I'm going to Manticon in May, and part of the program there will be a military ball-style event.

I've got a set of Service C's in the works, but I figured that wasn't quite formal enough for this. So, using SSgt Burton's thread as a starting point, I am embarking on a quest for a dress blue uniform.

Off the bat, my size is a problem. I'm a big guy, and most surplus uniforms come in smaller, "fit" sizes.

Flying Cross makes a very nice USMC-inspired police honor guard coat, but it retails for about $500 in my size. So that's probably not going to happen (for that much money I'll start my M56 build).

I did find these, however, and figured they might be convertible with the help of a tailor.

http://www.atcuniforms.com/product.html?cpdID=8929



Can't beat the price and they come in my size!

ETA: Forgot to mention - you need to call to order these, they won't take online orders for less than $100.

Other items to source:

Dress white hat (I wore these when I was an MP, and I wish I still had one, because they are pricey!)
Sword and belt
Dress holster (finding one of these for my VP70 might be a challenge)

Kudos to Dom and Derek, who are hooking me up with a cap badge and collar pins!

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You just bought the very last cap badge.

Is there a definitive reference for no. 1 uniform?


Cheers,
Doug

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A11/TQ1.0.4214
Sgt Doug Phillips
69th Regt. 1st Batt. Homer’s Heroes

"If it doesn't get you dirty, it's not worth doing."

Glad I made it!



Not that I know of. It doesn't appear anywhere I have seen in the films or the EU.

SSgt. Burton's was based on a USMC dress blue blouse. I am going to try and have a tailor add a USMC-style collar to this jacket, or possibly do the "Carter Burke suit" mod to the collar to make it fit the Aliens universe. If I go that route, I'll probably use the US Army Dress Blue uniform as a guide. I spent some time in the Army so I'm partial to their uniform anyway.

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Coolio, was just curious.
You're breaking new ground then, looking forward to seeing where this goes.

Cheers,
Doug

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A11/TQ1.0.4214
Sgt Doug Phillips
69th Regt. 1st Batt. Homer’s Heroes

"If it doesn't get you dirty, it's not worth doing."

Got the coat a few days ago.

It's kind of cheap material. I think it would be durable enough for the occasional wearing, but I wouldn't count on it to last forever.

Style and cut is very similar to the Army "Class A" coat. Buttons are generic brass with a kinda neat eagle emblem on them.

You could convert this to a Marine collar by folding in the lapels and adding some buttons. You might need to add some material to the collar.

I considered modifying the jacket using cues from Burke's suit and the suits in the inquest scene, but decided that was a bad fashion prediction

I was all set to start modding when I found this:

http://www.marlowwhite.com/69-119



$192 shipped and it comes in "big guy" sizes. Get 'em while you can.

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Couple of updates....

The existing buttons were too shiny, and the buttons that came with the other coat don't quite fit the buttonholes. So I started messing around with "dressing up" the plain buttons.



I printed out the USCM seal on some transparent film and overlaid it on the plain button. I like the concept, but the results could have been better. I am talking with a friend who does laser engraving to see if he can make me some better quality “caps” to go on the existing buttons.

I picked up a 1:18 scale Pulse Rifle and wanted to make some sort of badge out of it. I started messing around and came up with this:



It's a work in progress. I started by modifying an issue Combat Infantry Badge I happened to already have (if I were to do this again, I would probably use a Combat Action Badge instead). Unfortunately, I broke the PR while mounting it, but I'm going to fix it with putty. I plan on finishing it with metallic silver and a black wash to create the “oxidized” look of US military badges.

For the hat, I found this at Overstock.com for around $45 shipped, much cheaper than a real military white hat. I removed the faux US Army Officer crest and will be replacing it with my USCM insignia (I taped my resin one on for the photo). I need to replace the hatband with a black enlisted one and see if I can figure out a way to remove the indentations left by the faux Army crest.

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I decided I'd rather wear full size medals than just ribbons. Under USMC regs you would wear your medals on your left and your ribbons on you right.

I'm already planning on wearing my US Army medals as well, so I did not convert all of my Colonial Marine awards to medals, just the MultiForce, CMD, and OMA. The rest of the Colonial Marine ribbons will be worn on my right side, as inspired by the USMC regs.

I am working up medal designs right now. These will be laser-cut out of brass plate and hung from the ribbon drape. I got ribbon drapes at Trophy Central and Glendale.

Here is what I have so far:







These will be cut 1.25" which is the average size of a military medal.

