SuperheroDIY
Well-Known Member
So -- I've really wanted to upgrade the gauntlets on my UD Replicas TDK suit ever since I got it -- and finally did!
Even though the original gauntlets were really good for some leather gauntlets, I always felt they were the weak spot in the whole suit. I of course did always like that they were convention/kid friendly and easy to put on / take off, though. But the fins especially are showing their age so it's time to replace them anyway.
So a couple of weeks ago I found that this eBay seller was offering some, so I picked them up! That guy sent them QUICK which is always nice, but I cracked them open and was in awe. I immediately modified them to cut them short enough to fit my arm well and glued the zipper on. That actually turned out to be the hard part because the glue didn't want to stick to the rubber! But it finally did, and I was able to don them.
Here's the gauntlet itself:
While they immediately looked great, I noticed that:
So it looked like the elbow-guard piece was floppy because the urethane was too thin between the elbow piece and the rest of the gauntlet. To reinforce it, I simply glued the little strip of urethane that I cut off for sizing -- I glued it back on right under the elbow "flap" to make it nice and rigid!
To fix the falling-down issue, I decided I could easily add some velcro to the inside of the gauntlet in just the same way the velcro was on the originals. Worked great.
The biggest problem here is just that they are hard to get on if you've already put the jacket on, so you have to put them on the arms BEFORE you put on the jacket, and just leave them halfway unzipped. If you zip them off all the way you can't re-zip them with just the one hand.
I'm really impressed with these gauntlets -- so impressed even, I made a video. Check it out if you're interested:
Even though the original gauntlets were really good for some leather gauntlets, I always felt they were the weak spot in the whole suit. I of course did always like that they were convention/kid friendly and easy to put on / take off, though. But the fins especially are showing their age so it's time to replace them anyway.
So a couple of weeks ago I found that this eBay seller was offering some, so I picked them up! That guy sent them QUICK which is always nice, but I cracked them open and was in awe. I immediately modified them to cut them short enough to fit my arm well and glued the zipper on. That actually turned out to be the hard part because the glue didn't want to stick to the rubber! But it finally did, and I was able to don them.
Here's the gauntlet itself:
While they immediately looked great, I noticed that:
- the elbow guard piece was kind of floppy
- they kept falling down off of my arm over my wrist
So it looked like the elbow-guard piece was floppy because the urethane was too thin between the elbow piece and the rest of the gauntlet. To reinforce it, I simply glued the little strip of urethane that I cut off for sizing -- I glued it back on right under the elbow "flap" to make it nice and rigid!
To fix the falling-down issue, I decided I could easily add some velcro to the inside of the gauntlet in just the same way the velcro was on the originals. Worked great.
The biggest problem here is just that they are hard to get on if you've already put the jacket on, so you have to put them on the arms BEFORE you put on the jacket, and just leave them halfway unzipped. If you zip them off all the way you can't re-zip them with just the one hand.
I'm really impressed with these gauntlets -- so impressed even, I made a video. Check it out if you're interested:
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