DISCLAIMER: You, and only you are responsible for what you do. I, nor the 405th/staff/members, take any responsibility for what happens to you while wearing costume armor during any activity, including sitting on your couch doing nothing. I, along with most people here, think that trying to make costume armor to wear while participating in sports is a terrible idea, and hopefully this post will help you understand why.
Let me start by saying that yes, it is entirely possible to make costume armor that is capable of being safely and resiliently worn to participate in activities like paintball and airsoft. I don't like seeing posts that just say "it can't be done", because it very obviously can, and all those posts do is reduce credibility of the poster. My argument is that, even though it can be done, it's not worth it, gains you little or no benefit, and thus if you are wise you should not want to make it. If you take the time to read this post, you will hopefully see some of the issues that you would have to overcome to make it, and decide that it isn't worth the investment (or alternatively, prepare yourself to spend thousands of dollars and hundreds/thousands of hours of work actually making something that will work, because that's what it would take).
These are the kind of things you are going to have to deal with to DO IT RIGHT, and have armor you can actually wear, that will survive long enough to make your effort worth it. I'm sorry if it sounds like a "dream crusher", but I'm saying it CAN be done, just that it will take a lot of money and work.
Let me start by saying that yes, it is entirely possible to make costume armor that is capable of being safely and resiliently worn to participate in activities like paintball and airsoft. I don't like seeing posts that just say "it can't be done", because it very obviously can, and all those posts do is reduce credibility of the poster. My argument is that, even though it can be done, it's not worth it, gains you little or no benefit, and thus if you are wise you should not want to make it. If you take the time to read this post, you will hopefully see some of the issues that you would have to overcome to make it, and decide that it isn't worth the investment (or alternatively, prepare yourself to spend thousands of dollars and hundreds/thousands of hours of work actually making something that will work, because that's what it would take).
- Safety first! Under no circumstances should you use anything to protect your eyes that is not designed and certified for the activity you are doing. If you are playing paintball, that means you MUST be wearing real paintball goggles, that are designed to keep your eyes safely intact in your head. I've seen a guy get his eye shot out at the paintball field, and it's sad. This means you are going to need to play with a paintball goggle in your helmet, and you are going to have to put in considerable work to make the helmet fit (and even then, it still might not look right). There may be gold paintball goggles out there, but you still have the same problem of getting it in the helmet.
- Master Chief is a video game character. His armor, when created in the real world, is cumbersome, restrictive, bulky, and limits motion and vision. The more work you do to try to overcome these problems, the more you deviate from the desired replica look. Paintball and airsoft are demanding activities, that benefit from being highly aware, highly mobile, fast and reactive. There is nothing to be physically gained by wearing this much armor, except looking really cool from the sidelines (which is where you'll be when some scrawny kid that CAN fit completely behind the bunker shoots you out).
- You will have to design better ways to attach, strap, and pad the armor. Accept right now that this will be expensive and time consuming. The current methods that people use to attach their armor work well for costuming, but will not withstand the rigors of highly physical use. Small straps will tear, standard sized rivets will pull out of the armor plates, the straps will be uncomfortable and chafe away your skin. Your best bet would be to design the armor to connect onto already existing items, like baseball catcher's shin guards and lacrosse chest/shoulder protectors. Alternatively, you could try to design padding and strapping systems similar to those found on sports equipment, but this will probably be time consuming and involve quite a bit of trial and error to perfect.
- You will need to make the armor plates tougher. They must be able to withstand the impact of the projectile, but also must be able to survive the impact of YOU, as you slide in behind bunkers and slam into walls and barriers. There are a number of ways to do this, but they will all cost a lot of money. You can fiberglass them heavily, you can mold them out of thick plastic, you can use stronger / more exotic materials like high-impact plastic or carbon fiber, or you can do something else to beef them up like casting them out of metal.
- The paint won't last. You would have to put special consideration into the way in which the armor is finished, to take the abuse. This would probably involve molding the armor with an appropriate color added to the plastic, or at least black. You will then need to choose highly flexible and durable coatings, because most paints will crack off if the armor is flexed. You will not be able to use Bondo, or other body fillers, since they too will crack off when flexed. These special pigments, paints, and coatings are going to cost you more time and money to experiment with and implement.
These are the kind of things you are going to have to deal with to DO IT RIGHT, and have armor you can actually wear, that will survive long enough to make your effort worth it. I'm sorry if it sounds like a "dream crusher", but I'm saying it CAN be done, just that it will take a lot of money and work.
