Dot's Scout WIP (SC Armor)

[Ditty]

Hi all, I'm kicking off my WIP. Making a 501st kit is a long time waiting but I was pushed over the starting line by a friend who's starting his kit too. No idea what his username is but this might turn into a dual WIP. Not dead set on achieving lancer right out the gate, balancing that with other WIPs, but I'll be keeping all those requirements in mind. 

First off, I ordered SC armor and it arrived sooner than expected, Which is awesome but I'm still in the middle of planning all the soft parts. Assembly will wait for at least the flightsuit and vest, but on the helmet I do have one question (so far): I obviously need to straighten this bottom edge, but will it be okay if the greeblie plate ends up basically flush with the bottom of the bucket? 

I also pulled on the chest and back, it looks like I won't need to take too to much off the shoulders, but I wasn't able to pull my arms in front of my body. So I may need to figure out how I can shape and or trim the plates to get better movement there. 

For the flightsuit, I'm sewing my own from scratch. I've tailored a few suits before and its enough work to just not bother since I have a pattern in mind anyway. I'm sticking with a one piece flightsuit because I like the look of it all said and done and this is good practice for future (current) pilot projects. I have not quite settled on the fabric yet, reading through WIPS tutorials and sale postings it looks like a nice medium weight black twill will get me there. I'm temped to wait until my friend's kolossus work wear comes in to see what weight and finish that is so I can match him better. 

I'll be making our bunds and vests as well, again lots of different fabric choices out there. For the bund I'm still looking for the right smooth cotton, a little hard since I can't physically go shopping right now. And for clarification, is duck cloth the best way to go for the pouches, or should I look for a slightly lighter canvas? And is the vest a heavy fabric then the suit, or would I be in the clear making it out of the same twill?

And then boots. He's bought the Kingshow ones listed in the tutorial but I wear a men's size 6 and they are not in stock anywhere. I want to build my own, and base build options seem like the super cheap Walmart ones, decently cheap (kingshow level) ones that have a different color upper sole, men's shoes a size up, or possibly the $70 wolverine boots. I have no idea what route to go, but I'll be sure to post comparison pics as I distill my options further. 

 

[Chopper]

Hard to tell from the angle of the photo, but which is off kilter -- the edge on the bottom of the snout greeb, or the bottom edge of the face plate?

[Ditty]

bottom edge of the faceplate. Its cut higher on left looking at the picture. Trying to insert a picture with out it being gigantic.

 

[Chopper]

You might want to try image hosting using dropbox or imgur. I believe you can scale the linked sizes through the host, or at least you can with imgur.

[Ditty]

Here is the bottom edge:

Made a mockup of the body of the flightsuit last night, pretty happy with the fit so far. Need to lengthen the torso some to make sure I can sit with out any worry. I think I'm reading all the info right that the cod piece goes straight in the front so its okay if the crotch of the flightsuit is a little low?

I'm also looking at K-1 flightsuits to model the sewn one after which means flat felled seams, a shoulder yoke and a single seam on the inside of the sleeve and those interesting front pockets. Whiskey's WIP is really helping and the material looks pretty thin so I'll look for something similar and something thicker for the vest. 

 

 

 

[Chopper]

Ah yeah I see there the edge is trimmed closer on the wearers right than on the left. I don't think it's an issue to do some small trimming on the wearers left to even it out.

It's not an issue if your crotch rides low, but the overall appearance of the coveralls should be generally fitted, and it shouldn't be riding lower than the cod.

Some general proportions are helpful when setting everything up:

[Ditty]

Slow progress and a few questions.

I made pouches out of off white duck cloth that I had on hand:

They need to be pressed but they are the recommended 2"x5"x6" dimension.  Reading the CRLs it looks like off-white is allowable for lancer as well, so swapping these out won't be a high priority. I've just made the one set and if I have to size the final ones down (I'm 5' 2"), these will go to Cole (who's building at the same time).

I'm happy with my flightsuit pattern (though I haven't added the accurate pockets yet) and should have fabric and a flat felled foot coming in soon for that. It's hard to shop for the white cotton strictly online. I've found a few listings for the  mercerized cotton, but it looks really thin to me, is this fabric often doubled up? OR should I keep looking. 

I'm starting the helmet build this weekend, I don't want to go paint shopping so I'm going to try one of the light grey Montana gold cans I have on hand for the snout. 

[Chopper]

3 hours ago, Ditty said:

I'm happy with my flightsuit pattern (though I haven't added the accurate pockets yet) and should have fabric and a flat felled foot coming in soon for that. It's hard to shop for the white cotton strictly online. I've found a few listings for the  mercerized cotton, but it looks really thin to me, is this fabric often doubled up? OR should I keep looking. 

