One coming to me off eBay, $11 shipped!!

Already picked up some Rit dye, green and dark brown.  Now i have to decide what color to dye it, perhaps green then rub in some brown (liquid style) to break it up

Nice!  Make sure and post pics when you are done.  

I like mine in original DCU...........(acutallly I'd like to have everything in Coyote Brown, but those are impossible to come by)  

5.11 offers a similar vest (for more $$$, of course) in CB.

http://www.511tactical.com/browse/Home/Law-Enforcement/Tactical-Vests/VTAC-LBE-Tactical-Vest/D/30100/P/1:100:10000:10500/I/58631

just got mine in.  very nice, adjusted easily.  i found i could fasten the belt, run the tails through the vest and pull the belt tight, then zip the vest up.  pretty slick.  i will dye this one, and i may get a couple more, dye different colors, and perhaps take the belt off a couple to use as a gear belt.

Anyone have any luck dyeing one of these yet? The material doesn't look like it'd take color very well...

I did get a woodland camo one but it's lacking some of the features (and new-ness) of the desert one. Not a lot of desert up here, unfortunately.

i plan to.  either green or brown, i got both dyes.  i wont have time this week, but ill let you know how it turns out

What "features" is it missing?

I think the originals didn't have a zipper in the front. Might be a difference in the waist band as well. BTW, i dyed mine this weekend and it worked great (liquid dark green). The synthetic part around the waist\chest didn't take the color great, but the rest did. Different shades is fine with me as i plan on having pouches and such there anyway. Even the buckles picked up a little green.

Do you have any pics of the dye job?



 

The HUMP was designed to work with the old LC-2 ALICE LBE, the load bearing vest deal that was issued somewhere circa 1990, and the ALICE rucks.  It works great with ALICE gear, but it may be a tiny bit dated to work with some of the newer stuff.  It was the heat back in the day.

Nice thread.  I'm trying to figure out why I need one of these.

The zipper and the elastic tie-downs for the tag ends of the straps on the back, most notably. No biggie I guess, after looking at it again. It's also pretty worn from use.

+1

This pic is pretty close to the color i got. The buckle is actually a little greener, but on my vest it will be covered anyway.

Thats cool.  I may have to try that.

Wow!  Looks good!  Between Foliage Green and Ranger Green.

What dye did you use, quantities, additives, etc?

Rit dark green liquid (1 bottle) and salt. Submersed it in hot water for a little over an hour turning every 15 min or so, so no folds or creases got missed.

Well, i dyed my first vest finally.  used one bottle of rit dark brown liquid dye, and a cup of salt in a five gallon pail with about 3-4 gallons of water.  i mixed it aroundwith an old golf club, and weighed it down with a brick.  soaked a bit over an hour, stirred several times, then ran through washer twice



color was nice and even throughout, but it turned out a bit brighter than wanted.  perhaps the tan undertones made it seem a bit more "red" than desired.  i am still fairly happy with it as it shows how evenly the material dyes.  im gonna get a few more vests, and do one green, and maybe experiment more with brown.  i may just cut the belt off of this one and use that, but well see

loon

Thats pretty cool.  I am definitely going to do one of mine.  I did a camo job on a tan fishing vest when I was a kid.  I used rit die but I premixed it and then painted it on with a paintbrush, let it dry, and then rinced it.  It came out pretty good.  I may have to see if there is a way to emulate multicam with the die and the same process.

When we attack Mars, you are set.  Just kidding, it is a very cool rig and I appreciate you trying stuff out on your gear that we all have thinking of doing.  Still giving the bladder carrier some thought.  I will try my STRIKE bladder pouch out when I get home next week.  I have black, green and tan pouches and all my belts and holsters are black, so I am not too worried about colors myself.  When everything is in place I may do an overspray of medium brown Krylon.....

yeah, someone has to try it first i guess

i do like the green one up above, and will do one of those too.  i think this one might end up as a krylon project, so if it changes, ill keep you informed

I have a bottle of that dye too. Glad you posted that because I planned on dying something.  


btw, That looks sweet from here bro.  

Is that the best way to dye it? in a bucket?

Here's my result after dyeing some desert camo MOLLE FLC's:



Here's the method I used...

In a 5 gallon bucket I mixed:

3 gallons of HOT water
1/2 cup Dark Green liquid Rite Dye (1/2 of 8 fl oz. bottle)
1 cup of Salt
1 pint of 70% isopropyl alcohol

The process is very simple and has been described in earlier posts, but here's how I did it...

