Biker Scout Armor Project WARNING: picture heavy

Post by **Sands** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 9:51 am

I love this build! Great work!

Acrylikhan · Post by **Acrylikhan** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 10:15 pm

So I'm back. Back to working on the holster. When we left our story last time, I had finished the general shape of the base of the holster. The modeling foam (which is supposedly heat resistant and has good deflection), needs to be covered in bondo for more heat resistance, and to smooth out the final shape. I am purposely going to go a step further on these particular bucks. I am going to do the regular pattern finish, and then when I am satisified that I am done, I will apply Polane Urethane Paint overcoat to protect it. I did find out that the holster pieces, after they were formed, were cut directly off the bucks. The Polane will protect from heavy scratches from cutting with a knife.

I started smoothing out the bondo. Added a little too much hardener on the second batch so it set too fast and got chunky. No matter. It will still work, and sands nicely. Small speed bump - nothing of importance.

I have started ciphering my chest armor bucks. This is a target silhouette of myself from a picture of me, scaled and then printed. I drew the chest armor on top of it to match the land marks of my vest and where the white of the cummerbund are at.

More sanding on the holster tomorrow... and maybe cutting the foam for the "strap" portion of the holster.

As always... more to come.

Post by **Arcturus1020** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 12:36 pm

Nice to see you back on this, Frank!

[smilie=yahoovk3.gif]

Acrylikhan · Post by **Acrylikhan** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:37 pm

First stage of sanding is complete. I still have some rough patches and some craters, but those will be dealt with soon enough. There's more bondo to come.

Going back to the reference photos I've got some more tweaking to do. The pistol rest needs a little but more reshaping. The wall is at a negative angle and I have to get it a little bit more on the plus side. This will be a critical area and an undercut from formed plastic like this will ruin things quickly.
This is a top fix on my list.

Next, it's time to place the pistol in place on the buck to make sure it fits like its supposed to. Already, I see a few problems.

The "stair steps" that the pistol rests into needs to be raise a bit more so that the "wrap" part of the holster will be able to be inserted next to the pistol. More bond to the rescue!

Maybe a about a quarter of an inch higher and that should take care of it.

Back to layering in more bondo, and refining the shape. The reference photos should help out nicely. More to come... as always!

Acrylikhan · Post by **Acrylikhan** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 10:29 am

More studying the pistol to get a feel for how the holster should fit around. I've decided to call this first piece of the holster that attaches to the boot "the rest," because the pistols "rests" or sits on this piece. The actual nub that the pistol rest on, I am calling the "heel." The second part I am calling the "wrap" as this part wraps around the pistol to hold it in place on the rest.

The Wrap inserts into the Heel, on the front facing edge of the Heel.

This area has to be taller than the pistol's height to accommodate the thickness of the plastic of the Wrap piece. Otherwise, there will not be enough room for it, and the pistol will not sit right.

I started sanding out the bondo layers and decided to put an extra thick coating on the Heel again.

The pistol is in it's place, and checked out my height.

Looking down the pistol I think I have plenty of room for the Wrap piece. Once the holster "Rest" part is vac-formed, the thickness of the plastic will increase the height of this wall, but not by much. It should be tall enough to let a .125" thick plastic sheet fit in the space with a little room to spare.

I probably won't have my holster looking exactly like the reference shots I have, but it will be close. More sanding tomorrow and a final check before I put a protective coating on this forming buck. Then, onto stylin' the Wrap.

Post by **Sands** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:30 pm

Looking good my brother!

Acrylikhan · Post by **Acrylikhan** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 9:21 pm

The final sanding is complete. I've added some air escape holes to help pull the plastic down into the corners.

A perfect sculpt. Fits the holdout blaster like a glove... uh... Holster!!

Plenty of room for plastic to insert into the "heel." If it turns out to be too much, I can either take material off the buck, or add a shim inside so that the pistol sits tight.

