Mando Mercs Costume Club
Mandalorian Armor => Armor Construction => Topic started by: Thel Ihveen on Sep 27, 2016, 08:44 PM
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After a few months of squinting at my design and doodling armor and abusing my Pinterest privileges, I'm finally starting work on my first kit! I'm optimistic about it, and am starting a work log thread to document my
descent into chaos progress as I work.
I'm going to tally up the total price of pretty much everything as I go because I'm cheap. If we're using the Holy Triangle of Costuming (http://costumes.org/wiki/images/e/e1/WebTriangleInfoGraph.jpg), as I like to call it, I'll be doing this thing Good and Cheap and taking my sweet time. I have a pretty low budget but high standards, so hopefully it all works out...
I'm going to be using 3mm sintra for the plates, heavy canvas for the vest, and already have the flightsuit started (next post). I'll be buying/outsourcing as little as possible, and stressing durability and modular construction. Just gonna sew/paint/sculpt everything I can. As for the helmet, I'm not sure if I'd like to scratch-build one myself or just order a cast resin one and modify it. Because of the shape of the t-visor I have planned, I'd need to modify anything pre-cast, which scares me as soon as more than $80 is involved... Including the helmet. If anyone's curious, my design thread (and new helmet design) is in my signature.
As of April 2017, I'm done and will be chronicling upgrades here instead.
COMPLETED KIT: Materials Rundown (Updated 3/31/17)
- Flightsuit ($10) - DONE
- Ankle Boots ($10 + $20 alteration) - Taps are on!
- Kama - DONE!
- Spats -
Needs interfacing DONE($24 for that and sash) - Sash - DONE!
- Vest - DONE...? ($13 leather coat+$2 lining/pattern fabric+$3 buckles)
- Helmet - Callin it DONE. ($10 dome, $8 buckets, $12 visor)
- Body Armor/Gaunts - DONE 3mil black sintra,
needs slight re-form($20) - Gray leather under-gloves ($10)
- Westar 34 blaster ($5)- DONE
- Ammo Belt with military surplus pouches galore - my assortment of old leather pouches probably ran me a total of $35, but I've had them for a while and use them with my every-day clothes so I'm not counting them shhhh
- More fabric paint than I know what to do with...
- Neck Seal - DONE!
- Spikes for boots/gloves ($5)
- Fingerless over-gloves - DONE ($15)
Helmet Amp - to modify - $10 + 9v clips from Dad!- Apoxie Sculpt - $30
- An Unholy Amount of Sandpaper and Various Adhesives - $50??? That sounds right.
- More Paint - Glow and UV for stripes - $15
COMPLETED UPGRADES:
- Aker Amp - $26
- Chest Lights Setup - Made with unused EL wire...
PLANNED UPGRADES:
- Knife/knives from Sacrificial Wooden Ruler
- SPLIT FLIGHTSUIT! - need zippers/snaps
- Breaching tool/grenades
- Bigger boom-stick. Much bigger.
- Accumulate more shiny trophies....
- Visible ammo somewhere...
- I've gotten it into my head to mount a flamethrower to my left gauntlet because I'm just that extra...
Running Cost Total: $313
I'll update this post with more things as I finish them! Until then - be on the lookout for updates, and let me know what you guys think! If I'm messing something up, please tell me! I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback!
- Thel
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As promised, actual details about what I'm up to...
I spent last weekend wandering middle-of-nowhere Vermont and hitting up every garage sale I could find. Shevla (the significant other and fellow hopeful Merc) was a huge help and basically egged me on the entire time. I ended up with a reasonably-sized olive drab flightsuit of some kind that I planned to bleach and dye lichen green/gray, but the very next day I stumbled upon this thing:
(https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8253/29347624133_5e90ed2451_h.jpg)
It's size M, which is a little wide for me and a touch long in the torso. I'm in the process of ripping it in half down the waist seam to add darts and generally chop the thing up. It beats the other one because the color is spot on perfect for my kit - the military-surplus collector we bought it from said he hadn't seen very many in that shade. I got it for a whole $10 - far less than I would have spent on fabric if I drafter my own pattern... It's a medium greenish gray, and unlike the first one I found, the seams aren't flat-felled (thankfully) so it'll be very easy to alter. I will need to add extra fabric for the under-layer of the double-sleeve, but I'll probably dig something usable up next time I'm on home turf.
Here's the pile of pockets and velcro and tabs I picked off the thing today:
(https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8067/29860438662_0b21d83f5b_h.jpg)
The fabric looks really tan in this picture, and a little dark in the first - the worklight I have above my bed just doesn't do anything much justice...
I also found some boots! I was originally going to use one of my many, many pairs of combat-style boots and cover the laces with a removable plate, but I spotted these new-in-box at a garage sale for another $10 - and they were my size! So that's one less problem I have to deal with... They've got an almost-square toe that looks like Boba's shoes, and since I'm not going to use a pair of boots I wear every day, I'm going to adhere things like toe caps and jingly bits directly to the things...
(https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8515/29860437502_b960efde4f_h.jpg)
Like I said earlier; I'll have my local cobbler add some plates on the bottoms, and see if I can get ahold of some 1" rings to make the harnesses with. I really want that walking-with-spurs noise, but someone on this thread (http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=10739.0) brought up these metal sole-plates, which I think fit the character a lot better...
Bodysuit updates by this weekend, probably!
Total Spent: $20...
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Good start vod. Keep Going! :)
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Sounds like you are off to a good start. A word of caution though. Avoid double posting as it is against forum rules.
Other than a high quality/low cost build, what are your plans? Colors, themes, profession, etc?
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Sounds like you are off to a good start. A word of caution though. Avoid double posting as it is against forum rules.
Other than a high quality/low cost build, what are your plans? Colors, themes, profession, etc?
Aw, man - thanks for calling me on that! I was trying to just keep the first post as a checklist, but now that you point it out, yeah that's double-posting. I sure feel dumb... :-[ I won't be doing it again, for fear of further public shame and more proof that I'm new...
As for concept/colors, I'm going for a gray-black-and-purple kit with lots of kama and some racing stripes. As for profession, I designed the kit with the idea of making a bodyguard/hired muscle who works in an urban environment or aboard traveling ships - no jetpack, close-quarters combat, and no need for camouflage due to the ever-changing backdrop. I have another thread for the planning stages here (http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=115371.0), but for the sake of clarity here's my big ol' blueprint for the thing...
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7156/27216449990_6ca4357be0_o.png)
Now that I've moved to a newer computer, I realize that the colors are a touch off (thanks, monitor settings... :P) and the background on this thing is an awful pepto-bismol pink, which I thought was a nice neutral tan... Sorry in advance to everyone's eyes.
The plates are going to be a bit more dull-marroon-purple and less violet, and I already have my flightsuit - poor monitor performance changed it to almost a khaki in the artistic rendering, but it's gonna be lichen and that's that. However, I'm thinking of changing the edging along the T-visor to just silver instead of that pale purple, which will probably end up reading pink if I try to find a paint that matches. The knees/elbows will probably also end up being silver to match the toecaps on the boots.
All that painting is a long ways off, though - I gotta hurry up and start sewing before I get to the good part! As of last night; flightsuit thoroughly dissected, with the sleeves removed and the whole thing split at the waist. I'm sans-stapler and don't have a duct tape body cast laying around, so fitting may be tricky...
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That concept art is astounding, colors are incredible and plates awesome!! :o
*Adds to bookmarks* Just waiting on some more progress
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Aw, man - thanks for calling me on that! I was trying to just keep the first post as a checklist, but now that you point it out, yeah that's double-posting. I sure feel dumb... :-[ I won't be doing it again, for fear of further public shame and more proof that I'm new...
HAHA! No worries! Nearly everyone makes that mistake at least once. Heck, I have seen people double posting about double posting. :laugh:
The kit looks really well thought out, and the artwork so far is looking great! I will definitely be following this build with interest.
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Thank you all so much for the encouragement! I'm really looking forward to finishing this kit, and I'm feeling good about my progress so far.
First thing's first; I took my garage-sale coveralls apart almost completely. They were covered in pockets and velcro patches, so I spent a solid afternoon just ripping those. I removed the zipper, split them at the waist seam, and then cut the legs down the sides. I removed the sleeves and used a jacket I had to get the armhole right. I added some back darts to make it fit a little better, then spent forever trying to get the leg seams to line up. Since I have nobody to help me at the moment, I basically have to bend over or put a leg up on a chair to get at the seams, but after a day's work today, I finally did it. After that, I turned the single-sleeves into double-sleeves using some ~fabric witchcraft~ and a pair of t-shirt sleeves I had kicking around. After I got everything reassembled, I chopped the collar up a bit, and now the thing fits perfectly! (Er, almost...)
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5543/30203115305_cf99b52ffd_h.jpg) (https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8723/30203114885_c5a43b58e7_h.jpg)
You can see the darts on the back, and if you compare the shape now to the shape from earlier, you'll see I took it waaaay in and shortened it in the torso by about 6 inches, leaving the sleeves and legs alone. However, my arms and legs are still gangly enough that the sleeves are still short and the legs don't tuck into my boots... I'm super pleased with the double-sleeves, though.
I also got my boots back from the cobbler - after dropping $20 for twice the metal plates, I'm delighted with the sound they make. I won't bother with pictures, but they're just nailed and glued onto the heels, and they do tap when I walk. Not like dance shoes - they more give the impression that there's something metal happening, and scrape on road or asphalt. On carpet, they're undetectable (which is no fun because con floors are mostly carpet) but on smooth concrete, tile, or hard linoleum they sound amazing. Not quite like dress shoes - which is what I was expecting - but unique enough that I think it adds to the costume.
After getting my boots, I made pilgrimage to the local Savers to scrounge for leather, and picked up a great trenchcoat for $13. It's enough to make my half-chaps/spats/boot covers/whatever they are, and then some. Tonight I drafted the patterns for the spats using saran wrap and duct tape, and upon Shevla's suggestion (and 'cause I'm lazy) I'm bringing them up over my knees and down over my ankles so I can attach the knee and boot plates right to them. Not sure how they'll turn out just yet... We'll see!
I also picked up a bit of light cotton material to draft my vest pattern and then line the vest when I get the fabric. That cost me about $2, and it's just enough because I'll be doing an open-sided style with no "modesty panels" to speak of.
That brings my cheap-shebs-beskar'gam total up to $55. We'll see how much I blow on kama fabric next weekend! ;)
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I have to agree the concept art is nice and solid. Translate that to real world proportions is going to be key. Just make sure your back plate is covering at minimum 2/3 of your back, it's hard to tell from the art of your backplate is the black part too or just the 1/3 section of segmented back plates.
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I have to agree the concept art is nice and solid. Translate that to real world proportions is going to be key. Just make sure your back plate is covering at minimum 2/3 of your back, it's hard to tell from the art of your backplate is the black part too or just the 1/3 section of segmented back plates.
I think, after double-checking the CRL's, I probably mis-read them. For some reason I'd had it in my head that they had to cover 2/3 of the vest, so I'll just enlarge/widen the plates when I do my cardboard mockup. It is a little hard to see in the pictures - the black part is vest, the purple is plates.
I also just looked up a picture of the back of Jango's plate and yep, it covers almost the entire vest back. I'll have to make mine wider and change the shape of them slightly. Thanks for catching that - the plate design is super finicky, and I'd hate to have done them wrong and have to start over...
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catching things at this stage is ideal so that we can make sure you're headed in the right direction.
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Hey, vode! Thank you all so much for your encouragement... It's great to have an online group I can show my progress too, since I haven't been able to make any of the local armor parties, yet.
I went back up home this weekend (hence missing an armor party...) but while I was there I rifled through the fabric stash that lives under my worktable. Turns out I have a lot more black fabric that I originally thought, but not necessarily the types I was expecting...
If anyone (especially from the app team!) could steer me in the right direction, I'd be really grateful. I'm not sure if what I have on-hand already will work for my kit or not, and I'd like to know before I start cutting it up and making things.
Here's what I have at the moment:
(https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8616/30293168932_c951570ffb_h.jpg)
A - Some heavy black denim which might work for my vest - the threads are not all one color, but I can probably dye it all black if need be. There's enough that I might also be able to get a kama out of it, if I do dye it (the back is lighter, obviously...) Would this work for the vest as-is, or is it too Earth-y?
B - Rubberized vinyl in dark gray - I'll be using this for my neckseal and edging my kama, though I have a whole lot of it.
C - A small amount of woven cotton something-or-other - $2 cut from Savers that I'll line/pattern my vest with.
D - A somewhat silky synthetic cut that will either be vest lining or kama lining? It's thin.
E - A large scrap of canvas - I originally meant to make my vest from this (or at least use it as interfacing) but I'm not sure I have enough to actually make the thing... We'll see once the pattern comes out!
F - A softer, drapier cotton weave that might end up being kama/vest/neckseal lining, since it wrinkles.
G - ~The Mystery Fabric~ This is the stuff I'm really wondering about... I'm considering making a kama from this since it's just the right size and color, and it falls nicely. I'm not sure what kind of cloth it is, but it's woven and opaque. It's not canvas, but it's stiff - broadcloth? Duckcloth? Not sure...
I've done a quick test with the "G" fabric - I just folded the corners so the top edge is the right width and pinned it. I'm going to edge it in the gray vinyl, and the final pattern will be more like two trapezoids than the rectangle I have here. (I had to pin a dart in the back so it would lay right... still ended up bunchy...) The fabric does need some ironing since it's been folded up all weekend and I just unpacked today. The belt I've got is just the first one I grabbed that would fit on my waist - it's NOT the final. The brown pouch, however, probably will be... It's also missing my ammo belt and waist sash so the kama's sitting a bit high. Also pictured; my finished flightsuit (ft. Gorilla Arms) and my boots!
(https://c3.staticflickr.com/6/5668/29784305354_d9b8712310_b.jpg) (https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5330/29784305404_eb217f7d1e_b.jpg)
(Oh look - my Illustration homework... :P)
What do you guys think? Is it good as is, or should I go with a heavier fabric? Should I line it to give it some more stability? I want it to be drapey enough to flow... Should I just give up and dye the denim instead? Please let me know! I don't wanna start and then end up trashing it. If I don't use that piece for the kama, I'll use the denim as an interlining on my vest and this as the outer fabric. Any and all suggestions would be super appreciated!
Vor'e!
- Thel
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Hey, vode! Thank you all so much for your encouragement... It's great to have an online group I can show my progress too, since I haven't been able to make any of the local armor parties, yet.
I went back up home this weekend (hence missing an armor party...) but while I was there I rifled through the fabric stash that lives under my worktable. Turns out I have a lot more black fabric that I originally thought, but not necessarily the types I was expecting...
If anyone (especially from the app team!) could steer me in the right direction, I'd be really grateful. I'm not sure if what I have on-hand already will work for my kit or not, and I'd like to know before I start cutting it up and making things.
Here's what I have at the moment:
(https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8616/30293168932_c951570ffb_h.jpg)
A - Some heavy black denim which might work for my vest - the threads are not all one color, but I can probably dye it all black if need be. There's enough that I might also be able to get a kama out of it, if I do dye it (the back is lighter, obviously...) Would this work for the vest as-is, or is it too Earth-y?
B - Rubberized vinyl in dark gray - I'll be using this for my neckseal and edging my kama, though I have a whole lot of it.
C - A small amount of woven cotton something-or-other - $2 cut from Savers that I'll line/pattern my vest with.
D - A somewhat silky synthetic cut that will either be vest lining or kama lining? It's thin.
E - A large scrap of canvas - I originally meant to make my vest from this (or at least use it as interfacing) but I'm not sure I have enough to actually make the thing... We'll see once the pattern comes out!
F - A softer, drapier cotton weave that might end up being kama/vest/neckseal lining, since it wrinkles.
G - ~The Mystery Fabric~ This is the stuff I'm really wondering about... I'm considering making a kama from this since it's just the right size and color, and it falls nicely. I'm not sure what kind of cloth it is, but it's woven and opaque. It's not canvas, but it's stiff - broadcloth? Duckcloth? Not sure...
A - If it takes dye and you can get it a solid colour it will work well for the vest as it certainly is a sturdy material.
B - Not a vinyl fan, stick to edging and such, larger segments tend to really look plasticy, small strips can appear more like leather.
C - cottons a good liner.
D - silk or silky type fabrics are perfect for kama lining as they give a lovely shine and bit of bling when you move but is nowhere near overwhelming as it isn't constantly visible.
E - Good fallback is there's enough and A does not work out.
F - Also good fallbacks for if any of the others don't work out.
G - It looks to be falling well to me. Both lining and edging will help to keep the drape and add a little weight. From how it's folding and falling at the back it looks like a basic cotton-canvas mix to me, which I think is called duckcloth over in the US. Looks to have too tight and opaque a weave to be a linen mix.
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A - If it takes dye and you can get it a solid colour it will work well for the vest as it certainly is a sturdy material.
B - Not a vinyl fan, stick to edging and such, larger segments tend to really look plasticy, small strips can appear more like leather.
C - cottons a good liner.
D - silk or silky type fabrics are perfect for kama lining as they give a lovely shine and bit of bling when you move but is nowhere near overwhelming as it isn't constantly visible.
E - Good fallback is there's enough and A does not work out.
F - Also good fallbacks for if any of the others don't work out.
G - It looks to be falling well to me. Both lining and edging will help to keep the drape and add a little weight. From how it's folding and falling at the back it looks like a basic cotton-canvas mix to me, which I think is called duckcloth over in the US. Looks to have too tight and opaque a weave to be a linen mix.
*Whew* Thank you so much for the reply! It's super helpful. I've been squinting at that kama fabric for the past couple days and just worrying about it... I may eventually upgrade to heavier fabric or a different pattern when I have the funds, but it's great that I already have something approvable on hand! :)
Also, using the shinier stuff for lining is a great idea - I do like a bit of bling... I'll have to see if I have a big enough piece, though, or else I'll widen the gray edging a bit on the underside to fill the gaps. I'll see if I can blacken the denim to use on the vest, too - I have some ink that's waterproof and very stain-y.
This weekend I'll hopefully whip up a kama and at least start on the spats. I'll need a tape cast before I tackle the vest, I think...
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Hi, vode! I've been a little off the ball lately with keeping logs, but I've been making progress!
Two weekends ago I spent an absurd amount of time working on my soft parts... No pictures, yet, but I finished my kama and got a whole lot of other stuff going.
For my kama, I ended up doubling up the fabrics I had and then doing some creative cutting. I started with two rectangles and wanted to end up with two trapezoids. My first idea was to just cut off the extra to shape them, but sometime late at night I was embued with the Magical Power of Algebra, and after some measurements cut the things in half diagonally and rotated the sides. (Remember, ad'ike - pay attention in math class! You may need to draft a kama pattern someday...) The end result uses every last scrap of fabric and creates maximum kama.The end result is lovely and swingy and edged with some gray vinyl, giving it some stiffness and weight and also creating a cool transition between the kama and flightsuit.
My spats turned out... kinda crazy. There were seams all over the coat I was using, but I managed to line them up and make it all work. Still waiting on the straps to hold it all together - I have some small d-rings I'll be using instead of buckles.
As for the flightsuit - I took in the lower legs (again) because of the bunching fabric under my spats. Now they're like skinny jeans from the knee down. I also hand-stitched and orange stripe down the whole sides of the suit, and I'm thinking of eventually adding more on the longer under-sleeve, even though most of it will be covered by gauntlets. With the kama, thigh holsters and spats/half-chaps, the leg stripe is a little obscured, but as soon as I'm moving it'll start showing in flashes as my kama swings. bringing it up the side of the body will hopefully let it show under the open-sided vest, too.
Speaking of vest; I've decided I'd like to try my hand at making it in leather. My machine did topstitching and curves and the like wonderfully on the spats, and the back of the coat has some fun seams I could use. Since I've got a ton left over, I'd rather use the leather for the vest and buy more duck cloth later if that gets too hot during summer months. Since I'll be using velcro to attach my plates, switching vest should be no problem... It also helps that I have a shiny new dummy to test plate sizes and draft my vest on! On Sunday, Shevla (who came down for Halloween weekend) was kind enough to help me make mine, as well as standing still while I covered him in tape. Hopefully the two of us will be able to do some pattern-making soon!
Last but not least, I picked up some good accessories over the weekend. I found some comfortable gray leather gloves for $10 that are formal-looking but rugged, and they're tight enough on my man-hands that they'll work under the black gloves. They're also lady-cut, meaning my fingers will fit in my brand new Westar 34! :) I picked two up for naught but $5 each at the after-Halloween sale. I was bummed the store didn't sell liquid latex, but snagged the two blasters and am giving one to Shevla. I've already sanded, cut and cleaned up one, and I'm very proud of it. It's the Rubie's costume version that makes all manner of awful toy-gun sounds, but it's the right size for my hand/thigh and man, is it a pretty weapon. After a coat of paint and some scuffs (as well as filling some seams and maybe giving the thing some weight...) it'll fit wonderfully with the look of my kit. I am absurdly exited about the thing because it means I actually have some firepower, now!
Hopefully I take pictures tonight - I'm looking forward to finishing some of the leatherwork and starting on a holster...
Updated Beskar'gam Construction Total: $70
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Pics of the kama or it didn't happen :P Just kidding vod
Algebra.. that's a dish of some sort right??
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Pics of the kama or it didn't happen :P Just kidding vod
Algebra.. that's a dish of some sort right??
Haha! Yeah - a standard internet request! :laugh: As promised: pics! The kama exists! In need of a good ironing, but I'm gonna torch the thing, anyways, and maybe run over it with a truck...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5619/30878074192_95cd8a48e5_h.jpg)
It's pretty big - hits me mid-calf and actually takes up the entirety of my narrow little dorm-floor... You can see one of my dirty hobbit-feet in one corner if you look hard enough. :P I would model it, but the picture-taking wall is currently occupied by a pile of leather and sewing stuff, so I'll probably wait till after I have my vest ready...
