SpecialAdvisor’s Mad Labs - Mars Leather Mods Plus

[Lopaka KaMars]

Wow. I'm digging the new Valves. Awesome.

 

[SpecialAdvisor]

Not going quite as smoothly as I’d hoped for. No surprise though. The leather is all but shredding as it comes off. Just too darn old and fragile.

Taking a break then starting fresh tomorrow. Going to soak the last leather wing in leather deglazer before trying to remove the last piece in hopes that releases enough of the adhesive to keep it more intact.

I’m guessing leather deglazer won’t do the lenses any good. In for a penny in for a pound! Time to remove my first C-Rings and MARS lenses tomorrow

Not like I was gonna wear it more
than once with that ratty old suede!

 

[SpecialAdvisor]

I feel like one of them happy drunk guys ya see in bars at 0200 Hours…”I LOVE YOU GUYS!”

Zero lens scratches, no lost digits, no scrapes (that I saw) on the frames. Couldn’t have done it without y’all!

 

[SpecialAdvisor]

Felt like a darn surgeon for a bit there. Turns out the key to getting as clean removal as possible is acetone and a Q-Tip.

Going to have to finish the complete disassembly as those glued bits of thread in the final holes ain’t budging. Will have to soak at least the orbitals to hopefully loosen it up.

One step at a time!

 

[SpecialAdvisor]

I’m going to take this as a win. Got the second wing off with moderate malformation. Should be able to upgrade my nose bridge and wing templates.

…and what’s up with that ugly nose bridge Oakley? They sure made a mess of it. Will try some light hand cleaning with acetone but don’t want do much so as not to jack up the nose pin holes.

I ain’t gonna lie…was a bit of tension in the room when I started pushing that first pin out. Not quite as much as with the C-Rings…but close

The orbitals are about to go into a thinner bath as those glue holes are solid as rock at the moment. Even after saturating the holes with a cotton ball soaked with thinner a saddle needle would not push thru. Gonna let it soak an hour and re-check.



P.S. Four washers per arm? Two top and two bottom

 

[SpecialAdvisor]

Had to do something while the MARS orbitals soaked.

Played with some leather dyes. Digging the, sadly discontinued, Tandy brand Olive Drab. The one that looks reddish brown (I call it tobacco or cognac) is a vintage Army Tan…well the black is…Black

 

[SpecialAdvisor]

Alrighty then! All stitch holes clean as a whistle. Next step will be to re-template the wings and nose bridge.

DANG!!! If last July when I showed up here, someone had said I’d not only have a MARS Jordan, but that I’d have it dissected on my desk top, I’d have said they were bucking for a section 8!

Life is stranger than fiction some times

That poor ugly nose bridge though…I was gonna leave this frame X-Metal. Now think it’s gonna get Cerakote H-240 Olive Drab (…yes I’ll mask the serials) and I’ll take my one MARS Standard back from OD to X-Metal (sure don’t seem like I am gonna get a second one of those!)

Hey! @THE X-MAN. Standby for a Mission Briefing!

 

[SpecialAdvisor]

I “DIG” X-Metal!!!

This morning these MARS Standards were my favorite shade of Cerakote H-240 Olive Drab…but plans change…and after a trip to the sandblasting box.

Ta-DA! X-Metal again with black (admittedly unidentified) lenses and stock black rubber set.

Talk about versatility

 

[rodriguezz37]

And lastly for today…I think. This is some of the exotic leather I have on hand. A few should work well…

I have Stingray, Salmon (yep there is such a thing as salmon leather), Wolf Fish, Croc, Buckskin, Ostrich, and some Bison.

This may all come to nothing…but more than once I ended up finishing something just before I got told it was impossible

View attachment 1090753

I was catching up on this thread and the leather variety is astounding.

 

[SpecialAdvisor]

I was catching up on this thread and the leather variety is astounding.

Lots of very interesting leather options out there

Still searching for some appropriately sized rattlesnake…hard to find lately.