Wet the FLC and then soak in the bucket while stirring every few minutes and keeping the FLC submerged completely.  Then remove and rinse repeatedly in the washing machine.  Then wash once or twice in warm water with detergent.

The darker one on the left was done first and it remained in the dye for 20 minutes.

The lighter one on the right was done second in the same solution used on the first one (25 minutes after initial mixing) and it remained in the dye for 15 minutes.

I didn't want these to be too green because I was aiming to match the green on the ACU I have.  If you want it darker I would soak for 30 to 45 minutes... just keep checking the color of it while dyeing and pull it out to rinse when it is as dark as you want it to be.

It worked pretty well.  The belt area obviously has some sort of water repellent on it which causes the water to bead off of it and thus the dye did not work as well in this area.  The plastic buckles did actually take up some of the dye although not very much.  The netting, which previous posters had some trouble with, took up the dye well and uniformly.

This is a very nice and cheap MOLLE solution.  $12 a piece shipped from Ghilliesuits.com, about $4 for the dye, and another $1 or so for the isopropyl

Thanks to the previous posters who inspired this project and gave the links to the cheap FLC's!



EDIT: It's hard to tell in the picture, but the green is actually a little brighter than I'd like it to be so I decided to modify it. The previous procedure with a 20 minute soak time gave a pretty accurate approximation of OD green. I wanted it to be a little more muted so I decided to add some brown to the dye. I used the same batch of dye from the first round and added 2 quarts of boiling water (to heat it back up) and 1/4 cup of "Cocoa Brown" liquid Rite Dye (I suggest using less... maybe 1/8 of a cup because with only an additional 7.5 minutes of soak of the FLC that got 15 minutes of the green solution before, turns out more olive colored than I'd like) With the FLC that was OD green that soaked for 20 minutes in the first round I only soaked for 3 minutes is this green and brown solution and it turned out nicely; it muted the OD green, but didn't turn out too olive colored.

If I was doing it again I would probably just add a small amount of the brown dye to the batch to begin with (probably 1/16 cup Cocoa Brown to 1/2 cup Dark Green) and soak around 20 to 25 minutes. This should give you a more subdued OD green color.

I really like the second one

any more 'brown' ones out there, cause that the way I'd go, with some krylon added

fuck, I'll have to get one to "play" with too

If you want to play with the colors some, on Rit's website there are recipes for making Khaki from tan using tan and pearl grey dye, etc.

Just bought one on ebay for 14.99 shipped brand new. He has 2 left if you hurry
New Desert FLC $14.99 shipped

Mine just arrived from SG.  Love it.  Gonna get a 2nd and dye it a dark woodland.
Great price for what you get.

Thanks for the heads up!

Just ordered 3 from GS 28 bucks including shipping and handling.....

Gonna dye 2 woodland green. One for a tactical vest and the second for a base unit for a BOB.

Almost pulled the trigger on a really cool flyfishing pack from Gander Mountain this spring... Glad I didnt ...the third I will leave tan and use as a modular  flyfishing pack... This will work awesome flyfishing in the kayaks too....That was the only drawback I was having with the other pack.... Got lots and lots of diffrent GI pouches to dig out from the last 35 years to put back to work..... Thanks for the great review and the info on this great buy!!!!

Just ordered 3 from GS 28 bucks including shipping and handling.....

Gonna dye 2 woodland green. One for a tactical vest and the second for a base unit for a BOB.

Almost pulled the trigger on a really cool flyfishing pack from Gander Mountain this spring... Glad I didnt ...the third I will leave tan and use as a modular  flyfishing pack... This will work awesome flyfishing in the kayaks too....That was the only drawback I was having with the other pack.... Got lots and lots of diffrent GI pouches to dig out from the last 35 years to put back to work..... Thanks for the great review and the info on this great buy!!!!

just picked up a 10-pack off ebay for 69.99 with free shipping.  im spliting it, but i think 5 will give me plenty to mess with

So where is the best place to get muelle bags/pouches to outfit these puppies??????  Would love to find that nalgene bottle set up at a great price....

I'd be interested in a Molle source for AK47 mags. I'm getting my vest this weekend, and have brown and green dye. Looking to dye it a subdued OD green.

