Metal Gear SnakeEater/PeaceWalker Big Boss. Starting on Spirit camo

[The Ronin]

Re: Metal Gear SnakeEater/PeaceWalker Big Boss harness builds

Starting another set of harnesses. One STABO and one SPIE. I figure I should chronicle them here. I'm going to try using some more complex stitching to make the seams a bit cleaner.

The STABO is up first. I ordered in a surplus parachute equipment harness, as you can find these for under $30 shipped. They have all the necessary hardware and enough strapping to make OD green harnesses.


This one was a bit different than the ones I'd purchased before. I didn't take a closer look until after I'd cut it up, but I felt kinda bad afterwards. Yes, that build date stamp is July 1966


That's all the pics I have for now. More later.

 

[The Ronin]

Re: Metal Gear SnakeEater/PeaceWalker Big Boss

So I got a set of gloves for working on my car a while back, but I never liked how bulky they were inside cars. They work AMAZINGLY well for pinning and sewing things together.


I then pinned together the whole harness, being very careful to keep everything aligned. (I ended up pulling out my wife's measuring/cutting board to keep everything straight.)


Then I ran everything through the sewing machine. I use nylon thread to keep everything consistent. Thankfully the wife's machine didn't protest too much at the thick material. I only broke the thread one time.


I'm really pleased with the patina of the belt and the vintage webbing. It really looks like it's been through a lot of use even though the webbing is technically brand new


Now to start on another SPIE harness. One of these days I'm going to do one of these for myself.

 

[nick daring]

Re: Metal Gear SnakeEater/PeaceWalker Big Boss

Any reason you went with green over mgs3 black?

 

[The Ronin]

Re: Metal Gear SnakeEater/PeaceWalker Big Boss

Any reason you went with green over mgs3 black?

Because it's not for me and the recipient didn't want to spend the extra money for black. Truthfully though, it wouldn't be too hard to dye black

 

[The Ronin]

Re: Metal Gear SnakeEater/PeaceWalker Big Boss

So I picked up the black BDUs that I'm going to use for the base of the Spirit camouflage. The plan is to airbrush a dark woodland pattern with skulls and ghosts intermingled with the normal camo pattern. I'm going to have a little fun and throw in some easter eggs here and there.

Naked Snake Spirit Camo black base BDUs by RoninsArt, on Flickr

I may have to get another black BDU jacket later on. I REALLY like how good I look in this thing.

 

[nick daring]

The skulls and ghosts are a fun idea!

 

[The Ronin]

The skulls and ghosts are a fun idea!

View attachment 340113

Right? If you look at the camo "swatch" in the menu, there are little skulls mingled into the pattern, so I thought I'd just play on that idea

In other news, I finally dug out a good picture of the wife and me last year when we were pairing up as Snake and EVA. It also happens to show the correct holster and my "radio"
The radio is a block of EVA foam with a stainless steel chopstick shoved in the top. I know the pouch isn't period accurate, but the only correct ones I could find were still attached to the radios they belonged to (which were more money than I've spent on this entire cosplay)


Snake and EVA by RoninsArt, on Flickr

 

[nick daring]

I also want to get around to making his survival knife strapped to his ankle. It's such a weird design.

 

[The Ronin]

I also want to get around to making his survival knife strapped to his ankle. It's such a weird design.

It really is. It's mostly a KABar knife and sheath, but the strapping defies physics. I have mine rigged up well enough as you can see in the pics, but I really need like big pieces of velcro or something.

 

[nick daring]

He only pulls it out in one cut scene so good reference is hard to find.

Do you happen to have a pic of the spirit camo swatch handy? I never noticed the skulls before.

 

[The Ronin]

He only pulls it out in one cut scene so good reference is hard to find.

Yeah, and I can't remember the events you have to trigger to even get that conversation with Signt.

Do you happen to have a pic of the spirit camo swatch handy? I never noticed the skulls before.[/QUOTE]
I was actually planning on playing the game a bit to get some screenshots this weekend. Unfortunately my Google-Fu isn't strong enough to find anything other than a blurry pic the size of a postage stamp.:unsure

 

[Wingman]

He only pulls it out in one cut scene so good reference is hard to find.

Do you happen to have a pic of the spirit camo swatch handy? I never noticed the skulls before.

Can't you look at it in the survival viewer?

Edit: I just popped the game on and took these snapshots of the knife. The centre is hollow. This is just from ps2, I wish I had the hd game, it would probably look a lot better. It looks really different from a kabar knife, but I'm getting a rubber training kabar knife from amazon so I can bring it to conventions, maybe I'll modify it to look like snake's knife.

 

[Wingman]

Yeah, and I can't remember the events you have to trigger to even get that conversation with Signt.

Do you happen to have a pic of the spirit camo swatch handy? I never noticed the skulls before.

I was actually planning on playing the game a bit to get some screenshots this weekend. Unfortunately my Google-Fu isn't strong enough to find anything other than a blurry pic the size of a postage stamp.:unsure[/QUOTE]

I got some for you while I had my game on, there's not a lot of spots where you can see the skulls, they're mostly on the legs because they're not so covered up by gear.

