Review: Blackhawk! Engineered-Fit Shirt

Here's another great item made by Blackhawk, that the folks at LEGear sent my way. This innocuous looking shirt is in fact part of Blackhawk's "WarriorWear" Line, of engineered base-layers. I've reviewed other Blackhawk! gear before, in their knee-pad range, and I have some pants from them lined up to look at as well. You may recall that I have reviewed this kind of shirt once before, and I was pleased to be able to look at someone else's take on the design and application of technology.

Here we go: The WarriorWear Engineered-Fit shirt comes in V-neck or crew-neck, I chose crew, as I like having full closure, keeping all my cat-bell like jinglies tucked in. The shirt is actually made of three distinct regions, in two different fabrics. The torso and biceps are made of a very fine Jersey knit in 92% Nylon, 8% Spandex and the underarm strips, running mid-pectoral to mid-shoulder blade are of a 95% polyester, 5% Lycra mesh. This gives you considerable breathing through sweaty armpits, as well as being stretchy for unrestricted movement.

The seams are all extremely flat, almost inappreciably so, and better yet, are placed off the shoulders entirely, giving no pinch points for packs, harnesses or plate carriers loads to press and rub on. Being a long, tall and skinny critter, I don't have a lot of padding that I can shrug off that kind of thing with, so having the seams off my load-bearing areas was a welcome relief. The material is actually brushed on the inside, to give even better contact to the skin,as this is a wicking shirt, and designed to be held tight to the body, both to draw away moisture, but also to prevent agaisnt-the-skin friction from your load. It is also anti-microbially treated, to help prevent stinky goon syndrome.

I can attest to this, having worn it all day under my it at Manifest overnight, then all day at a kendo instructors course. Kendo is a very physical activity, under both heavy gi and armour. The material kept me dry, chaffing free, comfortable all day, and didn't smell! It's going in my running kit at work

It's important to note, that sizing is really important with these types of shirts. You need a skin-tight fit to gain the most from them. The Blackhawk range of Engineered-Fit body-sculpted shirts (in that they aren't just flat panels of fabric, but are "body-shaped") have specific measurements associated for their sizing. To move from their "Standard Fit" and full "Compression Fit" (for those who want that), all you need to do is move one "size" down. I got myself a "Large" but could have probably done better with a "Medium", as the length was more than adequate to cover my long torso, as you can see here as I demonstrate a "traditional Provencal French salute". You can see there has been no ride-up, helped in part by the soft, next-to-body, jacquard elastic waistband, and the intrinsic stretch of the materials used.

I really liked the smooth, matte-finish surface the shirt has. I've now worn it solo, and under a variety of other tops, slept in it, trained in it and have been dry, comfortable and protected from some regular wear and tear. Definitely worth getting into!

Review: Platatac MAC Front opening panel

I made some additions to my collection of rigs recently, and wanted to give you a heads up. As you're probably aware, if you are a regular reader, I am all in favour of modular, adjustable and multi-function gear, because I'm of the mind set that when disaster strikes, you will need to adapt to the situation, rather than simply stick with a static plan and outlook. Things will NOT go according to plan, and having a means to quickly adjust is of vital importance. So when I look to add to my collection of things, I look to what I already have, and how I can make sensible additions, rather than just "another cool gadget, gizmo or piece of kit to lug around". Or at least, I try to. I think with this item, I was spot on the money, however.

This is the Platatac MAC Front Opening Panel which I picked up as a very attractive and highly recommended bundle with the MAC BackPack I strongly recommend if you are looking for a good deal, to check it out. I'll be looking at the MAC BackPack soon, but for now, lets look at this Front Opening Panel.



So, how does the Front Opening Panel attach? There are Fastex style shoulder buckles which mirror the shoulders of the MAC Front Panel and mate with the Back Panel buckles, feeding through the D-Loops, and elastic webbing, if that is the way you want to go. The side buckles also mate to the back panel, in the same way, although these buckles are not used with the MAC Front Panel, if the plate carrying Modular Cummerbund is worn, The "back" side buckles fold away into the Back Panel. You can see it above mated to the the MAC BackPack here.