Speaking of which! Vest! I started with $2 worth of random black lining fabric, and my lovely duct-tape assistant (dubbed "Ni'ka" for clarity...) whom I finally filled up with newspapers and wrestled into my flightsuit... I started pinning the lines of the seams how I wanted them, pinching fabric as I went...
(https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5742/30877541782_1294c5b467_h.jpg)
(https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5331/30877541252_bf523cf93c_h.jpg)
I'm doing some tricky tailoring and giving the whole thing a nice triangle shape - this was before adding some extra fabric to the sides...
Then, it was on to cutting, evening-out and sewing the princess seams! I only did half the vest because I wanted to keep one half of the pattern free to use to trace things with...
(https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5332/30877541942_ccc7f6874c_h.jpg)
Here are some poorly-drawn plates! I was trying to figure out how much "side" to give it, and how far out he shoulder seams should be... Excuse the incorrect angles on the sides, though. It was just fun to imagine plates on the thing, even if they are the wrong shape!
Then, I had to take the whole thing apart and trace it onto what was left of that big leather trenchcoat... Again, please excuse the fabric-pile/dorm mess... it literally took up my whole floorspace.
(https://c3.staticflickr.com/6/5537/30877542442_15f5114db7_h.jpg)
You may be asking "where did the rest of the coat go, though?" and the answer is these bad boys:
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5346/30877542832_dc64523964_h.jpg)
The straps aren't trimmed down, yet, and the bottoms still need hemming/d-rings/rivets, but they're like 80% done after a day pounding rivets using nothing but two ball-peen hammers and my knees (yes, they are called that...). The d-rings are super flashy and make em look kinda... medieval? Not sure how I like the look... They go over my knees, though, and fit great. I had to match the top-stitching on the seams that came already on the coat - hence the V-shaped seams on the fronts and backs of the legs. I actually had to do all kinds of fabric wizardry to make the seams line up, but it all paid off!
However, this morning I woke, half-asleep, with a very strong and important thought: NO MORE D-RINGS. It was as if some deceased jetii was trying to tell me something; I couldn't get back to sleep after that. I'm thinking of just velcro-ing or elastic-ing the things and doing away with the complicated fastenings altogether... Not sure, yet!
Anyway - after I cut and assembled (and painstakingly topstitched...) the vest bits, the whole thing ended up looking pretty good!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5569/30877543232_d1de51b8bc_h.jpg)
(https://c4.staticflickr.com/6/5575/30906077251_75c0297cbb_h.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5495/22815588048_3a27a4af8b_h.jpg)
It still needs, well almost everything; hems, neck facing, and proper side-closures, among other things. It looks kinda blocky at the moment due to all the extra fabric on the sides - it's overlapping now (just pinned to poor Ni'ka) but after I figure out the closures the whole thing will be much tighter. I'm going to do nylon webbing and buckles, but I left my buckles back in Vermont, so I may have to wait until Thanksgiving to get them back... I also need to grab a zipper for the neck while I'm there (again - have it in the sewing hoard, but not on-hand) and then I'll be ready for plates!
Oh - and during a late-night foray to a local craft store, I picked up some wonderful spikes for my gloves and the backs of my boots! Call it $5... I may have to buy my over-gloves, much to my dismay - I used most of the leather on spats/vest, and will have to go scrap-hunting to find the right pieces for gloves... Oh well. Can't win 'em all...
Total Beskar'gam Credit Expenditure: $75
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Hey, vode!
I'm headed back to my native craft cave this week, and will be picking up fastenings/buckles/possibly some poster board for armor templates... But I'm concerned about the spats and whether or not they're gonna work. I'll swing by a craft store, probably, and might get some heavy-duty snaps. I figured I'd ask anyone reading this for their opinion...
Do you think the spats work with the d-rings? Or should I clip them off and go for elastic/velcro or snaps? I don't think I've seen many spats with visible fastenings, since they're less Star Wars-y and more plain ol' functional... I'm honestly not sure how to move forward with them at this point...
Thanks!
- Thel
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If you do the double d rings with the leather strap or nylon strap that's perfectly fine. My original spats that i was approved with had 4 straps and buckles to keep them on. Those spats have been traded around my clan and are in the next clan over from a co-op clan troop we did so they work great.
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If you do the double d rings with the leather strap or nylon strap that's perfectly fine. My original spats that i was approved with had 4 straps and buckles to keep them on. Those spats have been traded around my clan and are in the next clan over from a co-op clan troop we did so they work great.
Thank you! That's good to hear - I'll just finish the bottoms and they're done! I was real worried for a sec that they just wouldn't work visually... I'm glad other people are using strapped spats, too!
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Loving how the vest came out. Great lines!!! Has a lot of character to it. I'm happy with mine at the moment, but it was my first crack at it. So there is a lot of noticeable "learning" that can be seen in the finished product. Your vest is definitely motivating to give another pass at it.
Bookmarked and looking forward to following. OYA VOD!
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Loving how the vest came out. Great lines!!! Has a lot of character to it. I'm happy with mine at the moment, but it was my first crack at it. So there is a lot of noticeable "learning" that can be seen in the finished product. Your vest is definitely motivating to give another pass at it.
Bookmarked and looking forward to following. OYA VOD!
Thank you so much! I just checked out your WIP thread and - wow! Guess we both did black leather with buckles, huh? :) I'm glad it's motivated you - your kit is coming along great! I like how you made your chest plates, especially, and your sash turned out amazing. Gotta find me some nice drapey fabric like that...
And, without further ado... Some pics of how mine finally came out!
Today I had a friend over and we both worked on projects and chatted... I'm heading north again and did NOT want to schlep my sewing machine, so I took pretty much all of today and finished both my spats and my vest. Tackled spats first and well... Things went not quite how I'd expected. I'd collected some D-rings for the bottoms, and also bought a whole lotta O-rings, and it turns out the boots I have are too short to really work with any kind of harness.
I realize now that in my original drawings, I thought I'd be working with my workboots, not the shorter ones I have, now... I ended up just sewing the bands that run under the boot right to the spats themselves, then doing a separate band with the spikes and riveting that to the rest of the main piece. I'm definitely going to have to put some glue on the threading for the spikes - they look awesome, but the leather they're mounted on is thick enough that they get knocked off easily - I've already lost one somewhere in my room and had to replace the thing. I'm also hoping to find a better solution to the tiny rivet at the ankle... More rivets? Thin the band? Not sure, but it works for now. My only other grievance with them is that they keep falling down - I'll hunt for some fusible interfacing to hopefully stiffen them up!
After the spats were done, gawked at, and bounced around in, I finished up my vest. First, I tackled the zipper; I somehow defied all logic and sewed a very invisible zipper using a regular zipper and a regular machine foot. It's like bees - something that really shouldn't work, and maybe sounds like a dumb idea, but somehow... happens anyway? This zipper was like that.
After much putting-on and taking-off, I managed to finagle a reasonable gap to accommodate the buckles I got! (They were like $3 and look suitably strange and futuristic... They aren't just plain) I'd initially intended to use the 1" nylon webbing I had kicking around and have a large gap with adjustable straps, but when I found the perfect buckles... They turn out to be 2cm. I scoured the rest of Hobby Lobby looking for 2cm strapping, but they only had 1", and the 1" buckles they had were awful and opened from the top not the sides...
I considered cutting the strapping down by the required 0.54cm, but I'd have to melt the edges. ALL the edges. And I didn't wanna risk getting kicked from my dorm... At the last possible second, I realized I had black elastic that looked just like the webbing and was the right width! After some fiddling around and much chalking (and my assistant holding the vest straight while I clipped) I finally took a risk and just... Sewed them on. No adjusters - the elastic lets the vest shift when I move, but looks like regular strapping. I guess I got lucky - after eyeballing literally everything, I clip on the vest... It fits perfectly.
Of course, my friend and I had to go out into the hall in my building and take some pictures! Special thanks to Mikaela for using her nice phone to get some good shots! Pardon my face... Also the makeshift stand-in sash has returned - it's NOT the final, just there for effect because I wanted to see how the vest hit...
(https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5735/31035294940_eb9cd2ffe3_z.jpg) (https://c3.staticflickr.com/6/5761/31368082506_a079bd8818_z.jpg)
(https://c6.staticflickr.com/6/5773/31289650981_2c83b4aed7_z.jpg)
Here's a good shot of the striping, plus you can see the gapping from where the thin spat leather is wrinkling... It's great for vests, not so much for boots...
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5622/31404545345_fb0027dac7_z.jpg)
Aaaand my personal favorite; A 3/4 view where I show off the buckles on the sides, but also look regal as heck.
Anyway - that's what I got, and I'll be dragging it all north again to (hopefully) meet up with the locals and see if I can hunt down some sintra...
Running Armor Expenditure;
Buckles were $3 and O-rings... I forget, but I ended up not using them at all, and will probably use them for something, I'm sure... Not gonna count them as an armor expense yet, though. Call it $78...
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I'm envious of your tailoring skills. Mad props! I can sew a button back on. heh (My wife hasn't taught me to use her sewing machine yet) You're off to an amazing start! And I absolutely love your kama. Well done, vod.
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I'm envious of your tailoring skills. Mad props! I can sew a button back on. heh (My wife hasn't taught me to use her sewing machine yet) You're off to an amazing start! And I absolutely love your kama. Well done, vod.
Thanks, vod! Glad you like it! :)
I'm actually super excited to start the next part of my kit - the helmet and armor! I'm keeping the armor plates on this thread, but my helmet is gonna be the trickiest part and I'd really like some specific feedback. I've got a helmet WIP thread (http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=125136.0) started if you guys wanna check it out! I'm doing cardboard templates right now, and will check sizing when my other plate templates are put together.
I went out on Monday to get some interfacing for my spats and some fabric for my sash. I ended up with some unbleached cotton gauze with a pretty tight weave. No pictures yet - gotta dye the stuff - but it's heavy and drapes nicely, while having a fun texture as well. I almost went with a light knit, but at the lest second I found the gauze stuff and had to have it!
More updates soon when I finish paper templates and sizing, hopefully...
Bike helmet: $10
Fabric total: $24
Grand running total: $112 (yikes)
The gleeful look on my dad's face when I ask to use his old autobody tools for a Star Wars costume: Absolutely priceless.
UPDATE 12/16:
So last night after seeing Rogue One (aww yeah) I got home late and managed to photograph how my plates are going... So far I only have the chest and shoulders done - I'm gonna do back plates, boots, gauntlet bases and elbows/knees next - but I'm very excited to show it off! I originally printed WOF's 5'9" plates (I'm 5'10"-ish) but they ended up being too big, so I had to try the 5'6" plates (which still needed modification). I guess I'm just incredibly narrow for a guy. :P
The chest plates are being... difficult, but hopefully they're the right width...? After one round of pictures (the lightly-modified template) I I decided that the plates were just too wide, so I narrowed them a little and then re-made the ab plate to keep that triangular shape going...
The Old:
(https://c3.staticflickr.com/1/287/30834121354_0f10f36c11_c.jpg)
(My parents are kinda freaked out by the dummy I've set up in the living room... They're calling it "Bob Fett" and my dad is still delighted...)
The New:
(https://c4.staticflickr.com/1/621/31571274571_9e72ba732b_c.jpg)
The shoulders are a little weird in paper because it doesn't hold a curve, but I'm pleased with them and how they balance out the helmet. They're kinda big, but that's the kind of absurd look I'm going for, anyway.
I also made my knees, gauntlet pattern, and boot-plate pattern. In the end, I decided that elbows would interfere with the gauntlets, and I can mount the knees right to my boots because of where they hit. I might make elbows later... not sure. I did, however, make the back plates! Again - they're strange now because the cardboard doesn't hold its shape like plastic will, but I'm pleased with them! A little more than 2/3 coverage! I also made a minor tweak to the helmet by moving the earcaps up. (Also pardon my messy wall...)
(https://c5.staticflickr.com/1/353/31314101700_bf678fbd37_c.jpg)
That's hopefully all the work I'm doing on it today... What do you guys think of the plates? The wider or the narrower? (I can print another set of the wide ones very easily...) Also hoping my helmet checks out, scale-wise!
Thanks for all the help!
- Thel
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That's some fine work right there! Wish my soft parts were that good!! But alas, i'm still learning how to sow a piece of nylon and elastic together :P I definitely like the look you've got going on, and the method of building the soft parts before adding the plates! I'll have to keep that in mind when I do my next kit.
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That's some fine work right there! Wish my soft parts were that good!! But alas, i'm still learning how to sow a piece of nylon and elastic together :P I definitely like the look you've got going on, and the method of building the soft parts before adding the plates! I'll have to keep that in mind when I do my next kit.
Thanks for the encouragement! :) The good thing about soft goods is that (assuming you use a removable attachment method) you can always have multiple sets and make new pieces as you gain sewing ability. So keep at it, vod! Doing them first (and making a dummy) also really helps with spacing/sizing plates.
Okay, update time!
On Sunday I bought some buckets ($8) to cut up for my helmet, and shelled out the extra $2 to get them in black so that they'd match the base plastic of my dome and I won't have to paint the inside of the helmet... However, I didn't end up cutting them at the armor party.
When I showed up, I realized that I had to cut out and tweak the new (by which i mean old) torso templates, and use those instead of the narrower ones. The narrow shape... is a bit too V-shaped when the shoulders are on. It reads "1950's dress bodice" instead of "suit jacket"... Plus, I shortened the shoulder plates by like 1" so I looked less like a member of KISS. They were a little over twice the width of my bucket before, so they're closer to "correct" now, and less likely to take someone's eye out.
The host of the armor party actually lives within walking distance of a sintra source, so after paying in $20 to the plastic fund, I had free reign of the sintra pile. I marked all my bits (and I do mean ALL) on some black 3mil. Unfortunately for me... I have a lot of bits...
(https://c7.staticflickr.com/1/29/31598446862_afc7a7170c_b.jpg)
When I was finally done marking them all... Everyone was startled by the amount of plates I actually have. I've made crazier costumes before, so I guess it didn't occur to me that I have lots of stuff going on. I guess that's what happens when your boot armor, your shoulders, AND your back plate are segmented...
People were shooed out due to a developing snowstorm, but the coordinator of the party did lend me a PVC-cutting saw he hadn't even opened, yet, so I may end up taking the next week few days to cut my plates by hand...
I haven't touched my bucket yet, but that's okay - I'll be doing my plates first! (sorry to those of you following that thread...)
Armor total: $140
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This kit is so beatiful, I'm really looking forward to seeing it completed!
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Good find on the sintra!!
One things for sure..you will need a few cans of paint :P
Keep it coming Vod your thread is awesome!
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Good find on the sintra!!
One things for sure..you will need a few cans of paint :P
Keep it coming Vod your thread is awesome!
Thank you to everyone for encouraging me! I'm glad you guys like it!
Also, you bet I'll need paint... :P There are a total of 29 plates on this thing (not including the buy'ce), so I'll probably need at least 2 cans of silver, one can of black (a "primer" between silver and purple, plus knees/elbows and cheeks...) and then two cans of the purple I end up using. Add on whatever weathering/wash, plus the brush-on can o' glowy nonsense for stripes... Yeah, I'm gonna spend more on paint than I have on the plates themselves!
Speaking of plates... Five hours, one sawblade, one band-aid, an x-acto knife, and a whole lotta black PVC dust later:
(https://c3.staticflickr.com/1/472/30951922474_931f2ce084_b.jpg)
I've cut out all the plates by hand. I was originally gonna wait until after Christmas (the hinted-at arrival date of a hypothetical dremel... Shoutout to my wonderful dad!) but I got impatient and would rather have the things in my hot fists than wait a whole four days to start cutting. I'll wait to cut up bucket pieces (the saw won't touch that plastic due to the angles going on) but I'm too stoked to see this thing finished not to put in the hard work with the rudimentary tools I have on hand. They will definitely be getting cleaned up and beveled when I do have the tools to do it... The saw's pretty rough on them! Rough enough that I managed to crack a shoulder plate, and put some smaller cracks in a few weird places on other plates...
What do you guys use to fix cracks in sintra? Bondo? And should I form them before I sand them, or after?
The ab plate and inside the chest pieces will still need cutting down, hence the extra material. I don't trust the ~mysterious curves~ of my torso at all, and I know that once I form the chest pieces I may end up with a different gap than the one I got when I tested them in paper. I'm also... not sure if I want a chest display or not? Some kinda working lights would look amazing, but I'll have to go digging to find out what kind of usable electronics I have.
Last night, I tried ironing the interfacing into my spats... Yeah, not happening. I wasn't thinking when I got the stuff, and I'll have to glue it in. The suede backing on the leather resists the adhesive, and the leather might burn if I heat it high enough to melt the glue. I'll throw some fabri-tac at it sometime...
I also put in an order for my over-gloves! I stumbled upon the perfect ones on ebay for a total of $15, and hopefully they show up before I have to pack up and head back south again... I'll keep you posted!
Cost tally: $155
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You should wait for it to be formed to sand, since you could get imperfections in the molding process you'll have to sand anyways.
Whenever any material has cracked on me I tend to only use some bondo, but if the crack gets worse with the heat, which it might, I like to do a little bit of fiberglass in the back after it's formed to stunt any breaking!
Hope that helps!
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"Five hours, one sawblade, one band-aid, an x-acto knife, and a whole lotta black PVC dust later"
I hear its tradition to bleed whilst crafting armor. You've got amazing progress and for under 200$ still!!
O.O so uhh wanna cut out my plates for me to? please :laugh:
Seriously though those cut lines are top grade IMO. Will you be using a color change paint for the purple or just keeping it simple?
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The best methods to fix armor and cracks usually involve resin, epoxy, or bondo. None of which will heat form properly. Heat forming the plates first will be your best option. Then fix the cracks once they have the right shape. As far as the method for cutting the plates, jigsaws and exacto knives are pretty good for it actually. Though usually metal blades and a slow speed is the best bit. Wood blades tend to be a bit chewwy for plastic, take off too much material on a go. Dremels are great but the cutting wheels do have a tendency to explode, so wear your safety glasses. And lastly, patience young padawan. Especially since you'll be at the painting stage soon, and rushing that stage can only lead to sadness. As a mando who has more layers than an onion, I can say that painting will test the impatient. Pray the fickle paint gods find you worthy, lest your layers get all runny, and bubble up and crack for like no reason.
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She speaks the truth!
Lest ye none believers do not offer tribute to the paint gods, for their wrath is a horrible one.
Speaking from having to remove paint on my bucket four times now...
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You should wait for it to be formed to sand, since you could get imperfections in the molding process you'll have to sand anyways.
Whenever any material has cracked on me I tend to only use some bondo, but if the crack gets worse with the heat, which it might, I like to do a little bit of fiberglass in the back after it's formed to stunt any breaking!
Hope that helps!
Thank you! Looks like it's heat-forming time... Let's see if I'm allowed to use the stovetop instead of getting banished to the garage with the heat gun. My local build crew informs me that the stovetop is the way to go, but my mother thinks otherwise... :P Also thanks for posting pics of the new bucket - it's good to see someone else doing an angular "jawline" on a scratchbuild!
"Five hours, one sawblade, one band-aid, an x-acto knife, and a whole lotta black PVC dust later"
I hear its tradition to bleed whilst crafting armor. You've got amazing progress and for under 200$ still!!
O.O so uhh wanna cut out my plates for me to? please :laugh:
Seriously though those cut lines are top grade IMO. Will you be using a color change paint for the purple or just keeping it simple?
After taking said bandage off, I discovered two small flecks of black plastic embedded under my healing skin, which obviously means that my body has accepted my beskar'gam as an extension of my physical form and I must be doing something right. Hopefully bleeding on my armor counts as an offering to the Paint Gods, and I beg Them to smile upon me and assure the successful application of my many coats of spraypaint.
Unfortunately, I think my sawblade is too dull to do any more cutting. :P If you want, though, I can post a tutorial of some kind. Using the saw certainly had a learning curve to it, and it took a while to figure out how to work with sintra. But the speed I had to go at certainly allowed me to get the lines straight and the curves right - I've used bandsaws before and find them harder to control than a handsaw. I kinda wish I'd had a jeweler's saw instead of a PVC saw (they're great for getting into tight corners and scary sharp) but it's saved me loads of sanding later...
Thanks for the compliment on the cut lines! I'm... kinda proud of em, honestly :) Thank you, high school metalworking class; you've made me a horrible perfectionist who hates belt sanders! As for paint; As much as I love color-change paint, I won't be using it on this kit. I've already got my heart set on the phosphorescent green, and adding the (awesome) purple would be overkill... i do love how it looks, though, so at some point I... may try it? Eventually..?
Okay actually who am I kidding - something on my kit's gonna be color-shifting, even if it's a prop. I love that stuff. Another member of my local armor-making group/clan-to-be has already decided on a purple-and-green kit with color-shift violet... I don't wanna match too much! And, after a quick scouting mission to my local craft store, I think this is the color I'll be using...
(http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/1000/07/075551c3-a608-405c-b47b-31184cf44414_1000.jpg)
They also have a lighter, brighter, pinker purple, but I don't think it'll weather as nicely. It would be great to be able to mix my own color, but I think the deep blue-purple will be okay, especially after a good fading or a spritz with something dirty-looking.
The best methods to fix armor and cracks usually involve resin, epoxy, or bondo. None of which will heat form properly. Heat forming the plates first will be your best option. Then fix the cracks once they have the right shape. As far as the method for cutting the plates, jigsaws and exacto knives are pretty good for it actually. Though usually metal blades and a slow speed is the best bit. Wood blades tend to be a bit chewwy for plastic, take off too much material on a go. Dremels are great but the cutting wheels do have a tendency to explode, so wear your safety glasses. And lastly, patience young padawan. Especially since you'll be at the painting stage soon, and rushing that stage can only lead to sadness. As a mando who has more layers than an onion, I can say that painting will test the impatient. Pray the fickle paint gods find you worthy, lest your layers get all runny, and bubble up and crack for like no reason.
Thanks for the warning about the dremels! I'll definitely have to find my glasses... Hopefully I brought them north with me!
I'll do my best to be patient, too... At the rate I'm going, I'll have to try not to go nuts watching paint layers dry!
