Modifying the Struss Dredd Vest

Nice! I'm actually surprised you are doing so much structural work. I figured you'd have the 6mm mesh on order already :)

Oh, I do. I will be making a vest from scratch... ummm... Eveningarwen will be making me a vest from scratch at some point, using the correct material, but I felt like it would help us get a better understanding of the overall vest to mod this one. I'll just end up selling it at the end, but she is going a GREAT job so far.

Here is a comparison with one side cut and the other uncut. The cut side doesn't have the armor reattached yet, but you can already see just how much difference there is between the two.

Dredd-Vest-Dissassembly-Recut.jpg
 
Last edited:
Much better. I'm wondering why they designed the vest so wide making the armor plates look small by comparison.
 
very nice! i noticed last night that the right panel on my vest is about 1" wider than the left. i'm still not going to trim it down though... i'll leave that to the next person to get it :)
 
very nice! i noticed last night that the right panel on my vest is about 1" wider than the left. i'm still not going to trim it down though... i'll leave that to the next person to get it :)


We are trimming and restitching all the armor. The extra lip just looks bad plus it is very inconsistant. On top of that, trimming it down allows us to stack the armor closer together, as it should be.
 
Now, this isn't the best photo, but Eveningarwen sent this today, showing the recut back. Plates have been cut down, back has been cut down tremendousbly. New edging has been sewn on. Looking SOOO much better! Can't wait to get it back and take decent pics!

dredd-struss-vest---back-seamstress-compare.jpg
 
Last edited:
scattrap, there is a lot to do for sure, but you can definitely make a lot of changes to the vest and make it work with your body pretty well. Eveningarwen is just about to finish up mine and I can't wait to get it back and take some "after" photos.
 
Last edited:
Finally have an update. @Eveningarwen has completely reworked by Stuss vest, cut it way down, recut and restitched the armor, replaced the edging... on and on and on. Is it a great vest? Not as great as I wish it was, but considering where we started, she did a stellar job! I'll have more pics soon but wanted to show the shoulders. We replaced the armor with Allen armor and unfortunately the base material under the armor just isn't firm enough to support the shoulder well, so there is a bit of rippling around the edges... but here are the two shoulders, with gold and with a bit of fuller's earth for weathering. My plan is to go with the very heavily weathered look.

dredd-armor-parks-01.jpg
dredd-armor-parks-02.jpg
 
To give you an idea of how the shoulders got to where they are in the photos above, here is what my weathering starts out like. This is a first pass with simple water and fuller's earth. Obviously, the vast majority of this will come back off, but I always feel it is good to go on heavier than you think and then go back and remove what you don't want later. The collar for sure will need more work on it as it is important to get dirt into many of those creases. Not only will it make the details pop, but it will look like real grime, not just a surface smattering.

dredd-weathering-fullers-earth.png
 
As crazy as that last photo looked, here is the first "knock down" photo.

Here is how this look is achieved.

I simply mixed fuller's earth with water until I got a VERY runny soup. I then slapped it all over, trying to get in cracks and crevices. You natural inclination will be to just brush across the high points, but it is really important that you get down into the deeper areas and recesses. Since I live in AZ and it is burning hot out here right now and it dries within minutes. It is also important not to do 100% coverage. Trust me, when it dries, it will go EVERYWHERE anyway, so don't worry about open spaces, they will get dirty.I spent a lot of time on the neck, really trying to cram dirt down into all those stitch lines. takes some time, but there it is.

One dried, I took a bowl of water and a flat scrub brillo, like you might use to clean your rims or your grill, wet it, slung it out, and then GENTLY took one swipe across all the high surfaces. I didn't bear down and I didn't do more than one swipe. This knocks down a TON of the dirt.

From there, I take a sponge, wet it, and then wring it out and lightly go over the high points again. Then, because I caked up so much dirt on the lips of all the armor, I hit that with the sponge, cleaning and rewetting it often. Again, you are going to take off almost everything you put on. You only want traces left.

You will notice that almost all of the armor has a film of dirt on it now, with some of the low areas still having a heavy/solid accumulation. I go back, getting more and more random and hit the high points with the sponge again until I am happy.

At this point, the fuller's should be completely dry so you can go back, gently, with a dry soft brush and brush away any really heavy clumps from the recesses. You really only want to leave the recesses with a slight amount more dirt than the high points.

Next, I dampen my hands and just grab around on the armor randomly. This rubs a few places almost clean, and smears others in a way the sponge did not.

Finally, I come back in with some dry fuller's and touch up any spots I am not happy with. In this case, a lot of the vest seemed just a little too clean, as well as the sew lines in the strapping. All of these got a heavy dusting.

I am not sure if I am totally happy with it yet or not, but from here, you can "set" the dirt with hairspray. Note... once you do this, it will be VERY HARD to ever get it back off again, so be sure you are happy with it and go light with the hairspray.

Anyway... I am still debating whether to go at it one more time before setting it, but this is where I am at right now.

PS: Always remember that a delicate touch is important but it is equally important to go heavier than you think you should as so much of this dirt and weathering will be washed out in con photos and you will barely look dirty at all.

dredd-weathering-fullers-earth-2.jpg
 
And here we go... here is my final work on this particular project; the accurizing of the Struss Dredd vest. Big thanks to eveningarwen and Jeff Allen as well as Lowell for helping me make this piece.

dredd-struss-vest-final-01.jpg dredd-struss-vest-final-02.jpg
dredd-struss-vest-final-03.jpg dredd-struss-vest-final-04.jpg
dredd-struss-vest-final-comparison.jpg
 
This thread is more than 9 years old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top