My Walking Dead (TWD) - Rick Grimes Sheriff costume (S2ish)

I started posting my TWD costume build in Skruffy’s thread, but rather than hijack it I figured I’d start my own.

I’ve done lots of costumes over the years some more elaborate than others. For this one, I started about 2-3 weeks ago when I realized I needed at least 3 outfits for my weekend at Fantasy Fest in Key West, FL. I didn’t want to wear my Firefly (Jayne Cobb or Mal Reynolds) outfits that I just finished building for fear of them getting damaged or worse … The disappointment of no one recognizing them! :lol

Everything was sourced online or I already owned it, and it ended up costing me about $386.76 (incl S/H) + $15 for patch sewing and boot stretching. I got a lot on sale by dumb luck. Although, I made some mistakes that’ll be corrected later and there's some inaccurate items I chose for the price, like the badges. As cool as it would be to have perfect replica badges @ $330/pr, I went for the good enough versions @ $31/pr.

I’ll try to be detailed about as much of it as I can, but other than what I got from QuarterMaster's Uniforms or Cavender’s Cowboy Store, all the rest came from exhaustive searching on eBay.

My hat: Rodeo King chocolate 3x felt ($32) from Cavender’s but it’s discontinued on last check
TWD hat: Stetson chocolate 3x felt ($150) try eBay I found some good used ones under $50

Campaign cords: from QM Campaign/Trooper Hat Cord, Gold ($7)

My hat badge: pin-back and silver/gold off eBay from seller “costumebase” ($16)
TWD hat badge: screw-back, gold (good luck finding it)



Shirt: from QM LawPro 100% Polyester Two-Tone Short Sleeve Shirt ($20)

My Lapel pins: a bit too big off eBay from seller “niclawsupply” ($4.95/ea)
TWD Lapel pins: no source found yet

My patches: a bit too small off eBay from seller “fancydressoutfit” ($5.95/ea)
TWD patches: no official source, but eBay seller “alienentertainment” claims their’s is a screen accurate replica ($10/ea)

My badge: pin-back and silver/gold off eBay from seller “costumebase” ($16)
TWD badge: pin-back, gold eBay seller “alienentertainment” claims their’s is a screen accurate replica ($50/ea)

My nameplate: one word - sucks. I screwed the pooch on this one and should’ve spent the extra couple of bucks on the right one. I’ll be ordering a new one later from QM.
TWD nameplate: I feel this one is the most accurate - LawPro Brass Nameplate 1/2 in. x 2-3/8 in., 1 Line


Made mistake of putting the nameplate how we do in the military … Apparently, cops put them on the pocket flap.

My Duty belt: vintage Safariland “Sam Browne” black basket weave. (I ordered a new one from Triple K off eBay seller “prisind” ($20) before I found my holster that came with the vintage belt that actually fit me.)

My holster: vintage Bucheimer 6.5” black basket weave swivel holster off eBay ($21 for belt+holster)

My speedloader case: vintage HKS black basket weave double speedloader case off eBay ($15)

My cuff case: vintage Bucheimer black basket weave single cuff case off eBay ($7)

Toy handcuffs: off eBay ($7)

My Key ring: Basket weave with nickel snaps from QM LawPro Leather Scabbard Key Ring ($10)

Keepers: from QM LawPro 3/4" Basketweave Keepers with Brass Snaps - 4-Pack ($8.50) … I found the 4-pack cheaper than just buying 2 like Rick wears.

For convenience, I added a cell phone case. ($20) Obviously, in TWD world mobiles are useless because the network is down, but in my world it’s handy to have one.



My pistol: STTI .357 airsoft revolver off eBay ($38) … The chrome with “wood” grips is discontinued, but many good alternatives are out there for under $40. Also, I plan to leave the orange tip to avoid arrest.
TWD pistol: Colt Python .357, 6” BBL, chrome with light wood grips ($1,950)


I’ll add a picture of the box when I get home tonight.

