BatNinja's Ammo Pouch Tutorial

I for one can vouch for this belt since I have Eric's old one

Batninja rocks!


Star Garrison 4 life!

Okay, here are ALOT of pics from the actual process...

Tools of the trade


Pouch Template


Ready to glue...


Stretching the vinyl gives the finished pouch a flat, uniform look:


This is the order I spot-glued:


Then the bottom...


And finally, the top:


Now, the flap template


After spraying with 3M Adhesive Spray, press the sides to the center:


The back of the flap should look like this:


On one end, cut the corners (I used a plastic template)


Another look at the corners:


Stitching (note the Teflon presser foot)


The finished flaps


Gluing steps 1-4 (see digrams above)


After the glue dries for steps 1-4, glue the front flap


And finally, the finished pouch!


Mods, please let me know if there's a limit on the number of pics in a thead. My apologies in advance!

A couple of other notes...

I always make extra pouch flaps (around 12-14). This allows me to pick and choose the ones that have better stitching. I am NOT a professional!

For the main belt, I use the same approach as the pouch flaps: 5" wide, 3M spray, folded into itself, makes a 2.5" wide belt.

SWEET...
Now people there is NO REASON that anyone on this board shouldn't have a Great looking ROTJ ammo belt with this awesome Tutorial!!....Thanks BN
BTW Great Craftsmanship..:thumbup PM SENT.

Great job BN thanks for the tutorial, i just joined the group a couple of days ago and I can not believe all of the great tutorials that are on here.

Man I can not wait to start build my suit.

Awesome!! Do you need a leather needle and what size/type thread did you use?

yeah this is going to help people tremendously great job!! and awesome looking belt!!

Great tutorial BatNinja.

BTW ... I used the teflon presser foot, like you suggested, and it worked great on leather tool.

Gator

Thanks for the comments, guys!

As far as needles go, yes, I used a standard leather/denim needle. The thread is just plain ol' all-purpose thread. I went with an off-white color.

I set my thread tension to a hair over 3, and my stitch length to just under 4. Even with the Teflon foot, the vinyl tends to drag a bit (I use an inexpensive Kenmore machine), hence the longer stitch length. Of course, every sewing machine is different, so you'll have to experiment with different settings until you find what looks right.

What's the secret behind the teflon foot? My machine only has metal.

Great tutorial by the way... very well done.

Thanks!

You'll have to purchase the Teflon foot separately. Ask an associate at Jo-Ann's or Hancock Fabrics, they'll point you in the right direction. You can find them for around $4. I went to a 'specialty' shop, and got conned into paying almost $20 for mine.

The non-stick surface of the Teflon foot glides more easily over the textured vinyl than the standard metal foot. You don't know how many pouch flaps I ruined before I found that info through a Google search. Everything...is online.

Wax paper and tissue paper were also suggested, but I use the stitchplate opening as my guide, and couldn't see the opening very well using paper.

Excellent tutorial!! Thanks for posting.

Alan

for the vinyl i use a plastic polish for car on it and the machine non crush the vinyl.

Hey BAtNinja!

I received your ammo belt today and I must say that I was very impressed with the quality of your work!! Guys and Gals, if your looking for a great looking ammo belt that is also at a great price, look no further and get this belt!!!


LAter!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Ninja .... where did you get those grommets ? My belt is done except for the grommets . I can find bigger ones & smaller ones but nothing in between .Those look spot on .

Mike

Fettism, I found the grommets at Wal-Mart. I actually went back tonight to pick up some more, but they were temporarily sold out (so I don't have a stock number for you). I DO know they're sized at 1/4", sold fifteen to a pack, and are 'antiqued' very nicely.

Thanks for the heads up . I'll check to see if they have them at Wall Mart here . Sometimes the Wall Marts in Canada dont always carry all the same stuff . Cheers


Mike

dude what a piece of craftmanship couldn't have done better my self ...lmao
just what i was looking for should have one by the end of next month

BatNinja,
Man, what an awesome tutorial! Do you have any idea how much vinyl you use to do a belt? Just trying to figure out how much it would cost buying it by the yard.
Eric

You should be able to do an entire belt with only half a yard. However, if this is your first one, I'd go ahead and buy the whole yard. The vinyl I use is 54" wide.

Let us see it when you're finished!

BatNinja,
PM sent!

Sorry to bump the thread, but here are the grommet details.

The brand name is Prym Sewing, 1/4" Large Eyelets, Antiqued Brass, stock number 14020-38. I found these at Wal-Mart:

Awesome tutorial buddy!

Mason.8)

Woa, wish I had this about 8 months ago.......I just might hafe to make myself a grey ammo belt!

finally saw one of these at Dragon Con, what SUPERB quality !! great going BN !

