First things first, Whiskey Two-Four did send me this product so take that for what you will, but if you ever feel I’m not objective about items I have been sent to feature here then unfollow this page. If I start doing that then I’ve lost sight of everything I ever set out to do in the first place.
WTF offer a truly quite staggering array of products within their Practical Integrated Modular Platform, Scalable – PIMPs for short. You can start with a genuine micro rig or placard holding just a couple of mags with skinny harness and build your way up to the biggest chest rig the world has ever seen, with every possible configuration you might dream up being available in between. That’s without mentioning the myriad of colour and camo choices.
For now we’re looking at the Modular Expanders which are one good way you can add PALS/MOLLE compatible space (and therefore storage) to the sides of of your Vel Sys/Spiritus spec rigs. Personally I like to add some small to medium sized pouches flanking my mags to keep things slick rather than putting loads of kit in to the front of a micro rig and causing it to stick out.
Almost all of WTF’s product line makes heavy use of laser cutting and these expanders are no different. The fabric is a laminate of 2 layers of 500D cordura joined together called ACRONYM. Why two layers of cordura? Well if you cut narrow slots in to just one layer of cordura you are very much opening yourself up to tearing in the fabric at the ends of those slots, which is why all the best companies I’ve seen who are laser cutting 500D always laminate that cordura on to another material. The upward curved shape to each PALS slot also helps in this regard.
The modular expanders are fairly simple as you can see, they’re 5 PALS rows high and available in widths of either 2, 3 or 4 columns depending on the types of pouch you want to mount. You have 3 loops on the outer edges for the desired positioning of split-bar 1″ buckles in order to clip in a harness and back strap. The construction is only a single layer of the ACRONYM and the PALS slots pass right through so your pouch attachment straps will be visible on the rear face, but these expanders are absurdly light due to this. The cordura doesn’t even extend between the hook and loop fields that interface with whichever micro rig you happen to choose to use.
Do bear in mind you will have exposed hook at the rear so you will need to either use a base like the WTF Harness 03 or Ferro Chesty Rig Mini, or alternatively buy some plain loop just to cover the hook and stop it eating your shirt and then use Spiritus/HSP harness options if so desired. WTF’s system is also very, very slightly different in some dimensions vs other brands, so the expanders are a tad taller than my Spiritus Micro Fight as depicted here and there is an overlap in the middle, but everything is fully secure and works just as you would expect, this is purely a note for the highly OCD types.
Whiskey Two-Four use all mil-spec thread and fabric as with the vast majority of the brands I feature here, but their design philosophy leans towards creating kit of the lightest possible weight and they do not specifically cater to the military market. In my opinion their gear is more than tough enough for most LE purposes and certainly of a quality that will serve all segments of the hobbyist market extremely well for a long time.
I’d recommend at the very least taking a look at their line up here:
www.wtfidea.com
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