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[Vez Nau'ur]

Hello everyone!

Been toying with the idea of making an early cusader for a while now. After I went though seugtai's VERY detailed build, I decided to go ahead with it and giving myself the objective of Montreal Comic Con this summer as a "ready to be worn" date and hopefully have it ready for approval as well.

I really liked seugtai's idea of using papier maché, for the shoulders so I'll imitate her technique. This is what I have so far and I'm looking for a second opinion. I find they might be a bit big, but as the CRL states, "Note that most shoulder armor of this era is large and covers the entire shoulder as to protect the shoulder joint." so I'm not a 100% sure right now. I'm thinking of cutting off a bit of the sides and make the bottom tip a bit less pronounced. I'll be adding some ridges on the sides to give it that layered look.

[seugtai]

I like the size of the shoulders, I think they look pretty awesome. 8)
Looking forward to watching your build!

[Vez Nau'ur]

I like the size of the shoulders, I think they look pretty awesome. 8)
Looking forward to watching your build!

Ohh thank you! I'll make sure to post regular updates!

Actually, question for you if I may? When I was reading through your build, you didn't show much in the building the base of your bucket, I'm guessing you took the Boba template and used that on a bike helmet or something? How did you reinforce everything, papier maché/fiberglass?

I should be getting some supplies during the week and start scratch building my bucket. Thinking of going with a Taung like facial structure, so the horns on the cheeks, ridges over the eyes/eyebrows that extend to the back of the bucket and have the hoses imitate the "antenna/tentacle" they have.

[seugtai]

That sounds like a cool concept, looking forward to seeing it take shape.
Sent you a PM.

[Vez Nau'ur]

Alrighty, small update! So I spoke a bit with seugtai over PM and she gave me some really good pointers! I'll be picking up some supplies at Canadian Tire after work but I fear I won't be able to find everything I need (I don't think they have the drywall/fiberglass tape, might have to go to an actual hardware store for that).

I'll be also working on the base of the bucket on Friday/weekend, I'll try with a bicycle helmet first with the WOF template around it (really don't feel like making a dome) and go from there. Hopefully that will come out well, otherwise I might go with a pepakura base but I don't have much patience with Pep...

I also cut out the other shoulder base and I did fix a bit the curves (they were visibly not the same curve and kinda broke the look on the side a bit). I'll be fiberglassing those probably Friday.

In the meantime I went ahead and ordered myself a Red Kap dark brown coverall. It's what I have for my current kit (but black) and I'm pretty satisfied with it. Went with a bigger fit since I always complain about my current one being a bit too tight.



Also, anyone have any metallurgy skills that could share? I'd like to make some custom buckles and O rings for my shoulder spikes (I'll attach leather strips around the O rings and place them around the spikes, a bit like a harness, hope that makes sense).

EDIT (NO DOUBLE POSTING!)
I also started thinking about what kind of weapon I want to have, I definitely want a melee one. I'm still debating between a spear like this one:



Or a style of bone or beskad long sword/scimitar.

[Vez Nau'ur]

Alright, so I finally attempted fiberglassing. I never did this before so I have absolutely no idea if this is a good application. But this is the results, it's only one layer on the outer side (I'll do the inner side later) and I'm using seugtai's idea of using drywall tape over the fiberglass cloth. I seem to have mix feelings about it since it kept moving around and unsticking from my piece., maybe I'm doing something wrong? Anyways. I'll do both shoulders like this, I think two coats of resin should be plenty (I think?) and then I can start adding some bondo.

I also have to make a better work place for this. I improvised myself a "fume hood" in my apartment but it seems it wasn't enough to keep the smell out of my apartment so I'll isolate that more, get a lamp for it and a heater since I have to keep the window open and a good Canadian winter should be arriving soon. It's still warm outside but I'd rather keep the area warm (It's still around 2-3 Celsius/ 35-37 Fahrenheit).

Anyways, here are the photos. Like I said, I had some issues with the drywall tape moving around while I was applying the resin, it had a better coverage initially.

[seugtai]

Did you add a small bit of hot glue down around the edges and along the seam lines of the tape? That will keep it from coming up while you are applying the resin. Just make sure it's a thin layer, not a bead of glue. I just run the tip of my glue gun along the piece while lightly releasing glue.

Just cut the overhang off before you add anymore resin.
It's looking good though.

[Vez Nau'ur]

Did you add a small bit of hot glue down around the edges and along the seam lines of the tape? That will keep it from coming up while you are applying the resin. Just make sure it's a thin layer, not a bead of glue. I just run the tip of my glue gun along the piece while lightly releasing glue.

Just cut the overhang off before you add anymore resin.
It's looking good though.

Huh. I'll try that! Thanks

And yeah I already snipped all the overhang. Should I go with a second layer?

[Vez Nau'ur]

I did the inner side of the shoulder...and oops! Seems I put a way too much resin. It's nicely coated but I do have a puddle.

On another note, maybe I should return my engineering degree, seems I forgot how physics work!

I'll do the next shoulder tomorrow (with less resin)... in the mean time, I'm going to go get ready for the premiere tonight!! 501st and Merc party! Hurray!

[Vez Nau'ur]

Alrighty! Update time! Sorry for the loads of pictures, I'm a big fan of documenting the heck out of everything.

So I added some extra layers of resin on the shoulder pieces, some sanding then bondo the heck out of them! Still in the rough, I'm thinking of adding an extra layer of bondo to hide those spots where we see the fiberglass but it's smooth so I don't think it's entirely necessary. So I tentatively drew what I want as a final shape. So some side ridges and three spikes



Thinking of making those spikes smaller, that would require a ton load of epoxy putty to build...