Great tutorial batninja!!! It was a pleasure meeting you at DC and you did an outstanding job on the ammo belt.

Hey BatNinja that is a great belt. One question for you. Is that the Dark Brown vinyl or the chocolate colored vinyl? It is hard to tell in the pics.

The brown I used was called Cadbury, and I found it at Hancock Fabrics. I'll look up the SKU tomorrow, but it is a normally stocked item for the HF down here in Texas.

Looks like you should be able to make these pouches functional too, use small rare earth magnets from radio shack for keeping them closed.

Thanks for the tutorial - great job here!
Very nice, just had to add my two cents for a job well done
pghfett

Originally Posted by JediFish02

Looks like you should be able to make these pouches functional too, use small rare earth magnets from radio shack for keeping them closed.

The core of these pouches is a solid block of Balsa wood, so adding magnets to the pouch covers doesn't raise the functionality. The main reason I didn't make these functional is that the Fett costume in general has four larger pouches in which to keep stuff, two on the thighs and two on the belt. I didn't see the benefit in making eight small functional pouches. What could we keep in there that we couldn't put in the larger pouches?

Great Totorial...BatNinja...You did an outstanding job on the pouches and
belt. I guess all the questions I wanted to ask had been answered...lol
Thanks Again

Originally Posted by Spideyfett

SWEET...
Now people there is NO REASON that anyone on this board shouldn't have a Great looking ROTJ ammo belt with this awesome Tutorial!!....Thanks BN
BTW Great Craftsmanship..:thumbup PM SENT.

no kidding eh? with great resources like this people can stop looking and researching and just get right to it. unless they like the whole trial error wasted materials kind of thing.

but for the mid-budget fetts, this is the answer.

great job BatNinja, this works terrifically

-=QuinN!

That is a GREAT tutorial, one that I will attempt this weekend. (hopefully)
I have one question though: Which is correct on your diagram, the dimensions or the proportions? When the Height of the block is enlarged to 3", the base depth is closer to 1.75" (1.7269). You have listed it as 1.5" Also, what is the width measurement? Any input would be smashing! Thanks

Shinobi

Great tutorial BN, thanks alot. I already started with the pouches too. Will post pics when finished.

What are your dimensions for the belt itself. Also would need location for the grommets and the rectangular stiching details.

I gues you connect the belt with velcro, right ?

Thanks alread

Here's what I came up with for the belt dimensions. Again, these may or may not be movie-accurate, but they work for my purposes:



I hope this helps!

Can these pouches actually be used to store stuff rather than just hold the wooden 'shaping' blocks?

There are those hobbyists who make functional pouches; they start with empty boxes of aluminum, plastic, etc. As I mentioned above, I did not see the need to make these functional, as there are four additional larger pouches to keep stuff in.

Ah righto - do you reckon your templates would work if making the pouches (to be used as pouches) out of a thicker leather?

need more WIP pics

I did something very similar with my ammo belt pouches...
except I am not forming them around blocks, they will be fully functional.
Here is one of the very first pictures I took before I began construction.
Right now I am almost done, I just need to do the stitching on the flap and attach the belt loops.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...ssembly_sm.jpg

Once I finish sewing and gluing them all together I will line them with a firm poster board covered with a black felt, this way they will retain their shape during wear and storage.

I just want to thank BatNinja. I made my son an Ammo Pouch for $5. I could not have done it without your tutorial. Here is a pic:



It's not great because I made it and have never sewed in my life. But it will look awesome on my 8 year old. I'm not going to post pics of him wearing it because he's not getting it untill his Birthday in July.

Skyla, great job! Be sure to post pics of his face when he opens the presents!

I built mine a while ago using TK-409's tutorial after raiding a construction site for wood

I'm going to mess around with making a functional pouch with this template... if I'm successful, I'll post progress pics. :-P

awesome will try this out sometime in the week

Oh wow, I didn't realise how old this thread was! You did a great job using this tutorial MacRory! I might try this some day; I'd like a new belt. What kind of wood did you use for the pouches??

I'm going to try to make my pouch frames out of 1/8" reinforced plastic, to make them functional. Hoping, anyways. :-P

Great tutorial BN, saw this for the first time yesterday and started making my first belt straight away, awsome stuff, thanks

-Steve

I am having problems with the 3M spray glue... is it normal that the pouch flaps un-glue themselves after a day on the counter (the stitching is not done yet on those flaps). Could I have a glue issue here or is it just because it is actually the stitching that keeps them closed ??

The glue I use is 3M's Rubber and Vinyl Spray Adhesive 80.

You bring up a good point. Maybe I should explain that a bit...

The glue is merely a way to 'stay' the vinyl while you're sewing (since you can't use pins); it's not meant as an actual adhesive.

Personally, I did them one at a time: spray, then sew; spray, then sew, etc.

I actually use superglue, the bottle with the brush in it. Just paint a line of glue, fold it, put a couple books on it, 10min later its ready. Just do a little at a time. It holds ver well, so you can sew the sides.

Ah, that would explain why I couldn't make them stay glued...

Now at least, I know I'm not completely crazy...

Double-post.... sorry

added.

Whoa! I wondered what happened to those pics!

How come this isn't a sticky? It should be.

Excellent tutorial ! Your work is amazing.

Thanks for the instructions BatNinja! Exactly what I needed!

Not sound like a suck up but "Breathtaking"......

Hey, thanks a bunch for this tutorial. I'm already getting "ideas."

Already started on making the belt...quick question though:

I took me FOREVER hand sawing those wooden blocks in home depot (they werent balsa wood) and I only got about 6 done. Was there a much quicker way of sawing these to clean cut blocks?

I order the Balsa wood in 30" lengths (gives you about 9 pouch innards) from this site:
www.specializedbalsa.com

Then I cut the blocks with one of these.

Can you use this tutorial if you were using leather instead ? I want to make mine from leather and also make the pockets useable . Is there any tricks or suggestions anybody can give for using leather . Keeping in mind i haven't touched our sewing machine since i finished my other suit over a year ago .

Originally Posted by DannyBoy7783

Hello everyone! I'm new here but I am super excited to finally make my own Fett armor.

Anyway, my question: I've seen some costumes that have black snaps on some of the pouches and some that don't. Can anyone comment on the authenticity of this?

the belt with the snaps is the ESB version, the one without snaps is ROTJ and SE

What is the width of the wooden blocks??? Like if you are looking directly at the front.

Originally Posted by Fractal-Fett

What is the width of the wooden blocks??? Like if you are looking directly at the front.

Need to know this also.

For those asking about the width of the block:

Originally Posted by batninja

NOTE: These images are not drawn to scale!

Shinobi, the wood block is 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" square, and the height is 3".

Hope this helps!

Thanks!!!

Thats great work, wish mine would've turned out the same results! Will have to have a go using your tutorial!! Thanks for posting.

Wait! if u glue the fabric to the wood block...that means u can't actually USE the pouch!
That sucks!

Thanks for making the tutorial, just wonder why it's not been stickied yet for the do-it-yourself-ers.

Great tutorial!

Outstanding mate! You've just saved me about $180 bucks. Thanks
Great job too...

If your glue comes undone, you can also use a tack or nail to secure the leather/pleather.

Awesome work. Now i can make my own ESB belt

I've looked everywhere for that presser foot... Hancocks has never heard of it, Joann's doesn't carry anything like that that fits on my (very standard) Singer machine. Best I've found is $15 shipped on Ebay. $4 sound much better to me . If anyone has a source please post or PM me. Thnx

You don't need a presser foot. I have the $80 Wal-Mart Singer machine and as long as you take your time and put a leather needle on your machine it will be ok. My girlfriend's 1/8 thick real leather belt popped apart. I rethreaded the belt through the buckle and doubled the belt back onto itself, then sewed it together. Just take your time and don't rush it.

So I started sewing with my metal foot, and for the first 12 in. the stitching was uniform but after that the vinyl began to catch and the stitches ran together. I was able to get it to work reasonably well by yanking the material through the back of the machine to help feed it but the stitching was still a bit erratic. Luckily I found a can of Silicon Spray Lube in my cabinet that did the trick beautifully! I just sprayed a little on some scrap fabric and wiped it over the vinyl. Worked like a charm.

Thanks a lot for all the help I think my belt turned out pretty nice.



There it is what do you think?

Is that fabric???

Yep its like moleskin like stuff or something it was really cheap.

But it turned out really nice anyway...

bat ninja. this is awsome. i am defenatley gonna make one of these!!!!

Why are all my local Hobby shops sold out of larger Balsa blocks?!?! Anyone have a favorite online place they order from?

I used this tutorial, and I love the way my belt came out! Thanx Batninja for posting this !

very awesome!! mine turned out great


By ogunn at 2011-04-07

So is the measurement of the belt really 2"? or 2 1/2" like bat ninjas?

Thanks!

Originally Posted by batninja

Here's what I came up with for the belt dimensions. Again, these may or may not be movie-accurate, but they work for my purposes:
I hope this helps!

I think he just went by what looks right

Here's my belt! Just finished using this awesome tutorial...

It kinda looks like boba's belt after getting out of the sarlacc

Great Tutorial! It helps a lot.