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[Sgtmac]

Well i begin the journey.  having smurfed around in my footlockers, i find the goodies to make my costume.   The look shall be a light armor Mando that i can build up from over time.  Medium grey soft parts, kelly green armor, light grey, white, and black edging  3 chevrons on the left chest in light grey edged in black divided by white.  gaunts cod shoulders solid kelly. wiht a white or light grey marking.  the helmet, will be kellygreen, red or gold visor(undecided) and some very nice facial artwork.  at this time i want to tie in some patches form my gaming and real world service life, but thats gonna wait till armor is assembled.  im thinking of double thickening my armor by using premade sintra or abs i am ordering, and under that, have the sterilite tote plastic.  Opinions on this?


The soft parts.   My dye attempts wiht ACUs was an abject failure, I found a dying guide, but have decided to just go with Solid grey BDUS.  THe guide to dye the ACU poly/cotton blend requires a washer which I dont have access to.  Public mats dont have the settings and cost too damn much.   THe ACUs may fall victim to clothing paints, but see if the paint works on the material blends first.
Shirt and pants in the shades i want cheapest i have found.   
http://www.acu.com/style_F530238020/   http://www.acu.com/style_F520138020/
Im having to do this on a very limited income, so im using stuff i own for most of it.   (sad story time)  100% disabled vet, mostly internal damage and nerve damage to hands.  so i have to work with what i got.  and within my govt check limits.  Ive seen where a few other vets have been able to get thier kits made or started, and if they can, i can.   

I look forward to tips and pointers, and criticisms.  And please forgive typos, its the nerve damage in hands. 

[Kuu]

Why Aye MacKay! Manu Forti kinsman.

Will need to see how the bleached / grey dyed ACU looks for changing it up / blasting out the camo pattern. Worst case you may have to go a bit darker to hit the "no real world camo" req. shouldn't be too tough.

Are you able to, or do you have access to somebody that can sew on a sewing machine or hand stitch? You can make some spats/foot & lower leg gaiters of scrap cloth. For light armor it should fit the look and cover the laces. Basically wrap your leg in saran wrap, duct tape over it, draw the pattern for the spats with a laundry marker, cut it off and use that for the pattern.

For the armor, how much / which parts are you building vs buying?

Edit: good thoughts on the weapon mods, apparently nothing says "star wars gun" like a backwards scope, heat sink looking thing, and some kind of funky barrel doohicky

[Cyrus Ulto]

commenting to see how this goes, i also have some field acus that i could do a similar thing with if yours turn out well.

[Sgtmac]

10 hours of sitting in one gallon bleach 3 gallon water.  the velcro, and the leg tie material is all that is noticibly bleached.  they turned tan.  so plan B is grey BDUs  but i really like the wear of the acu so not giving up on making it work,  thinking pure bleach....

[Cyrus Ulto]

Hmmmm...  there is always room for more

[Kai Ree'tat]

I understand vod I'm a 100%er as well, watching to see how your kit comes along.

[Sgtmac]

after annoying the lovely boss lady becasue she helped me carry in a large quantity of bleach.( the craps gone up in price)  4 gallons straight bleach will work over the coloring on ACUs.  If you cut the bleach with water totally dilutes the effect.  So theres a risk factor here you are gonna have to play with.  Let the bleach eat up on the material, vs color shift sesired.  I just need enough to smudge the pattern when i dye the uniform grey.   second round of bleaching, 2 hours in straight bleach, then added water.  noticieable difference.  If you deployed and wore ACUs, then of how light they looked after the deployment vs when new.  and they are lighter then that.  for giggles a set of my woodlands from the 90s are swimming with them now.  I want to se how they come out.  if this total project works, this will save some of us, at least 60 bucks minus the bleach money vs buying new acu/bdu to use.  off to stir the tub some more.  agitating the work helps it seems. 

The blasters, im at a slight impasse here, may SW blasters are nice and smooth with little cosmetic flourish, and others are kitted all to hell and gone.  looing at my rifle, should i hit it with more work, or let it go till painting?  there orange side panels are fairly flush, on the toy they dont pop out as far as a true quad rail panel does.  so the blaser is a bit skinny.

