Super Troopers Uniform

Master Chef

New Member
There has been a thread on this but without reference pictures or very much in the way of details. With Super Troopers 2 now greenlit I figured it was time to break out the blu-ray of the first, and being the uniform weirdo I am I noticed some pretty interesting stuff in High Def that hadn't caught my eye before. The uniforms in this film had always struck me as remarkably crisp and detailed for an indie comedy, sort of refreshing considering what little effort many big budget films put into this stuff.

The Patch:
I'd always known the patch wasn't a bog standard Vermont state police patch, and I now have the screencaps to prove it!
st ohagan badge.jpg
Ok shot of patch

Rather than a full deer head on top there are only antlers, the tree is replaced with a snowcapped mountain peak flanked by two pine trees, the animals in the foreground are absent and the text reads "State Highway Patrol". A similar shield is found on the cruisers. I imagine the dimensions are quite close to the issue patch.

The Uniform:

The uniform consists of a tan shirt with Brown epaulettes and Pocket flaps, and dark green trousers with a tan leg strip with yellow piping. Gold buttons replace the plastic ones on the epaulettes and pockets, but not the shirt front (hidden by tie). I suspect these are military surplus buttons but can't confirm with any good shots. The tie is brown in color and clip-on (too many cops in the 30s-50s got choked on their own tie), with a plain gold tie-bar (visually identical to the one the Navy used to issue with the johnny cash uniforms, and I'm sure the other services used too). Collar brass is "S.P." in gold color, centered over collar peaks (Foster is missing these in a few early scenes). The patch is found on each shoulder approx. 2-3 inches down from seam, centered.

st leg stripe 2.jpg
Close up of seam stripe

The Nametag is centered over the right breast pocket, either touching the top or 1/4'' above it as in military regulations. All show last name in capital letters except Capt. O'hagen whose includes "CAP." in front of his name. The badge is an NYPD detective style shield. The seal in the center is blue enamel with the NY crest, identical to NYPD detective badges (I think). The lower panel clearly says officer but the upper appears to have been filled in and covered or sanded off, giving a peculiar "glittering" appearance when viewed in motion but difficult to capture in a screen cap. Each trooper has a unique badge number and I didn't catch any instance of them accidentally switching.

st rabbit badge.jpg
Good view of badge, each one appears to have been modified in this method

The "dress" uniforms seen 2/3rds of the way through the film are definitely Army surplus coats, which makes me suspect that the pants in all scenes are as well. The leg tape on the dress uniforms is distinctly different though, so I may be wrong.
st dress 2.jpg
As I said, distinctly different

The Campaign Covers they wear look like surplus fur felt ones. The Black sweat band seems off, but I digress (always remembered green ones). The gold acorns are of the typical police type. The hat badge is a stock one available on amazon which says "Special police" and typically has a pin back. The way the badge seems to try to escape in some scenes makes me think it isn't well secured as it sits below the vent used for a screw back badge.
st dress.jpg
Note the Army buttons, the hat badge touching the brim, and the change in name tag position for this scene

Equipment:
Each officer uses a Glock 17. They all wear black plain leather duty belts with various pouches and holster on the right side. Early on it seems everyone keeps their radio on their right in front, a terrible place in my opinion (a bayonet frog there racked me hard enough to give me pause when running, I can't imagine a radio in swivel pouch is much better). They look to migrate rearwards towards the end of the film. several officers carry a maglite in a leather frog (not the ring ones) on the left rear. The Dress uniform belt seems to be the officers normal one with the addition of the Sam Browne strap.

All sunglasses seem to be gas station quality teardrop aviators.
 
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Years and years ago I got the wild idea to do a Super Troopers Costume Group so I discreetly contacted the movies costumer, Melissa Bruning, and asked her how she went about kitting out the actors for the movie. She was flattered to be contacted about such a wacky personal project, and she let me know that the uniforms were pretty much sourced completely through the Los Angeles CA based police uniform supply company: "Quartermaster" http://www.qmuniforms.com/ .

Back then, a couple of items like the collar pins, had changed slightly in the few years between the movie and my research, so expect a few more items in the catalog to be slightly different these days too.
 
My husband collects, among other strange things, military and police pins and patches. He knows a lot about them and he loves the movie and I THINK he had some story that he had found out in the patch and pin community about what they wore, but I'll have to ask him. I admit I sometimes tune him out a bit when he gets going. :)
 
Here's some of the links I used:
http://www.qmuniforms.com/Brands/La...100-Polyester-Two-Tone-Short-Sleeve-Shirt.axd and http://m.qmuniforms.com/lawpro-100-polyester-fine-line-uniform-trouser the shirt you want the tan/brown one and the pants are the spruce green ones. In order to get The stripe on the side of the pants which is tan you must call the company to get it added since they don't sell them Pre made. I happen to have a sewing machine at home so I'm just going to add my own. The name plate is your discretion but it does take awhile to get made from quartermaster. (Best bet is to go to a surplus store to get one) all the collar pins and Vermont state police patches I found on eBay. The belt is something you can find at Walmart or you can buy a real police belt and pouches straight from quartermaster
 
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I am doing Rabbit for Halloween, specifically where he is wearing the "bullet-proof cup" over his uniform. I have the entire duty uniform, movie accurate. I just ordered the badge.

