Attaching Armour : Tutorial

I kept mine very simple. I used thin sheet steel. Looks tough but is bendable with your hands. I hot glued a rubber backing (close to 1/4 of aninch worth). Then I hot glued the rubber backed steel armor onto an Extra Large Pull over (zipper neck) sweat shirt. I hand wash the thing. It works great. If something comes loose I just use a little hot glue for repairs. I didn't make a full back armor. I only made a piece for the shoulders and upper back. I added velcro to the armor and the sweat shirt ( I could have done that on the front pieces but I wanted a solid look and feel on the front). I then added velcro to the jet pack and the back plate armor. Worked great. If I make a Jt pack that is heavier then I will need to rethink the attachment method.
-Indae007
 
sorry folks but i dont really understand this method.do you actually drill holes in the armour or do you screw from the inside of the flack vest [what i mean is do you put the bolts on to the armour,put the armour onto the vest and then remove the excess from where it would dig into you,the finished pic does not seem to have holes in the actuall armour],thanks
 
You JB weld or adhere the top of the bolts to the underside of the vest. Then the bolt goes through the grommet in the vest and you screw the nut on the underside(the side facing you) of the vest. You then want to grind the excess amount of the bolt that is sticking out past the nut so that it doesn't dig into you when you are wearing it.
 
You certainly could. I suppose that it would help the armor plates to hold their position but I would still suggest that you also do what most do for Jango's leg armor and have straps running into the jumpsuit that wrap around the leg.

However I would suggest, if you do go that route, that you wear some underarmor pants or something under your flight suit then so you don't have the bolts rubbing into your leg.
 
Great tutorial!! I'm contemplating on whether to use snaps or bolts with JB Weld on my 3mm Sintra armor set and Pleather vest. I don't plan on countersinking the bolts, if I go the bolt route.

I'm afraid that the bolt method may put too much stress on the sintra's surface. Has anyone had experience with Bolt attachment & Sintra armor?

I know the Sintra & snap method works with good success. Just wondering if I could make it better.
 
Any news on the positioning of the shoulder eyelets? :)

From the pictures I've seen, the Boba shoulders appear to rotate from the sides near the corners of the armor... almost like a hinge. Looks like two eyelets (on the top farside corners) were used in the original.

I attached mine a little differently though. I used 4 snaps (which work a lot like bolts/eyelets, if you recess them well enough) per shoulder. 1 snap on each of the top 4 corners of the armor. I'd say this method would work for the rotating boba-style, if you removed the top 2 snaps.. leaving the far "side" corner snaps.

The key to mounting the shoulder, which I found out the hard way, is to follow the SEAM of the vest, not the contour of the vest sleeve. I followed the contour of my vest's sleeve first, and it made my shoulders look like WINGS lol.

So I suggest that you focus on aligning the top edge of the shoulder with the vest seam (where the sleeve meets the vest). This will make it angle downward correctly, and give good spacing to the collar and the chestpiece.

It took 4 or 5 people for us to figure out what looked off about my original placement. We couldn't put our finger on it, it just looked funny lol.
 
I haven't taken any photos of the eyelets, but I do have photos of my shoulders.

Here they are mounted "correctly" (following the seam of the vest)
DSC04847.jpg


Here they are mounted "incorrectly" like wings lol (following the contour of the vest sleeves)
DSC04426.jpg


Here is a trimmed photo of my shoulder after correcting it - just happened to have this uploaded
Vestshoulder.gif


See where the two green lines intersect? Place a snap or bolt about 1/2" from that corner. Place another snap on the opposite corner. These two snaps/bolts are critical for MY vest. You could attach to the corner where the red/green intersect, but it may leave a more noticeable gap between the fabric and the shoulder - it just depends on your vest.

These two snaps are the only ones you need for the Boba screen-style mounting (someone correct me if I'm wrong), as his appears to rotate freely about this axis point. Forgot where I saw the pictures.

If you want them fixed to the vest (like mine), two more snaps are needed for the top (near the top of the green line). I used two snaps - one at each of the "top corners".

Jango's vest extends beyond the shoulder plate (mine does not, obviously), and this will require a couple more snaps/bolts to hold the vest to the bottom of the shoulders. I would attach these to the corners also.
 
That looks really good. I am just starting my armour. So far, here in Australia, I can’t find half the stuff the guys are using in the US. I am making my armour from PVC pipe. It’s thick and relatively easy to mould using a good heat gun. I would imagine I’d need to really scuff the inner side of the armour for epoxy putty, or glue for that matter, to stick the bolts to the PVC. I don’t mind telling you that I am pretty nervous. I’m trying to do this well on a budget. I don’t have a lot of money to throw around. There is a con coming up in my small town, the first ever, and I just want to make this the best I can.
 
Hi Bigkid, I'm just starting on my armour too, and on a tight budget. I am reading up as much as possible to help me and this seems to be the best way to attach the armour, let me know how you get on bud, maybe we could pass ideas to each other?
 
Can Daz bobamaker or anyone else comment on what size eyelets would be best to go for to use this kind of method in conjunction with the reference photos as per the Allinger book. If anyone knows and can share then great, if not I'll use my best guess. Unfortunately my copy of the book is currently on loan so I can't show the page I mean.

It's a must have book if you don't have a copy.
 
Can Daz bobamaker or anyone else comment on what size eyelets would be best to go for to use this kind of method in conjunction with the reference photos as per the Allinger book. If anyone knows and can share then great, if not I'll use my best guess. Unfortunately my copy of the book is currently on loan so I can't show the page I mean.

It's a must have book if you don't have a copy.

Maybe this will help:
Armor Attachment Method Measurements.jpg
 
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