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Posted: 2/28/2009 10:15:08 AM EDT
My friend (we'll call him Replica) is playing with the idea of converting a motocross pressure suit into a combat-capable body armor suit. Here's an example of what I mean:
 
Though that's not his exact base model, you can see what he's getting at: Something lightweight but durable that covers the vitals. Obviously some covering is sacrificed for mobility. The concept he's basically going for is something like what the guys in the new GI Joe movie are wearing, or the bat suit from The Dark Knight. Nevermind how expensive any of this would be to do, I've already told him a few times that armor plates are expensive. He came to me saying he wanted to make something based off of the two movie examples I said above. At first I was like   but I suggested using the pressure suit as a base and to work from there. He bought one to try out, and said it was a perfect idea.
Trick now is coming up with the kevlar or reshaping SAAMI plates to the same shape as the molded plastic seen on the pressure suit. As far as R&D goes, his work is cut out for him. I wouldn't know the first thing about how to do any of that, or if it's even possible. I have told him that kevlar and SAAMI plates are heavy, so the fabric would have to be replaced by something more durable that can hold the armor without stretching or tearing. Any suggestions as to how one should go about this, if reshaping armor into a shape like those on the pressure suit is even possible? Obviously the only sections he'd really have to work on are the chest, spine, and shoulder coverings, with the elbow/forearm sections functioning like standard elbow pads used now. |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 10:19:22 AM EDT
[#1]
well you can buy kevlar fabric from a number of places, I've bought it several times from aircraft spruce. Just make sure he understands that effective body armor has many, many plies of kevlar, three or four layers isn't going to cut it. I'm not really sure I see what he gains from starting out with the moto-cross gear.
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Posted: 2/28/2009 10:19:46 AM EDT
[#2]
If you need someone to shoot you, IM me.
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Posted: 2/28/2009 10:20:44 AM EDT
[#3]
I'm in NY, he's in CA. I don't need anyone to shoot at me unless they want to be shot back at
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Posted: 2/28/2009 10:21:18 AM EDT
[#4]
Quoted:
If you need someone to shoot you, IM me. 
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Posted: 2/28/2009 10:22:12 AM EDT
[#5]
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Posted: 2/28/2009 10:23:11 AM EDT
[#6]
Quoted:
well you can buy kevlar fabric from a number of places, I've bought it several times from aircraft spruce. Just make sure he understands that effective body armor has many, many plies of kevlar, three or four layers isn't going to cut it. I'm not really sure I see what he gains from starting out with the moto-cross gear. Like I said, his inspiration was the bat suit from the Dark Knight. Something durable that offered armored protection, but was also lightweight and manueverable. He came to me for suggestions, and first I told him that his idea would normally cost the military thousands in R&D. He persisted, so I said the suit from GI Joe looked like a good thing to go off of. He asked if there was anything close to it, first thing that came to my mind was the pressure suit. |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 10:31:43 AM EDT
[#7]
Thats gonna be a heavy bastard if he uses amour plates everywhere that moto cross shirt has plastic plates. My IBA in Iraq was heavy as shit with only the front, back and sides. Add some ammo pouches with a 180 rounds in it, and a IFAK, and you are getting up in weight. I'm AF, The Marines and Army (God bless'em) go outside the wire with alot more. I have heard about 80lb worth.
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Posted: 2/28/2009 10:35:11 AM EDT
[#8]
Tell him to forget all that stuff and think outside the box.
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Posted: 2/28/2009 10:40:07 AM EDT
[#9]
Quoted:
Tell him to forget all that stuff and think outside the box. Crysis armor? |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 10:49:33 AM EDT
[#10]
Not planning on making a withdrawl from the Bank of America at Laurel and Kittridge in North Hollywood, is he?
  Link for the clueless. 
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Posted: 2/28/2009 10:58:17 AM EDT
[#11]
Quoted:
Tell him to forget all that stuff and think outside the hide behind a metal box. |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 11:05:20 AM EDT
[#12]
Quoted:
Thats gonna be a heavy bastard if he uses amour plates everywhere that moto cross shirt has plastic plates. My IBA in Iraq was heavy as shit with only the front, back and sides. Add some ammo pouches with a 180 rounds in it, and a IFAK, and you are getting up in weight. I'm AF, The Marines and Army (God bless'em) go outside the wire with alot more. I have heard about 80lb worth. use plates in the vital areas and thicker kevlar layering at the joints. overall make the suit out of kevlar with the plates on the front and back in the sizes the pictures show. there are super strong lightweight materials out there... its a matter of getting them and making them work. hell, this is almost what the dragon scale armor shoulve been. the problem is the glue for the composites... if you can figure that out, ud be golden. |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 11:08:01 AM EDT
[#13]
When he gets it finished, tell him to give me a call.
