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[Rhys Yaan]

Pre Vizsla Phase 2 Armor

"Your weak-minded rule of Mandalor is over!"

As I am nearing the finish line, I wanted to update this first post with my current progress. What follows is my almost year long journey. If it was not for the support of my amazing girlfriend, friends and family, I do not think I would have the tenacity to see this through. But, it is not done yet - the jetpack remains to be finished.  Hopefully, I can mark it done by the end of this year

Original post:

Hi there, Im not sure if this is the correct place to post this, but hopefully it is! Since being very close to finishing my soft parts (and my helmet being finished 100%), I think its time to start working on my armor. I have started with the chest plates. I have downloaded the Jango Fett templates (which according to the 501st CRL are whats required for a Pre Vizsla kit) and started measuring them. After much trial and error, it seems that the chest armor which would fit me is the 5ft 3in one or as I would like to call it XS (which is weird since my height is around 5´7). The abs and the chest plates seem to fit, but I guess my shoulders are a bit bigger/wider and I will have to make a custom fit neck piece.

[Odran Krayt]

Spacing looks good atm, but usually it all gets based off the collar plate. The other thing is, the chest my be a tad too wide, does it feel like it would be hard to reach across your chest plates if you had the hard armor?

[Rhys Yaan]

Hey thank you! So, I will make it my top priority to get the collar template done and will not start making the rest without it finished.

The other thing is, the chest my be a tad too wide, does it feel like it would be hard to reach across your chest plates if you had the hard armor?

I am sorry, but I am not exactly sure what you mean? Do you mean something like touching my left hip with my right hand or something like that? I mean, I can definitely make it less wide a bit. The paper template seems like it is "deforming/stretching" a little around the edges near the sides.

EDIT: Ugh, ok, scratch everything I said and the first post as well... I have done some proper research into Clone Wars and it seems that Pre Vizsla has everything slightly different than the rest of Death Watch and other Mandos as well. His chesplate is unique.

Here is the official 501st CRL chestplate:

Here it is from the cartoon:

Here is Bobba's chestplate:

So, I will remake the template to try and make it look as screen accurate as I can and I will also help myself with the 501st CRL.

[Odran Krayt]

I think usually, people say if you can't fold your arms across the chestplates, their too wide

[Rhys Yaan]

Dang it, before I noticed your reply, I updated the previous post, sorry 

[Rhys Yaan]

Alright, so after scrapping most of my templates and making new ones, I have decided to make the armor plates out of sintra instead of fiberglass. I have never used sintra so it was a bit scary. Thanks to the ongoing COVID19 pandemic I have plenty of filters and masks at home, so I just got myself a heat gun and some 3mm PVC plates and set out to work on it.

The initial cut was very good. And I am very happy with what I got.

Two things however that need fixing: the vest and the thickness of the plates. If I were to make a standard Jango Fett costume, the vest would be good, but for Pre Vizsla it is too wide across the shoulders. Vizsla has his chest and collar plates sitting very closely to the edge of the vest. Thankfully, instead of making bigger plates (it would be very hard to move if I made them bigger), I have spare place with the vest in the shoulder/armpits area, so I am going to shorten that. Also, I feel like the plates are too thin. Clone Wars has a very thin style of animating, basically everyone is almost a stick figure, however Sintra is way too thin and it is bending too easily, I think. So, I figure I would cut another set of 3mm plates and glue them onto the existing plates.

I was also thinking about fiberglassing the plates from the inside, however I am unsure if the fiberglass would stuck onto the sintra plates or if it would peel off given time. Does anoyne have any experience in this area?

Anyway, will post more soon.

[Cronnen55]

There's a topic here that someone asked about sintra and fiberglass. I don't know if that will help you, they basically suggest just adding more sintra.
https://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=75905.0

[Rhys Yaan]

A small update! 

I have been practicing a little with sintra and decided to completely redo my chesplates. I felt like I used the heat gun on them a bit too much and bent them too much as well. So, I cut new plates and went a little easier with the bending and heating this time.