The MAC Front Opening Panel is designed to work with the MAC back panel, which is the back piece of my previously reviewed and much loved Medium Armour Carrier. The idea being that in situations where a "low level carriage option" is required, the front armour carrying panel can be swapped out for the lighter and breathable front piece.

That "swap-out" component is of considerable interest to me, because whilst wearing my MAC front panel, with its inserted Ikea-cutting-board strike plate substitute is all good and well, (mock all you like, I don't have access to ballistic plates, and thankfully don't have a clear and present need for one, but that cutting board will stop or slow and cut or thrust I've put at it, and spreads out blunt force considerably) sometimes a rigid, closed front panel is cumbersome and not fit for purpose.

The Front Opening Panel features a top row of 5 PALS/MOLLE channels, and three rows of 6 channels below this, as well as a heavily stitched reinforcing webbing for the shoulder straps including two loop-fields for attaching the shoulder strap ends. The bottom of the Panel also features a couple of the adjustable hook-and loop and press-stud belt attachment loops which are a great addition and can really assist in securing the vest, both vertically and horizontally.

As well as integrating with the MAC Back (and MAC BackPack) modules the Front Opening Panel offers the option to one more accessory that I made use of recently. In the spirit of "time to get our of Dodge" disaster preparedness, I wanted to have a little experiment, and perhaps some fun whilst at it. I strapped Tactical Baby into her Baby Bjorn carrier, and then threw my Mac Front Opening Panel / Back Panel / Gunslinger Belt combination over the top.

Laden down with pouches filled with bottles, formula, nappies, wipes, snacks for Triceratops Girl (out of shot), I was able to effectively load up a days worth of family needs and other needful accessories, (yes, like my laser-tagger) and spend the day milling through the crowds at Manifest. Tactical Baby was rocking out her "Zombie Hunter" patch and I wore her, her needs, and carried Triceratops Girl on my off-arm, tagger at the ready (or slung) in the other.

To do this, I just strapped the Bjorn on, filled it with Tactical Baby goodness, threw the rig on and buckled it up> it needed a couple of placement adjustments, because both she and I needed to be comfortable, and I needed to be able to get at all my pouches, or they would have been redundant. All in all, it worked out really well. I now have a Tactical Baby compatible load-out. Need to get ear protection for her though, you know, to drown out the zombie moans and such...

So. The Platatac MAC Front Opening Panel: definitely a success. It offered me a lightweight, breathable low profile platform to both carry my accessories, but also to mate to my back pieces. That modularity will mean that I will be able to fit out this piece, and have it "ready to attach", to my other pieces, in moments, giving me more grab and go options, should disaster strike.

Review: First Spear Oagre Tactical Vest

I was very fortunate to receive one of these
Operational Assault Ground Reconnaissance Exploitation (OAGRE) Tactical Vest made by First-Spear from the folks at LEGear. You may remember I reviewed a couple of things from their lines, the Maxpedition SITKA bag and iPhone holster, and they were kind enough to hook me up with this cool vest. Cool to review and cool to wear, but we'll get to that. The first thing I noted was the sheer amount or real-estate on it. Not being a plate-carrier, like my Platatac MAC, it doesn't have to conform to the function of fitting armour plates, and can wrap right around the body. This is First Spear's khaki, which is a tab more brown than the Platatac khaki.

The main front zipper which secures the vest, is supplemented by three ITW G-hook closures, in adjustable webbing, which not only give a rock-solid close to the vest, but also allow for it to be secured shut without being fully zippered up, a benefit in hot conditions.

