Home Front: Stabbing Lcpl Schmuckatelli

Here's a bit of fun I had a weekend or so ago. I have used polyethylene cutting boards as faux armour inserts for some time for my roleplaying and MilSim purposes. They're about the right sized and shape, are cheep, durable and stiff enough to add some realism without being either heavy, difficult to come by, or plain illegal for a Regular Aussie Bloke to have in their possession, unlike folks in other Western World nations with newly elected governments.

I've used polyethylene boards in the kitchen for a long while now, and have often marveled how they hold up to cuts, hacks and stabs. I have even on occasion, slipped one under a jumper when I've been "expecting some trouble" and helping out a friend in a possibly stabby situation, Ned Kelly style.

So to test this, I loaded up my very under-inspiring Zombie Outbreak Grunt plate carrier with one of the boards I typically use, a Legitim from Ikea, which at 500g, (1lbs2oz) and 8mm (1/4") thick, has always served me well in the kitchen.

Up against it, I pitched an assortment of blades.

1. Schrade US Army knife
2. KA-BAR Famine Tanto
3. American Kami Super Colubris
4. Boker Tomahook (front and back)
5. United Cutlery M48 Tomahawk (front and back) 
6. Ontario Black Wind sword
7. United Cutlery M48 spear 

 I loaded the cutting board into the front of the plate carrier, which I had loaded up with 10 2L bottles of water, giving it a mass of 20kg (45lbs) and suspended it on a Tough Hook, with side-supports, in the hope of mimicking a free standing human target. Hitting a board laying on a block of wood or even free standing wouldn't be a very good simulation of being stabbed, but I hoped that this set-up would, as well as giving me a penetration "bleed" effect, if anything managed to make it through the board.

Here is the video we made of the testing.



I gave each stab or thrust a "I want to do you harm" amount of effort. Taking from my 16 years of kendo I have a fairly good idea of what these impacts would have on an armored target, as well as stabbing a bunch of things over the years for the hells of it. I was pretty happy with my strikes.

Here is the board once we removed it and married it up to the footage.


The two main "bleeder" shots were the back of the M48 tomahawk, the American Kami Super Colubris and the maybe M48 spear (if it actually punched that hole of its own accord).

So, in conclusion, unless someone is coming at you with a spear, or the pointy breaching end of an axe, you will probably be able to shrug off some stabs, and certainly all the slashes that land on a cutting board under your shirt. The good thing about polyethylene is that it is heat-labile, meaning you could mold it to be more chest-shaped.

Obviously there are commercially available, professionally made and certified stab proof inserts and garments you could use, if they were legally available to you, but for my purposes, they sem to fit exactly what I need from them. Won't stop a bullet, sure, but will turn a blade wielded by someone as strong as me.

Review: Platatac - Cool Under Tactical Shirt

Here's an item I had completely overlooked in the back of Tactical Baby's wardrobe (where I've taken to storing my less-often worn gear, as she hasn't yet accumulated a whole lot of outfits, and only the one camo vets ...) I pulled it out as part of a upcoming post detailing different camo in an Australian setting. I wanted to test out DPM pattern and remembered I had a shirt to go with my pants. It turns out that shirt was one of the very cool 

Platatac’s CUTS (Cool Under Tactical Shirt) and I wanted to tell you a thing to two about the CUTS design.

The CUTS Special Projects is Platatac's next generation in under armour tactical uniform shirts.

The CUTS are specifically designed as an improvement over standard BDU shirts, with lightweight, moisture wicking fabric in areas where body armour contacts the body. This aims to promote cooling when using body armour in hot environments.

The shoulders are constructed from 3D air mesh giving padding for both comfort when using load bearing equipment and airflow.

The sleeves are constructed from a heavy 100% Cotton ripstop fabric which is built to last. The sleeves also feature upper arm pockets with two sets of loop-fields each allowing the attachment of multiple patches and also include a webbing flap allowing the wearer to secret a IR Square with minimal effort.

On the version I have, there is also a axillary pocket on the left forearm for use as a map panel, much like the wrist mounted Recce wrist pouch , as well as twin elbow patches, which will take elbow pads, and are held in place by hook-and-loop tabs.

The cuffs are able to be cinched in with hook-and-loop straps to eliminate drafts and cover up exposed skin.  The neckline has a half-zip, to give you good venting when you need, and also features a hook-and-loop fixing mandarin high-collar, which keeps stray brass, grit and bugs out.

It has a really good, long fit, something I really look for in a shirt, as I have a long body, and even longer arms so having a full length shirt keeps my shirt tails tucked in, and my wrists covered up.

The material on the torso is very comfortable, especially under load, and whilst the cotton of the sleeves is fairly heavy, they bear up to rough use really well. I've crawled around in the scrub and run through brush with this, and had not had any trouble.

