Random Costuming Things

It's been a little while since I've done anything on what I've been up to costuming wise. Currently, I'm slowly putting together a Scout Trooper, which I've done a little work on over the past couple of days, as I had a nice, free weekend to putter around with.

For a while now, the parts have been trimmed out and sanded, and it's just a matter of doing the following:

- Trim and Sand Armor parts : Done
- Attaching straps & Velcro : Done
- Sew on Straps on upper, fore arms and knees: Not Done
- Sew Cummerbund : Not Done
- Paint & Affix Resin Parts : Done & 1/2 Done
- Assemble Belt : Not Done
- Get Gloves : On their way
- Get Boots
- Get Head/Neck covering

Over the weekend, I cut up some of the Velcro that I had around the house and assembled the shoulder bells. With Industrial Velcro, I've put contact points for a strap to hold the shoulders in place, as well as to keep the shoulders together. So far, it's holding up nicely, although I may try and go for something more permanent in the future.



The shoulder bells have four points of contact. One on the top to link up the shoulder, two on each side for a strip to hold the part on my shoulder and a fourth on the bottom to hold the forearm part in place. This part is where my newly painted greebles have been glued in place. To demo the entire arm, I used duct tape and found that I'm going to need something sewn in place, rather than velcroed, so I have to cut holes for the straps at some point, then get them sewn on.






This setup seems like it should work pretty nicely. To get these in place, they will need to be taut, in order to better fit my arm. I need to buy more webbing.



I'm contemplating whether or not to save up and get a pair of CA Scout boots. They're $160, but it'll save me a lot of trouble. On the other hand, I can build the boots myself for a lot less. Hm...



While I painted up the Resin parts, I also touched up my E-11, which has been getting some wear and tear over the years, and touching up the spots with a sharpie marker just doesn't look all that good. I did two at once, mine, which just needed touch up, and Mike's, (our new VT Member) who needed the entire thing repainted. Both look pretty damn good. I'll need to pick up some resin parts to make mine more accurate, but that's not really a priority at the moment.



Next, I did a quick build of some handcuffs that I plan on bringing out for pictures and the like. While driving home, I came across a PVC pipe joint that was left on the road, so I picked it up. I can stick my hand entirely in it, so these aren't really going to be any good at securing people, but for pictures, it should be helpful.

The first thing that I did was cut the proper section off into two rings, one for each hand, and then cut those in half. I initially wanted to get some small hinges, but I couldn't find any on my dad's workbench, so I went with the next best thing - duct tape and random bits of velcro. One side of each ring is attached with a couple reinforced strips of duct tape, which allows me to open and close each loop. On the other opening, I've created a tab with a bit of Velcro on it to close the loop. Then, I tapped both rings together in a cross and reinforced it. To finish it off, I looped tape around at intervals. Screen accurate? Not on your life. But, it doesn't look horrible, and it should be an interesting thing to pose with.


And lastly, my two buckets, an FX and MR. I'm really, really liking my MR helmet. I have the stripes which need to go on, but after that, it should be finished. I need to touch up the seam a little more, and clean it up a little first though.