As far as PALS/MOLLE real-estate goes, there are 5 rows of 8 channel loops at the bottom of each front panel, with an additional 5 channel row on top and a 4 channel row above that. A loop field for name and designation tapes sit adjacent to the top MOLLE loop, as well as an additional downward loop of webbing, (mirroring one on the bottom, which correspond to the attachment by more G-hooks for the First Spear Beat Up hard plate armour.) Remember that this is a vest, not a plate carrier, but having that option would be a welcomeP one, for those in need. Each of those loop-fields features an access buttonhole, to feed cables or tubes, as needed.

The shoulders have a high friction panel at each shoulder, giving a good place to rest the butt-stock of a rifle or simply the straps of a pack, and afforded a nice solid placement. Those panels didnt move or slip, even when the vest was "naked". The shoulder straps also featured tube and cable securing elastics. On the back lay 7 rows of 6 channel PALS/MOLLE webbing. A drag handle is secured with a narrow hook-and-loop piece, to reduce snag risks, and is sewn down the whole length of the vest. A second hook-and-loop patch gives another ID point.


The front and back panel are joined at the waist by a series of buckles and webbing, which in and of itself isn't too exciting, but they allow for a variety of sized and shaped wearers, and the excess webbing is kept tidy by a very cool method: A Tactical Toggle is integrated in the end of each webbing, and bundles it away by rolling and looping with the shock-cord end. Clever use of an ancient system.

Here are a couple of close ups of the metal G-clips and nylon Tactical Toggles. It's also worth mentioning the "downwards through-MOLLE" quick-release belt loops, featuring a hook-and-loop and press-stud closure, and Fastex style quick release, these give the wearer the option to fasten the vest to a belt, useful if you've ever found yourself dangling upside down. Having your kit sliding up around your ears does not make freeing yourself (or force-pulling your Lightsaber) any easier.

One thing absolutely worth mentioning is the use of closed cell foam pads, in the shoulders, at the waistline and lumbar region of the vest. Secured and kept in place with pockets, these pads act as a buffer between you and your kit. Especially useful if you are going to be laden down with a lot of steel to sling, the placement of the pads acts to cushion the bottom most rows of MOLLE, where pouches would intersect bony hips (mine especially). These pads are easily removable to replace or augment, and First Spear suggest they add to the positive boyancy of the vest. Certainly do no harm in that regard. The back panel also has a hook-and-loop strap for securing a hydration bladder, up to 3L in capacity.


Additional to  all the innovative closure systems, intergrated padding, ample PALS/MOLLE real estate and loop-fields, one thing I haven't yet touched on is the material itself. At just over 1kg (2.24lbs) and made from a heavy-duty mesh, the entire body of the vest (apart from the shooter-shoulders) is breathable, and wicking. This is a rig for the greenhouse and the sandbox, for sure. The construction of the whole vest is excellent, with closed seams and heavy stitching. This is a dependable and feature rich platform that would give the wearer many many options.. Options are always worth having, especially in a medium to low-profile vest such as this.

Review: Platatac SCAR Mini Chest Rig

It's been a while since I've covered any purpose made tactical gear, having spent quite a few posts going over the pretty awesome set of birthday knives I received (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) so I wanted to get back into it with some really functional and multifaceted kit, such as seen with this, the SCAR mini Chest Rig, by Platatac. I took a departure from my usual khaki colour scheme, mostly to allow an option of distinguishing one set of kit for another when romping around doing Stargate LRP.

Unlike my full MAC rig, which I'd reviewed a while back, which offers front and back, side to side and sternum to belly coverage, with all the bells and whistles, the SCAR mini rig is a substantially cut back, being in principle a front piece, with shoulder and waist straps to keep it on. However there are still a number of features that Platatac have added to make it more than either just a plate carrier, or mag-rig.

The bottom half is made up of s set of four integral shingle pouches, each with a drainage grommet and featuring a three row, ten channel PALS/MOLLE field. Each of the shingles is closed by a loop of shock cord which feeds through the top row of MOLLE loops for each pouch, and back rough additional row of MOLLE loops above e shingles, Wu a reinforced tab of webbing for each shingle to act as a draw-toggle. Each shingle is reported as being able to carry 2x M4 magazines, or a single Styre magazine.

