Kessel's Imperial Army Troooper Build

[Kessel[TX]]

Hi again troopers!!

I was recently approved for my Imperial Army Trooper costume and shortly after the rank of Specialist.

I love the IAT costume because it is very military, of a real soldier, but it is a costume that does not have many people and therefore there is not much information.

In my case, in order to build it, the information that I was able to find in the different threads of this Detachment was essential and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have created a WIP or have provided some type of information and that has served us as a great help to those of us who have tried to build it later.

So it is time to give the Detachment what the Detachment has given me and I have decided to write a WIP with the history of my IAT costume in case it will help new recruits.

Little by little I will write the WIP in the order that the CRL follows, because I have to translate it from the one I wrote in my Garrison's forum. So I apologize in advance for any mistakes in the English translation.

Many thanks to all of you who have helped and encouraged me to achieve it.

 

[Kessel[TX]]

General details:

-Helmet: DG Props (spanish prop maker) painted with Montana Gold Olive Green Spray (cans bought from a graffiti paint store called “Anden Barcelona”, but they can be purchased on internet sites like DickBlick) and crew caps installed where the strap meets the helmet. 

- Goggles: Uvex Futura S348C (Amazon). For the Specialist application the gray UVEX elastic was swapped by black elastic.-

- Green Imperial Flight Suit: US Army Mechanics Olive Green Coverall (Ebay) with modified neck closure and olive green snap. 

- Imperial Army Patchs: Endorfinders.

- Olive Gloves: Original french army issue olive Green leather gloves (Ebay) painted with Montana Gold Olive green spray. Added stitches to the back of the hand. 

- Web Harness: made from 5cm olive green webbing (AliExpress). Triglides (AliExpress) painted with Montana Gold Olive Green Spray. They are installed on the front of the suspenders. The main body of harness fasteners (from LC2 US Army harness) (Amazon) are discreetly hidden behind the belt.

- Belt: Tactical military belt with eyelets (AliExpress) painted with Montana Gold Olive Green Spray. Belt buckle is Olive Green in color.

- Boots: Denver Hayes Men's Midland Side Zip Winter Boots (Ebay) painted with Montana Gold Olive Green Spray.

- Belt Pouches: 

- 2 Condor MA47-001 HANDCUFF POUCH (front) (Amazon).-

- 1 Condor MA66 DIGI POUCH (left) (Ebay).-

- 1 Condor MA6-001 DOUBLE AR/AK MAG POUCH (back) (Ebay).-

- 1 TRIPLE AR15 M4 5,56mm MAG POUCH (back) (AliExpress).

- 1 Condor 191028-001 FIRST RESPONSE POUCH (right) (Amazon).-

Edited September 20, 2020 by Kessel
Edited to insert all links to the products.-

[Kessel[TX]]

Helmet:

I ordered it from “DG Props” which is a Spanish prop maker.

Helmet after painting with Montana Gold Olive Green spray:

 

HELMET FINALLY SUBMITTED TO THE LEVEL II APPLICATION (SPECIALIST):

Supplier: DG Props (Spain)

 

If anyone knows of any other suppliers, I would be grateful if they could post them in this thread for the benefit of future recruits.

Thanks in advance.

[Kessel[TX]]

Googles: Uvex S348C Futura, bought from Amazon.

 

GOOGLES FINALLY SUBMITTED TO THE LEVEL II APPLICATION (SPECIALIST):

For the approval of the costume I used the gray elastic of the googles that came standard, but to request “Level II” I had to change the gray elastic for a black one and I have to admit that for this costume the black elastic is much more accurate. Thanks @Blackwatch !! you were right!!

To solve it, I bought 60cm of black 2cm wide elastic and I was able to put them on the googles without problems.

In the following picture you can see how the googles were after the change and the comparison with the original gray elastic:

 

NOTE about UVEX Futura S348C:

- Pros: if what you want is to wear them inside the helmet, in my opinion these googles are ideal for size and shape, since they fit perfectly in the space of the face left by the helmet, as can be seen in the following picture:

- Cons: If you want to wear them on the helmet (with your face visible) in my opinion these are not the most accurate.

In my case, I chose this model of googles because they were directly adapted to what was requested by the CRL: “green lens and black frame”, but I recognize that they are not the most accurate for this costume, being more correct military type googles, with ballistic protection, such as the ESS Striker (see purchase list), but you had to figure out how to tint the lens and that's why I opted for the UVEX.

 

I take this opportunity so that if someone knows a more accurate model of glasses, please post it, since it is the only thing I would like to improve on my costume. Thanks in advance!

[Kessel[TX]]

Green Imperial Flight Suit: US Army Mechanics Olive Green Coverall bought from Ebay. 

I think it is essential to find a suitable coverall, both for the color, and for the shape and size of it, because then it will have to be modified a lot or a little.