These are a pretty technical garment, but if you find yourself in rough environments, wearing packs or chest-rigs this is the kind of shirt you'll want to have.

Wish Lust: Platatac - BF pack

Early last year I popped into Platatac HQ in Hallam and shot the breeze with BDC himself. He took me through the warehouse, and the factory, where all their in-house kit is constructed.

One of the things he showed me was the then as-yet unreleased BF Pack,
and I was pretty impressed. I then saw them again having been given prominent display at the SSAA SHOT Show this year, and whilst I haven;t managed to pick one up myself, I wanted to get a bit of a Wish-Lust review out there for you all, as they look like a really innovative pack.

The BF pack is designed as a short patrol pack, with key features to cover a variety of soldiering needs.

It would provides every soldier with a personal TACEVAC litter, SSE bag and room to enhance mission capability as needed, according to Platatac.

The main feature that sets this pack apart form anything I've seen previously is a lightweight TACEVAC litter, capable of carrying a soldier and his equipment, out of harms way for further treatment, built right into the pack.

Pic swiped from Platatac

The pack itself is comparable to that of other short patrol packs like the Propper UC pack I recently covered , measuring 46cm (18") x 27cm (10") x 9cm (3.5") internally but encompassing an expanding  SSE pocket allowing quick stowage of documents or extra equipment to further your load capacity. This is stored away behind zippered flaps, and cinching compression straps and topped with a hook-and-loop cover flap to keep it secure.

Pic swiped from Platatac

When those straps are unhooked, I wonder how well the fabric of the SSE pocket holds up against the load of the front of the pack, but with it, I've no doubts.

An ADDITIONAL kangaroo pouch beneath the external cover flap will take a triple shingle or insert for extra mags/medic supplies or other similarly sized kit for even more sustainment in the field.

Clever design also adds a pocket for hydration bladders to be stored behind the cord-locked SSE pocket.

Pic swiped from Platatac

The pack also features a small 3 row, 5 channel PALS-MOLLE covered external admin pouch with a two internal mesh pocket allows you to store and have easy access to essential documents, gadgets, spare batteries, cyalume or whatever kit you need to have on-hand when out and about. There is no shortage of storage in this pack, and that's even before you look at the main compartment.

Pic swiped from Platatac

Internally the main compartment is fitted with full PALS-MOLLE webbing, all of which is also loop-field for taking either permanently attached pouches, or "tear-away" ones. the "back" is fitted with 7 rows of 6 channels, and the front lip has 8 rows of 6 channels. The whole thing clam-shells for ease of access to everything stored.

I must say I really prefer this over the all-loop/no MOLLE lining of the Propper UC pack, as most of my internal carriage would be permanent pouches. There are three zippered off internal pockets, one on the back, and two on the front the back one being big enough to take a 3L hydration bladder. Two ports give hydration tube / antenna access points.

Another cool feature is the wire fed Quick Release System (QRS) built right in. Feeding the included wire through the built in loops, and the back of a plate-carrier, or a larger pack, you have the option to with a yank of the top handle, release the back and have full access to its features. 

This makes utilizing the built in and lightweight TACEVAC litter, which is designed to be capable of carrying a soldier and his kit,out of danger. I checked, and Platatac don't recommend using it as a hammock, it's not designed for that. The two sides of the litter stow away into hook-and-loop closed inset pockets, and are accessed by simply pulling away at the tabs. The pack straps can even be stowed away in the top pocket when the QRS is employed.

All in all, from the twin side carry handles, to the use of the same quality materials and hardware I've come to expect from Platatac to the level of detail given to not only carry capacity, but also clever storage options for all the loads, the BF pack would be a good step up from my old favorite the Bulloch Echo even before the addition of the litter feature.

I really hope this kind of system makes it's way into regular use, I can only imagine the benefits to those putting themselves in harms way to have a fast and effective way to deploy a TACEVAC system like this.

Review: Condor - MPC Modular Plate Carrier

I added a new plate carrier to my collection earlier is year. I've loved my Platatac MAC for years, but it is getting dated. It's not like I even really NEED a plate carrier, personal ballistic body armour is a restricted item in Australia, requiring all kinds of licencing and legal requirements to own, (for civilians, at least) so it is a pretty specialty item.

That said, I fill my plate carrier's pouches with polyethylene plastic cutting boards.  This fills it put and gives it body and structure, (for costuming purposes), but also serves as blunt-trauma and edged weapon armour. Ballistic armour is restricted in Australia, so even if I wanted to fill it with proper plates or soft-armour inserts, I couldn't. I still like to put plates in however, any armour is better than no armour. I should do a test-video some time I guess.


The Condor Modular Plate Carrier is designed with heavy webbing on all sides for any PALS/MOLLE compatible gear and accessories.

