Ok, back again and quickly. Now that I did the "explain what this thread is all about" post, lets get to crackin' on concepts and creation of this project.
Again, as I stated before, besides military, I jousted for 6 1/2 years on the side as well as made tons of medival armor. I wanted some sort of padding underneath my steel armor to help keep my armor in place and add a bit of protection as well... at least from armor bites.
So, what I ended up doing was creating custome fitted patterns. As we all know, we are all different sizes, shapes and heights. Me, I am 6' 3" and built like a Greek Fig, but I carry it well. LOL
The best way to make custom patterns will take you (the subject of needing a pattern) and one other person (preferably a loved one or someone that won't mind you in your underwear LOL) to help you out.
Anytime I refer to materials or supplies needed, I will mark them in bold so they can be easily seperated from the numbering used for the step-by-step instructions.
Supplies you will need to make the basic patterns:
A1) 1" Masking Tape
A2) 2" Masking Tape
A3) Pair of Scissors
A4) Pair of Snug Fitting Long Johns or Equivilent (Will be cut)
A5) Sharpie Pen (Fine Tip)
A6) Spare Change of Clothes
You can do this meathod to make patterns by sections or by the whole suit.
Ok, so here's the deal... once you get into your Long Johns (you can substitile with a snug fitting long sleeve shirt and snug pajama bottoms):
1) Stand very still with your arms down and slightly away from your body. Much like the armor drawings offered by BenStreeper which you can find on the forums here.
2) Your assistant must now begin covering you snuggly but not tightly with strips of masking tape. Once the area you want to make a pattern of is covered with a single layer of masking tape, they will then begin again, this time laying the tape down in the opposite direction of how the tape was laid the first time.
3) Ok, it is all about redundency, after that step is done, your assistant will do the same proceedure one more time, again, laying take opposite pattern as the previous time. Once completed, you should feel somewhat mummified in masking tape!
Now, as you can probably tell by now, you will soon have a pattern based off of your exact size, shape and build! The next step is fairly simple... for your assistant as you are standing there helplessly wrapped in tape.
4) Your assistant will now begin to draw cut lines (marked by dashes) on the inside of the areas. Meaning, if you are making thigh patterns, the cut lines would be the inside of the thigh vertically and center of the thigh.
5) After the cut lines are drawn, your assistant can now go around and draw centered reference lines (marked with continued lines). These lines will help give you points of reference on where key points of your body will be with the padded Under-Armor. These lines will help keep everything centered for the most part or very close to it.
6) Once you get to this point, your assistant can now begin to CAREFULLY cut the pattern away from you. Now, remember when I suggested you have a spare change of clothes... here's why... Your partner will begin to cut on the dashed cut lines of this masking pattern. Do not even attempt to cut between the tape and the long johns... they will cut through it all... again, being careful not to cut you.
7) You can then ask your assistant to step out of the room. Unless they are fine seeing you in your birthday suit.
8) Once they have temporarily left, you can begine to slowly pull the maksing pattern away from you which will be easy because it is not slicking to you but rather the long johns you had underneath.
9) Now that you have pulled the masking cast oway from you, get dressed with the spare clothes you has standing by.
10) At this point you can call back your assistant and check out your masking cast you made. Again, this masking cast is made off your exact dimensions!
Let's continue shall we...
If you haven't already done so, check out BenStreeper's kick butt scaled drawings of the armor..... they will be of great help! Here is the link:
http://www.mjolnirarmor.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=718
Ok, here we continue.....
11) The next step would be to print out the patterns from BenStreepers drawing. Print them scaled to your size. Obviously making slight adjustments to fit you.
12) Now, take the masking cast you just made and place BenStrreper's armor pattern on top of your masking cast and hold it down with a piece of masking tape.
13) Draw the outline of where you want the far limits of your Under-Armor to be. Those will be your cut lines.
14) Remove the BenStreeper Armor Pattern from your masking cast.
Ok, well you are almost done! I will be back shortly to continue this! I will just edit this post when I go to add the rest! I think you will find the ending most satisfying... at least I hope so!
***** AGAIN, I WILL BE POSTING UP PICS & PATTERNS AS TIME GOES ON TO HELP MAKE IT EASIER FOR EVERYONE TO UNDERSTAND *****
Well, after a hearty lunch and a few errands... I am back to continue!
Now is where attention to detail will really need to be looked at. If you haven't already done so, look at every single picture that this forum has to offer as well as check out the video game, trailers, still pics, anything and everything you can find regarding the MJOLNIR armor and look specifically the non armored areas. As you will be able to see, the black areas between the armor and surrounding areas seem to have patterns... you can easily recreate them!
After completing Step 14 (above) here is the material you should have on hand.
A7) Black cloth. I prefer CORDURA for durability... look at 600 denier or more. Again me personally I go for 1000 Denier Cordura. Cordura you can purchase on Ebay at times as well as find other resources on the net. Specifically a few years back I opened a wholesale account with ASTRUP who carries it. I can re-check and activate my account with them and get some pricing for you guys.
