Post Con Repairs & Modifications

Any event that I go out to generally has a bit of wear and tear on my armor. I was in for extended amounts of time this weekend, up to 5-6 hours at a time over the past couple of days.

Looking over my armor, I need to do the following things:

- Clean shin/thigh pieces - interiors has gotten grimy from use and could use a good washing.
- Polish various parts - I've accumulated numerous scratches and marks all over, which need to be buffed out. I've got some cleaner that I can use, which works great.
- Reglue velcro and seams - Mainly on the legs, which moves around the most. Taking them apart and putting them together a lot has been pulling on it. DONE
- Wash Jumpsuit. Yeah, this is needed.
- Wash Camelback. DONE

So far, I've reglued the seams on my Right and Left thigh pieces, the left shin and the interior velcro pieces that hold the thigh plates in place.
Looking over a couple of photos from the event, and a consistant problem that I came across while suiting up was the mic wire going to the amplifier.
I found that placing the amplifier under the chest piece didn't work too well - people couldn't really hear me, and the volume wasn't loud enough, so it'll stay on my belt for now. Additionally, I found that where I placed the mic was not great - it was too far from my mouth, so I placed it towards the center of the snout, near my mouth, so it should work better now.



Because the wire kept coming out in the front, I've adjusted how I'll put it on, running the wire up my back through to the back of the helmet, and through the side of the helmet with duct tape tabs and velcro, so it can be easily removed if needed. I also numbered each tab and velcro strip to keep it straight. Now, the wire doesn't go go out the front, which is good, and it's got enough slack so that I can take off the helmet and hold on to it comfortably.



Lastly, I found the best placement for my Camelback, which I've started wearing to Troops, especially once it starts warming up. TK armor traps a lot of heat, and I'm guessing that I'm loosing a lot of water when I'm in it. Given that I'm wearing a helmet, it's not practical to carry a waterbottle, and I found that the Camelback that I used for hiking works perfectly under the water. It's small and thin enough to fit under my chest plate. I found that wearing it on my back doesn't work well, but wearing it on the front works really well. From there, I looped the tube up and around and under the edge of the chest plate, where I can get to it easily when I need it.

Lastly, I really need to get a neck seal and some fans.