As well as the thorax belt of shingles, above is the SCAR rig features a sternum piece which offers a further three rows of six channels of PALS/MOLLE attachment goodness, although the heavy fastex type chest buckles do cut into the available space a little, and would make for a very snug fit if a pouch was fitted adjacent to them. This sternum panel is interesting in that it is not permanently attached to the chest straps, but rather feature a pair of press-stud loops which attach either through the plastic D-loops or webbing loops on the shoulder pieces. As well as the PALS/MOLLE field, this sternum piece also features a hook-and-loop closing map/document pocket at the top lip.

Looking at the inside surface of the rig, you can see the wicking mesh that lines the otherwise all 1000d cordura construction, but also the back of the shingle/thorax region has a built in pocket, and the sternum region a corresponding wide band of elastic material to accommodate a chest-plate, should that be required for your kind of activity. (as with my full MAC rig, I'll probably cut down a polycarbonate cutting board to fit in mine, for look and feel if not the innate properties of a cutting board). However, and here is where the SCAR rig shows the clever design thoughts put into this range of products, again, if all you need is a magazine platform, and are not going to be wearing a plate, the sternum piece can be unclipped from the shoulder straps, and folded down behind the thorax belt, dropping your profile, and heat retention.



The wide shoulder straps, which feature loops to secure cables or hydration tubes loop around the arms and fasten back around under the arms, and a similarly broad waistband secures the rig with another large fastex style buckle on one side. I found that when jumping about, the shoulder straps tended to slip somewhat, which is a situation I'd rather avoid in a crisis. To avoid this, I took the MacGuiver approach, and swapped out one of the shingle shock-cords and fitted it as a loop behind my shoulders. This might act as a slight delay if I had to shed the rig entirely, rapidly, but I'm not expecting to be sprayed with acid-for-blood xempnomoroh gore any time soon. Returning the now bereft single to normal function was just a matter of looping the cord through two sets of MOLLE, and as I also dnt expect to be dealing with extra tall magazines any time soon, not having at extra slack isn't much of a worry to me.

This is a pretty cool rig, a lightweight, low-profile platform, which I intend to use to supplement my available loadout options depending on the situation I find myself needing to respond to. Adapt, innovate overcome.

Review: HyTest Metatarsal Guard Boot

It's been a while since I've covered some purely hard-core survival gear, rather than militaristic or camping gear, so I have dug out my zombie-kickin' boots. I found these at a St Vincent's Second hand shop, by chance, and was immediately smitten. These hefty boots are made by the HyTest boot company, a division of Wolverine World Wide who specialise in safety footwear, for industry and trade. Their range covers mining, electrical, foundry and all manner of hard tasks for hard people. I had never seen them until coming across them in that thrift shop, but I'm dead impressed.

What makes them so special? well, they have a well shaped steel cap toe, which meets a variety of safety standards, which is pretty cool.   I've not been a frequent wearer of steel-caps, except the occasion I had to join a paleontology dig one summer, which gave me a taste for smashing chunks off the planet with sledgehammers (I avoided the jack-hammers).


A good steel-cap boot will save your toes from pillow sized rocks falling on them, but they wont protect the rest of your foot. Pity, because thats how your toes attach to your leg. That is where boots like these come in. On top pf the steel-cap, lies a hard polycarbonate metatarsal plate, extending all the way up to the top of the ankle. Bolted to the toe and looped through the top laces, this neoprene backed plate armours the top of your foot from all manner of crushing and penetrating risks.

I frequently employ these when I do a lot of wood chopping (having bounced an axe off my boots more than once) and also when I do any serious smashing. They also feature a very aggressive tread which is reported to be oil, water, abrasion, chemical and slip resistant. The outers themselves are waterproof, with sealed seams, and are electrical hazard protected. Perfect for live-wire house-clearing situations or zapping giant rat-Satan monster in flooded London.

