Jeremy's New Scout ... Hopefully

[jdouce45]

Finally finished the vest.  Anyone who says building one of these is easy is not to be believed.

 

[Lucasfan7]

Finally finished the vest.  Anyone who says building one of these is easy is not to be believed.
 

I got a lot of respect for anyone who sews their own soft goods, I’m way too lazy for that.


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[Aradun]

Finally finished the vest.  Anyone who says building one of these is easy is not to be believed.
 

Amen Brother! But for someone who is new to this I gotta give you props because your final products look great! You’re rocking it brother!


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[jdouce45]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the positive comments.  Those really go along way in keeping the enthusiasm and optimism going, especially when the going isn't so good. It seems like I've been working on this forever, but looking at the list and time line, I've just gotten started and I'll need the small victories to fuel the struggles I've yet to face.

[Retrofire]

You’re not alone Jeremy. We’ve all been there at one time and you’re doing great! Keep asking those great questions and plugging away at it and you’l be done before you know it. You should be proud of what you’ve accomplished so far.

[Lucasfan7]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the positive comments.  Those really go along way in keeping the enthusiasm and optimism going, especially when the going isn't so good. It seems like I've been working on this forever, but looking at the list and time line, I've just gotten started and I'll need the small victories to fuel the struggles I've yet to face.

You got this, just remember that the sense of pride that you get from building your own kit is amazing. It’s hard now but you will feel like you really earned it in the end. Just take it slow and enjoy it. Rushing creates stress and always causes mess ups.


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[jdouce45]

 

Another piece completed, well until I put it all together and start addressing fitting issues and whatnot.  I'm sort of taking an iterative approach with the pieces now after building some of the dependencies.  You can measure and speculate out the wazzoo but really don't know how its going to look until you start putting all of the pieces together and seeing them in context.  I think that might have been why I was afraid to have someone else build the soft parts originally.  If they didn't fit or were wonky, I'd be stuck at someone's mercy to get new ones or have them altered.  Its been a challenge, but taking the tougher road of building them myself I now have an understanding of how they are made and how to tackle issues or just outright scrap a bad one and move on to a new one.

So here is my codpiece, it was made from the same material as the cummerbund but instead of using batting as I did there, I opted to use three layers of white felt which seemed more stable and less likely to shift around inside.  The area right above the crescent to the elastic has an additional 3mm closed cell foam insert in the base layer instead of the felt to give it some form and prevent the cameltoe.   These filling layers were stitched together then cut to final shape.  To ease getting them inside and aligned, which was a bear the first time, I stitched the foam tip of the insert to the elastic when it was inside out.  Then I could pull the elastic strap to make the whole thing right side out and all of the stuffing went inside and aligned properly. I sewed the elastic between the layers initially when the two panels were joined and doubled it up.  I just liked the cleaner look of no surface stitching.  If this was a bad choice, let me know please :-). 

I intend to attach it to the vest using velcro in the front and use the parachute buckle to the vest in the rear.  I'm thinking of bathroom break time when you will be alone and need to get the thing off quickly and the need to redress alone after.  The buckle would let you get it attached back to the right place with less fuss maybe.

I've tried it on and had the wife look it over about ten times now.  To her eyes it looks good, so I'll say its good until I get some full shots and can adjust.  Those should be coming soon, time permitting.

Thanks for the good words above guys!  I do appreciate them.

[Aradun]

Another job well done. Creative solution using the felt and how you stitched it. Looks good and the fact that you left yourself extra material on the strap length and at top of the cod will allow you to fine tune the fit once you have everything in hand. Smart!


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[Lucasfan7]

That looks awesome, kinda making me wish I tried my hand at sewing my soft goods.