If you want the exact badge in the movie, I recommend going here: http://www.chiefsupply.com/badges-and-id.
-Choose Smith & Warren Visual Badge designer at top.
-For design: Sunburst > Without eagle > S152A
Finish: Gold electroplate, Font: Block, Back: Shell.
Seal: NYSAB (listed under States). They also used NYSM & rubbed out letters. I thought about using the Vermont seal, but decided to go with movie accurate.
Line 1: For the film they scratched out what was originally on the badge. I put 'State Highway Patrol' for mine to match patches.
Line 2: OFFICER
Line 3: Badge # of character you are doing (see below)
Enamel: Soft, Color: Black, Attachment: Pin & Safety Catch, Shape: Curved.
With taxes & shipping it cost $87.95.

Character - Nametag, Badge #:
Captain - CAP. O'HAGAN, 23601
Thorny - RAMATHORN, 2564,
Rabbit - ROTO, 12702
Mac - WOMACK, 7414
Farva - FARVA, 24427
Foster - FOSTER, 3268

Here is the hat badge: http://www.outdoor-warrior.com/Special-Police-Badge_p_33.html

For the patches, I cannot find anyone that sells or makes them. SO... I am going to attempt to make a (probably half-assed) version by printing it on iron on paper, then transfering that to a blank patch. Or you can use the VSP ones.

SuperTrooperPatch.jpg
 
The patch I had someone embroider some for me locally in San Antonio. It was about $70 for both to be custom made. Only problem was they weren't iron on they had to be seen on
 
@ OtakuCop
@
Justicethebeast

I found a seller on E-Bay that carries authentic looking patches for only $11.99 and damn he delivers fast! Ordered them on a Sunday, got mine on Wednesday.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUPER-TROOPERS-MOVIE-PATCH-STR01-/260564957781?hash=item3caae1ba55:g:2yIAAOSwDFNWFJy4

@ OtakuCop

I have a question; how do you get "State Highway Patrol" put on the badge? I was informed this makes it official and requires proof of law enforcement employment.

Also I ordered the uniform trousers from Quartermaster supply and to get the right stripes I asked for piggy back stripes, 1/2" Tan on 1" Yellow/Gold.
Now I have not received my trousers yet, they should be here in the next few days, but I am confident they will look right.

aevangel1 aka: l0c0_machinist
 
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Sorry for the late reply, computer died and I forgot I can log in on my phone. Found and ordered those patches too, they are very nice. Only 2 differences I found were that the film patches were done on a cloth backing vs. the eBay patches very nice full embroidery, and the yellow border is thicker on the repros. Anyone seen the stills from the new film? They show a fictional Vermont highway patrol patch that is different from these ones.
Here is my patch under incandescent lighting.
IMG_20160928_021148.jpg
 
I hope reviving old threads is okay. With the movie around the corner, I have been looking into cosplaying this for the premier on 4/20. I found this thread specifically the most helpful.

Does anyone have updated pictures of their cosplay?
Any advice or links on specific products they purchased for putting this together?

I will post links for everything I purchased up till now..

Trousers (Spruce Green)
Shirt (Tan/Brown)
S.P. Pin
Tie
Tie bar
Nametag

I ordered the campaign hat directly from Stratton. The build is as follows:
F-40 Campaign Style Felt Uniform Hat
Color: Chocolate Brown
Shape: Regular Oval
Size: (Whatever size is for your head)
Standard Single Badge Hole
With Gold cords, and 3 piece black leather strap with silver buckle (add-ons, not included)

I also ordered a badge that is accurate to the new Super Troopers 2 movie. I have yet to buy the aviators, boots, and belt & accessories. I am also having Quartersmaster put the striping on the pants. To see how they turn out, I had them put on striping accurate to the first movie, and also the second movie which appears to be just 1" gold striping (according to the best screenshots I could muster off of Youtube). *Correction* Through more careful monitoring of the ST2 trailer, it appears the striping is not gold, perhaps just a single 1" tan stripe, or more than likely, the same as the first movie. I just don't have accurate enough screen caps to prove it either way.

I must add.. ordering from Quartermaster has been a very unpleasant experience for me. I don't suggest ordering from them if you do not live in the US. I would order from Galls instead in the future. This is just my personal experience and is probably unique to my case. For you Canadian buyers, they do not ship to PO boxes within the US, so you will have to ship it directly to your Canadian address (at an extremely inflated shipping cost), or ship it to someone you know (a residential address) within the US to save on shipping.