These boons come at a cost though, each boot weighs 1150g (2 1/2 lbs) so you probably wont want to go swimming with them, and running a marathon wouldn't be fun. That said, they are very well padded, and comfortable to wear day-in and day-out. I am quite happy to swap them for my other day-to-day boots on occasion, when I feel the need for a change, and clean enough to take to work.

These are bad-assed boots, good for bug-stomping, door-kicking and smashing "anything that has more than two legs"

Review: Black Hawk kneepads

Here's some PPE that I wanted to share with you, but had all but forgotten, as it was sitting buried in my gear-bag.  I have had a variety of knee-pads over the years, for rollerblading, Fantasy LRP events and costuming. One thing I've always had issues with is the fit, and having my pads slipping around to the side. I'm going to blame my boney knees and skinny calves for that. Whilst the pads I've used in past have never  spectacularly failed me (especially in some bigish rollerblading crashes) they've rarely been comfortable, and and have either pinched and rubbed or slipped and slid. One thing that occurred to me that perhaps I was using the wrong equipment for the task I was performing. Running about the bush and up and down hills isn't the same as roller-hockey or speed skating. So I looked to tactical gear. Blackhawk! had these Advanced Tactical Knee Pads v2.0 to offer, and I wanted to tell you what I have found with them.

The body is made from sturdy 600D Cordura, which encloses the closed cell foam interior padding. Closed cell foam doesn't absorb sweat or incidental water, for both comfort and keeping the weight of the pads down. The kop of the knee pad is injection molded plastic, which is articulated below the kneecap, with a soft rubber join. This design allows the knee to be bent, without producing much in the way of either pinching of the padding, or gaps opening up in the pad. I was really impressed with this feature, and have found no troubles with the coverage it's offered me. The strapping also deserves some discussion too. As well as the sturdy plastic furniture on the "outside" edge, and the wide elastic strapping which is fitted with long and well placed strips of hook-and-loop, the straps are affixed to the body of the pad, featuring seamed and padded flaps that wrap the padding and strapping around the wearers knee. 

Both the top and bottom straps are well placed and give a good solid attachment, without interfering with mobility overly. A very useful and well thought out additional element of this pad is that inside the kneepad there is a contoured interior ledge of the same closed cell-foam. This sits above the wearers knee-cap, and keeps the pad seated in the right position no matter what I've thrown at it, thus far.  Blackhawk!  offer this in Black, Coyote Tan, Foliage Green, and Olive Drab. I opted for Coyote in this case, and its worked out nicely for me thus far.  I've been happy with the protection these have offered me both whilst out adventuring and my Stargate Lasertag LRP, but also out rollerblading. Rugged, functional and adjustable. A good choice.

Review: Platatac MAC plate carrier

I wanted to tell you all about a very special and awesome piece of kit I have, which I initially got specifically to use for my Stargate Lasertag LRP, but have come to enjoy more and more for a variety of purposes, both costume and preparedness related. This is the Platatac MAC Medium Armour Carrier set. I've pulled off some of the pouches I usually have loaded onto it, such as two of the SR-25 double magazine a FUP utility pouches and a yet-to be reviewed Modular Radio Pouch to give you a better look at it, but you can see I have left my Breacher-Bar, a hank of paracord, some zip-ties and a SR-25 Single Shingle pouch, holding my radio. The art-grenade was a piece my very talented friend Marty Whitmore painted up for me, and makes for an exciting addition to my chest. A couple of Cyalume sticks poking out the side for good measure. I after-marketed a name-tape attachment point at the front.

