Team Armor Build [NE]: ESB in Northern California

[Haribon72[TK]]

Thank you Michael!   Its Troopers helping Troopers!

[Haribon72[TK]]

I need the help of the ESB community.   We ordered black silk gloves from Aazon.com

 

 

I couldn't find a solid tutorial here on the FISD to sew the ESB hand plates to the glove.    Can you someone advise?   Thank you.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Edit: May I suggest gluing black elastic to the guard then sliding it over the glove. Simple attachment if direct gluing or velcro is out of the question.

[Haribon72[TK]]

Thanks Tony!   Gloves should be arriving today.   I'll update the hand plate installation some time this week.

Meanwhile, here are some updates from last night.

 

 

Homemade Neck Seal

Start with templates online.  Here's our cardboard cut out.

 

 

Fold in half to make sure its symmetric before making fabric cut outs.  We are going to use two layers of black automotive foam liner and one more regular foam liner.

 

I'm very new to sewing.  So we're still experimenting at the house.   Here's an example of our sewing skills on this practice run.

 

Here's the finished look.   

 

 

 

 

Edited November 11, 2015 by Haribon72

[Haribon72[TK]]

Helmet Padding

This is all home made.   Since the wife and I have been working on my sewing skills we decided to make our own helmet padding.    

I removed Bingo's existing foam pads (which was basically cut up packing foam) from his helmet and we added "pillow covers".  We had leftover material from the neck seal project to make covers.

Check it out!

 

Sewn velcro to the covers.   This makes it easy to adjust and remove for cleaning.

 

 

Finished look.

 

[Haribon72[TK]]

Helmet Fan Installation

This is how we added EvilBoy's Fan Assembly.   I didn't find any tutorials so this is my first attempt to share how we did it.

 

Battery pack & switch will be placed in the back center of the helmet.

I created a custom holder with velcro that will be hot glued to the helmet.   This will keep the pack secured.    Bingo will need to turn on the fan system before putting on the helmet.

 

You can get plastic pieces from Tap Plastics clearance bin.  Here i'm using some leftover pieces from my AT-AT Driver build.

 

Cut to size to accommodate the battery pack.

 

Velcro both pieces and hot glue the black holder to the helmet.

 

Halfway done.

[Haribon72[TK]]

The fans will be strategically placed in the front of the helmet.   Keep in mind, you have use gaffer's tape to temporarily hold the fans so you adjust accordingly.

Here' the finished look. 

 

Note:  Once you use hot glue, its set for life and will be a pain to remove later.    I encourage to practice and adjust with gaffers tape first.

 

We tucked the wires along the bottom edge of the helmet.   And added a coax cable holder near the battery pack to prevent any wire problems.

Edited November 11, 2015 by Haribon72

[Haribon72[TK]]

Convert ANH Blaster to ESB

 

Slice...slice....slice...

 

Tada!

 

Time to make an elegant cover.

 

Cut, sand, ream, weather, hot glue.... and DONE!

Edited November 11, 2015 by Haribon72

[Haribon72[TK]]

Final Bucket Details 

Here are helmet pictures to review for ESB application.   We are making sure we hit all the bullet points on the CRL. 

 

S-Trim Pictures Added.

 

We're at the 90% mark now.    

Edited November 12, 2015 by Haribon72

[ukswrath[Staff]]

[Haribon72[TK]]

Thank you again Tony!   Still hammering at it........ little by little to get er done!

 

Silk Gloves arrived this morning.

 

Silk Glove Information:

Alaska Bear 100% Pure Silk Glvoes Thermal Liner for $10.99 on Amazon.

 

Special Thank you to fellow garrison member and ESB trooper ToyBiz (Adam) for helping me find these beauties!

Edited February 18, 2016 by Haribon72

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Man those are nice

[toybiz[TK]]

Looking great! Can't wait to see more! Awesome to have another ESB for the GGG!

[toybiz[TK]]

Keep in mind, you can use the elastic hand plate straps on rubber chemical gloves but need to be stiched in the 5 point pattern if using silk gloves for ESB Centurion

Thank you again Tony! Still hammering at it........ little by little to get er done!

 

Silk Gloves arrived this morning.

 

Special Thank you to fellow garrison member and ESB trooper ToyBiz (Adam) for helping me find these beauties!

[Haribon72[TK]]

ESB Hand Plates & Black Silk Gloves Installation

We couldn't find a tutorial so here's our recipe from the kitchen.

 

 

Ingredients:

Empty Shampoo Bottle or something close to our template below.

Curved needles from the fabric store

Black thread

PVC pipe or something close to our example

Bench vise or make our own holder

Hot glue

Shears

Nail cutter

Velcro (non-adhesive)

 

Let's begin...

[Haribon72[TK]]

 

Trace the hand plate on the bottle and mark the center between the two holes (5 sets).

 

 

Mark & Cut it out.

 

Use nail cutter to remove all the sharp edges.   We don't want anything to snag the silk gloves.

 

Sand and hot glue a PVC pipe to your bottle cut out. 

 

Mount into bench vise.

[Haribon72[TK]]

Now we can sew the glove without hurting Bingo's hands.   The five cut outs will gives enough room to sew. 

[Haribon72[TK]]

Next, we are going to sew velcro onto the glove.  This will be the secondary holder in case the stitches ever break during a troop.

 

Glue velcro the hand plates.

 

Test fit is done.   

[Haribon72[TK]]

Let's sew the hand plates now.

 

Done!

 

Test fit and discovered that one area was too tight (must have sewn too close to the wrist)

No worries.    We removed the stitch with an exacto knife and re-sewn the area using a painter's stick.

Yes, this time Bingo is wearing the glove as I stitched it.

 

Finally done!  Enjoy!

Edited November 16, 2015 by Haribon72

[Darth Havoc[TK]]

Wow. That's awesome. Well done !

[Haribon72[TK]]

Thank you Jamie!  

[Haribon72[TK]]

Strapping System for Arms

All webbings and elastic bands with velcro were created in house by my wife and I.

Everything was purchased at Joann's Fabrics or various fabric stores through the years.

 

This is our snaps from Orchard Supply Hardware (California).

 

Our tools from Tandy Leather (Amazon)

 

My new anvil from Harbor Freight

 

We measure the distance from his chest and back plate (making the white elastic bridge between the two plates).

Then adding a male snap to the center for the shoulder bell attachment.

Edited November 17, 2015 by Haribon72

[Haribon72[TK]]

 

We are using the velcro strapping system so we can easier make adjustments.

This is a lot easier than the snap button method.  

[Haribon72[TK]]

Be sure the melt the ends of your webbings.

[Haribon72[TK]]

Finished look of inside strappings.