The Ultimate X-Wing Pilot Thread

I've seen some people attach them onto their Jumpsuit with an adapter built into the suite.. others I have seen let dangle more and attach somehow loosely to the belt.

Never seen a pic of it attched to the suit, so I'd go with the belt on the side.

Originally posted by TD5422@Jan 19 2006, 01:39 PM
One more silly question, what do you do with the other end of the hose?
does it just hook to the belt?

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Depends on which film.

In ESB the hose was just fed into one of the pockets on the leg.

In ANH and RotJ, the hose is attached to the suit on your left hand side, approximately at the bottom of the rib cage. There is a black elbow at the end of the hose and a flange.

In the films I believe the hoses were attached to the flange through a slit in the chest pocket. What several of us do is use ceramic magnets in the end of the hose and a metal plate inside the pocket.

I have yet to see an extremely clear picture of the flange/hose attachment to see how it looks exactly, but you can find stuff that looks very close in any hardware store..

this is what i did for mine...




it's a threaded elbow for water lines (i think), with 2 pipe flanges.

on the elbow side, i used goop to secure the flange to the elbow (i had to dremel the elbow slightly to get it to fit), then epoxied in a bolt.

for the other flange, i bought a small plug, also from the plumbing aisle, that i used to fill the whole in the center of the flange. more goop to hold that all together.

i drilled a hole in the center of the flange plug. the bolt passes through the hole, and a nut closes it all together.

in retrospect, putting the head of the bolt on the inside would have been nicer, but it works as is.

Here you go for the X-Wing hose placement.




I'd attach it with a snap, instead of using magnets. Some magnets are so strong they could screw with your insides. I've worked with Earth magnets a lot before in Stop-Mo, and we were warned NOT to put them ANYWHERE near the body for prolonged periods.
STRONG little BUGGERS!

B

Thanks guys, this is great stuff. You're making it easier to do the light side
now if I can just get my flight helmet done I'll be in good shape

If you don't mind the non-canon aspect you can make some very shiny metal leg flares by cutting EMPTY CO2 cartridges in half and gluing to a piece of 1/2" plastic pipe.

DO NOT PUNCTURE FULL ONES as you could be hurt in the process. Use the full cartridge with an airgun or paintball pistol to expend the gas safely, or don't do it at all. :angry

They weigh a little more than dowels, but they look great and realistic. Plus the ends are already so neatly rounded and symmetrical: no sanding needed (okay, maybe a little around any sharp edges).


:lol
I'd also like to second the question of what folks are using for the harness straps, and where they're getting them from. Great thread folks, it's kick-started me back into finishing my costume.

Thanks to WC for hosting.

Great idea on the CO2 cartridges. I think I may just go that approach.

I found this place while researching the tutorial on Echo Base.

http://www.strapworks.com/nyloncolors.html

You would need the silver Grey color in 2 inch width. Very inexpensive. And easy to use.

Hope that helps on the leg straps and the matching belt.

It occurs to me that some people may not know how to start making their own leg flares and holder, so I thought I'd at least share what I've done. See above for a picture.

I had a look at a few reference pictures and decided to go with CO2 cartridges instead of silver-painted wooden dowels. The dowels are canon (means movie-accurate), but the CO2's are shiny aluminum and look very mass-manufactured, sort of real-world useful. You can buy these by the box for CO2 air-pistols or paintball guns (you may need to be 18 or older to purchase these depending on your local laws). You might also get them empty from a paintball site if you ask nicely. Figure out how many it would take to go around your calf if they were spaced 1" apart. Double this number as each flare requires two CO2 cartridges.
(How many pieces of flare do you wear; do you wear only the minimum? :$ )

[Ensure that the cartridges are empty. If you puncture a full one you could do yourself serious harm.] :cry And please, please wear appropriate safety gear when doing so (safety glasses, face shield, whatever is needed). I don't want to see any of this...



Anyhow, cut the flares about where the picture below shows.



Next you can cut lengths of plastic tube (I used 1/2" CPVC plumbing tubing) which will fit inside the two halves of the CO2 cartridges. When put together mine were 4 1/2" long. Don't worry too much if there is a gap between them; it will be covered by the loops holding them in place later. You can glue or epoxy the parts together, or tape around the middle. Whatever works best for you, but think about how long you want the connections to last: one night, or the rest of the prop's lifetime? At any point you can clean them. I found nail polish remover will take the black logo and writing off easily. You should have something like this:



Now you need some fabric for the flare holder. I took a leg and a couple small adjustment straps with buckles from a pair of military surplus pants and made two long strips: one wide enough to be the back, and the other make loops to hold the flares .

