Larcwide's Squad Leader WIP

[Larcwide]

Hi all,

managed to get some much better progress done this week.

First I decided I really should finish of the abdomen armour off. So I finished off the weathering of it and created the zipped piece for the back of it



I also painted the black parts of the back piece (the recess and the insides of the boxes) sand started the weathering process.


The back plate and straps had their coat of sahara beige.


The collar has had its first couple of smoothing passes


And I've begun the process of filling the biggest gaps on the belt cover and thermal detonator


While working on the belt cover I've been trying to figure out what to do with the "countersunk" holes on it. I've circled the ones I mean here


I know the vertical pair are for the snaps for the belt buckle, and the horizontal are for attaching to the back plate, but do they get filled in once the screws/snaps are in place? Or do they get left exposed and the TD covers them enough to not be seen?

[KOtrooper]

The TD will cover them so I wouldn't worry about trying to cover over the screw. Hit it with some paint and weathering and you'll be fine.

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[Larcwide]

Some significant progress over the last couple of weeks.

I finished the ribbing of the main body pieces, so just the right arm and bib to go with that. But it meant I was able to make the undershirt wearable. Some size adjustments to be done, but pretty minor and I'll do them once the other sleeve is attached. I'd have liked the zip to be longer, but that's what I could get...



I added strapping to the abdomen, so that it could be worn more comfortably:



The back was weathered:



Then had its plastizote added and finished collare attached. I added 2mm foam to the inside bottom edges of the chest and back to reduce noise and wear against the abdomen, work approved by the dog:



Then with some strapping between them and some velcro on the side pieces, I was able to wear them too (or in this case the tailor's dummy was!). Excuse the unweathered back plate!






Very satisfying finally getting to see it come together like this! I'll be continuing with the back plate/belt cover and then belt boxes next.

[Minimo]

It’s looking great!

[KOtrooper]

Very nice!

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[Larcwide]

Next update is a completed belt. This took a lot longer than I expected it to, but the weather hasn't been great for painting and I wasted a lot of time (find out why later). 

All the boxes were sanded back, painted and weathered, then attached with a soldering iron to make holes in the belt and mark the boxes, followed by some self tapping screws.


Then onto the abdomen. Those medium boxes are a pain with their little tops hitting the raised strip on the abs, but that's how it is in the promo photo.


And round the back:


Then the back plate and belt cover were weathered and attached. I changed the back plate to just have a "lip" at the top rather than a "hook" and put magnets on to make it easier to put on/take off - especially if trying to do it yourself.


I was also trying to figure out if there should be a gap between the bottom of the ab and the top of the belt cover. The files make it so there must be, due to the "tabs" at the bottom, so I assume there should be, but I've not been able to find any good reference.


Then the thermal detonator. This thing was a pain. All those grooves. I spent quite a while getting all the little seams between the main body and the caps nice and smooth. Then the painting and weathering. The weathering, looking at the references and realising I'd been a donut. There is a seam betwen the body and the end caps. Doh!


So time to break out the Dremel and take it to all my hard work to undo it, then it was done.


Next up, the shoulders!

[Larcwide]

What seems like quite a small update today, but with a few less obvious changes/additions.

The obvious update is that I now have some shoulder bells. They got painted up all nice:


And then made all dirty:


I added some strapping to them and put that on the nylon straps between the front and back pieces. On the first test I found that the bells immedietly went behind the plastezote at the front of the armour. I thought this might happen, as it did seem to stick out quite a lot. So I took the foam off the fronts, cut some off the bottom and reattached them, pulling them tighter in and stopping the shoulder bells from being able to get behind them. 

You may also notice that there are now two sleeves! I finally finished the ribs on the right sleeve and the undershirt is complete. After trying it on I made some size adjustments. KO was absolutely right that the sleeves needed taking in - around 1.5" off of them. I can now take a rest from ribs until I do the bib, which will likely be at the end of the soft goods now, so that being the last thing will give me the motivation needed to stitch more ribs!

[Aradun]

Looks sweet! Great job on assembly and weathering!

[Larcwide]

Just a small update today.

I've been working on the biceps, which are almost done.

Both were done the normal way of a dark brown base, then sahara beige. The right bicep pieces then had the Toyota Red applied over the top, before the yellow rectangles were painted onto cover strip.


I added some elastic cord to the back before gluing the front, to allow some expansion if needed for my elbow.


I sanded back the paint where the cover strip goes so that it wasn't being glued to the paint


And glued the strip on


The left bicep is going through the same process now.