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[jdouce45]

Been working on hard parts for a little bit.  I need them in order to judge fit and spacing of the soft parts before I can finalize those.  The belt is 95% done, just need to attach the box straps to the back of the belt.  The chest/back armour is assembled, only lacking the tank topper and some small strapping.  With these two pieces done I can put on the vest, cummerbund, cod, belt assembly and judge if those need to change and then finally know where the riding patches belong.  Before proceeding, I have a question on the tank topper area circled below.  The sunken area is to be painted white I believe, but should it be flush with the surface or is it supposed to be recessed like it is now?  I've seen a couple of posts where it had to be corrected and this would be easier if it is yet to be attached.

 

[Chopper]

The screen used tank toppers did not have an indent. For basic clearance it will be fine if you just paint the indented area white. If you're really feeling gung-ho and want to go all the way, then now's the time to fill the indent with apoxiesculpt (or something similar), sand it smooth, then paint the circle on the flush surface.

[jdouce45]

Thanks Chopper, I think bondo would be easier applied off the tank well before stickers and glue are applied, so now is the time!

[Lucasfan7]

2 minutes ago, jdouce45 said:

Thanks Chopper, I think bondo would be easier applied off the tank well before stickers and glue are applied, so now is the time!

Good attitude :)

[jdouce45]

Progress Update (got quite a bit done in the last few days) : Got the bondo done and smoothed out, so assembly of the back/chest armour can be completed.

[jdouce45]

Got the pin striping done on the tank using ProStripe 1/8 inch pinstripe I picked up from the parts store.  I grabbed some 1/4 inch in case I chose to do the hero stripes, but instead went for a three stripe simple arrangement. 

 

Then got it all assembled into the chest and back armour using various techniques mentioned in these forums.  When I fastened in the lower rivet the tank flexed around the hump which made the top plate pick up about 1/4 inch around the edges, a problem I'd seen others have as well.  To solve it I heated the tank topper while in the raised position to make it flexible (something I accidentally found happens when using a heatgun to speed dry model paint) and then snuck in some super glue along the edges which stuck it down pretty quick.  It seemed to turn out looking pretty good, so stickers were applied and the lower rivet set.

Then the shoulder bells were attached using the suggested zip tie configuration and strapping described in Strider's Lancer build with a little modification.  My front and back pieces were pretty flimsy when using strips of velcro on either side of the zip tie mount, so I sewed together the velcro into a solid patch, back to back, to give the bridge a little more stability and give me freedom on where I placed the shoulder bell  This way I can move it wherever it needs to go while I'm getting everything to fit together.  I also opted o have the shoulder bell strap be really adjustable and make it easier to take on and off.  We will see how it works down the road.

 

[jdouce45]

And some more pieces parts that got completed along the way...

I'm a little worried about the length of the tube in the detonator.  Its what was sent with the kit so I've used it, but have a feeling when the belt clips arrive next week and I hold them up where they belong, it will look really short.  So I am getting comfortable with popping the caps off and replacing the tube with a hose and wire wrapped version.  We shall see.  I'm also wondering about the smooth zip tie.  The one used in the CRL image shows the horizontal ribs on the back side, so if I do end up replacing the hose I'll use a ribbed zip tie and not the smooth back one shown above.

 

 

[Chopper]

Your tube length looks ok from here, but it will depend on your build. The smooth zip tie is not a problem, you can leave it.

[Aradun]

Great progress Jeremy. Well done!

[Lucasfan7]

Moving right along brotha, looking awesome 

[jdouce45]

Getting closer, what I have remaining is:

• Holster
• Riding patches/butt flap
• Helmet

I'm feeling pretty optimistic after my first and second partial suit up seen below.  The first time I suited up it was a train wreck, it all kinda worked and I got a good laugh, but I found out just how hard some of it is to put on and was really amazed that it fit as well as it did.  Up till now I've just been putting a thing or two on to test for size and maybe measure so there was alot up in the air.  So we marked some places where velcro needed to be to hold up the cummerbund and belt, the cod piece and the knee pads.  Had to make the slots bigger for the side strapping on the chest and back armour, it was impossible to get off and on as tight as I had it and I found out that you really do need that space.  After an evening of sewing and sticking velcro I tried it again.  What a world of difference it makes when things stay where you put them.  I'm grinning ear to ear inside, though you can't really tell in the pictures.  I offered to walk my daughter into prom in April, she declined and gave me a rather threatening look...hmm.

