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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2007 14:41:11 GMT -5
Hello,
My name is Jason/J/"Sci" (the "callsign" that I would like to start going by) I am new to this forum...I will very soon be working on GM armor for myself...I really can't wait...
I have a question...I haven't got my armor yet (only a week or so more!) but I always have question just buzzing through my head...And since this GM will be my first armor suit, I really want to take my time and get everything almost perfect...I usually talk to Jeff at studiocreations/DH2 and I know that he uses either rivets/snaps or velcro for the armor connection (NOT piece-to-piece as in forearm connected to elbow or bicep, but connections such as kit assembly, like both halves of the forearm assembled into one forearm piece), but what do you use? I am trying to get a lot of people whom I would trust their advice on things like this, and once I have major things out of the way and compiled, find what might/will work for me ($ and time and level of difficulty, or what I can actually find) and go from there...
Any thoughts?
J
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Post by ianl on Jan 7, 2007 15:07:42 GMT -5
I'd be interested to know who is providing your GM armor. As far as I know everyone has scratchbuilt or kitbashed theirs from other soruces.
On the topic of assembly, well this mostly goes back to my previous question, but most armor kits are designed to be connected either permanently (with ABS glue) or using industrial velcro. The rivets/snaps are mainly used for connecting piece to piece, such as shoulders to biceps, or chest to back plate. All your armor should be sized to fit YOU, that means getting some help, measuring and scribing lines and cutting, sanding and gluing the pieces together. Once done it will be a custom fit on you.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2007 17:41:48 GMT -5
Laws makes the chest plate...I seem to remember that he posted that awhile ago (not nagging you, but I think he did that) here on THIS forum...I bought my chest plate from him...He said that he has had some people asking about knees and shins, so depending on how that goes, I will be getting a set of those from him...Other than that, I just wrote SGB about a helmet...and I am getting some Phase II arms from someone on ct.net...I will eventually need to make some shoulder or wait until someone has some nice ones that they may offer to sell...I am having a friend of mine modding a regular TC backplate to be sized up to my chest plate...Then I will just have to find some cloth goods... I don't mean to sound like I am rich or anything...I don't mean to sound like I am flaunting money, because believe me that it took me quite a while to save up for armor to buy piece-by-piece...I would personally rather make it myself, but after just starting a new job a month ago, I don't really have the time OR the space to vacuumform my own pieces...So, I have been collecting things bit by bit from some people who are VERY nice and make things for people...I just don't want to sound like "look at me I'm some rich kid who can just buy things when he needs to instead of actually doing things on my own"...But I just turned 20 last year and I really want to get into costuming REALLY bad and I also have never been to a convention and kind want my first to be in armor, you know? Plus, besides the fact that if you can find the stuff to buy it, it would probably be cheaper to do that instead of building it from scratch, I will use the things I learn building my first suit or two (standard Phase II and a standard GM) to help me when I do actually start to make my own pieces...One of the things that kind of got me into this hobby IS the fact that I like to do things for myself (not to sound self-absorbed) and to make and build and fix things...Believe me, whenever I get the space to vacuumform and custom create things on my own I WILL be! Sorry for the long ranting... J
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2007 17:43:23 GMT -5
my bad...at the top I said that "laws" is the one who builds the chest plates...It's not laws, it's mrlaws...sorry about that...
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Post by ianl on Jan 7, 2007 18:20:42 GMT -5
I am aware of the chest plate being sold....your first post indicated you had a whole set of armor coming, so I was curious.