But lets talk some more about the MAC. The set consists of a front piece, a back and shoulders piece, a cummerbund and shoulder-pads. It's modular, like so many of the products from Platatac, and they offer a variety of options, go check them out.
The front piece has two distinct bands of MOLLE strips, the upper being a three by six flanked by hook-and-loop attachment points for the strapping of the front piece to the back. The lower band is found on top of a large flap, lifting up from the bottom, of hook-and-loop, which plays an important part in securing the cummerbund. It also features a "pocket" of hook-and-loop opening downwards, presumably for sandwiching pouches.

The back piece also has two distinct bands of MOLLE strips. The upper being the same three by six pattern as on the front, but is very securely sewn over a drag handle, which features a nametape sized strip of loop-side hook-and-loop. The lower band features a wider three by eight band of MOLLE loops, and the interesting feature here is that it is sewn over a pocket that runs the width of the back-piece, specifically for the cummerbund to run through. At the top of the back piece, running up both shoulders are bands of elastic, under which can be fed hydration system tubes, or cables for radio or other electronics to keep them out of the way and snag-free.

The cummerbund itself features bands of three by eight MOLLE loops on both sides, and is adjustable at the back by corset style lacing, and fixes to the front piece by means of two wide and tall sandwiching bands of hook-and-loop allowing either side to be opened up independently, giving the wearer left or right handed entry, as suits them. There are two sets of loops dangling from the bottom edges of both front and back, with hook-and-loop and press-stud closure at each. These are for tying into a belt system such as the Young Guns belt but could also support groin armour I suspect. I leave mine separate, giving me more modular wearing options. I have also at times used them to attach a rolled up waterproof poncho and bundled rope, but this got a bit ungainly when I added more pouches or a drop-leg rig.

  The shoulder straps that come with the back piece feature two sets of D-rings for attachment as well as Fastex clips to attach the front to the back, as well as elastic sewn into the pads to manage the excess strapping. The shoulder straps included as part of the back piece are pretty good, and extend the wicking surface and closed cell padding up and onto the wearers shoulders, but under load, as any armour wearer can attest, extra padding never goes astray, and as part of the set, twin pads are a blessing. The extra padding shoulder pads mirror the twin D-ring setup as on the back-piece's shoulders, and feature hook-and-loop closure, with enough room to also allow a hydration tube and cords to feed through. The Fastex clips of the front-to-back attachment can be slid into the shoulder pad to again reduce their propensity to bits or dig, and give a more streamlined profile. They are easily slid back to allow fast access as required if the whole rig needs to be dropped rapidly for whatever reason.

Lets take a look inside the MAC to see where it really comes into its own. As I mentioned previously, the inner surfaces are all covered in a breathable wicking mesh, over closed cell, honeycombed foam to not only give padding, but allow some airflow, a real boon in the field, especially when loaded up. In the event the cummerbund isn't worn, wide-mouthed Fastex clips are available to attach the waist levels of both front and back (although my back piece seemed to be missing its corresponding ends). The magic of the MAC however is its armour carrying capacity. A large hook-and-loop closing pocket gives access to standard CBA plates, and can facilitate both hard and soft options. The press-stud seen is part of the front panel closure.

The back piece also carries armour, with similar features, as well as extra drainage grommets. The cummerbund feed through the back, as you will recall, and from this angle you can see the side-armour pockets that give lateral protection.
Obviously, I'm not eligible for actual ballistic protection, being neither military or LEO, but for the purposes of realism for my LRP and costuming, I have included Polyethylene cutting boards, shaped to the right size. These not only give me the rigidity and bulk of plates, but I figure that they would also afford me some stabbing, cutting and blunt force trauma protection. Perhaps not as cool looking as a set of Mad Max tire armour, but far more modular, lighter and functional.

I'm really fond of this piece of kit, and am really glad I laid out for it. It's been the central piece of my LRP kit for some time. I could have gone with just a cloth tactical vest or a set of cams, but I wanted something that would really work, and I've never regretted it. When fending off invading aliens, herding zombies or facing immanent perfect storms, I highly recommend a dependable chest rig like this. I hope our troops in the field find it saving their vitals and keeping them safe!