HOW TO – CONNECT E-11 HOLSTER to CANVAS TK, TD, or TX belts using Jean Rivets

[mr0072003[501st]]

Hi everyone, as promised I have set to do another How To and place them here to the forums. I just feel it's the least I can do to give back to a community that has given back to me on this project. So lets get started.

As with much of this build I found that the stuff I thought in my head would be easy, turned out to be harder or more steps than I thought. So with attaching the belt I thought it would be easy (and it is, after research) but when I started to actually think about how to do it and where to get snaps rivits etc, I noticed I have no clue what I am doing. I searched and found many post on what to do as far as how to attach a holster, but never did I find one that actaully showed how to do it or what they used and where they got the supplies from . So here it goes.

 

 

Things you will need.

1. Rubber Mallet or Hammer - (Home Depot, LOWES, etc)

2. Jean Rivets (5/16 or 7.9mm) – (Michael's)

3. Jean Rivet tool Kit - (Michael's)

4. TK Style Holster – (www.StormTrooperundersuit.com)

5. Canvas Belt – (www.Trooperbay.com)

Step 1 .

First thing that needed to de done for my particular holster that I received from www.stormtrooperundersuit.com was to cut off the loop portion so its no longer a loop in two places on both sides.

Here is what the holster looks like.

 

Here is the loop part we will be cutting.

 

Here is the first portion that I had to cut, this is the one closest to the rivet that is connected to the base of the holster.

 

Here is where I cut on the second part. It's where the loops folds over.

 

Here it is after both pieces are cut off leaving you with only one piece. Repeat to the other strap on the ohter side.

 

 

Step 2 –

Now that you have it all cut up and left with a single strap on both sides, we can now begin to test out the placement of where you want to place your Holster. Here is when you can decide whether or not you are going to ANAH STUNT (has only 2 rivets to hold in place) or be a ANH HERO (version that has 4 RIVETS. Please note that whatever way you decide to go, the holster is to be attached the holster with rivets from Behind the canvas belt.

Here is a pic of my placing the holster behind my belt and trying to find the best place to attach the holster.

Step 3 – Now that you have figured out where you are going to place your holster, you need to attach it to the belt. And this is where I started to get stuck. As I read and researched I noticed that people were using split rivets, snaps with rivet style backings, even Chicago Screws. I was overwhelemed at what road to take and having no luck finding split rivets (except for online). So a trip to Michael's ( I was looking for a hobby anvil) I found something that looked like exactly I was looking for.

Here it is – Jean Rivets

Then I realized that I would need some sort of tool to attach these, (like snap systems does) and sure enough right next to the Jean Rivets was the Jean Rivet tool kit.

Here it is – Jean Rivet Tool Kit

I bought them both and took a chance that they would match the rivets on the holster already. So when I got home and checked the size against what was on the holster, I was happy to know that they were an EXACT match.

Here is a pic of comparing the rivet on the holster to what I bought. Pretty close right?

Here are the rivets front and back before attaching them.

OK so lets attach them!

First thing you need to do is to hole punch a hole in the canvas belt and holster strap at the same time. You can use the hole punch tool that came with your Jean Rivet kit..

Here is a pic of the hole puncher

Then you attach the hole puncher to the plastic holder that also came with the Rivet Kit.

Like this

Now place your hole puncher to the area you want to attach with rivet against the top of the canvas belt and the holster strap directly behind it (placed where you want it) so that we can punch a hole through the Canvas belt and holster at the same time. Like so

Using your mallet or hammer begin to punch the hole puncher through the belt and holster. Use a hard surface.

It should end up looking like this once it's through.

 

Step 4 -

Now that the hole has been punched through both the Holster straps and the Canvas belt, and make sure you can push through the male portion of the Jean rivet like so and that there is enough room for the female portion to snap it together.

 

Now that you have verified that the male part pushes throught the holes, we can use our plastic tool and two rubber/metal groumets that are used to punch the Jean rivets together. (comes in the kit)

 

Here are the groumets and plastic tool.

You will need to attach the groumets to the holes on the plastic tool .

 

Like this - Notice that one groumet has a dent in it.

 

Now we need to add the Female part of the Jean rivet to the groumet that has the dent in it the male portion on the other side

Like so:

 

Step 5

 

Now lets punch the rivets so that we can attach the holster and belt together. So lets pinch the plastic tool with the rivets inside them to the holster and belt. Like this

[mr0072003[501st]]

Part 2 -

 

Step 6

 

Now that we have pinched the plastic tool to the holster and belt; Using the Mallet/Hammer, and hammer the tool together so that they can picnh the rivets together.

Like this:

 

Once you have hemmared and piucned the the rivets in place you can remove the plasti tool and the rivets are now in place like this.

Here is the front

Here is the back

 

Repeat these steps to both sides and your holster will look like this. ( I went ANH STUNT, but i placed my rivets to high)

 

 

I have added a great image as to where the Holster placement should be and how long straps are etc. I wish I would have seen this first and I would not have made my mistake, but the process is still the same just place correctly (Pic reference from FISD site)

 

 

I hope this helps some one out there.

[Griffin-X[501st]]

Great tutorial.

[mr0072003[501st]]

yeah I posted on Whitearmor.net and they were like this all wrong. I asked they delete it there. First and last time I post a tut there.

[Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM]]

Great little tutorial, I am loving these Peter!

[Chef[501st]]

There is nothing wrong with this Peter... It's how they did it on the ANH Screen used stuff.

 

Admittedly the rivets are lower down on the belt (exactly as if you turned your belt upside down), and they use the outer part of the loop to go behind the belt, not the back bit.

 

But the process is absolutely spot on.

 

 

 

Incidentally, as a handy tip, if you use pop joiners (so the popper part is on the inside), then you can have your holster so it is detachable for transportation.

[mr0072003[501st]]

Thanks everyone. I feel better about this tut now. Yeah I left the placement for interpretation, but I obviously placed them to high. I was able to grab this from the FISD site and thought since everyone here thought it was a good post, I thought I would update the end of tut with this image so folks can know where exactly to post next time. Had I not got a stunt helmet I would attach the other rivets making it a hero style holster, but I do not want to mess up my EIB or specialist goal with an obvious errors such as that.

 

 

[Chef[501st]]

That reference pic looks like one of our very own Mr Haggis's little diagrams.

 

We've got millions of them over on the UKG forums. They are a bit anal about their TK's.

[Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM]]

Send me a higher res photo of the holster in the first pic (if you have one) and I will clean it up in PS.

[mr0072003[501st]]

Darth. I sadly got that from the website at www.trooperundersuit.com as I am total dope and forgot to take a full picture of the holster befor I hacked it up. I will be changin it out one day, but need to get a new belt and snaps blah blah so that will be later when I get bored.