Boots

There aren't many ways to go about acquiring your boots. Most people make their own following this tutorial. That's the cheapest solution, requires more work than any other part of the suit but is very satisfying once completed.

Here's how I've done it.

I bought cheap shoes from the internet. Retail stores only offered the expensive kind and theirs didn't have the right kind of beige for the soles. That's most important aspect along with the shape of the toe. For Lancer status, carvings need to be done into the sole.

First step: get a rather thick 2 square yards of white vinyl or fake leather. People advise marine vinyl but I got fake leather from a friend who got it... I don't know where but it seemed to do the trick. It's a little too thick in my taste and you'll understand why.

What you need to do is to heat up the material. Hot water, heater, heat-gun, hair dryer, iron. Be careful with the iron because vinyl melts really quick with contact. Once your material is soft and malleable you can begin pinning it to your toes.

You can start gluing the tips and pin the vinyl around your shoe. That's something I messed up because the vinyl was just too thick to work with, you might have better luck with that and not get little creases in the front. Remember to try the shoe on while you do the stretching. If it's too tight you might damage your work or simply get uncomfortable very quick while trooping.

I'm not really good with dimensions especially with the tutorial patterns so here's a preview of what the different pieces will look like once assembled. I made rough cuts according to my calves and waited for a pre-fitting before going further into the details.

Use a sharp knife to cut around, just above the edge of the sole. What little imperfections are left will be covered by another strip of vinyl around the toe, so make sure everything is well stretched around it.

Strips are glued. I re-heated the toes before doing this.

I seamed up the calf sections and sewed velcro strips on either sides of them. Some people tell you to pierce rivets into your shoe so that it can move around whenever you open up your boot to put it on. I was told to avoid the rivet business because of the friction hazard and it's also too much work. So just use glue to attach it on the front and sides. Leave the back glue-less.

In this picture you can see how solid the material really is with the holster barely making a dent into it. The "bone" shaped strips should be added last across the bridge of the shoe. Make sure you make them wide and large enough.

Use a rivet "gun" and piece 4 holes into the ABS holster (it comes with the armor kit) and into your vinyl material. I stuck pieces of foam inside the boot to cover up the rivet heads to avoid friction with my calves and the suit.

It's not mandatory and most people don't do it, but I've seen it done and I thought it looked cool. Black vinyl "rank" stripes on the holster. It's discrete, 501st-acceptable and sets you apart from the other Scouts if you're in a big crowd.

I'm not 100% happy with the toes, more work will need to be done on them.

Here's as promised, more work done:

Laces pulled out. The shoes fit snuggly already and the laces were getting in the way of slipping my feet in and out. Tongue is stuck to the inside of the vinyl with double-sided tape.

The KS blaster pistol in the SC holster make the boot sag slightly.

The velcro strip would open up under the pull of the holster so I decided to sew it up completely.