Back to the Future 2 HC Jacket Mods

MitasTouch

MitasTouch

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
So as many of you know, Halloween Costumes has an updated 2015 jacket. Overall it's not too bad for the price, but many things are just terrible if you're an avid prop maker or collector. I plan to bring the jacket to its full potential. A special thanks to other members that I will mention below for their hard work. Below I will list the mods I will do. Not in any particular order.
authentic-marty-mcfly-jacket.jpg


1. Replace the red mesh with a material that is sold on Amazon.
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2. Shorten the jacket to be about waist high as it comes too long.

3. Make new straps and control boxes.

3. Make new pockets or modify the existing ones depending on how they are.

4. Get the arms tailored as needed.

5. Use @TheNickFox's belt and cuffs once they become available.
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6. Depending on the color of the grey areas in real life, I will use black plastidip and do it very lightly to darken it.

I'm sure there are small detail things to be done, but those are the main things that need upgrading. Estimated cost is in the ballpark of $350-$400.

Jacket: $109 if it's your first order on the HC website and use the discount.

Red material: $80 on Amazon or Etsy.

Belt and cuffs: $125-$150

Extra plastic/ miscellaneous pieces: $15-25
 
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So after receiving my jacket today I have started the process of modding it. The first things I did were remove all the stuff I don't need. So the belt and cuffs, arm straps and control boxes, pockets, and zipper.

So this is basically what you get out of the package other than I removed the buttons already. The arms are very nice and exactly what I was looking for. I will have to make a couple custom plastic pieces, but some things I can reuse. Pretty much everything was somehow sewn on which was a little odd. But I am completely stripping the jacket so it doesn't matter to me.
14691155_10207829311078763_2636824040071537073_o.jpg


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Pieces that I removed that I might use later.
14581337_10207829321319019_750933949094919292_n.jpg


I will completely remove the red mesh next and use charcoal grey plastidip for make the jacket a little darker.
 
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So it looks like charcoal grey plastidip isn't available in stores so I have to order it online. Currently the front two red mesh panels are removed. I will post pictures once the entire jacket has been stripped. And when I receive the red material I will use the mesh panels as a reference for templates.

And also today I have been thinking of ideas for custom pockets and I can't use the material that I removed so I will have to get something else that will work. I can make the flaps with what I have though.
 
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I took the button assembly apart. I'm debating if I should keep it for the build or make a custom setup. I'll ha e to do some research to make my decision.
 
A nice little project. I'm looking forward to the results. I'm really curious if you will be able to give this jacket a more screen accurate look. In the end, when everything is done, we could send a link to this thread to HC and show them, how the jacket has to look like. :D
 
Roland said:
A nice little project. I'm looking forward to the results. I'm really curious if you will be able to give this jacket a more screen accurate look. In the end, when everything is done, we could send a link to this thread to HC and show them, how the jacket has to look like. :D
Click to expand...

I am confident I can make this jacket very screen accurate. Obviously not 100%, but very close. Right now the thing that is off putting is the color of the grey which will be fixed. Everything else is very straight forward. This won't have the seam on the back like MPs and the belt and cuffs will be true to size. On my MP jacket I had to use a table saw the cut the belt in half and reduce the size of it to be the right size. TheNickFox is making true to size pieces. Also the arms on this jacket actually go all the way down when the straps are undone. On MPs the inner liner prevented that.

I'm really surprised that even though this is an updated version that they got things so wrong still. The control boxes are grey and have more of a globe shape for the red in the middle, the awful red mesh, weird almost Velcro feeling belt and cuffs, big chunky button pieces, weird pockets, and overall the wrong colors. If someone who designed these for sale from wherever HC gets them actually cared then we wouldn't have the mess that they have for sale. Even on a budget it's not breaking the bank to make things the right color.
 
