"Help!" for: Armor Mounting / Costume Assembling

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I'm not sure about the rondo - but just speaking from fiberglass backing or plastic, hot glue will work on a temporary basis but I've found that the strap pulls the glue away from the fiberglass if sufficient pressure is applied.

Shadow's plan on riveting would work great on plastic. I've never handled rondo but have heard it's brittle - not sure how it would hold up to pressure. It may hold up perfectly, I don't know. You may even want to super glue a strip of ABS (for sale signs) to the inside of the armor piece, bend it up at a slight angle, then rivet to the strip instead of the armor itself. That way if you snag the armor piece on something and, God forbid, it rips off, the rivet will pull on the ABS strip and either the glue on the ABS will give or the rivet itself will pull through the ABS and not the armor itself. That method may not work for every piece though. I use it on my sandtrooper thighs and shoulder bells and it has saved the armor more than once.
 
What i plan on doing for actually attaching the nylon strap is to drill little holes where i want the strap to attach to and then rivet it to the piece. Now this also all depends on how thick your layer of rondo is. Hope this helped! (and i have not tried this as of yet)

Yeah, I tried riveting two smaller pieces together earlier this week with pop-rivets. I was doing it in too tiny an area / it was too close to the edge of the piece... and just the action of creating the rivet broke the rondo around the rivet.

I think it all depends on how much pressure you need that strap to hold. I think my key problem is that I've bonded my chest and back pieces at the shoulders AFTER rondoing them separately. And so, I'm forcing them to come together at the sides and they just don't want to do it. Too much "pull" backwards. I'm thinking I should just press the pieces together with one big squeeze and let the think crack... and then just rondo over the crack. However, I still need the pieces to come apart at the sides / bottom when I want to separate the "turtle shell" and get into the darned thing. So, I'm not sure if by solving one problem I'll be creating another. So, I'm going to probably try two bolts (with washers) and a strap sometime tomorrow.
 
How about glue? Like hot glue (never tried that on clothing, but rumor says it works) or epoxy glue (tried that, works).

In my experience, hot glue does NOT hold up well when you apply force or put it on a location where there's going to be a lot of movement (and possible bending of the piece).
 
Shadow's plan on riveting would work great on plastic. I've never handled rondo but have heard it's brittle - not sure how it would hold up to pressure. It may hold up perfectly, I don't know. You may even want to super glue a strip of ABS (for sale signs) to the inside of the armor piece, bend it up at a slight angle, then rivet to the strip instead of the armor itself. That way if you snag the armor piece on something and, God forbid, it rips off, the rivet will pull on the ABS strip and either the glue on the ABS will give or the rivet itself will pull through the ABS and not the armor itself. That method may not work for every piece though. I use it on my sandtrooper thighs and shoulder bells and it has saved the armor more than once.


Wow, that's an interesting technique! I'll have to keep that one in mind for the future.
Thanks for sharing that!
 
In my experience, hot glue does NOT hold up well when you apply force or put it on a location where there's going to be a lot of movement (and possible bending of the piece).

Well, as I said, I haven't tried it. I wouldn't do it myself, either (mainly because I don't have a glue gun).

Just another tip: There's a little symbol in the lower right corner of each post that will select the post for a multi-quote. So if you want to quote multiple posts, select them all and then click the reply button at the bottom of the page.
 
OK, I'm kind of confident that I'll soon have my "connections" for my chest, shoulders, and biceps of my War Machine armor figured out. Resin and rondo are drying now in the garage.

I'm a bit concerned about how I'm going to keep my forearms on. Now, normally, you'd think there'd be an elbot to connect the biceps to the forearm. But not so with the pep files on War Machine here on these forums. The forearms have hand plates and guns attached to them, making them a bit heavy. They also have a LOT of room inside, to the point where I should probably put foam inside (I think) to help them fit more snugly to my arms. But I'm really wondering...how the heck am I going to keep them "up" ? I mean, over time, I'm thinking that foam will get more compressed / more "used to" my arms being in there... and will loosen its grip. Wondering how other folks here do it ?

I'm also mulling over how I'm going to attach my thighs and lower legs. From photos of other similar costumes, it's very hard to tell how folks connect those things. Two years ago, with my Robocop costume, I velcroed the bottom of my lower legs to my shoes. This worked out okay... but only, I suppose, because my lower legs couldn't slip any lower. Because of the high amount of motion going on between foot and ankle, the velcro didn't hold so well and both lower legs did a lot of warping.

My upper legs, for that same costume, were the most failed connections for that costume. (In fact, I was shocked that I won first place in a local costume contest, since I walked across the stage pulling up my left leg every few seconds.) I had attached industrial strength velcro to leather straps and then to the costume itself. Straps went from my belt... at the hips... straight on down my sides to about mid-thigh. Boy, the motion of swinging that belt maybe 45 degrees again and again when I walked really took a toll on the velcro. (But then, I recently read the package of that velcro again and it says not to use it on leather or cloth. Doh !!)

So, regarding lower legs, I'm wondering both HOW and WHERE to make my connections? Right now, I'm thinking I'd better get a strong belt... somehow rig War Machine's cod-piece to it (I'm really scratching my head on that one)... and then running straps... connected by bolts, washers, and nuts... to maybe the middle of the FRONT of my legs?

