nothingrecorded Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 While I wait for the mail man (aka my best friend for the day) to deliver my armor today! I will go through and work a bit more on my MRCE Helmet. Alright, I have started with my speaker system in the helmet using the Radio Shack voiceamp and Two 1x1.5" speakers mounted behind the aerator holes in the helmet using the half egg things from the 50cent machines at grocery stores. I wrapped the inside of the helmet with soft (loop) Industrial Velcro and the inside of the plastic speaker holders using the hard (hook) side of the velcro and then just stuck it in place and used a bit of pressure to secure it. So far so good! This is just a test fit for right now, I will be adding sound proofing from my friends recording studio to reduce chances of feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothingrecorded Posted June 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 ALRIGHT! My armor has arrived! So once I post these few pictures of my current progress of my MRCE then I will bust out the armor. Replacement lenses, widening of the teeth, filling the seam with silicone and adding screen behind the teeth will take place at a later date. So here is my MRCE progress. This the sound proofing I have put in over the the mic cables and between the speakers. This one is so that you can see where I have mounted my modded Radio Shack VoiceAmp in my helmet as well as my fan placement. This one shows some of the battery placement including a clip holding a spare 9V battery for the voice amp. I used 4 2xAA battery packs to power the fans, little did I know that the fans do NOT need this much power, so they spin fast and are pretty loud. I will remove one or two of the packs depending on how it feels. This last one is just an overall picture of my progress. Oh yeah I used a hard hat liner in my helmet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmian Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 ALRIGHT! My armor has arrived! Cool! I'll keep an eye on this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Random1156 Posted June 16, 2009 Report Share Posted June 16, 2009 For sound proofing, you might want to get some windscreens...they'll take up less space, and should work better. I know that's what we use on our dosimeters and sound level meters... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothingrecorded Posted June 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2009 For sound proofing, you might want to get some windscreens...they'll take up less space, and should work better. I know that's what we use on our dosimeters and sound level meters... So far I am pretty ok with the stuff I velcroed in but I am open to new ideas, what exactly do you mean by windscreens? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothingrecorded Posted June 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2009 And here it is, my first set of armor, bad lighting and a celphone camera but I haven't been this excited to unwrap something like this since I was but a wee little lad on a chistmas morn' haha. IN THE BEGINING AFTER 12 HOURS OF WORK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothingrecorded Posted June 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2009 I will cover a few things that I have been doing differently then most posts I have seen. I will start with the straps for my Front abs and Back kidney peice. Then next I will post pics of how I did the straps for the Chest and Back with reinforcement for longevity. So first of all, I used heavy duty elastic Suspender straps with clamps on the end. I also removed the leather peice that crosses the suspenders in the back. I used Plastic weld to add extra ABS to the back of where I have attached these clamps for extra strength. Then I cut slits through the area where I added the extra ABS as you can see below. So far this seems to work great. But then again, this is all my first attempt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothingrecorded Posted June 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 After 12 hours of work Monday followed by 12 hours of work on Tuesday I found myself completely burned out on this project. I hit the marathon runners wall and could not push past it, tired and with my brain melted I passed out for a few hours and went out with my friends. Today on the other hand is a new day and I sit at work anxious as ever and can not wait to get back to work on this project. I will finish the straps and start on the ever troublesome THIGHS! Stupid FX thighs look like big barrels, flipping tedious trimming and tapering, how fun is this. Jokes a side, I am loving every minute of this! ONWARD! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfantryQuinn[501st] Posted June 19, 2009 Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 My armor is FX and I had to cut the thighs down a ton and when I tried adhering them they just wouldnt stay...althought i lack proper equipment like clamps to keep them in check, i tried and failed. as of right now I'm using velcro and it looks horrible close up. I'm looking forward to you take on the thighs. and I really like the suspender idea, only thing that gets my brain thinkin is that the metal clamps...would they show over the chest plate? Otherwise its coming along awesomely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothingrecorded Posted June 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 My armor is FX and I had to cut the thighs down a ton and when I tried adhering them they just wouldnt stay...althought i lack proper equipment like clamps to keep them in check, i tried and failed. as of right now I'm using velcro and it looks horrible close up. I'm looking forward to you take on the thighs. and I really like the suspender idea, only thing that gets my brain thinkin is that the metal clamps...would they show over the chest plate? Otherwise its coming along awesomely! I tackled the thighs yesterday and I very surprised at how much trimming needs to actually be done for them to look right. I measured them a few times and then applied Velcro to it so far, I would hate to screw them up trying to trim them. I figured I would let them overlap and wear it a few times and if it feels like the measurements are right , then I will cut and glue. I will add pictures as soon as I get a chance. Also, for the suspenders, the metal clamps do not show at all. I was worried about that too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfantryQuinn[501st] Posted June 19, 2009 Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 thats a different take on the thighs... I havent heard of people goin that route...although im still pretty green to the whole thing. but it is a really really good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothingrecorded Posted June 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 thats a different take on the thighs... I havent heard of people goin that route...although im still pretty green to the whole thing. but it is a really really good idea. If you don't mind my asking, what did you do with your thighs. I looked at thepictures in your previous posts and the thighs look great, nice and tappered in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothingrecorded Posted June 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 Alright, here we have the shoulder