Thanks for all the help, ner vode! It's great to have you all egging me on and making sure I don't do anything stupid. :) It makes me super excited to join all you OM's when I'm finally done. Looking forward to it!
- Thel
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If you can find them - diamond cutting disks are the way to go with dremels. I've had a diamond saw attachment for near five years and its outlived three dremels. They cost a fair bit but they're well worth it.
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This is a nice WIP vod! Keep it up! (Commenting to follow :D)
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Hello, vode! After taking a couple days for family holiday celebrations, I'm stubbornly back at it, again. As I was forewarned; a brand new rotary tool appeared on the 25th, courtesy my lovely supportive dad, and today I even ended up with a set of extra attachments from my uncle (special thanks to him, too!) so I've got the whole rotary tool thing pretty covered.
If you can find them - diamond cutting disks are the way to go with dremels. I've had a diamond saw attachment for near five years and its outlived three dremels. They cost a fair bit but they're well worth it.
Ooh! I'll see if I can find one for cheap online. It would be a lot easier to cut things if I wasn't saddled with the constant fear of my wheel exploding violently in my face...
As it stands, though; my garage is full of cars and whatever my family is storing for the winter (motorcycle, lawnmower, a fleet of bicycles, etc.) so I've been told to do all my art stuff in my room. I have a little booth set up with cardboard and everything! The problem is; I'm cutting a bucket. With a dremel running at like, a bazillion RPM. The bucket is clamped to my heavy worktable, which sits right above my sister's room, which is downstairs. Running the thing turns the bucket into a giant drum and, as my sister tells me, "sounds like a dying whale" from the basement. So I may have to venture out into the arctic air and cut stuff on the patio outside... And get some earplugs, probably.
This is a nice WIP vod! Keep it up! (Commenting to follow :D)
Thank you! All the nice comments and help from everyone are really making me excited to finish this thing. :) Like I cannot express my gratefulness properly, except maybe in the form of making more things...? I will be very glad to make more things.
Also; unforeseen complication of the whole "keep track of how much you spend on this kit because you're cheap" plan... My wonderful and supportive mother gave me a gift card to the local craft store (in addition to letting me get plastic shavings all over the living room carpet yet again) so I can make a larger mess not worry about having to pay for paints and sandpaper. I am super stoked because this means I don't have to worry about shelling out a whole lot for the absurd amounts of spraypaint I'm gonna be using, but it also means... do I not count the giftcard money towards the total if I'm not the one paying for the stuff...? Do I keep track of what someone paid for the kit, not what I paid for it? Should I forget about the cash tally and just focus on my kit?
Whatever I decide, I'll be real happy when this thing is done... Or, at least, approvable. It's never gonna be Done done, that's for sure. :P
- Thel
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stuff an old t-shirt in the bucket before cutting, this will dull down the noise some.
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stuff an old t-shirt in the bucket before cutting, this will dull down the noise some.
Or go outside and wear a jacket. Cutting the helmet inside is kind of a bad idea, what with resin dust in enclosed spaces.
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Or whip out the razor knife and start scoring the visor area. Each pass go a little deeper and it's indoor safe just don't slice fingers.
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Commenting to follow. Holy crap, I love the design and everything you've done so far looks amazing! I can't wait to see more!
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Great work so far vod! Keep up the great work!
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stuff an old t-shirt in the bucket before cutting, this will dull down the noise some.
Thanks for the tip! I was super excited last night when you posted this, since noise is Problem #1, and this morning I grabbed a ripped shirt from my fabric pile and... discovered I was gonna need more shirt. Like, way too much shirt. Even after shoving half my scrap-pile in the thing, it... didn't really help the noise. And just now; I realized that when you say "bucket" you mean "buy'ce", and when I say "bucket", I mean this thing:
(https://c3.staticflickr.com/1/643/31088341074_14b0d4a550_c.jpg)
(Feat. Christmas Debris and That One Bag The Cat Likes To Sleep On)
Which explains why I was so confused as to how one could put a shirt in a 5-gallon bucket to silence its cries... A completed resin helmet, though, would certainly hold a shirt well! It took me reading Cin Vhe'rang's warning about resin to realize my critical communication error. (Thanks for the resin tip, though! I went plastic instead of cast because I knew I'd just mod the heck out of it and get toxic dust everywhere. You're right - that stuff's scary!)
I have a whole separate thread for my helmet build, actually - you can check out the mess I've made here (http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=125136.msg1665971#msg1665971) or just follow the link in my description. There's so much happening on this thread already that I figured leaving the helmet build to its own thread would save you guys some text walls to slog through. :P Here's what I have so far, though!
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/1/389/31119145873_f6bbae8856_c.jpg)
Aaand here's the cardboard patterns all assembled, showing what the thing will hopefully look like when completed...
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/1/662/31527651321_3f8f143992_c.jpg)
(That's the hope, anyway...)
Also thanks again for all the encouragement! I'm really glad to see this thing moving forward.
- Thel
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I have been following this thread since you started and by god your energy is so refreshing! Keep it up, I think we're all excited to see this kit xome to life!
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I have been following this thread since you started and by god your energy is so refreshing! Keep it up, I think we're all excited to see this kit xome to life!
Thank you! I'm really excited to finish it, hopefully as soon as possible - honestly half of the energy is due to the fact that I'm home till the middle of January with pretty much nothing else to do. My college-break job had to cut hours, and I'd be back south by the time I interviewed and got hours anywhere else, so I'm not working over break. I already paid all my school bills before break, so I guess I that leaves pretty much all day, every day for beskar'gam!
Today, I ground and beveled my body plates with my dremel, and just glued and clamped my cod and chest diamond (the two pieces that need to be glued flat). I did run into a snag when I beveled the wrong side of one of my gauntlet pieces, but otherwise, all of the dremel work is done (save for the ab plate). I look and feel like a chimney sweep, my room is full of dust, and my desk looks like someone set it on fire... But I'm happy!
My process for sanding my plates is basically: Rough saw cut -> Grinding and rough bevel with 80-grit drum sander -> Shaping with 80-grit sandpaper by hand (this gets the edges smoother than the dremel) -> Smoothing with 220-grit and a nail buffing block -> Go take a shower to get the dust out of my everything.
Yesterday I spent six hours doing the same thing to my helmet parts and then drilling and riveting. The rivet tool died on me, though, so I'll have to grind off the metal stems in the garage when it's not freezing because I have a sneaking suspicion that my cutting wheel might throw sparks if I use it on metal. I accidentally hit the edge of a pair of long pliers I was using and it scared the osik out of me - I really don't wanna set my room on fire.
I'll heat-form my plates on Tuesday, probably, and then give them the rest of their sanding. The chest diamond still needs grinding along the edges once it's dry. Hopefully the E-6000 I'm using won't get weird when I heat up the edges of the cod... Then, I gotta go find some bondo.
Pictures to come later!
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I'm with the others on doing things outside if possible. The frigid winter air is bitter, but it makes you strong. Unlike plastic dust in the lungs. That tends to do the opposite. The biggest things with plastics and fiberglass is usually exposure time. If you're not around it for very long, and not too often, you're probably fine. So sleeping in it is probably the last thing you want. Plus you will be finding plastic dust everywhere. and in everything.
Aside from the obvious lung problem I actually got eye irritation from cutting PVC so I switched to wearing swimming goggles. I found an old pair that was impact rated, so it should be more than enough to stop an exploding dremmel wheel (Which by the way usually only results in minor cuts or bruising so the only real danger is your eyes.) It looks a little silly, but it works.
As for working outside, you can probably hold the bucket between your knees or and rotate it as you cut. Be careful of course, but dremmels don't have a lot of torque, and tend not to pull workpieces around much. The last thing I can think to mention is that for 99 percent of your cuts you should be able to keep your face out of line with the spinning wheel, which will only really explode out radially. So if you aren't lined up with it you should be fairly safe. Still wear safety goggles though. Safety goggles are like umbrellas. The one time you don't bring one it rains.
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I'm with the others on doing things outside if possible. The frigid winter air is bitter, but it makes you strong. Unlike plastic dust in the lungs. That tends to do the opposite. The biggest things with plastics and fiberglass is usually exposure time. If you're not around it for very long, and not too often, you're probably fine. So sleeping in it is probably the last thing you want. Plus you will be finding plastic dust everywhere. and in everything.
You're definitely right on that one! Shortly after I finished grinding and switched to hand-sanding, my mother complained about the noise and the apparent smell from using the dremel (the friction warms the plastic - I won't be doing the heat-forming inside for this reason...) and has strongly discouraged me from running power tools indoors. And thankfully, after finding plastic in my snot the first day I tried the thing out, I borrowed a dust mask from my dad, as well as some ear protection. Today, I even vacuumed my room and desk, so hopefully I'm no longer at risk for black lung...
Thank you for the dremel info, too! That certainly gives me more confidence in using the thing. Knowing that it's not going to seriously cut into me if I get tagged in the face or something is great. It has occurred to me that I'm totally fine wielding the hand saw, even though I've cut myself on it twice, but the dremel is still intimidating. Honestly it's probably because the dremel is loud, and I read the whole book of scary safety warnings when I got it. :)
As for armoring; both my laminated pieces came out great, and I bought sanding blocks! I'm gonna try to get away with shaping and beveling the outer edge of the chest diamond with my files and paper, and then do the two pieces of foot armor I forgot to do and/or beveled on the wrong side... The next local armor party is this coming Sunday, so if I have everything ready to go by then, I can form things while everyone else does grinding and cutting.
I also got my amp in the mail, and am very excited to start playing with it and taking it apart, but will have to wait until I have my helmet done... If I can show up with a mostly-done bucket at the armor party, I'll be happy!
- Thel
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I wouldn't sauté my sphagetti with it.
In general, if you do feel a little bad, take a break (couple days), clean up and air it out the space. Outside is by far the best place to do work (minus windy conditions)
WEAR GOGGLES - I had a dremel bit get to hot, it broke off and flung directly into my face, luckily I was wearing goggles. I literally saw it smack of the glasses (I then put down the dremel and said "thats enough for today" lol).
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I wouldn't sauté my sphagetti with it.
In general, if you do feel a little bad, take a break (couple days), clean up and air it out the space. Outside is by far the best place to do work (minus windy conditions)
WEAR GOGGLES - I had a dremel bit get to hot, it broke off and flung directly into my face, luckily I was wearing goggles. I literally saw it smack of the glasses (I then put down the dremel and said "thats enough for today" lol).
Oh man I am so wearing goggles! I wear my safety glasses (and work gloves if I'm doing carpentry) whenever possible - I've been hit in the face with bits of polymer clay before, back when I used to do miniatures, and I like having working eyes. Getting hit with any kind of flying dremel part would definitely scare me away for a few days at least. Thank you for the advice, too - I have cleaned the work corner of my room pretty well and have suffered no ill effects, thankfully. :) I'll certainly be taking more frequent breaks, even when using my little files. And as soon as it's no longer below freezing or super windy (thank you, North Country winter...) I'm moving outside so I won't have to vacuum anymore.
I am, however, too impatient to put off painting till spring, so I'll be making good use of that spraypainting booth my school has. :)
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Really looking forward to seeing your progress Sunday! It has been lots of fun watching this build unfold! You do amazing work, the pictures don't do it justice!
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Wow. Keep up the stellar work. I'm really enjoying your build.
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Wow. Keep up the stellar work. I'm really enjoying your build.
Really looking forward to seeing your progress Sunday! It has been lots of fun watching this build unfold! You do amazing work, the pictures don't do it justice!
Thank you so much for the encouragement! I did go armor-partying today, and though it's too dark for proper pictures, I do have more recent developments!
I got to hang out at Nodon Vau's house today (another local OM-hopeful), and I geared up for the cold and spent the afternoon shaping my plates! Shevla Ram'ser was super helpful and stayed outside in the ten-degree weather to show me how not to melt things, and he held the heat gun for most of it. It was great having company out there, and since he's played with sintra before, he knows what he's doing. Anyone who wishes to compliment me on the state of my plates has Shevla to thank. :)
We got pretty much everything at least rough-shaped - I still need to do the gauntlets, and fix one of the knees as well as refine the chest and collar plates some. My poor Ni'ka, in all the fray, got crushed brutally and will be either retired or re-filled. My actual torso is better for forming, so I'll have to attach most of the plates and then do the final bends.
After much pondering and consideration (and like, 5 years in the ball-jointed-doll hobby...) I've chosen Apoxie Sculpt over Bondo, because I trust the stuff and my parents/RA's can't complain about the smell. Bondo won't do what I want it to, and I have no patience to try and convince it to. :P I ordered a one-pound container of black Apoxie Sculpt (to match my plates) and somehow managed to spend $30 on it. That quick shipping will getcha! I'm very excited to play with it, though, because it means my bucket will stop looking like a bike helmet and start looking like a buy'ce! :) That, and it'll make my gauntlets way easier...
I have to get velcro tomorrow, and I'm not allowing myself to pick paint until the very last minute. Updates tomorrow!
Running Beskar total: $195 (Not counting gift-card-bought sanding pads, which I'm gonna use forever for everything else I make ever)
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Thank you so much for the encouragement! I did go armor-partying today, and though it's too dark for proper pictures, I do have more recent developments!
I got to hang out at another local hopeful-OM's house today, and even though it was freezing, I geared up and spent the afternoon shaping my plates! I got pretty much everything at least rough-shaped - I still need to do the gauntlets, and fix one of the knees as well as refine the chest and collar plates some. My poor Ni'ka, in all the fray, got crushed brutally and will be either retired or re-filled. My actual torso is better for forming, so I'll have to attach most of the plates and then do the final bends.
After much pondering and consideration (and like, 5 years in the ball-jointed-doll hobby...) I've chosen Apoxie Sculpt over Bondo, because I trust the stuff and my parents/RA's can't complain about the smell. Bondo won't do what I want it to, and I have no patience to try and convince it to. :P I ordered a one-pound container of black Apoxie Sculpt (to match my plates) and somehow managed to spend $30 on it. That quick shipping will getcha! I'm very excited to play with it, though, because it means my bucket will stop looking like a bike helmet and start looking like a buy'ce! :) That, and it'll make my gauntlets way easier...
I have to get velcro tomorrow, and I'm not allowing myself to pick paint until the very last minute. Updates tomorrow!
Running Beskar total: $195 (Not counting gift-card-bought sanding pads, which I'm gonna use forever for everything else I make ever)
Looking forward to the updates vod! I've considered using Apoxie on some stuff, where do you get yours from?
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Looking forward to the updates vod! I've considered using Apoxie on some stuff, where do you get yours from?
Thanks! I got mine off Amazon - here's the link! (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005J03Q5W/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) I haven't gotten to play with it, yet, but it's supposedly like Milliput's harder-core sibling, and more clay-like than a filler like bondo. I have worked with Milliput and the "Green Stuff" model-makers swear by, and I like both, but have no idea how well they'll do for mando-making. I'm getting the Apoxie Sculpt because it's basically clay, which for me will make filling the holes and gaps in my helmet way easier. I can also sculpt or push-cast all manner of greeblies, so my gauntlets will probably get coated in the stuff, honestly...
If I do encounter any kinda filler-related beskar'gam catastrophe, or if I've simply mis-calculated exactly what this stuff even is, you guys here on the forum will be the first to know and have my permission to ridicule me publicly. :P If anyone else has worked with the stuff in question, let me know! It should come in by Tuesday, so I'll keep you posted!
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I am an apoxie sculpt user and I absolutely adore the stuff. It's a great filler and it's super easy to use. The obvious benefit is the fact that it's non-toxic and safe too use indoors. You're also going to find that it has a much longer working time. You'll have at least 30 minutes where it's very malleable and even longer than that where you can shape it with little effort. Translation - minimal sanding.
I look forward to watching your progress on your bucket
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Just went through the whole thread, and I'm really impressed with your work! You're concept and ideas share a few similarities with mine so it's been interesting seeing how it's all turned out for you.
I also got quite a few chuckles as I read, so thanks for that :P
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The wisdom given to me by wiser prop makers than myself, mix until you think it's been 100 percent mixed, and then you're half way done mixing. This applies to resin, bondo, epoxy, green stuff, etc. But not Mr. Bonds Martini. Only shake that one. Not stirred.
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I am an apoxie sculpt user and I absolutely adore the stuff. It's a great filler and it's super easy to use. The obvious benefit is the fact that it's non-toxic and safe too use indoors. You're also going to find that it has a much longer working time. You'll have at least 30 minutes where it's very malleable and even longer than that where you can shape it with little effort. Translation - minimal sanding.
I look forward to watching your progress on your bucket
Nice! Thanks for sharing! Glad to hear it's good stuff. I'm already probably sanding more than I have to, so if I can avoid some, I'm happy!
Do you know if it has any kind of flex to it, though? I'm a little curious, and now that I think of it, I'm not sure how much give Bondo has, either... I just don't want to fill something on my helmet, have it flex, and have the Apoxie Sculpt come flying off. Not so much an issue on the dome, but the earcaps and rear keyholes are going to be mounted on 5-gal bucket plastic, which might wobble a bit during storage or transit.
Just went through the whole thread, and I'm really impressed with your work! You're concept and ideas share a few similarities with mine so it's been interesting seeing how it's all turned out for you.
I also got quite a few chuckles as I read, so thanks for that :P
Thank you! I was curious and checked out your helmet thread - I see what you mean about similarities! I'm considering doing similar vented earcaps because they look great. Not that specific design, but something along those lines. I love the stenciling you did, too! Also, thanks for reading - it's great to know that someone actually went through all four pages of my text walls and was amused. :P
The wisdom given to me by wiser prop makers than myself, mix until you think it's been 100 percent mixed, and then you're half way done mixing. This applies to resin, bondo, epoxy, green stuff, etc. But not Mr. Bonds Martini. Only shake that one. Not stirred.
Yeah, I'm gonna take that advice! Even the two-part silicone molding compound I have is like, impossible to mix. I may invest in a pasta roller (those clay mixer/flattener things) to ease the strain on my hands... The long worktime should work to my advantage, though.
Also I love the martini tip. :) I'll remember that next time I'm bartending!
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Nice! Thanks for sharing! Glad to hear it's good stuff. I'm already probably sanding more than I have to, so if I can avoid some, I'm happy!
Do you know if it has any kind of flex to it, though? I'm a little curious, and now that I think of it, I'm not sure how much give Bondo has, either... I just don't want to fill something on my helmet, have it flex, and have the Apoxie Sculpt come flying off. Not so much an issue on the dome, but the earcaps and rear keyholes are going to be mounted on 5-gal bucket plastic, which might wobble a bit during storage or transit.
If you get your fingers wet, you can also do a bit of hand sculpting. This is the primary method I use to smooth out drying apoxie sculpt.
I mostly use this on projects that aren't going to flex much (screw holes, cracks, etc). Bondo definitely does not flex well - it snaps. I've never had apoxie sculpt snap, however it dries very rigid and would probably due so if put under enough stress. You might be able to build a base for your earcap out of plastic, screw that onto the dome, and then sculpt over that. This way, the earcap won't come off and the worst you'd get would be some easily fixable cracks around the edges.
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If you want an Apoxie Sculpt type product with more work time look into using Aves Fixit Sculpt. Simple 2 part and air-hardening just like Apoxie Sculpt but you have a longer work time with it (up to 4 hours).
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If you get your fingers wet, you can also do a bit of hand sculpting. This is the primary method I use to smooth out drying apoxie sculpt.
I mostly use this on projects that aren't going to flex much (screw holes, cracks, etc). Bondo definitely does not flex well - it snaps. I've never had apoxie sculpt snap, however it dries very rigid and would probably due so if put under enough stress. You might be able to build a base for your earcap out of plastic, screw that onto the dome, and then sculpt over that. This way, the earcap won't come off and the worst you'd get would be some easily fixable cracks around the edges.
Ooh that's good! Love me some smoothing. Thanks for the advice! I'm still deciding on earcaps, currently - I'll probably end up designing some... The place they'll get stuck to is two layers of plastic, which should help? I'm gonna cut a hole with my dremel once I figure out where the hole has to go!
If you want an Apoxie Sculpt type product with more work time look into using Aves Fixit Sculpt. Simple 2 part and air-hardening just like Apoxie Sculpt but you have a longer work time with it (up to 4 hours).
Ah! That sounds good, if I need something I can really play with... I just got the stuff in the mail and haven't even opened it yet, since I need to wait for my helmet to dry before I can start filling holes and gaps!
Speaking of which... here's a quick preview of the bucket so far. I'll post a longer-winded, more involved blow-by-blow on my helmet thread, a link to which is hiding somewhere in my signature.
(https://c4.staticflickr.com/6/5540/32239083675_44b7b60e3b_c.jpg)
Here's the first half of the outer visor glued on! I have since stuck on the other half, and will probably do the vent cover later...
As for my actual armor...
(https://c3.staticflickr.com/1/604/32200854186_ac45e9a646_c.jpg)
Boot plates! I found out after shaping these that they could in theory cover laces on any one of my many, many pairs of boots. So there's that. One of them will have to be re-shaped, though, since I have it shaped crooked!
Added a whole lotta velcro to the vest... My mother was sad to see me covering it up with stuff - she said, and I quote, "the vest is so sexy by itself, though!" Thanks, mom! :laugh:
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5788/32239082025_5bffe13339_c.jpg) (https://c5.staticflickr.com/1/651/31397951364_8f7173061f_c.jpg)
And then plates!
(https://c6.staticflickr.com/1/481/32239084365_ce84957dca_c.jpg)
(https://c3.staticflickr.com/6/5738/31863352090_7d17aa5e84_c.jpg)
(https://c3.staticflickr.com/1/674/31397958754_30ce582bba_c.jpg)
Obligatory bathroom selfie...
(https://c3.staticflickr.com/1/778/31397905394_7fdc4c4e02_c.jpg)
The industrial-strength velcro I used stuck super well to the plates - the only gripe I have is that they make noise. Like, I move and they go "skrrtch" very softly and I absolutely hate it. It actually drove me nuts for the ten minutes I had the things on, since with all the noise I was afraid that the plates would literally fall off my body. It may just be because the chest plates are only hanging by their tops - I have to shape the bottoms before securing the rest. Who knows? I'll be adding snaps later if I get too bothered by them.
