[GohstTarp]

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GohstTarp's Yet Another Uniform Build Uniform Build

Hello Everyone!

First off, THANK YOU to all the GB Fans that have gone down this path before me and documented their journey for the benefit of the community.

My goal here is to create a GB1 Uniform with an emphasis on screen accuracy when possible. I've been working hard collecting all the bits and pieces for my Uniform and thought it would be a good idea to capture the build here to so that others can learn from my choices and mistakes.

Parts List

• Tru-Spec flight suit - XL-Long, I'm 6'2"/200lbs and it fits well
• Hanes Beefy-T black t-shirt - large long
• Corcoran 995 boots- size 12, medium width
• ProFoot Custom boot insoles - I really like ProFoot products
• GB1 patch - I recommend a patch without the black boarder
• Name patch - I highly recommend Pepi
• Pistol belt - khaki
• Chemical gloves - large
• Leg hose - yellow
• Leg hose connector - from Crix, GB1 brown/tan
• Leg hose belt connector - by Wharin
• GB1 key fob set - by Wharin
• Trap holster and Matty custom kit - by Anhcon, for the Matty Trap
• PKE holster - by Wharin, for Matty PKE Meter
• Belt Gizmo holster - by Wharin, for Spongeface Belt Gizmo
• Radio holster - by Wharin
• Motorla MT-500 radio - haven't bought one yet
• Belt Gizmo kit - by Spongeface
• Elbow pads - the ones with the hole in the band
• Seam sealant - for sealing the elbow pad armband after trimming
• Grey fabric spray - to make the white pads grey
• Black paint marker - to detail the pads
• Black knit elastic - to add the black patch to the pads
• Sewing needles - for sewing on the patches
• Khaki thread - for sewing on the leg hose connector
• Black, red and white thread - for sewing on GB1 and name tag patches
• Seam ripper - for removing the name tag velcro from flight suit
• Mink oil - for conditioning/breaking in boots and holsters

Plan
My plan is to tackle the Uniform in the following steps...

1) Elbow pads
2) GB1 and Name Tag patches
3) Leg Hose and connector
4) Belt Gizmo kit
5) Boot customizations (if any)

Next time...
Building the elbow pads (and pictures!)

[GohstTarp]

Elbow Pads
For the pads, I took some ideas from the following threads...

How To - Spray Paint & Modify GB Style Elbow pads by mr0072003
Q. Where can I get Elbow Pads? by kind2311

Since I have the CSI Pro Series pads, I needed to spray instead of dye...


I pulled them over roll of paper towels and went to town...




I did two coats with the pads on the paper towel rolls, then took them off and did a coat on the back of the pads to avoid any white showing while being worn.

Next, I used the black paint maker to color in the trim around the pad just like the Detailing step in mr0072003's post above. After that, I used a regular tip sharpie to darken the pads folds, but I think a fine tip would have been better.

Now I was ready to trim the armbands and apply the anti-fray solution used that kind2311 recommends in his post. I wish I had cut the armbands a little higher up the pad and had it curve down toward center, but they still turned out ok.

Finally, I sewed on the black elastic patches. This part was the most work, but well worth it...





Here's some shots of the elbow pads on with the flight suit...




The armbands are tucked in a little bit in those photos to get the look I wanted. Perhaps I should trim them a little bit to make it permanent.

In the end, I'm really happy with how my elbow pads turned out. Next up is getting the name and no ghost patch sewn on the flight suit. The experience from sewing the black elastic should come in handy.

[Kingpin]

Nice work on the elbow pads.

[thebigone2087]

Very nice work wight he elbow pads! I bought the same set, they look great!

[GohstTarp]

Thanks, guys! Since the pads were the first things I worked on, I was really wanted them to turn out nice.

[Maverick1983]

hey guy, the Pads looks so great!!!
I used the same color but when i washed the pads after painting the most of the color turned off.
Can tell me what you used as the black elastic pads?

Best regards
Erik

[GohstTarp]

Danke, Erick!

I will try to avoid washing them. For the black elastic pads, I used 'Stretchrite 2-Inch by 10-Yard Black Heavy Knit Stretch Elastic Roll'. At the top of this thread, you can find a link labeled "Black knit elastic" I just cut off a couple of pieces, used a lighter to melt the cut edges and sewed them on.