We'll go to the range. I have an idea.
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Posted: 2/28/2009 11:10:31 AM EDT
[#14]
Quoted:
When he gets it finished, tell him to give me a call. We'll go to the range. I have an idea.
Hey! Get in line! I offered to shoot him first!
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Posted: 2/28/2009 11:23:56 AM EDT
[#15]
it really isnt a bad idea.. itd be a great option or spec ops guys who are otherwise weighed down with standard stuff.
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Posted: 2/28/2009 11:28:21 AM EDT
[#16]
Tell him to get in touch with Troy Hurtubise.
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Posted: 2/28/2009 11:29:26 AM EDT
[#17]
Quoted: Quoted: When he gets it finished, tell him to give me a call. We'll go to the range. I have an idea. Hey! Get in line! I offered to shoot him first! I'm sure O_P would let you use his backyard range High-tech testing facility. |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 11:33:06 AM EDT
[#18]
This is something I could do in my spare time. What about some pants?
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Posted: 2/28/2009 11:33:39 AM EDT
[#19]
Tell him to get in touch with Troy Hurtubise. I thought his suit was more anti explosive/ bear mauling than it was anti penetration. Troy's suit is awesome though if your going to play in traffic or start a brawl with a grizz.
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Posted: 2/28/2009 11:33:41 AM EDT
[#20]
Why doesn't he start sewing on half-dollar sized plates a-la Dragon Skin over the areas he wants to protect?
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Posted: 2/28/2009 11:34:33 AM EDT
[#21]
Quoted:
Thats gonna be a heavy bastard if he uses amour plates everywhere that moto cross shirt has plastic plates. My IBA in Iraq was heavy as shit with only the front, back and sides. Add some ammo pouches with a 180 rounds in it, and a IFAK, and you are getting up in weight. I'm AF, The Marines and Army (God bless'em) go outside the wire with alot more. I have heard about 80lb worth. And there's the main issue; it's easy to create a full armor suit. The issue is making it light enough to be sufficiently mobile. And if you can't make it light enough to be mobile without assistance, you need to figure out a way to power it. I commend his effort and am interested in what he manages to come up with, though. |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 11:40:08 AM EDT
[#22]
If you want it to stop bullets... Use 12oz kevlar, stitched and laminated together.. Or Try Kevlar 29
Here is a good supplier http://armorco.com/shop/category.asp?catid=2 |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 11:42:12 AM EDT
[#23]
Quoted:
Tell him to get in touch with Troy Hurtubise. I thought his suit was more anti explosive/ bear mauling than it was anti penetration. Troy's suit is awesome though if your going to play in traffic or start a brawl with a grizz.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GOO1aZmD-k |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 11:48:32 AM EDT
[#24]
Mobility or protection is always the trade off. To maintain functional mobility there are going to be gaps in protection.
Plate over the 1. Heart/lungs 2. Artories 3. Core/abdomen 4. Groin Having some ability for the plates to close tightly together when squared up to the target is also worth looking at. |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 11:52:23 AM EDT
[#25]
Lol
Grab an old mailbox off the street corner and paint it black. |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 11:54:24 AM EDT
[#26]
Someone post a vid of the bear-suit guy...LOLOL.