The whole set is pleasantly heavy though, and everything is the right size. I WILL be re-shaping the chest - you can see those plates are not at all laying correctly on me - I only rough-shaped them and will have to heat them on my torso and squish em correctly before I paint them. The collar needs some work, as well!
The shoulders - man, I love them. They're pointy and grand and, with my kama and very long sash (undyed, still) on, I felt like some kind of important emperor, or maybe a member of an 80's metal band. Not sure. Either way, I felt glorious. I will need to probably add even more velcro, though - they look good in the photos, but the second shoulder plates (middle ones) should lay at about 45 degrees. When I move, they sometimes slip out of place and lay flat like the last ones. It should be an easy fix...
I also managed to snag some belts, and I'm wondering which of these two would be better for my ammo belt? The two-holed one is my favorite everyday belt, but may work, and the one-hole one is a new acquisition. Grand belt total: $4.
(https://c8.staticflickr.com/6/5587/32120392511_afa79986f0_c.jpg)
I also have a third belt for my holster - it'll be hiding mostly under my sash, so I only need to make half the holster rig out of leather - the rest can be nylon webbing that will hide underneath all my other crazy layers. As soon as I get back south, I'll start working on my blaster! And also some knives. I need some knives...
As for supplies; on Monday I made it to the local craft store and spent way too much on school supplies and some mando materials... A small bottle of frisket ($15, I think) and a tube of Goop glue, as well as all my velcro and some heavy-duty thread to put it on with. The whole trip ran me about $50 (yikes) but I have to figure out what was kit costs and whether or not to count it? Still using gift-card money...
I'm still not sure if the frisket will last me for a whole kit's worth of painting... It was kinda pricey but I can also use it for my watercolor stuff. I hear toothpaste and mustard have worked for others, but I was originally gonna just get a quart of liquid latex. However, I don't want to wait for shipping and also I have a gift card. So there's that.
I'll do the price tally later - I was working on my kit from 10:00 this morning and only stopped at 9:00 this evening because my helmet has to dry... Time to rest my chewed-up hands for a bit!
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I love how this is coming along vod! As far as the attachment, if you decide to change how they're attached, you may like to look into using Chicago screws. They are also know as binding screws/posts or barrel screws. They're $0.80 at Lowes and anyone that I know that have used them love them, and your plates won't go anywhere. I just finished attaching my plates with them and they definitely feel sturdy. They actually give a very faint 'clack' with makes the plates sound metal. :)
Tooth paste can bring decent results, but I wouldn't suggest mustard. You run a very real risk of staining your plates yellow where it's used. Depending on how available it is to you and how much you want to spend liquid latex is going to give you the best results.
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Ooh that's good! Love me some smoothing. Thanks for the advice! I'm still deciding on earcaps, currently - I'll probably end up designing some... The place they'll get stuck to is two layers of plastic, which should help? I'm gonna cut a hole with my dremel once I figure out where the hole has to go!
Apoxie sculpt will shear off of a smooth surface without too much flex required. If you have an earcap base that protrudes, or even a few bolts that stick out from the helmet, that will help it grip better and prevent it from shearing off.
I really like that helmet scratch build, it's really clean so far. Nice work.
Since the style of the two belts are very similar, choose whichever one best matches the level of weathering that you are attempting to create on your kit.
Personally, I'm a fan of liquid latex and I really love the results I am getting with it. You shouldn't need anywhere near a quart of it, my kit has medium armor coverage and I don't think I'll use more than the 2.5oz container I have currently.
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Will you take commissions for a flak vest T-T that vest is amazing!!!
By far this is such an immaculate build, just the smoothness of the plates and everything together!
*claps* Well done Vod.
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Looking good so far. You're gonna need to shape those two chest tabs to be better shaped to your body. Also looks like you're gonna need to trim the ab plate as well.
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Some straight on pics front and back with you wearing it will be best to help access by how much things needs to be trimmed and reshaped. But great work so far, love the shoulder design (but then I may be bias to these sorts of things :D)
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Top notch! I'll mimic what the others said regarding the Chest. It helps to have another take photos Of you like they were taking your App photos, to make sure your plate sizing is correct!
P.S. Consider this thread Double bookmarked :P
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It helps to have another take photos Of you like they were taking your App photos, to make sure your plate sizing is correct!
That will be my job... I'll let Thel post her progress pics, but things are moving right along
I know, because I was sent this picture...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/618/32237584096_16e4c45514_o.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/R7J3Bs)
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That will be my job... I'll let Thel post her progress pics, but things are moving right along
I know, because I was sent this picture...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/618/32237584096_16e4c45514_o.jpg)
(https://flic.kr/p/R7J3Bs)
Aww, Shev'ika - you've unmasked me on my own thread! Now everyone will know about my giant forehead and extensive collection of dragon statues! :laugh:
But yes - I'll definitely have someone (probably this goober) take some photos of the vest. To all who've pointed it out - you are correct! The chest does need serious re-shaping. I ran out of time last Sunday and Shevla had to leave, so I did some of the plates solo. We didn't get to finish the chest plates because they weren't attached, yet - he had the good sense to tell me to attach the things before we do the final shaping, just to make sure they're in the right place. I did also trim my ab plate - I was worried about how the chest would come out and left a bit extra on the sides (the silver lines are riiiight outside the current new edges) but I have since trimmed it down.
I love how this is coming along vod! As far as the attachment, if you decide to change how they're attached, you may like to look into using Chicago screws. They are also know as binding screws/posts or barrel screws. They're $0.80 at Lowes and anyone that I know that have used them love them, and your plates won't go anywhere. I just finished attaching my plates with them and they definitely feel sturdy. They actually give a very faint 'clack' with makes the plates sound metal. :)
Tooth paste can bring decent results, but I wouldn't suggest mustard. You run a very real risk of staining your plates yellow where it's used. Depending on how available it is to you and how much you want to spend liquid latex is going to give you the best results.
Thank you! And I may have to see about changing over to those screws... If I can find them for 80 cents each, I'll feel real silly about spending so much on all my velcro... :P I'll also be on the lookout for liquid latex, if I can get it. I'm really hoping that my frisket will work, since it's plastered with all these "DANGER: NATURAL LATEX" warnings.
Will you take commissions for a flak vest T-T that vest is amazing!!!
By far this is such an immaculate build, just the smoothness of the plates and everything together!
*claps* Well done Vod.
Thank you, vod! I wish I was doing vest commissions, since it would be a fun job, but with school happening I'll have to settle for drawings only. :( I can post a tutorial that better explains how I got the lines to work, if that will help you! It is, like most of my other costumes, smoke-and-mirrors fabric witchcraft, and I'd be happy to show my work.
Apoxie sculpt will shear off of a smooth surface without too much flex required. If you have an earcap base that protrudes, or even a few bolts that stick out from the helmet, that will help it grip better and prevent it from shearing off.
I really like that helmet scratch build, it's really clean so far. Nice work.
Since the style of the two belts are very similar, choose whichever one best matches the level of weathering that you are attempting to create on your kit.
Personally, I'm a fan of liquid latex and I really love the results I am getting with it. You shouldn't need anywhere near a quart of it, my kit has medium armor coverage and I don't think I'll use more than the 2.5oz container I have currently.
Thank you! I've spent most of the past few days on the helmet, and I've made progress and am very excited to see the thing in one piece so I can start playing with my electronics! Thank you for the earcap tip - I am really not sure what to do, yet, but I'll probably be adhering the caps with Goop adhesive/filler/magic wonderliquid. I'd like to have a vent under the caps and some design that lets air out, so I'll be cutting a hole in them anyway. Hopefully that will give me some more anchor points to work with!
Here's a picture of the helmet as of tonight...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/749/31435688054_f093f39a53_c.jpg)
...Aaand the full run-down of what I did today is over on Ye Olde Bucket Thread (http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=125136.msg1677396#msg1677396).
As for belts - they're equally beat-up, I think I'll be going with the one-holed one. I wear the two-holed one all the time and would hate to wreck it somehow and be out both an ammo belt and a holding-up-my-pants belt. The new one is long, though, and I'll have to punch some more holes in the thing before wearing it.
Some straight on pics front and back with you wearing it will be best to help access by how much things needs to be trimmed and reshaped. But great work so far, love the shoulder design (but then I may be bias to these sorts of things :D)
Haha thanks, vod! I think I actually have a picture of your kit on one of my Pinterest boards as inspiration... ;D Keeping the plates spaced evenly is giving me some trouble, though. I'll try and get some on-my-actual-torso pictures when I get them to lay right for more than a minute!
A huge thanks again to all of you for all the encouragement! I'm super grateful for all the help and tips you guys have given me. It's making this build go a lot quicker and helping me feel like I'm not just flailing about madly with a tube of glue and a craft knife. :)
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(https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5788/32239082025_5bffe13339_c.jpg)
How does the velcro hold up while wearing?
I had a friend suggest this route (so it was easily adjustable), but I would be too worried about it falling off while wearing it.
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How does the velcro hold up while wearing?
I had a friend suggest this route (so it was easily adjustable), but I would be too worried about it falling off while wearing it.
Well, it certainly won't fall off, that's for sure! The back, shoulder, collar and ab plates are stuck down pretty good, and you kinda have to man-handle them to get them off. In order to get the vest on in the first place, I actually have to remove the collar plate and stick it back after I've zipped the shoulder up. So; if your vest is fitted enough to warrant it, velcro is definitely an easy way to pop plates on and off without much hassle, and makes it easy for me to get in and out of kit (as long as there's a mirror available.)
The weakest link, honestly, is the velcro connection itself - the chest plates are only stuck down along the top edge for now, since I have to finish shaping them before I stick em down for good. If you're rough with the vest or move around a lot, they do make a "skrrtch" noise, which is the velcro coming unstuck around the edges - on mine, it's mostly the chest that does this. Hopefully when I have the chest pieces finished and all the way stuck down, they'll stop all the noise... If I had to do it again, I'd add enough velcro to cover the entire border of all the plates with no gaps. Big strips, too; something like whitecrow1's kit here (http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=23094.msg337070#msg337070). Unfortunately for me, the local craft store was almost totally out of black sew-on velcro, so I only ended up with two little rolls.
I will say that, if you need to remove a plate often (like I do) or you're particularly particular about proper placement (again, me) then velcro is a good option, especially for something like a collar plate that won't flex too much. However, for something like a chest that may get abused some more... I'll keep you posted on whether the noise persists. But I can say confidently that nothing will straight-up fall off your body unprovoked. If you want, I can post a step-by-step on how I got them to line up proper, since there is a trick to it.
Hope this helps!
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Have you sewn your velcro to match up exactly with Velcro on the plates? For future changes/upgrades etc you may find it better to put the vest velcro in one direction and the plate velcro 90 degrees rotated. This way you end up with a criss-cross pattern and multiple points of contact. You then also don't have to sew it near the edges so you get a lot of adjustability.
This is my old vest, but is the best example I have as it has the outlines of the plates too.
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv225/Elihdorr/Cosplay/Mando-Hiikaari/Soft%20Parts/IMG_20150928_210320_zpslf6qkcdv.jpg) (http://s686.photobucket.com/user/Elihdorr/media/Cosplay/Mando-Hiikaari/Soft%20Parts/IMG_20150928_210320_zpslf6qkcdv.jpg.html)
The chest plates are just two strips, then some horizontal strips on the chest plate. I've never knocked one off, had it come loose or make noises as I walk. I have attached multiple kits worth of plates like this.
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Tooth paste can bring decent results, but I wouldn't suggest mustard. You run a very real risk of staining your plates yellow where it's used. Depending on how available it is to you and how much you want to spend liquid latex is going to give you the best results.
If you can get Liquid latex go for that. But honestly I've never had trouble with toothpaste, it's viscous enough to be easily spread and manipulated, and when you use a toothpick to pull strands out you can get some really good looking elongated scratches or blaster marks. As for mustard, it's a little harder to work with, the surface tension tends to keep it round. As far as discoloration goes though, I had a bit on the plates I did with mustard and I was freaking out, but literally one minute in the sun got rid of all the discoloration. Not sure why, but It's never not worked, even on white paint.
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This is coming along good vod. I won't be a broken record and repeat everyone's critiques since I'm pretty sure you've got it covered. lol :laugh: Keep on keeping on! You're going to be OM in no time!! ;D
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Have you sewn your velcro to match up exactly with Velcro on the plates? For future changes/upgrades etc you may find it better to put the vest velcro in one direction and the plate velcro 90 degrees rotated. This way you end up with a criss-cross pattern and multiple points of contact. You then also don't have to sew it near the edges so you get a lot of adjustability.
This is my old vest, but is the best example I have as it has the outlines of the plates too.
(http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv225/Elihdorr/Cosplay/Mando-Hiikaari/Soft%20Parts/IMG_20150928_210320_zpslf6qkcdv.jpg) (http://s686.photobucket.com/user/Elihdorr/media/Cosplay/Mando-Hiikaari/Soft%20Parts/IMG_20150928_210320_zpslf6qkcdv.jpg.html)
The chest plates are just two strips, then some horizontal strips on the chest plate. I've never knocked one off, had it come loose or make noises as I walk. I have attached multiple kits worth of plates like this.
Ooh! What kind of velcro do you use for the on-the-vest portion? And yep - I do have my strips all lined up exactly, but I used the sew-on roll of velcro, which may not be the strongest stuff out there, hence the noises. It may also just be that my chest plates are the culprits and I gotta stick em down real good! I do like how re-positionable that is! If I decide not to have a lighted chest-display, I may have to steal that idea for my chest... Thanks for sharing! It certainly gives me more faith in velcro. :)
If you can get Liquid latex go for that. But honestly I've never had trouble with toothpaste, it's viscous enough to be easily spread and manipulated, and when you use a toothpick to pull strands out you can get some really good looking elongated scratches or blaster marks. As for mustard, it's a little harder to work with, the surface tension tends to keep it round. As far as discoloration goes though, I had a bit on the plates I did with mustard and I was freaking out, but literally one minute in the sun got rid of all the discoloration. Not sure why, but It's never not worked, even on white paint.
Yeah - I'm still gonna probably avoid the mustard, simply because I don't wanna get kicked outta my dining hall for burgling the packets... I do have a whole container of rubber cement which may work? Its mostly latex, I believe, and seems to come off pretty much everything quite nicely, which is why I haven't used it and it's still a full jar. I'll do some tests when I get my paint and see what I like!
This is coming along good vod. I won't be a broken record and repeat everyone's critiques since I'm pretty sure you've got it covered. lol :laugh: Keep on keeping on! You're going to be OM in no time!! ;D
Thanks for cheering me on! :) I'l probably spend Sunday heat-gunning again and fix what needs tweaking... I do have to have all my shaping and plate/bucket construction done by the time I go back to school. If all goes well, I'd love to have app pics done by February. Even if I bump into a snag doing my sash, electronics or weapons/holsters/sheaths - May the 4th is like, arbitrary hard deadline. Got Mando things to do by then!
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Put the soft, fuzzy side of the velcro on the vest and the rougher side on the plates. This may be part of your noise issue, since the rougher side probably makes more noise rubbing against loose plates (assuming rougher side is attached to the vest) then it would make rubbing against the leather (assuming rough side attached exclusively to the plates)
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Thanks for cheering me on! :) I'l probably spend Sunday heat-gunning again and fix what needs tweaking... I do have to have all my shaping and plate/bucket construction done by the time I go back to school. If all goes well, I'd love to have app pics done by February. Even if I bump into a snag doing my sash, electronics or weapons/holsters/sheaths - May the 4th is like, arbitrary hard deadline. Got Mando things to do by then!
The 4th is a very important day indeed! At the rate your going I don't think you'll have a problem meeting your deadlines! :)
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Put the soft, fuzzy side of the velcro on the vest and the rougher side on the plates. This may be part of your noise issue, since the rougher side probably makes more noise rubbing against loose plates (assuming rougher side is attached to the vest) then it would make rubbing against the leather (assuming rough side attached exclusively to the plates)
Oh. My goodness. :o So that... might just be Problem Number One right there. I just put on and personally fondled my vest to test the theory, and it turns out you are 100% correct. I originally wanted to have the soft velcro only on the vest-side, but since I only had two small rolls of the sew-on kind, I ran out and so there's there's scratchy velcro on the vest on some of the inside spaces (not edges) of plates. My logic was that the hook-side of the industrial velcro was probably better than the hook-side of the regular kind, which would give me a stronger bond...
But - there is only one strip of velcro on the chest pieces currently; I've left them mostly velcro-less so they "hang" during shaping instead of being stuck down. Not only are they kinda swinging and pulling weird because they're basically dangling for now, but the hook-side velcro along the chest-diamond edge is rubbing the plastic! As soon as I get some velcro installed there, it should stop the sound.
I wiggled all my other plates with my hands, and they're all mostly silent until I do some real wild shimmying, which I probably shouldn't do in kit, anyway...
Anyway - thank you, Kar'ta! Mystery: solved! :D
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I literally just bought a roll of sew-on Velcro from eBay. I don't think it was any special brand etc. Same with the plate side, just from a link from a clan mate as they had bought it and worked for them
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Another reason for putting the hook velcro on the plates and not the suit is carpets. Especially knee and shin velcro. On a side note I most certainly have not velcro'd myself to the floor. Why would you even think that. That would be silly.
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I literally just bought a roll of sew-on Velcro from eBay. I don't think it was any special brand etc. Same with the plate side, just from a link from a clan mate as they had bought it and worked for them
Ah! It's probably the same stuff I used, then... I'm gonna give forming my chest plates another go tomorrow, and will hopefully have them attached, and that should work? If it works for you, I'm confident - you've got more plates on your vest than I do!
Another reason for putting the hook velcro on the plates and not the suit is carpets. Especially knee and shin velcro. On a side note I most certainly have not velcro'd myself to the floor. Why would you even think that. That would be silly.
That sounds like a terrible yet comical problem I hopefully never have to encounter... ;) That is very good advice, though. I think the only thing below the belt that's getting velcro'd is my boot tops, if I can help it. Knees and elbows will hopefully be all elastic, but I may sneak some under my cod? Not sure, yet... One of my boot plates is off-kilter so I'll slap em on when I re-melt it!
UPDATE:
Today, Shevla Ram'ser showed up to haul my shebs outta bed and help finish forming and affixing my plates! I don't know what kind of wizardry he pulled, but we managed to finish forming everything (mostly) and I got to kit up in (almost) full for the first time! After helping me with everything, he insisted that we get pictures, but it took a while to finish my gauntlets so we had to race the sun!
My knees, elbows and gauntlets are all taped on, since we didn't have time to do fastenings before the light went away. We ran to the end of my driveway for photos as the sun set, and we're both super pleased by the final result!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/393/31976919540_8c29db24b1_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/490/31542753873_94506dca85_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/771/31511426534_f4f940b146_c.jpg)
Aaaand an accidental glamour shot that happened when I turned around to hear what Shevla was trying to tell me...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/505/32353814055_85f95951bc_c.jpg)
"SPIN!" he said. "Do a spin!"
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5597/31511438514_4c268cdd24_c.jpg)
And there's that flash of orange! :D I'm gonna throw some more of that stuff on the long sleeves when I get back to my dorm, for sure!
All that's left now, really, is to maybe tweak the gauntlets, attach everything, possibly stiffen the spats, pad the #2 shoulder plates to lay right, fix that one missing spike (ffs, spike! You had one job!) and then finish the helmet... Some sanding/shape cleanup, and then it's just electronics, paint, weapons and weathering. I am beyond delighted at how the chest came out - plus, no noise! When it's all stuck down, the only thing that really gives it grief is trying to cross my arms tightly, like I'm hugging myself. However, Shevla assures me that's totally normal, so I'm good. The ab plate may get yet another trim (though my initial lines were almost spot on!) but otherwise... All is well.
Also! Additional thanks to my lovely assistant for letting me use his very special Project Pot, which thankfully will never touch food again in its life. I used both dark green and dark brown Rit dye, and managed to get exactly the olive drab I was after! :D I did, however, tint my hands green rinsing it out before Shevla took over and finished the job for me. I may throw a light bleach wash on the thing to bring out the brown tones, or possibly leave it out in the sun for a day or two. In the pictures above it's still white, and only wrapped once, but I'm taking the strip and splitting it down the center so it wraps twice and gives me more coverage and a thinner knot. The length, though - again, I feel like some grand emperor, especially with the click of the metal shoe taps on pavement.
All in all - a very great day, made possible by Shevla and all his help and expertise. Honestly - even if I got one of the kids I go to school with to help me, they'd have no clue what they were doing, but thankfully this guy knows what's up. When my kit's done, I know for sure I'm putting a little dedication (or two) on it to the guy who's fault it is. :) Thanks, Shev'ika! Couldn't have gotten this far without you.
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:o
Great looking kit... words can't describe!
Biggest thing that stands out to me is that your Chest plates might be too large.
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:o
Great looking kit... words can't describe!
Biggest thing that stands out to me is that your Chest plates might be too large.
Thank you! I'm really proud of what I managed to get done already.
I do see what you mean about the plates - when I drafted a smaller version in paper, it didn't quite cover my chest right and bent strange over my curves. I really, really wanted to avoid boob-plate, and going bigger was the only way. That said - how/where do you think I should trim them to make them look smaller? I'm wondering if I could take some off the sides and leave the center edges alone? The whole thing seems like the right length, but width may be killing me, here. If at all possible, I'd like to avoid completely re-doing my plates...
What do you guys think? Any opinion helps!
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It would be best to take from the centre of the chest plates around the diamond. Then half whatever you just took off and take that amount from the inside edge of the chest fang. Then move the chest plates in again. Trim the ab to fit the new gap and the collar bottom edges to match the new chest width.
If you take from the outer edge you'll end up with thin chest plates around a huge ab plate, taking from the inside and then the ab keeps it in proportion.
