Armor Durability

[UNSC Leatherneck]

Think of this as a survey of armor durability. I'm interested in seeing what kind of wear and tear your armor has accumulated. What pieces see the most wear? Where on those pieces do you see failures? This includes strapping, under armor, etc. And while we're at it, why not include comfort failures. After a long day of convention-going where does it hurt? I know feet will hurt, that is god's subtle way of telling you to buy better boots. The reason I'm asking is that I'm trying to plan they layup schedule for some molded composite armor and I'm interested in some real-world data to see where I need to beef up the layers and where I can cut corners. Thanks.

 

[CPU64]

Nothing borked on mine yet..
Then again, I build to last

 

[CommanderFluffy]

large shoulder pads for support.. if you have electronics and whatnot wheighing down your suit they are a definate must have!

 

[honest insanity]

It can sometime be a hassle to make sure that your Boot Armor has good ground clearance.
Specifically the "toe end". Just my 2 cents worth. Ive had to make some repairs to that armor before. Wasn't hard to fix, but it was annoying.

 

[OrrionCarn]

Thigh pieces, mine broke shortly after the first photoshoot of my EOD.

So, I guess for Pepakura just re-glue the area for a temporary fix. Sure, it would probably last only a while, but it works for me.

 

[Dreads]

toe armor and the shoulders my toes fell off in the parade at dragon and my shoulder i need to put elastic straps to hold them in place they broke when i moved my arms alot

 

[Darkslitter]

My feet are destroyed so re-enforce yours with extra whatever your using or you'll be sorry like me.

 

[demon2005]

Yep first thing to go was my boots. busy night out and they got stepped on, followed by a crunch
pretty much every thing else was ok on my old mk 5

 

[UNSC Leatherneck]

Good, good. Keep the comments coming. Don't worry about necroing this topic, I put it here to gather information on a long term basis. Thanks peeps.

 

[GalaxySailor]

One thing to consider is how the armor is made. There are the resin sets which are very strong, but heavy. I have no experience with the pep stuff. I have plastic armor, both in the Star Wars, and now in HALO. I have a BA suit that is made out of styrene, and all my clones and stormtroopers are ABS. ABS doesn't flex as much as styrene and doesn't show the detail that styrene does, but it is tougher and can take more abuse through the years. Styrene makes for nice pulls but it breaks so very easy.

I use spray-on bed liner to re-enforce my styrene stuff. You can buy it in most automotive sections. I can put on a few layers and it adds good strength and allows for the continued flexibility.

 

[Skullcandy Girl]

You must Bondo your pep armor, it won't last without it. And be sure to scale all pieces accordingly, and to work with the scales your other pieces could come in.

 

[Sigma LS]

I always end up wearing the paint off my handplates where they contact the wrist and on the biceps where I bump into doorframes and other stuff. Toe problems already mentioned above.