Homemake Plexiglas/canvas armor (pic heavy!!!)

[Smoothice]

I've been lucky enough to get my hands on a few home videos that AO SoCal guys have made from some of our events. I think it helps my cause when I can show them "daddy" playing. They get a kick out of it and run around the house pretending to hold paintball markers.

But I know the first sting of a paintball hit will end any and all desire for the game. The worst would be taking any kid out for their first time in rec ball. They get lit up by some weekend warrior and then never step foot on a field again.

I plan on taking them up to the hills and just playing some one on one. I can limit my shots on them to less sensitive areas and have only 1 hit at a time. And let them get some shots on me to build confidence. At least that's how it goes in my head.

[OPBN]

Good luck to both of you. My oldest is 12 and she has made it clear under no circumstances will she be playing paintball with me. Still holding out hope for one of my twins.

[koleah]

Codpiece?

May as well protect the most important parts.

[Tunaman]

I give you an A+ for effort and ingenuity.

[BigEvil]

Good stuff bro! Just be very careful relying on Plexiglas for protection. When that stuff breaks it is as sharp as glass.

[behemoth]

I'm glad you found something to occupy your time.

However, a few things that came to mind:

1) Like BigE said, when that stuff breaks, its SHARP.

If you take a fall, you run a big risk of getting cut up pretty bad.


2) Most people go with SOFTER materials to get bounces.

I think this is the first time I've seen someone give the other team an advantage.

[Old School 626]

+1 on the being careful when this stuff breaks. You probably would have been better off with ABS or Kydex. If you're really interested google "SCA armor" and you'll find a lot of folks doing projects similarly but for different purposes. Careful with the SCA links, some folks are a little deranged and somewhat misguided (a lot of these pages are from the 80's and the creators tended to imbibe a bit deeply if you know what I mean)

[rawbutter]

That would be a sweet setup for reball as well. I hear those pack a punch. While I dream of my daughters one day playing paintball I think it isn't likely. Something like this would probably help my chances though.

Good luck getting your daughter to play. I've been trying to convince my wife to give it a try. She is pretty athletic and likes shooting guns... it's just getting shot at that she can't bear.

In all honesty, though, custom making armor isn't practical. There's a lot of cheaper options that afford much better protection. A friend of mine actually uses his motorcycle jacket. It's lightweight, and it has armored padding in the chest, back, and arms. You could always get one of these

1) Like BigE said, when that stuff breaks, its SHARP. If you take a fall, you run a big risk of getting cut up pretty bad.

2) Most people go with SOFTER materials to get bounces. I think this is the first time I've seen someone give the other team an advantage.

You know... I actually didn't think about that. I am sure that the plexiglas won't break from paintball fire (I tested it), but I didn't think about what would happen if I tripped and fell on it. Hm... I'll have to keep that in mind. Thanks for the heads-up, guys.

As for bounces... yeah. Paint will definitely break easier on the armor, but my buddies and I play HITS, not breaks, so it doesn't make a difference. I would never wear this at a real field, though.

Who knows.... I might not wear it ever. Well, no, I'm gonna at least try out the forearm pieces since that's always where I get hit. The rest might just hang on a wall in my workroom.

[Newt]

Looks like a cool piece of scenario gear. Not my taste, but I definitely appreciate the nice work!

[sjrtk]

It is a nice piece of work no matter what you do with it. Looks pretty neat.

[Xceolite]

Dude you are awesome. My wife thinks I am crazy because of the crazy stuff I do!
Looks good and it is inventive.

[paint magnet]

Well, it looks well-designed...but if I wanted a set of "armor" it seems a lot easier to just buy some small shin protectors designed for soccer and wear them on your arms instead of your legs.

[Tropical Life]

This would be a big hit in the airsoft community

[Dover]

i have seen members of the Society for Creative Anacronism ( SCA ) they dress up in medieval armor and clothes

one set of armor was made of milk jugs or water jugs, the plastic is durable enough for fake swords and other blunt weapons i guess, never thought of a paintball application but its cheap enough

[SOUP]

A lot of air soft players would love to have this stuff. Not so much paintballers though. I in particular wouldn't wear it because its a hard surface and thats just not good if you want to stay in the game longer. Especially when you can get the necessary protection from a brand name company for pretty cheap (especially if you buy last years model). Plus the pads you get from them are a gel/ rubber substance.

Very creative idea though and it looks great, you would defiantly find a better market in airsoft with this.