As for the patch.. I ordered the movie accurate patches from the first Super Troopers; however, the patch has drastically changed for the second movie and I cannot find anyone making them as of yet. If anyone knows someone who is, or is planning on producing them, I would appreciate the share!

Also, if anyone knows the kind of boots they are using in the new movie, there is a fairly good second or two close-up on the boot in the newest trailer. I cannot identify them.

The hat badge I had made was through the same place as the chest badge. These are the design specs I used for that.
-Smith & Warren Visual Badge designer
For design: S188
Finish: Gold electroplate
Font Type: Block
Enamel Color: Black
Enamel Type: Soft (Regular)
Seal: C135P
Line 1: SPECIAL
Line 2: POLICE
Line 3: *** Intentionally left blank ***
Attachment: Screw Post & Nut
Badge Shape: Curved

If you want the badge accurate to the second movie, OkatuCop posted how to build the badge above. I took that and changed a few options to build my badge, which came in 100% accurate to the second movie. Smith & Warren manufactured my badge in a little over 4 weeks. I'll post what options I chose in the badge builder. *Please note: Smith & Warren can do Rush Orders if you need it by a certain date. It can get quite pricey but if you need it in time for an event, then you gotta do what you gotta do.

-Smith & Warren Visual Badge designer
For design: Sunburst > Without eagle > S152A (Or just search "S152A")
Finish: Gold electroplate
Font Type: Block
Enamel Color: Blue
Enamel Type: Soft (Regular)
Seal: NYCAB (listed under States).
Line 1: HIGHWAY PATROL
Line 2: TROOPER
Line 3: (Badge number of character you are doing, or your own custom number)
Attachment: Pin & Safety Catch
Badge Shape: Curved
Back: Shell

As you can see, there are two different versions of the badge seen in the trailer. The one with "8264" looks like an officially made badge (identical to my badge manufactured by Smith & Warren) with engraved letters whereas the "7707" badge looks like a cheaper version, or perhaps the hard enamel version that smith & warren offers (as opposed to soft enamel). Also take note: The badge says "HIGHWAY PATROL TROOPER" on it now, whereas the first movie had scratched out the area around the seal and had "OFFICER" on the lower text part.

Screen Shot 2018-02-13 at 3.40.12 PM.pngScreen Shot 2018-02-13 at 3.40.31 PM.pngScreen Shot 2018-02-13 at 3.41.14 PM.pngScreen Shot 2018-02-13 at 3.56.22 PM.png3827D7F2-D1A4-41A3-BC38-A2DE5A5F4D83.jpeg


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At 1:14:28 in the first Super Troopers movie, you can see a very good closeup of the buttons on the uniform. I am very confident in the next picture, these are the buttons used on the uniform. If you want to assume anything, you can probably assume these are the same buttons used on the tan/brown shirts as well. If you google "eagle brass buttons" you should be able to find a seller to buy these buttons.

* I apologize for my taking a picture of the movie instead of a screenshot, iTunes prevents users from screenshooting DRM protected media.

Screen Shot 2018-02-13 at 3.56.22 PM.png


Screen Shot 2018-02-13 at 3.41.14 PM.png


Screen Shot 2018-02-13 at 3.40.31 PM.png


Screen Shot 2018-02-13 at 3.40.12 PM.png


othHLsk%R9W+mdyHArnSLw.jpg


s-l1600.jpg


3827D7F2-D1A4-41A3-BC38-A2DE5A5F4D83.jpeg
 
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Following this as am thinking of doing it but preferably with a few others as will be a lot more fun, already have the shirt as it's the same one as the Rick Grimes one bought a spare when stocking up. Nightmare getting stuff from them as now have to phone up if you live in UK rather than being able to order online or via chat.
 
How are you guys able to order the chest badge?

Buddy and I have tried two different places and so far everyone wants authorizations from real law enforcements organizations.

It has to do with the words highway patrol and trooper specifically.

Or any leads on plastic badges that might look right?
 
If you know someone that works as a law enforcement officer, or if you work in an industry that isn’t in law enforcement that would require something like this (eg. Film industry), I would ask that person. There is no magic way around this. They all enforce the same rules.
 
Another question if you did not get the strip on the side from the Quartermaster where can you pick it up at? I have someone that can sew it on the pants just need to know what type of trim for the pants to get.
 
Hi guys working on mine at the moment, have got the collar brass, cap badge and patches for shirt. Found place that can get the hat from though going to be fair bit with customs etc i reckon. Same place as most of you with the hext badge, I might be able to get the chest badge through contact in Police re-enactment group i'm connected with as we have links with NYPD.
 

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