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- 710
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2008
I just finished this restoration project ive been working on for the last week or so, and wanted to share the results with you all. Let me know how you think they came out!
Awhile ago, I saw some pretty impressive restorations with sole swaps done on shoes whos polyurethane midsoles had long since turned to mush. I have several of these in my collection from the early 90's, and it got me to thinking about doing one myself. Previously, I have just repainted and did minor glue work, but this is my first sole swap. I knew it would be a big job, but I wanted to try to bring at least one pair of ballistic forces back from the dead.
for those of you that dont know what these even are, watch these:
I thought hard about a donor shoe, and found a pair of worn 93' maestro mids off ebay for cheap I thought would be suitable. The soles are phylon so I knew they would be good, and they were a 10.5 so I thought they would pair well with an 11 upper and hoped the half size would help offset the fact that these two werent made for each other. Also the style was similar enough that I thought it would work and not look bad.
The midsoles on the ballistic forces were already mostly rotted off, so I cleaned the rest of it off them and put them together with e6000 glue. Almost used a whole tube of it on them. I tried all sorts of things to apply pressure to the glue joints, tied shoelaces, heavy books, c-clamps, kettlebells etc. What worked best was using nails on a board around the shoe to hold it in place and then inserting small pieces of cardboard like shims to tighten up the gaps and spread the pressure. I let everyhing set for a day. Then I painted white the midsole accents and did some black touchup work on some of the scuffs on the uppers. I share all this for those of you that may be interested in doing your own sole swaps but dont know where to start.
Eventally I plan to restore another pair of ballistic forces and air force 180's, command forces, force 5's and ultra forces and others when I find suitable donor soles for them.
I wore em today *excited* and even tho my watch says its 2012, in my heart it was 1992.
Awhile ago, I saw some pretty impressive restorations with sole swaps done on shoes whos polyurethane midsoles had long since turned to mush. I have several of these in my collection from the early 90's, and it got me to thinking about doing one myself. Previously, I have just repainted and did minor glue work, but this is my first sole swap. I knew it would be a big job, but I wanted to try to bring at least one pair of ballistic forces back from the dead.
for those of you that dont know what these even are, watch these:
I thought hard about a donor shoe, and found a pair of worn 93' maestro mids off ebay for cheap I thought would be suitable. The soles are phylon so I knew they would be good, and they were a 10.5 so I thought they would pair well with an 11 upper and hoped the half size would help offset the fact that these two werent made for each other. Also the style was similar enough that I thought it would work and not look bad.
The midsoles on the ballistic forces were already mostly rotted off, so I cleaned the rest of it off them and put them together with e6000 glue. Almost used a whole tube of it on them. I tried all sorts of things to apply pressure to the glue joints, tied shoelaces, heavy books, c-clamps, kettlebells etc. What worked best was using nails on a board around the shoe to hold it in place and then inserting small pieces of cardboard like shims to tighten up the gaps and spread the pressure. I let everyhing set for a day. Then I painted white the midsole accents and did some black touchup work on some of the scuffs on the uppers. I share all this for those of you that may be interested in doing your own sole swaps but dont know where to start.
Eventally I plan to restore another pair of ballistic forces and air force 180's, command forces, force 5's and ultra forces and others when I find suitable donor soles for them.
I wore em today *excited* and even tho my watch says its 2012, in my heart it was 1992.