My watch: Citizen Ti Eco-drive “close enough” (already owned)
TWD watch: Kenneth Cole Reaction - KC3584 ($19-80) very rare since it’s an older model



My boots: Justin model 2253 off eBay ($90) I plan to rotate these into my regular boot wearing so I splurged a bit.
TWD boots: Justin model 2222 these seem to be discontinued and are very difficult to find.





Ok, so now the entire outfit is finally FINISHED!!






I look forward to all your questions or comments. Thanks for reading!

Guess I was too comprehensive with the info on my first post ... Not a single comment.


Well, despite the theme of Fantasy Fest being the impending apocalypse and TWD being relevant, not very many people got it. The cops even thought I looked "too real" and confiscated my pistol ... Luckily I got it back at the end of the night.

563 views but 0 comments ... What am I doing wrong here folks?

Costume looks great! Thanks for all the links to the sources. Well done outfit, yeah, that really sucks that most people didn't "get it". Hate that. When we're doing Colonial Marines, we'll hear: "Gi Joe! Starship Troopers!"

Costume turned out damn nice. Looking forward to finishing mine.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, my satyr costume had more crowd appeal the night before. :lol Most folks were too scared to even talk to me because they though I was a real trooper even though I was covered in beads and drinking. :lol

If you've got any questions while building your outfit, I'm happy to help! Good luck.

Hey... great post... brilliant costume very well put together. I've nearly got mine complete now just gotta find one thing.... which I'm hoping you can maybe help with! A gun holster! I love yours it's really cool so I was wondering if you could help me locate one. I keep searching ebay for combinations of BASKETWEAVE, HOLSTER, SWIVEL etc but having so little luck. Any advice let me know! Again great job... love the boots!

Thanks Aposstle! Yeah I love the boots too and wear them all the time now. :lol

If you're in England that may be the biggest barrier to getting one of these holsters. From what I can tell they were only used in the US by police during the 60's-70's. I spent more time looking for the holster than anything else ... Except for the pistol.

My best search results came from "vintage swivel holster" or "swivel holster" ... Here's some active auctions I found on eBay.

Jay Pee Swivel Holster RH Bsketweave for A 4" Revolver Nice Vintage Holster | eBay

For a $35 BIN and an exacto knife this could be a 100% screen accurate holster. The shows costumer took a 4" holster and cut the barrel end to allow the 6" revolver to fit.

Smith Wesson Large Frame Black Leather Swivel Holster for 6" Models Safariland | eBay

Has a $80 BIN and could be "good enough" stand-in.

Vintage Military Police Swivel Holster Smith Wesson Colt Marked 4 38   Look | eBay

Worst of the bunch at $50 BIN but if you're desperate and short on time it could work.


Best of Luck in your search! :thumbsup

[/QUOTE]
Best of Luck in your search! :thumbsup[/QUOTE]


I've gone ahead and bought a stand in for now... just a plain black low ride swivel holster. Does the job, doesn't look too bad with my other basketweave stuff but it'll do. Cheers for the advice!

Sir Angus said:

Thank you very much.

Yeah, my satyr costume had more crowd appeal the night before. :lol Most folks were too scared to even talk to me because they though I was a real trooper even though I was covered in beads and drinking. :lol

If you've got any questions while building your outfit, I'm happy to help! Good luck.

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That's a problem I experienced, many people think you're a real deputy while in this outfit and will avoid you because of it.

Your outfit looks great... although I'd chop off the end of the holster. It looks like you got a proper holster for a 6" barrel, like any rational officer carrying a 6" revolver would do... unlike what they did in the show...

I've been looking around from site to site and forums to forums on others who made an attempt to get a TWD Sheriff uniform. I myself would like to have one and I find my problem in the uniform pants, I can easily find a pair of browns but to get the strip down seems to be difficult in finding, everything else seems easy from the uniform shirt, hat, duty belt, etc.

Akin said:

That's a problem I experienced, many people think you're a real deputy while in this outfit and will avoid you because of it.

