X-wing Pilot

X-wing Pilot

Costume Pictures: Skeeter is sporting our look for the well dressed X-wing pilot. Pilot pic Another pilot pic Shooting pilot First costume - we tried to use black rubber gloves, but they were too hot!		Reference Pictures: Chest box Pilot helmet Red Leader's helmet Luke Skywalker Hobbie - note the chest box Zev - close-up of chest box Janson - close-up of chest box chest box and flak vest

Plan Drawing and a Great Picture taken from the actual movie props at the 1999 Star Wars convention!

Measurements for X-wing pilot costume pieces
Chest Box:
Height (front of face) = 14.5 cm
Width = 15 cm
Buttons = 2.5 cm square

Flak Vest:
Top width = 23.5 cm
Bottom width = 39 cm
Height of back flak vest = 27 cm (the front flak vest is a little shorter)
Side of flak vest under arm = 8.5 cm

X-wing Pilot Materials needed:
Orange coveralls (see the links below)
Military Surplu$$ for Less -Here's a real ORANGE FLIGHTSUIT for only $50! Great for your X-wing pilot costume,best deal I've seen for a real flightsuit. Thanks to Michael Parks for finding thisresource!

Chandler Supplies www.globaltrades.com/chandler.html Thanks to Scott Bakalor for discovering thisoutlet for X-wing pilot coveralls. You can get them here for just $15 BUCKS !

Wear Guard www.wearguard.com Orangecoveralls for X-wing pilot costumes have appeared in Wear Guard's most recentcatalog. You can get a free catalog at their website. The coveralls are about$40.

Gloves - Jersey gloves, black vinyl, black cloth tape.
Boots - Black vinyl, black cloth tape, black shoes or boots.
Belt and holster - Black vinyl, black cloth tape, pop rivets, Blastech DL-44 pistol.
Flak vest - White sweatshirt, rope, white cloth tape, 5 yards of 2" white canvasstrap, white Velcro, epoxy.
OR
the Flak vest may be molded from latex rubber. See the Molding and Casting section.

Chest box - wood, 2 yards of 1" black canvas strap, Velcro, epoxy, gray electricalconduit, hose clamps.
Emergency flares - 7/8" dowel rods, black vinyl, Velcro, pop rivets, silver spraypaint, black cloth tape
Helmet - The Don Post standard X-wing helmet is now available for $40!! See the links section.

See the Basics section for instructions on building the gloves,boots, vest, belt and holster.

The measurements I used for the white straps and the blackstraps work for me. You may need to make them longer or shorter depending on yourbody.

chestbox.jpg (165866 bytes)

Flak Vest - Cut the 2" white canvas strap to the following lengths:62" (580 cm), 28" (71 cm), 16" (41 cm), and 63" (600 cm). Foldthe 62" length into a V shape, this drapes over your shoulders. Pop rivet the16" piece to the bottom of the V. Now join the loose ends together and rivetthe ends to the 28" piece. The two dangling pieces will attach with velcrobetween your legs. This is in case you get your legs tripped up in the harness, itwill rip away at the Velcro attachment instead of tearing the vest.
Next, loop the remaining 63" piece into a figure 8 shape and fasten it with a safetypin, this is the piece that hangs below the harness and wraps around your legs. Next, cut out the basic outline of the flak vest from an old white sweatshirt.

For the raised appearance of the vest, lay down a length of rope on top of the vest. Then, cover the rope with the white cloth tape. Repeating this over and over, youwill be able to cover the whole vest like this.

The ejection straps hang below the Flak vest and are attached with Velcro.
Chest Box - See the diagram for the measurements Iused. Wood screws and washers were used for the round silver details. I had toattach the electrical conduit at an angle, so it wouldn't stick out so much. Theother end of the conduit is clamped onto a piece of wood in a belt pouch.
To make is smoother, automotive body putty was used to fill in the cracks. Irecommend spackling compound, it's easier to use.
The separate pieces were painted individually, and then assembled with wood glue.

Cut the straps for the chest box from the black 1" canvas strap in the followinglengths: 25" (64 cm) and 38.5" (98 cm). The short peice will loop aroundyour neck, and the longer piece will wrap around your body.

The coveralls were designed to fit over pants, so sometimes the legs are reallylarge. To fix this without sewing, turn the coveralls inside out, then lay a pair ofyour jeans over the coveralls so you can estimate how wide the legs should be. Then use new safety pins to secure the excess material. Use new safety pins - youdon't want them coming loose!

UPDATE: 2-15-99
I have a better way to make the Emergency flares!

Cut your 7/8" dowels to a length of 4.5" and paint them silver. Next,cut a rectangle of the black vinyl 4.5" x 19". Now stick the dowels on thevinyl with the black cloth tape. Leave some room on either end for the Velcro. Now attach the Velcro with pop rivets. Easy!