The Knee Pads and Boots

There are three major parts to the lower area of the Biker Scout costume:

• Knee Pads
• Boots (Vinyl or Leather)
• The Boot Holster which holds your blaster.

 

The Knee Pads

The kneepad for the Biker Scout is more of an overall cube shape than anything. It has these odd looking ridges cut into edges of the facets of the kneepad. The top of the kneepad has a rounded look to it due to the 3 beveled surfaces. The bottom of the kneepads have a slight outward curve along the edge, they are not supposed to be completely straight.

The knee pads are 21 cm tall, 16.5 cm wide and 10.25 cm deep. for normal sized males figures. The bottom of the knee pads should be slightly curved, not straight. This allows for a more comfortable wear of the knee pads.

 

We made carboard templates and transfered those onto sheet plastic., which we taped together to make a negative mold for us to pour liquid plaster into.

Notice that we positioned two flat rods across the top opening of this template. This is to keep the top of the mold from opening too wide when the heavy liquid plaster is poured into the mold. The sides will sag a little due to the weight, but it will keep it's general shape long enough for the plaster to solidify.

Once the plaster is dry we will turn the mold upside-down, slide the plastic off the hard plaster and sand down any problem areas that occured in the process.

You will probably want to refer to our plaster casting , vacuumforming sections, and fiber-glassing to make your final parts.

 

The Boots

The boots used in the movies were 80's era Sierra Sneakers hiking boots that had leather sewn and glued onto the top of them, and a velcro seam in the back of the boot for easy access. The website, partsofsw.com, has some detailed info about the Sierra Sneakers hiking boot (like, these same boots were used by Arnold Schwarzzenager in the 80's action flick "Commando".)

Making the boots yourself can be a diffficult, if not frustrating, task. While propmakers will custom make you a pair of boots for about $150 - $200, there are a couple of websites like "TK-312's Endor Base" and "BikerScout.net" that will show you how to make the boots yourself. Studio Creations has attempted to custom make a pair of Biker Scout Boots, but we do not feel confident enough yet to post a tutorial. Sorry.

If you do attempt to make your own boots. We highly recommend the shoe glue BARGE for gluing the white material to your tan hiking boots. Nothing holds better than BARGE.

FOR SALE - The BSN moderator "Witness" is offering up his skills at boot making to the fans. For $200 he will build you a pair of accurate looking boots made from current tan-soled hiking boots.

IN A PINCH - If you are on a budget, Onguard (a shoe/boot manufacturer) makes a nice PVC vinyl boot, called the "ONGUARD 16" White Boot - Standard Toe", that is similar to the height of the ILM biker scout boots. There is a 16 inch tall and an 11 inch tall version of this boot. Short people should probably go with an 11 inch tall boot while normal to tall people should buy the 16 inch tall boot. You want to buy one size smaller than you normally wear, as the Onguard boot fits a little larger than normal.

 

Boot Holster

If you remember from the movie, the right boot has a holster attached to it for quick unholstering while riding the speeder bike. This holster is by far one of the worst designs I have ever seen ever to come out of ILM's art department.

The holster does not support the gun/blaster fully. It lets 1/2 of the weapon hang out to top of the holster, making the weapon susceptible to falling out of the holster while walking or moving the leg around. You might want to add some velcro to the inside of the holster to help keep the weapon in place.

We custom sculpted our boot holster and vacuumformed it. You'll notice that there are two major components to the boot holster, the main holster and a shroud.

Our boot holster measures 21.5 cm tall and 14.5 cm wide.

You will probably want to refer to our plaster casting , vacuumforming sections, and fiber-glassing to make your final parts.

Below: We have found it very useful to rivet a plastic plate to the inside of the boot to help keep the boot rigid. The blaster and holster will weigh down the upper part of the boot and this extra bit helps the boot keep it's round shape. Sand the plate edges smooth.

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