I reckon you'll need a cm off each side, possibly more but don't be afraid to start with half that and take it off a bit at a time, you can take more off easier than you can put it back on.
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What about the spacing between the collar plate and the tops of the chest plates? I'm a little surprised that you haven't pointed those out as being too close together, as is. They're very nearly abutting!
With the chest plates trimmed along the center, as described by Kris, and moved into the center further... On account of the slight angle of those plates involved, I suspect that the top of the chest plates will need to be trimmed a small amount as well?
~Thel's helper
*EDIT*
Realizing that Kris did actually address this, I have a different question-
Wouldn't it be better to trim the top of the chest plates? I'm worried making the collar plate any thinner at the center will weaken it to a point where it is easy to break.
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It would be best to take from the centre of the chest plates around the diamond. Then half whatever you just took off and take that amount from the inside edge of the chest fang. Then move the chest plates in again. Trim the ab to fit the new gap and the collar bottom edges to match the new chest width.
If you take from the outer edge you'll end up with thin chest plates around a huge ab plate, taking from the inside and then the ab keeps it in proportion.
I reckon you'll need a cm off each side, possibly more but don't be afraid to start with half that and take it off a bit at a time, you can take more off easier than you can put it back on.
Ah! Thank you! You're right about keeping proportions - Looking at it, I'm just... very narrow, I guess. I do have an x-acto blade, so even though I returned the saw I'd borrowed from Nodon, I can still trim these bad boys somehow... All straight lines, thankfully.
What about the spacing between the collar plate and the tops of the chest plates? I'm a little surprised that you haven't pointed those out as being too close together, as is. They're very nearly abutting!
With the chest plates trimmed along the center, as described by Kris, and moved into the center further... On account of the slight angle of those plates involved, I suspect that the top of the chest plates will need to be trimmed a small amount as well?
~Thel's helper
*EDIT*
Realizing that Kris did actually address this, I have a different question-
Wouldn't it be better to trim the top of the chest plates? I'm worried making the collar plate any thinner at the center will weaken it to a point where it is easy to break.
Aww thanks for the tip! I threw my collar plate back on to see what you were talking about, and realized that I probably stuck it on too high for the photos we took. When it's properly situated, it doesn't seem to touch the chest plates. But you are very right about the angles - I did set my collar plates at an angle, so I've marked the slight slant change on the top of the chest plates as well as the width-change on the outside edge. Not very good pictures, but here I go!
This one looks a little weird 'cause I'm raising my arms, but it shows things head-on...?
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/460/32336840756_7eea336b8a_c.jpg)
I've marked with silver the pieces that will be trimmed off, theoretically. I will have to move the velcro on my vest some so it makes good contact, which will be a pain, but thankfully some of my plate-side velcro is wide enough that they still stick!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/514/31565003813_c1cd15d083_c.jpg)
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What template is your armor? What's the source link?
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What template is your armor? What's the source link?
They're the WOF Boba Fett templates from this list (http://mandalorianmercs.org/get-involved/costume-templates/). I got the .zip file that had different templates for people of various heights - since I'm 5'10", I started with the one for someone 5'9" (since I have elf proportions) and still found it was way too wide. Then, I tried the 5'6" size (which is labeled "small") and it worked way better, so I used that. I used a ruler to make all the curves into sharp angles, and I actually heavily modified the collar piece and changed the angle of the top edge of the chest plates to mirror it. The shoulders use the base of the shoulder bell with a pointed end instead of a squared end and cut in triplicate. The cod is heavily modified as well.
The back plates, gauntlets, knees, elbows and boot plates, however, were all just me with some cardboard fiddling around until it looked right. I used the WOF pattern as a base for my helmet, but mutated that beyond recognition. I tweaked the curve to make the helmet more narrow at the base, drew the cheeks/face parts/visor by hand, and shortened the back to fit my head better.
Hope this helps!
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That whole kit :o I can't wait to see it in color. Very nice!
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The legit grin on your face when you finally feel how all of the armor sit shows greatly!! :laugh:
Its coming along nicely, waiting to see all the paint and damage that comes with!
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I just want to say that this has been a fun build to watch!! I love how you've taken your extremely impressive concept work, and brought it to life. Bravo! 8)
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I agree completely with Raestin. Well done, Thel!
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Su'cuy, vode! First off - thank you all so much for all the compliments! I am very, very pleased to see it all more or less take shape, for sure. (I would quote you all but it'd make the thread super long...) Sorry to be absent - packing everything up and then moving and then gradually unpacking everything (plus first week of classes) has been kinda hectic, so I've had less time than usual to do updates.
But! I did get to go shopping on the way south, and boy did I get some good stuff.
First, I had to get clothes soap at Walmart, and while I was there, I wandered to the paint section to see if they had anything good. Boy, was I not disappointed. They had all the colors I needed, for like $3.89 each, no less! I grabbed two cans of flat gray primer, a can of chrome (I already have half a can from another adventure), a can of satin black, and a can of that wonderful deep purple I picked! I figure I can always head to the one down here if I run out of the purple - it seems like one of the "basic" colors, and I've seen it in hardware stores as well.
After all that, plus other junk I was getting, it came to about $20. Which was good. They didn't have any clearcoat besides gloss, though, and I resisted the urge to get the glow spray paint, since it was a whole $9. I figured I'd get better brush-on stuff at the local craft store.
Boy, was I wrong. After heading to the next store in search of satin gloss and glow-stuff, I found that not only was there not any brush-on glow paint in the store (all three brands were totally sold out of the "natural" color - the one I need) but their paints were $5.99 each for the same brand and type. I can't say I'm surprised, but I was certainly glad I went elsewhere first. It occurred to me then that I probably should get the spray-glow, since mixing paint brands is bad. However, I was dismayed to discover that, over to the craft store, the stuff was $20. I did have a coupon and a gift card, but was not too happy to blow another $25+ on exactly three cans of paint.
I guess I learned a thing, though. :P
I do have more armor stuff to do before paint, though - I've gotta trim the chest and ab plates, bevel them properly, and then sand the bevel on everything else. My gauntlets are still a little wonky, and have not been built up yet due to the weird shaping. I managed to find a shipping tube that was destined for the trash, though, and may make a form to melt them over. Shevla was wonderful and let me take his heat gun to school with me because that's the kinda thing he does. I will also need to finish filling and sanding my bucket, but it's looking great after I filled the front holes and snipped the upper support bar. Feels good, man. Feels good.
For those asking about paint and damage; I am so very excited for that! I'll be laying down a combination of washes, silver drybrushing, and some charcoal/carbon dusting to do a lightly-weathered kit. I'll have to be weird with the layering of the paints, though, since the topcoat I have is UV-cut. The glow layer will have to go on after all the other paint, and the sealer, or else the UV resistance will mess it up and keep it from glowing. I almost bought some blacklight-reactive green paint to avoid mixing my own acrylic, and I kinda regret not getting it, but it was just a little too green for my tastes...
I did also pick up some LEDs for my chest lights (going static on those for now...) and some 9V clips for my amp. Lucky me - my dad's soldering iron is needlessly complicated and bit the dust halfway through re-soldering the amp contacts, so for now it's super broken and I'll have to make a trip to Harbor Freight at some point to get one of my own, and possibly a proper visor... That stuff was like $15 so I'm not super worried. It'll happen.
Also random good thing - I found another two whole rolls of black velcro in my room down here, so I can finish my velcroing properly! Forgot I had that stuff, I guess...
No work this weekend, unfortunately - I'm going viking (by which I mean shopping) at a local SCA event, so all last weekend was spent spiffing up my own garb and helping to clothe two other people as well. It'll be fun, though! And if I find any fun leather fittings I can use for my holster belts, I'll be extra happy.
- Thel
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Resurrecting this thread because I've finally gotten something done! Since my hand was kinda killing me, I took a break from drawing and commission work to trim my plates...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2805/31965935384_e49f5e77bf_c.jpg)
I took about an inch total from the center and tweaked the ab plate some. I still have more to go, but due to a nasty cold sneezing is excruciating and I don't wanna get my room all dusty sanding things down... Alignment is still off due to velcro nonsense that needs to be fixed one everything else is trimmed... the plates have moved significantly and there are bits of velcro that aren't even touching.
Also please excuse my X-files shirt.
Since it's kinda hard to see where the black plates end and the black vest begins, I messed about in photoshop to see what it'll look like painted...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2329/32656033682_d7efd41806_c.jpg)
What do you think, vode? Did I get it mostly right? Comments and critiques appreciated! :)
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I like your paint mock up :)
The spacing between the collar and chest seems a bit tight compared to the chest and ab plates. Cant wait to see mor :)
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I like your paint mock up :)
The spacing between the collar and chest seems a bit tight compared to the chest and ab plates. Cant wait to see mor :)
Thanks for the help, and the compliment! :) I see what you mean about the collar, now that you point it out... I've got more shaving-down to do on the ab plate, so I'll have to see if I can shave the top of the chest plates too, or if I can just scoot things around on the velcro.
I'm kinda seeing the pros and cons of the velcro method at this point. :P On the one hand; you can't ever permanently goof your placing. On the other hand; you can't ever permanently get your spacing right, either...
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(https://68.media.tumblr.com/e844ddddbd1789ad3c9e4efaae711919/tumblr_njhfm8ua8w1r40oaro1_500.gif)
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I like Velcro for those reasons but it can be pain for sure as you're constantly adjusting like you said. But such is life lol
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(https://68.media.tumblr.com/e844ddddbd1789ad3c9e4efaae711919/tumblr_njhfm8ua8w1r40oaro1_500.gif)
Yep! That'd be the poster I have emblazoned on my chest. :laugh:
(Random nerd thought: what would Mulder and Scully think if a strange group of heavily-armed aliens in indestructible armor showed up on Earth to hunt down some other alien? The big twist; under the mysterious metal casing, they're humans like you and me... Would make for a wild crossover. :) )
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(Random nerd thought: what would Mulder and Scully think if a strange group of heavily-armed aliens in indestructible armor showed up on Earth to hunt down some other alien? The big twist; under the mysterious metal casing, they're humans like you and me... Would make for a wild crossover. :) )
Cancer Man would have a hard time covering that one up. XD
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That's hilarious Vode.
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Update time!
So today I had the day off (there was three feet of snow so nobody had class) so I holed up in my building's studio with one goal; sanding. I wanna get all my plates as close to paintable as possible, because I've been low-key dreading the job for a week.
So I spent a whole eight and a half hours (plus dinner break) doing nothing but sand. My snot is black, even though I wore a dust mask the whole time. My hands hurt. I accidentally cut myself again. But it is done.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/445/32077643953_dcb742a854_c.jpg)
I will need to spend another day working with the Apoxie Sculpt and the heat gun to fix a few errant plates, plus build up my knees/elbows and gauntlets a bit. Then helmet, plus visor install. BUT most things are ready to get painted...
I also ordered $13 worth of EL wire for my visor, making my running kit total $285... yikes... Some of that has been offset by commission money, though, which I'm delighted about! :) If I keep up working, I shouldn't start to feel bad about spending money on this thing till I hit $300...
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Su'cuy, vode!
Three days later (more than 48 hrs so not a double post, I hope!) I'm gonna try and finish as much of my kit as I possibly can. I have no classes on Monday, which gives me almost 4 days straight to work, including this afternoon. I'd love to have everything mostly done by Tuesday, but I may have to paint during the week - who knows?
Anyway, last night I did nothing but epoxied things - finished sanding/filling my weapon, started earcaps, filled my helmet's cheeks. I have some more sanding/filling/shaping to go on the bucket, but my EL wire came this afternoon, a few days before I expected! This means I can go right in to visor work whenever instead of waiting for the package!
I have a to-do list going, but I'm happy to report that it's not super long and I've been making surprising progress. Just some body work today and tomorrow, hopefully paint Sunday, and then sewing, weathering and electronics installation on Monday. The studio I'm painting at is closed on Monday due to the school holiday, so I'll have to be quick about things. There's also apoxie sculpt drying times to consider - I really don't wanna put paint on something that's still a little unstable...
I've somehow gotten it in my head that I wanna have app photos in by next weekend, so I'm gonna skip some of the little extra details for now and do those once I have the important things down. For instance, I have LEDs and the wiring to do chest lights, but I've got no clue what I'm doing and would rather not stall the kit over something that small. I was also intending to make two knives, but they aren't required, plus I don't have the wood right now to do them and would feel bad sacrificing my nice wooden ruler... Same with the helmet amp; I'd rather have an approved kit now than try and get it "perfect" and never get it "done!" I'll upgrade stuff later.
If anyone on the app team or any regional folks could chime in with anything - big or small - they think I might get dinged on, that would be great! I'm super excited about this kit and I'd love to make it as approvable as possible this weekend. It's kind of been taking over my free time, so I've decided to finish the thing so I no longer have an excuse to do homework last-minute. I do love my kit already, but my schedule does not... :P
I'll edit this thing as I have updates! Wish me luck!
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When you get everything together, take app style pictures and post them here and with your clans pre app thread that way you can get some good feedback.
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When you get everything together, take app style pictures and post them here and with your clans pre app thread that way you can get some good feedback.
Yep! Will do! Thanks for reminding me to put it on the regional board - the VT stronghold doesn't have a pre-app thread yet, so it totally didn't occur to me. I'll probably put em here and then send Mi'ix a PM or something, since he's the guy in charge of the board for now. I totally thought I'd have pictures up soon after I put up my last post, but alas... It was not to be. I'm too slow and particular about things, I guess.
I did, however, get some stuff done!
I added the keyhole vents - made from a cut-up milk carton and backed with epoxy clay. Pretty much anything important on my kit is made of the stuff :P
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2392/33018470355_405e4ccabe_c.jpg)
I was not pleased with how my gauntlets came out, so I took a scrounged canvas-roll tube and cut it up and covered it with tape to work as a form. It's pretty solid and made my gauntlets way neater!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2478/32636531160_f7bb50b14a_c.jpg)
Gave my bucket some earcaps from cut sintra, plus added some dimension to my knees and elbows so they look more like two pieces of metal and less like one piece of plastic. For the earcaps, I'd originally wanted to cut vents and do slats for more ventilation, but I found out that cutting things apart right over the hidden seam would probably not work out too well... Two of the structural rivets would have been taken out, and I was not gonna risk my bucket falling apart after all this work!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/730/32203217803_5c9b656b5d_c.jpg)
I am pleased with how resilient it is - I've dropped it off waist-high tables about three different times now, had a small heart attack, and then found that nothing has cracked. The whole thing is just... bouncy. It literally bounces - the 5-gal plastic has enough spring to it to keep the epoxy from snapping, and all the Goop I used is practically indestructible. So that's good!
And then... gauntlets. I literally spent all day yesterday just doing gauntlets.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3784/32203221753_ddaaf3ea6a_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2400/33018474505_315823fe25_c.jpg)
One of my school friends was cleaning out their room, and handed me whatever junk they figured I could use. Part of it was these three bullet-shaped pendants (they'd used the rest for a cosplay) and a bag of feathers that I used for my trophy chain. Turns out the bullets are the perfect size, and will make great darts with a little paint!
The rest of the gauntlets were made from sintra - the right one has some corrugated cardboard under there as a framework to hold the Apoxie Sculpt while it dried. It's still pretty heavy, since the layer of epoxy clay is pretty thick. Getting the planes right was tough, but I guess I did get something out of the 5-week ceramics class I took last semester. I was not happy to spend more than a month making nothing but flat-sided polyhedrons, but it came in handy so it all works out.
The left gauntlet has a commlink based on the ones used in The Clone Wars animated series - I loved the clone/jedi ones but wanted something slightly different, so the lines are straight instead of wiggly. All the holes you see on the tops are recesses for buttons - I have a sheet of dome-shaped gem stickers laying around that are perfectly button-shaped, and I'll glue them on after I sand all the planes flat.
While I was putting greeblies on my gauntlets, I felt like I was doing the 3D equivalent of a Bob Ross painting: "Let's just give this little switch some friends over here, shall we?" "We're not sure what this little button does, but that's the magic of it." "You can have as many little do-dads as you want on your gauntlets. Anything is possible."
(https://media.giphy.com/media/1cc8D5p5Fsd44/giphy.gif)
I had to. Not sorry.
Today; vacuuming the horrible dust mess out of the studio is priority #1, then I'm gonna do assorted soft-goods touchups (neck seal, sash, holster) and then attachments. After that; pictures, and if I have time, more sanding...
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Awesome work vod! Keep it up! How are you planning to attach your gaunts together?
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I literally lol'd at the Bob Ross reference!!!
Gauntlets look very very nice 👌
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That's funny,
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You ahould never be sorry for bringing Bob Ross into it. :laugh:
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Awesome work vod! Keep it up! How are you planning to attach your gaunts together?
Thank you! :D Also, congrats on your killstripes!
I'm putting together the gauntlets with... Just elastic, I'm thinking. I have spidery elf-hands, and while wearing the things, they stay put over my flightsuit, but if I squeeze my hand and open them up by like, a half inch, they slide right off. I'm going to put a few rings of elastic on the inside - think stretchy bracelets - that hold them tight until you give em a yank. If that doesn't work, I can always use some velcro creatively? They don't have a spot for piano hinges, of course... Thanks, Past Me!
I literally lol'd at the Bob Ross reference!!!
Gauntlets look very very nice 👌
You ahould never be sorry for bringing Bob Ross into it. :laugh:
I am so glad that evoking the Great Bob Ross has had a positive impact on the thread! :laugh: Also super glad the gauntlets look good.
Also update on the Assorted Soft Goods situation; I don't have any good pictures yet (my usual photographer is asleep) but I did some things today! Pictures Are Here! Not good pictures, but at least I took them!
I made a TK-style neckseal out of black spandexy knit material and some half-inch upholstery foam. It's honestly the neatest thing on my kit... I curved it like a paintball neck guard and it's sooo comfy!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2427/32900338892_5e7cc5274f.jpg) (https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/341/33014459196_55de971a88.jpg)
I also split my sash down the middle to make it longer and skinnier... It wraps three times around me now and still has a lotta dangle... Good to utterly destroy, set on fire, and catch on things constantly.
After those were done... It was time for my holster. It's been a long night.
I started off wanting a western-style thigh holster, which would in theory hide under my kama and then be revealed when I moved or reached for it. The mando equivalent of handgun-tucked-in-your-suit-jacket. I started by heat-forming some craft foam over my westar to get a good shape, and then I glued down some of the thin glove leather I had kicking around and sewed it up. I would've loved to do a full wet-form, but heck, I don't have the tools for that. The smoke-and-mirrors holster, despite needing to be hand-stitched, does look pretty sweet though. After some O-rings and a very large belt I got from goodwill, I had a wonderful thigh holster ready to go!
(Please pardon the state of my tiny trash-hole of a dorm room; it's become a workshop in addition to sleeping space. The mess has since been vanquished, not to worry...)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3746/32210780324_9147c4915e.jpg) (https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2191/33056338875_f95df38f80.jpg) (https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/637/33056336295_ded9cd0ca4.jpg)
One problem, though; my westar is too thick to hide under my kama. I can't believe I didn't see this one coming. It creates an unsightly lump in the kama and makes the stiff edging go spectacularly sideways. There was no way the thigh holster was working.
I briefly but seriously considered wearing my kama sideways.
Then, after complaining to Shevla who asked "can you wear it *over* the kama?" I prepared to prove him wrong, and then... Small-of-back holster. Because of the angle of the straps, if I put the belt on like an actual belt and not diagonally, the blaster hangs perfectly! I can sit and move and reach it easily. My favorite knife has a small-of-back knife sheath and I can tell you - I love them so much, I was gonna put a replica of my actual Big Ol' Knife on my kit in the same spot. But lo and behold; blaster has worked out perfectly, so knife has been evicted for now.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/517/32674208560_a3496a5b94.jpg)
EDIT: Yesterday, a classmate of mine asked how my costume was going - when I mentioned being a good 10" of black belt short, they bequeathed unto me a section they'd used as a choker for one of their old cosplays and were replacing with a better one. I changed the angle of the holster a little and replaced the thinner straps with one long, thicker strap - the leather matched exactly!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/771/32929824961_b8a89c949c.jpg)
(I have no idea why the two holster pictures are flipped - they're both mirror pics taken in my very slim full-length mirror... I'm right-handed, if that helps...)
That's all I got for tonight. I also made double-sure my plates fit (they do) and sanded my chest diamond a little to fit the new gap better. All I have now (before paint and weathering) is sanding my bucket/gaunts, attaching knees and elbows, and linking together shoulders and boot plates.
I really wanted this done tonight, but then again, I always take longer to do things than I think I will... There's always next weekend. Thanks for hanging in here with me, vode, and following my wild rants. :)
- Thel
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I love waking up and seeing how far this kit is coming! It gives me a kick in the butt to finish mine.
Not to mention Bob Ross is good motivation as well. :laugh:
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After a whole day (and night) sanding, cutting, sewing and velcro-ing, I finally have something to show!
First off, I got my gaunts and bucket sanded, visor installed, and EL wire put in as well.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2792/32313819003_eb7124efbd_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3838/33002747801_62d7118798_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3779/33002737141_20f189c42b_c.jpg)
As stated on my bucket thread, minor complaints include wonky EL wire channels and the visor having a slight gap, but otherwise I am so happy to see it done! It's surprisingly solid with the visor in, too! I honestly feel like the safety shield would break before the helmet would...
Also new; my trophy chain! :D I'm proud of this thing because it's mostly things that people have actually given me. The feathers came from a classmate's dorm cleanout (they figured I could use them), the salt-dough star came from another classmate's art installation project, and looks like something cute a kid would make, and therefore I find it adorable. The big purple rock came from my sister, and the black paracord bracelet is something I wear all the time - my cyar'ika has two that match in white (he lost one, I replaced it, and then he found the other :P ) Since he got me into Mandos, and has been such a huge help during my build, I wanted to have that nod to him on there. There are also silver bells from a bellydance belt I have that jingle furiously, and I may not keep those on because they are a little annoying...
