A cheap way to make armour plates

[lord_marmite]

I know this probably isn't a new idea, but I thought I would document it for others to see, well here goes:

 

while talking in newbie discussions about what to put in a plate carrier to make it feel more realistic and adding a bit of protection, DirtyMofo said

i have a butchered roll mat/camping mate in mine as body armour

 

So I thought " Hey i have an old one here, I'll use that"

 

first things first, what you'll need:

Camping mat, available from nearly every camping shop or outdoor supplies store.

Scissors or stanley knife, careful though, and no running with them.

And finally, the one and only Gaffa tape!

 

Next step, measure your vest,

I found 26cm across, and 30cm down would work for my vest,

and that 26cm across and 34cm down for the rear panel,

 

*Note, I folded my panels in half so I doubled the down measurement to 60cm on the front 68cm on the back

 

here is my vest: MEU FSBE molle plate carrier

 

This is the camping roll I made my vest from: Mat

 

 

I then cut out my measured sections leaving this: leftovers

 

 

Once that was accomplished I folded the sections in half and used the all powerful Gaffa tape to keep then together:

front plate

Back plate

front plate side view

back plate side view

 

this is the plates going into the vest:

Vest

 

This is the vest sitting on a chair to give you an idea of how thick it is

 

Top view: Top

Side view:Side

 

I've tested this out with my brother shooting me at point blank with a gun doing 300fps with .2g and all I felt was the hit of the bb on the pad, no major impact.

 

Thats it for this guide, credit goes out to DirtyMofo for saying how he made his panels, and I hope this is useful for someone out there,

 

Regards,

Joe

[TomTom_UK]

great little guide

 

I did something similar with my plate carrier, only i used heavy duty cardboard.

 

never had a problem with it getting soggy <the vest is fairly water resistant and the flaps cover the opennigs well> but the camping mat idea looks like a much better idea

 

Sure beats carrying ceramic plates around!

[Melonfish]

used to use camping mat material in my police issue vest. Great protection and a great way to loose weight or die of dehydration because you've sweated off all your water.

pete

[Samm]

Damn I wish I could do this, BBs hurt my abdomen so much! They're like real bullets! I fear for my life every game...