woobiee Posted May 30, 2021 Author Share Posted May 30, 2021 @Retrofire thanks for the advice! I've cosplayed as other non-SW characters before and I totally understand the little ones' preferences Do you know if the knee armor from RS's (or any other kit) can sustain our body weight on hard surfaces? At first glance it seems a little delicate. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopper Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 It will but, like any other thin plastic, the stress will build up over time and eventually cause cracking. I tend not to kneel on my knee armor and just crouch down when needed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woobiee Posted June 5, 2021 Author Share Posted June 5, 2021 Some progress but more set backs One of the difficult things so far is since I am still figuring out where things should stay in relationship to my body and the flight suit, everything is currently held in temporarily by friction or pressure so any subtle movements from me would shift the pieces around. The photos generally captures the state after some movement -- the example here is how the cod piece seem off centered/crooked. Anyway, for the positives, I think the cod reshaping came out alright. I think I can physically slide the cod down towards the crotch by 1/4 to 1/5" further without additional reshaping. As for negatives, I think the thigh straps are now too long whereas before it was too tight. My guess is I need to take in about 3/4" - 1" of strap here. I'm also starting to believe the suede riding patches are not shaped quite right. The more I see it the more it looks more like a "V" to me, whereas it should be an upside down "U." The biggest issue I have now is how the flight suit is fitting and how immobile I feel when I'm in it. Bending over and kneeling is exceeding difficult, to a point where things may start ripping around my backside. Sitting while putting boots on feels constrained around the knee area. For the bending over and kneeling problem, what are some solutions to this? I can see a lower crotch would help but then it would look silly to me (the flight suit came with a super low crotch that I had my tailor take in). For the sitting while putting boots on with constrained knee area, is this as simple as opening up the trouser legs? Like instead of a tapered look, go more for a straight cut? Honestly, I feel a bit defeated and discouraged. But I am trying to fight through and push forward! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopper Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 I gotta say, Andy, from the photos above, you look pretty great. I like what you did with the cod re-shaping and the current position looks good as well.] You can leave the suede riding patches as is as well, what you have looks good. If I can ask, do you know if IB used real suede for the riding patches, or is it faux suede? As you identified, the side straps do look a little loose for Level 2, and I think your stated adjustment will probably take care of it. The costume will never feel like a loose set of Dickey's coveralls and even I can't fully kneel or bend over when I'm suited up. (I usually have to use what's called a "golfer's lift to grab something off the floor). In terms of flight suit tightness, where are you feeling it? Just above your waist? Knees? You, or a tailor can potentially add a slit with flex fabric, or spandex if it's covered by your vest or bund. Again it all depends where you're feeling the tightness the most? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woobiee Posted June 5, 2021 Author Share Posted June 5, 2021 Thanks for the feedback Chopper. I do not know if the suede is real (I understand it needs to be real for Lancer). Are there tricks to tell if one is real or not? I'll ask Vince at IB for details. For tightness, if I try to do a squat, a kneel, or a normal bend of the waist, the backside is so taught that I feel like the seam would start to buckle. I have a seam that connects the top half and the bottom half of the flight suit. I think you are onto something with the flex fabric -- the fire suit that I use for my other cosplay character has flex fabric around the lower back and I have no issues with bending over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopper Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 Yeah, we have not gotten very many applicants using IB soft goods for our Level 2 reviews, so I'd be curious to know more. If you have any close up photos of the suede parts, feel free to send them our way and we can take a look. If it's the back of the waist that feels tight, then I'd def see if you can get a slit with some flex fabric added. As I said, as long as it's under your belt and bund and isn't visible, then you should be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aradun Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 Honestly, I feel a bit defeated and discouraged. But I am trying to fight through and push forward!Andy, you’re asking great questions and getting solid advice from the armorers (that’s why they get paid the big bucks and are IMHO