Hey gang, I'm currently reworking my entire costume and I'm trying to figure out the best placing for the Shoulder Lamp. I have one of Matsuo's kits with his mounting brackets, so I have the hardware. Do you guys have any hints on mounting it? And do you guys have a problem with the helmet back plates hitting the lamp?

- Jeff

Have a look here for SU mounting points:

http://www.harryharris.com/breast1.htm

http://colonialmarines.co.uk/?p=42

Here's a couple of threads showing how I fitted mine when it first arrived:

http://forum.alienslegacy.com/viewtopic ... 3389#23389

and fitting an extra secure bolt to hold it in place:

http://forum.alienslegacy.com/viewtopic ... 4382#44382

Because it sits vertically, it doesn't get in the way of my helmet plates.

HTH

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Steve
Corporal in 69th Regt. 1st Batt. Homer’s Heroes.

"I'd like to die at the age of 80 in my own bed, with a belly full of wine and a girl's mouth around my c**k."

Unless of course you turn your head quickly to the right.

I'm struggling with remembering how I did this myself. I built up one of Matt's Shoulder Lamp kits and had to attach it to my custom fabricated aluminum armour. Since my back plate was vastly different from the screen-used ones I had no point of reference to use when locating the mounting holes and brackets. I know I must have test fitted the entire armour set about 50 times before drilling all the holes and webbing it up, but I can't for the life of me remember how I mocked up the mounting location for the shoulder lamp.

I'm not sure what the source of your armour is, but perhaps if it's the same as someone else's on the board they might share some info on how they mounted their shoulder lamp.

You're strictly talking about the mounting 'location', right?

Since my armour is aluminum, everything was drilled and bolted or riveted together. I even used either aluminum or thin steel plates on the backside of the armour to reinforce the mounting points. This is a definite must on ABS or even fiberglass armour.

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Rick "Ripstick"
A03/TQ3.0.12142E1

Thanks for the tips guys!

My armor is from Spat. Yeah I was just looking for suggestions on exactly where to mount the lamp. I didn't know if people had tips on what they did to test fit it. I think I need to put the gear on and have someone hold the lamp to where I want it to sit and then mark it on the armor. I was just worried about constantly hitting it with the back helmet armor plates. I guess I'll just have to mess around with it.

Now in one of those links above, someone went ahead and added a bolt straight into the lamp case and attached it to the armor for better stability, have any of you also added that? For storage I think I would want to remove the lamp easily.

- Jeff

I haven't, but I sort of wish I had.

I never had any problems with my shoulder lamp falling of at DragonCon, although when we needed to sprint somewhere it certainly would begin to shake loose. Had I not routinely stopped to check it out and retighten it, it most certainly might have fallen off and gotten damaged.

Halloween of 2006, that's exactly what happened. I happened to be up on stage with a friend of mine when I clipped the top of the lamp on a low ceiling overhang knocking it right off where it quickly smashed to the floor. It broke into a good 6 or 7 pieces.

A safety bolt through the armour and into the lamp box itself would have most likely prevented that.

I believe several marines experienced a similar problem when acting out an Alien War type experience in the UK a year or two back. Broken shoulder lamps everywhere.

When I finally get around to doing this, this is what I would do:

Get a piece of thin sheet steel cut to the size of the inner dimensions of the shoulder lamp box, drill a slightly oversized hole where the 'safety' bolt will come through (both the plate and the box), weld an appropriate sized nut to the sheet steel hole, and finally line up the hole with the box and JBWeld the plate into place. Now all you need is a wrench to bolt/unbolt the box from the armour with practically no hassle at all.

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Rick "Ripstick"
A03/TQ3.0.12142E1

I got someone to help test fit mine, but still had to move one of the mounting holes in the end, as can be seen in one of the pics.

Everyone fits the armour differently, so I say do a test fitting, with the shoulder upgrades done, then work out where to place the lamp with as little chance of getting hit by the helmet plates as possible, but still alllowing you to reach back and switch the lamp on (if yours will be a working lamp).




That was me.

I was told by another member of the forum that they'd done it and thought it was a good idea, as the existing mounting alllowed the lamp to wobble a bit.

Mine isn't permanently fixed; the bolt unscrews, allowing for the lamp to be stored/carrier separately to the armour when needed.

The only caution I would add is that as the armour can bend, I have to be careful when tightening the bolt, as it could pull through/crack the armour.

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Steve
Corporal in 69th Regt. 1st Batt. Homer’s Heroes.

"I'd like to die at the age of 80 in my own bed, with a belly full of wine and a girl's mouth around my c**k."

Thanks again guys, great tips! Yeah, I was planning on backing the bolts on the inside of the armor for support.

- Jeff

Good suggestions all. I need to do something like that with mine. It's too damn hard to align it on the armor by yourself. (at least it is w/ me)

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USCM- The Colonial Marines- A Brotherhood of Bad Asses!