KodiakAK

Sorry about the blurry pictures, not sure what happened but you can see well enough.
Ok, received my red/blue buttons from Newark. Went to Home Depot and picked up 3 feet of 1" wide by 1/8" thick aluminum and cut it to size.

I knew my rank bar was going to be 5 buttons wide.
5 buttons 1/2" wide
1/8" gap between each button
1/4" on each end of the rank bar
Equals 3.5" in total length for my aluminum.

A piece of Velcro equaling the 2 aluminum rank bars and stuck the aluminum strips to the glued side of the Velcro leaving a 1/16" gap.

I then filled the gap with black caulking so it would leave a black line between the aluminum strips.

Took the inner part of the buttons out and cut off the part that sticks out. Then sanded the edges smooth. Temporarily lined them up to see how the spacing was going to look. Sanded the aluminum with some 400 grit sandpaper so the caulking will adhere well.

Used the same black caulking to fill the underside of the buttons, then laid them out in line making sure the caulking made good contact with the aluminum.

Order the colored tabs from Newman
http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/produc ... KU=50B3010 RED
http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/produc ... KU=50B3012 BLUE
http://www.newark.com/jsp/content/print ... &page=1618 Catelog Page
Then go to Home Depot and ask for an Aluminum bar that is 1" x 3'. I did this today.
You can figure out how many of each color to get for what type rank you want. I only got three of blue and three of red.
You will have to cut off the extra plastic holders on the rank buttons, and trim the aluminum to the size you want. You can either use silicone adhesive or super glue.
Hope this helps.

Of course! Glad to help!

I sent you a PM over there with a list of things to get you started.

As an astromech builder primarily and here as a way to make me blend in a bit more with my mech let me set you on your way to the droid side, I mean dark side. Astromech.net is the defacto droid builders whom share a similar LFL relationship as the 501st. The yahoo groups is our old group and we have since migrated everything over to astromech.net, we have builders of almost every kind of droid to include a large group of bb8s. There are at least 6-8 MSE-6 ("mouse") bots around. We have a similar attitude as the 501 in that you can't buy a mech/droid but there are many parts runs to help builders out. With that being said an astromech can be made out of many materials based on budgets. A styrene R2 unit may be a thousand or so, an all aluminum and steel R2 unit is 10x or more.
Come on over and check us out! I'm there under the same name.

I order mine from Newark:  http://www.newark.com/.  Here are the red and blue part numbers:
 
50B3012
01-901.6
Each 1, $2.13
Customer Part Number: Description: LENS, RECTANGULAR, TRANSPARENT BLUE;
 
50B3010
01-901.2
Each 1, $2.13
Customer Part Number: Description: LENS, RECTANGULAR, RED;

I'm just reading all of this.  Under no circumstances should we salute since we are costumed characters, not an actual military unit.  Disney will frown upon it.  Even saluting to kids is not kosher, not all kids know what it means.  And as an ex-army soldier I spent my time saluting for real.  I don't need to salute to the public with a costume on.  I personally take it as a sign of disrespect to our actual military who do have to salute every day.  Please do not salute in costume in public.  No matter how much you think we are portraying a "military" unit, we are not.  Again, I'm going to say that Disney would not even allow it at this point.  I never will salute in costume.  And absolutely big fat NO to any "Hitler" style salutes.  If I see anyone doing that even as a joke you'll be meeting "Sgt Phillips", and you don't want to meet that gal ever.  Disney will shut us down in a big fat hurry if anyone does anything even close to that.  Be careful out there, and just don't salute (a nod of the head is all that is needed). 

[MODERATOR NOTE: THIS RANK CHART THREAD IS NOW CONSIDERED OBSOLETE.  PLEASE SEE THE FOLLOWING THREAD FOR THE CURRENT RANK CHART USED BY THE IOC: ]
 
[/END OF MODERATOR NOTE]
 
This the official guide to illustrate all canon officer ranks recognized by the IOC. It is compiled with reference from the original movies, and official EU sources. It is created from a costuming point of view, and not meant to explain every rank's importance or how they differ from movie to movie (that's what fan fiction is for). It is just a simple chart that shows what rank officially goes on what costume. Code cylinders are intentionally excluded, and can be referenced in the CRLs.
 
Note Rogue one/Solo ranks are only compatible with Rogue one uniform style
 
 

 
COMMAND STAFF EDIT: There is a more current/comprehensive rank bar guide in this location:
(We are keeping this post intact for the time being)