straps, bells, biceps and gloves. For the shoulder straps with reinforcement I hand sewed an 8 inch strip of hard hook Velcro across the top of the shoulder strap that I used to hold the ab and kidney pieces together. I placed soft loop Velcro on the under side of the chest and back pieces so that they rest on top of the 8 inch Velcro strap on my shoulders. Then I added hard hook Velcro to the top of the same chest and back pieces so that the plastic shoulder crossing the top and holding the bells in place on top with more soft loop Velcro attached under that, giving me about 3 layers of Velcro and the shoulder straps themselves giving me extra reinforcement for long term use without damage to my plastic shoulder straps. As you can see, I have the bells and biceps attached to the shoulder piece using a snap that is glued to the under side of the shoulder strap. I am not very happy with this idea, it ads too much of a gap between the plastic shoulder strap and the elastic suspenders underneath. I will probably change this later with something else, i don't know. Then I have the bicep snapped to the bell. I did add an elastic strap crossing the bottom of the bell and around the bicep to held it all in place, they just aren't pictured yet. Then there is the gloves, I also hand sewed hard hook Velcro to the top and then attached soft loop Velcro to the underside of the hand plate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfantryQuinn[501st] Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 If you don't mind my asking, what did you do with your thighs. I looked at thepictures in your previous posts and the thighs look great, nice and tappered in. well i have very limited supplies here... i found some shoe goo recently and adhered the front of the thighs and cut a little piece of the lip off on the back of the thighs so it would be more flush you know? and then just put some white velcro on there... im really skinny so after i cut the thighs up they dont want to stay closed as much as id like and close up it doesnt look that pretty... i mean ive seen worse but id like it to look better. Id have a better WIP on my process but having my job doesnt give you that kinda time. where did you get the snaps? I plan on implimenting snaps to the biceps, and bells as soon as i get back to germany. also.. since im so thin I need to wrap my belt around me really tight and i have a decent amount of excess left over and i try to keep the torso front and back together (i used some velcro and elastic straps for a temp fix but wonder if adding snaps would be a good idea) oh and i didnt mention im really jealous of your bucket and your mic set up... what kinda mic kit you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfantryQuinn[501st] Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 actually tain another look at your bucket and it seems like i have a similar mic kit... you get yours from that trinktoys or whatever the name is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothingrecorded Posted June 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 And now for the belt. I tried several things and finally came up with one that I am pretty satisfied with at this point. I am sure I will add Velcro or snaps somewhere on the ab piece to stop it from sliding down or something later but it feels like it fits alright at this point. I tried putting snaps on the ends of the belt then attaching the canvas belt directly to the cod piece behind a snap that the plastic belt attached to, but that meant the canvas was permanently attached to my cod piece and the plastic belt part kept unsapping and falling off when I walked. SCRATCH THAT IDEA! So what I ended up doing was leaving the front of the snaps at the front making the ends more accurate but removing the snap it's self, I put some plastic weld on the back to keep it in place. Then I wrapped soft loop Velcro around the inside of the ends of the belt like you see below. After that I sewed about 2 inches of hard hook Velcro to the ends of each side of my canvas belt that i made but with the second half of the Velcro on the inside with about 5 inches of extra hard hook adhesive free Velcro dangling off the bottom for my drop boxes like you see below. I also added a strip of soft loop Velcro behind my drop boxes. And then it is attached like so. And then repeat on the other side. Forgive the scorch mark, that is where I tried the snap and after I removed it, i ran a lighter over the hole to singe the material from fraying, that part is not seen once it is on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothingrecorded Posted June 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 Also, I made the belt from a 5$ roll of canvas that I found at Michaels Craft store. I folded it 3 times for thickness then I sewed it together with it Velcroed together in the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothingrecorded Posted June 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 well i have very limited supplies here... i found some shoe goo recently and adhered the front of the thighs and cut a little piece of the lip off on the back of the thighs so it would be more flush you know? and then just put some white velcro on there... im really skinny so after i cut the thighs up they dont want to stay closed as much as id like and close up it doesnt look that pretty... i mean ive seen worse but id like it to look better. Id have a better WIP on my process but having my job doesnt give you that kinda time. where did you get the snaps? I plan on implimenting snaps to the biceps, and bells as soon as i get back to germany. also.. since im so thin I need to wrap my belt around me really tight and i have a decent amount of excess left over and i try to keep the torso front and back together (i used some velcro and elastic straps for a temp fix but wonder if adding snaps would be a good idea) oh and i didnt mention im really jealous of your bucket and your mic set up... what kinda mic kit you use? Someone from my local garrison recommended trimming an inch or so all around from the top of the thighs, that way the whole thing could be raised up a little bit without having to cut too much into the back of the knee area for movement. I don't know if I have the guts to try that yet but I am heavily considering it. I will throw up some pics of how my thighs are put together at t his point. And as for my mic setup, it was just some computer mic that I picked up from Radioshack that I pulled all of the plastics off of it to fit better. This is what it looks like when you buy it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfantryQuinn[501st] Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I am LOVING the belt! that is just awesome! I really want to go canvas with my belt... the plastic is so annoying. as for the legs... if i fix the area behind the knee so i can manage stairs my armor will fit awesomely since i modded the cod and butt so i can sit. I do like the cutting the top of the thigh idea but that might interfere with my color on my right side. id love to go the route you did with the bucket setup... it looks like it is comfy... mine is a pain to get on and they way i got it set up the headset is connected to the inside of the bucket so it takes alot of finess to get it on right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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