Han Solo Holster - Screen Accurate Pattern

[PrometheusUnchained]

I am new to this forum (in fact, this is my first post) And .... indeed ... Prop making altogether: I do have a couple of ideas however.

I have gone through this forum from beginning to end (except for the videos ... unfortunately I live in the backwoods of america, and I don't have the capacity to stream videos like the rest of the world, I have missed every single bit of what is presented in them, and I actually hate not being able to see it ... the pictures, the proof of things and the ideas ... perhaps someone could take notes and save the pictures to put in this forum?). I think that the major differences you are all seeing in the pictures is due to a couple of things. 1) Different belts: What if there were multiple belts made by several different prop people? Each had a different idea of how it should be made, a large supply of leather, greeblies to spare. Perhaps there was a belt made each different way? Yes I know you can point at the holster and say "but we can see the marks and the same discolorations on the holster, it cant be different belts."

We all know that the holster detaches! Why go to the trouble or doing a holster that was sewn and molded and fit the gun(s?) perfectly when it could be reattached to different belts for different needs? Perhaps a clasp breaks, or a greeblie falls out ... change the belt and go. This would solve the problem of why picture a looks one way, and picture b looks another.

2) All of you seem to dismiss the idea that the leather went into slots and was glued or fastened on the back in favor of your favorite theory. To me (with some, but limited leather working experience) this seems likely. You could slightly wet the leather and pull the extra through and glue it on over a wider flush area, giving strength to the glue that you wouldn't have in such a limited space otherwise. I would resemble both the one strip theory with the ends being tucked in under, as well as giving the wet formed look. It would also tuck under a little making it look like a separate part being glued or riveted on. If I was making a quick belt that had to hold together for a while but under rush .. I think this is the way I would do it.

Either way it is something to consider about each of these options .... that both sides may be right, or that all sides may be wrong ... just my two cents.

This forum has really caught my attention, and I was intrigued enough to join the forum as a whole. I appreciate the MAJOR amount of work that has gone into this from everyone involved ... I hope I didn't step on any toes or come off as an idiot. Thanks to all of you for lettign me join in on the fun.

Prometheus

 

[old willy]

Well now, that is an idea I had not considered.
Yes, I think we all know the rig is separate pieces . I still think that is a problem for the folks who want the version for a particular movie, especially later movies where it seems to be even more mix and match. But your ANH type construction theory is a very good one and I for one am going to try a mock up of it, it would solve the attachment issues- needs to be strong but no fasteners showing, and it would also be easy (er) to do .....hmmmmm
Excellent observation, I can't recall anybody else putting it forth ( if someone did and I forgot, my apologies but this has been going on for a long time )

 

[PrometheusUnchained]

I am aware that you all know the holster is detachable, I just think you (as a group) tend to think of it being separate only as far as the build goes, as opposed to potential reasons that you are having difficulties tracking down how something is made. I was working under the hypothesis that the reasons that different pictures show different building techniques was potentially that both were true .... on different belt builds.

As for the slot and tongue idea, I saw this as a possibility very early on reading this forum ... however, someone else did mention the possibility

"Is this a crazy thought...or could the pouches be fed through slits in the belt and glued on the rear? :confused

Egon, Oct 14, 2018"

I just went a little more in depth on the thought.

Prometheus

 

[jddurst]

OK, looks like it is time for me to weigh in. I have recently gone on a western holster and cartridge belt binge due to Westworld, and I can see several techniques employed on the Solo belt.

First off, I gotta say that film props are not ever simply glued or patched together in a shoddy manor because they are 'just costumes' get that notion out of your heads. If something you built falls apart on set, it will be costing tens of thousand of dollars a minute to fix it, and it has to look exactly like it did before the failure. So you build stuff to last and hope the actor doesn't find a way to either break it or hurt themselves with it, because if there is a way, they'll find it. (that's also why you always have a back-up) With that out of the way...

It looks to me like some of the pieces are stand-alone and some are, in fact, 'chained' together. The cylinder looks like it is by itself, and the two (possibly all three) rectangular pieces behind it appear to me to be one piece of leather sewn on like a cartridge belt with a tab extending off the face that is turned back to create the bottom. (it could even have been attached first and folded under, but I can show why that might not be necessary)

Sewing inside of tight spaces is possible in large part due to the fact that leather is flexible and if you have already pricked your holes and are determined, you can get a needle in and out of there.

I don't think they employed slots in the main belt, it just seems like too much unnecessary effort and it would mean you are cutting away 90% of the width of the belt to fit the strips through. I can show you what that looks like, because it is a method used on some styles of cartridge belts.

I have been away from this forum for close to 10 years, so I'm not completely up on the photo posting SOPs, but I'll happily upload some pics of my various cartridge belt tests, as well as the finished product (Ed Harris' rig) if someone can clue me into the best way to do it. It looks like I have 'my media' somewhere, I'm going to post this then go off in search of it, hopefully I'll be back soon with some pics.