You still need several pieces to complete the armor, and as such, my previous advice still stands. In addition, the chest plate, while a nice piece (I have one), does need some additional work to make it screen accurate. There are several greeblies that need to be sourced and attached. Shoulder straps and a backplate need to be added to make a complete torso piece, and these can be glued or riveted together.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2007 19:45:29 GMT -5
Yeah, that seems to be the consensus: riveting or velcroing...I am going to try something different though...I am pretty decent with leather working and I am going to try to make a strapping system that will be underneath my undersuit (or under a second layer over the undersuit) and use those little three-pronged clips/buckles that backpacks and things like that sometimes have...If you check out this link, you can see what I mean... www.umei.com/buckles-plastic/plastic-buckles-1-3/plastic-buckles-1-10.jpgif you look at the second row down on that link, the left one or the middle one, something like that...There is a military surplus store near me that sells these things wholesale for like 5 cents a clip/buckle...(I don't know what they are officially called, sorry...)...Anyways...Basically my undersuit will have small holes BEHIND the armor plate just big enough for one of those clips to fit through...Basically, it will be a strapping system that only will have to make once, since it will be adjustable, so I can use that and my undersuit(s) for ANY armor that I make/build...It will be very similiar in placement to many other people's strapping systems out there...The only major difference besides a full-bodied leather strapping system itself, will be that the armor plates will be able to un-clip from the clips on the back side of the armor...I want the plates to be able to come off at any time and in any order, so I won't have to take off the whole thing say, if I have an itch on my arm, I won't have to take THE WHOLE arm assembly off, just that piece...Same with taking a whiz...Just the ab plate/crotch plate (sorry I haven't completely memorized the lingo just yet) etc...Let me know if that sounded that garbled gibberish...lol...
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Post by pghfett on Jan 7, 2007 21:18:13 GMT -5
Not gibberish at all, a full restraint style system your talking about is very interesting, probably just as hard to do right as any other part of fabricating a costume. I've seen well made/painted armor not look right simply because the person wearing it did not take the time to assemble and wear the armor properly. How many have us gone to conventions and had to assist someone with a part popping off or see a pic where the armor appears to have separated from the undersuit? Happens alot. Take the time on assembly of the costume, it will pay off big time. Nice topic BTY
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2007 22:01:15 GMT -5
Thanks...You will probably see more of me in the coming weeks...At least those of you whom most people would consider "experts" at this kind of stuff...Like I said before, I have never (YET!) built a suit and I intend to do it right and I don't really care if it takes a year to complete, but I promise this, my suit will look damn good...Maybe, not perfect, but like everything else, I'm sure that your first suit that you created/assembled/built/completed was pretty special after that...
Anyways...I have been talking to torso boy/captain ferrin a lot lately on ct.net and through pm's and he said that you have been working on shoulder bells for your barc that would work for the GM...I know (at least I think I know) that you're still working on them, so I'm not trying to rush you or anything, but I was wondering how progress on that was going and if you have any plans to sell a number of sets...
J
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2007 22:03:25 GMT -5
sorry, still new to this...that last paragraph in my last post was directed to pghfett...
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Post by ianl on Jan 8, 2007 8:50:24 GMT -5
if you look at the second row down on that link, the left one or the middle one, something like that...There is a military surplus store near me that sells these things wholesale for like 5 cents a clip/buckle...(I don't know what they are officially called, sorry...)...Anyways...Basically my undersuit will have small holes BEHIND the armor plate just big enough for one of those clips to fit through...Basically, it will be a strapping system that only will have to make once, since it will be adjustable, so I can use that and my undersuit(s) for ANY armor that I make/build...It will be very similiar in placement to many other people's strapping systems out there...The only major difference besides a full-bodied leather strapping system itself, will be that the armor plates will be able to un-clip from the clips on the back side of the armor...I want the plates to be able to come off at any time and in any order, so I won't have to take off the whole thing say, if I have an itch on my arm, I won't have to take THE WHOLE arm assembly off, just that piece...Same with taking a whiz...Just the ab plate/crotch plate (sorry I haven't completely memorized the lingo just yet) etc...Let me know if that sounded that garbled gibberish...lol... I'm probably having a hard time picturing what you're describing, but I don't think you're proposing anything radically different from what most of us have done. You seem to want to hide the straps, though, and I'd be curious to see how this turns out. Namely because I think it will be difficult to don the armor yourself, something which you might want to keep in mind. Oftentimes, you will be without assistance to get your costume on, and doing things like fishing straps through openings could be difficult unless you're a contortionist. Note too, that most of this armor is designed to go together, so that any straps would naturally be hidden anyway, and it's not necessary to take the additional step to hide them under the undersuit. Stuff like the connections between the shoulder bells and biceps would be hidden because there is a natural overlap of the pieces there anyway. Keep us updated with your progress.