Time to start construction on the "wrap." The supplies needed are some pieces of cardboard, the pistol, and the buck.

Set the pistol on the buck, and then set a piece of cardboard on the bottom of the buck. Take a pen or a fine point marker and try to follow the contour of the pistol and the buck. There be several of these to get the weird curve that wraps around the pistol, and into heel. It's tricky business, but this prep work will help take some of the guess work out of the sculpt.

Take the tracing and cut out the negative bits. There's still some fine tuning, but that easy.

These cardboard cut-outs will be stencils to trace onto the sculpting foam, and then cut out. They will then be glued together, and then frosted with bondo.

I coated the base of the holster buck with a high heat urethane coating to protect it and hopefully extend it's life. More cut out fun over the next couple of days.

Acrylikhan · Post by **Acrylikhan** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 9:40 pm

When we left our story last time, the main part of the boot holster forming buck had been completed. Looks good, and fits nicely!

The next step was to make "stencils," outlining the space that the buck for the second portion of the holster was supposed to look. The simpler the better. The details will emerge later.

After getting the placementof the stencil cards taped into position, time for a test fit to see if the pistol will fit in the bounding area.

It's kind of funny how we only need this very small area. I transfer the stencil pattern to an MDF board and cut it out.

And then repeat...

I original was going to use RenFoam as I did with the base of the boot holster... but the foam I had was needed for another project. MDF will do nicely. The next part is finishing the cuts, and then start the glue up. This is very similar to the knee armor vac-buck I did almost a year ago. A similar method will be used here. Instead of using bondo or drywall compound to seal the edges after all the cutting and sanding, I will be using a sprayable urethane epoxy, followed by a high heat paint treatment.

Good to be back... and I will post more as it comes available.

Acrylikhan · Post by **Acrylikhan** » Tue May 11, 2010 11:18 pm

Such a busy month, and not on projects! Just a little smidge of work to report this time around.

I have continued working on the buck for the Biker Scout holster. I completed the last few cuts and started the glue up. It didn't go as smoothly as I thought it would. I used too much wood glue. One of the slices slipped during clamping and I couldn't fix it. I will sand the offending slice down and patch any gaps. Then we'll take another look, and take the next step at refining, and adding details.

Acrylikhan · Post by **Acrylikhan** » Sat Jul 10, 2010 7:34 pm

Not much progress made this past month. I have been crazy-go-nuts busy! I hate that. It cuts into my play time.

Okay, still working on the frickin' holster:

So I got all the MDF glued together. Okay that was the last posting... what have we done today? Some of the boards slipped up a bit during the clamping progress so I had to work a little frontier medicine to fix it. I sanded down the offending board and then checked out where the slippage had left a canyon on the other side of the planet. I mean, left a canyon on the forming buck. Like I said, crazy-go-nuts busy. My brain is fried.

Once the bondo sets, I will continue to give it a smooth sanding and then determine where the greeblie goes on the front. Time to dig up the screen shots. After that, another quick check to make sure that I have the buck at the correct size. Now I did take card board cut outs to get that 3-D space. There is a chance that in my elated giddiness to get this project re-started, I may have over looked a specific height requirement. That is, that the buck will have enough plastic to crimp and fold a section to attach it to the first part of the holster. These things can and do happen. A little double checking along the way can severely cut these head-banging-against-the-wall instances.

After we double check the heights, add the greeblies, and double check the heights and the reference photos, I'll take it to work and give it a nice coat of urethane epoxy. This will help preserve the buck in case I need an extra, and give it a lot more heat resistance.

When will we do a test pull you ask? Not for a while... maybe at least another month or two. The vacu-forming table I build kicked the bucket earlier this spring. We had tons of parts to pull, and the nichrome wire for the heating coils gave out. The coils have been replaced. I on the other hand am ready for some improvements that will help with not only this project, but other ones in the future. These improvements include, two zone heating, a deeper oven, and a better plastic holding frame.

