Well since I'm not keen on the cross belt, that would certainly make me happy, but ironically I think I'm the only one in the group who will be wearing a SNCO rank.

If everyone's up for the full rig, I'm in!

_________________
I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Now I am curious, and while we are sort of on topic ... ARE there any officers in this group? Or do we have a bunch of leaderless NCOs and enlisted men running rampant?

Things are once again looking up for this thread. I think we should nail down a jacket and trousers, then move to buttons and belts, then lastly patches if we have to have them.

Are we safely going for the black high collar jacket, with red piping, or are we planning on using a surplus USMC dress jacket for the same effect?

Black trousers? Red Stripe? Midnight Blue w/ red stripe? Maroon w/ black stripe?

Brass Buttons ...

Ha, no great loss there! Things always run better when left to the SNCO's.


Gosh, it's been a busy topic whilst I've been asleep.
My personal vote is still for the white belt.
At the very least, for the banner party.
It's traditional to wear white belt and gloves for ceremonial parades.




I'm not sure that blue subdued badges would look right to be honest. If we decide to get custom badges made they need to be carefully thought out.

_________________
"The other Gareth"

We don't need the REMFs they just tend to get in the way.

_________________
SFC
Michael Larson
Minnesota-USA

A03/TQ1.0.92141E1

Ooooohhhhhh a Sam Browne belt?!?! Count me waaay in on this!! Awesome idea, AWESOME! Gotta be the full shoulder rig though, that pic Derek showed was friggin' WAAAAAYYYY cool!!

You know, that all black jacket in Derek's pic was cool too.

I'm returning my USMC jacket, the dealer is being waaay cool about it. Good guy.

_________________


USCM- The Colonial Marines- A Brotherhood of Bad Asses!

Glad to hear the good news about the jacket Bro!


Also good to hear you are aboard with the Sam Browne belt!

Your comment about the officer's jacket has given me a brainstorm-

We want to use the USMC "enlisted" jacket as a base mostly because of affordability, however the patch issues are what is (from what I can see) stalling the project.

The Marlow White jacket is essentially a black high collar coat, with some (actually very little) red piping... see where I'm headed with this?

How hard would it be to use a USMC officer's tunic, and add custom minimal red piping ourselves?

It would certainly save on cost as I can't picture getting piping added costing the difference between a USMC enlisted jacket and a Marlow White jacket.

The jacket would be black (which is probably what we would go with in the case of Marlow White), and would leave us open to however we would care to customize it? Provided all EGA buttons are removed and replaced with plain brass buttons.

_________________
I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

What I'm about to say is not at all meant to sound sarcastic:

Good luck finding a USMC Officer's jacket.

_________________
CPL Conley, D. A06/TQ2.0.72147E1



"To err is human; to forgive, divine... Neither of which is Marine Corps policy."
"In Onoraigh Ar Marbh" ~ We Honor Our Fallen

I understand.

Crazy thing is I already have... In my size no less.

But I totally understand that it might be nearly impossible for all of us to do the same. Especially those needing a larger than average size.

Back to the drawing board eh?

So... enlisted jacket then?

To be perfectly honest the Marlow White jacket (or any other around $300) will be out of my price range. Like I said, I know I was gung ho about it at first, but it was a case of my eyes being bigger than my wallet so to speak.

If however the ultimate result is to go with a custom jacket- I will figure out a way to afford it, regardless of what I might have to sell to come up with the funds. This isn't meant as a sob story, but a statement of my commitment to the project!

_________________
I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Way cool idea.

Looks and sounds great, so count me in.

Uniformity!

VBR,
Chris

_________________
Pt. C. Chulamanis
A14/TQ4.0.66993E7

One comment, has anyone been watching the total amount? For example, why is $100 pants too expensive with a $30 belt, but $50 pants with a $75 belt and shoulder strap isn't?

Been wondering on the expence thing also.
With what 750 or so for armor ?
PLus the PR or Smartr gun.

Seems even the police jacket not that bad.

_________________
SFC
Michael Larson
Minnesota-USA

A03/TQ1.0.92141E1

Awesome to have you on board Chris!!!!

That's too bad the USMC Officers jacket is "unobtainable", that would have been really cool!



Wookie makes an excellent comment. Allow me...

It's all about the Coolness Factor vs. the Cost Factor

$100- Custom Red pants-w/ Black stripe

vs.

Black Dress Slacks (no pleats) w/ custom Bloodstripe-

I think this is the $50 pants you were referring to? We should be able to find black dress slacks for much less than $50- Let's just say we found some nice ones for $30-

$30 Pants + Bloodstripe
$100- Red / black pants

Coolness Factor vs Cost Factor- While the Red / black stripe pants would be cool, does the extra cost of them out weigh the coolness factor?

Looks like it does.

$75- Sam Browne belt vs . White webbing belt w/ brass buckle.

Obviously, a dramatic price difference. Is it worth it? Judging from the initial reactions, it looks like the Coolness Factor outweighes the Cost Factor.

That's what it's all about. Coolness vs Cost.

Marlowe Jacket- Very Cool. Cost Factor too high, does not outweigh it when presented w/ and alternative USMC Jacket.

If price was nearby, say $120 or so, and basing my $69- cost of the USMC Jacket I'm returning, then I would say the Coolness Factor would Match the Cost Factor and we should go that route.

Same as deciding whether to use the "Bates" perma shine shoes vs. a pair of black dress shoes we have in the closet.

Same as deciding the Coolness Factor of the Marine Cover outweighed the Cost Factor of the White Beret.

See? It all comes down to Coolness vs. Cost...

There will be a quiz later...

_________________


USCM- The Colonial Marines- A Brotherhood of Bad Asses!

