JSmails ANH Tusken WIP

[JSmails]

Hey,

I’m very active on the SLD boards as my main costume is Vader. But, sometimes, Vader is taken back when there were events. Pre Covid. I’m a little tall for a TK, so I think a Tusken will be great fun. And available for all events as the more Tuskens the merrier!

I bought a custom sized weathered kit from Berzerker (Andy) on the 501st forums. So I “have everything” I need, I just need it to fit, look great, and stay together. 
 

First question, does anyone have a pattern for the neck seal seen here:

The main thing I’m missing is a neck covering. 
 

Also, what do you do for fans/AC in the helmet? I saw something where someone keeps a small AC unit on the belt then runs a hose up their back, through the neck seal, and puts AC into the helmet? Is that really something or is it just squirrel fans to stay cool? 
 

As I get some time, I’ll be showing my work. But standing on the shoulders of giants is how I always do builds. Any recommendations are welcome. 
 

First suit up. Horrible lighting and everything needs to be tightened up.

 

Thanks for any help!

 

[Nezhdanov]

Welcome!

As a first kit up it looks pretty good but it will help to have better lighting and to be able to see all of you so we can see the length of your robe and how it all fits. Can’t really tell the outer robe material in the photo?

The breather looks like it sits well and seems a good length and bandoliers seem fine too.

From what I can see the outer robe looks like a good length to your wrists and is nice and loose which helps as the film robes were loose.

Also if you can take individual photos of boots, breather, gloves, arm wraps etc. just so we can see how they are, I’m sure they’ll be fine!

As for the helmet fan set up, I think you’re referring to fleasome who I’m sure did quite a comprehensive fan set up with some analysis of heat at different stages of a troop.

I’ve just gone for 2 3D printer fans with the wire coming out the back of the lid, under my neck seal, down the back under the outer robe into a usb power bank which is in a waist pouch hidden by the outer robe. It helps make it manageable but can depend on how much room you have in your lid, some have managed to fit a pc fan in the mouth area!

I don’t know about the Peter Diamond neck seal but we did a tk style neck seal which helps cover the chin and back of head in case anyone looks up but there are different ways people do neck seals.

Looking good and will be good to see more!


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[JSmails]

Thanks for the reply!

More pics, outdoor pics, will be coming along eventually. When both of my kids are doing distance learning during the day, and when the golf season slows down, I’ll have more time for updates. The gaffi stick was a kit, so I have to put that together somehow. 
 

There is a ton of room inside my helmet. I’m definitely going to need to put some foam in to get rid of the bobble head effect. I’d love to put a fan in the front vent, but then visibility will be almost nothing. Is that something that is normal? I figured most Tuskens looked out the snout most of the time. The eye sockets are ridiculously limited. So I’m a little wary of putting a fan in the snout. 
 

Thanks for the help. It is appreciated. 

[Nezhdanov]

Yes you won’t be able to see much, I can see a little through the mouth at the floor so is helpful for seeing what’s at my feet.

I think the Tusken is a costume that you need to ensure those that crew you appreciate the vision limitations!


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[JSmails]

One of my bandoliers isn’t accurate. The bandoliers I find on eBay etc. are “close” and I’m sure they are approvable, but they aren’t accurate to the Peter Diamond Boer303 bandolier. 
 

If I’m going to upgrade, I’m going to want accuracy. I contacted Tusken outfitters and Utini Prop store. Utini Prop store replied that their stuff was “100% screen accurate”, which, to me coming from Vader, is a HUGE red flag. I asked them for pics of the bandolier and they said, “You can find pictures in the page.” The only bandolier pictures I see on their FB page are not “100% accurate”. Not to the Peter Diamond bandolier. So I’m stumped. 
 

I’m sure their stuff is very approvable as are the different bandoliers I see on EBay and amazon. But none look exactly like the Peter Diamond photo. 
 

I see there is a great tutorial from TK-14791 building this here: 

 

But that sure seems like a LOT of sewing. Yikes.

If anyone has a better idea on how to source that bandolier, I’m all ears.

 

[M.J.]

if you want screen accurate, those bandoliers do come up once an a while on ebay, you just have to keep to watch.. 10 years ago they were easier to buy now the old originals are around $300, people have cottoned on we want them. I do commend  you on wanting to be 100%. I'm looking at doing this with my OW jawa chasing up the pouches from Russia took 4 months to get to Australia

[JSmails]

2 minutes ago, M.J. said:

if you want screen accurate, those bandoliers do come up once an a while on ebay, you just have to keep to watch.. 10 years ago they were easier to buy now the old originals are around $300, people have cottoned on we want them. I do commend  you on wanting to be 100%. I'm looking at doing this with my OW jawa chasing up the pouches from Russia took 4 months to get to Australia

Thanks for the advice! I’ll have to set and follow some keywords on eBay. 
 

