Magenta: Arches Blue: Arch Padding Orange: Plates
Sky: Deltoid Padding Yellow: Deltoid Caps White: Plate Straps
Max's Pad
Origins: Max's shoulder pad consists of a Plate and Arch Padding, taken from a Rawlings football pad, Crusader series. The Plate on Max's pad is common to all Crusader series pads. The Arch Padding on the other hand, is very unusual, and most likely belongs to a rare model, perhaps the ER-46. So finding an identical Plate will be easy, but finding the identical Arch Padding will be next to impossible. During your search, you will probably run into the CP-46 (pictured above). This is the most common Rawlings Crusader pad out there, and will probably be the best basis for your replica.
Removal: The Plate is removed by cutting away all straps. Some of the strap material must remain in order to hold the rivets tightly on the Plate. The rivet on the very front of the Plate should be removed for accuracy. The Arch Padding is removed by simply slicing the stitching on the Arches with a knife.
Preparation: Once the parts are removed, the Arch Padding may need some touch-up work. The Arch Padding may have holes to be patched, or may need to be reshaped to look like Max's. (Illustration below: most Rawlings pads, such as the CP-46, have a football-shaped chunk on the front and/or the back that needs to be cut out.) The stitching should also be replaced with thick thread or string. The Plate and Arch Padding then need to be spray-painted flat black. Note: Most spray-paint will leave the vynil on the Arch Padding sticky for weeks. I have used Testors flat black spray enamel (model paint), which seemed to dry more quickly.
Max's Arch Padding compared to most Rawlings pads'
Assembly: Now the Plate must be fastened to the Arch Padding. To do so, you will need two strips of black leather, 1 inch wide and at least 18 inches long. These strips weave through the slits that were used by the Plate Straps and wrap around the Arch Padding, hugging it firmly. The ends of the strips can be riveted together underneath the pad.
Jacket Attachment: Max's pad has a total of 10 rivets in it- 4 on the front, 6 on the back. These rivets attach the pad to the jacket. At least a couple of them need to also attach the belt that goes underneath the arm. Once the rivets are in place, they need to be coloured black.
Types of Pads
Rawlings: Nearly all of the football pads used in Mad Max 2 (The
Roadwarrior) and Mad Max beyond Thunderdome were Rawlings brand pads.
All of these Rawlings pads belonged to an old series called the Crusader series,
which can be identified by the Plate style and the icon (a knight chess piece
with the word "Crusader" written across it) on the chest.
As I noted earlier, the basis of Max's shoulder pad was most likely an ER-46
model. Wez and most of the Mohawkers wore FB-20's. FB-20's can be identified
by the extra padding beneath the elastic straps, and the "X" that
the elastic straps make on the back. Auntie's Guards wore CP-66's. The CP-46,
although not used in the films, is the most common model found today, and can
be a good basis for Max's pad.
Rawlings CP-46 and Rawlings FB-20 (Wez)
Rawlings CP-66 (Auntie's Guards)
Wilson / Raider: The remainder of football pads
in Mad Max 2 (The Roadwarrior) are believed to be either Wilson brand,
Raider brand or a combination of the two. These pads are rare, therefore little
is known about them. Raider could also possibly be a brand that copies Wilson
models.
Warrior Woman and Zetta wore the same model pads. There is a mohawker with a
red mohawk and swimming goggles just before Humungus' speech, and there is a
motorcyclist that rides into the compound before it blows up- they are wearing
the same model pads.
A set of Raider pads like ones seen in Mad Max 2 (The Roadwarrior)
Wilson pads as worn by The Wordwarrior
How to identify pads: To the untrained eye, all football
pads look the same. You will be able to tell a lot about a set of pads by looking
at the Plate style, and the way the elastic straps hook onto the chest. Rawlings
pads use a T-hook system, while Wilson and Raider pads have keyhole hooks that
attach to mushroom-shaped studs.
Picture below: "a" is the style Plate Max wears. All of the
Rawlings pads in the films have this Plate style. It has soft features, and
an oval crater. "b" belongs to a series of pads that are similar
to Crusaders, but the Plate style is much too angular and warped looking for
replica Max pads. "c" has the same general shape as Plate "a",
but has stronger features and a trapezoid crater. It's not exact, but it may
be an acceptable substitute for "a" if you're making a replica Max
pad.
a: Rawlings Crusader b: Incorrect Rawlings c: Wilson/Raider
Where to Buy Pads
Football shoulder pads can be purchased at second-hand sports equipment
shops in the U.S., such as Play It Again Sports. It may be difficult
to find pads during the football season (September- January).
Football shoulder pads can also be found year-round online on eBay. Here's
a tip for those who want to search for pads on eBay: Use the Browse function;
go to Sports, click on Sporting Goods; find Football on the menu and click;
search for "pads". This will find only the pads that were placed under
the Football category. Once you get to the page, save it to your favourites!
This will allow you to skip all of those steps in the future. Remember, if the
pads aren't white with gray padding, they're not the right pads. If you're not
sure, I'd be happy to take a look at them. Just e-mail
me with the auction number or with "send to a friend."