The wife’s birthday is at the end of July and I’m hoping to get it finished in time for her to wear it to GB2016’s opening weekend, about 2 weeks before her birthday. While I would love to be able to put together a GB2016 uniform, I kind of need to do all this on the down-low and she loooooooves GB1 as her dad worked on the movie (he built animatronics for Stay Puft). Eventually, I want to make one for myself and our son, but we will mainly focus on hers for the time being.
I plan on ordering a bunch of things from the shop here–elbow pads, belt (now that it’s in stock), yellow hose, hose connector, No Ghost patch and (maybe) gloves (I can’t tell if they would be huge on her). That leads me, shockingly, to a couple questions:
–Which of those items currently in the store tends to go out of stock quickly? In other words, since I want to make a uniform (or uniforms) for myself eventually, are there any of those items where I should go ahead and get one for me in case they are gone in the next year or two?
–There is a page/listing for a name tag patch, but it doesn’t specifically say it’s “in stock.” Are these available on here? Is there anywhere else that I could get one?
Right now, my game plan is to get together all the accessory-type items and pick up the flight suit at the very end. I’m going with a Nomex and I really don’t want to buy the wrong sized suit now only to be stuck with it when it doesn’t fit in July and I can’t return it. I need to figure out a way to get her measurements without being too suspicious (or just plain creepy). Based on measurements from her non-stretchy, well-fitting clothes, she’s probably a 36R in the regular/mens flightsuits. I did see some women’s flightsuits on eBay recently. Are they sized similarly? I saw a single post on another thread about them, but no responses.
I also need to reach out to our local Steel City Ghostbusters and ask about any surplus stores in town that might carry Nomex flightsuits.
I think that’s all for now. Let’s see if I can keep all this a secret over the next 5 months!
I can’t help with the sizing, typically on a man you want to measure across the chest with your lungs filled with air and then go 1 size up for a little breathing room. These things don’t stretch. Or across the gut if that is bigger than the chest.
Does she have a blazer? I’m not sure how they are sized, but that might get you close. If there is a size in it, check with someone to see if that number relates.
My experience with the Gbfans shop is if you see something in stock, don’t wait. Order what you can now. If you’re in the US, shipping isn’t bad if you have to do multiple orders. It’s better to get it now than try and get it later and it be sold out or shipping delays make it not arrive in time. I’d also say that if you’re going to make one for yourself too, might as well get double now.
The shop does do custom name tags, I haven’t looked to see what it says though, but it would be better to order that sooner than later.
Has anyone found a decent flight suit in kids’ sizes? I think my son is going to “need” a rudimentary uniform once he sees mommy’s. I’ve only found blue, green or black ones online. Are there tan ones out there that I just haven’t found?
I picked up the belts, gloves, hoses and hose connectors from the shop. I went with two of each just to be on the safe side. I also took a gamble on a cheap Nomex size 50R from eBay. It arrived yesterday and fit great until the zipper got to my gut. Then it became more like a sausage casing. I think I’m going to try the Tru Spec route next time, mainly because I can get them on Amazon and return them fairly easily if/when they don’t fit. The price of the 52R seems to be significantly higher than what I found for the 50R as well. Not entirely sure what I will do with the Nomex, if anything. Maybe I will bring it to Steel City Con and see if any of the SCGBs need it.
On the kid-sized front, I found an old pattern on eBay and Etsy that I’m sure my mom can adjust to look like “grown-up” version, at least enough for a 3 year-old.
I’m also on the fence about Velcro-backed vs. sew-on/iron-on name patches. Can a Velcro-backed patches be sewn easily? Do most people remove the Velcro portion from the flight suit? Any thoughts?
I removed the Velcro strap from both my suits. I think most people go that route.
Tyger Cheex sells the leg hose key fob in the For Sale section. He also sells full sets of screen accurate key fobs for your belt if you haven’t got them already
I have two Tru-Spec flight suits in my cart on Amazon.com. I need to time it right so I’m not outside the return window in case mine or hers doesn’t fit. Grandma has put together a killer flight suit for the boy (from what I can tell from blurry cellphone pics).
The patches have arrived, as have the fobs from Tyger Cheex.
The only things missing are gloves and elbow pads for the boy’s uniform. He’s a tall 3-1/2 years old. I’m more concerned with the elbow pads than the gloves right now. I found some kids grey knee pads online, but they either have writing or little cartoon-looking things on them. Anyone have any ideas for pads or gloves for a toddler/kid???
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The flight suits have arrived. Mine fits, shockingly. The wife’s birthday present is boxed and ready to be wrapped. My mom gave me the boy’s flight suit a couple weekends ago. It should fit. After lots of Google searches and trips to the fabric/craft stores, I think I’m going to make his elbow pads myself. I found some good grey fabric at JoAnn’s that is the same as the thermal/expensive hoodies I see the baseball players wearing. It has some flexibility that should respond well to being stuffed and thrown around he stick-like arms of my 3.5 year-old.
Now the hard part is waiting another week until the wife’s birthday.
I think he likes it! The patches were not sewn on yet in the photo. I have some ideas for making elbow pads, but we may skip them because the boy doesn’t really like things tight around his arms. I will definitely post my progress on those.
Now I need to attach the leg hose connector. I have connectors from the GBFans store. How does one usually go about prepping and sewing them onto the suit leg? Should I use a small drill bit to make the six holes on the outside? Also, do most wash the flight suit with the hose connector still attached?
