Despite my own failed attempt to make the paratrooper's smock, I did learn a lot and feel like my tailoring skills have improved. I extrapolated the construction techniques used on the smock to plan how I was going to make the bandolier-- it really does require quite a bit of advance planning to figure out what you're going to sew and in what order. Sewing is very different from sculpting: It's very unforgiving. Sometimes it's not possible to go back and repair a mistake, so it's nearly impossible to "sew as you go".

From the plastic model, the boots didn't look particularly unique, so I didn't see the point in trying to create anything like those at Polo Moreno's web site. The only thing distinctive is that they're fairly short, and those from a Formative International's SOTW US Navy set fit the bill.

The helmet decal came from Hal Bryant of Action City-- these are truly quality decals, and priced very reasonably. Although I can make decals, mine aren't nearly as good-- (I did make the Luftwaffe breast eagle, but it's camouflaged on the smock.) I still need to make one more detail-- the yellow collar patches.

The holster was made from fairly thick leather. I discovered one of leather's neat qualities: If you wet it, it can be stretched and will dry to whatever shape it was stretched to. So it's good for forming things like holsters (and probably as you might imagine from the real world, boots). It's a bitch to sew though.

Finally, a minor detail: for this harness, I cast some metal buckles. They're more uniform than the wire ones I'd been making and have more realistic contours (plus without the gaps at the end of the wire). Metal is much stronger than resin, so it can handle the stiffness of this fairly thick leather.