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Researching the supplemental armor add ons to the Pacific Safety Products, Inc Fragmentation Protective Vest FPV, actual in the field photos show quite a bit of variation in the external construction. Some of the US IOTV DAP style armor Pauldrons have 2 vertical pen pockets, some have 1 single vertical pen pocket in the center, all so far show a zippered internal pocket for stowage of (not much according to the CF Veterans) ID, a TQ? , then even the zippers are showing different zipper pulls and configurations, some have 2 sliders on the zipper, some have only one, some closing downward, some closing upwards. These differences suggest some or many? of these Pauldrons were made in support workshops by your Maintenance Techs, the zippers being installed onto the fabric at random as they are taken off a pile.
One thing I cannot figure out is the wider type bicep/upper arm strap. The single vertical pocket, Type 2, I'll call it, appear to have a simple 1" piece of elastic with hook velcro tabs sewn to the ends, secured to the Pauldron on the 1.5 inch by entire width loop velcro sewn to the outside panel. The Veteran told me this type of arm strap may have been a Maintenance Tech shop made replacement, he said the arm straps did not hold up to the frequent donning of the FPV during times of urgency. But this Veteran wore the "Type 1" I shall call it, as it shows up most frequently in field photos, with the 2 vertical pen pockets and the 3x4 or 4x4 loop velcro for Roto patch, IR glint patch or IR Mapleleaf IFF patches. This mockup has 2" loop velcro above the IR Mapleleaf, that was until I realized that area is actually a single vertical pen pocket tucked under the 2 rows of 1.5" loop velcro or even ending at the top edge of the 2 rows of 1.5" loop velcro.
These armor Pauldrons appear to be sewn directly to the standard "footballs" across the center then by a webbing or elastic strap fore and aft of the center stitching. The standard FPV footballs have the fabric tunnel on top, slightly off center, for the front and rear snap straps. The footballs with the Pauldrons attached appear to be flipped so that fabric tunnel is positioned to the inside with the center 1" nylon attachment strap relocated to run from the pauldron/football center seam to the folded webbing loop sewn to the rear carrier envelop shoulder.
The arm strap appears to be wider than 1', possibly 1.25" or even 1.5" wide elastic adjusted by a metal triglide/slider with a female snap rivetted to the center bar, like the American Football protective shoulder pad straps. This Veteran is trying to assemble the same kit he wore on Rotation, I'm trying my best to copy this Pauldron using the US IOTV 3A soft armor insert as a baseline.
If anybody can remember any details about the pauldrons and/or the arm straps I'd be greatly appreciative if you could share that information.
The rest of the FPV is coming together, although I cannot find the exact black mesh PSP uses for the shoulder straps I found a close copy of it, the weave is tighter the portholes are smaller than the original mesh.
One thing I cannot figure out is the wider type bicep/upper arm strap. The single vertical pocket, Type 2, I'll call it, appear to have a simple 1" piece of elastic with hook velcro tabs sewn to the ends, secured to the Pauldron on the 1.5 inch by entire width loop velcro sewn to the outside panel. The Veteran told me this type of arm strap may have been a Maintenance Tech shop made replacement, he said the arm straps did not hold up to the frequent donning of the FPV during times of urgency. But this Veteran wore the "Type 1" I shall call it, as it shows up most frequently in field photos, with the 2 vertical pen pockets and the 3x4 or 4x4 loop velcro for Roto patch, IR glint patch or IR Mapleleaf IFF patches. This mockup has 2" loop velcro above the IR Mapleleaf, that was until I realized that area is actually a single vertical pen pocket tucked under the 2 rows of 1.5" loop velcro or even ending at the top edge of the 2 rows of 1.5" loop velcro.
These armor Pauldrons appear to be sewn directly to the standard "footballs" across the center then by a webbing or elastic strap fore and aft of the center stitching. The standard FPV footballs have the fabric tunnel on top, slightly off center, for the front and rear snap straps. The footballs with the Pauldrons attached appear to be flipped so that fabric tunnel is positioned to the inside with the center 1" nylon attachment strap relocated to run from the pauldron/football center seam to the folded webbing loop sewn to the rear carrier envelop shoulder.
The arm strap appears to be wider than 1', possibly 1.25" or even 1.5" wide elastic adjusted by a metal triglide/slider with a female snap rivetted to the center bar, like the American Football protective shoulder pad straps. This Veteran is trying to assemble the same kit he wore on Rotation, I'm trying my best to copy this Pauldron using the US IOTV 3A soft armor insert as a baseline.
If anybody can remember any details about the pauldrons and/or the arm straps I'd be greatly appreciative if you could share that information.
The rest of the FPV is coming together, although I cannot find the exact black mesh PSP uses for the shoulder straps I found a close copy of it, the weave is tighter the portholes are smaller than the original mesh.
