Having a center console molle panel is a handy thing to have in the 4×4, essentially it creates space for ‘stuff’ that you would otherwise have to find a home for, it also make accessories easier to reach such as torches, sunglasses, USB cables, knife, glass breaker and molle pouches.
Finding such accessories however can be a relentless search and the companies that do make them are vehicle specific, if you want a center console molle panel for a Tacoma then no problem but for other vehicles they are harder to find [if indeed they are made at all] plus they are pretty expensive.
With that said we decided to go ahead and do a DIY job with the materials we had. Upstairs in the warehouse we had a couple of old plastic meat crates from the butcher, using the base from each we cut out rough piece then created a more accurate shape to hug each side of the Shogun’s center console. The plastic was sanded off, the edges ground smooth and each piece wiped thoroughly with alcohol before applying paint – we actually used some leftover full dip paint from the alloy wheels which just happened to match the interior colour just fine.
Fitting was simple enough just using a couple of self tapping screws on each side. Although not a rigid molle panel it works fine and you can attach plenty of accessories, the only limitation with this particular plastic crate was the angles of the structure which you can see in the image above, being diagonal can be a bit restrictive for thicker straps [ie on a molle pouch] but for smaller bits and pieces it works just fine.
As a substitute for the real thing we are quite happy with the end result and with a total cost of zero it makes it even better, other materials will also do a great job if you can find something suitable.
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