Displaying Your Uniforms

Displaying uniforms on mannequins can be accomplished cheaply. For years I have made my own. They can be done simply or as elaborately as you desire. The following "recipe" details how to construct a torso form. Once you have made one form, as many as you need can be easily duplicated.

The materials needed are; an old T—shirt, a bowl of water, a sponge, several rolls of craft gum tape about 2" wide (the kind that needs to be moistened in order to adhere) , a pair of large sharp scissors, and one other person to help. One of the two people needs to be the size that will fit into the uniform(s) you intend to display. Select a T-shirt that is about a size smaller or that fits tightly on this person. As a substitute I have used the knit material applied under body casts. You need a source for medical supplies of a friend at a hospital for this, but it does work better.

Place the T-shirt on the person acting as a model. Cut several strips of gum tape about two feet in length. This can be done before hand as you will eventually need quite a lot.

Have the model stand very still, arms slightly raised. This position will have to be held, within reason, for about 30 minutes. Wet a strip of tape and begin applying across the shoulders like cross-straps, moving towards the arms but not past the end of the outer shoulder. Other strips are then wrapped around the waist and stomach like belts. Finally, shorter vertical strips are applied to front, rear and sides. Build up about three layers overall. By the time you are working
on the last layer the earlier applications will be fairly stiff. At this point, using the scissors cut the T-shirt and tape vertically from the spine up to the base of the neck and as carefully as possible help the model pull backwards out of the now "stiff" form. Once free of the form, use additional tape to seal the cut. Note that at this point the two edges of the cut can be overlapped to create a more slender figure. Additional layers of tape should be applied over the entire form, particularly on the shoulders to strengthen the structure. Arm and neck openings can also be neatly finished with small pieces of tape. I usually take flour and water and strips of newsprint to paper mache a layer inside the form as this gives extra hardness. However, more applications of tape will accomplish the same thing. How far you wish to take it from this point is up to you.

The simplest mount for the torso is to make an "I" with a piece of 1" dowel and a shoulder width piece of two-by-four. The structure can be mounted in a piece of board for a stand. Using the same basic "I", some 1" by l" furring strips of wood, some nuts and bolts, and a Styrofoam head you can even turn the torso into a very complete mannequin. But that’s another story.

Scott Pritchett, "Uniform Displays", Der Gauleiter, 1990