Being on a tight budget, and I'm sure others are too, has anyone made a set of armor using motocross armor? While obviously not canon some of the designs look like they would lend themselves well to another branch of ALIENS military. A lot of these can be had for real cheap on places like EBay. I've seen quite a few styles that even have shoulder armor. Cheap leg armor as well. I'm very tempted to order a used set and give it a nice camo paint job. I'm looking at a set on the Bay right now that is only $15, and looks like a cool design that would fit in the ALIENS universe. Just wondering if anyone else has had the same thought.

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It really depends on the set and how good you are at modifying stuff.
A number of productions have tried using this for futuristic armour and people just go, "Oh look, they're using Alpinestars MX with Tuareg shoulders and Hiprotec bits, just painted green...".
It could look great, it could look naff...

But post some piccies up and we'll see if we can help.
Kevin Burton here, for example, has an excellent set made from sports armour (Ice Hockey or American Football, I think), so such things are pretty feasible!

I made my set out of ~$40 worth of plastic garbage cans:

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You could always add plastic plating to the motocross stuff to make it look more like USCM armour. I think the leg armour (painted correctly as you said) would be fine, and the body armour isn't anywhere near as hard once you get into it. Between the belt across the waist (with optional pouches and a holster) and the grenade straps coming down the front, the subtle details on the breastplate get pretty obscured (and those belts and straps aren't expensive which is cool). The really iconic detail is the shoulder armour with its bells and tabs. Make yourself a set of those and you will sell the look.

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

SSgt Burton made his out of hockey armour, so, anything's possible.

Yep, it was a hockey chest protector (that I added the shoulder epaulettes to myself out of plasticboard), and baseball back-catcher shin guards for the greaves. I sewed my ab pad and grenade straps myself.





Kevin

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I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!