While I want to be close to accurate, I’m not sure how far my OTD (Obsessive Tusken Disorder) will take me. I’m hoping to keep it at bay before I start buying $300 bandoliers.  
 

I do have a couple more questions about the costume IRT the CRL.

Is the waist sash required for an ANH TR? On Peter Diamond, I never see his waist sash in pics. 
 

 

Lastly, has anyone figured out what material the “skirt” is made out of? It looks like it’s a different material than the inner robe mostly because it’s colored/weathered completely different. Has anyone made one of these skirts?

Thanks!

 

[Nezhdanov]

Hi, for bandoliers you might have a chance at military surplus type stores. They might not have an original but you never know.

My wife found an original bandolier a few years back for her Jawa also on eBay but it’s hit and miss.

As for the inner robe, my wife made our robes so there are two layers at the front. It’s difficult to tell from the photos of the film if this is a construction of the inner robe or a third element. In some pictures the colour looks a bit different suggesting a third element but in other pictures it seems to the same colour suggesting the same robe but a wrap at different length?

Hopefully if someone knows for definite they will let us know.




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[Nezhdanov]

Oh I forgot the waist sash. It’s in the crl so it would be a clearance thing. It goes under the waist bandolier and due to the width specified in the crl can completely be hidden by the waist bandolier.

My waist sash is often hidden and It’s possible you just can’t see the film ones for the same reason or just how brief they are on screen.

I think I’ve seen this reference in Star Wars books?



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[JSmails]

13 hours ago, Nezhdanov said:

Oh I forgot the waist sash. It’s in the crl so it would be a clearance thing. It goes under the waist bandolier and due to the width specified in the crl can completely be hidden by the waist bandolier.

My waist sash is often hidden and It’s possible you just can’t see the film ones for the same reason or just how brief they are on screen.

I think I’ve seen this reference in Star Wars books?



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Right. It just seems extremely silly to me to require something that can’t be seen, like the waist sash, but not require something that is easily seen, like the underskirt. 
 

If it isn’t seen, it really shouldn’t be required. If I only used screen caps and reference pics, I’d never see the waist sash. I digress. 

[JSmails]

It’s been a while and I’m finally finding time to work on this now that golf season has temporarily shut down. 
 

I have searched every single day, ebay and the net, to find the correct bandolier. I know way too much of the history now that I didn’t need to know. Anyway, it seems the Peter Diamond bandolier was really rare at the time. More rare now. They just didn’t make many bandoliers with 15-shot pouches. 
 

Knowing that I’ll never find one, I decided to ask leather workers here and on Etsy to make one for me. Nobody would do it. Too busy, too much of a hassle etc. 

So, I had to do this myself. I can’t sew at all, but I manage. I followed one of the tutorials around here. Complete PITA to do but I’m well on my way. 
 

I sewed everything out of order. I was just doing a proof of concept, but I’m likely going to keep it as I don’t want to do it again. 
 

Here are a couple pics....

 

Tomorrow I’ll have to swing by Tandy and see if they have any Sam Boone studs or not for the flaps. 
 

This thing won’t even be close to prop accurate as I’m horrible with the sewing machine and I’m only making the part of the prop we can see. 
 

But having a bandolier with 10 shots when I know it’s supposed to be 15 would have driven me crazy. I haven’t done anything with this costume in over a month because of this one hang up. 
 

I have to finish this, then fit it, then weather it. I’m happy to finally be making some progress. 

[JSmails]

So I went to Tandy today. Like an idiot I only bought 3 Sam Browne studs so I’ll have to go get one more. Then I started the weathering process. 
 

I read on the net to use 400grit to take the shine of faux leather down. Looks like I’ll be doing that tomorrow then trying another black wash, brown wash. 

[JSmails]

I have pretty much finished the Boer War bandolier today. I just have to get another stud and I’ll be done. I finished up the extra sewing with the small stitches by the pull flaps. I also weathered everything. Then fit it. 
 

 

 

 

I spent the rest of the day modding the other bandolier for accuracy. I had that almost done also, all I needed was my magnets for correct placement, and I couldn’t find them. Spent 90 minutes looking. I was so close. 
 

Anyway, if I can find my magnets, or I get new ones in, then I’ll finish them, take some pics, and I’ll finally be able to move on to the gaffi stick. 

[JSmails]

I couldn’t find the magnets so I ordered more from Apex Magnets. They came in today. I hope I have time soon to magnet everything together and get these done. 