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Roland said:
In the end, when everything is done, we could send a link to this thread to HC and show them, how the jacket has to look like. :D
Click to expand...
I was think of something exactly like that. Hopefully they will take the advice and make a more accurate jacket. At least one that doesn't make hardcore fans want to vomit. But I don't think just contacting HC will get a more accurate one made. I would have to somehow get into contact with the Chinese factory that makes them.
 
So the jacket has been fully stripped except for the snap buttons. I'll drill those out later. Since the red mesh was folded inwards and sewn to the grey material on the inside there is still some red showing. I am trimming that down as much as I can to make gluing the new red material easier. After that is done I am undoing the stitching on the grey parts that show that are facing inward towards the center of your body and gluing it down. That way it doesn't look bunched up and more flat like it should be. I'm still thinking of a way to make the collar stiffer. I might remove it and put a piece of foam on the inside.

14695504_10207857968955192_5429553724068269022_n.jpg


14670697_10207857969115196_165545553251703918_n.jpg
 
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MitasTouch said:
... I'm really surprised that even though this is an updated version that they got things so wrong still. The control boxes are grey and have more of a globe shape for the red in the middle, the awful red mesh, weird almost Velcro feeling belt and cuffs, big chunky button pieces, weird pockets, and overall the wrong colors. If someone who designed these for sale from wherever HC gets them actually cared then we wouldn't have the mess that they have for sale. Even on a budget it's not breaking the bank to make things the right color.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm also surprised how wrong the updated jacket still looks. For this price I would buy the jacket immediately if it was more screen accurate.

By the way: if you want to use cavx's red material, you should note, he did the same mistake as Mark Poon. The material of the screen used jacket is gray and just painted red on the tops of the nubs. The gap/space between the nubs still has the original gray color of the material. And the highest top of the nubs has a little less red paint, so it looks darker. Looks a bit like a bunch of boobs. :D I can post high-res pics of the original material, if you need it.
 
Roland said:
Yes, I'm also surprised how wrong the updated jacket still looks. For this price I would buy the jacket immediately if it was more screen accurate.

By the way: if you want to use cavx's red material, you should note, he did the same mistake as Mark Poon. The material of the screen used jacket is gray and just painted red on the tops of the nubs. The gap/space between the nubs still has the original gray color of the material. And the highest top of the nubs has a little less red paint, so it looks darker. Looks a bit like a bunch of boobs. :D I can post high-res pics of the original material, if you need it.
Click to expand...

I have seen close ups of the original. And I believe Cavx is the the only person that makes this material so no choice here. And from a distance it's not that noticeable that the shapes are more round than the screen used jacket. As for the grey material just being painted red, that would require more testing of Cavx's part and there's no guarantee it would come out good. Thanks though.
 
JLeezy23 said:
I can't find much for recoloring the grey, except for Angelus leather dye, you can probably test swatches and I'm sure you can dilute the black to make a charcoal. Since you'll be trimming the waist it would seem like a great opportunity to test the dye on the scrapped trimmed pieces

https://angelusdirect.com/products/jet-black-leather-dye
Click to expand...

I will purchase charcoal grey plastidip from dipyourcar.com and test it on a scrap piece I have from the pocket. I'll see if it is flexible enough for normal wear.
 
So I'm in the process of contacting the costume team that makes the jacket. I was given an email, so I hope my words are taken into consideration and used for the future. Does anyone have any details that may not be well known? I know a 100% jacket won't be made do to a budget, but anything would help. I already know a lot about the jacket, but small details really do matter.
 
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So I have discovered an alternative to the red material I was originally going to source from Cavx, so I will instead use that because I believe it will benefit my project. The picture has been updated in the original post.

EDIT: The new material has been ordered and the latest it will be delivered is the 15th of November. I would have chosen a faster shipping option, but there was only one choice.
 
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The plastidip is also on order now. I will probably use it to also put the grey in the cracks of the red bumps. I'll do a test on some scrap rubber matting by spraying it on lightly and immediately wiping it off the top of the bumps and let it stay in the crevasses.
 
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Once the plastidip and rubber matting arrive, this project will really take off. The things that will take a while will be the belt and cuffs.
 

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