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[Evad]

Pant Leg Alterations

This weekend I took the advice from this thread, and from the vode over on the Rancor Discord, and did some hemming along with an attachment of an elastic band as stirrups to keep my pant legs down and deeper into the boots.  Using a hand whip-stitch the pants were hemmed; though not in the normal way.  Didn't undo the current hem, cut off the excess, and then re-hem them.  This was just a quick and dirty fold over.  All of the cuff will be hidden anyways within the boot.  The elastic band is also whip-stitched and are nice and solid connections, allowing my feet to press down on the straps and keep the material in the boot. 

Hem and Elastic Band

Test Fitting

I think any of the additional bagginess you might see (especially from the back), will be mitigated once I use a strap from the end of my cod piece to wrap around and clip into a belt on the back of my waist.  Otherwise the suit still feels comfortable, but snug.  I can still do a front kick in it, but it's not hanging off of me anymore either.  I plan to get some full body pictures at the AP this coming weekend, if at all possible.

[Evad]

Fabric Selection

I gathered all the fabric materials I plan to have in my kit and put them together in a side-by-side comparison to see how they look and if they will play well together.  The overall color scheme of my kit is gradients of grey, black, silver, and red.  I have this picture numbered so that I can reference what parts these fabrics are to play in my kit.  All of these fabrics are not weathered at the moment, but will be later on.

• Shoulder Cape
• Waist Sash Base, Kama
• Flight Suit
• Flak Vest
• Neck Seal

[Straka Zulu]

Those look like excellent choices.  Is the cape material the same as a Royal Guard cloak?

[Evad]

Indeed!  That's a light red velvet fabric that I sourced that most of the 501st uses for their Royal Guards.

[Naran Baatar]

I am not sure if you have weathered velvet before. I would stay far away from mechanical weathering and stick to paints, mud and smoke effects and the like. As well velvet likes to disintegrate if given the chance

[Evad]

Post Armor Party Update

Greetings ner'vode!  So the armor party was a fantastic time to hang out and workshop ideas, and start to create solutions for issues I've run into.  Got to meet a lot more of the Rancor clan, many whom were giving excellent advice and working on amazing kits of their own.  It was definitely worth the three hours of driving each way to attend.  For right now I'm just going to run down a checklist of everything that's planned to move me forward in this journey.  I'm sure I'll take more pictures along the way as parts of this list get done. 

To-Do Short List

Key

Minor Adjustments Needed | Waiting to Start | In Progress | Idea Phase

• Helmet - Painted Corsec Symbol needs attached to earcap
• Flight Suit - Fit approved. Pockets need sewn up, and belt loop removed.
• Vest - Fit approved. Collar removed and turtleneck acquired for neck seal.

• Neck Seal - Turtleneck needs cut and sewn along the edges to make a dicky.
• Cape - I want to add a fabric backing to the velvet cape for a heavier weight to it.
• Gauntlets - 3D printed base gauntlets obtained.  Needs a lot of cleanup and modifications.

• Chest Plate - Fabric pieces need glued in place at a gap between the plate and the vest.
• Back Plate - Rough pattern made to create additional under-plating to cover more of my back.
• Side Armor - Rough pattern made to create a fabric bridge between chest and back plates, for armor to be mounted.
• Boots - Zipper Installation in progress, and mounting of plates via Chicago Screws.

• Gloves - Needs sourced
• Girth Belt -  Pre-Design Phase
• Kama - Pre-Design Phase

I am not sure if you have weathered velvet before. I would stay far away from mechanical weathering and stick to paints, mud and smoke effects and the like. As well velvet likes to disintegrate if given the chance

Thanks for the tip, vod!  I will be sure to file that away for when the weathering stage approaches![/list]

[Evad]

Boot Modifications

Test Fit #2

After the AP in Dayton, I realized I needed to get my boots modified to have zippers in them, otherwise it was a ten minute trial and error to get into them in the first place.  The zippers are installed and work famously, so that's really helped me tuck in my flight suit pants into the boots for a more fitted look.

First Pouches

After looking through the forums to see if anyone had mentioned utilizing military surplus stores, I went ahead and visited one not too far from me today.  It's a beautiful store with a lot of history and very well decorated.  Much bigger than it seems to be, and is very well stocked, labeled, with good pricing.  I was able to pick up three used pouches that looked the part for what I was going for, and with the right additions I think I can make them even more Swarzy than they are currently.

The next thing to do is get the armored shnee plates mounted to these boots via Chicago Screws.