Also, I have been working on an enhanced version of my shoulder armor. My buddy "Loosetoon" gave me some good perspectives on what the shoulder should look like given my size. That is in the works, and I am tackling that one.

Then the chest armor pursuits begins. I am hoping more progress will come in the next few days. We'll see if I can make the time. Thanks for watching!

Acrylikhan · Post by **Acrylikhan** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 3:12 pm

The bucks for the boot holster are now complete. I just need to make a few blocks for the sides so the plastic flows nicely over it. It's finally done! (After HOW many freakin' months???) I will be applying a layer of urethane epoxy tomorrow to add another layer of durability. Then its into temporary storage... as the forming table is under going modifications... which I hope will be done soon.

Once it's formed, I'll post the assembly... and then attach it to the boot. But right now, I am very satisfied.

So what's next? CHEST ARMOR! (and re-working the shoulder bells).

The last picture I posted I got some great feedback about the shoulder bells being too small for a guy my size. Since I have already made the buck, modification should be very quick. I'll start working on that very soon and post the results.

Along with the chest armor, I am working on the back tank. I can start cutting some of the MDF in the next day or two for the first couple of inches before I will need to have the back armor completed before going forward with this particular part. But who knows? Once I start cuttin' and assembling the pieces, ideas may flow, and directions may change. Moving ahead...

Post by **Arcturus1020** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 3:49 pm

EXCELLENT!!!

Acrylikhan · Post by **Acrylikhan** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 4:23 pm

It's about time, isn't it?

Acrylikhan · Post by **Acrylikhan** » Tue Sep 07, 2010 10:41 pm

The primer's on, and then a nice urethane coat in the morning.

The chest armor is going to take some time, and I will have to work on the back and the front at the same time to make sure that they match up, and both are correct.

I am getting the MDF ready for cutting. I am going to try something new with the glue up process. Wood dowel rods to help center the pieces better than my usually slapping a coat of wood glue and clamp it. They're some prayer involved that they won't slip too much from each other while the glue sets. It's amazing what goes through the mind when you have process work going on at the job. Inspiration that is a few years late. I'll still take it!

It's funny... that a colleague pointed out that my shoulder bells are screwed up. ...sigh... back to the drawing board.

I have set a new goal completion date so that I can get approval. Hopefully, I'll keep at for the remainder of this year. So begins the final chapters.... three pieces worked on together in concert with each. Should be fun, interesting, and a chance to sever a finger in the process.

Acrylikhan · Post by **Acrylikhan** » Wed Sep 08, 2010 11:03 pm

I started the work on the back tank, as I am still getting measurements for the torso armor.

I already had the template for quite some time now.

Quick router work -

And a mock up.

There's a lot more shaping to do. The tank tapers at the sides, and gently down the back. But for now, its a start. More developments a little later.

Post by **Arcturus1020** » Tue Sep 21, 2010 8:18 am

Cool Frank!!!
It's great to see continued progress on your TB!

Acrylikhan · Post by **Acrylikhan** » Tue Sep 21, 2010 8:38 pm

Hey Jim! Been missing ya lately.

Very slow progress balancing two projects: R2 and this one. And this one is still getting a LOT of ciphering. I need to get this good from the get go.

I'm hoping I'll have an actual activity post with the next two weeks. We are slammed at work.

- frank

Acrylikhan · Post by **Acrylikhan** » Sun Oct 17, 2010 11:11 pm

I got a chance to meet Lord Vader today. He had a message for me...

It was a great pleasure to meet some of the MWG members at "Boo at the Zoo" at Brookfield today! I can't wait to troop with you soon!

Post by **BDA TK7503** » Mon Oct 18, 2010 9:03 am

cool i know who you are now. i was the tk you took a picture with near the end.

Acrylikhan · Post by **Acrylikhan** » Mon Oct 25, 2010 5:32 pm

I think I have the photo on my facebook page. A pleasure to meet you sir!