X wing Pilot Chest Box - Scratch-build Options?

I've been doing a bit of research in preparation for beginning a Luke ANH X-wing costume, and I've hit on a bit of a snag: The chest box.

I'm a big fan of hardware options and scratch-built pieces (even if they aren't %100 screen accurate), so instead of just throwing (nonexistant) money at the dilema by getting a vac-formed kit (like I did for my helmet ), I wondered what sort of things other thifty (read: broke) pilots have done for their chest boxes.

I found a great tutorial that uses a 2x8 as a base, but I'm not sure that I can get access to the power tools necessary for that, and I don't understand how he cut out the grooves under the toggle switches.

Naturally, pics are highly encouraged, but any sort of suggestion would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

 

Ask guys at the local Rebel Legion?

 

I'd do it in plywood myself, or plastic sheeting glued together and sanded and painted. But then again I have a hand held jigsaw, a Dremel, a drill, a soldering iron, and a penchant for finding cheap cool looking stuff to put on it.

 

Been there. I lurked around thier pilot boards (I didn't register there beacuse I already spend too much time on the costume boards ) and all mention of chest boxes related to vac-formed kits, so I decided to look elsewhere. The "problem" with the Rebel Legion is that they're more concerned with screen accuracy than I am, and are consequently more willing to spend money on it.

I thought about that sort of thing, but the only power tools I have are a dremel and a power drill - I'm just not very handy. I'm still considering doing something with sintra, but I'm not sure where to get it locally.

I've seen some outdoor electrical boxes that may server my purposes, so I'll probably check them out in more detail next time I'm at Lowe's hunting for saber parts.

 

Get yourself some rotary cutters (look like drill bits but you move them side to side) for the Dremel and you should be set for a small project like this.

 

I know about at least 4 Pilots in the Rebel Legion that have wood Chestboxes. (I know, I built 3 of them myself )

If you had asked there, I'm sure more then just Myself would have spoken up as well.
The following is the only pic I have of the chestbox I did first. It's entirely made of wood, with a For Sale Sign used to make the Squares. Abd black area, I used single line correction tape for the white lines. Simple Nylon straps and a plastic buckle.

http://images8.fotki.com/v140/photos/4/451189/1589423/JenniChestbox-vi.jpg

What I did was get the measurements for the outside of a chestbox, then had the top and bottom cut at a 45% angle. about what all the Vac Formed kits are (it's not perfect, but it gets the job done) I took a section of the cut wood (the opposite Triangle of wood fromt he 45% cut) and reattached it on the top, where you usually see the white circle.

Then I just used reference pics to make the black area (the for Sale sign cut to about the right width, and the notch on the lower left side cut out) and outlined the white correction tape.

I used a dremel to cut out the two channels in the lower right side of the box. Not perfect, but from a short distance, looks good enough. The bottom switches are made from 2 part epoxy putty, roughly shaped, and then sanded down as close as I could get it. I believe the white and blue squares are about 1 inch on each side. primed and painted the wood, trying to get as much of the wood grain hidden as possible, Glued the details on, and then I had the box. I took a wood dowel, cut one end at about a 45% angle, and used a long wood screw to attach it to the box. I used washing machine hose, I found at Home depot for the hose, and custom made the suit attachement with an elbow joint and a round piece I also found in Home depot. used the epoxy putty to secure a bolt into the attachment, Glued the nut to a washer about the same diameter as the flange, and put a small hole in the Orange suit, Put the both through the hole and thread the nut/Washer on the inside of the siut, and you have the hose attached like in the movie (of course I made the botl as short as possible so as not to poke into my side, but long enough that it doesn't unscrew from the hose moving the attachement point.

Yes, the Rebel Legion is striving for it's pilots to be as accurate as possible, but we are always willing to answer any questions asked. Even if you can only just do "good enough for me" The goal of all this is to have fun. I mean, as serious as we take ourselves, we are still people who dress up like movie characters, how serious can we really be

If you need them, I will measure my Vac Formed Chestbox (I did have the money to spend, but helped people who didn't) and gety you all the measurements. I may even still have 1 chest box blank, if interested.

Any more questions, feel free to post here, or PM me.

 

Thanks for the info, Reaper!

I didn't mean anything negative by my comment about the RL - I have a great deal of respect for the people who put so much time and effort into their costumes. I decided to just search the forums rather than join them because I knew there was a lot of cross-over between the RL and TFN (and the RPF too, for that matter) so I didn't want to sign for yet another costume/prop forum unless it was necessary to find out what I needed.

If you've got those measurements handy, I'd certainly be grateful for them!