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luv the idea's i want to make a dress blue set at some point.... and i luv the idea of the medals.... woul dbe easy to make one and then mold them to make casts and then just add metal powder to them......

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SGT Chris Kraemer "BIRD"
S/N: A07/TQ0.0.82154G1 Sgt Kraemer

I am not sure about casting these because they will be laser-engraved. We'll see how they turn out.

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Put everything together for a test fit. Sorry for the low-quality pic.



Rank is on both sleeves. On the left sleeve is the US flag, rank, and Army blue service stripes.

Right chest is ribbons, left is medals. In addition to USCM decorations I am wearing my Army stuff as well. USCM medals were made from Dom's challenge coin casts (also used one of these for a hat badge). My laser engraver fell thru so I am going with this for now.

Left side also has the USCM Pulse Rifle badge and Dropship wings. Right side (as is traditional for other service awards) are my SWAT insignia.

My Army MP shoulder cord is on the right side as well.

USCM insignia on the collar.

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That PR badge is awesome! (well, the whole thing is an awesome idea, but that badge = double awesome).

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Cpl Aron "septic" Williams
A10/TQ0.0.82146E1

Hot Dam!

Even my Iraq/Afghan combat veteran company Gunny doesn't have that fat of a stack!

That is straight General status.

Please note that these medal images were made without consulting me. Also, one of them has a spelling mistake. Check your spelling before you hang a medal on your chest.

@Dom -

I'd appreciate any input you have on the medal designs, these were just some ideas for this specific costume.

Thanks for catching that spelling error.

@Revolver Ocelot -

It's a combination of three sets of awards - US Army, some Commemorative medals/ribbons, and USCM awards. My actual Army rack (in my sig bar below) is not as impressive
I put a lot of thought into what I wanted to include - if I wore every Commemorative I was eligible for it would have been pretty heavy. I decided to only wear Commemoratives that were not represented by another medal or ribbon.

I seriously considered just wearing my ribbon rack (I have one set up for my Service Cs) but since the 'con has a formal military ball, I wanted to go all out. Plus I wanted to look cooler than the Manticorans who will be heavily represented at the event

I did take some liberties with the unit awards; because the uniform is US Marine Corps style I chose to wear the USMC/USAF/USN style unit awards, as opposed the larger US Army awards.

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Trooped all weekend at Manticon, altering between my Service C's and full combat kit, and it was a big hit! On Saturday night for the military ball and banquet I wore my Dress Blues and got a lot of compliments. My wife snapped a quick photo in the hotel room before we went out, but I am hoping to get some better pics up as they roll in.



As with any costume, I can see room for future improvements. I still want to do custom buttons with the USCM logo and I'd like to slit the side of the jacket so the sword hangs easier, but overall I am very happy with the end result!

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Well done.

Looking good marine!

_________________
PFC Mike Rizzuto MVM
USS Blackhawk
3rd Batt 12th Regt

Wow, nearly a year has gone by and I want to update this uniform for Manticon at the end of next month!

Stay tuned...

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Updated for 2018

I wanted to do an Officer impression so I promoted myself and changed the uniform accordingly.

I pretty much only wear these at Manticon, which is a RMN (Royal Manticoran Navy) convention - my persona is I'm "embedded" with the RMN as an attache/observer. Hence the aiguillette.

I still am trying to get someone to make me custom buttons for this. Got the material, just need to find someone who can do laser engraving.

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Jesus dude. You look like a South American dictator.

Are all those medals and ribbons from Glendale?

I agree it needs to be balanced out.

The ribbons and medal drapes for the USCM awards are from Glendale. The medals themselves are stock from a company called Trophy Central. I am trying to find a local engraver who can make some more lore-friendly medals.

My first go at this was a combination of my actual Army awards and USCM stuff. I decided I didn't like mixing those but I wanted to represent my service so I swapped out the real army awards for commemorative medals I was eligible for. I think for the next outing I am going strip it back to just the USCM stuff (and the Manticore stuff I've earned, if I am at their con). If I can get everything figured out that would remove at least two rows of medals.

To-do-list:
- Get the USCM lore-friendly medals engraved and mounted
- Get USCM buttons made
- See a tailor about re-fitting the coat (steady losing weight).

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You better take off all the legit/real USMC button off that! Including the cover (the hat!) including the button that hold the chin strap in place.

_________________
MSgt, USMC (ret.)

I got the hat from a fashion store (it's not a uniform item) and the jacket is from a police uniform.

There are literally zero USMC items on this uniform and there were never any to begin with.

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