A8) Child's Sleaping Foam Mat. This is usually found at most sporting goods stores and is roughly 2' x 5'. Me, I found mine at Sports Chalet. Get the kid's one, not the adult as the kids one is slightly less thick and a lot less expensive. They come in an array of colors which doesnt matter as it will be covered by the black material. I paid less than $5 for mine and I bought 2-3 of them just to have the extra foam. Get more or less depending on your needs.
A8b) Another option if not a kid's sleeping mat would be 1/2" or 1" thick foam like what can be used for apholstery or such. This matterial will give you more of a "pillowed" look to your Under-Armor.
A9) Bias Tape. This is found at your local fabrick shop. You can get it in different widths. Best bet would be to pick up the 1" Bias tape in Black. There are a couple other good options but their name escapes me for now.... I will check it out and get back to you on it. This Bias Tape is like a ribbon... it is what is used to sew around on the edge of your material to give it a clean and finished look.
A10) Spray Adhesive. This is pretty much self expanitory and can be found at Home Depot or Lowes or any other hardware store. I usually get the 3M brand. this will be used to hold material down. This is not a mandatory process but rather an option. I will explain further into the instructions.
A11) Have a sewing machine on hand with a new heavy duty needle. This project can be sewn with a normal sewing machine without problem!
A12) Tailor's Chalk Pencil
A13) Ruler
That should be about it for the materials needed for this next process.
Ok.... now.... where were we... oh yeah, Step 15!
15) What you need to do is lay a good sized piece of the Cordura down then place an appropriate size piece of the Child's foam sleeping mat. Then add another appropriate sized piece of Cordure on top of that. basically you will have sandwhiched the foam witht he Cordura. To keep the Cordura from moving on you, spray a fine mist of the Spray Adhesive on the foam then lay the Cordura pieces on it. Again... only a tiny bit is needed otherwise you will gum up your needle when sewing later.
16) The next step will call for you to bring out your Armor Paterns... specifically the parts closet to your body.
Here is where something cool gets to happen.... if you followed the masking cast directions to the letter, your cut up long johns should still be attached to the sticky side of the masking cast!!! Now check this out!
17) Go back to your masking cast that you made earlier and grab the part you wish to make padding for first. Then peel off the cut-up long john portion from that piece.
18) Now you can stick your masking cast pattern directly to the CORDURA sandwich you just made. As you can now visualize, the masking cast will not move because of the stickiness of the tape holds it to your material!
19) Using your tailor's chalk pencil... outline exactly how big you want that Under-Armor to be compared to the actually Armor Pattern. Allow for anough extra space too if you place to use velcro, straps or buckles to close the Under-Armor around you.
20) You can now remove the Armor Pattern and the Masking Cast Pattern from your material. Make sure to check check and recheck your measurements and eye ball it to make sure it is what you want and how you will like it to look size wise.
21) You can now cut out your piece making sure to cut through the foam and both layers of the Cordura.
22) Now the finishing touches can be started by using the Tailor's Chalk Pencil and making out the line designs of across the material. Refer to pics of MJOLNIR Armor (specifically those blackened areas I spoke about earlier) and see how the design line patterns go or if you are up for it... create your own line pattern!
23) Very important, when using your sewing machine... be careful and above all... BE PATIENT! Begin sewing the line patterns as just discussed. BEGIN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MATERIAL AND WORK YOUR WAY OUT!
Depending on if you used the Kid's Sleeping Mat material or the 1/2" or 1" foam, you should see an interesting look begining to take place. Doing this process and using these materials will help give dimension to your Under-Armor
24) This is where you now can add the Bias Tape by sewing it on, starting at the bottom of your Under-Armor item and making your way around. Again, attention to detail. Make sure to sew it at least 2 times to ensure the Bias tape is secure to your item.
25) This is where you now need to figure out how you want to attach your new Under-Armor Padding. Velcro? Buckles? Straps? Each person is different and each padded item may need a different type of attachment set up or even non at all depending on exactly what you are doing. Add what you need accordingly.
26) Here is one of the most critical and important parts of the process.... admire your work! Yes, I am not joking... admire your work! Know that you made yet another cutome piece to your already kick butt armor outfit and know you did a good job!
Again, this is just a basic breakdown of how to do this process. Will you make mistakes... possibly but even so that is ok because this whole thing is about learning and trying new things and experimenting.
I will look to getting pics and maybe even some video if the admins give me the green light and I am always open for helping when and where ever I can as i know I will be looking to you guys as well for help when the time comes.
I will also be working to make updates and slight changes if needed in order to provide the most acurate and easy to understand instructions on any of the info that offer on these forums!
I will also be discussing articulated neck armor (hehehe) in the coming days or weeks as well as some MJOLNIR Armor upgrades that I think everyone will like!
Until then... enjoy and good luck!
I will be also working
