Shoulder Pads

The overwhelming majority of the male guards wear Rawlings CP-66 football shoulder pads. One is seen wearing an FB-series set. They have a ribbed, Australian aftermarket mud flap on the front, bolted on using the front lace holes. Many of the pads have a piece of black hide covering the right deltoid pad, which might be a part of a horse tail (hair on hide). (A wig can be used instead of the hide. I recommend looking for the black “surfer dude” a.k.a. “wizard boy” wig.) (I like to think that all of the hair found on the guards’ costumes comes from the people they have killed and scalped.)On top of the pads, you can find a variety of different decorations and car parts, ranging from reflectors to rear view mirrors to marker lamps. There is one marker lamp in particular that is used very often on the costumes, which is only available in Australia. It is a teardrop shaped plastic lamp – chrome with a red lens. They are Narva brand marker lamps, part no. 86360. They are a common sight in Australia, especially on box trucks. The acorn-shaped light is a Chrome Marker Light, 80069, which I ordered from Big Jim’s.

Mohawks

The mohawks are made of horse tails (hair on hide). Horse tails are available with the skin splayed out and flattened out. The skin is molded to fit the human head, straps are added, and hair is styled. Strips of long-hair goat hide were added to the sides of some mohawks.The mohawk has black straps, 1 cm wide, with a leather chin-piece attached. Two straps come from the top of the mohawk, in front of the ears and end in loops. One strap comes around from the nape of the neck to the chin – through the loops of the other straps – and buckles together on the left side near the rear.

Goggles with Masks

The guards sometimes wear goggles made of motocross goggles with full mask face guards.  The clear lens of the goggles is covered with a pair of arborist wire mesh goggles. Today, these motocross mask-goggle combos are rare, but similar designs are used for paintball and airsoft.

Belt

The guards wear wide leather kidney belts accessorized with various car emblems, including a Buick emblem and a vintage Harley-Davidson horn cover (accented with red paint). I bought a “Classic Horn” from a Harley-Davidson dealership. It’s a reproduction of their old horns from the 30’s and 40’s. The belts are 20cm/8 inches tall, but taper on the side bottom edge (very important when wearing with padded football pants), and are held together by 4 buckles on the rear. Cow/horse tails are attached and hang from the front and rear of the belt. One of the Buick emblems on one of the belts is a 1946 Buick emblem.

Legs and Arms

The guards wear baseball shin guards on both legs and usually one on at least one forearm. The shin guards on their legs are accented on the tops of the knee section with hair.  The guards wear padded football pants under black football tights. The costumes are accented throughout with pieces of leather, and red mini reflectors. They carry modified hubcaps as shields/bucklers.