[ecto85]

Nice job buddy.... ill be sewing my patch this week. Then finish the little details on my uniform.

[GohstTarp]

Thanks, Andy. Would love to see some pics of your uniform.

[GohstTarp]

A little update here...

I was able to pin my name patch and no ghosts patch to my uniform last night. I think I have the placement correct, but wanted to give anyone here a chance to give some feedback before I sew them on...





Well... what do you think?

[PssdffJay]

All wrong. Your letter are backwards and the no ghost is on the wrong sleeve!

The name patch position looks good. I think the no ghost needs to go higher. That's what I struggled with too for placement. I looked through a lot of reference photos on how high to the shoulder seam to the elbow pad the patch should go. Let me see if I have a photo saved.

[PssdffJay]

Nix that. It's late and I'm tired. Height looks good. I'll be quiet.



Carry on.

[GohstTarp]

LOL! I totally forgot to mirror flip those pictures. Thanks for the reference pic and stopping by to take a look, Jay.

I should be able to start sewing tonight!

[ecto85]

Where did you get shoulder harness

[GohstTarp]

Got them on ebay from a user named 0017265.

[GohstTarp]

It's been a while since my last update, but I've been busy sewing my patches and I'm finally finished. I tried to take my time so that it would end up neat and clean. That worked out well for the most part...

Name Patch...




No Ghost Patch...




I'm excited to be done with the patches and move on to the next thing. While I certainly understand why someone wouldn't want to sew these things on themselves, I'm proud that I did. It felt more like a basic initiation of sorts.

Next time...
Leg Hose and Connectors

[ecto85]

I would like to see how your leg hose turns out.

[GohstTarp]

Leg Hose and Connector
Yes, it's time for the mysterious and often joked about Leg Hose. As mentioned in my first post, I'll be using the GBFans shop Leg Hose, Crix's Leg Hose Connector and Wharin's Leg Hose Belt Fob. All three of items worked out great and I highly recommend them. Now, on to the build...

Leg Hose Connector Clean Up
The first tasks as per Crix's description, were to clean up the bottom edge of the connector and drill out a couple holes. A little sand paper and some slow drilling with a 1/8" bit did the trick.

Bottom edge and holds before...


After...


It was quick and easy and turned out nicely.

Reinforcement Patch
My next step was to create a little round patch made out an old t-shirt. It will be used to re-inforce the uniform and stitching on the inside and allow the connector to be more securely attached. Thanks to jettajeffro for the idea (http://www.gbfans.com/community/viewtop ... f=4&t=7878).

I just placed the connector on the shirt, drew a circle around it and cut out two pieces...




What to do about that Stem?
I was never a very big fan of the stem that comes out of the Leg Hose Connector, but I could never think of anything better, so I was resigned to use it to keep the leg hose attached. Then one day, I found the amazing work of bishopdonmiguel and his MagSafe Leg Hose Connector System. I highly recommend you check out his thread showing how he created a Leg Hose Connector from scratch that included neodymium magnets as a method of attaching the leg hose to the connector. It's a smart, clean and safe implementation that I wanted to try with Crix's connector, so I gave it a shot. I posted my steps and pictures in his thread, so please check it out to see all the details, but here is the result...

Leg Hose Connector


Leg Hose


Connected


Works for me, but the only issue is...


Connector Placement
Here are the reference photos I used to find the best placement for the connector on my uniform...

Close Up


Medium


Wide


Pinning the Connector in Place
Once I had placement figured out, I needed to pin that thing in place because trying to hold the connector and patches in place while sewing would not be fun. To do it, I laid the uniform down on a hard surface and placed the white reinforcement patches on the inside of the left leg, right under where I wanted the connector attached. I smoothed the area down against the hard surface so you could easily see the round patch and placed the connector on top. Then I carefully took the pins the pushed them up from inside the uniform, through the reinforement patch, the uniform and out the hole on the Connector. Next, I pushed the pin in all the way and slid a pencil top eraser over the sharp end of the needle sticking up. I did this for all six holes and it looked like this from the top...



From the inside...