Of course, I'm hoping somebody who has worn full suits of similar costume armor may read this and throw me a few pointers.

I've got ONE WEEK until I have to have my build done. (Sigh.) Tick-tick.


Thanks!

-= Dave =-
 
Okay so I'm connecting every piece together by straps because it's more comfortable that way and the pieces will actually stay in place instead of sliding around, but now a question. How would one attach the straps themselves to the armor pieces? I was thinking of using hot glue or super glue and I wanted to know if that was a good way.
 
I've been using Hot Glue. As long as the strain is put along the length of the strap, the glue holds OK. If the pull is at an angle, it seems as if the Hot Glue will eventually be pulled loose. The secret seems to be to lay thing out so that the stain is along the length of the strap. Good luck!
 
Shadowshail: You're welcome! =P and now I"M a little confused about the shoulder thing... What is preventing the strap from just sliding off your back? Do you glue it to your back armor piece?

And for the hot glue: I'm planning on using hot glue (in the next few days...Halloween XD) My theory is that hot glue is just super awesome so it'll like kick major butt and work. there. Lol no jk. I think that it would normally work good but also that it partially melts the straps making an even tighter bond...But i may be totally wrong there, so don't get in a fight about it with anyone or anything, cause it may turn out incorrect lol. haha.
 
OK, based on all the reading I've done here and elsewhere, it seems that for any full-body suit of armor (at least for one that's heavy / backed by rondo), the method that seems to be the best is to create a harness for yourself out of belts and straps... and then "hang" pieces off of it, so that they're attached, yet they have some freedom of movement.

By "harness", I'm thinking of a belt and a set of suspenders that are joined together. And then, you just attach straps off the shoulders, the abdomen, and the belt (for both thighs and codpiece).

I'm planning on using pieces cut from leather belts for all of the straps that attach off of this rig. I plan on connecting all straps and parts together using small bolts, washers, and stop nuts. (And, of course, the belt and suspenders would be attached to each other using the same parts.)

But what's bugging me a little bit is that I'm thinking that some or all of these leather straps may need a little "bounce" in them... they may need to be a bit elastic in order to allow a bit of "give". I mean, even for my suspenders, I was planning on going with two long leather belts, instead of the totally-elastic-cloth suspenders that you can buy at any clothing store. My thinking was that bolts wouldn't attach and hold to that elastic too well. But still, you'd like your suspenders to fit you snugly, right? And if you're walking and bending all over, you'd like those thighs to have a little give too, I would think?

So, I thought I'd run this plan by you all and see what you think / if you have any suggestions ?

I guess my concerns would suggest that I go to the trouble of attaching elastic to the ends of suspenders and straps. But I'm short on time already and I suspect that my sewing skills would then make all such connections "weak links" in my rig. <grin!>
 
Shadowshail: You're welcome! =P and now I"M a little confused about the shoulder thing... What is preventing the strap from just sliding off your back? Do you glue it to your back armor piece?

And for the hot glue: I'm planning on using hot glue (in the next few days...Halloween XD) My theory is that hot glue is just super awesome so it'll like kick major butt and work. there. Lol no jk. I think that it would normally work good but also that it partially melts the straps making an even tighter bond...But i may be totally wrong there, so don't get in a fight about it with anyone or anything, cause it may turn out incorrect lol. haha.

For the strap it wont slide off at all...It should be tightened to hold your shoulder pieces up on your biceps an then it just rests right on the spot where your neck meets your back. After you have that you just put on your chest piece and it covers that little strap. :)
 
For the strap it wont slide off at all...It should be tightened to hold your shoulder pieces up on your biceps an then it just rests right on the spot where your neck meets your back. After you have that you just put on your chest piece and it covers that little strap. :)

Ah. i see. thank you very much sir. I will most likely do this...tomorrow or the day after... ahhh it's sunday lol
 
Ah. i see. thank you very much sir. I will most likely do this...tomorrow or the day after... ahhh it's sunday lol

Here are some pictures of the strapping layout i have:
First shoulder piece:
IMG_2875.jpg




Second shoulder piece:
IMG_2876.jpg




Both attached:
IMG_2877.jpg



Hope this helps anyone else who is doing this too!
 
Alright I think i got everything down about chest, Shoulder and few others. now I have questions basic on Helmet and boot - ok since boot part is 3 pieces so how do you make it stay with boots? and helmet how can you make sure your helmet dont go anywhere? do you just put lot pads in it until it fit you? and other question do you hot glue the vision to the helmet? and thank you and very hope to hear from ya guys :) Right now I m work on helmet part its already bondo. due to weather Shed's cold so I m hold on off to bondo and fiberglass until its warm up. so i m work on other parts of halo :) so come up spring i should be catchin up :) Hope to get it done for Halloween 2011
 
Another thing:

I've had issues with certain under-armour gear "pitting" (the fabric, that is) under straps and other mounts, and various areas of friction where your armour will rest. You should take this into account when fitting and mounting your gear and make sure you have undergarb you don't mind devoting to that one set of armour in a worst case scenario!
 
