activation email

[spartafett]

Hello everyone! It's been some time since I've been on these forums. I've dabbled in working on my own kit for several years now--drawing and redrawing my designs, picking up components here and there, experimenting with templates--but never had the commitment or skills to really get moving.

I have several completed costumes under my belt so I'm feeling pretty good about my ability to actually do this now. And I'm just plain tired of putting this off!

But enough of me talking...here is my design:


My color scheme will be a little deeper in the end, and this is kind of how I'm imagining my armor will turn out:


I started out with working on my soft parts. The jumpsuit and vest are done now.



The zipper on the front of the shirt will be covered by the scarf, but I'll probably make a little flap to cover it up just in case. The zipper on the back of the vest will be covered by armor and the cape. I still have to put snaps on the collar-neck-seal.

I did go ahead and start a soft parts WIP too:
http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=105384.0

I look forward to any critiques and suggestions! And I'm ridiculously excited I'm actually getting somewhere at last!

[Kryamla Redalur]

Awesome concept art! And your vest looks amazing! Looking forward to seeing more

[Carid Vhett]

Nice start vod.

[Mav runi]

First of all, i am so happy you finally started a thread, can't wait to see how it goes.

Second, i still can't get over your mad art skills XD

In case you weren't aware, there is going to be an armor party in the east valley next saturday. check the shonare vhekadla clan boards for details

[Kavryn Falco]

Love the concept drawing, and that's a nice vest Although, you'll probably need to modify your gauntlet design - the App Team prefers gauntlets to be fully enclosed. You'll also need to make sure that those zippers are hidden.

It looks to me like your chestplates are angled. Are you aware of Viradectis's chestplate design, and the template that is available for it? It's what I use (and Jorikad uses it, too, and her armor looks an awful lot like yours).

[Carid Vhett]

Gauntlets like that are fine.

[Kavryn Falco]

Hm, I suppose so. Apologies, I misremembered.

Forearms must be fully covered by one of the following:

• Full or half/bracer style hard shell gauntlets.

[Orar Jaxx]

Am I the only one who can't see the photos?

[Kavryn Falco]

They were there when I commented, but are no longer visible 

[spartafett]

Love the concept drawing, and that's a nice vest Although, you'll probably need to modify your gauntlet design - the App Team prefers gauntlets to be fully enclosed. You'll also need to make sure that those zippers are hidden.

It looks to me like your chestplates are angled. Are you aware of Viradectis's chestplate design, and the template that is available for it? It's what I use (and Jorikad uses it, too, and her armor looks an awful lot like yours).

Thank you all! Yeah those zippers will be covered. Some of it I'm sort of making up as I go, but I'll make sure of it. I like those angled plates! I'm currently working on bending some plastic for my plates (not angled), so we'll see how that goes. If it doesn't work out I'll definitely check those templates out.

I don't think I'll be able to make the armor party next weekend unfortunately but I'll watch out for other upcoming ones. Thanks.

And thanks for the feedback!

I think I also finally figured out how I kept messing up posting the pictures.

[spartafett]

Quick question since I can't seem to make up my mind and have been agonizing about it...should I start up a separate thread for all my soft parts? Clearly there are a lot of non-armor components, and this section of the forums seems to be mostly dedicated to armor. I'm probably going to end up with a lot more posts about the soft parts, especially right now.

[Kavryn Falco]

Since you seem to be a capable seamstress, I say go for it I didn't because "yup, tailored those legs, bought a flak vest" isn't interesting in the least, haha, but you've definitely got enough content to make a separate thread worthwhile.

[spartafett]

Thank you! Will do!

[stifler]

Nice concept!
Your kit remember armor of Jorikad, a mando'ade of Orar Galaar!

Sorry for my english, thank Google trad!

[spartafett]

Nice concept!
Your kit remember armor of Jorikad, a mando'ade of Orar Galaar!

Sorry for my english, thank Google trad!

Thank you. That's a nice kit she's got. The armor looks fantastic.

[Myra Tiin]

Gjsibfoahfizhgjd your concept drawing is awesome and your vest is rad ! Can't wait to see more of your build
Oya for desert mandos !
And you can create a thread for your soft parts, but that's not an obligation.

