IAT WIP

[nocjef[TX]]

Been throwing around questions and photos in other threads, figured I'd put them all here for my IAT WIP...

What I'm working with:

Boots: Hunter Bay Boot (payless)
Coveralls: Elbeco Men's CDCR Utility Jumpsuit
Gloves: French Army (ebay)
Patches: Got them here
Web Harness: Parts sourced from strapworks
Belt: Condor PB2" belt with OD green buckly
Goggles: UVEX S348C futures black
Pouches: Condor MA5 Single M4 Mag Pouch , 2x Condor Handcuff Pouch Olive Drab, Condor Tactical Small Utility Pouch - Olive Drab, CONDOR Flashlight Pouch (Olive Drab)
Helmet: WTF

I've painted the boots and gloves, sourced all the parts, and have started to modify the jumpsuit. 

[nocjef[TX]]

The CDCR coveralls are mostly correct from the get-go. I've removed the epaulets from the shoulders to use as a closure for the collar. I then ripped the seams on the collar and trimmed it up a bit so I could fit it a bit better. I then folder the collar in on itself and stitched it so it looked cleaner (took me a few tries). Once the collar looked correct, I placed and stitched the neck strap.

Here's a few photos. This is on the second attempt. There was some adhesive I was trying to use to keep the collar down while stitching that was an absolute failure. I had to use goo gone to remove the residue which is why it was all wet looking. Once cleaned up, the blue tape approximated how much I had to fold and sew. I folded, pressed, and stitched it all closed.

https://imgur.com/a/mNwXtI5

Jef

[nocjef[TX]]

The Hunter Bay boots come black and need to be an olive green. I decided on Angelus Leather paints for this application as I've used them in the past and had good success with it. It thins easily and I can run it through my airbrush which helps it go down nice and even and thin which appears to help with cracking over time.

I prepped the boots by cleaning them with isopropyl alcohol only. Once dry I laid down an even coat of paint which was thinned with isopropyl and airbrush reducer. 

The boot color did not match the glove color so I used the same process to ensure gloves and boots matched.

 

[nocjef[TX]]

Belt and Pouches

I went with all Condor goods here so they’d have a matching look. Everything is new and I’m considering knocking them around a bit to give them a slightly used look. The CRL doesn’t mention much in that area but I would expect an army trooper to have at least a slightly worn look.

This photo isn’t the best but they are the Condor olive drab. I went with two handcuff pouches, a flashlight pouch, a single mag pouch, and a small utility pouch. They all seem a bit larger than expected but they should fill out the belt well. There should be enough room for a holster if I decide to carry a holstered blaster in the future as well.

I’m still waiting on some 2” snap hooks from strapworks. Once the hooks arrive, I’ll tackle the harness.

 

[Blackwatch[CMD-DCA]]

I painted all of my Condor olive drab stuff with the Montana gold olive green so that everything that I have will match. You can move the little nylon Loops up and add snaps for lvl 2

[nocjef[TX]]

57 minutes ago, Blackwatch said:

I painted all of my Condor olive drab stuff with the Montana gold olive green so that everything that I have will match. You can move the little nylon Loops up and add snaps for lvl 2

Good idea. I didn't compare the colors with the jumpsuit and the boots/gloves. If they're really far off (the photo I took is pretty bad) then I'll hit them with the same angelus olive. I also didn't even think about the snaps and that's a good idea. I'll make sure I add those while i'm at it.

Coveralls went to a proper tailor to address some fitment issues and will be back this week. Just waiting on Walt to ship my helmet and I should be about 75% of the way there. 

[nocjef[TX]]

7 hours ago, Blackwatch said:

I painted all of my Condor olive drab stuff with the Montana gold olive green so that everything that I have will match. You can move the little nylon Loops up and add snaps for lvl 2

I don't see any lvl 2 requirements for the pouches on the CRL? Are those still pending?

[Blackwatch[CMD-DCA]]

You're right, I was thinking about the Engineer CRL

[nocjef[TX]]

15 hours ago, Blackwatch said:

You're right, I was thinking about the Engineer CRL

Is this something we should do? The source material does show some troopers with snaps on their pouches here:  

But there are other images, like this one, that doesn't have any snaps, seems ambiguous:

[Blackwatch[CMD-DCA]]

When tbe Army trooper CRL was written it was not written as part of the CRL. The LMOvhad signed off on tge verbiage after reviewing the photos.  I thought i remembered seeing snap features like that.  My Enginee used that loop material with a snap added and stitched into place.  However. Since..its not in the CRL at present, it may be warranted as an addition.  A Sabre radio pouch will give you the same appearance.  When Shane built the first IAT trooper he used off tge shelf unmodified pouches, so it was not written in.

