Two Texans submitted

[Snappy]

Howdy folks! It's been a while since I posted, but I finally submitted a couple weeks ago. I was waiting on my belt to be finished and am still not 100% satisfied with my helmet paint. My best friend and I have identical builds, so we look awesome as a pair with a local Vader...



I will be discriptive because I'm wordy and want to make sure that this is a good reference. Many many many thanks to LuciousTalvloinne, we would have floundered without your help!

So the rundown, I got a raw Shadowguard helmet (ROTS screen accurate has a smaller collar shared with the men in black) from LA (PM for name and link, this shorthand is to protect the maker since it's really just a handshake with a mouse that they get to recreate props) I did my own filling and priming, which took forever, and found a good rattle can off the shelf that was a very good match to my robes. I may break down and get an auto shop to spray it for me because even a nice can of "Cut Ruby" from Lowes spits sometimes and precariously balances between a pebble texture and sagging. The visor is a "SHOC" reflective red mounted with rare earth magnets. This allows us to remove them easily and also crack it back a bit because unlike a Vader or Stormtrooper bucket we don't have ready vent holes. I'll try to edit in some pics later.

[Snappy]

Robes

Will add image later, first try was Brobdingnagian.

The red velvet was purchased locally at a Hancock fabric. Inside is crimson red gabardine from Fashion Fabrics Club. Again, we were going for most screen accurate for the build, although the way I read the CRL makes me think it hints at all velvet being best. We were fortunate to be able to reference 501st approved robes and my seamstress also used a couple of patterns for reference on the outer robe, mostly Simplicity 1040 but also McCall's 5214. The inner robe is a fairly simple thawb (man dress) that can be made from any Biblical or Middleeastern pattern.

A personal nitpick is that it seems the CRL picture used a Musketeer pattern base and didn't adjust the armpit junction to fall straight down flat. Musketeers wear a poofy shirt and the arms are suppose to flair out. The way our robes are cut you can't tell they have four independent panels if we put our arms straight down.

Something not mentioned anywhere is that the bottom seam is open, which seems to help it flow and flutter. These things are heavy, but to keep the neck tight the tailor hid a zipper on the shoulder seam and put a heavy duty hook at the top. All of that is invisible when worn. You don't want a back zipper that can show under the bucket.

[Snappy]

Boots and gloves

For gloves we went to Leather Mystics. They are well made but their size suggestion seems off or I can't measure the way they do. It suggested a medium, which made me suspicious, so I went with large and feel like I may have been better served with XL. They're a bright red so I have a feeling that like someone else posted I will have to assault them with some Fiebings Oxblood dye. We will see what the GML says.

Boots...oh, boots. We have a pair of screen accurate custom made boots by CP that toured the world and were somehow burned in their 3 month transit. Still, by far the most comfortable and nicest red suede boots but both Devlin and I feel they're a bit small - he's a 13 and I'm a 12. Because of the wait (which was not the seller's fault) I got a few alternatives from eBay. First was a pair I wouldn't recommend - "Women's wedge shoes suede fabric flower" doesn't look like it but have about a 2" heel. It would take a lot of work I'm not comfortable doing to be able to walk in them. The conversion I found said 14.5 would be US men's 12 but it felt a bit small. Really the tall heal with a skinny sole makes them more uncomfortable than the size. Next I tried the "Ladies crystal bow Chelsea boots" size 16. They're about as tight as my CPs and thankfully have a flat heel. If you must have red suede and don't want to pay the CP price I'd suggest these. Lastly I have a trusty pair of generic black Justin boots. Most comfortable, least expensive, and with a little black on the white stitching good to troop. Chippewa makes an amazing trooper boot for motorcyclist but don't seem to produce many - they're what a friend uses with his Vader.

[Snappy]

Force pike

I tackled the helmets while Devlin made the weapons. We got a cheap pool cue from Academy that unscrews to two pieces and used sprinkler fittings, a faucet knob, o rings, shrink wrap, and a grease gun fitting to make them. I'll try to get pictures from him or ask him to post the step by step, but they came out well.

[LuciousTalvloinne]

Well done. Glad to see you within the ranks.

[Sascha_Wilsing]

Great.

Welcome to the squall.

[Cabbagefarmer]

Howdy

[Snappy]

We heard back from our GML and were told everything looked awesome except the bright red gloves. I kind of expected that (and referenced it in the earlier post) so we went after them with some ox blood leather dye I was able to pick up locally at Tandy. It goes on with a cotton swab on a stick and covers fairly easily, but it was good to have four eyes and four hands to get all of the crevices between the fingers. Cleaning it off your skin is fairly easy with alcohol. Should be approved shortly!

[LuciousTalvloinne]

Great update

[BloodRayne]

amazing cannot wait for you to be cleared!