building my own gear

[bigsky]

hey guys, been working on building a heavy loadout onto an older cross-slung tac vest that i have, influenced somewhat by army of two, admittedly. so far ive got a mask made, and as of today a set of shoulder plates, and a forearm plate for the forward hand, along with my standard issue elbow pads. heres some pictures of the setup so far.

started with the armor plates, simple enough, heavy sheet steel (14g i think) wrapped in digi-camo cloth, then secondary plate on top of that, the mask is hand-hammered forged and hardened sheet steel, two layers, plus a third layer on top of the main face section from the nose to the chin, and behind the forehead, with a gas mask spider harness for webbing.



plates and harnesses finished, large shoulder plate is removeable, clips on to vest and ties around the arm and has removeable medium gear pouch, right shoulder plate attatches directly to vest, but is also removeable. forearm plate simply clips on.




[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1202.snc4/155456_10150327918585035_582450034_16027667_752724 _n.jpg[img/]



and yes thats my crappy crossman ak-74 in the pictures.

so yet to do, i have to work on a plate for the back of the head to attatch to the mask webbing, a neck ring, and chest & back plates, porbably another forearm plate as well.

let me know what you guys think.

[TokyoSeven]

Very creative work youve done. Kudos to you on the time and effort you have invested.

I look forward to seeing your completed final product.

I would like to add that if you ever intend to field the mask at any event in Sask (as well as other locations in Canada), those eye holes will have to be covered. So you will require to wither wear some ballistic glasses underneath or a set of paintball goggles on top.

[bigsky]

i built it making sure that i can fit a pair of CSA safety glasses under it comfortably, but thanks for the heads up!

[thpethalK]

I hope I don't see anything on the news about someone imitating Rampage...

Looks good though, out of curiosity, how much does it all weigh

[L473ncy]

Hmmm..... this might be a good rig to play "Juggernaut" or "Zombie" with. The player has to hit you on a certain part of your armour hits elsewhere don't count. You could totally do a 1v5 or maybe if you made another set 2v15 or something. The possibilities for irregular game types that incorporate that armour are endless (ie. not good for actual milsim games where hits are hits even if they hit your "tac shield" but might prove to be invaluable if the host/admin decides to incorporate some real life "multiplayer" games into the day).

[R.I.T.Z]

very creative
awesome.
and i jut have one suggestion
DO NOT PAINT IT

[grantmac]

I thought this was going to be about homebrew LBEs or forming Kydex, totally blindsided by the content.

Your armor looks good, but I think it would be a pretty severe disadvantage to play in.

[pugs144]

Sweet Jesus.....

[Gunny_McSmith]

Badass....

BTW: for the metal parts _mask/armor, I would paint it with a thin layer of flat black.... and let it wear off, exposing the bare metal under it... :P

because shiny metal in a forest isnt good...lol

[pugs144]

...and neither are big heavy NOISY hunks of metal.

[bigsky]

well so far it doesnt weight that much, the mask is fairly lightweight considering how much metal its comprised of, and the armor plates thus far are pretty minimal, the chest and back plates will be the heaviest, but like i said so far its like theyre harly even there, affects visibility a little bit towards the left shoulder, but i figure if i cant see em theyre on the other side of an armor plate anyways haha.

as for noise, the whole setup thus far is made to counteract that, by wrapping the armor plates in a thin layer of camo fabric and making sure bits of metal dont contact eachother. the mask is actually not very shiny at all, during the "forging" process, basically heating the two layers of steel and fusing them together, and all the while using that superheated state to mold and shape the steel, it all rusted instantly to a dark brown finish, which is hard to see in the pictures but resembles a rusted old car thats been sitting out in the sun for ages. however im giving consideration to painting a sortof "two face" themed paintjob, one side in one type camo the other side in another, one face with a smile one face with a grimmace, or something to that effect. could be kinda neat.

it should be kinda neat to play some custom games with, if nothing else itll be the coolest loadout on the feild, and if hits do count on the armor plates, thats fine, cause i still wont have to take a BB to the face. haha. also all these peices are modular, so all of it can be taken apart and taken off, if the mood strikes me.

[Grrxmaster]

That is.. Awesome.

[bigsky]

haha thanks man.

[Pinard]

WOW !!! totally sick ! definitely looking forward for the final product ! keep us updated

[bigsky]

thanks man, will do! i havent gotten around to any hobby work lately, been too busy out in the shop, should have my bike back together next week, then ill have time to mess around with tin again.