Attaching Armor with Velcro

I was wondering what the best way to do this was, if people were sewing the velcro down or what. I just don't really like snaps so i am trying to avoid them as much as possible. Velcro always held up on my sandtrooper and i enjoy its flexibility and easy repositioning. Anyone have any good methods of attaching the upper body armor with velcro?

any velcro horror stories?

I fully intend to attach the lower half of the armor like everyone else is.

thanks!

ohh phillip.....

You need to learn how to love snaps on a Jango.

I would stay away from Velcro on any jango pieces. This costume requires more action poses then troopers and I know some of those velcro chest pieces will start to come apart.

Snaps are solid.

I've been really busy lately at home, but as soon as I have some time I'll post some pics.

I remember seeing a short picture tutorial of how to do it. But I have a pretty clear understanding.

Basically, you figure what points/corners of the armor (chest armor im talking about now) that you want the snaps to be on, you attach the female end on those points on the vest itself.

On the armor pieces, what I remember, is you take small squares of plastic, and attach the male ends to that, and then take the whole square w/ male end, and epoxy/JB weld/watever adhesieve you prefer to the actual armor piece, so that it is corrosponding to the female end on the vest.

Thats how I remember it, but it will make more sense in picture form.

I can attest to using snaps over velcro, because the velcro will have a tendancy to detach itself if you bend/move. Also, I had velcro on a custom made vest, and I had accidentally left it in a warm area, not even, and the adhesive that was on it, had melted or whatever and left a horrible mess, and complelty de-formed the vest itself. I have pics of it actually.. But thats my opinion!

I'm for using snaps coz I've done velcro on my TD armor and they didn't work for me initially until I replaced them with snaps. I also used them on my clone armor and I just did a 2 mile walk for multiple sclerosis this past Saturday and my suit held up well. I will be using snaps to attach my boba armor to my vest that's for sure!

What dont you like about snaps? The "industrial" velcro I used somehow decided to leak all the stick-um all over my first vest.

CA glue the male protion of the snap directly to the back of your armor. Put rub-n-buff on that snap and put it where you want it on the vest. The R&B circle that was left on the vest will tell you exactly where to punch the hole.

Velcro....SUCKS! And it'll ruin your vest, especially if you have a nice leather one. Do yourself a favor and do it the right way the first time around using Line 20 black plated snaps from Tandy.
Take a look at the pics in post #30 of this thread as a reference: http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f28/dont-call-comeback-19222/

This is what will most likely happen if you use velcro. Mind you, that this was in my room, and just sitting there for awhile. I had picked it up and found it like you see in the pictures. (dont ask about the vest, I didnt sew it )

Get your self some of those Tandy snaps and some Satellite City CA glue and NCF Quick accelerant. You'll be set then. I used to be a velcro man until I decided to listen to these guys on here and I was converted.

STUDS!
No other way will do.
Glue one half (of a stud) onto your armor.
When the glue has set, put a tiny dab of R&B on the top rim of the stud & place the armor on your vest. This marks the position to put the other half of the stud.
Too easy.

Well, easy after you correctly place the armor.
Misplacement leads to holes on the vest in bad places.

Good luck!

Talk to Jimmy BufFETT, he uses velcro successfully.

I've successfully used Velcro on both my Boba and Jango. I recommend staying away from Industrial sticky back on the vest side because, as you see above it has a very bad effect from sitting in heated places. What happens is the glue layer on the back of the velcro becomes a liquid residue. Which gets all over everything. I had this happen to my Scout armor when I had used sticky back on my rubber boots, and it did that. It only happens when you try attaching sticky back to something non armor(rubber, cloth and leather). Sew on velcro can be your friend when you are using velcro. This way, you have no problems. While I can probably agree snaps are good. I have seen some bad situations with snaps as well. Such as removing armor pieces and having the snap pull off either the armor piece or the clothing. So, it is whatever you are more comfortable with.

I bet you didn't think suggesting to use velcro would bring up such a prop-making lashing!

Ok, if you must use "vel-****", then Saxter is right! You'll want to use the sew-on stuff on your vest and sticky-back industrial on your armor. However, by the time your done with all that sewing, you'll have about the same amount of time/energy invested as if you went with snaps.

You're only looking at about an hours worth of work if you work efficiently. There is another member here who has sent me their finished BM armor and vest to attach everything. PM me if you might be interested in me doing the same for you.

That snap method is cool cruzer.Looks great.Now for all you velcro users, here is the solution.Take goop adhesive, apply a thin layer to the sticky side, apply it to the fabric, and armor, press it on really good, and clamp it if you can, let it dry 24 hours to fully cure, and it will stay, with no residue.Goop is heat and water resistant, and sticks to fabric really good.I have used it for countless fabric applications without a problem.
they also make iron on velcro now, but not sure how that works with leather or pleather.

hmm... looks like i will probably use the snaps then haha! that was enough horror stories to change my mind. I guess I was just concerned that i would get all the snaps in place and when i was done realize something was off then end up with holes in the vest. I will keep checking out the tutorials. Thanks for the help guys. And Cruzer, I'll let you know if i need any help