Dragon_a build thread

[Dragon_a]

So finally time to start my own build thread.

I’ll be putting this up on bikerscout.net and also on my local garrison forum to record my progress and to get advice from other scouts. I am building this with Lancer in mind, so as much as possible I want to aim for that standard right off the bat.

Also this is so that my GML can see how I’m putting everything together and exactly what parts I’m using to hopefully make my approval simpler when the time comes.

 

1. Helmet.

This is the first thing I bought – an Altman helmet.

 

 

For the liner I bought some tactical helmet padding from eBay. When it arrived I tried sticking them in with BluTak to get the right fit, which it didn’t really. So on the advice of fellow scouts I went to Bunnings and picked up some tradie knee pads, which along with the tactical pads did the trick.

 

[Dragon_a]

Flight suit.

I bought an OMP mechanic suit. A little big on me.

 

 

For the riding patches I copied PandaTroopers idea and put on an old pair of jeans and drew on the shape of the patches in chalk, then cut them out. This provided a template for the real suede.

 

 

A couple of evenings with a seam ripper and a pair of tweezers took care of the OMP logos.

 

 

Still to do is the butt flap and elastic strapping. I’d also like to add stirrups and thumb loops to make putting on the boots and gloves easier.

[Dragon_a]

This weekend at AMC Expo I picked up my blaster kit from Tom of TCM Industries

 

 

Just needs sanding, gluing and painting.

 

My girlfriend’s response when she saw my new blaster? “Is that it? I was expecting something bigger.â€

If I had a dollar for every time I’d heard that……

[Dragon_a]

And then, when I’d just got started with that a small distraction arrived in the post.

 

 

I have some busy evenings ahead.

[gmrhodes13]

Great news on the armor arrival, just remember measure twice and cut once

[Dragon_a]

The Blaster assembled:

 

 

Primer applied:

 

 

Base coat:

 

 

Finished with a little weathering:

 

 

[Dragon_a]

The Knee, bicep and forearm armour pieces all attach the same way: Elastic with a square of hook Velcro sewed onto each end passes through a slot cut into the armour piece and attaches to a piece of loop Velcro stuck to the inside of the armour.

 

25mm elastic for the knee and forearm pieces and 38mm elastic for the biceps.

 

 

It was good to be able to actually see the armour pieces on my arm to see how it all fits together. I need to round off the edges and sand them down a bit. Other than that though I’m really pleased that there isn’t too much to do.

A first fitting:

 

 

 

The next thing I want to work on is the chest and back pieces. Then I can attach the shoulder bells, which will require more trimming.

[Aliaz]

Is that a OMP mechanics suit? I just ordered one that looks just like it.

 

*edit* nevermind, I just read your previous post. Good to see that it works.

[Dragon_a]

So the chest and back armour. I went with the tried and tested Velcro for the shoulders (why try and reinvent the wheel?). I used a strip of loop velcro for each side and a good long strip of hook Velcro to ensure a decent grip.

 

 

For the straps connecting the sides under the arms I stuck lengths of loop Velcro inside the armour next to the slots. I then attached a square of hook Velcro to either end of a 21cm long piece of 40mm white cotton webbing for each side.

 

 

Using the same white cotton webbing and some elastic I sewed together two shoulder bridges.

 

 

 

 

 

Next up the belt. After gluing the three pieces together with E6000 I then glued in the 50mm white nylon webbing and added a rivet per the CRL.

 

 

 

I attached hook Velcro to the left side and loop Velcro to the right so that it closed “left over right†as per screen used belts.

 

 

For the drop boxes I took two 60cm lengths of 40mm white cotton webbing and attached snaps to either end. The other side of the snaps I attached two to the webbing part of the belt and two others to thin pieces of plastic which I then glued into the inside of the “buckle†section of the belt.

 

 

 

I then passed the webbing through the slots I cut in the boxes and the black plastic snap buckles (aligned same as screen used).

 

 

 

 

So this is my progress so far.

 

 

 

 

I’d really appreciate any feedback (I already spotted that the bicep pieces need to be a little more forward), especially on the positioning and “hang†of the drop boxes.

[Retrofire]

Looking good! I thing I see is you'll need to switch arms on your bicept armor. The "rivets" always face forward and your right they have to come forward a bit but that's a fitment issue and not a big deal until you submit.

 

Make sure you are leaving enough space on your chest and back armour to fit your vest and bund. If you get the played too tight then it's going to be even tighter once you are wearing those pieces.

 

Not sure if the OMP logo at the arms might be an issue. It looks like the vest will cover it but you don't want the vest sleeves too long as it will bunch under your shoulder bell and look poufy. It would cooler if the company name was IMP instead of OMP:)

 

I hope this helps. Its looking good! Keep up the great work and posts!

[Greedo10360]

Looking good. Just wanted to thank you for posting such detailed photos. My armor should be here soon and I'm watching your build since the pictures are so good. Good luck!