Actually, the $50 came from:

$30 for pants ($25 for pants plus $5 for shipping)
$14 for stripe ($9.95 at grunts.com + $3.95 shipping)
$6 to pay for the tailoring (The tailor I used on my Service uniform charges $8 to hem a pair of pants, so this is probably low).

So yeah, the basic coolness question is $130 for red pants and white belt vs $125 for black pants and Sam Browne belt.

My main concern was with people saying "We can't do this because it makes the uniform cost too much" and then saying "We should do this", well if one setup causes the uniform to cost too much, than to me a different setup that costs basically the same does the same. Not saying I won't pay it (though I might end up stretching the total out past D'con if it is too much), just don't want us to fall in the hole of looking at the cost of each item to the exclusion of the cost of the total and then ending up with people dropping out because we nickle and dimed it out of reach.

$8 to hem?
Maybe I should start tailoring on the side!
I just stiched a full satin lining for my No.1 dress trousers today because they are itchy as hell. Took about an hour or so, I wonder how much I could have made doing that?

_________________
"The other Gareth"

Hmmmm, okay, so that's a very good point there...

_________________


USCM- The Colonial Marines- A Brotherhood of Bad Asses!

The red pants were not dropped because of cost.

I was asked by a member not to bring up the red pants again (if he would like to help me out here it would be most appreciated).

So that particular issue was not about money.

The only cost issue I have is the big one, the jacket.

_________________
I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

No problem. I was thinking it had been about cost. If it is because someone is adment about not having them, that's cool. Like I said, my big concern was that several people have discussed the cost of this and it seemed like eveytime one thing was chosen because it was cheaper a discussion about a more expensive option somewhere else got started.

I'll shut up about this now.

And that is a valid point. Certainly no one is asking you to keep quiet. We do need (how can I put this?) a bit of a reality check at times.

Again- I brought up the Sam Browne belt because I thought the darker belt looked better on that T and T uniforms picture. I was practically ready to use that pic as a working prototype for what our uniform will pretty much look like.

However my initial idea of the Sam Browne belt did not include the shoulder rig (I guess I should have been clearer when I first mentioned it). But everyone really likes the shoulder rig (and honestly it was good to see everyone excited about the uniform again! ). So I'm up for it too!

Please understand I'm not trying to argue back and forth with you Wook.

_________________
I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

So, I just got home.... and have a box waiting for me...

You may remember my post a few days back about the dress cover for around $25... well, that's what's in the box.

On to the pics!

1. Out of the box; frame and vinyl cover pre-assembly:


2. Assembled, side view:


3. Assembled, front view (we can play with devices in photshop)


4. My dorky attempt to get a "feel" for the Screaming Eagle device, using one of Dom's challenge coins as quick reference:


So, my review? So far, I'm more impressed than I'd expected to be. Strangely enough, my source sent me a size 7 frame but a size 6 7/8 vinyl crowr. The key to making these covers look right, however, is stretching the fabric (or vinyl) crown as tight as possible. With the smaller crown on the larger frame, this was managed better than I'd expected.

I'm going to let it sit for a few days however and evaluate how well it "breaks in".

_________________
CPL Conley, D. A06/TQ2.0.72147E1



"To err is human; to forgive, divine... Neither of which is Marine Corps policy."
"In Onoraigh Ar Marbh" ~ We Honor Our Fallen

Okay, I just found this stuff.

Stock ribbons for schools, honor guards, drill teams

Yes, this means these ribbons aren't military issue and can be used for whatever we damn well want!

I found all of this here...

You'd probably be surprised at how I located this stuff.

Oh, and for custom patches... dunno how good these folks are, but it's a start.

Sam Browne belts, with shoulder belt.... in white!

_________________
CPL Conley, D. A06/TQ2.0.72147E1



"To err is human; to forgive, divine... Neither of which is Marine Corps policy."
"In Onoraigh Ar Marbh" ~ We Honor Our Fallen

Awesome finds ...

There are also the stars, numbers, etc to add to the ribbons like you guys were discussing earlier. Pretty much everything you could imagine needing is on that site.

Very cool!

Great finds Derek!

Heh- a plain, black Sam Browne belt comes up as $46.50, but add the shoulder rig and it's only $61.50 (as opposed to $80)! Bit of a savings there.

I think the shoulder rig is starting to grow on me.

Not to throw a monkey wrench in there but just remember the shoulder rig might negate the possibility of wearing a ship patch on the chest as it would cross over it.

The cover looks great too! Funny I used the challenge coin as well to envision a custom belt insignia- guess we won't need it now with the Sam Browne belt (another bit of savings ).

_________________
I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Absolutely GREAT finds Derek!!! Wooooo-Hooooooooooo!!

_________________


USCM- The Colonial Marines- A Brotherhood of Bad Asses!

It's cool, there is either debate or mandate and for something like this a debate is good to a point. The problem is that I know my personality well enough to know that sometimes I go past that point, so I tend to try to reign myself in.

After looking at the website Derek found I'm now envisioning the guideon being bracketted by M1 Garands painted in Brown Bess:

http://www.glendale.com/detail.aspx?ID=415

Also, for the patches, I don't recomend costumecostumecostume.com. When I was a Mod on ASAP there was a lot of problems with him not delivering.

For our Sector Seven Patches I used http://e-patches.com/ and the patches came out pretty good. I've even washed my set with no fading. For 10 beret flashes (2x3) and 30 Tactical patches (3.75x4 I believe, I kept playing with the sizes) it was $250 shipped. They also don't have a minimum. They do have the fuzzy (felt) backing cloth, don't know if that matters to people. If need be I can try to get a close up of one of the patches.