Hey AL,

So say I want to start planning out and sourcing items for my kit. I take it I'll need the helmet, body armor, leg pads, boots, etc. The more traditional military items (belts, boots, pouches, etc) aren't a concern as I've been collecting military equipment and gear for the last 5 or 6 years, so I have a pretty good handle on the real side of things.

Firstly, for the armor. I've only seen one place that sells ready made armor (Spatcave), and while the products are amazing (and pretty reasonably priced) it seems like they are a little out of my price range for the larger ticket items. Are there any alternatives to Spatcave? Has anyone built their own armor or do most guys just buy it/commission it? If so where do I go from there to build my own? I would use some type of foam I suppose.

Uniform wise I have sourced the patches and I understand both Spatcave and AaronHorrocks will soon be producing an accurate USCM BDU, so that is covered. What about name tapes? I've seen the USCM one, but nowhere that does custom ones.

Aside from that I think I am going to get the Pulse Rifle from China and add my own bits over time.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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Spatcave pretty much does everything. He offers the best armour out there. The other alternative is to make your own using pepakura. If you search on here you should find a few threads on how to do it and the files. I built my own set last year, it takes a lot of time. If you can't find the files pm me and I'll email them over to you.

If you are getting a resin pulse rifle, again I would go with Spats. It's by far the best out there. The other option is the new airsoft version.

There are a couple of places that do the name tapes, again have a search on here and you'll be able to find all the info.

With the USCM patch make sure you get the accurate one as there are a couple of variations out there.

Hope this helps.

I have a 'fully functional' Pulse Rifle built with a Marui Thompson, Maruzen shotgun, real SPAS cage and a load of custom bits from members here. One of our skilled guys here, Sidewinder, even put it together for me.

Total cost, about £1500 and took a long while to save up, but in the end it was SO worth it.
The only other one I'd ever even consider is Spat's (but only because Matt Noble's full-on version is illegal in the UK, AFAIK).

Same for the armour - The Spatman has outfitted most of us here and continues to do so with the ultimate professionalism.

You can get name tapes in the screen accurate font through a company called Camotech (www.camotech.com) for something like $3 a piece. Just ask Linda for OD name tape in the USCM font with black thread. It takes a day or two for a response, but they do excellent work.
One way to ease into the armor is to buy the leg armor and a throat guard (originally part of the armor but not used in the film) and then get a flak vest and put patches on it. I'm not sure who did it first but you can find photos on here and it looks pretty great. Spat sells those pieces (not the vest) for maybe $75 total so it isn't bad at all.
You can certainly build the armor from scratch too, there are literally hundreds of photos on here to go by.
Hope that helps, and good luck!

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My entry-level prop and costume tutorials: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12751

I would just save up and get spats armor . It comes ready to wear . For the pulse rifle try to get the airsoft one from evike.com hopefully it's still available . Or you could pick up the spulse from spat great price for what you get .

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Cpl Matthew Rendar. M56 smart gun operator. 2nd bat 7th colonial marines "Rendars Raiders "

Thanks guys! I know that a full set of my armor can be expensive, but remember that I also do offer it in parts. So as you save up money you can get a set of legs, then a helmet, then an ab pad with plates and then the chest/back. It adds up to the same price as buying it all at once, but you can put your gear together over time.

And adding in that flak jacket idea, you can have a pretty cool costume along the way! Has anyone worn an ab pad with the flak jacket? I wonder how that would look?

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-Spat

It would look FlAbulous!

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69th Regt. 1st Batt. Homer's Heroes

Thanks for all the replies guys! I've got a better idea of where to go now.

Spat armor it is then, I'll take you guys advice and build up my kit over time. And for the price of the armor, I'm sure it's worth the value, as all of you seem to choose that over scratch building and such. Buy once, cry once right?

As for the pulse rifle, I think Im going to go with the Evike/ASX/Snow Wolf one since it's the G&P kit. I have a Marui Thompson already, so I figure if I ever wanted to I could just transfer the parts over?

The one thing I do want is a deac 870 and metal Spas shroud on it, I assume it would be possible to attach to the airsoft PR, right?
I take it I should see Matsucorp about that right? How much should I expect to pay for such a set up?

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Just so we're clear: making your own armor is certainly an option, but I don't know what your skill level is. Just know that your time has value, and it could end up being a big project. I'm actually in the midst of a build myself (finishing my helmet tonight), and while it is very satisfying when things go right, there are plenty of things that have gone wrong too and I'm painfully aware that I am reinventing the wheel so to speak.

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My entry-level prop and costume tutorials: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12751

I can say this after looking at the cost of materials alone to make a cost of armor out of 1/4 inch aluminum or 1/8 inch steel. It would of cost me well over the cost of Spat's armor, and hundreds of hours to fabricate it. I would go with Spat, his prices are the most fair with the strongest material for the price. Also comes fully ready to wear(mine required adding a little padding on the leg armor but that took like a 20 minutes). I have also not seen a closer set(as I have never seen a Terry English Set up close). Spat also answers all questions,No matter how stupid or to use a video game term "Noob"(I Know I asked quite a few). In a few words he is a professional with respect for every customer, and with great response time.

As far as Pulse Rifles goes, as I have never built a Airsoft one, and have never done any "airsofting" my two options were a HGC PR, or a Spat Pulse. I went with a HGC PR a Rook III had one for sale at the time I was looking. However I have heard great things about Spat's Pulse Rifles, I do not think you can go wrong with one.

I would recommend Spat to anyone looking for a set of armor.

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Nearly everyone i know uses spat armour it looks the buisness and has lasted them many years, cant wait for mine to arrive

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SSgt Kris "Bloodsucker" Kobus, VAS.
A09/TQ2.0.12136E1