Hillbilly -
Nice work, and yeah, that is a BEAUTIFUL Python. Kudos on all, especially on making all of us jealous!!
As I too, started down this Grimes-costuming path now well over a year ago (maybe longer?), I just thought I'd chime in with my 2-cents regarding some of the gear. I'm by no means a "costume-Nazi" but I do strive for accuracy in all the characters I do (Grimes; Indiana Jones; Obi-Wan prequels; Ghostbuster), and like to share the spoils of my research into those that I can help with. If accuracy is your goal, too, please feel free to use my research...
Though most sources insist that the belt and everything that hangs from it is all Tex Shoemaker, this is not true. I've studied multiple reference photos, and studied the ***** out of this, so I think I can speak to ***. The dual-speedloader case is definitely not Tex; the cuff-case neither.
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These three pix I've found are super-telling; the first one, a boon of information in one hi-res (and easy to enlarge the detail of) picture. The others clearly show the speedloader pouch detail: the one with Rick crouched in Morgan's Lair for Season Three's "Clear" episode, has the light hitting it just perfectly to show the length and curve of the cut of the flap on the pouch, and identifying it as an HKS MED103 pouch. The Tex pouch has rounded flaps only, and is not the one used in the show. The pic with Andrea at the gate in the sunlight leads me to believe that the pouch may even have the brass snaps, as opposed to the chrome, but even I don't sweat the snaps metal details anymore.
Going back to the first pic: the cuff pouch used in the show is easily identified as a Bianchi 35 pouch. Again, not a Tex. The detail on the Tex is all wrong.
The belt and holster are without question Tex Shoemaker, and again, in that first pic can be zoomed in to show the detail stitching present in the belt, which the Tex has... and some of the other Police duty belts do too... but we'll just let Tex have his day here.
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The inner saddle-tan leather stitched within, for rigidity, one assumes, can be seen in this pic, and again, you can see it in that first pic I shared.
I've actually been putting together "close-enough" rigs, and selling them on eBay since I started doing the Rick-costuming thing, and I'll cheat on the belts, and even close-enough holsters (as most don't have deep-enough pockets to afford Tex; nor do I to buy and sit on them in hopes they
might sell), but when it comes to the cuff-case and speedloader pouch... I'm a bit of a stickler.
That being said... YOUR costume is freakin' GREAT. You wear it well... and NO ONE is going to mistake you for anyone but Rick Grimes. Just want to throw my research out there, for whatever it's worth.