The in-world explanation for the belt is that some of the pieces are trophies from bounties collected, and some are just things that someone gave to Thel that were pretty and touching and worth keeping around. I'll probably add more or swap things out as I go.
And then, thanks to Danielle who lives on my hall... Turnarounds of the full (unpainted, unweathered) kit, in glorious way-too-high-definition! I did tweak the exposure in Lightroom because my nice camera hates me and so does the dorm lighting, so colors may be a little off... Also my hands are doing a weird thing because I wanted to show my gauntlets and also I have no idea how to stand properly. :P
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2407/33087798776_123251f318_o.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2694/33087797306_33e5b6e453_o.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/621/33087796846_0e62d6ced0_o.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/637/33087799776_58272a4b14_o.jpg)
And another one with the visor lights off, just to see how it looks... I'm honestly liking this one better...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/689/33087798006_2e32704ea1_o.jpg)
GRIEVANCES:
- My shoulders, though I did fix the spacing, need padding underneath to stick up properly. Helmet needs padding too because I used all my foam on the neck seal.
- Gauntlets are rotating because I have to paint them before hinges and padding go in!
- Holster is doing something and I don't like it. I'll probably snip the rivets again and move the connection point higher so it hangs lower. Gravity 1, Westar 0.
- What is happening to the knees?? They may get moved up, since at one point I test-fit them and the top edge of the plate covered the edge of the spats. I like that, so I may re-position the slit I cut that holds the elastic... Also the elastic seemed to help the spats stay up but I still don't trust them so I may try heat-gunning on that heavy fusible interfacing I never got to work. That'll show em. :P
- Gloves need an extension of some kind so they stay tucked under the gauntlets properly.
- Outer edge of the under-sleeve is getting an orange stripe to match the body/legs, I think.Not enough chaos happening up there.
- Collar plate may need the edges turned down? Maybe??
That's all, vode!
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That looks awesome!
I personally like it without EL wire. :rolleyes:
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I thoroughly enjoyed watching this for from sure start to where it is. an amazing build, and really just great work.
Few things I noticed. your left chest plate needs to be shaped better, adding more of a curve to it so it doesn't literally stick out. Right one on top also ia a little bit. The 2nd backplate tier could also form a little better with more curve. I frigging love this build though!
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fantastic work. 8)
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You've made a lot of good progress vod. Great job keep it up!!
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I thoroughly enjoyed watching this for from sure start to where it is. an amazing build, and really just great work.
Few things I noticed. your left chest plate needs to be shaped better, adding more of a curve to it so it doesn't literally stick out. Right one on top also ia a little bit. The 2nd backplate tier could also form a little better with more curve. I frigging love this build though!
Thanks for the compliment and the feedback! I totally see the backplate now that you point it out - turnaround pics really help because otherwise I would never have noticed. It's pretty curvy as is, but I think that because of the shape of my back it's just... hanging. I'll see if I can attach it either on the sides or the bottom (just sticking it to the next plate down) so it stays flush instead of swinging free.
I'll also see what I can do about that bottom on the chest pieces. It's gonna be tough because I found out the hard way that soft-side velcro does not like heat... Hopefully I can tweak the plates gently while they're not on me - I can replace the sticky velcro just fine, but the stuff on the vest is sewn down pretty good. As done as it looks, I still have a lot of work ahead of me... Still, thanks again for catching it! I'd rather have it done right now than feel finished and suddenly have to fix something later.
Also thanks for all the cheering-on, vode! It's so inspiring to see all of you watching my progress! :)
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Your kit is turning out great. I really like the soft parts and the holster.
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Looking like a great kit, fantastic work! Yes, the plates will need a bit more shaping, particularly in the corners. Well done overall!
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Love the look. Your gauntlets are cool, i kinda wish i went with those instead of Bo-Katan for my heavy build. Amazing how you make your helmet too.
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Wow, how come I missed this build? I love it! That EL wire looks wicked!
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Hi, everyone! A serious update...
I spent a few hours today re-shaping most of my chest plates in the bathroom. I pulled down the edges of the collar and top back plates, shaped the bottom edge of the collar, fixed the gappy chest plates and generally tucked in every corner I possibly could. I ended up pretty much wearing the things and heat-gunning them on me, and thankfully the velcro fared well.
It's certainly made a difference, too - everything lays super flat and close to my body now! Even the second back plate, which I thought would need extra velcro, turned out to just need more bend. Thanks again to Bariikas Talgal for pointing me in the right direction! I'm going to sand all the edges down again (re-shaping always makes them rough again) and then I'll be heading to the studio for primer.
Pardon the bathroom pics, but this is all I've got! Also - the black plates are a little funny because I had to put them on while wearing the vest, and that lump in the last picture is actually the sleeve of my jacket! I freaked out when I saw it until I realized that my camera just hates color and all my clothes are dreary-colored and blend together. :P The silver lines all over me are to mark where I bent things.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3702/32387483744_09b362d91a_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3692/32416800803_b026e18ec9_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2848/33231764105_9eb3b983db_c.jpg)
I'm actually considering adding a little padding under the vest - the bottom "fangs" of the chest plates are flat, but there is still a dip in my actual chest due to things being curved. But hey - that's probably an upgrade thing because honestly unless you've got your hands all over the vest, it looks amazing. :)
Wow, how come I missed this build? I love it! That EL wire looks wicked!
Thank you! Unfortunately, I've had to take the EL wire out for now :( Getting it to look clean enough for my tastes will require dremeling the interior of the bucket, and I'm not really feeling it in that case. Eventually, I'll put it back in, though! :)
Love the look. Your gauntlets are cool, i kinda wish i went with those instead of Bo-Katan for my heavy build. Amazing how you make your helmet too.
Thanks! I tried to make them as low-profile as I possibly could, since I'm kind of a stick-person and my arms would look comically skinny next to big built-up gaunts. I'm really proud of these things and I'd love to cast them if I could... Maybe some day. They were a pretty simple build, though, and if anyone wants to copy the design themselves, I'd love to see it! :)
Your kit is turning out great. I really like the soft parts and the holster.
Looking like a great kit, fantastic work! Yes, the plates will need a bit more shaping, particularly in the corners. Well done overall!
Thank you, vode! Honestly I've spent as much time on the soft parts as the armor parts, it seems... I'm very excited to trash everything when it comes time for blackwash and weathering. Gotta be a proper filthy Mando!
Hopefully everything is shaped as it should be, because I'm moving on to sanding and painting tonight. Wish me luck!
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Everything looks fantastic!! Seriously, this has been a really fun build to watch. Great job with the final shaping of the plates. I look forward to seeing those app pics!! 8)
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awesome work. The lines and style of your plates is tops! I make a point to come read and view this thread periodically. Motivating and inspiring. Oya!
I've been wanting to add El Wire to my kit. Being a former "Burner" I have a bunch El Wire and controllers laying around. Plus we share similar visor shapes. Not exact, but the theme is there. Love it all. Keep it up. I as well will be following intently.
Oh and I'm still hella jealous of your vest. Just Sayin'
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Everything looks fantastic!! Seriously, this has been a really fun build to watch. Great job with the final shaping of the plates. I look forward to seeing those app pics!! 8)
Aw yeah! Thank you! I'm so looking forward to taking the app pics, that's for sure!
awesome work. The lines and style of your plates is tops! I make a point to come read and view this thread periodically. Motivating and inspiring. Oya!
I've been wanting to add El Wire to my kit. Being a former "Burner" I have a bunch El Wire and controllers laying around. Plus we share similar visor shapes. Not exact, but the theme is there. Love it all. Keep it up. I as well will be following intently.
Oh and I'm still hella jealous of your vest. Just Sayin'
Thanks so much for following my build - I'm glad it's inspiring! Also, I see what you mean with the visor. I love the combination of curves and angles you have going on - it's super unique. :) And man, would I love to go to Burning Man. Like even just once. Please.
Anndd... Update time!
After getting some good feedback both on here and the Discord Lounge (super helpful - anyone not already on it should check it out!) I started painting things up... I made sure to sand them first, then cleaned all the dust with a damp paper towel. After they were dry, I used some flat gray primer on them and did two coats. Unfortunately for me, it seems, my school's spraybooth is (ironically) really awful for painting in. The grate that covers the fume hood's intake is just caked in all kinds of dust, lint and fuzz, and after priming my bucket I discovered:
- Some hair that wasn't mine
- A couple dust balls the size of airsoft pellets
- Some kind of white lint (there is no laundry room on that floor)
- Every tiny crack, wrinkle, seam, and sanding goof known to man
So that was fun. I picked most of the stuff off before silver went on, but it looks like the bucket took the brunt of it. In order to paint the thing, I had to put it on a tripod (to get under the visor ridges and such) and apparently that was prime dust/lint/debris territory. I honestly considered shutting the fan off, and would have, had it not been on the same timer circuit as the light.
Silver went on... almost as nice as the primer, but not quite. Halfway through, my nozzle clogged, and this caused all kinds of spattery nonsense and uneven sputtering and general seething frustration. I wiped a few pieces down completely to re-coat them, but they got coated. Honestly, the silver (except on the elbows, knees and visor) is just an underlayer, and I do have a paint pen that is the exact same color. So I'm not super worried about the coverage on places that aren't the edges. It'll all get covered anyway, which means I can take some fine-grit sandpaper to the real gnarly parts tomorrow and feel no remorse. Anything dull that shows through after the two other coats I'm doing will get mercilessly re-painted by hand. All errors shall become battle damage. No exceptions.
I unfortunately couldn't get pictures of the full set of armor - complete with bucket-on-pedestal with the westar hanging below it - because I literally finished cleaning up everything as the studio was closing and had to haul shebs before I got locked in.
I'm kinda worried about the bucket, since there were some cracks that were completely invisible before I primed it that showed up seemingly out of nowhere. Will more show up? Will the paint fall off when the plastic flexes? (I did have a nightmare this morning that my helmet totally fell apart at every seam, so maybe that's why I'm so stressed...) However, two coats of primer seem to have covered them, and they're honestly 1) not structural and 2) not going to show after paint and weathering, unless one has a magnifying glass and knows where they are. Honestly, though, I'd rather have a helmet with a few bumps and dings that's My Helmet, and not a very expensive resin bucket that's closer to perfect but not something I poured my soul into, y'know? I could go on about how much I love this thing, but I'd be preaching to the choir. :P
I do have to figure out how to get all the chrome paint off my hands, though. With the nozzle clog/hand fatigue combo, it somehow got everywhere, and soap and water does nothing. I kinda wanna crack a Mad Max joke, but my brain is too fried from painting stress to be funny. :P
More updates tomorrow, as they go down!
UPDATE 3/4/17:
I thought I was gonna be up early, but alas, college-kid sleep schedules are never that predictable or cooperative. I started work around 1:00 - here's the silver I was working with! Shiny and chrome!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/656/32440119363_9db05753a3_c.jpg)
It all dried down to be way smoother than I expected, thankfully, and I started masking things off! Hopefully the one generous coat of the silver will hold up - if not, I'm gonna go over it again, especially on the knees and elbows.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5816/32411116934_f3916fa7da_c.jpg)
Honestly doing the curves was a pain. Then, it was time for masking fluid! I used the pigmented artist's kind (windsor and newton, I think) and applied it with the back end of a cheapo plastic paintbrush. The stuff didn't like sticking to the silver, and kinda beaded up a bit... Which created some great effects. It did take forever to do, though, and by the end of it my back was killing me. Surprisingly - and I did time it - it only took me about a half hour to coat all my plates with the flat black. I did keep missing little edges (especially on the shoulder pieces) so I may have to put things on a section of cardboard tube or something so I can get all the visible parts with the purple.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/635/32871704490_5f39e8f323_c.jpg)
Here's what the parts looked like after the flat black, plus the second coat of masking fluid (my body hates me right now.)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3951/32411122624_528c7b17c5_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3946/33254624335_7400c81da9_c.jpg)
Some of the damage is hidden under the matte black, but the parts that have been glossed are "halos" around the bigger chips where the main purple paint and the black "primer" have worn differently. I was nervous about the weathering going in - too much? Too little? Too uniform?? - but looking at the pictures now and comparing them to how I draw my kit, I'd say they're perfect.
I did run into a little trouble with the bucket, though - by the time I finished both rounds of masking and the black paint, I wanted to see if I could get away with starting on the purple. I figured I'd at least tape off the cheeks for next time. I put down a strip of tape, decided it wasn't straight, and lifted it... taking a whole chunk of cheek paint with it. The silver underneath was fine, but the black wasn't dry enough not to peel, I'm thinking. I hit it with another coat and it's fine, now. The paint I'm using is super heavy and only really needs one good coating to work, thankfully.
Plan of attack for tomorrow is; show up at 9:00 and start painting on the purple! And do it real good, too. Since the purple is gloss (they only sell gloss in that color) I'll topcoat it with my satin sealer while it's still a little tacky, per manufacturer's directions. Hopefully by 6:00 it'll be dry enough to transport? I don't really wanna leave it all in the studio for people to put their grubby charcoal hands all over...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2898/32440127143_7a49d77d66_c.jpg)
What a mess. :P
In the meantime, I'm here vibrating with pent-up artistic energy... Must. Paint. Kit!
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I'm liking the layered look of your plates; everything is really coming together!
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Oh man I cannot wait to see that masking fluid come off.
:D :D :D
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This has been one of my favorite build posts. Great work all around. Can't wait to see it in it's final paint scheme!
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Su'cuy, everyone! I have a monster update today since I got so much done on Sunday and Monday night!
First off... Purple happened, as predicted.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/374/32443399404_3a9774245f_c.jpg)
After that was done... It was time to start peeling things! I was bad and removed some of the masking from the black-only parts while I was waiting for the purple to dry.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2814/33130768282_87f1c10a01_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3891/33130773442_11b1c423ff_c.jpg)
Aaand then... dry time. I put on one layer of gloss purple, and then two layers of clear satin sealer. The first coat went on thicker than I would have liked, so I did a second clearcoat that was only a dusting, and that brought the shine down significantly. The final finish reminds me of the paint they use on tractors or lampposts or something - not glossy, but not fully matte either. I'm expecting it to get a little more matte once I put the blackwash on it.
While I was waiting for things to dry, I started weathering my soft goods. I began by taking some heavy sandpaper to the flightsuit, kama, spats and holster, as well as vest edges where it would show. This gave my leather some character and tore some nice holes in my kama. The vinyl edges, however, did not like to be sanded and refused to show very much wear - that's fine with me, though. Tough stuff would hold up better to weathering in-universe, anyway. The collar of my flightsuit got special treatment and looks amazing - just like all those old t-shirts I've destroyed the neck on. My sash got cut up a bit, and then it was time for paint.
I used two mixtures; a dark wash of black/brown acrylic and India ink, and a lighter wash of light gray-brown acrylic. The lighter wash went through three or four different mixtures, and is mostly red-brown, like mud from a red-dirt planet. It stands out nicely on my spats, boots and kama, which only really showed the lighter smears anyway. I had a moment of panic (as anyone on the Discord lounge can tell you) because my flightsuit got a little too weathered. I'd sprayed it down, but decided to bunch it up and wipe up my overspray. It looked a little too smudgy for my liking, but last night I threw it in the wash on the "heavy" cycle with my sheets, and it seems to have calmed down...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3768/32925451620_6ee670e641_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/606/32443408644_a2f9221ed6_c.jpg)
I also did the start of some weathering and color variation on my westar... I'm going for an antique look, so it'll be mostly gunmetal with some silver highlights.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2936/32471468843_4f9e589c25_c.jpg)
Oh man I cannot wait to see that masking fluid come off.
:D :D :D
Ask and you shall receive! :) I finally revealed all the layers I did over the weekend last night! My thumbnail hurts but it was worth it.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/759/32465025204_755e5670c0_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3885/32493367043_4d156a6669_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2808/32465020714_b52e7f8d75_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3692/33152391312_ddbf273d9e_c.jpg)
I guess I masked off the silver on the bucket a little before the paint was all dry - the tape left a kinda texture on it that I'm not liking. In these pictures, you can see that I took a nail buffer to the surface, which means its smooth, but the color is a little uneven in places. I'm... honestly not sure whether or not I wanna re-paint it? It's getting blackwashed, anyway, so I'm not sure if it's really worth it? Shevla assured me it looked like battle damage, but I'm also toying with the idea of making it super shiny again so that it matches the knees and elbows... I may be going a little nuts thinking about this...
Aaaand the rest of the armor:
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2821/33267088376_2d0501459d_c.jpg)
This one was taken after giving my flightsuit a harder-than-necessary washing with twice the soap I needed... It looks great with the plates! Can't tell if that's because of the washing, or just cause I was being silly about the whole thing in the first place. :P
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/610/33267116246_1fec5d5ccb_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3894/33152394072_33a2b58374_c.jpg)
Right now it looks pretty high-contrast, but I'm excited to stripe and blackwash it, since it'll really pull things together!
I'm liking the layered look of your plates; everything is really coming together!
This has been one of my favorite build posts. Great work all around. Can't wait to see it in it's final paint scheme!
Thank you so much! :D Glad you guys like it. I am so excited to put the rest of the paint on... It'll finally look like the kit I've been envisioning. I'm not sure how much I'll get done in the next few days or if I'll be ready for app pictures this weekend or not. I have spring break this coming week so I'll probably be doing a lot then, but I would like to have it mostly done by this Saturday so I can kick down Shevla's door in full kit and hug him. :)
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This looks amazing vod!! The stripes are going to push it over the edge! As far as the silver on the helmet being messed up a little, leave it. I did the same thing and with the black wash and pastels that I used it brought out the weathering beautifully! Here's a pic to show how the slight change in texture caused the black wash and pastel to cling to it differently. It gave the silver almost a beginning stages of corroding kind of look.
(http://i.imgur.com/g1ELnzW.jpg)
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This is just amazing!! I can't say enough good things about your build, so I'm just gonna leave this here:
(http://i.imgur.com/2zLaLUR.gif)
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(http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzdi0ug0Ws1qglqfno1_1280.jpg)
:o It's so beautiful! Especially the chest plates!
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Wow! That's looking great! I think a black wash will look really nice with all that damage you've got going on!
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Thel, the work you've put into your kit is truly spectacular! This is the type of build guide that'll inspire the next generation of Mercs. Well done! 8)
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Per violation of Jurisdiction A-W-3-S-0-M3
Section 7.5.76.9
Mando armor shall have a set limit of overwhelmingness per post. You are beyond all resonable limitations of those abuttals and in doing so, your armor must have more pictures uploaded for other's to be awestruck by :laugh:
In all seriousness though..you really are a inspiration for those to build kits. And yours has turned out so well!!
Love the helmet, and to think it was a scratch build, cant even tell now.
Keep up the outstanding work!!!!!
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This looks amazing vod!! The stripes are going to push it over the edge! As far as the silver on the helmet being messed up a little, leave it. I did the same thing and with the black wash and pastels that I used it brought out the weathering beautifully! Here's a pic to show how the slight change in texture caused the black wash and pastel to cling to it differently. It gave the silver almost a beginning stages of corroding kind of look.
(http://i.imgur.com/g1ELnzW.jpg)
First off; thank you so much for that! Seeing how well your helmet came out when you had the same issue I had is such a relief! I'm also a huge fan of the pastel weathering - I wish I could do that to my kit, but there's all kinds of UV nonsense happening now...
Also a huge vor'entye to Raestin and Ran! :D Ahh I'm just really happy with how things are going and the images both gave me a huge smile.
Wow! That's looking great! I think a black wash will look really nice with all that damage you've got going on!
Thanks! I... may have gone a little heavier on the damage than I thought I would, but it's turning out alright.
Thel, the work you've put into your kit is truly spectacular! This is the type of build guide that'll inspire the next generation of Mercs. Well done! 8)
Per violation of Jurisdiction A-W-3-S-0-M3
Section 7.5.76.9
Mando armor shall have a set limit of overwhelmingness per post. You are beyond all resonable limitations of those abuttals and in doing so, your armor must have more pictures uploaded for other's to be awestruck by :laugh:
In all seriousness though..you really are a inspiration for those to build kits. And yours has turned out so well!!
Love the helmet, and to think it was a scratch build, cant even tell now.
Keep up the outstanding work!!!!!
Thank you both! As cheesy as it sounds, I'm super grateful for all the other build threads and tutorials on here, since they made my kit possible. Being able to turn around and give back to the mercs community is a success in my book. :) That, and the whole artistic process is just fun to document... And speaking of which...
I've been super busy these past few days - doing my homework as soon as I get back from classes so I can spend the rest of the evening working on my kit. The comforter on my bed... now glows in the dark a little... :P
One of my friends from class heard me complaining about the width of tape I had and let me use a half-inch roll of fancy artists' tape she hadn't even opened, yet. This was the perfect width for marking out all my stripes!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3734/32492666364_0c9a6c79bb_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/671/32492664614_927dfdac05_c.jpg)
Then, the UV paint... I would have loved to mix the glow medium with the neon stuff, but it killed the glow entirely. Spraypaint would have been way easier, but none of the colors I found were the right ones. I also ended up not using my spray-glow paint because 1: mess and 2: mixing brands. I doubted it would even stick to the acrylic, so I played it safe...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3743/32952746640_8002b34c34_c.jpg)
(I'm just hoping none of the RA's catch me painting in my room :P )
Peeling things off, though... was a mess. And harder than chipping my spraypaint - no, this acrylic nonsense wants to peel. And take all my hard work with it. It's super rubbery (I had to layer on like 7 coats total to get a good color...) and thick enough to hide the masking I've done underneath. On the plus side; it's pretty resilient? Other than the wanting to peel off the purple or silver underneath...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/602/32509839244_7ed2b058b1_c.jpg)
Aaaannd of course the tape gave me trouble; not only did some of the UV paint get underneath it, but it also managed to tear up a whole lot of the paint I already had down...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3678/32538840333_565aa75898_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/584/32538840633_3cc2e15a7d_c.jpg)
That silver strip? That should be purple. >:( I'm probably gonna either roll with it and weather the heck out of it, or just tape off some more stuff and give it a quick coat of purple again... Who knows.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/582/32970236380_cb7e583d19_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3733/32538843773_7d8ab68a43_c.jpg)
At least it glows.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2907/33197571442_7b5055f357_c.jpg)
I also had beef with the peeling stripes - they were way too raised on the edges and didn't wanna stick to the purple. I probably should have sanded the purple before putting on the acrylics, but it would have also made my masking impossible and caused more angst and misery than it was worth.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3951/33312130466_35d45587ea_c.jpg)
Just when I wanted to set the whole thing on fire... I decided on a whim to give the wash a shot. Maybe the paint would stick the stripes down some more?