I have also been working on the breeches, now that the undershirt is out of the way. I threw together another mockup with some size changes after my first attempt, then once I was happy started work on the real ones. It is still open at the back, while as I still need to finish the waist/fly area.


The knee diamond in place


The top stitching around the knee area. The eyelets for the laces will be added once I've finalised the length.


I'm very happy with how the breeches are coming along. If you spot anything that would be a problem for level two, please let me know!

[Larcwide]

Over the weekend I managed to finish off a couple of pieces. First up was the weathering of the biceps, as well as the rigging of them:



I was also able to finish the breeches off and I am very pleased with them. Just need to take all my hard work outside and mess it up!




I tried them on with the undershirt to check everything looked okay:


At which point I had to try everything on to see how it all looked together for the first time:


I put it all on by myself, so missed a few bits (the chest wasn't closed up at the sides properly for example and I need to pull the sleeves down). Definitely easier to do with some help! Seeing it together is really helping with the motivation to continue to drive forwards, getting so close now with just the forearms and shins to go with the armour, bib and kama from soft goods and finally the E-22 (which I've been slowly collecting and printing parts for in the background).

As always, if you see anything that needs adjusting, please let me know!

[KOtrooper]

Looking great so far! Outstanding work on the soft goods!!

[Larcwide]

A couple of little bits of progress across a few things.

 

The forearms have been assembled (the same way as the biceps), painted, chipped and weathered.




I need to check with the undershirt if I need to add any foam inside to stop them turning, but the are very (very) tight to get my hands through so they shouldn't need much, if any.

Now its onto the bit I've been dreading... the shins... Starting with the left one, with various parts at different stages:


I've also been back at stitching endless ribs, making up hte bib:


And I've made up a first template of the basic shape of the kama. I won't do any more on this until I have a shin complete so that I can get the length right, but I'm pretty happy with the shape and size so far:





And finally I started looking at the circuit I would need for the LEDs for the E22:

[Minimo]

Looking good! I’m sure you already know, but just in case, keep in mind the angle of the kama.





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[Larcwide]

Thanks Minimo, always worth checking before I go cutting decent fabric! Looking back at my pictures they do make it look straight at the bottom (and I realised I posted the bib twice instead of the led flat picture below), so here’s a couple to hopefully show it better.

Led flat they are straight, but the curve of the “belt” part means that when it’s worn the front drops lower.

and held out - the light fabric doesn’t help. The heavier waxed canvas should drape better, especially with the eyelets to help weigh it down:

 

Hopefully that should give the basic shape, then once I have a shin made up I can put it on to get the lengths correct so that the back is in line with the top of the back and the front in line with the bottom of the strap. I’ve gone with around a 3” height difference on the test piece. 

 

[Larcwide]

After what felt like an eternity... I have finally finished anything that involves stitching ribs. If anyone is reading this and think of trying it, my advice is don't! Just by the undershirt and save yourself hours of pain! The bib is essentially finished:

Zipping top to bottom


I have made it purposely too wide (better too big than too small!), so I will need to trim down the sides so they don't stick out from the chest armour.

The left shin has now been assembled and needs a few bits of touch up (mostly the rim and the print lines that are visible on the "under" side of the cover) before it is ready for weathering, while I start on the right one.





I tried my first draft kama on with them and it seems my measurement guess wasn't far off! The kama is a couple of inches too long, which is good as it will be hemmed anyway. I'll need to chope up the pattern for it now to create the different sections and create a second test to make sure the panels look right.

[Larcwide]

After feedback from my garrison armourer that the neck seal ribs were too big and not enough of them, I split them in half to make them half the size and double the amount. I wasn't happy with the original look and I'm still not convinced by this. I'm awaiting feedback from the changes from the garrison, but I would be curious to here people's thoughts from a level 2 perspective, as if its not going to pass muster there I might as well redo it even if it would pass basic approval.



Any feedback greatly received!

I've also worked on a couple of revisions of the kama and am happy with how it's looking so far. The only major change I need to do is get the triangles to overlap on the egde, which is a simple fix:


The bottom is angled (ignore the single front top stitch, the thread ran out half way through the second stitch and I couldn't be bothered to go back and finish it for a test!):


And here's a couple of me wearing it.
My handy helper was pointing out where the front and back needed to hang to on the shins:






Any feedback before I start on the final one appreciated as always. I'm not sure the top stitching is far enough apart. Its at 1/4" between the parrallel stitches at the moment, I'm not sure if it needs to go up to 1/2"?

