Soft Parts Novel idea - Mounting plates to existing tactical gear?

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Redtail

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So my friends and I had a novel idea for a really comfortable and snazzy-looking way to mount plates for a suit. Has anyone ever tried using, say, the core of a modern platecarrier or load-bearing equipment to mount the plates of their armor to? Many of these units are designed to interface with shoulders and codpieces, and are extremely comfortable and flow very nicely with human body movement.

Here's my thought. Take something such as a fleet antiterror vest or some other modular MOLLE-equipped armor carrier unit, and use it as a comfortable, durable, easy-to-don/doff base to throw on over a jumpsuit or camouflage fatigues.

It's my thought that doing something like this would make it drastically more comfortable to wear at a convention while walking around, offer better range of movement and flexibility, and drastically reduce the time it takes to put on or remove the armor, as well as making the unit adjustable, for if you're like me, and planning to shed some body fat in the next couple months. The biggest plus would be the ability to very quickly add or remove sections of the armor in order to cool off, as well as providing a very cool looking suspension system.
 
Here's a better question.
You ever ask a question, and the find out exactly why you didn't find answers looking in conventional channels...?
Well, it turns out that it's such a good idea that everyone already does it. :D
 
Using the FTV is a good idea in theory. I wear one 12 hours a day for work. Even without the ballistic plates and fragmentation protection (which adds 40lbs) it is still uncomforable if not worn correctly. Make sure you get one with a waistband. The waistband is two long peices of fabric with velco on either side that are meant to be connected TIGHT so the weight of the vest in on the hips not the shoulders. I own a cheap aftermarket version for working out, its a Condor plate carrier, I got it from Evike airsoft http://www.evike.com/products/42680/ a few years back for about $65. It was the cheapest plate carrier I could find at the time. If you went the other way, LBV (load bearing vest) you would have the whole weight of the armor on your shoulders.

how have you considered mounting the arm and leg armor? you can get military issue knee and elbow pads at any large army surplus. Also you will want to look at a Rigger's belt. The military issue brand is London Bridge http://doubletapsurplus.com/products/lbt-0612a-riggers-belt http://www.evike.com/products/43204/ You could mount the codpeice and butt armor to the riggers belt and attach them underneath with straps.

If you have any other questions regarding professional military equipment please feel free to ask.
 
My current ODST build for NYCC uses some "real world" military gear. It was easy for me because I'm familiar with such gear and knew exactly what I needed. For example my belt pad/buckle, hip plates and fanny pack are all on a Condor Gen2 Battle Belt, paired with a Condor inner belt. I'm planning to just attach MALICE clips to the back of the hip plates and fanny pack so they will mount right to the MOLLE.
 
I use a LBE Vest for my marine
 

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huh yeah in the halo live action videos they do only finding tac gear isn't so easy.
 
I used one similar to this for my base, the shoulder pad clip-ons really help with the awkward necessity of the ODST pauldrons.
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personally as someone who owns and uses a plate carrier every day let me tell you that from experience they're not all that comfortable. Mounting would be easy, yes if you could attach it to the MOLLE on most tactical plate carriers. If you really wanted to use it to attach a vest piece you could but you could very easily end up ruining a piece of gear. if you really wanted to do something like that o suggest getting a camelback and attaching it to that, most of them have MOLLE on the back to secure to and you wouldn't end up ruining an expensive piece of gear. That being said, if you were to invest in a "low profile" battle belt. they're basically a sleeve for a belt that has MOLLE straps built into it, if you had an empty thigh rig with MOLLE straps on it you could attach the COD piece and the Thighs to avoid the thighs from slipping.

Battle Belt: http://www.airsoftgi.com/product_info.php?cPath=28_177&products_id=11851
Thigh Mount: http://www.airsoftgi.com/product_info.php?cPath=28_688&products_id=1370
 
all of those Blackhawk things are WAAAAAAAY expensive pieces of gear, i would stick with knock off equipment purely for the fact that the money you would spend on legit plate carriers you could get an entire load-out, vest, belt thigh and everything else for the same money. don't get me wrong, some of black hawks stuff is awesome, their drop down thigh holster is fantastic, i use it all the time, but seriously, stick to guys like Condor and the Airsoft GI guys. its built almost identically and half the price
 
I just asked my fiancé that same question and he said it would be possible to do. Thank you for starting this discussion, it has answered the many questions I had concerning this issue. I will definitely look into air soft gear for my first Spartan armor.
 
Hi all.
The concept of a rig to attach and carry your gear is tried and proven. Military, Police, Emergency Services, Airsoft and the versatility is so vast that ex mil spec gear that I have is the platform of my own Noble build. If the Molle clips are a pain, then use a rig with the fast-ex buckles. Plastic clips and nylon straps make for light weight and relatively quick suit up/down timing. But the comfort issue that was raised by a few in this string of posts led me have my rig as my base and have worked from there for the suit to match. That way it is tailored in the suit to fit me.
I'm a fan of the gear anyway, so as I'm going to wear it for a day and not for a life time... I figure some small discomfort is an acceptable sacrifice.
 
Also try looking on ebay for what you need, when my husband made his mando he used a tac vest has the bast to attach his armour and it worked out pretty well. you can also stop by your local army surplus store if you are in the states, you can sometimes get lucky and find stuff there for cheap. We stop in the ones around where we live often just to snoop around and see if they have anything useful.
 
Also try looking on ebay for what you need, when my husband made his mando he used a tac vest has the bast to attach his armour and it worked out pretty well. you can also stop by your local army surplus store if you are in the states, you can sometimes get lucky and find stuff there for cheap. We stop in the ones around where we live often just to snoop around and see if they have anything useful.

I know you quickly wanted to get to the 50 posts, but please do not resurrect dead threads, it has been dead for over a year.
Generally, if a thread hasn't been updated in 3 months, you should avoid posting there.
 
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