Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Enter Imperial Storm Trooper TK 7334

I guess i have been very slack and haven't really updated my blog in ages. Well I have been too busy working on costumes and life in general and have kinda forgotten about it. But alas im here now.
The storm trooper costume is now complete and has been officially approved by the 501st as meeting its costume standards (or CRLs) as people call it, well it has been for a couple of months from writing this entry.

One of the fiddly things that I had to fix was the belt, which in my first ever attempt was made from plastic. This is unacceptable according to the new standards for 501st and must be made from canvas or a canvas/textured like material.

I made mine using a fire hose like webbing that I purchased from a leather supplier in Melbourne called Leffler. http://www.leffler.com.au/

How I made my canvas belt for TK storm trooper

What you need:
  • Lenght of Canvas "fire hose" tubing to suit your frame (although i dont think thats what its used for...) Sourced in melbourne from http://www.leffler.com.au/
  • 1.5mtrs sew on velcro (not the sticky stuff) Both sides.
  • 60cm of flexible plastic (i used some leftover HIPS i had to shim my armor) cut to size and inserted on the hip parts to firm up a holster and not sag.
  • A sewing machine set to sew thick material eg, lower tension, larger length stitch.

Once constructed, this belt seems to sit much better than my previous plastic belt.
The plastic inserts up are sewn in place, but can slide about 5cm if need be. The belt goes on like a regular belt and velcros up the back
Sewing the velcro in sections prevents it from kinking when it goes around the curve of the back and allows the thermal detinator to slide in.
The front section simply velcros onto the belt.