Armor density, what can and can not be done

[pwydenowski]

I have been wondering this for awhile but I was some what shy to ask this. What can be done with the armor i mean could it handle a barrage of paint balls, and if not, could it be hardened more to handle it. This would really help me because from what i have seen it has very thick bondoing. Help would be very appreciated.

 

[Toacrabman]

.................... here it goes again..

EVA foam builds can withstand airsoft, and paintball, and pep has to be hardened with an absurd amount of fiberglass to do about the same, while being heavy as a rock, and it will get hot in there, and you will want to take your clothes off, so I recomend some kind of ventilation.

 

[pwydenowski]

Thanks I was looking into this because once I can get the supply I was going to make a prototype helm.

 

[Trooper114]

Bad idea. Even if the helmet itself withstand paintballs, the visor you would put in may not obsorb the impact very will and just explode in your face. If you want to try foam, i would recomend making your own "unique" design. I am thinking kind of a swat stile vest. The problem with paintballing and airsoft, even with strong enough armor, like a MK VI, is that you will not be able to move as much, hell you can't even hold a gun right. Just stick with standard masks and helmets and just do something to it, like a paintjob for example. Then design armor for you but keep in mind you will be running alot in the thing and you need to hold a gun correctly, lol.

 

[ForsakEnd]

I agree with Trooper114 just stick with regulated Head protection and do a custom body armor using foam as it actually absorb the shock of paintballs. http://www.405th.com/member.php/20036-Trooper114

 

[sonic sod]

hey bro if you are really set on making a helmet buy a normal paintball helmet then add to it and build of of it there is a video showing that paintballs rip straight through the helmets even with all the normal processes.
another way you could go about it is make the helmet mould and cast it with alot of plastic

 

[Spitfire22V]

This would really help me because from what i have seen it has very thick bondoing. Help would be very appreciated.

Not sure where you've seen that, because if anything we try to keep the thickness of pieces to a minimum to keep the weight down. All of my armor pieces are only a few millimeters thick, if that. Other people who use Rondo to harden have pieces that aren't much thicker.

We get these "Can I paintball/airsoft in my armor?" questions all the time, and the 405th's answer is the same. First of all, we are a costuming website, and as such do not condone armor making for purposes other than display. The site does not want to risk being held accountable for injuries sustained if someone attempts to use an armor they learned how to make here for ballistic protection.

But on the more practical side, while even I will admit it would be cool, it's just not worth it or practical to wear Spartan armor for paintball/airsoft. As anyone who has worn a full suit will tell you (myself included), it's bulky, unwieldy, hot, and heavy wearing that suit, and that's just for walking around! You can only imagine what it would be like in a paintball/airsoft environment. It just wouldn't work well to be worth all the effort.

 

[pwydenowski]

@sonic sod; yeah was going to do that i wasn't going to make a whole helmet because i have plenty of masks.
@Spitfire22V; yes i know 405th does not condone this and this is my own experiment and any injuries will be on me. i have heard a lot about how bulky it is and hard to maneuver. I will try to compensate, i wont be taking away from anything from the design, if anything i would try to use the pep models and make it out of some sort other material probably metal i have someone that could do the welding, i would just have to pad it a lot

 

[Toacrabman]

I remember when i was testing my AO2 mask a BB went right into the right eyesocket, hit the angled part and it didnt penetrate it but it seperated the eye lenses from the bottom of the eye socket protection. It kinda just fell through the other side. Keep in mind that this was a metal BB at 900 FPS far over the legal standard (from my testing air cannon that I'd use to plink small game off of my fence) so it would take an illegal marker to break the weakest part, but i wanted to test repeated hits fast. So if done with excessive amounts of fiberglass it will work, but it will deteriorate from the outside in with repeated abuse. Id recomend casting it in strong plastic. Or metal.

 

[Ruze789]

The helmets and armor we make on here are for costuming purposes only, and are not intended for protection of any kind.

As such we don't allow discussion of building helmets for airsofting/ paintballing. The helmets and masks that you use for those activities are designed and rated for things like shatter and impact resistance, which can't be achieved so well with a homemade fiberglass or rotocast helmet.