the among best in the Legion). You’re also making solid and excellent progress. Your photos above are proof positive of that, so set aside any sense of feeling defeated or discouraged. Everyone who walked this road always has to tweak here or there, and make minor modifications to get it to work for them. That’s progress brother, not set backs . You’re doing great and man will you be beaming with pride once you get everything dialed in, which I can’t wait to see! Hang in there brother!Chopper has a great thread on how to keep your kit together while trooping. In case you haven’t stumbled upon it yet...http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/18894-some-tips-for-keeping-your-scout-costume-together-while-trooping/Once you get everything dialed in then you’ll be able to secure everything in place and you won’t have to worry about shifting, sagging, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woobiee Posted June 5, 2021 Author Share Posted June 5, 2021 31 minutes ago, AradunFF said: Andy, you’re asking great questions and getting solid advice from the armorers (that’s why they get paid the big bucks and are IMHO the among best in the Legion). You’re also making solid and excellent progress. Your photos above are proof positive of that, so set aside any sense of feeling defeated or discouraged. Everyone who walked this road always has to tweak here or there, and make minor modifications to get it to work for them. That’s progress brother, not set backs . You’re doing great and man will you be beaming with pride once you get everything dialed in, which I can’t wait to see! Hang in there brother! Chopper has a great thread on how to keep your kit together while trooping. In case you haven’t stumbled upon it yet... http://forum.501stpathfinders.com/index.php?/topic/18894-some-tips-for-keeping-your-scout-costume-together-while-trooping/ Once you get everything dialed in then you’ll be able to secure everything in place and you won’t have to worry about shifting, sagging, etc. Thanks @AradunFF for the encouragement. That Chopper thread I have bookmarked for some time! I'm sure I'm not the only one who has gotten discouraged by little setbacks. Maybe I'll start putting some velcro inside the knee armor now -- it's easy and I'm in need for some small victories. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woobiee Posted June 6, 2021 Author Share Posted June 6, 2021 Today's small task is to replace the lower strap of my knee armor. The armor came with 1" wide elastic but the CRL for Lancer requires 1/2" or 3/4" wide elastic. I found this 3/4" black elastic at Joann's. It has some ribbing on it whereas all other elastic from the kit are smooth. Is this allowed or do I need to find another source of 3/4" black elastic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopper Posted June 6, 2021 Share Posted June 6, 2021 This is a timely question, as something similar came up in one of our Lancer reviews. The ribbed elastic is not ideal and the non-ribbed is certainly preferred. However, the CRL doesn't specify, so the armory team is allowing it right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woobiee Posted June 6, 2021 Author Share Posted June 6, 2021 OK thanks Chopper! I'll future proof it and stand down with these ribbed elastic. I'll find another source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aradun Posted June 6, 2021 Share Posted June 6, 2021 OK thanks Chopper! I'll future proof it and stand down with these ribbed elastic. I'll find another source.Amazon has a decent selection and price. Just search for the size you want and you’ll have plenty of options to choose from. I grab my elastic from Amazon and have plenty left over for future projects or repairs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woobiee Posted June 9, 2021 Author Share Posted June 9, 2021 After feeling a little down, I pivoted and took some time to investigate the pouches and how I can make them from scratch. The IB pouches that came with my soft parts would pass Basic but I do not think it will pass Lancer because of the materials used. Plus one of our cats peed on them and well, I'd rather not be wearing eau-du-chat when trooping! I found the brilliant patterns from DK5IDE and used it for my first test pouch using scrap fabric my fiancé had laying around. Considering the last time I touched a sewing machine was about 25+ years ago in middle school, I think my test turned out great! Translating the patterns to fabric was a bit cumbersome. In hindsight, I should have printed them first and traced it to fabric. As a super novice with all things sewing, I initially was having a rather difficult time imagining how these pieces went together and deciphering the order of operation. I'm a visual person so to help me with this, I went ahead and made color-coded patterns plus diagrams of the pouches using DK5IDE's originals. They are also vectorized so they are high resolution for people who opt to print+trace. If something isn't right with these patterns, let me know and I will correct! And here is the PDF file for print: Pouch Dimensions.pdf 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikerScout007 Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 Wow these are great! We'll double check them but if you don't mind I would love to add them to our pinned posts on soft goods 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woobiee Posted June 9, 2021 Author Share Posted June 9, 2021 1 minute ago, BikerScout007 said: Wow these are great! We'll double check them but if you don't mind I would love to add them to our pinned posts on soft goods Absolutely! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopper Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 That is AWESOME my dude. A+ work! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woobiee Posted June 9, 2021 Author Share Posted June 9, 2021 I should have mentioned that 3 things were modified in these patterns: 1) The front flap is 5.25" wide vs DK5IDE's patterns at 5.5". He mentioned that the front flap should have been 5.25" in total -- 5" wide + 1/8" on either side to equal 5.25." 2) I had to decipher the size of the square velcro on the front flap based on DK5IDE's low resolution image. My results got me to 0.75" square. 3) I made the velco on the front pouch where the front flap meets larger than on the flap itself. I thought it would be easier to close the flap rather than having equal sized velcro squares and needing to hit it dead on. The larger velcro will be hidden by the front flap anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopper Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 Oh and just an addendum -- 16 minutes ago, woobiee said: The IB pouches that came with my soft parts would pass Basic but I do not think it will pass Lancer because of the materials used. Plus one of our cats peed on them and well, I'd rather not be wearing eau-du-chat when trooping! I believe the IB pouches are made of canvas-like material, right? That should pass for Level 2. However, the feline weathering is probably a disqualifier...😁 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woobiee Posted June 9, 2021 Author Share Posted June 9, 2021 37 minutes ago, Chopper said: Oh and just an addendum -- I believe the IB pouches are made of canvas-like material, right? That should pass for Level 2. However, the feline weathering is probably a disqualifier...😁 I do not believe so. The material felt like what the IB bund was made out of. I'm used to canvas being similar to denim in weight -- this was certainly lighter than denim. Perhaps it was a lighter weight canvas that I'm not familiar with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPoopie Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 These look great. If I can make one suggestion. When you make the backside of the flap make it about 1/8-1/4 smaller so that when it's sewn together and flipped inside out the seam will rest on the backside of the flap instead of directly on the side. It'll make things look cleaner without the seam showing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woobiee Posted June 9, 2021 Author Share Posted June 9, 2021 22 minutes ago, MrPoopie said: These look great. If I can make one suggestion. When you make the backside of the flap make it about 1/8-1/4 smaller so that when it's sewn together and flipped inside out the seam will rest on the backside of the flap instead of directly on the side. It'll make things look cleaner without the seam showing. Do you mean to avoid this? (photo from DK5IDE) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPoopie Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 Just now, woobiee said: Do you mean to avoid this? (photo from DK5IDE) if possible. If you make one of the pieces of fabric slightly smaller than the other but when you sew them together you still match up the edges of the fabric you'll end up with the seam on the backside once you flip it inside out. Hopefully that makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woobiee Posted June 9, 2021 Author Share Posted June 9, 2021 Just now, MrPoopie said: if possible. If you make one of the pieces of fabric slightly smaller than the other but when you sew them together you still match up the edges of the fabric you'll end up with the seam on the backside once you flip it inside out. Hopefully that makes sense. Yeah I think I got you. I can update my patterns with the option. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aradun Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 Dude this is phenomenal and will be a huge help to others down the line. Thanks for taking the time to do all this graphic work for the pattern. I wish it was around when I did mine last year. Well done brother! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woobiee Posted June 9, 2021 Author Share Posted June 9, 2021 I've updated some of the document/images from earlier. It's now tidier, with some simple steps and notes for sewing novices like myself. MrPoopie suggested a seamless front flap option but I'll have to test that out before it gets added to the document. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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