[Minimo]

I agree with your local armorer. They were looking a bit wide. Here is a screen reference and also mine. My ribs are around .4mm.





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[Balancesheet]

Awesome progress!

[Larcwide]

Quote

I agree with your local armorer. They were looking a bit wide. Here is a screen reference and also mine. My ribs are around .4mm.

Yep, absolutely agree with them - not sure how I got my original measurements so wrong! After halving them, they are at around 5mm now. I'm not sure if they are "pronounced" enough though. I'm also not convinced by how neat they are...

In the meantime, I found a very good closeup picture of the bottom front of the kama on the Fam facebook. Using 14mm as the internal diamater of the eyelet, I was able to measure the distance between the top stitches and have gone for 10mm (or 3/8") as the distance. With this I've been happy to start on the final one. I've got the two halves made up now, they just need attaching at the back, hemming and eyelets adding (and the weathering of course).

[Larcwide]

I've had a productive week this week. My garrison armourer was happy with the modified neck seal, but it'll probably be on first on my post approval upgrades!

In the mean time I have complete the last of the bits that needed doing on the kama:





Against the shins for displaying the angle at the bottom against the straps:


It was then weathered:




I also weathered the breeches:



And the boots - I had worn them to get some weathering before, but darkening them up covered most of it. I've sanded some areas but will need to wear them again to add some more natural weathering back in. I also added some sand (which I stole from the supply for my fiancé's aquarium) into where the sole meets the leather. A little too much there for my liking but hopefully wearing them should knock some more loose:


I've also pretty much finished the right shin, it just needs a few bits of touch up before I start weathering it. I think I'd like to weather the left one a bit more in some places, I imagine the shins taking a lot beating from things getting kicked up:


I lined both shins with some eva foam to help grip the breeches and stop them twisting, as well as some upholstery foam just below the knee where they were a bit loose and for comfort:


So in theory (I'm sure I will have missed something!), its just the weathering/wash on the shins to go for the armour side of things, then its onto concentrating on the blaster.

[Larcwide]

I weathered the right shin and put the wash over both of them, which meant everything was done enough to warrant a full suit up! I did it in the dark and the lighting wasn't quite enough to light me evenly, but hopefully shows everything well enough:







Things I noticed from the photos to sort:
Left shoulder bell ended up under the foam
Abdomen could do with coming up higher
Forearms need foam or velcro to stop them twsiting
Some helmet electronics poking out the left of the helmet (but boy was I glad I fitted fans as the lens steamed up nearly instantly!)

Talking with my garrison armourer we agree that the shins need to be beaten up more, as I expected so I will be doing that along with working on sorting the above. If anyone spots anything I've missed, please let me know!

It was great to be able to finally put it all on together and get a real feel for how it will look. Definitely entering the home stretch now which is very exciting!

[BikerScout007]

I think it looks excellent.  And I agree there are a few fit and finish issues, but nothing major.  

Your shins don't look too bad to me.  I'd work a bit more on weathering the soft goods.  But definitely work with your Garrison's team -- they are the ones that clear you.  

Only real nit I have are the belt boxes.   They should be fairly evenly spaced, including the ones that are attached to the rear belt plate.  And the excess belt plate that you have wasn't there on the screen used.  At least the suit I saw in 2016.  

You can see my album of photos from the LA Auto Show 2016 here:  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10209779093806853&type=3

 

Very nice job!  Look forward to you joining the Detachment!

@KOtrooper @Minimo -- any other advice for our friend?

[Minimo]

You look great! Nice work!! I think your self assessment and what Mickey annotated pretty much cover it! The things that pop up the most to me is the boot and kama weathering!  Almost there!!!






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[KOtrooper]

Weathering gets lost in photos so I'd hit the pants/kama/shoes with some baby powder.

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[Larcwide]

Thanks for the feedback all, much appreciated to help me get this looking good and over the line. More soft goods weathering was the feedback from the garrison armourer after these photos too, so I will be working hard on that while I start on the blaster.

For the belt boxes, I always thought mine were very close due to having the body shape of a stick figure (30" waist) and just didn't have the room for them all! Looking into it more after you mentioned it there seems to be a few variations on the hard belt cover size. I spaced the boxes on the belt evenly based on the space not covered by the belt cover.

There's yours with the cover ending at the belt box, then theres this squad leader with some cover past the belt box:


Then there is this grunt with quite a lot of cover past the belt box:


And one that looks like it might have broken?


Do you think I should cut the belt cover back and redo the belt so that I can evenly space the boxes, including the ones on the cover in the spacing?