I'm guessing that it might be an idea, when trying to figure out how to mount your armour to look at how Plate Armour was mounted. Straps have been mentioned by several people here and I'd agree in theory that it's a sound idea, I mean that's how it used to be done anyway right?! I too am curious about mounting the leg armour though. I'm in no rush with my own armour at the moment, but knowing ahead of time might save me some headaches later.
 
I'm guessing that it might be an idea, when trying to figure out how to mount your armour to look at how Plate Armour was mounted. Straps have been mentioned by several people here and I'd agree in theory that it's a sound idea, I mean that's how it used to be done anyway right?! I too am curious about mounting the leg armour though. I'm in no rush with my own armour at the moment, but knowing ahead of time might save me some headaches later.

Ah, I wish I had some photos of what I'm about to describe to you. Here's what I ended up doing for my War Machine build. I did something a little bit like this for my Robocop, so I'm learning more with each build:

1) I started with a strong leather belt to go around my waist.

2) I gathered pieces from 4 belts. I matched their widths so that they were about the same, so that when I brought one piece's buckle over to another piece's strap-with-holes, they'd connect just fine. I then connected the pieces to each other in pairs, so that I ended up with two pieces that were like very long belts that had been connected/buckled...and then cut / severed at the very back.

I then drilled holes and put bolts, washers, and nuts through so as to connect each of these two severed-belts to my waist belt in the front and back. Basically, they formed large, somewhat loose "suspenders".

3) When I put on these suspenders, I actually tucked my head under each one and moved each one to the opposite shoulder, forming a tight fitting "X" across my chest and back.

4) I put on my thigh pieces, more or less holding them up with my hands. I then took leather straps (more belt pieces) and measured lengths from my waist down to about the center of the front of each of my thigh pieces. Next, I drilled and bolted these straps so as to connect them / let them hang from the main belt while also attaching the thigh pieces "semi-permanently" to them.

So, at this point, I had a belt-and-suspenders system made completely out of leather belts, where my thighs were already attached. Yes, sort of like War Machine's "lederhosen" !! ;)

I should mention that at first, I only attached the FRONTS of the thighs. But then, I thought more about what I'd done. I then added pieces of elastic that I had cut from a pair of actual suspenders... and attached those to the backs of the thighs. I left the little metal clips that help you resize the elastic lengths on the backs of those suspenders. So, when I put the thighs back on, I was able to adjust those clips so as to make a fairly snug fit.

One other good benefit from adding back straps: Without them, my whole harness-and-thighs piece would get really tangled whenever I wasn't wearing it. That became really annoying. Adding the back straps prevented such tangling.


5) Now, my INTENT was to later attach my cod-piece to the waist-belt and my abdomen to the suspenders. However, I ran out of time and ended up just letting the pieces sort of "hang" on me. That worked okay. But what I had wanted to do was use small pieces of either leather or elastic to attach them. The trick is, I would have had to had built those straps so that they had clips or somehow otherwise allowed you to remove the armor from the straps quickly. I mean, I had to cross the suspenders when putting them on. I can't imagine the abdomen being already attached at that point.

So, some small straps with some clips on them... and then I'm not sure what on the armor pieces... small metal rings somehow attached to the armor? And I certainly would have had to attach the cod-piece to the waist-belt AFTER putting on the belt. Sure, one could have put it on there permanently, but then, how would you tighten your belt to fit your waist, once you had put it on?

Near the end of my little project in building this harness, the idea of straps for the abdomen and cod-piece came to me. But I knew that I was recalling reading about someone else doing this over two years ago on some other forums. I really had the strong sense that this was "the way to go" for attaching armor: build a harness and let parts "hang" off of you. Don't necessarily bolt them to your harness without giving them a small strip of leather or elastic to allow them to move and sway a bit if they need to. I honestly think that must be the best way to go. It makes a lot of sense.

Oh, you may be wondering what I did for the arms and shoulders. Well, I did not attach these to my harness. Instead, for the shoulders, I did use leather straps, but I attached them directly to the chest piece. Those worked out okay. Every now and then, one of the shoulder bells would get turned out of alignment with my actual shoulder. But I could easily correct that with a shrug.

As for the biceps, I had worked off of the premise that lining them with foam (and making sure it fit me tightly) would be enough to keep them from slipping down. WRONG! Same for the forearms. I hadn't read any information or got anyone to respond to my questions about other solutions for those pieces. Seems like every 5 minutes I was trying to discretely shove my arms back upwards.

If I had to do it again or if I have to go fix and upgrade my War Machine, I would come up with some sort of strap system for these, and probably would attach them to the chest, though I suppose I could figure out a way to attach them to the tops of those suspenders too.... or maybe bypass the suspenders and instead, connect the left arm and right arm to each other with a long strap that goes across your shoulders. (Did that for Robocop. Had the connection meet at the back with Velcro. That worked out VERY well. The tension between the right arm and the left arm kept them in place just fine. And I never even felt anything across my shoulders while wearing them.)

Sorry so lengthy a post, but I find talking out these "mounting" issues to be very, very helpful to myself, even after the fact.
 
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