I should have jumped in sooner!
For my chestplates, i simply had a mando friend whom i trust to be a professional lol the plates were heated up, then while wearing my vest and a layer or 2 of tshirt and sorry for tmi, a bra that is push up/padded, then he formed them directly on me since he can see where they should sit.
He went back over it later with a heat gun to even out the top edges and make other slight adjustments.
Thank you for the advice! That's basically exactly what I tried here. With my first pieces it didn't occur to me to bend them directly on me for some reason--I was working on my dress mannequin, which is not shaped the same as me it turns out. I'm apparently smaller than it is. :/
Patience is paying off. I think I'm getting closer. I'm using six inch pvc pipe. It's nice and thick. I traced my templates around the pipe, using the curve of the pipe to my advantage. My first time around I didn't think to do that and I was trying to unbend the plastic and then reshape it in almost the opposite direction. For example, here are the first collar pieces.
I forgot to flip my template over, so I basically had two left collar pieces. I was trying to bend against the will of the pipe to get my right piece and it wouldn't go for it. It's all warped and uneven.
So I kept that in mind this time around and that helped a lot. I thought about what direction my deepest curve would sit on me and that's how I placed the template.
I put my top and vest on and softened the plastic real good with the heat gun, almost to the point that it was getting all flappy and rubbery, held it between two pot holders and then just held it in place right on me till it cooled down. My family found it terribly amusing to find me standing in the kitchen holding my chest.
Here's a couple shots of how it is all fitting right now.
I just got the seams on the chest plates fused with pvc cement, and I'm hoping to get a chance to fill them in, as time allows. I've never used bondo before, so that'll be a fun experiment. Apparently it needs hardener mixed in though? I have to go get that. Then I'll do some sanding! I also need to get the key area cleaned up--the edges aren't equal on each piece
I need to adjust collar piece, but I'm not sure how...it's too wide, so I'll trim the ends off a bit. It also digs into my collar bone, so I think I need to make it a little more narrow. I also don't like that I can't move in it comfortably, so I'm thinking of cutting it into three sections, about where my scribbly lines are. Would that be ok?
Overall, everything is fitting much better than my first attempt, so that's cool!
I added some width to the back plate, as suggested. Does this look better?
Eh, while I'm at it...I'm trying to figure out what to do for gauntlets. I didn't want the traditional weaponized gauntlets, so I'm trying to figure out something a little simpler. Are these too simple? The black will be leather, the yellow armor. Leather strips will wrap keep the two pieces together. I think I'll have wraps like I made for my legs go under the gaunts, over the sleeves.
Thank you!