To create the Mandarin collar, I folded the neck inward and sewed the ends on the inside so they wouldn't show. Finally I put a little snap to close it:

mandarin collar size and neck closure:

 

To make the chevron to close the mandarin collar I used a piece of fabric from a back pocket that I removed. The tip of the chevron has a piece of velcro that sticks to the mandarin collar so that it does not open:

 

Near to the chevron point  I glued a non-functional snap, in olive green, which I took from a belt pouch:

Snap near to the chevron point:

 

GREEN IMPERIAL FLIGHT SUIT FINALLY SUBMITTED TO THE LEVEL II APPLICATION (SPECIALIST):

Finally, I followed Tarrif's advice (thank you very much @Tarriffor your awesome thread ) I added some black rubber bands to the jumpsuit as “stirrups” to prevent them from coming off the boot with the movements, giving a good result in practice.

 

NOTE for new recruits:

In my opinion, the most accurate coverall for de IAT costume is the USMC Mechanic Utility Coverall or one of those kinds. However, it is not easy to find one that, either by size or by color, suits what we are looking for, but nevertheless they present a problem that can be very serious and that is that if you need to modify the military coverall to add pockets, you will have to remove the fabric from the same coverall so that there are no color differences and you can run out of fabric and that would be a very problem serious. 

I say this because the fabric was just right for me, which I had to remove from the inside of the front pockets and from some back pockets that I removed and I had a bad time ... although in the end I succeeded. That is why I advise you that if you opt for a military coverall, make sure before seeing if it has the pockets required in the CRL or that it has other pockets or fabric from another part of it from where you can make the necessary modifications.

By contrast, the Elbeco coveralls used mostly by the American colleagues (Elbeco Men's CDCR Utility Jumpsuit OD Green) in my opinion are perhaps "less military", not so "soldier", ultimately less accurate, but the good thing about the Elbeco coveralls is already come with chest pockets and legs and epaulettes with which to make the Mandarin collar and the chevron shaped strap across the neck.

In short, in my opinion the Elbeco coveralls are less accurate than the USMC coveralls but more practical for those who do not want to make many modifications and do not want to have problems of lack of fabric. But this is just my opinion.

 

Edited September 18, 2020 by Kessel
Add more pictures.-

[Kessel[TX]]

Imperial Army Patch: Endorfinders.

Most people order them from Walt's Trooper Factory, but in my case, since they were no longer in stock, I ordered them from Endorfinders.

 

If anyone knows of other options, I would be grateful if you could post it in this thread to help future recruits??

[Kessel[TX]]

Olive Gloves: Ebay.

On Ebay I ordered some “Original french army issue olive Green leather gloves”, like these:

Here I had 2 problems:

1. The color of the gloves was very out of tune with the uniform set, since it was a very dark olive green.

2. It did not meet the CRL for Level II, since for this Level the gloves must have 3 stitched lines on the back of the hand and mine came without said lines.

 

The solution for the color was easy and was simply to repaint the gloves. However, for the subject of the lines I had to engineer them to be able to add them and make them look natural. To do this, after an intense search for information, diving among the different threads of the Detachment, I saw that @Blackwatch added the 3 stitched lines on the back of the hand and I decided to apply a similar system, what I did was take an old white T-shirt and cut the internal stitching that they have inside on the bottom and on the sleeves:

 

Once said stitching was cut by the edge of the same, I divided it into strips of 9cm in length that I glued on the back of each glove as you can see in the following image:

 

Finally, I just had to paint the entire glove with Montana Gold Olive Green spray (front and back), looking like this:

 

ADVICE:

If you want to go for Level II (Specialist) and you cannot find gloves that have the 3 strips sewn on the back, in my opinion the “Kessel system” is an easy and affordable solution for your pocket.

If you don't want to go for Level II, but the color differs from the rest, I recommend that you at least paint them to give consistency to the whole uniform, because otherwise that dark olive green will not look good.

 

[Blackwatch[CMD-DCA]]

on the coveralls, ive got a lot of experience with them, having workied with close to 200 sets.  I have six sets sitting in front of me as I type this.  The USMC coverall is no longer produced, and most of what you find oline is VERY old, 70s issue, quite faded and in most cases has old military patches installed. When the patches are remved, they leave the original Sateen color behind.  Tarriffs original coveralls had this problem.   Also they are just as often as not herringbone pattern fabric, since thats mostly what the US used for coveralls.  

The other issue is size. USMC coveralls do not go beyond size Xl.  That cuts out half of all approved Army troopers.  The thing is, for whatever reason, most coveralls in the US are either light blue or tan.  I can order a olive green coverall from AWW, but its the totally wrong color.  solid OD green coveralls are quite unusual, and tend to come from ex military stock, with all of the issues listed above.  We may have to move to some other type of coverall, or have a maker such as WW make them for us, since the Elbcos are being discontinued.  

Another problem we have with ordering online is what we see on screen when we order.  I ordered mine based on others orders, and the color is completely different in reality than what the color shown on screen is.  My elbco is a different color than shown in the sales page.

 

[Kessel[TX]]

I totally agree with you David.

With military coveralls there are two big problems that I have been able to see directly: the color and size.

In my personal case, I bought a US Army issue coverall and I already saw that its color did not match the Condor pouches:

 

Also, it was too big for me and I had to modify it entirely. The problem with the color of the gloves could be solved by painting them again, but not the coverall.