 

[jddurst]

OK, here we go, here is an example of large 'pouches' (with the 20ga. shells) next to a separate run of loops (.45s), you can see the sides of the two pieces, and a small gap between the pieces.
View media item 34301Next we zoom in on the bottom of the shell pouches, you can see that although the stitching is on the outside of the belt, the bottoms protrude downward to hide it (I'm using 2-3 oz leather, about 2mm thick)

And this is a test piece I did to get my dimensions where you can see the different ways the bottom of the pouch approaches the belt:

Here is the back of the belt showing the continuous saddle stitch between loops (the diagonal is hidden by the loop):

And, because one wears things like pistol holsters and Boye knives off of these things, whomever built the rig for the Man in Black did not run the loops all the way to near the end, but did extend the strip of leather anyway, and it looks like this (seen that anywhere recently?)(like between rectangular pouch #2 and #3?):

Finally, here is a shot of a slot and rivet cartridge belt (the rivets are only at the ends and the leather is free to be pulled through the slots, presumably to be adjustable for different calibers):

 

[jddurst]

Well, Crazylegs, I've gone back and watched some of your livestreams and I'm starting to see the point for the argument that the ANH pouches are glued on (specifically the lighter color leather that is visible where the two pieces might be pulling apart). If they were never filled with greeblies, I suppose they could survive with only cement, although I usually hammer my glue joints, and that would require fitting the pouch over some type of anvil. Not a deal breaker, but a little more complexity in the process.

I would still like to take a crack at sewing up a test of my theory, that they are actually sewn on, possibly with a dark thread and a higher tpi (like 8 or 12/inch). Since I cut out my leather with a laser cutter, it is easy for me to make small modifications and multiple attempts at a piece. I suppose we can start a conversation in PMs, because I'd like the page of your PDF with the dimensions on it to use as a starting point to build the .ai file I'll use with the laser. It goes without saying that I'm happy to share all my findings and files.

 

[Obi Dar]

I thought that it was time to jump in and say hello. My name is Darren, and I run Arctic Arsenal Props. I'm known to some.

I have been working with leather for about 8 years, and I have started working on a Solo Rig. Thanks to everyone in this thread for your contributions. It has been a big help. I'll post pics as I have them to share.

 

[PrometheusUnchained]

Any word on how close we might be to a e-book, or a series of pdf or patterns? I would watch the videos, but my net is far too slow for that.

Thanks.

 

[AJLoCascio]

Just wanted to see if there was any headway on this

 

[SmilingOtter]

My guess would be "no"...

 

[thegnome]

wow, very detailed analysis of the belt/holster that Han Solo used.

 

[Doozer1]

So is there ever going to be a unified pattern on this thread for the holster?

 

[Davy Jones]

Not sure what's happened. But I'm pushing ahead with my own ANH style. I'm sure someone can put up a general pattern.

Meantime I'm reasonably happy with my ANOVOS for an ESB look.

 

[Egon]

Got some stuff cooking and hope this thread revived!
I took on the challenge of designing some Han Solo holster hardware with some of the discoveries made here!

I have been making a lot of belts, and was waiting a long time to get them made.

Now, I drew up some files for each film in Illustrator and had them cut.

Not sure anything will ever be totally screen accurate, but happy with my designs so far. I was able to get the ANH hooks to have a hidden fixture (like Solo) and have the droid caller clips designed to each film, and hooks designed for each (including the ESB Norway) film!

 

[phillbarron]

Nice!

Have you got pics of the ANH hidden hooks? Just wondering how you did them.

Also, are you sticking with the machined disk or sealing it out for the MM65 mic?

 

[Egon]

Nice!

Have you got pics of the ANH hidden hooks? Just wondering how you did them.

Also, are you sticking with the machined disk or sealing it out for the MM65 mic?

 

[phillbarron]

Cool. That's what I did with mine. No idea if it's accurate or not but it looks the part.

 

[Egon]

Cool. That's what I did with mine. No idea if it's accurate or not but it looks the part.

Agreed! Don't think its accurate from what I can see, but seems to be the most secure way to do it!

 

[old willy]

Hey all,
Good to see some life here again. I was hoping this thread had not been abandoned, there is so much useful information here now I think we can proceed to make our own patterns.......
Egon, that is some great looking work, I agree that it "looks the part" and as I have mentioned before that is what is really important here in the end. There are just too many variations on the prop depending on the movie and even location, seriously Han must have had a closet on the Falcon just for belts and holsters
I also wish I had access to one of those tailor forms to fit the rig to while making it, very handy indeed. I really need to get working on my own now, just go for it, there is no perfect.
Thanks for kicking off the builds!!

 

[Bradberry00]

Does anyone have a photo of the holster displayed on a shelf? I like the idea of having a belt on display with my live fire DL44 but am having a hard time envisioning it sitting on a shelf.