How do I put it on? I need help!

[Spartan Primer]

Hello everyone. My name is Ethan and I am building a spartan suit for the first time. I have run into the problem of "securing" The armor onto me. I was thinking of using buckles, but I don't know if i could hide them, and if I didn't hide them it might not look nice. Any help and/or suggestions would be SO appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Jalean4]

Pictures might help people identify a solution for you.

From what I've seen, buckles and strapping seem to be one of the most common methods for keeping the armor in place. I've seen a lot of people weave their straps through their undersuit in order to make it seem more natural and to maintain continuity.

 

[PaiganBoi]

I haven't reached that point in my build. But I have seen people use snaps sewn into the undersuit and armour or rare earth magnets.

 

[Cadet]

The style of SPARTAN you are doing will also play a role in how you strap the armor together and how you wear it.

What style of armor are you going for?

 

[Spartan Primer]

Thank you for replying! My armor style is a Halo reach wrath chest plate with EVA leg pieces. I have a picture of a mess up thigh piece here.
That first picture is the front view, and the second is me wearing it. The 3rd is of if i tilt it a little out you can obviously see that elastic strap is showing.(sorry for the up close with gym shorts )
So I was thinking when I remake these, which I'm planing on doing cause they didn't come out great, just making it go all the way around my thigh like in the game, And having buckles on the side holding them up, latching onto the "armor belt" to keep them from sliding down. But i didn't know if that would look weird having a strap going up that part of my leg. So there are some pics, and I hope you have a solution. Thank you all so much for responding with feedback!

 

[Reclaimara]

If you're using EVA foam, why not use velcro? I've seen many people secure their armor pieces with it.

 

[Spartan Primer]

If you're using EVA foam, why not use velcro? I've seen many people secure their armor pieces with it.

That's something I have considered! I just never knew how reliable that would be. Have you ever used Velcro in one of your suits, and if so, how strong was it? That would be the best solution if it worked cause Velcro is not expensive.

 

[Reclaimara]

I have heavy fiberglass armor, so nope. I actually use velcro just on one armor part - on the abdomen and didn't have and problems with it. It sticks and holds, even if the part is heavier than foam anyway, but it's still small and not too heavy for velcro.

 

[Cadet]

The Reach Armor has that nice bulky Cod/Butt belt system. In the case of the reach armor I recommend straps going down from your waist, either attached to the "Armor Belt" itself, or attached via loops to a belt you wear under the Cod/Butt Armor belt system. These straps then attach to the inside of your thigh pieces, either with velcro, snaps, or just permanently mounted.

This is a system I use on my Halo Combat Evolved Mark V armor. The newer Halo 4 and 5 armor does not have that nice bulky Armor Belt/Diaper section as Halo 1, 2, 3, and Reach had, so it is harder to hide the thigh straps, but this style works well for those games.

 

[Spartan Primer]

Dude thank you so much! So ill run a strap from the cod/butt armor belt down to the thigh piece. I think that will work for me, THANKS SO MUCH!

 

[Reclaimara]

Cadet It seems you have the heavy fiberglass armor too. And silence! That space diaper was horrendous

In all seriousness, I think heavy strapping is unnecessary for foam, I've seen many people just using velcro or those rivet thingies too. But such buckle system works nice for Mark IV-VI too since they have those horrible space diapers.

 

[Dirtdives2424]

Man, CommanderPalmer.....you really hate those diapers. I can hear/feel the venom all the way in the states........

 

[Cadet]

Cadet It seems you have the heavy fiberglass armor too.

Vacuum formed styrene, actually.

I might still recommend straps for the thigh armor for a Reach suit, even for foam just for the sake of extra stability and insurance against wardrobe malfunctions. Since that lovely space diaper will hide the belt and straps.

 

[mblackwell1002]

Vacuum formed styrene, actually.

I might still recommend straps for the thigh armor for a Reach suit, even for foam just for the sake of extra stability and insurance against wardrobe malfunctions. Since that lovely space diaper will hide the belt and straps.

Lovely? Hardly so... It's like...an adult diaper...I guess that's the point, but man is it ugly. I'm sorry Cadet, I do like your taste in ROTJ Boba Fett Jetpacks, but not diapers. xD

What I have done (on my foam builds) is sew some heavy duty Velcro onto my undersuit, and glue some of the Velcro onto my armor parts. I would just suggest sewing the "hooked" side to the undersuit and pointing away from your body. This is common sense stuff, but I just wanted to be sure it is known.

 

[Cadet]

Be careful sewing the hook side onto your undersuit. If you put it into a washing machine to clean it, odds are it will snag itself and shred itself. You will have to hand wash it.

In the past I have seen the loop side onto my undersuits and put the hook side on the part being attached. It might snag some around the under suit while you are wearing it, if you did not line it up proper when you put it on, but it saves headaches and snags in washing and storing and transporting the under suit.

 

[mblackwell1002]

Be careful sewing the hook side onto your undersuit. If you put it into a washing machine to clean it, odds are it will snag itself and shred itself. You will have to hand wash it.

In the past I have seen the loop side onto my undersuits and put the hook side on the part being attached. It might snag some around the under suit while you are wearing it, if you did not line it up proper when you put it on, but it saves headaches and snags in washing and storing and transporting the under suit.

Well, I don't use a morphsuit. I use a black jumpsuit because of the durability. I've washed it 3-4 times with success. Good point, though. I suppose you could attach the soft side of the Velcro to the Hook side to prevent tearing while in the washer, but I'm not sure of how well that would work.

I have used the soft side attached to morphsuits before, but because the "hooks" are attached to the armor, it just tears itself up while you're wearing it. Since the armor moves while you're wearing it, the hooked Velcro slowly eats your morphsuit and then your skin.

Seems like a lose/lose either way.

 

[FANGS]

Pfffffftt....@Cadet is ESB Boba all the way. I'm the one with the ROTJ. Much, MUCH better. ;-) Although, I will have to admit that mine is ROTJ Special Edition. When they added in the extra bits to ROTJ, they dressed Boba wrong and mixed up some of his gear. He has an Empire helmet on and a Pre-pro knee. The Empire helmet is far more cool than the ROTJ one....but the jetpack and gauntlets in ROTJ are my favourite. Annnnnnd my Star Wars Geek is showing so I'm just going to shut up now....hahaha

I'm a fan of harness systems. And even on suits where you shouldn't see strapping you can run the strapping underneath and have it pop out under the armor so it stays hidden. Jango Fett's knee armor is a perfect example of this method but I couldn't quickly locate a good photo of that.

My Bo Katan costume (another Star Wars bounty hunter) I used Velcro initially to sort our armor placement etc. And I hate it. A lot. So it will be changed to snaps. It also has a hidden strapping system for the jetpack. The snaps I use are the big Line 24 snaps. They work really well but you need to set them properly and have enough fabric in between the parts so they hold and don't have too much post mucking up them closing all the way. Keep in mind though that removing the armor over and over again could stress it with snaps. They hold well which means they'll be harder to pull apart. Just something to keep in mind.

Kamui who is the cosplayer who does a lot of tutorials and books about armor making with Worbla etc. has some really great information on how she does her harness rigging systems. She builds in protection for failures so that if something let goes, you aren't a walking garage sale leaving bits and pieces of your armor as you go. She uses strapping and Velcro.

Punished Props also has a video about strapping that may help.