I am not sure how many pouches are suppost to be on the belt; I went with 5 on account that mine were quite large.
I started with the bottom half of 2 soup cans. I drilled a hole in the center of each bottom, and attached one end of my wire to it with glue. Make sure you bend the wire into the proper shape before you put the Respirator canister together. Once the glue was dry, I taped the two open ends of the can together with muffler tape. You can use duct tape too I suspect. I also attached the copper "bolt" to the can where the wire joins the canister. My resiprator will not fit over the wearer's head, as I wanted it to rest just under the chin like in the movies. So the other end of the wire simply rests inside the drilled hole. That way, I can just pull it out to slip the respirator off and on.
The last thing you need to do is cut and glue a peice of leather, or some other material around the canister. This will obviously cover up the tape and make the canister look like one peice. That's it - you're ready to endure the Harsh Climate of Tatooween.
The bandoliers in the the film were Enfield Bandoliers from the early 1900's. They look quite different from mine shown here. The pattern for my pouches are loosely based off the Bandolier instructions on Jeff Allen's DH2 Tusken Raider web site. At the moment, I am trying to create a pattern that better resembles the Enfield Bandoliers, but I haven't found the time lately. When I do, I will put it on here, dimentions and all.
To make the bandoliers, you need two "strips" to make the belt/strap parts, and a few pouches. First, I simply cut 2 long strips of the "leather-like" material. Fold them in half, and glue them with hot glue. Once you get these two strips made, connect the two of them at one end; making one long belt. I did this by using pop rivets. Don't attach the other ends together until you "size out" where they will meet at your hip. I made the mistake of doing a hasty measurment-guess WITHOUT putting on the robe. As a result, I had to take the strap apart and re-connect it. Also, you'll want to position your pouches in relation to how the strap fits your body.
One thing to remember is that you need to dye or paint the insides. As my pictures show, the white side of the inner part of the material shows in some spots. This is jsut one more little adjustment I need to make. When I get my "more accurate" bandolier done, I intend to make this one my Waist Belt.
The Respirator ,as you can see, is NOT the most accurate. It was actually the LAST thing I did for the costume, but turned out okay I guess. (I made it in about an hour).