The MPC also features an integral cummerbund and padded shoulders support and comfort. If you are in a country that allows it, or just want to know the vitals,  the accepts up to 25x33cm (10" x 13") plate and "Large" SPEAR/BALC cut soft armour front and back. It comes with padded foam liners taking the place of the soft armour.

One of the first things I liked about this carrier, was that once I fitted it with my mock-plates, I found it stood up all on its own, brilliant for storage and airing after a sweaty day out adventuring. A couple of bands of loop-field on the back give you attachment options, and also tie down what appear to be drag-strap retainers. These seemed superfluous, but I guess some folks want to be as snag-free as possible. Twin metal D-rings on the shoulders give hydration and cabling tie-down options. 7 channel x 8 row PALS/MOLLE on the black offer plenty of pouch, pack or accessory options.

The built in cummerbund system wraps from back to front, and I found that that really added to the overall comfort and stability of the rig. You can see from this shot that the back-piece also maintains the shoulder-straps, with feed over and across the body, to affix via hook-and-loop to the front piece, before being held secure by Fastex style buckles and sewn-in webbing.

You can also see the but in mesh inner-liner on the back panel, this helps add a little bit of a breathing gap, but in all honesty, I can't say that I noticed much difference from front to back.

You can also see the two M4 magazine pouches built into to the cummerbund  here, with the webbing looped shock-cord retention cords that are on both sides. I was a bit disappointed with these, as only the front set appeared to be big enough to actually fit a magazine. I didn't find much else I could store in these, except perhaps some emergency SERE gear like a spare compass or fire-starters.The 6x4 PALS/MOLLE loops give ample attachment for external pouches.

 You can see from this internal view, the cummerbund is actually two parts, an elasticized belt with hook-and-loop inside and out, that holds the back piece snugly in place. This waist band in turn helps hold the front piece in place, via hook-and-loop, to let you fir the side panels firmly.

 A nice extra feature of the elastic waistband component is that there is a zippered pocket fitted inside it. Good for personal keep-sakes, or small sensitive items, this is the kind of thing I'd normally see on a travelers belt, rather than inside a military style plate carrier, but hey, just because your loaded out for battle doesn't mean you aren't immune to pickpockets, does it?

The ealastic waistband helped keep the weight of the whole rig off my shoulders a little bit, and was a very nice addition to the setup, without compromising the fit of the side panels.

The side panels attached via broad hook-and-loop patches, before being held in place securely, as with the shoulder straps, by Fastex style buckles.

The front panel itself features a mighty  8 row, seven channel spread of PALS/MOLLE, to allow all manner of pouch and accessories to be fitted. It also has a very high on the throat, and low to the belly coverage, something that I like very much, being quite a long bodied creature myself.  This combination oflong construction, and broad carriage options makes this a really appealing carrier for me, and one of the reasons it has overtaken my Platatac MAC as my chest-rig of preference.

The front panel has two bands of loop-field along the top, straddling the top PALS/MOLLE row. Along with the the shoulder strapping webbing, and the cummerbund webbing there are a couple of extra things about the front panel.

It features two broad hook-field patches, for the cummerbund to lock onto,  these suffer the difficulty all big patches of hook-field do, they are crud-magnets. I found that the wrap-forwards and buckle tight option was pretty good, and gave good coverage as well as leaving me room to breathe (never good to be in too-tight armour, especially, when you have to shoulder a pack, climb up somewhere, or run).

One thing I found that it took a little bit of doing to get the side flaps to sit right, and flush. Each side has a grab-loop, to assist in bringing it into place, but some incremental adjustment may be required to get it sitting right.

Donning and doffing the MPC was pretty easy. It was simply a matter of undoing the side panels both in buckle and hook-and-loop, and throwing the whole lot over my head, and doing up the elastic belt component.

Then it is just a matter of fixing the front piece to the belt gently, and strapping down the side panels.

The plate pockets are secured by internal hook-and-loop closing flaps at the bottom of the front and back panels, and the side plates are fitted through the back plate slots. This took a little fiddling to get the side plates into place but they seemed to stay once fitted. It would be interesting to see if they sat as well with steel plates.

Again, the hook-and-loop attachment of the side plates, even with the Fastex-buckles were probably my least favorite part of this carrier, as they took some fiddling to get to sit right, and to fully lay flat. I can see them coming open at inopportune times when you're trying to be quiet with that "sckreeeet" sound if they got hung up on something. That said, I spent some good time running about in it, weaving through the bush, and in some urbanised areas, whilst at the After The Fall: New Hill City event.

I got this second hand, and it was in good shape when I got it, and has held up to the pretty mild punishment I have given it, (including two weeks spread out in the cooken-yard, as torture testing) so I'm pretty happy with how its turned out.

I'm slowly getting with the times as far as camo-patterns go, and am slowly building to my MultiCam collection, this was a great piece to do so. The webbing is still khaki, so it's still a blend, but I'm getting here.