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3947/33353150795_e27208ff9f_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/647/33312131296_7c35054f7e_c.jpg)
It did. And I think it looks fantastic. I also started washing some of the other pieces... But didn't get very far before it was time to pack up and go to bed. Boot plates, shoulders, knees and elbows are done - I need to put my mando'a runes on one of the gauntlets, too.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2832/33197572762_3ba723454f_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/685/32970240690_a40cef5719_c.jpg)
So I won't be done by Saturday, since my folks probably have plans tomorrow, but I'll have it done soon, anyway! More news as it happens.
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In every artistic endeavor, everything looks at its worst just before it looks its finished best. Same with Mando kits.
You did good.
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I love it! I've had similar paint problems with the krylon that I use and had to find ways to minimize the amount of paint that peeled up. While I can't say what your specific problem is you can try some of these things:
- Reduce tape stickiness: stick it to jeans or something before applying to the armor - this helps reduce the chance that it rips paint up when you peel it off.
- Light sanding
- Longer drying time - it's a balance between how long the tape stays on and how sticky the paint is. I find that it is more -likely to peel up if it isn't 100% dry. Sometimes I wait several hours - 1 day before peeling the tape off.
You can also try dabbing the spray-paint on if you're afraid to reapply tape to a specific area. Spray onto a plate, then rapidly paint it on. It takes several coats to get solid coverage, but this is a decent repair method and you can't tell after blackwash.
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First off....Thel I'm in love with your kit! :P
I've had that very problem with Krylon. You should see my knees, they were supposed to be red with an aqua stripe, they are silver with an aqua strip! :laugh: With a hint of red around the edges!
But, easiest way to prevent that, that I've found, is to to let your underneath layer dry for 1-2 days, 2 days is best, and then mask it off with tape. And Kar'ta Tionas is 100% dead on with using your jeans to take some of the sticky off. I do that anytime I'm masking off to paint ever since I learned to do it.
But, honestly it added an extra sense of random weathering which looks good. Those dirt washes will really make everything pop all the more, as it did on the pieces you've already done! Great job vod! Oya!!
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Killing it. Hope my kit turns out half as good.
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Love the glow effect.
I often add a layer of matt lacquer between layers, give it 3 or 4 days to dry and then move on to the next colour. The lacquer I use does not come off easily so it's brilliant for making sure tape doesn't pull stuff up. Just be sure to triple check paints if anyone tries this - I can't use that trick with the metallic range despite it being the same brand but the basic colours are fine.
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That glow effect is amazing! We did it on my wife's plates & helmet too, but on a smaller scale. :D
(http://i.imgur.com/ISxf75w.png)
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Out of all the builds I've been watching, this is by and far my fave. That kit is so kandosii.
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Okay, everyone brace yourselves... This is probably gonna be the most pic-heavy post on this thread!
First off - thanks for all the painting wisdom! I decided in the end to just throw on the blackwash and get things done, just to see if it looked good without re-touching... The answer is; I'm happy and it doesn't look terrible and that's what counts.
Love the glow effect.
I often add a layer of matt lacquer between layers, give it 3 or 4 days to dry and then move on to the next colour. The lacquer I use does not come off easily so it's brilliant for making sure tape doesn't pull stuff up. Just be sure to triple check paints if anyone tries this - I can't use that trick with the metallic range despite it being the same brand but the basic colours are fine.
That's... probably my problem. Due to the timing of studio schedules and spring break and me being an impatient, tireless art goblin, a multi-day wait-time between coats was just not something that occurred to me. Honestly if I'd let the purple dry for a week and then tried striping, things probably wouldn't have peeled up... Well, I learned something, at least! I do like the idea of a lacquer, too - I may at some point in the future use a brush-on matte sealer because spraying my stripes will cause nothing but tears and sadness. And I'll be letting it dry for a week before touching it! :P
Also thank you to Den and Kar'ta for more paint tips! I... kinda wish I'd known some of this going in but again, learning experience. I can always make a 2.0 someday! The tape tips are super helpful and I am honestly amazed that it didn't occur to me to de-stick things if I knew from the get-go the tape was risky.
That glow effect is amazing! We did it on my wife's plates & helmet too, but on a smaller scale. :D
(http://i.imgur.com/ISxf75w.png)
Oooh! :o I had no idea the lightning-bolts glowed! That is amazing and subtle - I love how it doesn't look glow-in-the-dark colored in the light, since it makes the reveal all the more spectacular!
In every artistic endeavor, everything looks at its worst just before it looks its finished best. Same with Mando kits.
You did good.
Killing it. Hope my kit turns out half as good.
Out of all the builds I've been watching, this is by and far my fave. That kit is so kandosii.
Thanks for all the encouragement and compliments! I am perpetually amazed at the positive feedback you guys are leaving on this thread and it makes me smile every time. It also fuels the pandemonium that is this build. :D
And especially, a huge Thank You to Shevla for sticking by me and being my personal armor consultant, cheerleader, heat-gun-holder, cheerleader and maker-of-excited-noises. Today he spent all day with me watching movies while I painted, padded, glue-gunned and fiddled with my electronics. He was even amp guinea pig and was insanely patient, even with all the feedback. (Spoiler alert; I don't have a helmet gasket so the amp doesn't really make a difference and was removed...) I am seriously looking forward to the day I get to troop alongside this guy. Thanks, cyar'ika. <3
Anyway... on to the pictures!
I finished all my blackwashing the day I had to leave New Hampshire... An hour before my ride arrived. I'm super proud of it though!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/647/33046813330_4feb95ae4d_c.jpg)
Den: You were right! :D Blackwash utterly destroyed the tapey look on the visor area and I am very happy with how it came out!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/721/33389454366_a668175ba6_c.jpg)
Aaannnd... pre-apps?? It's actually happening?? I'm kind of in shock?
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3691/33389458566_983b6a69be_c.jpg)(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3758/33389461256_58e8607287_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3938/33389462916_084d5b1323_c.jpg)(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3894/33429848915_79d44cffab_c.jpg)
My only complaint is my apparent inability to stand up straight and not look totally awkward, and how my really-high neckseal has decided to make my jawline completely nonexistent and round off the shape of my face..?? It's kind of freaking me out...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3822/33389465696_7d0abfb1b0_c.jpg)
I will admit that I'm proud of my pistol... It's not much, but I hope it's worthy of approval! Possibly a non-standard color scheme, but hey, I tried. :P
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2897/33389468286_5b70ed5ba1_c.jpg)
Aaand after all the Serious Business App Pics were taken, Shevla decided it was time for fun detail shots!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/597/33429854505_dcf8e8be08_c.jpg)[/url]
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3691/32615801623_ab829f8542_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2925/32615804113_00b44473ff_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/706/33046847430_aabe141b9f_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2816/33301529661_ff24676fb9_c.jpg)
(Fun fact; this weathering is supposed to be damage from either violent headbutts or gentle Keldabe kisses. Mostly the latter. Will do paint transfer marks when Shevla has a helmet to paint... :P)
This shot actually shows off the earcaps nicely. Also shows that I have a little chicken neck and hopefully won't need a balaclava under my bucket cause of how high the neckseal is... Skin is only visible if you're kneeling and looking up at me.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3874/33301533661_b8b3481b27_c.jpg)
The lighting inside was kinda abysmal because nighttime so colors may be a little off... This is slightly closer to actual color.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/677/33301541021_938722ed12_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3826/33429880555_8b55d3772b_c.jpg)
I may have to somehow tweak my holster placement because it's different every time, it seems...
And last but not least, the poorly-captured glowstorm that is my plates. My blacklight flashlight was dead so no UV shots but you get the idea.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3822/33389456066_1b49865912_c.jpg)
I just posted the nice pictures to (what I hope is) the Vermont Stronghold pre-app board, and I'll see what I get back! Hopefully my app process happens without any issues.
Thanks for reading!
- Thel
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Flippin' sweet.
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Damn. Your kit looks like it belongs in a Star Wars movie! Well done!
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:o You it came out amazing vod!! The weathering on the plates are spot on! And your plate alignment looks perfect!
So, this is what I'm seeing that would probably get dinged.
1- In your backside picture you can see your skin all the way up to your ears. So, you probably will need a balaclava.
2- Your soft parts weathering is inconsistent, both with each other and with your plates. Your sash matches your plates, though it could do with just a little dirt. Your flightsuit and Kama, however, appear to be relatively clean and new. Your flightsuit could use some dirt, and your Kama (while it appears to be weathered some) could use either a bit more roughing up or some dirt to match your plates.
3- The large pouch on your right hip and the Russian ammo pouch on your left, while they appear to have been roughed up on the edges, are quite shiny. You can fix that with a pass with some sand paper and possibly a black wash with a HEAVILY diluted mixture. I stress HEAVILY because, if you don't, you will have a black pouch. You would also want o add a little bit of rubbing alcohol, that helps it to stick. Another way, my favorite way, is to lightly use black chalk pastels. :)
Those are very easy fixes and I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to apply by your next round of pictures! ;D
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Thel, this is some very good work! I'm very impressed with how this looks! Yes, as Den said, the soft parts will need a bit of weathering. I just got a gray flightsuit for my kit, and what I did was lightly hit it with some black and dirt spray paints, it's subtle but it works well. The only other thing I can see, and this is an easy fix, it looks like the top of the codpiece is popping out. That needs to be covered by your belt, so that's just a matter of keeping an eye on that :D Excellent work! Definitely send those revised pictures over to pre-app before applying, I'm sure you'll be OM in no time!
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Absolutely stunning work. It all came together so nicely.
Den & Kol made some good points. :)
Here are some tips when taking the app pics.
- Stand as straight as possible.
- Bend your knees slightly.
- Take the pictures at chest height.
- Use the best resolution camera you can, in good, natural light.
- Your neck seal should be fine, but try and adjust the angle of your head/helmet to keep from showing your neck.
- Definitely make sure the weathering is all consistent. Photos DO NOT like to show weathering on soft parts...it's frustrating, but true.
All in all, I think you'll be just fine if you keep those things in mind. :)
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Sweet Mary! :o I have never enjoyed watching a build as much as this one!
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I actually just noticed, maybe it's a trick of the lighting, but your boots look shiny as well. lol
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Very excited to see this one come through the App team.. Great work vod.
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Thank you all so much! It's not perfect, but I'm glad it's mostly done. :) I'm anxious to see what the app team spots, if anything, because I see a couple things I could improve on and I'm wondering if they'll see the same things.
Today has been a day of Being Covered In Paint again, naturally. Everyone who's pointed out the weathering - yeah, lighting is a pain. And to think I was concerned about it being *too* weathered... :P The lighting really washes it out, and while it's visible in real life, it needed some more high-contrast spots of dark as opposed to overall mistings of black. It seems amazingly dark compared to how it was, now, so I added some more darks to the sash as well to make sure it doesn't blend in with the flightsuit.
Thanks, Den, for pointing out the pouches! I took both brown pouches and my smaller red-brown one and (as much as it hurt to mess with 'em) I gave both a little blackwash and light scuffing on the corners and edges. I do love me some shiny leather - especially the naturally-aged look of my black pouches, but both of the brown ones are actually vinyl so they have no chance of looking like the others. Thankfully, they're now both matte and slightly darker, which I appreciate.
On the subject of shiny leather - I know Den pointed out my boots too, and I'm wondering if I'd get dinged on them if I keep them somewhat glossy? I have sprayed both them and the spats down with a misting of brown/gray filth, and gave both a sanding on wear-points, so in person they're obviously a little dirty. However, character-wise I loved the idea of an adopted-in mando'ad still clinging to an old aruetyc way and regularly trying to shine up her boots simply because it's what people do. All my actual every-day patent boots look the same way - shined regularly but with a layer of dirt and obvious wear-marks. If it really detracts from the kit, it's not the end of the world, and I won't sacrifice the look of my armor overall for the boots - if it gets me dinged, I can either dull them down or swap them for my pair of pre-destroyed workboots. What do you guys think?
Raestin - thank you for the picture tips and for following this whole mess! :) Looking at the shots now - Den was right when he noticed that my ears were peeking out from the shadows under my bucket. I was both looking down and being photographed from a kneeling position - I think angles will fix the issue, but I do have a black nylon balaclava left over from another costume if it's a big problem. I'll try to re-take pictures tomorrow, or at least try the kit out with the new weathering, assuming the blizzard outside stops for like 30 minutes.
Thel, this is some very good work! I'm very impressed with how this looks! Yes, as Den said, the soft parts will need a bit of weathering. I just got a gray flightsuit for my kit, and what I did was lightly hit it with some black and dirt spray paints, it's subtle but it works well. The only other thing I can see, and this is an easy fix, it looks like the top of the codpiece is popping out. That needs to be covered by your belt, so that's just a matter of keeping an eye on that :D Excellent work! Definitely send those revised pictures over to pre-app before applying, I'm sure you'll be OM in no time!
Thank you! And thanks for the weathering tip - I left my black spraypaint at school, so acrylics will have to do... Also - which picture shows my codpiece making a break for it? It should stay put, since it's on a nylon belt that rides like 4" lower than the top of the sash, but I also don't wanna take any chances.
I also added some more holes and more lighter mud/red dirt marks to my kama, since it's very hard to get it to look dirty enough, and the edging doesn't want to tatter at all. Right now, I'm waiting for my sash to dry before I go in for another pass with the paint. Then, hopefully round 2 of pictures...
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Awesome vod! Sounds like you've got it all covered! I think, as far as the boots, go for it. If the app team questions you about it, just explain what you just said. I think it is a reasonable reason and they won't make a fuss about it. But, that's my opinion so maybe one of the app members following your thread can way in on that. :) With the back of your head showing, I think keeping your head level and taking the pic from a more level position should fix that problem then. :) I can't wait to see your kill stripes vod!
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I highly doubt the boots are gpnna be any sort of problem, look great and swarzy to me.
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For the boots - I prefer to think of the kit as portraying a snapshot in time - that's why we want everything consistent. If your Mando is one who keeps her kit polished and clean once off a job that's fine. However you need to chose which moment you are showing, the on the hunt moment where everything is well weathered, or the moment after you've got back and put your soft goods through the wash, cleaned off your plates and shined the boots.
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Awesome vod! Sounds like you've got it all covered! I think, as far as the boots, go for it. If the app team questions you about it, just explain what you just said. I think it is a reasonable reason and they won't make a fuss about it. But, that's my opinion so maybe one of the app members following your thread can way in on that. :) With the back of your head showing, I think keeping your head level and taking the pic from a more level position should fix that problem then. :) I can't wait to see your kill stripes vod!
I highly doubt the boots are gpnna be any sort of problem, look great and swarzy to me.
Thank you! I did like the boots shiny, but as it stands...
For the boots - I prefer to think of the kit as portraying a snapshot in time - that's why we want everything consistent. If your Mando is one who keeps her kit polished and clean once off a job that's fine. However you need to chose which moment you are showing, the on the hunt moment where everything is well weathered, or the moment after you've got back and put your soft goods through the wash, cleaned off your plates and shined the boots.
I totally see your point, Kris. I think if I had gone easier on the plate weathering on day one - fewer chips, and therefore less need for blackwash - I could probably get away with cleaner soft goods. However, my plates didn't quite come out as clean as I'd originally imagined, and one could argue that the boots could be the only things that get kept clean or get regularly fussed over, but I think it may look better overall if they had more grime.
So, this morning, using my regular workboots as a guide... I gave my boots another round of blackwash, spattering, some drybrushing, and more sanding. I also gave my kama some more aggressive hole-punching/sanding and dirty-ing with the tan and red-brown paints while I was at it.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3933/33331215501_f25c3d44a6_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3916/33303385012_faf19837ba_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3720/33418702836_d278f494ae_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3684/33458857825_5feb9280f3_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3933/33458862915_f78906f055_c.jpg)
I didn't take any pictures of my flightsuit or sash laid out flat, but my lovely mother braved the blizzard with me to get some outdoor shots. I wish it wasn't snowing, but none of the inside spots had anything resembling decent lighting and after a couple test shots, the outdoor setting with the snow made the colors more accurate. My mom says we may try again Friday morning when the sun finally shows, but for now, here's some better snowy pictures that show the new weathering better.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3899/32647304543_14b46705da_c.jpg)(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2852/32618165004_3f5fc9a8bb_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/737/32647312113_427d7959e9_c.jpg)(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2901/32647321333_9372eb0e5d_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2816/32647297683_cbccf9e215_c.jpg)
I look very serious in these since I didn't think it was snowing that hard, but when we got out there we started getting pelted with snowflakes, so there was to be no smiling. If the snow is just terrible, I can re-take em... What do you guys think of the snow? Is it super distracting...? I do like these, though.
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That helmet off picture is brilliant.
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Looks perfect vod!! I think you're ready to go! :)
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Wow everything has really come together! You've done a fantastic job!
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Major props! Your kit looks fantastic!
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Wow. That's all I can say about this, just ... wow. Amazing work. Top to bottom. Impressive, amazing work.
Wow.
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That helmet off picture is brilliant.
Thank you! I thankfully didn't use any of the other ones my mom took where I genuinely look like I'm in pain. The snow was pretty bad and if I look stoic and cool in the pic, it's because all my focus was on keeping my facial muscles from moving. :laugh:
I did lots today! My pre-app results came back, and they were thankfully only minor things. I spent the morning fixing them and then helped a friend paint a prop of hers with some of my leftover silver spraypaint. After almost getting locked into the studio, we went back to my dorm and she helped me take another round of pictures! So the latter part of this week's Mando Photography is brought to you by Mikaela! :D
As for mods for round 2 of pre-apps...
Gloves: dirtied more.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/723/33268105510_272d6faeaa_z.jpg)
Exposed metal: additional filth.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2915/33495344922_d3b987e9cd_z.jpg)(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2853/33611300396_354aa888b2_z.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3810/32838435463_f00fa1e653_z.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3810/32809251374_7d6557f364_z.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3930/33611313876_f3f7ba235f_z.jpg)
Balaclava: found hiding in some dark corner of my room.
Knees: Up.
And then another round of pictures! I've got the full set of app pics, of course, but you've all seen me stand stiffly in my kit before so here's the fun ones we took once the official ones were done.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2925/33495390742_d1a3307efc_c.jpg) (https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3839/33611354506_d1c368341d_c.jpg)
(I had to do the cheesy 80's action-movie-babe pose. I just had to. Unfortunately, it's too silly for my apps.... :P)
I also added some velcro to the inside of my right gauntlet and my right sleeve to keep it from twisting, and it works great. The left one behaves itself so I'm just gonna leave that where it is... My balaclava may end up getting cut in half though - it's made from an old pair of opaque tights and is technically more like a snood. It goes from my neck and up over my nose like a ninja mask, and my neckseal goes on over it, but wearing both at the same time is a little tight on my neck. I'll eventually just sew it onto the edge of the neckseal and call it a day. I did figure out that I have to wear it right above my chin, though - I had it over my nose and my visor immediately fogged to the point of blinding me. I pulled it down to my chin, and the fog dissipated. This may mean either cutting a nose-hole for better ventilation or just putting my pointy witch-chin to good use... Either way, it saved my app pics because my photographer is probably like 4'10" and the added neck coverage meant we didn't have to re-take anything.
That's all for now! The guy in charge of my local pre-apps says he'll post the new pictures tomorrow and then... I wait... :)
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Sweeeeet!! Digging the whole 80's action babe vibe going on! :laugh: On a serious note though, I think you've got this. I literally can't think of anything they would ding you on and keep you from getting OM. :)
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Looking forward to seeing you in apps.
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Good job on the fixes, I'm sure your new pre-app pics will be spot on. Can't wait to see you get approved!!
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Sweeeeet!! Digging the whole 80's action babe vibe going on! :laugh: On a serious note though, I think you've got this. I literally can't think of anything they would ding you on and keep you from getting OM. :)
Good job on the fixes, I'm sure your new pre-app pics will be spot on. Can't wait to see you get approved!!
Looking forward to seeing you in apps.
Thank you guys so much! I'm kinda slowly going crazy waiting to hear back about round 2 of pre-apps... I'm assuming it'll be another week of keeping them up before I get verdict #2, but for the moment I'm just relieved to have gotten everything under control finally. :) There's still a few comfort upgrades I may do (flightsuit split, ripping out glove lining, etc.) but they're all invisible internal things that don't really make a difference completion-wise.
I've just been staring at my helmet from across the room this past week with a big ol grin on my face. I'm feeling great about it, which is something I don't say of very many of my art projects. I'm looking forward to sending in my official app, though! :D
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Such an awesome job vod! you really brought your concept to life!
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What an amazing job you've done. Bravo, Thel. Seriously great work. Your kit is fantastic!
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Fantastic work. I love the look of the whole kit. It's inspiring me to get my kit finished.
Great job!
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First off, thank you to everyone who's complimented me on my kit!
I got my email last Friday, and am delighted to say that I'm official, at last! :D I didn't make an announcement when it happened because I wanted to surprise my boyfriend with the news in person, and now that I have my killstripes I suppose the cat's out of the bag. Special thanks to Mi'ix for helping me with my pre-apps and making sure I was ready for official apps! I'm so glad to have had everyone's support.
After finishing my own kit, it's time for me to mercilessly hound Shevla about fabric choices, tailor his vest, and egg the rest of my local armoring crew on. No idea if we'll have a clan by August this year, but here's hoping.
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More than earned it! Knocked 'em dead! ;D
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Congratulations vod! There never was a doubt! You deserve it 110%!!
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Woohoo! Congratulations, vod! Oya!