I kept searching tirelessly on the internet and finally and I found the coverall I used, which was brand new. The color was more correct and the size was great.

The problem was making the modifications to the pockets, because he had to use the same coverall fabric so that there were no color differences. I couldn't trim the leg tails because it was perfect for me and I had to use the fabric from the back pockets that I removed, as well as the internal fabric from the front pockets.

I would like to apologize if I was able to upset someone with my opinion about the military coveralls or those of the Elbeco brand. I just wanted to say that for a soldier costume (as is the case with the Imperial Army Trooper), I prefer a soldier coverall, but I agree with you that finding a good army coverall is too difficult. However, Elbeco's coveralls are also correct and much easier to modify. I had a hard time with my US Army coverall for lack of fabric to make the modifications and was about to order an Elbeco... but in the end my I was able to fix it.

 

Finally I totally agree with you that we have a problem with IAT coveralls and we must look for new alternatives.

In my case, I will continue to look for other coveralls options that conform to the CRL.

 

Thank you very much for the info David.

[Kessel[TX]]

Web Harness: handmade by me.

I made the web harness by me using the following components:

- 5cm olive green nylon webbing boutght from AliExpress.

- 4 Triglides of 5cm bought from AliExpress, to adjust the harness straps.

- For the harness fasteners and to hook the harness to the belt loops I used the hooks from a US Army LC2 harness (bought from Amazon).

 

Finally, I painted the Triglides and harness fasteners with Montana Gold Olive Green spray.

 

5cm webbing and TRIGLIDES for adjusting the harness straps:

 

Triglides and harness fasteners once painted with Montana Gold Olive Green spray:

 

WEB HARNESS FINALLY SUBMITTED TO THE LEVEL II APPLICATION (SPECIALIST):

Detail of the fastening system to the belt:

To hide the fasteners to the belt I did the following: I attached them to the lower eyelet and sewed it to the nylon webbing, which was hidden between the fastener and the belt. 

In my opinion, this is a simple and effective system to meet CRL level 2 requirements, but if anyone would like to comment, I would be happy to hear it, as it is about improvement.

Snap-Hooks: 

I would like to add another site to find snap-hooks because the site on the purchase list (Strapworks) for European recruits is much more expensive.

 

Edited October 6, 2020 by Kessel
Add links to the products and the snap-hooks.-

[Kessel[TX]]

Belt: tactical military belt with eyelets (AliExpress).

Many colleagues choose Condor PB OD Green Tactical GI Style Nylon Pistol Belt (Ebay-Amazon). Mine is a tactical military belt with eyelets bought from AliExpress and then I painted it with Montana Gold Olive Green Spray, because for Level II the belt buckle must be olive green.

 

Belt before painting:

 

Helmet and Belt after painting with Montana Gold Olive Green spray:

 

 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Kessel
Add link to the product.-

[Kessel[TX]]

- Belt Pouches: 

- 2 Condor MA47-001 HANDCUFF POUCH (front) (Amazon):

 

- 1 Condor MA66 DIGI POUCH (left) (Ebay):

 

- 1 Condor MA6-001 DOUBLE AR/AK MAG POUCH (back) (Ebay).-

 

- 1 TRIPLE AR15 M4 5,56mm MAG POUCH (back) (AliExpress):

 

- 1 Condor 191028-001 FIRST RESPONSE POUCH (right) (Amazon):

 

 

Edited September 19, 2020 by Kessel
Add link to the products.-

[Kessel[TX]]

Post 2’ (General details) edited to add all the links to the products used in the build of my IAT, except for the coverall that is no longer available.

[Kessel[TX]]

Boots: DENVER HAYES Men's Midland Side Zip Winter Boots (from Ebay) painted with Montana Gold Olive Green spray.

In the thread I wrote entitled "Looking for commuter style boots" you will see the links to these boots and many others that I have been finding.

Denver Hayes before painting:

Denver Hayes after painting with Montana Gold Olive Green spray:

 

And finally, this is what the Denver Hayes look like in the rest of the costume:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kessel[TX]]

These are the sent pictures to the Specialist application:

 

Front:

Back:

Left:

Right:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kessel[TX]]

Well, I think this is the end of my WIP... but before concluding I would like to thank everyone who has helped me achieve the Specialist level with my Imperial Army Trooper, as well as those who have encouraged me, especially: @Blackwatch @IcyTrooper and @Raider

Thank you very much ????????

If this WIP serves to help future recruits, it will have been worth it.

 

TX18114, Proud Member of Spec Ops Detachment.

[RAIDER[COTG]]

Great WIP man!  With your permission, I'd like to adjust the title just a bit and pin this to the top of our Army Trooper forum area.  Let me know if that is ok.  Thanks again!!!

[Kessel[TX]]

Yes, of course. It will be a pleasure. I did it to help the new recruits. If I can help with anything else, please let me know.

[Kessel[TX]]

I have edited the web harness post to add another site to the purchase list to find snap-hooks:

https://www.pethardware.com/en/haberdashery-snap-hooks/metal-snap-hook-50-mm-chrome-plated-112/