[Greedo10360]

Quick question regarding your loop Velcro. For the parts you attach to the plastic of the armor, did you use E6000 or just the sticky type of Velcro you can buy at the store? Thanks!

[Stroker]

Quick question regarding your loop Velcro. For the parts you attach to the plastic of the armor, did you use E6000 or just the sticky type of Velcro you can buy at the store? Thanks!

Just use the sticky back velro. Much easier and quicker if you need to make a adjustment down the road.

[Dragon_a]

Looking good. Just wanted to thank you for posting such detailed photos. My armor should be here soon and I'm watching your build since the pictures are so good. Good luck!

 

Thanks mate, I really appreciate the feedback.

 

Quick question regarding your loop Velcro. For the parts you attach to the plastic of the armor, did you use E6000 or just the sticky type of Velcro you can buy at the store? Thanks!

 

As above, I bought SC armour so it came with sticky back (hoop) velcro which is pretty sticky and so far seems to do the job. I see on your build you have Altman armour so not sure what this comes with.

[Dragon_a]

Looking good! I thing I see is you'll need to switch arms on your bicept armor. The "rivets" always face forward and your right they have to come forward a bit but that's a fitment issue and not a big deal until you submit.

 

Make sure you are leaving enough space on your chest and back armour to fit your vest and bund. If you get the played too tight then it's going to be even tighter once you are wearing those pieces.

 

Not sure if the OMP logo at the arms might be an issue. It looks like the vest will cover it but you don't want the vest sleeves too long as it will bunch under your shoulder bell and look poufy. It would cooler if the company name was IMP instead of OMP:)

 

I hope this helps. Its looking good! Keep up the great work and posts!

 

Wow thank you for the feedback, that means a lot from you.

I think I should have enough room for the bund and vest, I've used a longer strip of loop velcro on the inside than the hook piece on the straps. So there should be some adjustability.

 

For the OMP logo on the sleeves I always assumed that the vest and shoulder bells will cover it. If that's not the case then they're pretty easy to remove with seam ripper.

[Dragon_a]

The last major piece of armour to work on is the shoulder bells. As I’m not the tallest I needed to trim these a bit (hence leaving them until last).

 

First I trimmed an inch from the very bottom. I then needed to taper them in at the sides and round off the corners in order to (hopefully) meet the Lancer requirements.

 

Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

Side by side:

 

 

I then really wanted to try attaching the bells using the screen accurate zip tie method. So I went out and bought a pack of zip ties and a pack of zip tie mounts.

Attaching the mounts and threading the zip tie though on the shoulder bell was pretty obvious. What I couldn’t get my head around is how the mount attached to the shoulder bridge.

After asking around on here what I came up with was to stick the mount to the bottom of the long strip of Velcro attaching the two halves of the armour. I then slid the white cotton shoulder bridge covers over the top of this. I cut a very small hole in the cotton and passed the cable tie through this. This has two benefits: 1. The whole ensemble is nicely hidden away and, 2, the cable tie stops the cotton from slipping off the shoulder join.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’ll be interesting to see how robust this setup proves to be.

As usual I’d love to hear any feedback.

[Dragon_a]

So I finally plucked up the courage to tackle making my boots using the excellent build guide on the Pathfinder forums here:

 

http://forum.bikersc...l=&fromsearch=1

 

I started off with these for the base from Target.

 

 

After a failed first attempt and some helpful advice from my GML I got the vinyl stretched over the toe.

 

 

The vinyl glued and trimmed:

 

 

I forgot to take a pic of the strip attached.

 

Next the calves.

 

 

Then the dog bones.

 

 

I’m leaving that overnight to dry completely before I attach the holster.

As ever I’d love to hear anyone’s feedback.

[BikerGus]

Wooow it looks good!! Where did you get the padding for the helmet?

[rdraider]

Looking good!

[gmrhodes13]

Nice work Tony, looking much better

[Dragon_a]

Wooow it looks good!! Where did you get the padding for the helmet?

 

I bought a cheap foam knee pad from a DIY shop which I cut to size and attached to the crown with velcro. The rest is tactical helmet padding from eBay.

[Dragon_a]

Before attaching the holster I wanted to try an idea I had for how to secure the Blaster into it while trooping.

I attached a small round magnet to the blaster

 

 

Which would then “pair up†with a strong magnet glued to the inside of the holster.

 

 

As you can see it forms a firm enough bond for me to hold the holster upside down without it falling out.

 

 

I then had an idea for how to stop the weight of the holster & blaster making the boot sag. I took another magnet which I sewed into the inside of the leg of my flight suit.

[Anubiswolf]

That's a great idea for securing the blaster!

Thanks for the great WIP pics. I will be bookmarking this for when I finally get started on my own kit!

[gmrhodes13]

Great work, I use a similar setup, with a metal trigger guard and magnets in the boot holster

[Starwheels]

Where did you get the padding for the helmet ? as i need some padding for my helmet

 

tactical helmet padding thats on your helmet