RepCom / Utapau shadow trooper boots

Whilst waiting for my black clone trooper armour, I set about making some boots. Turns out that the Republic Commando's wear exactly the same boots (which fits nicely , as I am waiting for RC armour also- which will also be black for the Omega squad).

I used teh pictures from the visual dictionary as reference, the back cover shows good detail of shock trooper boots.

The boots started life as a pair of black leather steel toecapped chelsea boots on the left, and with the help of some immitation leather, UHU extra strength glue and black plasticard became the clone boots shown here on the right.

First I drew the pattern on the boot in pencil, and then stretched the leather over the boot. This was helped by heating with a hairdryer (on hot) nd then allowing to cool several times (map pins and gaffer tape hold teh leather in place).

I then partially removed teh leather, and glued along the lines. Once dry I removed teh rest of teh ceuring pins/tape and glued the final part in place. Then useing a fresh(sharp) scalpel blade I cut the shape out free hand. I covered one boot at a time so that I always had a reference. I discovered that the glue partially melted the immitation leather (the dimple in the middle of the toe), and so from then on avoided any localised pressure on the parts until completely dry. For the various flaps I made templates from scraps of leather and paper gaffer taped together. Once i had a final template I transfered the shape to the leather, and cut two (1 the reverse of the other). As teh chelsea boots need to stretch whilst being put on I decide that I would make one side fasten along with the ankle strap (see later)

After measuring and cutting a template, I stitched two double rows (using a sowing machine -surprisingly easy to use?) for teh detail and glued on the square and rectangle to give the finished item on the left.

Here you can see teh two flaps glued onto the boot. I started with tehlarge flap gluing the outside and top/front edges only. Once dry I added the stitched flaps (again only gluing the edges). This leaves a flap that can open to allow the boot to stretch. The "buckles" are cut from plasticard using a double pointed compass to score the shapes. Each "buckle" consists of 2 hoops and a solid circle, with teh bar being cut from one of teh discarded centre pieces from teh 2 hoops. Glued together with MeK plastic glue.

The straps were also cut from black plasticard from a paper template, then covered with the immitation leather. Once dry male "anorak" snaps are used to attach to the boots.

The Buckles are then glued over the snap. The female snap parts are added on either side of the boots. This was a monumental pain in the @r$€. I ended up making a wooden jig to support the closure parts so I could hammer them into place.

This picture shows the flap part and how it attaches with the strap. Et Voila, finished boot.