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Congrats!!
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Today was eventful in a weird and unexpected way - I got to take my armor out for a spin, finally! :) Since it's May the Fourth, a whole lot of my school were wearing Star Wars T-shirts, and during lunch I jokingly said to my friend group "man I shoulda worn my armor. My illustration professor will get a kick out of it," to which everyone suggested I do it.
So, kitting up as fast as possible, I showed up to my illustration class and generally disrupted the studio day, much to the delight of my professor. Some of the kids who live in the building showed up with their lightsabers, I got stopped on the street for a photo - all was well. Unfortunately, I got zero photos of myself.
I did, however, note some areas for kit improvement...
- Gloves still need longer cuffs to stay tucked in
- Knees need... attention
- Boot plates need more sticking down
- Spats need closures at the ankles
- Left gauntlet needs velcro to match right gauntlet
- Lining for holster...?
...which I gotta do tomorrow afternoon, as well as wash my flightsuit because I was concerned about the heat in it and didn't wear an undershirt. I felt like I was burning for the first 10 minutes wearing it out and about, but my body adjusted and I wore the thing for the next 3 hours no problem. When I took it off I wasn't really uncomfortable, even, so wearing it for maybe 6 hours Saturday should be fine. If I get tired of it, I'll throw it in my collapsable duffel bag and carry it with me. It's not a con and the shop is a half-hour walk from my building, so hopefully I survive getting in and out of kit all day...
I did do some minor upgrades this week, though. I actually sent my whole bin home with my cyar'ika two weeks ago, and literally lasted a week before I begged my mom to come bring it back to me. I found out just days after sending it back up to VT that the Free Comic Book Day thing was happening, and was heartbroken I couldn't attend in kit, so this Monday my mom was merciful and brought it down.
I added some chest lights, because I'd planned for those all along, but the LEDs I got didn't wanna diffuse right, so I ended up using EL wire instead. I had the whole string left over from when I took it out of my helmet, and with some electrical tape, hot glue and the plastic cover to a dental wax container, I managed to MacGuyver a pretty good display. It doesn't change at all, but that doens't bother me - it works in photos, and a bought display wouldn't fit in my plates anyway because of the scaling changes I did and how close the velcro is to the holes.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4183/34393242446_a94cea322f_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4191/33624664553_18dafb8346_c.jpg)
I also threw some dangly jangly beady bits on my blaster, and swapped out my carved bone trophy (actually a bone folder) for a different, more natural-looking antler tip.
Updates as I have 'em. Thanks again for reading! :)
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sorry it's late but congratulations, beautiful job.
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Your kit looks great! Really love the fett-tronics you added too. May the Fourth sounded like a lot of fun!
For the knees, are they drooping? What attachment method are you using? I know that when I first had my knees, they were just held by elastic and I needed to put velcro on just to keep them from falling. I hope that helps.
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sorry it's late but congratulations, beautiful job.
Don't worry about being late - thank you so much! :)
Your kit looks great! Really love the fett-tronics you added too. May the Fourth sounded like a lot of fun!
For the knees, are they drooping? What attachment method are you using? I know that when I first had my knees, they were just held by elastic and I needed to put velcro on just to keep them from falling. I hope that helps.
The knees are drooping for sure - they're attached with an elastic strap that loops through two slots in my spats, then around the outside of my flightsuit. The elastic is covered by the spats but not connected to the flightsuit - the whole spat/knee combo loves to twist and slip down, which wrinkles the sides of the spat and causes them to gap. I'll definitely velcro them my flightsuit, but I may also run the elestic underneath my flightsuit, too, to give it more strength. The knee point has to hold not only the knee plates but the spats, too. Little bit of a poor design choice on my part, honestly... :p
Thanks for the suggestion! It sounds like more velcro is the answer to all of my kit woes...
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Beautiful, vod.
The upgrades never stop! :laugh:
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I'm a sucker for chest lights.
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This is a super rad build!! Really loving how the colors came together :)
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Amazing kit! Love it :D
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Beautiful, vod.
The upgrades never stop! :laugh:
Thank you! There's always something that can be approved upon... "Finished" means nothing to me. :P
This is a super rad build!! Really loving how the colors came together :)
Amazing kit! Love it :D
Thank you guys! :)
I'm a sucker for chest lights.
Oh boy same! I got so many comments today on the chest lights alone - I'm really glad I did 'em! I'm considering making a tutorial on how I made them because they came out surprisingly well for like $10 in supplies... There's gotta be other broke mando'ade out there with weirdly-sized chest plates. :P
Today I geared up for my first invasion, and it was loads of fun! Last night, I fired up the sewing machine pretty late and got to work fixing some of the things I noticed on May the 4th... Gloves got cuffs made from some old opaque stockings I'd put holes in, my spats and boot plates got velcro all over, and I cut slits in my flightsuit knees to keep my spats and knee plates where they're supposed to be.
This morning, it was off to Free Comic Book Day! Thankfully, someone I was going with had a car, so we got a ride there and avoided the rain. There were tons of people in cosplay who were happy to see me and it was great being out in public for the first time! I met so many different people, had only one minor wardrobe malfunction (a boot plate came loose, but I just pressed it back down) and I got way more comic books than I was expecting! So, I'll have some reading material for a while. :)
One problem I did encounter was people. People really, really love to talk, and I love talking to them. Which is actually great - my favorite part of the outing was the folks who asked a million questions about my kit and how it was made and who the Mercs are (yay, business cards!) but it is impossible to do with my helmet on. Even raising my voice, it was hard for people to understand me, so I ended up taking off and putting on my helmet all day. After five hours of frequent helmet movement, my hair decided it was time to make a run for my eyeballs. As I have what can only be described as a mullet-hawk, my french braid was critical, and yet it failed me spectacularly.
So - amp time! I can re-assemble the amp I already have, given some of the correct cable to splice back in, but I'm not sure where exactly to put the box without the black cord showing. It also lacks a proper headset, and the cables are all installed permanently, so there's no switching out mics. I'm honestly leaning towards getting a throat mic or a wireless headset I can install right into my helmet - I had a surprising number of people ask to take bucket-off pictures of me while I was talking or drinking water (cue "I am no man!" LotR gif) so I'd prefer not to have a visible headset. So... a new amp with a line-in jack is on the horizon for me...
The sunny 1.5-mile walk home was brutal because I am weak, but I managed to avoid heat stroke, thankfully. I also managed to forget to take pictures entirely - my gloves don't work with my phone, so I was operating it with my nose at one point. I probably would have remembered to take more pictures - and ask my friends for a picture of me - if I'd put some touch-screen function on my gloves, or even just found my missing keychain stylus...
Hopefully someone posts pictures of me out and about and lets me use them. The comic store staff was partnered with a local cosplay photography convention, so everyone got to have their picture taken in front of a nice backdrop, and I'm told they'll be up on the store site/facebook at some point. However, I kinda wanna have some atmosphere for when I post an invasion report, so hopefully I'll happen upon one of the other pictures of me. I am, however, visible in the live videos the store put up on their facebook, though I don't think I can submit those for a report... :P
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sounds like you had a whale of a time, can't wait to see some pics of you out an about in kit. ;)
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sounds like you had a whale of a time, can't wait to see some pics of you out an about in kit. ;)
I certainly did have a blast. :) I can't wait for Invasion #2! (Whenever that may be...)
I did find a few good pictures of me...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4173/33702290424_88b578ae9e_c.jpg)
Credit: Chris Wetherell Photography
I also appeared on nerdcaliber.com in their Free Comic Book Day 2017 Gallery!
(http://www.nerdcaliber.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_4223.jpg)
(http://www.nerdcaliber.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_4224.jpg)
(http://www.nerdcaliber.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_4225.jpg)
Still a couple things that need fixing... I tied my sash flatter and wider than I had before in order to hide my electronics wire, but it turns out I'm skinny, and my belts got droopy and will need more holes punched in them. I may pad under or between the shoulder plates to keep them from drooping, too - I wore a backpack with extra clothes in case I got tired of wearing my armor (I did not, of course!) and it flattened things horribly. It may be a minor sewing project, too, since my vest's cap sleeves are angled downwards instead of out at 90 degrees...
Now that I think of it, I should start a thread in the finished costumes section, shouldn't I? :P I'll link when I put one up!
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awesome. ;)
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I really like this kit, like a lot.
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Really liking this kit vod! You did great work!
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I'll jump on the band wagon. This has to be one of the best outifts there is. I'm in awe how you thought this out and how well it came together. Great job.
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awesome. ;)
I really like this kit, like a lot.
Really liking this kit vod! You did great work!
I'll jump on the band wagon. This has to be one of the best outifts there is. I'm in awe how you thought this out and how well it came together. Great job.
Thank you all so much! I'm really honored. :) It was a lot of hard work and probably some dust I shouldn't have inhaled, but I'm very happy it's finished.
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Hey, everyone! I recently touched up my kit a bit for an invasion and figured I'd share my progress here. It's kind of a sewing tutorial - hopefully this helps you guys out! If anyone has any questions about sewing terms or would like to see more pictures (or even a diagram) let me know!
Because the invasion this weekend was pretty long (I was in kit for 7+ hours) I decided I had to bite the bullet and do something about my flightsuit. Since I cannot use the bathroom standing up, I decided to rummage around in my bin of random forgotten zippers and split my flightsuit into two parts to allow for breaks without fully stripping. I chose to use zippers instead of snaps or velcro because it uses less fabric, and zippers are usually more secure, allowing me to bend over and move without worrying that my pants will fall down...
I really wish I'd taken pictures of the process, but alas, my phone was not in the room when I did the project, and it was over pretty quickly. I can, however, give a detailed account of how I did things.
What You'll Need:
- Woven coveralls/lightsuit with some extra room
- 3 zippers: 1 separating zipper at least as long as your "top", non-separating at least as long as your "pants", and one separating zipper at least as long as the circumference of your waist
- A regular sewing machine with a regular sewing foot on it
- Pins
- Thread that matches your flightsuit
- Heavy scissors, wirecutters, or needle-nosed pliers
- An iron (optional)
- Patience
Firstly: for this method to work, you'll have to have a flightsuit that has at least an extra inch of length in the torso region. If you have a waist seam, check the seam allowance - you can use that, too. I got that much out of mine because I'd folded over my seam for strength. Here's what my flightsuit looked like before the modification - this is right after I finished tailoring and weathering it, but that's another tutorial entirely...
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/606/32443408644_a2f9221ed6_c.jpg)
The waist seam has a line of topstitching (the visible stitching in the green thread) to reenforce it. It also has one zipper that runs the length of the whole thing - from neck to the bottom of my fly. Here's what it looks like now, both zipped together and separated, laid out on top of my bin:
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4298/35595871460_e7ec8a46af_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4315/35145156704_9750d1f14e_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4327/35595934930_636a747c57_c.jpg)
(The colors are a bit off, but lighting in my room is weird...)
To split a one-piece flightsuit, first take out the zipper entirely. This might take a while - make a special note of how and where your zipper is attached, cause you'll have to put one back in later. If you have a flap across the zipper like I have on my suit, mark with chalk where the overlap is so you can line it up later. You'll also need to take out the bottom... cross-dealy-bit at the end of the zipper, where your pants fly would end on jeans. This horizontal stitch stops your zipper and is a beast to take out, but you'll need that later, too.
To split the flightsuit, find your waist seam and gently pick it apart. This will take a while, too. If you have a flightsuit that doesn't have a seam where you want the split, be super extra sure to cut a straight seam across the middle where your natural waist falls. If you have to cut it apart, or you have a seam with very little allowance, the torso of your flightsuit will get a little shorter - by about 1/2" - 1" depending. If you're making your own flightsuit from scratch, or heavily modifying yours all over like I did, safety pin or baste the waist together with 1" allowance like you are going to sew it, and fit your garment based on that.
After the flightsuit is all picked apart, get some zippers! If you can find some that match the color of your flightsuit, that's awesome, but it's not required as long as they're hidden. I used some zippers from a garage sale - they're a little hard to find in stores, but you can certainly look online. You'll need two types of zippers; two that separate and one that doesn't. The separating zippers are usually labeled as such - look for ones designed for jackets and parkas. You'll need a non-separating zipper at least as long as the "fly" of your "pants" - the bottom half of the flightsuit. You'll also need a separating zipper that's as long as or longer than your "jacket" - the top half of your flightsuit. Most importantly, you'll want enough separating zipper-age to go around your waist at the seam you've cut.
Longer is better - if you're small like I am, look for a zipper designed for a long jacket. If it's a few inches short, that's ok - you can velcro the gap. If you can't find a zipper long enough for your waist, it's ok to use multiple separating zippers end-to-end, spaced about an inch from each other. You will probably see the zipper pulls and have small gaps if you go this route, so make sure a waist item/vest covers them. (My waist seam hides a half-inch under my vest...) If your zipper is too long, though - that's perfect. Surprisingly, separating zippers can be cut down to size pretty easily. They won't have the "stopper" at the end, but with careful stitching, it can be done. The zipper I used for my waist was freakishly long - I'm thinking it came from a 1960's-era sleeping bag originally, but I can't be sure...
If you can find a separating "invisible" zipper online that's the right length, go for it, but be advised that they might not hold up to the wear and tear of trooping. If you would like to use an invisible zipper and know how to put it on, go for it - here's a great tutorial (https://byhandlondon.com/blogs/by-hand-london/11628353-inserting-an-invisible-zipper-the-definitive-tutorial) for that style. However, you will need a special invisible-zipper foot for your sewing machine, as well as a regular zipper foot.
For those of you with regular zippers, I used a regular non-zipper foot for my flightsuit. Here's what the zippers on mine look like. The black is a separating zipper, the "fly" is just the original jumpsuit's zipper cut down to size, and the white zipper is the long separating one.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4312/35852578601_5e25ce8eb0_c.jpg)
Once you have your zips, it's time to make the "flaps" to cover the waist seam. If you have an iron, it'll come in handy for this next step. I didn't have an iron when I did this project (I did it up at a lake cottage in the middle of nowhere) but it will help get your folds to lay right. You'll want to spread your flightsuit out flat, opening up the front split until the two waist edges match up. Make sure they're the same length, and then fold the raw edges over about a half inch and pin them so the raw edges end up on the inside. Make sure they match up, still, and that your cut/fold job yields straight edges. These will be the edges of your "flaps".
Now, take your entire separating zipper and find the end with the... separatey-bit. I have no idea the technical term for this - it's the thing at the bottom of your hoodie/jacket. Usually, coveralls have a flap that covers the front zipper; you want the bottom end of the zipper to be on the flap that shows. Here it is on my suit, near my thumb:
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4294/35943382626_1453d78ae2_c.jpg)
The zipper pull hides under the flap when it's all zipped up.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4330/35595846690_80520c26ff_c.jpg)
If there's no flap, then it doesn't matter which way you put it in - you'll see both ends of the zipper, anyway. Make sure either your vest or your belt/sash/waist items hide the pull, or simply sew a narrow strip of fabric on that hangs down to cover the exposed zipper end. As long as something hides the zipper while you're in full kit, you're good.
Once you have your zipper oriented correctly, it's time to start pinning it on. This is where things might get tricky. Pin the *whole* zipper on, lining up the edge of the "lip" with the center of the zipper. Why? Because when the top lip meets the bottom lip, it hides your zipper pretty well. I've used this same technique to install the zipper at the neck of my vest as well. Here's what it looks like unzipped:
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4329/35174629193_79e68ddced_c.jpg)
See how the lip touches the center of the zipper? You'll want to gently re-pin the lip so it falls correctly, then stitch along the side of the zipper, almost touching the sides of the "teeth", but not quite. Do this along the top of the zipper, on the fabric side - a regular sewing foot will do it with some careful guidance. You'll see these seams, so keep them neat. In the above picture, you can see I did two lines of topstitching; the outer one was for stability, but the one closest to the zipper is just about how close the stitches can get to the sides before the zipper can no longer zip. Play around with this distance - you can easily remove stitches if you get too close. You'll want to be as close as possible to the zipper, though.
Once you've got one side stitched, check your zipper by moving it along the length of the garment. If it works, awesome. Don't worry if it's too long - you'll fix that at the end.
Line up the second half of your flightsuit and stitch that zipper like you did the first one. Make sure you line the "lips" up so they're butting up against one another. This will make your zipper hard to notice when it's closed. When you have both sides sewn, test the zipper again to make sure it can slide without a problem.
To trim your waist zipper, un-zip it again. Find where you want your zipper to stop and then find an implement of destruction. If you have a coiled plastic zipper, use some wire-cutters or strong scissors to cut the coil and then snip it into little sections to pick out. If you have a regular plastic zipper, snip in between the teeth to remove the extra. If you have a metal zipper, use your pliers to pull and twist the teeth off. You will want a little bit of space after the end of your fabric - fold this down and hand-sew it flat so it's out of the way. Then take your machine and *gently* run a line of stitches across each separate half of the zipper, right before the end of the fabric. You may have to walk the machine across. Because your zipper is moving in a channel, the end of that channel will stop it before it slides off the zipper altogether. Just make sure your stitches are strong.
Now, it's time to attach the rest of the zippers. These are pretty easy - just follow the lines left over from where you took out the original zippers. Find where your front flaps overlap (if your flightsuit has them) and line them up. For the top, this is pretty easy - pin, sew one half, pin the other half, and unzip and sew again. If you did a good job destroying your flightsuit in the first step, you should be intimately aware of how your zippers went in and how exactly you had to pry them out. For the top of the jacket zipper, if you shortened it, simply run a line of stitches across each half of the zipper, between the teeth. This will make the zipper stop at the top of your neck where you want it. For your fly zipper, just stitch the bottom carefully across the zipper and trim if it's too long - close the bottom of the fly where you opened it, going over it a couple times.
Be sure to leave a little gap between the fly and the jacket zipper - to get it on, you'll have to zip the fly, then line up and zip the top. Your belt and/or vest should keep this section flat. To answer nature's call, simply remove your waist items and thigh plates/cod if you have them, and then drop trou. The waist zipper is also great for breaks - you can unzip it to let the heat out of your flightsuit.
I hope this helps! I've got a couple more tutorials written out, but have no idea where to put em... If anyone has questions, I am happy to answer them!
Also bonus: Here are my gloves, which I painted with some mando'a runes for more Mando Biker Aesthetic. I used the same paint as my stripes, so these glow, too! It says "muun'baji", which is really fun to explain to people who ask. :)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4298/35985011545_584f930022_c.jpg)
I also added my contact info (boring and not shown) to my bin as well as some decoration so people know it's me...
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4313/35180622303_7bc342c705_c.jpg)
Again, mando'a runes are hard and drive me nuts - most people just change the font, but I've seen a source which uses each character phonetically, which is what I'm used to when it comes to "runes". This means that double letters just wouldn't happen, since there are already runes that phonetically spell the word. I'm big on the European runes (think ancient Norse, Elder Furthark stuff) and it hurts my soul to see people use double letters in runic inscriptions. However, I feel that in Mando'a it's probably best to go with the alplhabet-change and not the full phonetic translation, 'cause I've only seen one source for the latter and there's no available font for lots of the characters... Still makes me twitch though. :P
/rant
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It's been a while, but I'm still alive! I have a few weapons concepts I've posted on my Privateer Upgrades Thread (http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=139177.0) which I will not re-post here for the sake of space, but otherwise have done very little due to packing and unpacking and school and being really stressed.
Granitecon is coming up in two weeks, and honestly I'd really hoped to have my new blaster done by then, but alas - I left most of my tools at home due to the space my bike took up in the car. So my sawed-off scattergun may have to wait... I did pick up a wooden axe handle that may work for what I'm doing, but I'll need some sintra for the "metal" parts I think...
However, with Halloween approaching fast, stores are putting out some kooky costume stuff, and today I spotted a cheapo $10 prop whip (catwoman style!) and had a very weird idea.
I've wanted one of those shock whips for a while now, due to an Indiana Jones appreciation most likely, but all of the EL-wire builds I've seen just look... unimpressive. The wire is too small and too dim to stand on its own, really, and the Saberforge "lightwhip" blade doesn't quite do it for me, either. But after pondering for a while about things-that-glow, I realized that the Mercs have been sitting on some pretty great technology all along: reflective tape! I remember seeing photo after photo of the prison cell prop with very convincing glowing bars, and am wondering if I can do the same thing to a more flexible material - say, a cheap prop whip - and simply ask people to use their flash! Since I'm modeling it off the canon shock-whips, I'll probably go with orange tape instead of red.
The question is: how flexible is the stuff? I obviously won't try and crack the thing, but I do want to be able to coil and uncoil it and have it still look whip-like. What do you guys think?
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Here at work, we use reflective vinyl sometimes, especially for nighttime events so vehicle headlights hit it and they can see where they need to go. It's 7 mil, conforms to simple curves and lasts for years. It's extremely thick, but can tear easily. I've never used the tape, but I'm assuming it must be close to this. I'd be curious to see if you do use the tape. I saw that GloNation sells glow tape - have you looked into that?
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Good idea with the zipper, makes a lotta sense actually. Kinda wish mine did that!
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Here at work, we use reflective vinyl sometimes, especially for nighttime events so vehicle headlights hit it and they can see where they need to go. It's 7 mil, conforms to simple curves and lasts for years. It's extremely thick, but can tear easily. I've never used the tape, but I'm assuming it must be close to this. I'd be curious to see if you do use the tape. I saw that GloNation sells glow tape - have you looked into that?
I am planning on eventually getting some of glonation's green neutral paint to spruce up my stripes (thanks again for the link!) but I don't think their glow tape would work. Since I'm after the "lightsaber"-like effect of the electrowhips, glow-in-the-dark wouldn't be bright enough in photos, especially in daylight.
It's interesting to hear about the reflective vinyl, though! I think that's exactly what I need. Do you know where your work gets it, and if it comes in orange?
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We get ours from Fellers.com. They have several locations. We use reflective white, black, red, yellow, green and blue. I can send you a sample to test before you buy any if you'd like. Just PM me your details and what color. We don't have orange, but you can still see how the other colors work with daylight, flash, etc.