Creating Armor Plates from PVC Board

This is a great way to form armor plates to your body!

This is a quick little guide to PVC board armor, and the way I make it. It isn't hard, but it does take some time. I think this is a really good option, especially if 3D prints/commisioned pieces don't look likr they're right for your body type.

What you'll need:

PVC board (such as sintra)

Heat gun

Box cutter

Sanding tools (Dremel recommended, but sanding blocks will work as well.)

Pencils

Ruler

Optional: armor templates

Optional: duct tape

Optional: dressform, template of your body, etc.

Step One: drawing out your armor

Get out your PVC board and draw your armor shapes. The way you do this is up to you. Some people perfer to use a printed paper template and trace onto the PVC. I just freestyled what I wanted to my chest plates to look like and used a ruler to keep it symmetrical.

Step Two: cutting out the pieces

Use a box cutter to cut along the lines you drew. Probably put some cardboard underneath so you don't tear up whatever surface you're working on.

Step Three: shape your edges

So how I did this with the symmetrical pieces was I taped them together and dremeled the edges like that. Sand/dremel them however you like, I just softened my edges and took off any imperfections that happened while cutting. The most important part of this step is making sure everything lines up and is shaped right.

Step Four: heat!

You're gonna get youe heat gun and just blast the thing. Don't hold the gun too close to your board or in one spot for too long, or it will start to bubble and melt. Move the gun around and keep it a good 6+ inches away from the board. You'll start to see it flop. I like to take this part super, super slow. Flip the board over a few times so it heats through. Once you've got it nice and pliable, press it against your body (but don't burn yourself!) or a dress form, paper mache cast of your body part the armor is for, whatever....I have done this a few ways. Most recently, I just bent the board gently against the table top to give the armor just a gentle curve.

Step Five: Let it be

Leave em alone to cool down. If you were using a cast, dressform, etc. leave them there. In my experience it doesn't take too long, but if you just flop em down on a flat surface while they're still hot you may love the shape. But that's it! Your plates are done.

Tips

Shape to your body/create your cast of your body with your armor soft parts on, or if using a dressform, put your jumpsuit and flak vest on it.