tie reserve pilot

 

 

 

I wanted to try to recreate this (picture taken from the 501st CRL) as a first attempt. Although, as I tend to look like a bag of spuds in whatever I wear, this could be stretching things. Quite a lot, bearing in mind my girth.

 

 

With cries of "to the internet" I stepped boldly across genres and onto various sites to research possible places to buy and ideas of what was out there. eBay is generally disregarded as a purchasing site as a lot of the substandard equipment is sold on there. Things like helmets that are not of the correct size, shape or detailing to get approval, but are sold as such. When you are paying a lot of money out, you want to keep mistakes to a minimum. That said, there are a lot of items out there that pass muster. First, I found a seller on eBay who had listed quite a few Star Wars outfits. I checked the pictures supplied against the reference material, and they seemed OK. I also checked the forums on the various sites like the 501st Legion site to see what experience other had with buying from the internet. There were a few places/sellers that were regarded as no-go's for a variety of reasons, especially overpricing and not of the correct standard. I then made my first purchase. 

 

A flight suit. All the way from Singapore, but free delivery (always a plus. I know, they probably add it on to the cost of the item but, still).

I compared the supplied picture against the one from the CRL, and it seemed to match, especially the pocket configuration and the patches on the shoulders.

 

Checking further, they also do a cap. On the basis that it is probably best to get it from the same manufacturer to get the same material, I added this to the order.

 So I ordered both items, and sat back awaiting delivery. Well, not exactly. I then went in search of other bits, like a pair of boots and gloves.

   

 

The gloves took a bit more searching, they have to be more gauntlets than gloves. These were from a site selling motorcycle clothing.

 

The belt was a mission. It has to be black leather, 2" wide with an oblong buckle with rounded edges. Not something off-the-shelf, as I found. I thought that I would try buying the belt and making the buckle myself (I like a laugh. Sometimes, it's as if I have no memory of my DIY skills) so I plodded off around the shops. Unfortunately, the current trend is for skinny belts for men, and I quickly got fed up with the funny looks from the assistants in the ladies' shops. Ho-hum, back to the internet. I found the belt from the same supplier in Singapore, but I'm not sure that the buckle is correct, so I might replace it. And I have to put a rivet next to the buckle.

If you've been paying attention, you'll remember that the CRL is fairly precise in it's requirements. On the cap and the belt, there is a rounded decoration called the Imperial Code Disk. To conform to spec it has to be "A stepped cone shape appearing to be 3 disks stacked on top of one another. There is an indentation in the center of the top disk" (from the CRL). The ones supplied on the belt and cap didn't look right, especially as they were missing the indentation. What ho, I thought, I can have a go at making these, they'll be easy.

Here's my first two goes ! I thought that I could take a cast of the one supplied, then form it in plaster of paris and sculpt the hole in it. Probably due to my aforementioned DIY skills the rings weren't concentric, and the casting was rough (right in picture). Painting it up made no difference and it was consigned to the bin. A brainwave had me in the garage searching through the accumulated rubbish for metal washers. Luckily, the gene from my father that makes me never throw anything away supplied washers of the correct size. Normally, me+superglue=hospital, but I managed to make two sets without any crying. Once dry, I found all my old modeling paints and slapped a coat of silver on one set. As can be seen from the picture above, it didn't work out very well. The second try was better because I sanded them first, and used a different pot of paint. With the addition of a pin on the back (more superglue fun) it actually looked correct ! No-one is more surprised than I.

An optional extra to the outfit is a comm pad (left), which fits into a pocket on the sleeve. How difficult can it be to make one of these, I thought. No superglue involved, just squares with paint on, even I should be able to do that. Try #1 again involved plaster of paris, and again ended in the bin. Try #2 was more successful, and I decided that it was useable. One problem with plaster is that it would be rigid, so I made a mould of the finished article, and then used latex to make a flexible pad that would fold around the wrist. Painted up, it doesn't look too bad (IMHO) (right). Now I just need something to glue it that will make it slightly more rigid.

 

 

 

 

And this is what it looks like on :

 

And on 14/02/2014 I get this via facebook -

I'm cleared for trooping. Let the fun begin.

05/04/14 - As if to demonstrate the different requirements of the various groups 'out there', I submitted the above costume to the 99th Garrison, so that I could attend some of their events. And it failed to gain approval ! To pass, I will have to change the boots & gloves, send in better pictures to prove that the suit has the correct number of pockets, and add the comm pad. As I've now ordered a helmet, armour and chest box from the internet I shall wait until they arrive and resubmit to both groups to see if the new arrangement gets passed. But I can attend events organised by the MKG without any changes.

 

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