 

[The Ronin]

Nice! Thanks Wingman!

 

[nick daring]

Can't you look at it in the survival viewer?

Edit: I just popped the game on and took these snapshots of the knife. The centre is hollow. This is just from ps2, I wish I had the hd game, it would probably look a lot better. It looks really different from a kabar knife, but I'm getting a rubber training kabar knife from amazon so I can bring it to conventions, maybe I'll modify it to look like snake's knife.

[url]http://i1025.photobucket.com/albums/y315/hells-wingman/DSC_3539small.jpg[/URL]

[url]http://i1025.photobucket.com/albums/y315/hells-wingman/DSC_3542small.jpg[/URL]

[url]http://i1025.photobucket.com/albums/y315/hells-wingman/DSC_3540small.jpg[/URL]

Cool! For some reason I thought it wasn't viewable in the menu.

 

[Wingman]

I just wish you could see the cqc knife in the viewer too

 

[The Ronin]

I just wish you could see the cqc knife in the viewer too

Right?

Well I did manage to get a HD pic of the survival knife.

20140621_183804 by RoninsArt, on Flickr

Unfortunately I haven't played my HD copy to the point of getting the Spirit Camo. I'm just now working my way to The Fear. *facepalm

 

[C4 Craig]

I like your set up so far Ronin I stumbled across this looking for guides to building a SPIE harness. I thought Id throw my two cents in. I reenact Vietnam as 173rd AB so I cried a little on the inside when I saw the parachute bag. I am now looking forward to how your spirit camo turns out. I wish to thank you for the link on the bulk 1 3/4inch nylon webbing will be a great help as Im planing on rebuilding my STABO and for building the SPIE.

Was wondering if you planed on taking the lower pockets off and making the cigarette pocket on the left shoulder?

Survival Knife
Closest correct knife for the time would be the pilot survival knife. The sheath matches what we see on snakes leg. The knife in game i have always felt was a cross breed of the Pilots knife and the K-Bar fighting knife. As far as securing it to yourself... Snake has it secured with hundred mile per hour tape so it doesn't come off during his HALO decent in the virtuous mission. OD duck tape works fine. It will lift the leather each time its removed so I would recommend applying a base layer to keep on the sheath so you don't tear the leather apart each time you take it off.

Comm Gear
Also the Radio that is on Snakes belt is a PRT-4 produced in 1967 as a squad command radio. There was no case ever made for it as it was designed to be clipped to the d-ring on the 1956 suspenders. I kinda pride myself on having the actual radio but for those outside the reenacting community I can imagine its a little pricey for a cosplay though i got mine in a trade for about 10 dollars. tried to find an in game reference shot but it is clearly visible during the romance scene after the completion of Snake Eater. As for the throat mic it is a T-30 WW2 tankers microphone. Cable is the right length to the switch box and is the closest match I've found as far as in game to real world counter part.

end result was 2nd place at the con

Sorry for the long post. Love your work so far.

 

[The Ronin]

I like your set up so far Ronin I stumbled across this looking for guides to building a SPIE harness. I thought Id throw my two cents in. I reenact Vietnam as 173rd AB so I cried a little on the inside when I saw the parachute bag. I am now looking forward to how your spirit camo turns out. I wish to thank you for the link on the bulk 1 3/4inch nylon webbing will be a great help as Im planing on rebuilding my STABO and for building the SPIE.

Thanks, and you're very welcome for the links. If you have any questions on the STABO/SPIE construction feel free to hit me up. I've made enough of these things that it's almost 2nd nature to me. One word of warning with that 1 3/4 webbing, it's THICK stuff. You either need a leather machine to sew it, or lots of thin needles and pliers to work it by hand. I charge an extra $50 to make STABOs in that stuff.

Was wondering if you planed on taking the lower pockets off and making the cigarette pocket on the left shoulder?

I hadn't even thought of doing that. It's freaking brilliant. If I have time and the cojones to take the pockets off and sew them back on I may just do that.

As far as securing it to yourself... Snake has it secured with hundred mile per hour tape so it doesn't come off during his HALO decent in the virtuous mission. OD duck tape works fine. It will lift the leather each time its removed so I would recommend applying a base layer to keep on the sheath so you don't tear the leather apart each time you take it off.

Yeah, I've used electrical tape (bad idea) and gaffer tape (worked well, but I didn't have the right color) and remnant scraps of the OD green harness. I think I'll look harder for the OD green gaff tape.

Comm Gear

That's a hell of a deal you got. I'm thinking of just modifying what I have with a new earpiece and neckband, but otherwise leaving it mostly as is.

Sorry for the long post. Love your work so far.

Thank you!

 

[The Ronin]

So I finally got around to cutting a bunch of stencils last night. I figure since there's exactly a month left before the con I better get to it, RIGHT?



A couple of skulls, and a bunch of various shapes. Some look like ghosts, most don't. They're just cut out of transparency sheets because, well, that's what I had laying around. I'll have a couple "easter eggs" hidden around the BDUs for people to find, but since they'll just be one-off parts of the camoflage I'm going to cut them from contac paper so that they can have more detail.