[Sgtmac]

Edited, so after the bleach failure, no more attempts.  Changed post to remove dead pic links. 

[Sgtmac]

I had my kids this weekend so no bleaching of the uniforms till monday night.  but heres the belt and pouches i plan to use.  It is a black nylon duty belt, and the pouches are 90s era US Military SAW M16 and M9/1911 ammo pouches.  The leg rig is a serpa interchangeable thigh that will have a kydex/plasticard/sintra or premade holster attached.  Im going to build and model this kit off what i wore in my service career.  I was a medic and learned the more crap you wear the harder to move.  So im going for minimal, yet functional.   im still working on a war blade idea.  when i deployed i had one tanto kbar on my medic bag, US Army kbar on my thigh and 2 crkt lock blades in each calf pocket.  im leaning towards blade in each gauntlet one to the non gun thigh, and calves.  this is all dependent on my finding toy blades i like or being able to make them.  with my work space making may be a stretch. 

if any approved or approving team member sees this, any ideas on the  lettering on the pouches? I think i can disguise them, but any vet or arms enthusiast will sstill recognize them for wha they are.

[Kavryn Falco]

First, I'd see if you could dye them a different color - black or brown or, really, anything other than US army green.  Next I'd put plastic armor plating on the front panels, to cover up the logos and disguise the shapes a little.

I wonder if you could find a different sort of fastener for them, too - wouldn't even have to be functional, just as long as it changed up the look of them.

[Kuu]

Krylon makes sme paints for plastic, should stick to the Nylon fine. Just do thin layers and lots of them. Automotive interior fabric paint should help put paid to the camo pattern on the ACUs, again, thin layers. Just thinking out loud.

[Jorad Werde]

Making knives is actually pretty easy. with a bit of Sintra, and exacto, and a dremmel.  I've made a few and I'm actually really happy with my Vibro blades (see Weapons WIP).  As well, if you head over to the supply depot, there are a few members who make very good looking bladed weaponry.

[Sgtmac]

the only other thing i have on hand i can use is velcro flap triple pocket mag holders from my competition shooting days.   And they are nicely worn down looking.  I like the armor plating idea.  No one near me sells sintra or plasticard so i bougt some of those plastic parking signs to use for weapon work, i can easily use it for this too.  the paints i a good idea also.   I saw some guys doing blasters, ill look harder for the blades.  I looked at yours they look good.  well built and functional. 

[Jorad Werde]

A lot of people get Sintra at their local sign making place.  I'm sure there's a place in your town or near your town that makes banners and signs.  These places use Sintra for ridged signs and will sometimes sell you scrap or even full sheets.  Also, talk to your Clan, I'm sure someone has a source for Sintra.  Also, if there are a few newbies in your area working on their kits you guys might consider going in on a sheet or two together and buying online.  a 4'x8' sheet of Sintra is enough for two Medium sets of armor.  Another option would be a rubbermade plastic bin, or 3, they can be cut and re-formed with a heat gun, although you have to over bend it because it does un-form a little when it cools.  I'd suggest 3 MM (1/8") Sintra for any armor plating you're putting onto things, and 6MM (1/4") for knives.  I actually tried to make as much of my kit myself as I could.  The only things I bought were most of the armor (didn't feel confident with Sintra just yet) and my bucket (...I mean, there's no way I'm ever making a bucket that looks good enough).  Working with new materials, making things, discovering that your plans don't work, re-working them, and then making them right is half the fun of making your kit...at least for me.  I'd take a look at some knife WIPs on the forums and if you can find some Sintra take a stab at making your own.  Even if you don't use it for your kit it'll be a good way to learn how to work with Sintra

[Sgtmac]

yah the making part is fun.  the local sign shop went under last year, but with this being a ollege town there may be ssomeone else.  i know lowes and 84 dont have anything.  i've built lorican plate armor before but we used 5 gallon buckets for all of it, if i was doing legacy armor this would be close to that.  ive orderd armor and a helmet.  all the rest im tryin to make out of stuff i allready own.  I didnt think to ask the local clan where to get sintra so thanks for that.  today im working on further bleaching out my old uniform so can start dying it tomorrow.  on my belt iea i may switch over nad just use a military pistol belt.  I have an old brand new one sitting here.