TK-24576 who also wants to be TB

[CatfoodRob]

The endcaps are super glued on ... brute force might get them off   !  I modified mine before I glued on the endcaps , it was a prototype , the first cast out of the mould before they finalised how they were going to build the tube . To be honest I'm not sure what's inside the production tubes , but I'm guessing expanded foam . 

The lining inside the end caps ... I'll hunt out the photos , I'm sure the m.o.m. Photos on here show it . 

Im not looking forward to sewing ... lol !!! 

[BikerScout007]

4 hours ago, HSM76 said:

@BikerScout007: Thanks Mickey for the kind words, bit this is an add-on to my lancer kit. The lancer App was posted in Dec. and I got Lancer rank on Jan 7th. 😄

@CatfoodRob: that would have been a good Idea, Rob. Black foam between endcap and tube? Do you have a picture of that, I never noticed.

How did you get the endcaps off the cast tube?

Concerning the flightsuit, I opened up the seams in the area and sewed it in with the sewing machine. The riding patch is a four part assembly, and sewn in I to the inseams of the legs. I was quite a fight with the sewing machine at some points.

Oh my gosh that's right!  Sorry we get so many Lancer apps lately its hard for me to keep them all straight.  Well thank you for continuing to strive toward more accuracy.  Thats a an attitude that I wish everyone would adopt!   

[HSM76]

Thanks Mikey, want to live up to the Lancer status.

I looked at the MoM pictures but could see any foam.

The endcaps for the new tube arrived yesterday, I ordered them from CfO. They are a bit narrower than the ones on the RS detonator. I might need to use a tube that is a bit smaller in diameter. Will have to check the against reference pictures.

[HSM76]

Here a picture I found online of my first troop with the TB:

[HSM76]

Clips ready for painting (need a bit warmer weather...)

[Aradun]

Nice work!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HSM76]

The clips are painted and drying right now.

I got hold of an old speaker cable with 3mm diameter, still not the right form, but the colour looks good:

[HSM76]

Clamps are on the tube:

Just need to add the endcaps.

Project "leather boots" has started. I only got hold of white leather with a bit to much structure, so the first thing was to straighten out the leather. Here you see the original state on the left and the dogbones and caps on the right. The shaft leather will follow next week:

[Harbinger]

I didn’t know you could un-texture leather... good to know.

[Aradun]

What leather hide are you using and where did you obtain it? Decent white leather is tough to come by. I’d also be interested in how you smoothed out the grain.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HSM76]

I will post info for the leather tomorrow :-)

Gesendet von meinem ONEPLUS A6013 mit Tapatalk

[HSM76]

Okay, it took a day longer than I thought, but now I could get to writing ab bit.

First of all, the TD is done. Old stock cable (luckily dirty, so no weathering necessary), home made clips, RS box and CfO endcaps.

The RS tube will stay as a failsafe.

Now to the leather:

I ordered the leather from eBay, it is upholstery leather, thick leather in pure white. The structure of the leather is stamped into the leather. This is the reason it is possible to get it out to a certain degree.

Keep in mind that in any case leather is hide and therefore you have a certain structure. 

Now for getting out the stamping. In short you stretch out the leather. I soaked the leather in water until it was completely wet. I put it on a surface where it could move a bit, so every part of the hide will be able to go with the flow.

I used the long side of agate polishing tools to smooth the leather out:

This is a rather tedious process. You have to smooth it out, it worked best from the middle to the sides. All in all this can take a while. You might need to rinse and repeat (pun intended)

If you have reached an acceptable smoothness (keep in mind you will have some structure left in any case, this will be the original structure of the hide) you can dry it with an iron. Set it to a temperature below wool. Be careful not to heat the leather up to much. This will help a bit more with smoothing out the surface, but the main point is to help the leather dry more quickly. A few passes on both sides. Let it cool for a some and repeat it. Leather needs to dry quickly or it will become hard and brittle.

When it is dry you will see that you have not only smoothed it out but also stretched it out to a certain degree. Here is one of the dogbones with the stencil I used for cutting:

 

[HSM76]

And it goes on, I drew the sole cutting schematics on the first boot:

I tried to adapt the cutouts to the soles of the Kingshow boot and create them as near to the Sierra as possible.

I am not sure right now if I can make the upper cutouts as full rectangle, or if I have to make a slanting cut from the top of the sole.

[Aradun]

The leather work is phenomenal! Thanks for posting the details. I know several scouts who are interested in making their boots out of leather instead of vinyl and this will be helpful to them. I for one would not have considered upholstery leather so that is a great tip. Tandy doesn’t have much in terms of options. I am definitely looking forward to seeing your finished product!