Your outfit looks great... although I'd chop off the end of the holster. It looks like you got a proper holster for a 6" barrel, like any rational officer carrying a 6" revolver would do... unlike what they did in the show...

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Thanks for the compliment Akin! I just can't bring myself to cut off the end of the holster, maybe one day.

ExTERmINATION said:

I've been looking around from site to site and forums to forums on others who made an attempt to get a TWD Sheriff uniform. I myself would like to have one and I find my problem in the uniform pants, I can easily find a pair of browns but to get the strip down seems to be difficult in finding, everything else seems easy from the uniform shirt, hat, duty belt, etc.

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You can get the brown w/ tan stripe slacks from Quarter Master Uniforms. They did a special "zombie fighters" costume for halloween, but you might need to call them now.

Man this outfit is great! and you do look like a real trooper !LOL
I can't wait to get mine together. I live in CANADA, and I found the badge in kijiji, a real metal one, so I'm going to get it tomorrow wednesday! THEN I'll buy a hat.. I'll start with the hat cause it's easy I think. I was thinking in getting the costumebase uniform from ebay.... I do have the Indiana JOnes uniform from them and the quality is not great, but for wearing it once a year I think its ok....

Best of luck, CAZAFANTASMA.

We've all got different budgets and goals, so I could care less if someone's wearing a store bought or homemade ... I'm just happy to see other cosplayers out there! :thumbsup

Angus, did you ever try the other name plate? The one in this link:

LawPro Brass Nameplate 1/2 in. x 2-3/8 in., 1 Line Badges & Patches (S10 16G) - QMUniforms.com

If so, were you happier with the results? There are so many options on nameplates that it's hard to figure out which one is the "RIGHT" one. Thanks.

Ya know ... I completely forgot about it. I think other folks that posted on RPF ordered it though. If you look through the different TWD threads you might see it.

Although now I feel compelled to order it. :lol

Sir Angus said:

563 views but 0 comments ... What am I doing wrong here folks?

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You didn't do anything wrong!
Really nice costume. You really paid a lot of attention to the small things that most people would over look. Are you going to get the accurate pants or just use what you already have?

Very nice! I would have recognized this from far away. Next time drink out of a mug that says "NOT A COP LOL"

wow man, this stuff is awesome. ive recently gotten hooked on twd (as you can tell from my avatar) and i haven't really seen a whole lot of twd costumes so this is really great to see :thumbsup

DeLorean12 said:

You didn't do anything wrong!
Really nice costume. You really paid a lot of attention to the small things that most people would over look. Are you going to get the accurate pants or just use what you already have?

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Now that the Halloween rush is over I think I'll get the season 1 slacks. We've got the Florida SuperCon coming up in July that I need to prepare for now. Although if you watch carefully Rick does wear his sheriff shirt with black jeans for the first few episodes of season 2, then he puts away his sheriff badge in a very symbolic fashion.

Plus the jeans are way more comfortable then polyester slacks. :lol

Freya Willia said:

Very nice! I would have recognized this from far away. Next time drink out of a mug that says "NOT A COP LOL"

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Doh! :facepalm That's what I was doing wrong! :lol My friends said I really needed more zombies around me to "sell" the illusion. Although the bar security really liked having around because other patrons thought I was a real LEO. One guy actually came up and complemented me on "carrying the .357 Colt instead of a Glock like all the other cops."

jasonsshin said:

wow man, this stuff is awesome. ive recently gotten hooked on twd (as you can tell from my avatar) and i haven't really seen a whole lot of twd costumes so this is really great to see :thumbsup

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Thanks so much! There's some really good build threads on RPF for most of the main cast.

Sir Angus said:

My patches: a bit too small off eBay from seller “fancydressoutfit” ($5.95/ea)
TWD patches: no official source, but eBay seller “alienentertainment” claims there’s is a screen accurate replica ($10/ea)

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Whats the measurement on those patches? I'm looking at one by pachesnpins on ebay that says it's 4 1/2" high x 3 3/4" wide