The result was a firmly and dangerously attached connector.

Sewing the Connector
Now I'm ready to actually attach the connector using some embroidery floss. This is the floss and needle I used...

- DMC 25 8m (8.7 yd) Mouline Special 3782 Floss
- DMC Chenille 24 Needle 6-pack

And here is a picture of said thread, needles and other stuff that doesn't need identifying...


Carefully, I removed a pin and eraser and used the 24 needle to feed the tread from the inside, up through the hole and then back down the side edge of the connector. I tied the thread to itself and fed the thread back up and out and down and inside one more time and tied it off. After that, I dripped a little seam sealant into knot and let it dry. After doing the 5 more times, I was left with this...



And a view from the inside...


Final Result
Here is how it all ended up turning out...


I'm very happy with how it turned out. The connector is attached firmly and the magsafe system keeps the hose on, but allows it to detach when snagged.

That's it for now. Next time...
Belt Gizmo Kit

[ecto85]

Looking good...I've been busy with some personal/family business so I haven't done any new uniform stuff yet.

[GohstTarp]

Thank you, Andy. Hope you are able to find some time for the fun things...

[GohstTarp]

Belt Gizmo

I thought it would be good to try doing smaller, more frequent updates, so in that spirit, let's begin...

I'm using Spongeface's Belt Gizmo kit, as noted above. I've looked at some build threads and read the instructions a few times and I think I'm ready to give it a shot. Here is my workspace all setup and ready to go...



I'm going to see how much I can get done in the new couple of days here... maybe all of the BP stuff. Those capacitors are so small, though... we shall see

[pyhasanon]

Just some advice coming from somebody who actually has been to a soldering school - clean up the two metals to be bonded with isopropyl alcohol, then apply some soldering flux for even heat transfer... makes a perfect, shiny bond! Make sure to clean off any risidual flux (it can get sticky)... However, the Navy has always been my supplier, so I don't know what stores to get the stuff to suggest to you... Don't know how well this advice will work on Spongeface's kit, but if it works for circuit cards used in military weapons systems, it should work this application!

[ecto85]

Patrick is that a printed circuit board?

[bishopdonmiguel]

Uniform is looking great! Ready to see that Gizmo build!

[GohstTarp]

Just some advice coming from somebody who actually has been to a soldering school - clean up the two metals to be bonded with isopropyl alcohol, then apply some soldering flux for even heat transfer... makes a perfect, shiny bond! Make sure to clean off any risidual flux (it can get sticky)... However, the Navy has always been my supplier, so I don't know what stores to get the stuff to suggest to you... Don't know how well this advice will work on Spongeface's kit, but if it works for circuit cards used in military weapons systems, it should work this application!

Thanks, Phil. I've done some soldering projects over the years, but I've never tried cleaning up the two surfaces with isopropyl alcohol... it makes good sense and I'll give it a shot.

Patrick is that a printed circuit board?

Yes it is There is a link to the kit in my first post.

Uniform is looking great! Ready to see that Gizmo build!

Thanks, Bishop Don! It will be my first piece of "real" GB equipment, so I'm pretty excited.

[ecto85]

I use 40/60 solder on my electronic projects, since it's a printed board it should work. For my build I've finished the daughter board and now working on the mother board. I got both boards from junked out calculators from thrift stores.

[GohstTarp]

I use 40/60 solder on my electronic projects, since it's a printed board it should work. For my build I've finished the daughter board and now working on the mother board. I got both boards from junked out calculators from thrift stores.

It's been a little while since I soldered, but I checked and I've got 40/60 solder, so I should be all set there

You seem to have a knack for finding just the right old materials to make something new and interesting. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

[ecto85]

I just think like egon and ray ....and I have a lot a free time from work

[GohstTarp]

I was able to make a little progress over the weekend. I got some of the resistors mixed up, but these are just cosmetic so it doesn't really matter...



I'm not really looking forward to the next step. Bending lots of little wires just so and shrink wrapping them is in my future…

[bishopdonmiguel]

I'm not really looking forward to the next step. Bending lots of little wires just so and shrink wrapping them is in my future…

Dude, that's the best part! I just ordered my kit. I'll be going to school on this thread so keep those updates coming!