the strip that goes around the toe. 

I have not experienced any issues and have done many troops in all different kinds of weather. And no one has complained to me about the toe strip having issues. 

Just to be clear the super glue is only used on the toe strip and the outskirts of the tubing. E6000 should be used on the toe where it will need to flex and on the main portion of the tubing. 

*edit*

Sorry I also use it on the outsides of the dog bone because only the center flexes which I leave unglued. Apologies if I made that confusing in the tutorial.