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[Kol Hokan]

Got a couple days of uninterrupted work time in the sun this past weekend and made some major progress.

Added some physical weathering to the Jantech vacformmed plates. I also cut slots for the electronic reader.  I will be using an electronic name badge like I did with my Death Watch kit.


Cut a rectangle in the vacformed diamond and backed it.


Applied primer followed by the silver base. 3 or so coats of Rustoleum aluminum.


After applying liquid latex over the physical damage and in a few additional areas I applied the gloss dark grey as the first layer on all the primary plates. 2 layers


Added more liquid latex so that the dark grey would show around some edges of the silver.  Decided to go with an orange layer immediately after the grey, without masking any extra. Very little orange will show.


Then finally the green.


prior to removing the liquid latex. You can see bubbled up in all the areas.


Finally, here are the plates with just a couple spots of orange peaking through.  I brushed it very very lightly with 0000 steel wool to get rid of the gloss.


I'm holding off on the yellow for the shoulders until the helmet and gauntlets are ready for yellow - as I want to do it all at the same time to ensure the color blending of the yellow/tan/bronze/orange will be consistent.  I will be applying my signature scorching  method over all of this.

[Fenn Beviin]

Making some good progress dude!

I have been absent on the forums for the last couple months due to being overwhelmed slightly at work but I am glad to see you working on this again.

Keep it up. I am liking the different colored shoulder bells.

[Kol Hokan]

So I've hit a bit of a wall... I had been waiting on a custom vest from a clanmate before continuing much further, as I wanted to make sure sizing and everything was all set. Unfortunately my clanmate will be unable to make the flak vest for me afterall.

Does anyone have a reasonably-priced vest recommendation I could go with for my Protector? My sewing skills are simply not up to par. I'd prefer to keep it under $100 USD if possible.

[Fenn Beviin]

Well dang dude! That's unfortunate.

Unfortunately, I am of no help in this area.

[Mi'ix]

Aria over there does them, but I recently got a Fett style vest from Arkady for about $100.

[Ru'Stor Rawr]

So I've hit a bit of a wall... I had been waiting on a custom vest from a clanmate before continuing much further, as I wanted to make sure sizing and everything was all set. Unfortunately my clanmate will be unable to make the flak vest for me afterall.

Does anyone have a reasonably-priced vest recommendation I could go with for my Protector? My sewing skills are simply not up to par. I'd prefer to keep it under $100 USD if possible.

Sorry to hear that, a good vest is always hard to find, Mi'ix beat me to it, Aria and Arkady, are the 2 I was going to recommend as well, I may have another option for you if they don't work out for you just let me know.

[Kol Hokan]

Good news everyone! *insert futurama gif here* I was able to work out a trade with a clanmate (Venix) and secured a vest for the Protector.



It fits almost perfectly. I need to modify the Velcro on the neck seal and maybe extend out the tabs on the sides to give me more breathing room.

The black tabs on the side were an interesting choice by the original owner before Venix acquired it, would this still work for the Protector BRL’s? I could try to lighten them using a bleach solution to make them more grey. Thoughts?

[Ru'Stor Rawr]

That is a nice find, looks like it fits you well, Unfortunately the black sides wont work,
if you can somehow get them to match the rest of vest, maybe replace them?

[Kol Hokan]

That is a nice find, looks like it fits you well, Unfortunately the black sides wont work,
if you can somehow get them to match the rest of vest, maybe replace them?

Ah, I see the BRLs were changed minutes after I posted to state the vest has to be a solid color. I don't disagree, but dang, that's frustrating.  So I can't try to use a dye remover and tone down the black to a light gray anymore? It has to be the exact shade?  I don't have any extra of the material used for the vest (as I bought it third hand) and both of my local Jo-Ann's have recently closed, so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to color match and get such small replacement pieces now (online orders are a minimum of 2 yards).

[Mi'ix]

More of a clarification, really.

It's just not something we see on Protectors, or really anything of Fett persuasion.

[Kol Hokan]

More of a clarification, really.

It's just not something we see on Protectors, or really anything of Fett persuasion.

I understand, and again, I don't necessarily disagree. It's just frustrating for the BRL to be altered to block my then-BRL-compliant vest solution 20 minutes after I suggest it.  I had no intention of keeping the black, I just wanted to tone it down to a light grey to make it less noticeable - it's already obscured under the arms anyway.  I'm open to suggestions on how to solve this, or if any other Protectors out there happen to have a couple scraps of fabric you think would color match I'll happily take them off your hands.

[Mi'ix]

If you have a problem with something, send me a PM.

Otherwise you'll have to swap out the black. I'm really not seeing a way to shift the color of the black enough to make it pass at the BRL Level without swapping out the sides.

[Ru'Stor Rawr]

Otherwise you'll have to swap out the black. I'm really not seeing a way to shift the color of the black enough to make it pass at the BRL Level without swapping out the sides.

I agree with this, Swapping out the sides would be the route I would go,

[Fenn Beviin]

Depends on what color you want the vest! If you soak the vest in a bleach and water solution - the black will tend to turn to a light tan (generally, then you might be able to just dye the white parts to match.) Or! after you bleach it, you could just fabric paint the whole thing to minimize the need to replace the sides with some sewing.

[Kol Hokan]

Depends on what color you want the vest! If you soak the vest in a bleach and water solution - the black will tend to turn to a light tan (generally, then you might be able to just dye the white parts to match.) Or! after you bleach it, you could just fabric paint the whole thing to minimize the need to replace the sides with some sewing.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions Fenn! Going to look into Rit dye remover and see how muted I can get the black first.  Coloring the whole vest to a light grey might be a good option - as I'm not committed to keep the vest tan. Good thought!