Kudos on your sole work too! Definitely following this!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Harbinger]

3 hours ago, HSM76 said:

And it goes on, I drew the sole cutting schematics on the first boot:

I tried to adapt the cutouts to the soles of the Kingshow boot and create them as near to the Sierra as possible.

I am not sure right now if I can make the upper cutouts as full rectangle, or if I have to make a slanting cut from the top of the sole.

Since you’re going all-in I’d suggest using some scraps to add the little step in the arch:

[HSM76]

The leather work is phenomenal! Thanks for posting the details. I know several scouts who are interested in making their boots out of leather instead of vinyl and this will be helpful to them. I for one would not have considered upholstery leather so that is a great tip. Tandy doesn’t have much in terms of options. I am definitely looking forward to seeing your finished product!

Kudos on your sole work too! Definitely following this!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep, Just wait for my results, maybe I miscalculated at some point and will do a crash landing, you never know.

Gesendet von meinem ONEPLUS A6013 mit Tapatalk

[HSM76]

Since you’re going all-in I’d suggest using some scraps to add the little step in the arch:

The Step is drawn in, in case of the Kingshow it is just a bit bigger :-)
Maybe I cut the whole sole in places. But first I have to do the notches, then we will see.

Gesendet von meinem ONEPLUS A6013 mit Tapatalk

[HSM76]

Both boots are marked for cutting. And the first cuts are done. This will be tedious work...

[HSM76]

First boots side cuts in the sole is done:

[Aradun]

Nice!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HSM76]

Tried to put the first cap on the boot. Hit the first snag right there. It did not want as I wanted it to be. So I had to soak it again in water to make it pliable and a bit more stretchy. After that I could pin it down in the front. I had to remove the pins in the back because while drying, the leather was, as expected, shrinking a bit again. This lead to the laces and the fixture of the laces to be outlined very well. I will see how it will be when it is all really dried.

Here is a picture of the cap. I think there it looks quite good:

[HSM76]

A few more progress pictures of the left boot.

I did not get to as much working on the boots in the last weeks as I hoped.

I had to loosen the cap in the back as the drying leather pulled it self so much into the boot that you could see the whole fixture of the laces in every detail:

I cut the cap to fit and I cut the leather for the shaft into final shape to have the correct closure in the back:

The nice thing about the wet formed leather is, that the cap holds the form even if you take it of the boot.

The next things I plan to do are:

- Sewing the top of the shaft

- sewing the side stitches on the shaft (after fiddeling with the leather parts I strongly presume the the cap and shaft where sewn together)

- backing the shaft with leather to give it more rigidity. At the moment the leather is rather stiff, but this will give way with wearing.

The velcro will be sewn in after the backing is in place.

The gluing will be done with real contact glue. I use Kövulfix. It is a contact glue used for leather. As normal with these types of glue, you put it on both sides of the area you want to connect and wait until the solvent has evaporated. After that the glue is no longer sticky to the touch but the two layers will stick to each other. You then need to press the parts together. Important here is that the length of the pressure is not important but the force of the pressure. The higher the pressure, the stronger the connection, even if it is just for a short time.

[Aradun]

Amazing work. Working with vinyl, I stitched the dog bone to the tube and then glue the part that overlapped the toe cap to the toe cap. I was trying to figure out how they managed to stitch everything for the film. Seeing how you are working the leather and how the toe cap retains it shape, it all makes sense. This is a great tutorial. Keep it coming!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HSM76]

Thank you Dennis. I will keep you all with me until the boots are some.

I hit a little snag today. I cut the leather for lining the shafts and after that I wanted to start determining where the stitches for the connection of cap and shaft have to be. At that point I realized the caps were not long enough. This meant I had to cut new ones and prep them. So this is pretty much what I could do today. It is never good if you get a new insight after the parts are cut out. So no new pictures today.

[HSM76]

Got to work on the left boot today.

Pinned the cap down and fitted the dogbone.

I marked the parts where the shaft will be sewn to the cap. up in an angle and to the back.

I start to like the blue and white of the boot :'-D

To smooth down the transition to the raised parts of the laces I glued on some pieces of leather:

The leather is beveled on the edges to have a smoother transition from cap to the back.

We will see how it works out, when the cap has dried.

One thing I did last week, I forgot to mention is, folding down the top edge of the shaft. I watered the leather there for a moment and clamped it in place with a lot of clamps between a steel ruler and popsicle sticks.