Good evening ladies and gents! I’m currently in the process of gearing up my very first uniform which, as my wife can attest, has me beyond excited. I have most of the base components for the uniform either on the way or already in my possession, however I have a small question in regards to coloring. I am currently unable to obtain the pistol belt that’s in the shop and the ones that I’ve found on ebay seem to be more beige than grey. I do have a belt that was given to me today that is very much black, so I’m curious as to what anyone has experienced with potentially trying to bleach a black belt to make it more grey, is it worth the trials and tribulations involved? Or should I simply just hold tight, use it for now, and potentially purchase the real deal at the next available opportunity? Either way, shall definitely post pics when I have my uniform pieced together! Just need elbow pads and the house/connector to complete the base suit (not including gadgets & fobs)
Well, nobody really made any comments on this, so I went and bought color removal stuff and a metal bowl to use for the process, using the stove-top method to take care of unnecessary color in the belt as well as dying the elbow pads. As of this moment in time, the suit is certainly not what anyone would consider to be screen accurate, however it’s coming along nicely and I’m very happy with my current results! So let’s start things off…
The suit - A Tru-Spec suit that was purchased directly from the GBFans website (The name tag was purchased there as well, however I don’t have a good picture of it at this moment in time) (Please note, I’m 5’6" and weigh around 140Lbs on a good day, the medium suit is more than adequate!)
The Elbow Pads and Belt - These are not even remotely screen accurate, but are good place-holders at this moment in time.
The belt was received from my father and was an older pistol belt that he had kicking around the house, and the elbow pads were purchased at the local Canadian Tire for $4 on clearance.
The color removal process was a tedious and very odorous task. Left the belt in for the full 40 minutes as per the recommendation on the packaging. Most of the black was removed leaving what I’m assuming is the natural khaki coloring of the material itself.
Dying the elbow pads. The packaging called the color Elephant Gray, however I feel it looks very much closer to purple/blue than Gray itself, it did dry a lot lighter, and will certainly do the job for now as again, this is a place holder until I get the real deal.
5)The Belt and Pads after this process
The Ghost Corps pin which will be worn with great pride
Last but not least (At least the last for this post) My current situation. Note the hose connector which is made with a pvc fitting and a brass coupling ■■■■■■ which will be later colored and the welding goggles on my head that will later become the DIY Ecto Goggles
This is all very much a work in progress, there’s still much more to do, such as applying the logo patch, finishing the goggles, and getting the appropriate pads/belt, however the latter will be done later as the funding is made available!
Let me know what you guys think so far! I’m very excited to finally be wearing the uniform and can’t wait to show it off when it’s completed!
The hose connector I’m using is a PVC fitting, it basically screws together through the fabric so there’s no cutting/stitching involved. As far as I can tell from reference photos, the hose itself just slips up behind the back of the pistol belt in to nothing, I’m still working on something to get it to stay though because it falls out as soon as I start to walk, I’ll post further pics of the hose connector later this weekend