[JSmails]

Now that I have my magnets, I can “almost” finish my bandoliers and keep them in place. Here they are. 
 

 

And now that I have them in place, the bandoliers will be locked in the correct place and not slide around. At all. 
 

Here is Peter Diamond followed by mine. 
 

 

 

Whew. Now that that is behind me, I can start messing with the mask. 

[JSmails]

Moving along to the helmet. I don’t have a Peter Diamond snout, not even close. But I really wanted the Peter Diamond head wraps. My helmet came pre-weathered and finished, but I want the Diamond wrap. 
 

So I studied and looked and picked out the most important parts, to me, and tried to replicate it. 
 

This isn’t a very good “before” pic. I forgot to take one before I started ripping burlap. 

 

Here are my after pics...

 

 

 

I may have to run a few more strips. I don’t know. 
 

Now, how do I weather the new stuff to sort of mesh with the old stuff? 
 

Thanks for any help!

[JSmails]

Work on the gaffi stick has started. That is a LOT of holes wood burned into the handle. 
 

[thebrighton]

Cracking work. It was something I considered but decided I'd get bored long before I'd finish

[JSmails]

12 hours ago, thebrighton said:

Cracking work. It was something I considered but decided I'd get bored long before I'd finish

It was a LOT of work.  No doubt. 
 

[JSmails]

Okay. I think I’m finished with the outside of the helmet. Here it was earlier today. 

 

I saw a few more strips I needed to add for the “Diamond Wrap”. And the Mohawk. Plus I needed to weather it as in the pictures from yesterday, the new wraps REALLY stick out. 
 

Anyway, here it is now after more wraps and weathering. 
 

 

 

 

To me, it looks successfully blended with the old wraps. In some spots I have trouble picking out the new wraps from old. 
 

What do you think? Good enough?

The thing that REALLY concerns me is the “silver” parts are painted more grey or gunmetal-ish. 
 

On the film, the silver parts actually SHINE like silver/metal. Do you think I need a repaint of those parts? Or is full good enough? I hate painting parts shiny metal. I’m no good at it at all. 
 

Thanks. 
 

[JSmails]

Made a semi-replica neck scarf. It was hard. Not worth the effort for sure. I still have to cut it to size and get some velcro on it. Then weather it. But, it somewhat simulates the Diamond neck scarf. 
 

[thebrighton]

Have you glued the eye stalks on yet as they look like they are at the wrong angle. If you look at the photo below you'll see the 3 slots in each are angled towards the outside by around 30 degrees rather than horizontal. Ignore me if it is the camera angle making it look wrong.

Ideally they should be shiny as they're made from aluminium. Ultimately down to your GML.

Edited November 11, 2020 by thebrighton

[JSmails]

6 hours ago, thebrighton said:

Have you glued the eye stalks on yet as they look like they are at the wrong angle. If you look at the photo below you'll see the 3 slots in each are angled towards the outside by around 30 degrees rather than horizontal. Ignore me if it is the camera angle making it look wrong.

Ideally they should be shiny as they're made from aluminium. Ultimately down to your GML.

They came already in place. I’m hoping I can get them turned. If I can’t it’s not that big a deal for me. 
 

In the scene where they are looting the landspeeder, the aluminum pieces definitely shine. 
 

But then there are pics like this where they don’t shine at all. 
compared to:

 

So it’s weird. 

[thebrighton]

5 minutes ago, JSmails said:

They came already in place. I’m hoping I can get them turned. If I can’t it’s not that big a deal for me. 
 

But it may be to your GML. Some will notice and some won't. 

I'm guessing lighting would have had an effect on their brightness.

[JSmails]

Full suit up photos. The things I see is I need to loosen the bandolier a little to let it drop down a little more. I fit it to my body, but not in costume. There’s a little more material there to go around. Also, I’ll need to put the breather on earlier in the process, I think, to go under the neck seal in back. 
 

Anything else? Good enough? LMK!

 

 

 

 

Also, before the suitup I made getting dressed a little easier  I put buckles on the leather pouch belt and also hot glued the end pouches in place so they don’t slide around  

 

I then put a buckle on the waist sash. I don’t ever plan on going robeless, so this works out great. 
 

Finally, I got started on the gaffi. The pipe provided in the kit with the wooden rod isn’t a great fit. It’s going to take some work, I’m guessing, to make them mesh. I build golf clubs from time to time and figured I’d give some golf club epoxy a go first. I doubt it’ll work, as the gap between the pipe and the rod is significant, but I’ll try. If it doesn’t work, E-6000 to the rescue.

How have others connected their gaffi stick parts? Thanks!