Please check the pictures out, keeping in mind I have no riding patches or butt flap, no helmet, holster, and weapon.  I've also not yet put anything on the suit to stick down any arm pieces so I'm sure they will be in the wrong place.  The belt rear straps are also in temporary spots with pins holding them in while I suited up. 

If you see anything that you think is way off please let me know. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Aradun]

Dude, for a quick first fitting, you’re rockin it. Looks good. I’m sure the armorers will chime at some point. The only thing I can note is that you may want to loosen your cod strap just a smidge in the next go around.

I don’t know if you have plans to shoot for Lancer down the line, but if you do, keep in mind that the rank bars on the tank are limited to your choice of 1, 4, or 6 for Lancer. You’re gold with 3 if you plan to stick with basic.

Nice job Jeremy!

[Chopper]

Hi Jeremy, great work! I don't see any basic clearance issues with what you've posted so far.

Dennis mentioned your cod, and I would advise bringing the whole thing up a smidge...maybe an inch, so it'll lie flatter on the front of your body.

Also, another refinement I would encourage you to look at is bringing the back size connecting points of your drop boxes inwards a bit. If you look at the CRL model, you can see that they're fairly close, under the detonator box.

Great work so far. Keep it coming.

[Retrofire]

First of nice work and kudos to you for suiting up and posting some pics! It really allows us to get a good look at how it fits you. That's really important with this costume as that's how you bring off the look. You've done a great job suiting and building and you should be proud. Chopper and AradunFF have given you some good pointers so take their advice and you'll look all that much better. Keep up the great work!

[jdouce45]

Thanks guys, those are good comments and I appreciate the encouragement. I'll definitely concentrate on correcting the issues noticed so far. Considering that was a first outing, I'm proud its gone so well.

I'll definitely be building this to Lancer specs, just so I can feel like I did my best and have something to be proud of.  So the tank stripes will get corrected, likely going to be six stripes.  I've worked over the cod and raised it about 1 & 3/4 inches, just till the elastic is the only thing going between the legs.  I think it helped, though did not solve the scrunching altogether, please let me know if this is adequate or to keep tinkering with it.  I did go ahead and set the location of the hip box straps in the back which let me put on the thermal detonator. I need to devise a way to keep that guy still, he likes to shift around and will surely fly off without something more substantial than the belt clips. The straps moved more toward the middle, almost touching under the TD.  On this dressing it looks like my right side strap is up higher than my left in the rear.  Luckily I chose to use velcro on these and have a good 2 inches of mobility in any direction, so I'll adjust them on my next dressing.  I did get to add some velcro to the suit to keep the arm pieces in place.  They are in place on the photos below.

 

The green line is the proposed riding patch shape and location.  The peach line is the elastic strap location.

 

 

 

[Aradun]

I glad to hear your plan is to eventually shoot for Lancer! Awesome!!!

I’ll leave it to the armory team to comment on your thigh and strap placement, but as to the TD issue...

Consider putting the soft part of 2” hook and loop on the inside of the belt that rests against your back. That will thicken the belt and give you a tighter fit for the clips.

If your eventual goal is Lancer then another related suggestion would be to consider adding a small tab to the bottom of the back of your bund with hook on one side and loop on the other. This tab gets sandwiched between the Velcro attachment of your belt and keeps the belt from sagging under the weight of the TD while trooping. Here’s mine. You can see the tab on the bottom left side.


I think I got that suggestion from Chopper awhile back in this thread:

http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/18894-some-tips-for-keeping-your-scout-costume-together-while-trooping/

This prevents your flight suit from showing between the bund and belt/TD because the belt sags with the weight of the TD.