Also thinking of shortening those ridges, not a 100% sure yet.



I pretty much sludged the underside with bondo with my hands (wore some latex gloves), still need to give it a good sanding but my hand sander can't reach those curves inside, so I would need to do it by hand.



I also started my bucket based off WOF template. Seems to be the right size if I compare it with my regular bucket. For now I'm building it standard, but I'll modify the cheeks and make the chin and cheeks longer. I kinda did the dome separately and in hindsight, I should have taped it to the bottom part before making it... so I'll have to redo that since I'm unable to get it to fit.



Now I'm kinda worried that the paper I used won't do the trick. It's not regular paper, it's much thicker and more rigid, but it's not what other people use. So hopefully once I start applying the resin, it won't implode...

Oh, and I also receive my jumpsuit! Perfect chocolate brown that I wanted! I got smart this time, and I ordered one with a two way zipper... and slightly larger, so it fits me like a glove and I won't be worried about drinking water anymore!



I'm going to start cutting out the pieces for my thighs (out of Sintra) based of Jango's pattern and modify them a bit so they are not that easily recognizable. I'm also meeting with a friend of mine who does leather working for LARPs, and he'll show me some vambraces patterns that I can make. I'll make those and add a piece of armor on top of it. He should also show me some basic shirt and/or vest patterns I could use for my upper body armor.

Then I'll have to figure out ab and knee plates and other soft parts but one thing at a time!

One final thing. I decided to do a beast hunter kit. So I'll be making sure I get all the requirements for that while I build everything.

[Mirdala Galaar]

Awesome work so far. Can't wait to see where this goes. 

[Vez Nau'ur]

Alrighty! Loads of sanding on my shoulders and started some detailing work but no pictures for now. Though I decided to drop the side ridges and only make a small elevation around the shoulders with some bone sticking out a bit and shorter spikes. But, I worked more on the bucket, so this is what I have for now in terms of design.







So Essentially, I made the chin a bit longer and curved the cheeks a bit. I still need to think how I'm going to attach the hoses in the back of the head, as a reminder I'm working on a "taung" style skull.



I might skip the pointy chin as that might be a problem while wearing it, but those "tentacles" in the back of the head is what I want to do with the hoses. Thinking of trying to find a 1 inch wide slinky hose, I think those would do the trick.

Awesome work so far. Can't wait to see where this goes. 

Thanks! I can't wait to have it completed!

[Vez Nau'ur]

Short update!

Worked a bit more on the shoulders. Added the spikes and the ridges/details! I'll be smoothing them out soon with some bondo to make them seamless but for now I did sand them down a bit to integrate them the best I could.



I also began working on my thighs. Decided to use some 6mm sintra as a base, I'll shape them out tomorrow and begin sanding out the sides. I'll have to apply some generous amounts of sloppy bondo to make them look more bone like.



Otherwise, I finished adding the drywall tape on the paper bucket and applied a first coat of resin on it. I'll add another coat tomorrow and then add some more drywall tape on the inside and slowly start adding some resin on the inside (with fiberglass). I'll make sure to add quite a few layers to make sure it's solid.

That's it for now.  I must say, this has been an incredibly fun build thus far!

EDIT:

Quick edit since I don't want to double post. Since I still got 1 hour left on my movie, decided to shape the plates real quick. Here's the result.



Might start working on the handplates. Still undecided if I should use some 3mm or 6mm sintra for the base of those. I know I'm rough on my kit so I'm worried that 3mm + bondo is going to break. Things to ponder about.

[Vez Nau'ur]

Worked on the base of the vambraces. This is what I got.





These are made of 3oz cow leather, I gave them a quick burnish, traced out a random pattern, based on source material I saw. Most of those details will be hidden since I'll be adding an armor plate on top of them. Thinking of closing these with buckles, maybe some brass ones? Though I feel that would make them too steampunk'ish. Still thinking about it, I'll try to headout to Tandy leather this week to look at that and pick up some dark brown dye for these parts. I'll take a look at the same time for some materials for the loincloth.

I'll be working on the upper body leather piece soon, still not a 100% sure how I'll make them but I guess I'll have to start somewhere.

Bucket is progressing nicely I think. Slow process but hopefully it'll look nice at the end!

[Vez Nau'ur]

Alright I haven't posted in a while, been busy with work (had to fly to California). But time to get back into it! So no pictures today, did some more bondo on my shoulder pieces, I'll be sanding those and hopefully dropping a first coat of primer this Saturday.

For the bucket, I nearly poisoned myself with the fiberglass resin, so uhm... gotta find a better ventilated area for that. Got an armor party coming up so might take that opportunity there.

Otherwise I'm trying to figure out how to attach my vambraces to myself. I'm thinking some buckles with leather. I want to finish the strapping method before I work on the armor piece for the forearm, that way I'll have a better view of things and the shape of how the armor plate will look like.

Added a small coat of bondo on the thigh plates to give it that bone look, I'm debating on the look I want with those, thinking of adding some small spikes like on the shoulders and leather straps that "wrap" around the leg.

Otherwise I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for an easy to make pattern for a "vest". Won't exactly be a vest, more like the top half of one, but I can work from that once I get the actual pattern. Been trying to trace the vest from my normal Mando, but been having some issues on getting a good trace. Might not be trying hard enough.

Anyways that's all, another post coming up on Sunday after I get some work done. Need to pass quickly at Tandy's to get some supplies, I'm all out of dye.