[Orar Jaxx]

Now I can see the pics!  Looks awesome!

[Laaran Dala]

Your concept drawing is amazing and that vest is absolutely killer!    Can't wait to see where you go from here!

[spartafett]

Thank you everyone! And now for some armor updates! I worked out paper patterns first, tested them on my dress form and on myself several times and thought I had them just about perfect. So I cut my templates out of my plastic and started heatforming them.

It wasn't working. I spent several hours slowly adjusting them, and getting them close, but not perfect. It was getting frustrating.

I got the idea that I didn't want darts in the armor and really preferred the idea of more subtle shaping. The pieces worked alright when I tried them just on me but sat really weird as soon as I put my vest on. They were also too wide, so they dug into my arms.

Here's what I learned: female armor is shaped very differently than male. This is obvious if you're busty, but I am very much not, so I didn't anticipate it. My pieces were cut very similarly to male pieces, which stuck out on my skinny frame. I didn't draft my templates properly.

To compare: the white piece is my first attempt, with all my crazy lines to help me keep track of everywhere it needed to curve. The black is my new and improved piece. I was impressed with how subtly and yet essentially different the angles were. That and the size.


I also discovered that it's very important to do mock ups. I should've known that: I'm an artist, and am very well aware of how essential it is to do foundation work before jumping right into what you want to become the final product.

So I started over, copied the templates from here: http://www.mediafire.com/view/dbws61k7fwwl48c/Mercs-Female-ChestPlate-prototype.pdf

They were very nice because they helped me to understand the shapes for female armor. I altered these to give still more subtle shaping and extended them slightly.

Once I had my basic shapes worked out in paper, I made the templates again, this time out of pellon--a stiff, interfacing sort of fabric. Paper tends to only want to bend in one direction or another, but the pellon was better simulating how the plastic will actually bend (I think). More adjustments were made till those were sitting right.


Then I made a full mockup out of craft foam. In theory, I'm ready to cut my plastic and it should work better this time. (I think.)

But since I don't want to screw it up again, I'm looking for some feedback! 









I did end up with a seam, but as they were coming together I came around to the idea and started to really like how it looked. It more closely reflects the look of the armor in my drawing--and since I'm pleased with how that looks I think I won't try deviating from it. The zippers are hidden by the armor and the scarf. It all sits well on me and doesn't dig in anywhere. But is there too much space between plates?

And the back.


I wasn't sure if the lower piece needed to be a bit wider or not. I will also have a cape that hangs something like this:




Even if these aren't quite right, they have gone way better than any of my armor mockups have gone before, so I'm still thrilled by that!

[Raestin Ke'Varek]

First, let me say, you're concept art is stunning.  Seriously. 

Great job with the new mock-ups!!  Sizing and spacing look spot on, very cleanly done.  If you get your hard plates looking like the foam ones, you're gonna have some nice plates.   8)

[Ram'or Kranak]

I'm responding simply to keep track of how you do this.  I have two sets of female armor to do for my wide and daughter.  Honestly it scares me.  Great build so far!

[spartafett]

First, let me say, you're concept art is stunning.  Seriously. 

Great job with the new mock-ups!!  Sizing and spacing look spot on, very cleanly done.  If you get your hard plates looking like the foam ones, you're gonna have some nice plates.   8)

Yay! Thank you!

I'm responding simply to keep track of how you do this.  I have two sets of female armor to do for my wide and daughter.  Honestly it scares me.  Great build so far!

I'll try to keep up with posting detailed progress reports for you then.

[Kavryn Falco]

Nice work on those chestplates! And I hadn't seen those templates before - where did you find them?

I would make that backplate a little bit wider - even with a cape, the idea is still to create the illusion of having a full-coverage backplate. An inch or two wider couldn't hurt, I think

[3mandos]

Looks really cool. Great work.

[Raestin Ke'Varek]

I would make that backplate a little bit wider - even with a cape, the idea is still to create the illusion of having a full-coverage backplate. An inch or two wider couldn't hurt, I think

Kavryn makes a good point about the backplate & cape.