Original trooper boots

[FON]

I agree. Its feels much better to make the find yourself

[Smitty]

Whatever.

Quoted For Truth

[troopermaster]

Quoted For Truth

 

Whatever

[riveting]

Well I'm a few steps closer than I was last week.

 

Their British made, I've more reference pic's now with a serial number to boot, pardon the pun & presumably the company has gone under, which really just leaves thrift shop's to hunt round.

 

If the company has stopped production, then who did them is redundant now, so these would be my alternative preference & retailing in lower than $200 which makes my pocket happier

 

 

http://www.jamesandjames.com/htmlfiles/sho...loake/lk290.htm

 

 

 

 

Just my 2cent's, still a great find!

[FON]

I agree. The Loakes' are about the closest match for a 'modern' made boot. There are still one or two differences to the originals though. But darn close.

 

Quoted For Truth

 

You have to appreciate where Paul is coming from. He has spent quite a bit of time searching for these Boots, with very little help to begin with. By starting this thread its given us quite a bit of info, and a big head start. There's certainly enough there to help us track down the real deal for our selves.

 

Thanks

[troopermaster]

Thanks Chris,

 

The information I have shown in the pics is exactly the information I was armed with when John first revealed his ROTJ armour and ANH boots. The pics are on the RPF if anyone wants to check.

 

The Loake boots are very close and I have a pair that I am going to be wearing with my suit, once I paint them white. I will take a couple of pics with them side by side with the originals to show how close they are. They are the closest I have seen so far. Some have looked close, but with rubber soles, the Loakes are leather.

[TK-4510[501st]]

You can buy these for cheap as long as you wear a size 8. I dont think they are the correct brand but they are the right price.

[Smitty]

Up until I saw this thread I hadnt really gave the original boots much thought. Basically had the mindset of CABoots = Stormtrooper boots.

[Amish Trooper]

dito

[Smitty]

I still havent gotten my boots anyway. I'll prolly go with the boots made by the Vietnamese well digger kids. Same price as CA boots, they have good reviews and its a good cause.

[Amish Trooper]

I'll prolly go with the boots made by the Vietnamese well digger kids.

That sounds so wrong, I laughed which makes it worse but I planned on doing the same. Kids gotta have water

[TK-4510[501st]]

You guys are terrible

[Smitty]

You guys are terrible

 

True, but tell me that you have no idea what boots I'm talking about and keep a straight face.

[Peregrinus]

<GIR>Okay, okay... Jeez...</GIR>

 

I've just seen a different side to the costuming and prop-making community over the years. Each new piece of information that gets tossed up on the boards immediately... There's a nice flicker of revelation regardless of whether you find that information yourself or read the revelation on an online forum. The real joy for me has been actually finding the item, regardless of how I find out about it. I mean, having a name to put to it was nice, but I'm still tearing apart the entire West Coast of the US and a goodly portion of the Internet in hopes of finding some Sierra Sneakers. No joy so far. Ditto the right style of radiation dosimeter. Knowing that an old Navy APH-6B flight helmet was used for both Rebel and Imperial pilots was handy, but the real glee came when I actually found and bought one.

 

And I'm still hunting for brand and model for things like the Imperial officers' belt boxes (also used for Chewie's bandolier), the deep sea fishing pole (probably) used for the original force pikes... and the first thing I'll do is post about it on the relevent Detachment boards if and when I ever find out. It doesn't really matter, cuz everyone will still have to find the bloody things. Unless someone decides to make it easier and make replicas based on an actual item, such as Stomper's mic tips or FOD's RotJ white armour trim.

 

If and when I might ever find a pair of those original boots myself, I'm quite likely to send them to CAboots and say "use this as the model for your Stormtrooper boots, and make me a pair in 10½ or 11" so that all may benefit from my hard work. That's my philosophy and attitude toward costuming and I'm gonna stick with it. In the meantime, I now recognize everyone's got a different approach to this hobby, so I'll just keep my sense of costuming morality to myself...

 

--Jonah

 

P.S. (so it isn't part of the whinging above) That really is an awesome score, Paul. Don't let my feelings about the rest of this detract from that. Excellent detective work.

[carbonitekid]

Well, thats helpful. After spending about 20 minutes looking for boots I see that Chelsea boots are ridiculously priced anyway. CA boots are only $80...... Chelsea boots $450

 

Paul I am so happy for you that you have found the original boots, you must be so thrilled, and we are thrilled for you!!! What an achievement.

EH? $450 !!!!

 

You need to shop around mate , "reasonably " accurate Chelsea boots can be found over here starting at £ 15 ( $30 ) if you go to the stack em high, sell em cheap type shoe places.

[troopermaster]

OK, here's the comparison pics with the Loake boots

 

As you can see, they are pretty close and have leather soles. With your shin armour over the tops of the boots, they will look better than anything I have seen if you are looking for accuracy. Of course, you'll have to paint them white first

Edited October 17, 2010 by troopermaster

[Rolf[501st]]

Seems a bit heavy in price <_< .

Here are the link to some for only 25 pounds

http://www.barnstormers.co.uk/acatalog/SHI...HPUR_BOOTS.html

[bobby fletcher]

OK, here's the comparison pics with the Loake boots

 

As you can see, they are pretty close and have leather soles. With your shin armour over the tops of the boots, they will look better than anything I have seen if you are looking for accuracy. Of course, you'll have to paint them white first

 

Hell i thought Loake boots where a dead match Guess i was wrong but still worth picking up a pair! thanks for the comparison TM

[troopermaster]

You can get the Loakes cheap enough if you don't mind buying second hand. The Loakes I bought are mint and look to be hardly worn, I won them on ebay for £22

[riveting]

Thanks for the pic's TM, better get in quick before the price of loakes go up , maybe even take some shares out

[TK1491]

I have a question on the painting of the boots...hopefully not derailing the thread here.

Is there a type/brand of paint/stain/pigment that's best to use on the leather? Is there a trick to applying the white so that the shin armor doesnt simply carve the paint right off after a few troops?

tnx...

[SethB6025[501st]]

Very nice find Paul! Trolling for impossible to find items like these is a real blast, and don't let the indignant sods get you down.

[troopermaster]

Thanks fellas

 

Scott,

 

I have only used white spray dye for my boots and they do chip pretty quickly. I am sure there must be a stain like you say, that would be much better at keeping them white. Respraying them occasionally doesn't really bother me, but it would be nice for the paint to stick on for longer.

 

All I do is mask off the soles and stick an old pair of rolled up socks in the tops and spray away. Wait a short while then blast another coat on. I do this until I run out of paint then let them ry at least over night. The I paint the elastic gussets with white fabric paint.

 

Anyone had a better experiece with another method?

[kiyotei[TK]]

I followed the instructions from a cobbler and found that they cracked quickly and after a few times wearing them they looked like crap. I'm much happier with the caboots. The finish is much more durable.

[Chefhawk[501st]]

having done some research i found out this info about the type of dye to use

 

 

In the US, the best known manufacturer of genuine leather dye is Fiebing's... available from Tandy. Excellent dye is also made by Angelus and Lincoln. Each of these manufacturers sells several types of dye.

 

* Avoid: "Oil Dye", "Acrylic Dye", "Leather Stain", "Institutional Leather Dye" (for schools and nursing homes), "Water Based Dye", "Dye for Vegetable Tanned leather" and anything which is "non-flammable", "new and improved", "safe" etc... you need the one that works because it isn't safe to drink or use in a primary school. Also avoid dye which says that you must first use leather stripper to remove the oil in the leather. That means that it's a wimpy, wannabe dye.

 

* Look for: "Alcohol Based", "Spirit Based", "Penetrating", "Permanent", "can't be shipped by air", "ground shipment only", "ORM-D" as clues that you're getting the real article.

 

Here's a link for uk people if they wanted to try for themselves....

Item

 

Hope this helps

 

 

 

cheers