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Posted: 2/28/2009 11:58:24 AM EDT
[#27]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Thats gonna be a heavy bastard if he uses amour plates everywhere that moto cross shirt has plastic plates. My IBA in Iraq was heavy as shit with only the front, back and sides. Add some ammo pouches with a 180 rounds in it, and a IFAK, and you are getting up in weight. I'm AF, The Marines and Army (God bless'em) go outside the wire with alot more. I have heard about 80lb worth. use plates in the vital areas and thicker Kevlar layering at the joints. overall make the suit out of kevlar with the plates on the front and back in the sizes the pictures show. there are super strong lightweight materials out there... its a matter of getting them and making them work. hell, this is almost what the dragon scale armor shoulve been. the problem is the glue for the composites... if you can figure that out, ud be golden. I guess it would all depend on what level you are trying to provide. If you want full upper body protection from say rifle rounds (5.56, 7.62 mil variety) than you are gonna have something that is heavy and very restricting. If you are going for just the vital protection zones from rifle rounds than yes Dragon or current IBA we have is just fine. Full upper body protection from rifle rounds is just not possible. Well, it is but would be impractical. Lighter levels of full body protection from pistol rounds would be possible. But I think IMHO it would be useless to military applications. If there is super strong light weight material out there, some one would have already used it for full upper body protection from rifle rounds. |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 12:00:50 PM EDT
[#28]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Tell him to get in touch with Troy Hurtubise. I thought his suit was more anti explosive/ bear mauling than it was anti penetration. Troy's suit is awesome though if your going to play in traffic or start a brawl with a grizz.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GOO1aZmD-k If that's legit, that's fucking impressive. |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 12:01:00 PM EDT
[#29]
Quoted: Lol Grab an old mailbox off the street corner and paint it black. [Rolling Stones] I have a mail box and I want to paint it black... no MARPAT anymore I want it only black... I see the bad guys coming and their guns are drawn My armor box will hide me 'til the break of dawn...[/Rolling Stones] |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 12:07:19 PM EDT
[#30]
Quoted: Tell him to get in touch with Troy Hurtubise. I thought his suit was more anti explosive/ bear mauling than it was anti penetration. Troy's suit is awesome though if your going to play in traffic or start a brawl with a grizz.He's supposed to have developed a new, lighter combat suit. |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 12:11:05 PM EDT
[#31]
After seeing the new suit being shot, I have to say Troy really needs to get some investors and marketing going on.
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Posted: 2/28/2009 12:12:56 PM EDT
[#32]
Quoted:
After seeing the new suit being shot, I have to say Troy really needs to get some investors and marketing going on. Unfortunately for him, I think he's just kooky enough that investors won't touch him. He IS brilliant in some ways, but just reading about his "Angel Light" invention thingy makes me wonder if he isn't "functionally dysfunctional". |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 12:16:06 PM EDT
[#33]
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Posted: 2/28/2009 12:16:11 PM EDT
[#34]
You can get lightweight bulletproof polyethylene plates that for a 10x12x.9" plate is 3.5lbs and is rated at NIJ Level III+ with a IIIA vest supporting. Those molded for specific items similar to the panels on the moto-x suits would give you the greatest protection with the supporting fabric as goldflex kevlar which is 1.2lbs per sq foot for level IIIA protection.
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Posted: 2/28/2009 12:26:25 PM EDT
[#35]
Unless this guy's last name is Gates, I don't think there's any chance of him making an Aerogel suit. |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 12:56:33 PM EDT
[#36]
Quoted:
This is something I could do in my spare time. What about some pants? Haven't gotten to that point yet. I myself was stumped on this one, because there are no pants for pressure "suits." There's knee/shin armor, but nothing for the thighs. As far as coming up with something to base pants off of, the only thing I could come up with is Jango Fett's leg armoring, without the holsters: 
I'm just talking about the armor plates, not saying the whole bottom half should basically be a pair of Dickies pants with armor attached. They're close to what the GI JOE movie armor suits have, except when I compare the two examples, Jango's leg armoring covers his thigh/quad area more. |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 1:04:56 PM EDT
[#37]
Quoted:
Quoted:
After seeing the new suit being shot, I have to say Troy really needs to get some investors and marketing going on. Unfortunately for him, I think he's just kooky enough that investors won't touch him. He IS brilliant in some ways, but just reading about his "Angel Light" invention thingy makes me wonder if he isn't "functionally dysfunctional". Watching him in that video made me think he might be one of those guys who's borderline autistic. Maybe a small degree of Asperger's. It's like he's got so much going on in his head but he can't organize it effectively. |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 1:21:24 PM EDT
[#38]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Tell him to get in touch with Troy Hurtubise. I thought his suit was more anti explosive/ bear mauling than it was anti penetration. Troy's suit is awesome though if your going to play in traffic or start a brawl with a grizz.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GOO1aZmD-k That is very very impressive. |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 1:34:31 PM EDT
[#39]
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Posted: 2/28/2009 2:44:18 PM EDT
[#40]
Troy's armor technology for that suit is excellent.
The suit itself is bulky like a motherfucker though. If he could slim it down while offering the same level of protection, without it looking like something out of Halo or Power Rangers, he'd be onto something. |
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Posted: 2/28/2009 3:37:38 PM EDT
[#41]
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