[pm07[TX]]

Looking good Jef, cant wait to see the final kit put together

 

[nocjef[TX]]

Got a little more work done:

It took a few tries to get it right and I think once the pouches are on the belt and weight it down a bit, it will sit better. I still need to paint the whole thing so the olive green matches all of the other gear. 

Still waiting on my WTF bucket, it’s been about 3 months now...

Jef

[nocjef[TX]]

So other than some painting, I'm now done until WTF delivers the bucket.

Updates when I finally see a BBB.

[Blackwatch[CMD-DCA]]

Once I started to add more pouches like the started to add more pouches like the triple magazine passes for the combat engineer, my straps moved all over.  The weight really helps.

[Toda[501st]]

This looks really good so far!  Can't wait to see the finished product...

[nocjef[TX]]

It's a race now, soft hat or bucket, who can deliver first!

More updates to follow, I need to paint the suspenders/belt so it is a uniform color because it bothers me.

[nocjef[TX]]

Woo! Got my tracking number for the WTF bucket today, I'll show the BBB and the goodies once it is delivered. 

[nocjef[TX]]

The last big bit has arrived:

Now to figure out how to build it and finish this up!

[nocjef[TX]]

Helmet building time!

There was a good deal of release agent on the helmet so first I washed it with soap and water. Next I marked out the preliminary cut lines. 

Once it was rough trimmed, I did some dry fitting and added registration marks and additional cuts needed. These sharpie marks will be cleaned off with alcohol once the glue up is done and before paint to prevent bleed through. 

After another round of trimming and sanding, the two halves were glued together with e6000 and clamped. I chose e6000 as this was my first IAT bucket build and I wanted to ensure if I errored I could recover from the mistake.  Not shown: I had to cut the bottom half of the helmet in half in the front (the small strip). I did this to make sure the helmet seated into the overlap of the top piece better. I’m not sure if this was correct, but it looks fine. 

Tomorrow I’ll clean up the glue bits, do some final sanding, and then prepare the telemetry unit for attachment. 

[nocjef[TX]]

Painting and the telemetry device. 

I started by cleaning up the telemetry device. The WTF kit comes with an obvious cast of a 3D print. It sands easy but still took me about an hour to smooth out. 

I hit that and the bucket with a few coats of filler primer. I like the high build primer and it hides any imperfections you might have. 

I affixed the telemetry device to the helmet with CA glue and some kicker. Then the whole thing got airbrushed with angelus olive green to match everything else. 

I searched Home Depot for some screw caps that were the right sized but I couldn’t find any that would work. I decided to CAD some up and 3D print them. The size looks good and I’ll clean these up and paint them once I get the chinstrap. 

just a few more parts left...

[Blackwatch[CMD-DCA]]

This looks good.  I havent had a chance to try my Angelus paint yet.  did you thin with water, or alcohol?  I got lucky with my snap covers and found some at the hardware store that looked appropriate.  

[nocjef[TX]]

2 hours ago, Blackwatch said:

This looks good.  I havent had a chance to try my Angelus paint yet.  did you thin with water, or alcohol?  I got lucky with my snap covers and found some at the hardware store that looked appropriate.  

I thinned the angelus paint with alcohol and added a little createx flow reducer. The paint sputtered a little but it went on mostly even. It took a few coats to get it evened out but I think it’s fine. 

The printed snap covers got acetone smoothed tonight, chinstrap and padding arrive tomorrow so I should be able to finish it off. What size are you covers?

I’m undecided if I’ll get approval with a weapon or not; I have a DH17 that I’m working on but would like a holster so there’s that problem to work out. 

[Blackwatch[CMD-DCA]]

mine are about half an inche, semi domed, from the hardware store Hillman bins. They are push nut covers. 

[nocjef[TX]]

Finished up the bucket tonight. I installed a hard hat liner to get a good fit. I originally tried to use helmet padding like my TK bucket but it made the bucket sit too low. I used a cheap $7 hard hat from HD and cut the tabs out with a dremmel. I affixed it to the inside of the bucket with Velcro so I could reposition if necessary.

I had to do some touch up painting to the outside, paint the screw caps, and fill in some spots on the inside. After that, I applied three coats of matte clear to the outside of the bucket to hopefully protect the paint for a bit.

I affixed the chin strap by attaching a snap to one side and used a snap plate to connect it to the inside of the helmet so I could undo the strap if needed. The other side of the strap is attached with a screw, washer, and nut. The screw caps were glued to the outside and the rubber seal was glued every few inches so it wouldn’t go anywhere. I’m calling this done. 

Just need to suit up and take approval photos now. I’ll keep you posted. 

Jef, TK/ST66667

[Blackwatch[CMD-DCA]]

I got home just after dark because I wanted to get back outside, get some more work done, and get my helmet fixed up . 

REALLY want to get my IAT done.  Ive got one pressing project thats a time eater but that will be over soon.