I'm starting the helmet build this weekend, I don't want to go paint shopping so I'm going to try one of the light grey Montana gold cans I have on hand for the snout. 

If the fabric is thin enough to be semi-see through, then there's no reason you couldn't double it up. Keep in mind that the white batting in the bund will also add to the color as well.

Montana Gold is acrylic, so it won't truly bond to the plastic -- it just sorta sits on top. This means if the snout gets scraped at all, even with a fingernail, the paint is coming off. Just keep that in mind before you start putting down paint layers. Testors Model Master Navy Aggressor Grey, or a similar color, is generally recommended for the snout.

[Ditty]

Made a mockup of the vest and bund and a pattern for the cod this weekend.

I'll move the neck down and the arms up when I have the armor to measure against. As you can see, the sleeve from the pattern ended up sloughing off my shoulder and were a little tighter then I wanted. Both easy fixes moving forward. I feel like I should step up the batting size though and add a little more poof in the final version. 

I also went ahead and bought the kingshow boots a size up from what I normally wear in men's, they'll be in Friday. 

Thanks for the tip Chopper, I've been trooping in a montana painted merc for over a year now but probably worth just getting the recommended paint. 

[Ditty]

More fabric shopping. And I'm taking my time to find the best options which leaves a few questions:

How heavy is the vest and does it have any texture. Like do i need a twill or a gaberdine or is t-shirt flat cotton the right look.

A lot the mercerized cotton I've found so far is a jersey knit (https://swatchon.com/qualities/21664) I assume that's not right, I'm looking for something smoother right? How does this fabric look (https://www.dharmatrading.com/fabric/cotton/cotton-sateen-57.html?lnav=fabric_cotton.html) compared to the sateen cotton from Joann's (https://www.joann.com/sateen-solids/5970074.html.)?

I've have green twill at my house for a new mando flight suit that's on the light side of what weight I'm aiming for, so I'm going to assemble it with the pattern I've drafted for the flightsuit and vest while I keep looking to solve that debate with myself. 

The kingshow boots arrived. I have a full extra inch in the toe but the width fits me right so I'm going to go forward with them. I started a super loose sketch of the sole pattern looking just at the source boots to get a feel for what it ought to look like and will tidy it up later.  

 

[Aradun]

Hey Dot, be careful with sateen fabrics. In my own research I quickly discovered that they’re not all created equal. Make sure to read all the reviews on the fabric and if it doesn’t have any reviews I’d advise passing on it. Some sateens will really fray making it a challenge to sew or a nightmare to work with.

As for the flak vest, the most popular option for do-it-yourselfers is the t-shirt method, but as you have created a pattern already any heavy weight cotton in a matt black finish will do.

I have links to my fabric selections in my build thread if you want to take a look for comparison or for ideas:

http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/21137-dennis-scout-wip-lancer/


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Chopper]

Hey Dot. I'd say "no" on the jersey knit sample you posted. However, the second option from dharmatrading actually looks about right.

We don't really know the specific type of fabric used with the scout vest, as we haven't seen a screen used one in the wild. I would recommend using a flat material vs twill, but keep in mind most of our references are from screen shots like this:

 

 

[Ditty]

AradumFF, thanks for linking fabric. That black you used is something I've used before for a Mando flack vest so that's good news. And I agree on the white sateen, it's why I was hoping to find something on swatchon cause I have a friend with a lot of there physical swatch bundles already and I can't shop local right now. I've used Dharma before and they do have a swatch option so I'll probably get that today and report back. I also have a serger which helps somewhat with fraying. 

Thanks chopper. I figured on the white, but it always pays to double check, there are some weird fabrics in star wars. That screenshot is great and going in my folder and advice on what people have tried to make and troop in before is also great. 

[Ditty]

Tiny update. Samples came, here is the Dharma mercerized sateen against a flat black. 

*Edited to swap the image link.

[Chopper]

Hey Dot, the image hosting isn't working for your last post.

[Ditty]

Fabric's arrived. I'm going to start with Cole's parts since his sizing will be easier. Speaking of sizing, I'm seriously looking into switched to a 3D printed kit now that I fully understand how much trimming is going to be needed to get the SC kit to fit me the way I want to. 

On the helmet, the visor is rubbing the dome and i'm working on trimming it to fit better. Is there anything else I can/should do to make the visor fit better?

[Chopper]

Are you talking about the half-circle cut on the very top of the visor that fits against the dome?

It shouldn't be rubbing. You can adjust it by marking and cutting the circle in more, bit by bit, until it doesn't rub anymore.

Here's one example of how it's trimmed on an altmann helmet: