Alternatives to the Exploring Greens
One thing I have noticed abou the majority of the costume projects on the site is that they are nearly all based on the traditional "Exploring Greens" or the kit that some of the teams wear when they go through the gate on a mission. It's a great costume and utilises a great many 'off-the-peg' items. Depending on how authentic or 'canon' you want to make it will impact on the ultimate cost of the project. Probably the chief villain is the Tac-Vest, with the accurate one costine around £120 to £140 depending where you go and if you buy it from the US then you have to factor in the import charges as well.
One of the best episodes of series 7 was "Heroes, Part 2", if you look at all the SG teams that come to SG-13's aid, they are wearing a wide variance of kit when it comes to Tac-Vests, jackets and headgear, like in "Attack of the Clones" with all the variance in the Jedi outfits, this gives the costumer more options but still with concievably a hefty price tag (even more so if you then factor weapons into the mix as well).
There are other much cheaper alternatives if you still want the 'canon' look: -
'Slouching Green's/Blues'
When not on formal duties or going on a mission, SG-1 tend to slouch about in either green or blue BDU's (can I find a picture at the minute, can I hell!). The BDU's that they wear have epaulettes on the shoulders but you could get away with standard BDU's and not really notice the difference.
With the addition of the right patches to the shoulders (attached with 4" wide velcro if possible for those caught-off-base moments). BDU's are easily obtainable from places like US Cavalry, Out in Style or Military Craft. I have dealt with all these companes personally and can recommend them.
My other favourite non-green outfit is the blue jumpsuit that was brought in for the crew of the Prometheus and has since been introduced to ther SGC personnel (Chevron Guy wears one now as opposed to his short sleeve's). Again, straight off the peg standard flight suit, obtainable either from Out in Style above or the highly recommended Flightsuits.
Depending on the badges you put on your suit you would either be a member of the crew or part of the "Snakeskinners" F-302 Fighter wing. Again this costume could be put together for much less than the typical cost of a set of exploring greens.
Anyway, enough of my rambling.
"You all know how I relish my title as Mr Positive, but...."
Personally, I quite enjoyed the experience of wearing the "Slouching Greens" during Mem last month. And intend to get the "blues" sometime in the near future.
Now for those of us that don't have the money to spend on going for the Exploring greens tac-vest etc, these are a great first step, and so easy to get the right look.
I can vouch for Out-In-Style...most of my stuff has come from there, and was very pleased with the service. And it won't break the bank either.
I will say that the Exploring Greens is actually harder to get right than I expected. The jacket being the biggest headache for me. I now have two, and neither of them are "canon". Still, how far do you go to get "Canon" gear? I am waiting to see the Gateroom Jackets before I decide on one of them or not.
Still, for a few bucks, you can have a good set of slouchers, or a flight crew costume so damn easily......what you waiting for?
Re: Alternatives to the Exploring Greens
I too intend to go for the slouching look at somepoint soon (Got a car to pay for first grrr ) green first then blue, and seeing Johns in person so easy yet effective. Also the flightsuit has pulled at my Ooooo anouther costume string so I'm sure I'll do that too, but my next BIG SG costume effort once I got my explorer blacks and greens finished is my Jaffa full armor I have leads for all the hard parts to do shoulder armor/arm/legs/chest etc etc, then only bit I need to make myself would be the faux chainmail undersuit and skirt, boots should get away with some ol steelies. The money fairy will have to be nice first to afford the Hard items, and the final part I'll get will be the Helmet as that not needed but I would like but that's big bucks but sooooooo cool
Well I've rambled on a bit but I like rambling on much to John dismay
Re: Alternatives to the Exploring Greens
And...Oh man, Does Lee like to Ramble!!
Lee, if I was you (and I'm eternally grateful I'm not! ), I would SOOO go for the General look. Shouldn't be too dificult to do either. And I'm sure your hair could find it's way into your Peak cap.
Re: Alternatives to the Exploring Greens
Oh yea the Uniform, that too was on my list (I have a BIIIIGGGGG list ), was going to bug James for up to date info on suppliers as James has that too And well with my extra baggage shall we say I'd have to be a general to get away with it, or Civilian and well I'm used to hiding my hair in hats in costume so hide it I shall
Dress Blues
Another costuming option is the afore-mentioned "Dress Blues" which is what the USAF personnel wear on 'official' duties. There are variations on this as well: -
In the picture in the link above, I'm wearing an old style 4 pocket officers tunic (what they wore in the movie) and Tim is wearing the more moden three pocket enlisted mans tunic. All of these jackets, trousers and hats were obtained at various military fairs up and down the country with the War and Peace show at Beltring the main source. Dress Blues was hard to get before, after 9/11 and the War on Terror it's now harder as the USAF is more careful about where it's surplus uniforms go. Both costumes were put together more by luck than anything else (I found the officer's hat in a backwater surplus store in Seattle for only $18.00).
An option might to go for either long or short sleeve order, this is basically a dark blue set of trousers, an appropiately coloured shirt (if your an officer you need a shirt with epaulettes), a dark blue tie and the right insignia. The insignia has gotten relatively easier to obtain with the once elusive "Space/Missile" command badge now more available (this is worn by most of the personnel on their left chest).
I'll try and dig out some good websites for insignia and post them on here as well.
"You all know how I relish my title as Mr Positive, but...."
I've rarely seen a 3-pocket officers jacket let alone one in our (cough) sizes (cough) not to mention the trousers as well. 3-Pocket enlisted jackets are much easier to come by, as are the enlisted peak caps. Your best bet would probably to go for the short/long sleeve order or go for a garrison cap with the casual jacket (what Hammond wear's in the episode 'Tangent'). Examples of the casual jacket and the shirt sleeve order can be found at : -
Re: More Dress Blues...
Cheers for the info James, I know what you mean about (cough)our size(cough) it can be a real pain at times,,,but till then I knocked up a little something
Lookie Ma im a slouching , luckily whilst in my army surplus store looking at boots n stuff I found a good slouching green shirt, and I already had the BDU trousers so viola one slouching outfit I also have another look SG costume wise apart from my Black Ops look, but I'll have to wait till the guys post the Swindon pics for you to see that
) green first then blue, and seeing Johns in person so easy yet effective. Also the flightsuit has pulled at my Ooooo anouther costume string so I'm sure I'll do that too, but my next BIG SG costume effort once I got my explorer blacks and greens finished is my Jaffa full armor 
I have leads for all the hard parts to do shoulder armor/arm/legs/chest etc etc, then only bit I need to make myself would be the faux chainmail undersuit and skirt, boots should get away with some ol steelies. The money fairy will have to be nice first to afford the Hard items, and the final part I'll get will be the Helmet as that not needed but I would like but that's big bucks but sooooooo cool 
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