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[Riv Serulius]

I apologize ahead of time if anyone has already posted about this.  I don't follow the armoring boards much these days.

Anyway, while thinking about future upgrades to bring my suit up to the current standards (as it is now, it's below them and I assume I'm being grandfathered in), I'm trying to come up with a reliable knee solution while at the same time avoiding external strapping.

Currently, my knees are soft foam gardening pads that are painted.  Yeah, laugh it up.  Whenever I start hitting the armor shop again, my plan is to make my suit as stunt-friendly as possible.  I enjoy jumping around, rolling, etc at the spur of a moment.  Unfortunately, I don't see any way to create knee pads that can do this without reliable strapping of some kind.  So here's what I came up with:

1) Acquire a pair of legitimate military or riot-gear knees, as low profile as possible.
2) Cut holes in knees of current jumpsuit, and re-stich the edges so it doesn't fall apart.
3) When suiting up, pull on legitimate knee pads first, underneath the jumpsuit.  Align so that only the shell of pad is visible through hole in jumpsuit.
4) Attach metal costume plate knees onto the sturdy base of the legitimate pad's shells, either through snaps, velcro, or other method that is sturdy but also removable.  The costume plates will be larger and wider than the holes in the jumpsuit, so the plates will look like they are sitting on a whole jumpsuit.

Voila!  No external strapping, no annoyance at trying to thread straps through slits in jumpsuit, and also a sturdy base for stunts.

Think it will work?  I may experiment on an old pair of pants before cutting up the jumpsuit.  Main things I'm worried about are my legs looking chunky at the knees under the jumpsuit, the holes cut in the knees widening, and the entire rig simply not cooperating with movement.

It will be a few months before I can get to this, but if anyone else wants to try it, be my guest.

[Aniron]

on my clone costume, i solved the problem with strong magnets, which worked very well
as you said, a kneepad under the suit. sew or glue a magnet in it and a magnet in the kneearmor. with this, you don't need a hole in your jumpsuit.
(here's a link: http://forum.clonetroopers.net/index.php?showtopic=10069&st=40&p=129224&#entry129224 )

[Hondo Karr]

Hey Riv, i'll tackle this step by step and hopefully it will clear up any issues others may have but are afraid to ask.

1.   the grandfather clause has been in place since the beginning of the club. while it was always hoped that members would upgrade their kits on their own it was never required. sadly we had members that were so far out of compliance with current standards and i an effort to keep our club legitimate, relivant and current, we felt the grandfather clause must go and require that all club members upgrade their kits as required with each crl update. our most recent crl upgrade was in january. members out of compliance with the current crl's have until september 1st of this year to bring their kits into compliance or they will lose their “official member” title until the upgrades are completed and reapproved. When future crl upgrades are made, the process will be repeated allotting existing members that may be out of compliance to upgrade.

2.   on the issue of external strapping… it’s not banned, it’s just discouraged. The rasoning for this was we were getting a large number of applicants that were using cheap, obviously identified, sew in elastic bands all over the costume to hold plates down. On many kits that would be considered great kits, it caused a major eyesore to the overall presentation. This is easily remedied by doing any of the following…

a.   hiding the elastic band inside the flightsuit by making small incisions hidden under the plates. We don’t see Jango Fett with 6 sets of elastic bands around his legs.
b.   Using an in universe or in universe appearing material for your strapping. Examples would be leather straps or tactical strapping such as nylon belting.
c.   There are area’s on the body where the use of elastic strapping is necessary and expected. These being the knee’s and the elbows. Cheap sew in elastic band, while still discouraged in these area’s, is acceptable (on these area’s ONLY) as long as it is purchased in a color that matches the flightsuit or is dyed to match. A better alternative though would be to use a higher quality elastic that appears to be a belting type material. These will actually accept your kit and add to the overall appearance even if they are a color other than the flighsuit. A great way to get this type of e;astic is pant suspenders. They come in a variety of colors, are a much higher grade material, have a more professional appearance and while slightly more costly than sew in elastic, are still low cost. Plus, you still have good flexation and a means to keep the plates secure to the joint.

3.   on the issue of knee’s that are stunt friendly… we will soon be adding an addendum to the crl’s in reference to SOME real world armors that will require little to no modification for use with the club. These addendum’s have become necessary due to canon source material. These will be VERY piece specific. One of the items address are a VERY specific type of real world knee pads. Keep your eyes peeled! Another option that has recently gain a lot of popularity among members is the use of hardhats for knee’s. they come in a variety of different designs, can be cut into a variety of shapes and with the proper combination of hat shape selection and shape cut, can be made into a very Swarzy looking piece of knee armor. An advantage to these is with the addition of a couple piece of foam between the interior and your actual knee and you have a piece of knee armor that can and will sustain almost any abuse you ca throw at it and not break. Plus, they are cheap. Many people have a random, not in use, hardhat or two laying around, they can be purchased at second hand store or yard sales for a buck or two or, they can be purchased at almost any hardware department or hardware store for about $5.00 give or take a buck or two. One hat can make as many pieces of armor as you mind can imagine onto it. I’ve seen 2 hats outfit knee’s, shoulders, back of hand, 8 fingers and 2 thumbs and elbows. That’s a lot of bang for the buck!

I hope this helped clarify some issues and gives you some info you can work with!

[Mandalore the Uniter]

Riv, if you look at what Charlie uses then you'll see what we are going to put an "approved to use" stamp on.  A'den explained it in his last paragraph.   

[Hondo Karr]

Riv, if you look at what Charlie uses then you'll see what we are going to put an "approved to use" stamp on.  A'den explained it in his last paragraph.   

that will be 1 of the 2 items.

[Riv Serulius]

Hey Riv, i'll tackle this step by step and hopefully it will clear up any issues others may have but are afraid to ask.

1.   we felt the grandfather clause must go and require that all club members upgrade their kits as required with each crl update.

Yeah, I knew this, just phrased it wrong.  Hence the upgrades, once I get some more time and money in two months or so.  Been fairly unhappy with elements of my suit for a while now, it was just a matter of getting the time to do something about it.

As far as the hard hats go, I'm probably going to stick with the steel plating.  Durability isn't as much the issue to me as is paint chipping.  Sure, a hardhat or even fiberglass isn't going to break, but the paint will wear off, revealing the non-metal source material.  I hate having to repaint plates after every troop.  Hence why about half my suit is currently metal, or metal-surfaced.  When paint rubs off a metal surface, it looks like it's supposed to.

[Hondo Karr]

well, you can get them is aluminum or silver high impact plastic.

day'vid, charlie is xorim korr.