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Post by youngling on Jan 8, 2007 16:29:27 GMT -5
Laws makes the chest plate...I seem to remember that he posted that awhile ago (not nagging you, but I think he did that) here on THIS forum...I bought my chest plate from him...He said that he has had some people asking about knees and shins, so depending on how that goes, I will be getting a set of those from him...Other than that, I just wrote SGB about a helmet...and I am getting some Phase II arms from someone on ct.net...I will eventually need to make some shoulder or wait until someone has some nice ones that they may offer to sell...I am having a friend of mine modding a regular TC backplate to be sized up to my chest plate...Then I will just have to find some cloth goods... I don't mean to sound like I am rich or anything...I don't mean to sound like I am flaunting money, because believe me that it took me quite a while to save up for armor to buy piece-by-piece...I would personally rather make it myself, but after just starting a new job a month ago, I don't really have the time OR the space to vacuumform my own pieces...So, I have been collecting things bit by bit from some people who are VERY nice and make things for people...I just don't want to sound like "look at me I'm some rich kid who can just buy things when he needs to instead of actually doing things on my own"...But I just turned 20 last year and I really want to get into costuming REALLY bad and I also have never been to a convention and kind want my first to be in armor, you know? Plus, besides the fact that if you can find the stuff to buy it, it would probably be cheaper to do that instead of building it from scratch, I will use the things I learn building my first suit or two (standard Phase II and a standard GM) to help me when I do actually start to make my own pieces...One of the things that kind of got me into this hobby IS the fact that I like to do things for myself (not to sound self-absorbed) and to make and build and fix things...Believe me, whenever I get the space to vacuumform and custom create things on my own I WILL be! Sorry for the long ranting... J hey not to sound rude or like I am a money pincher but you guys are talking about how NOBODY is offering the GM armor and Hello mr. Preston Nelson over here offers everything besides the chest and backplate. So not meaning to be rude and I understand that the fact that I haven't posted pics because of the fact that I am remodeling my molds but that doesn't change the fact that I am still offereing the armor.
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Post by ianl on Jan 8, 2007 17:19:15 GMT -5
Sorry Youngling, I've sent you PM's but I was under the impression you were not ready to sell your stuff yet. I am interested, but I wanted to let you work the bugs out, and as such did not want to acknowledge your work until you were ready.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2007 19:16:26 GMT -5
I'm probably having a hard time picturing what you're describing, but I don't think you're proposing anything radically different from what most of us have done. You seem to want to hide the straps, though, and I'd be curious to see how this turns out. Namely because I think it will be difficult to don the armor yourself, something which you might want to keep in mind. Oftentimes, you will be without assistance to get your costume on, and doing things like fishing straps through openings could be difficult unless you're a contortionist. Note too, that most of this armor is designed to go together, so that any straps would naturally be hidden anyway, and it's not necessary to take the additional step to hide them under the undersuit. Stuff like the connections between the shoulder bells and biceps would be hidden because there is a natural overlap of the pieces there anyway. Keep us updated with your progress. That's the beauty of the way I designed (still on drawing board but...) the strapping system...It is totally independant of the armor itself and because of the straps having those clips on them instead of because permanently attached TO the armor, I will be able to don the armor without any help...I can put it on ONE PIECE AT A TIME...Now, I'm not saying I'm an expert here and I know that you guys who have suits and have made them before probably had some cool ideas that you couldn't do because they just didn't work and you have ways that you do things because they work right...Like I said, it is still on the drawing board and I won't know anything for sure (in it's physical form) until I have some armor actually assembled and I can try it out...I know that I will hit some point where I won't be able to do it, but I am going to try...Also, like I said I will try to post pics of my drawings of my design tonight or tomorrow if I can...
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Post by youngling on Jan 8, 2007 19:34:09 GMT -5
Sorry Youngling, I've sent you PM's but I was under the impression you were not ready to sell your stuff yet. I am interested, but I wanted to let you work the bugs out, and as such did not want to acknowledge your work until you were ready. Hey Ianl that makes me feel much more how do you say it better? Well anyway knowing that your intentions were good and that you did not mean anything bad at all makes me feel better but also I would like to know is mrlaws really going to try and attempt the knees? Because if he is I would love to get together with him and see what advice he has on them because I have asked a lot of forums on vacuumforming and I am still having trouble with the knee molds. I guess I will email and ask him then.
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Post by ianl on Jan 9, 2007 13:12:28 GMT -5
Another resource for vacuforming help would be RPF (replica prop forum) www.therpf.com. Those guys know all about making props and stuff, and should be able to help you work the bugs out.
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