kaabous WIP first build

[kaabous[TX]]

Ok, I am off on my journey to build movie accurate Star Wars costumes. Up first is the Shadow Scout. Here is the first piece of that costume:

 

 

Haven't trimmed the tags or anything yet, but I'm glad to have my first few pieces coming in.

 

A question on the undersuit. I ordered the Redkap coverall that seems to be pretty popular. It is too small length-wise in the torso. I'm not usually one for tall or long sizes (I'm only 5'9") and waist probably need to be taken in an inch or two, but maybe my torso is just longer than average. I think I am going to order a long and see if it is better. I plan on still messing around with this one to get some practice altering and doing the riding patches, but I imagine I'll need the long for comfort while doing real trooping.

 

Armor and helmet should be here in the next couple weeks... can't wait to get moving on that part. I hope to have a good start on the soft gear by the time it arrives.

[Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM]]

For the under suit, to get the length I needed, I had to order the long and then take in the other areas of the suit.

[retrofire[501st]]

I'm 5'9" and my undersuit is a long so Steve's right on target with his comment. There is a good tutorial for the vest pinned in this forum so give that a read through. If there is any help you need with the cummerbund/cod and pouches let us know and we'll help as much as we can.

 

 

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[furiosa[TX]]

Ahwwww one more shadow scout! Nice! ..

Looking forward reading of your progress

[kaabous[TX]]

Ok, time to really get going:

 

I am going back through some of the SC WIP posts and the Instructions that came with it. From just playing with it and dry fitting the pieces, I think most of it will be pretty straight forward. The helmet is the only piece I seem to have a lot of question marks on so far.

[Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM]]

Shiney! What questions do you have on the helmet?

[kaabous[TX]]

I did some work today. I started attaching the dome and back of the helmet.

 

While waiting for that to set, I started on the visor cutout:

 

 

How does the general size and shape look? It is a little uneven in spots, but I don't want to do much finish work until I know it is right. I went just a bit beyond the molded indentation since it sounds like that is a bit too small.

 

As I work with this, I think I want to go with the satin finish... the gloss is not very tactical. Is paint the best method? I saw some mention of using some kind of scouring pad to get the effect too. Or would something like a meguiar's scratch compound work better?

 

Thanks.

[Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM]]

It's hard to tell in this photo because of shadows. Can you take one with a flash? It looks like you have some access on the left (facing the bucket) but I'd want a better lit photo before providing advice.

[Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM]]

As for Satin, paint is the best method for an even finish. You could definitely dull it with pads, but it's tough to not have it be uneven.

[kaabous[TX]]

Ok, here is a hopefully more clear picture of the visor hole:

 

[kaabous[TX]]

I have the bucket mostly done, just need to attach the visor and drill the bolt holes for the mask. I think visor hole looks decent compared to the other SC buckets I've looked at, but I'm waiting to do the final assembly until I'm sure about it.

 

Here is a dry fit of the pieces:

 

I have my coveralls prepped for altering and assembly, I am working on the hard armor in pieces and I'm getting the vinyl for my boots ready to go. It is slowly starting to come together.

[kaabous[TX]]

Got my next piece in today:

 

 

My piece! Up next is sewing the soft bits and velcro/elastic straps together.

 

I ordered some 2" nylon webbing for the belt to replaced the short piece that came with the kit. I want to do a full belt of webbing so the ABS belt piece is not load bearing. I have considered a number of methods, but I think attaching velcro to the inside of the ABS pieces with corresponding attachments on the webbing will work and look best. Any tips on how to do it?

[kaabous[TX]]

I've got all of my strapping done and I'm working on fit of the hard armor.

 

I'm looking at the shoulder bells and they seem too long. I know the fit is specific to each individual, but I'm wonder how much people have trimmed recent SC shoulder bells. The bells I got seem to already have the adjusted angle from Pandatrooper's build over at BSN, but they seem too long. There isn't much room between the pieces of the arm armor, but I think the main culprit is the length of the bells. Is there any guideline for distance between the arm armor pieces, especially the bells and bicep armor?

 

I want to be sure before I start trimming the bells much. It looks to me like there is some variation in bell size across different iterations of the scout armor and several builds on here and BSN.

[Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM]]

Are you able to tape the bells and bicep in place on you so we can see how they look? I've trimmed shoulders before and readded a slight return edge with a craft iron.

[retrofire[501st]]

The SC bells usually require you to remove about an inch from the bottom. The bells don't have returns like TK armor and it sounds like you've added the angle and rounded them which is excellent. You're looking for about 1-1.5 inches of vest from the edge of your bells. This is one of those pieces that has to be fitted to the wearer so you'll see all sorts of variations there. To me it's really important to get these pieces right because it does make a difference in your overall look. I concur with Steve in that we can really give you a good hack if you could post a pic with your vest and bells.

 

Im 5'9" and my SC bells are shortened quite a bit.

 

 

 

 

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[Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM]]

Didn't even realize we were talking scout 😮. Ya, you can scale the bells to fit you by trimming the bottom edge as Peter suggested.

[kaabous[TX]]

Thanks guys, I appreciate all of the feedback on my many questions. I will try to get some pics up, but I am pretty sure an inch or so off of them will be needed. I'm 5'9" too and if I have the bicep armor strap around the center of my bicep the armor is overlapped by the bell. I'm going to try to get a pic of the chest armor fit too. I think I have it mocked up about right, but I want to check before I trim the shoulder straps. I don't have the vest done yet, since I am just focusing on the basic build requirements first to speed up getting in to the 501st in the first place. I have kept an eye on the specialist requirements though, so I haven't done anything I will really need to change (other than nylon to cotton strapping for the drop boxes, but that is an easy fix), I'll just need to add things like the vest.

[kaabous[TX]]

I went ahead and trimmed some off the bottom of he bells. I think it is all fitting together better now:

 

 

The back plate seems to naturally settle a bit lower than the front on me. Is that an issue?

 

Is there a good tutorial on making a bund? There are some great ones on the vest, boots, pouches, etc. but I have yet to find one on the bund. I was planning on doing it as one folded piece with one seam, then sliding the batting in and doing the ribs and velcro. I am worried that the batting will not be secure enough though without some other method of attaching it (like iron on hem adhesive).

 

After checking the CRLs, it looks like the TB CRL says no visible stitching on the cod or pouch flaps (for level 2), but does not mention the bund (TX has no mention of stitching). It would make life a lot easier if there can be stitching across the top and/or bottom of the bund. Is that really the case?

 

Thanks.

[Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM]]

That tends to be the natural rotation of those pieces. Getting your bund well supported so it stays up (I use suspenders) will be important.

[Darth Emphatic[CMD-DWM]]

A lot of people use this info:

 

http://www.studiocreations.com/howto/bikerscout/thecumberbund.html

[kaabous[TX]]

Quick shot of my first bund experiment:

 

 

Size-wise how does it look?

 

I learned a lot that will help when I do the real one. I think I need to double up the batting to make it thicker and I have a better technique for the ribbing. Any other big red flags on the construction?

[furiosa[TX]]

The belt sits a little bit too high on your hips in my opinion, coupd be moved down only hapf an inch. Yeah you are right the padding looks a bit slim. But the rest looks good so far. Good srart

[kaabous[TX]]

Great! Thanks for the feedback.

 

The belt was centered over my belly button, so it may well be too high. I got the basic bund sewing done with heavy black cloth and the double batting, it seems much better. I'll do the ribbing and fastener tomorrow and maybe start on the cod.

 

I was working on my boots too. I got the heels cut on both soles. I've been trying to find good pictures for the front soles. Do they have a line that is not removed, like the back? Or are the cuts all the way through in the front? I gather both ways may be OK, but is there a preferred way to do it?

[kaabous[TX]]

New bund in the real fabric this time:

 

 

How does the fit look? It is big enough to go over the under-suit with no problem. I just thought these pics would be easier to see how it fits.

[Chef[501st]]

Looks pretty good to me.

 

Ideally the belt wants to sit approximately half way between the bottom of the chest plate and the bottom of your crotch, which it appears to be about right.

 

The gap between the chest and the top of the belt should be around 6", depending on your height.

 

We've had a big debate on pouch size over on the BSN and with the current research we've determined that they are 6"x5"x2".