I made too big a deal out of the silly graffiti. When you enlarge the pictures you're a lot more likely to notice the shortcomings of my armour than the details on my helmet.

Having said that, I am proud of the weathering on my helmet cover and the screen accurate caduceus that marks PFC Matzke as a Corpsman. If it wasn't obvious, I have a thing for Dietrich!

Now Magnus you are in an ideal situation to try this as you have the throat armour. You could skip the collar modification entirely if you wanted to although you will have the material to spare.

As for adding wear to the flag, I'll probably experiment with some dirt and a little sand paper, but I also have an ink pad from a company called Distress Ink that I used on my helmet cover. A bit of that on the edges will give it a similar look to the chevron. I think the dark spot is actually a rust stain! Spat's PAttern C BDU's have a well-worn look and feel, so brand new patches just don't make sense on it.

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When I was making my Nostromo uniforms, I had a lot of good results using a water/bleach mix to fade out patches. I would just caution to make sure that you use a lot more water than bleach, and add bleach as necessary. Also, don't leave the patches in long, and wash them immediately in cold water.

Not bleached: (bottom left)



Same patch, bleached:


Don't know if that is the look you are going for or not, but it's an idea.

Charlie

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"There is a clause in the contract which specifically states any systematized transmission indicating a possible intelligent origin must be investigated. On penalty of total forfeiture of shares. No money."

It's a great suggestion Charlie, but I already sewed the patches on! I certainly don't want to risk getting bleach on the Spat fabric.

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Yeah, that method doesn't work well if they are sewed on already. Sorry, I didn't realize you had done that

Charlie

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"There is a clause in the contract which specifically states any systematized transmission indicating a possible intelligent origin must be investigated. On penalty of total forfeiture of shares. No money."

And I hope I didn't come across as snarky, Charlie. I knew you didn't want me to dip my camo in bleach!

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Not snarky at all. No worries.

Charlie

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"There is a clause in the contract which specifically states any systematized transmission indicating a possible intelligent origin must be investigated. On penalty of total forfeiture of shares. No money."

My use of the term "Brown Dominant" is taken from a description of EDRL. It may just be from a circle of camouflage nerds, but it's a term that's used in camo lingo.
The Colonial Marine camo most respembles EDRL, if anything, and thus I've seen it written plenty of times that it was actually based on EDRL. (Or mistakingly was EDLR...)
EDRL has two types, the "Green Dominant" and the "Brown Dominant". The Green Dominant was used extensively in the Vietnam war by Marines and U.S. Army Special Forces. The Brown Dominant can easily be mistaken for the later, much more common M81 "Woodland" camo.

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BANNED USER

My weathered patches. I used Lipton tea and a pinch of dirt. I frayed a few threads on the flag, but I don't actually want the thing to unravel.

The bottoms are more weathered than the tops as the armour bells and tabs would protect the upper parts of the patches.

Now I need to sew these onto the blouse!

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Nice. Good thought about the armor coverage! I really like how the flag came out.

Charlie

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"There is a clause in the contract which specifically states any systematized transmission indicating a possible intelligent origin must be investigated. On penalty of total forfeiture of shares. No money."

You can also cover the BDU's and just cut an opening the shape of the patch and then leave it out in the sun to bleach for a bit. Just make sure the BDU's themselves are covered up and it should work well.

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-Spat

I came, I saw, I was too busy looking at the awesome camo-upgrade

Like the AvP reference

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A Scot, a Predator and an Alien walk into a bar....hilarity ensues



Read it here!

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6120506/1/Aliens-Heart-of-Darkness

Spat, I did the same with with my Vietnam era OD BDU's I had purchased, they were repro ones, and looked too beaucoup FnG. I hung them outside for a week or so during the summer and let the sun do what it does best. Turned out well, though I could have left them out longer.

Interesting idea Spat! do you think leaving them on the dashboard of my car would do it? I don't have tinted glass or anything.

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Im gonna lead toward and emphatic "yes". I ruined a perfectly good black Alabama hat by leaving it facing out the rear window. Now its a half gray alabama hat...

Since I hadn't gotten around to sewing these on yet, I decided to try a little Sun aging. I folded the sleeves up as much as possible, and then covered the remainer with duct tape. I then stuck them on a piece of cardboard to make it easier to move around. I'll throw this on my dashboard while I'm at work for a week or two and see what comes of it.

Expect a snazzy "before and after" picture at that time.

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After 16 days of direct sun light I'm not really seeing a difference. I could keep going like this, but I'm really itching to sew these puppies on.

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I tried sun fading my patches and BDUs. I also washed the BDUs. 16 times. Love my wife for taking care of that for me; she tossed them in with every load. The BDUs faded nicely. Not completely, by any means but enough so that they are not brand new out of the box. The patches STILL look new. No fade at all, and I also left them outside for 3 days in direct sunlight. I think the stuff they make them out is great, it holds colour very well that nylon thread is very fade resistant.

Charlie

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"There is a clause in the contract which specifically states any systematized transmission indicating a possible intelligent origin must be investigated. On penalty of total forfeiture of shares. No money."

Welp, I say 'dust em' (I know, I always say dust everything). White spray paint. 2 feet away. Get a good mist going and let it settle. Do brown or black if you want more 'dirt' than 'fade'. Always remember its better to do 'too little' 50 times than doing 'too much' once!

Since they're still taped up maybe that's what I will do. I have a staggering collection of rattle cans at the moment...

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Won't spraying paint on the patches make the fibres it lands on hard? Personally I'd go for something like good old garden dirt or rub your boot polishing brush gently over it. You could just leave it and weather it the good old fashioned way of wearing it

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Cpl Ade Philpott
A08/TQ1.0.62145E1
UKCM XO 501st Regt. 1st Batt. The Bucketheads

"Game over man!"

The collar and one sleeve attached:



While I don't plan to wear the BDU blouse without the armour, I am at least happy to see it isn't so terrible looking on it's own.

Once the second sleeve is sewn on I will try to get a shot fully suited up to show how it looks.

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Looks very convincing Retro!