Here is the link to the Rit Dye recipes for different colors.

Skiddy

Here is my green vest:


one box of RIT dark green powder, cup of salt, in about 2 1/2 gallons of hot water.  let sit about an hour or so

that picture makes it look a lot lighter than it really is, here it is on some multicam:


in person, it actually looks alot closer to the green in mc than it shows.  Im very impressed with it, and will be doing a desert tan camelback and assualt pack soon

this definately turned out better than my last "brown" one

Here is a pic of the rig I built for my brother who finally drank the EBR kool-aid. Pretty much a simple set-up. I picked up the carrier at my local surplus store, the thing was brand friggen new and only set me back $10!!! The pouches I already had {spares}. But it's a great basic set-up, nothing fancy but it will work for his needs.

Good review.

This thread ought to be made into a sticky.

great review. i have used these before, and i own one now, and my only complaint is how it seems to press hard on my collar bone, and after a while that gets uncomfortable
otherwise, it is a great vest.
-Joe

It really is made to be worn over an IBA or OTV which is why it has not padding.

look at diamondback tactical for thier m4 shingles, and OSOE rallyman, OSOE Da Gen II Pouch , or emdom ak pouches for flapped style.

yes, i know, thats why i dont blame the vest for it. and i DID wear it for 2 days straight with a very heavy load.
that was my only issue with it however. otherwise, it is wonderful. i think that i may make some custom pads for mine in the collar area
-Joe

Just got my FLC this weekend. Here are before and after photos.


I used 3 gallons of boiling water, 1 cup salt, 3/4 bottle of Rit dark green, and 1/8th bottle of Dark brown. Soaked for 30 minutes.
The hardest part was keeping the belt from floating to the top. The material didn't absorb the dye as well as the rest of the vest. I am wearing it as a chest rig, so no issues there. The color is a nice olive drab with a bit of Nomex flight suit green in spots like the webbing.
All and all I'm very happy with the way it turned out. The color should work better than the original tan, as there aren't any sand dunes here in San Antonio..
Now to find some inexpensive Molle



 



 

Dang!!

I really need to get a hold of some Rit dye .looks great

That looks damn good! Thanks for the recipe.

It turns out the FLC matched the GI OD name tape perfectly, but is more olive drab than the green Molle pouch from TT... Go figure. Their green is a lot brighter.

That's one thing I always hated about TT's OD green.  It's too damn bright.

That dye job looks fantastic.

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/114M-Option-to-BAE-for-MOLLE-Gear-05487/?utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_source=did&utm_medium=textlink

$114M Option to BAE for MOLLE Gear
09-Jun-2009 17:58 EDT

BAE Systems Specialty Group in Jessup, PA recently won a maximum $114 million firm-fixed price US Army contract for modular lightweight load-carrying equipment (MOLLE). Work will be performed in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Kentucky, Tennesse, Wisconsin, and Puerto Rico. This contract is for the first term option period, with 1 more 1-year option period remaining. The original proposal was Web solicited with 6 responses, and this option will expire on May 2/10. The Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP) in Philadelphia, PA manages this contract (SPM1C1-08-D-1080).

Modular Light-weight Load Carrying Equipment (MOLLE) is a modular quick-release backpack with compartments and components that can easily be clipped on or removed, plus a fighting load vest that can accept removable pockets for the Rifleman, Pistol, Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) Gunner, and Grenadier configurations. Its modularity allows individuals to tailor their load and configuration to meet mission needs. MOLLE has been modified over the years in response to Army feedback from the field, but the US Marines replaced it entirely with their own ILBE (Improved Load Bearing Equipment) packs, in the wake of negative after-action reviews.

Thanks, I figure bushes aren't all 1 shade of green anyway, so the differences aren't too big a deal.





 

I posted earlier about getting 2 off of ebay.
This is first attempt/config

[

As you can see, it's a hodge-podge (s/p?) of pouches, but can carry 8 ar 30 rd mags, or 4 ak, + shot gun shells.  The holster is lower that it should be mounted, but I need it a bit lower for consistant draw.  I am still able to carry a light ruck with this....which is something I wanted.
So far I like it.  Might do the dye thing (od) down the road.
Sorry for the crappy pics....new 'dingleberry', I mean blackberry that I can't seem to master

Wow, I have been away from this thread for a while.  I am glad to see it is going strong.  I am definitely going to have to try dying a couple of mine.