Back Strap: Cut a strip of cloth about 5 1/2" wide and a little longer than needed to wrap around your calf (be sure to take added thickness of coveralls and/or boots into account). Turn the edges back 1/2" and sew. Fit it to your leg and add the closure of your choice (elastic, buttons, snaps, straps and buckles)

Front Strap: Cut another strip of cloth about 3" wide and make it much longer than the back strap (twice as long is more than enough). Turn the edges back 1/2" and sew. This strap will make the loops that the flares rest in.

Sew the two straps together at one end, taking care to make sure both good sides face out. Now move along the smaller strap 1" and sew across it. Place a flare under the small strap next to this seam and bring the small strap down over the flare to meet the back strap. Pin in place, remove the flare and sew across the small strap. This creates a close-fitting loop where the flare was. Pin both straps together and sew another line 1" from the loop. This is the start of your next loop. Repeat these steps until you get enough loops to cover your leg. Sew together at one end, add a loop for the flare, pin it, then sew and repeat until the holder goes all the way along your leg. Then leave enough fabric to attach your closure, turn back the edges and sew. It should look something like this:



Place your flares in the loops and decided how you want to attach them. You can make the straps a tight pressure-fit, glue them in place, or pop-rivet/ screw them in from the back side (it would be a shame to lose one on your first outing). Bear in mind your strap will cover the seam, and the plastic pipe can be used to space the cartridges farther apart if they seem a little short. I found nail polish remover will take the black logo and writing off the cartridge easily.

Next, congratulate yourself on your incredible homemade legflare set. Sometimes you just feel like you could take on the whole galaxy by yourself...

Big thanks to Wackychimp for hosting again. Hope I'm not wearing this out...

Great quick little tutorial on the flares. Much appreciated. Thanks for the PM, too. Great stuff.

I'm assuming a hacksaw is the way to cut the CO2 cylinder.

I've actually thought of using those cylinders but, I never went thru with it.

Outside of getting a hold of empty CO2 cartridges, how would you recommend to empty them? Silly question, but I have no clue :unsure

BTW..great tutorial and thanks

Great stuff, Fettclone.

Another source for strap material: junk yards. Just find a grey/silver seat belt or three.

I cut through mine with a metal cut-off saw with an abrasive wheel. Kind of overkill for such a small cut, but it got the job done. The tubes are only about 1/16" thick, so you could use a hacksaw, a dremel with a cut-off wheel, maybe even a pipe-cutter (like the kind used for copper plumbing pipe). If you have tools a cut-off saw is the way to go, followed closely by a metal bandsaw or hand-grinder with a "zip-wheel" (very thin abrasive disc). If you clamp it very securely in a vise or wooden channel you might even get away with using a jigsaw equipped with a long metal-cutting blade.

Alderaan Girl: If you have a friend with a CO2-powered pellet gun you could dry-fire it until the cartridge is empty. This shouldn't affect the airgun in a negative fashion. If you're worried about it just do some target practice and use the airgun as usual. Likewise with paintballing, though the dry-firing is not as good for paintball guns. It's more fun to hit something with them anyways.

Beyond that we get into theory, which holds a certain potential for mishap and injury. Use common sense: if it seems dangerous or risky it probably is. That being said the cylinder is covered at the end by a thin layer of metal foil. As the cylinder is screwed into the chamber it pushes against a seal and the foil is punctured by a hollow point, venting to the chamber. If you try to pound a nail into the end you're going to have a nail flying quickly in the other direction with the full force of the cartridge behind it (up to 650 feet per second), and maybe some bits of steel or fingers with it. :eek

Anyone with a bit of mechanical know-how and some metalworking experience may be able to help you jury-rig something more safely, but I don't want to just throw off a quick drawing of said rig that someone will approach innocently and end up with personal injury. PM me and we can discuss some options in more detail.

Thanks for the compliments, folks. I haven't written a tutorial before but tried to approach it from a one-step-at-a-time method and pictures always help.

BTW, I do offer this as a package. Individual pieces can be purchased too.



See this thread...........X Wing chestbox package

Just received one of Mr. Bojangles's belt pieces of hardware and think it is top notch. If you need any hardware, I'd recommend Mr. Bojangles. He packaged it up nicely and it got here fast.

Originally posted by rmschneider104@Jan 23 2006, 09:30 PM
Just received one of Mr. Bojangles's belt pieces of hardware and think it is top notch.  If you need any hardware, I'd recommend Mr. Bojangles.  He packaged it up nicely and it got here fast.

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ME TOO.. Ordered some buckles and they got here nice and PRONTO. :thumbsup

B

Thank you...........guys.

i just outfitted most of the pilots in my base with mr bojangles' stuff. the stuff arrived today, which was rockin'

that co2 container idea looks great. i may need to convert mine.