There's a topic here that someone asked about sintra and fiberglass. I don't know if that will help you, they basically suggest just adding more sintra.
https://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=75905.0

What I did was scratch the insides of the plates with coarse sandpaper, put on some aggressive resin mix that "ate" into the plate and then put one layer of thick 250g fiberglass cloth onto it. The result is really good, its sturdy, thick and yet somewhat light.

It went so well that I decided to sand them down with thin grade paper and dye them too! Once finished, I also made the kneepads! The ornamenting/engraving of the  triangle-ish shape was a bit painful as I wasnt sure what tool to use (knife was too wide/sharp), but after experimenting with several tools (scissors, chisels, dremel) essentially what I did was use bent coarse sandpaper and lightly touched it up. I think it looks pretty good 

Please note, that the center diamond is not dyed yet, its just cut and glued together.

Next I will be working on the shinguards and starting the backplate. Wish me luck! (Looking at the templates of the back plate I am horrified and have no idea how to shape it, but I have plenty of sintra, so I can experiment with it till I get it right).

[Awall]

Slick!  I like where your weathering is going!

[Rhys Yaan]

Another update: Chestplates are finished! 

So it has been a while since I was terribly busy with work, however I got some time to finish up the chestplates. As far as weathering goes, I watched a lot of videos and read a lot of tutorials and articles, and I have decided that in this case less is more. I went with a gunmetal grey and grainy paintjob. After that it was time for the insignia on the plates. After having a go at it for five times, failing miserably and walking away in anger several times, my amazing girlfriend has stepped in painted the figures on the plates. She has done an amazing job!

Finally, I have sprayed it over with one coat of matte transparent finish.

My next order of business is attaching velcro strips on the back of the plates and onto the flak vest. After that, it will be time to start working on the back plate.

[Tenaz]

Walking away in anger - I can relate to that far too easily! 

The plates look great! I really like choice/application of the gunmetal here - and props to your girlfriend on the insignia!

[Rhys Yaan]

Time for another small update: Shoulderplates and shins. 

Well, I havent started working on the back plate just yet, because well, it just feels like it is going to be somewhat complicated. So I wanted to practice more on things that are less complicated.

Here is what I have so far since last week:

Well, despite the fact that various online guides (the 501st Legion among them) state that the shins should be the same medium grey colour as the rest of the plates and helmet, I somewhat disagree with that. I have been rewatching season 4 and 5 of Clone Wars and collecting various screenshots and resources, and it seems to me that Vizsla's shins, knees and boot plates all have a base colour that is white and the armor parts are just weathered/dirty.

Here is one of the reference pictures where you can see it very nicely:

You can clearly see the distinction in colouring between chest, thigh and shin plates. Which I would say are all different colours - chestplates are somewhat grey, thighs are washout out black and the shins are, like I said, a base colour of white that is weathered.

Looking forward to your comments!

Walking away in anger - I can relate to that far too easily! 

The plates look great! I really like choice/application of the gunmetal here - and props to your girlfriend on the insignia!

Thank you! We both appreciate it

[Rhys Yaan]

Gauntlets 

Another smallish update, although this one took a bit longer than expected.

I have made some progress with my gauntlets. They are pretty much finished, except for the hinge - which I do not want to seal yet, because I still want to put some padding inside so that they fit perfectly on my forearms. After the padding is in its proper places, I will cut the wires in the hinges and seal them with resin.

Otherwise, these are pretty much finished!

[Rhys Yaan]

Armor Test 1 

Hi! So, I have finally finished /some/ of my armor parts and hoping to improve my motivation to work on the rest of the kit, I have decided to do a fitting test. Here are the results!

I have some obvious and some less obvious comments I want to make about the armor parts (those that are present in the pictures) which I will discuss below! As always, I welcome any and all comments.

Front.

In the pic above you can see my immediate issue - the upper part of the left chestplate is hanging off the velcro for some reason. The velcro itself might have crapped out. Or I might have not bent the plate enough. This is going on the to do list.

In contrast, the right chest plate is awesome. At least I think that it is in its proper place and this is how the left one should look as well.

Front again. The lack of the girth belt makes my legs look rather long/short based upon your point of view. The thing is that my legs are both a different length/size. I tried to minimize this oddity with the kneeplates but without the girth belt (and the actual belt) and the shin guards (which I still have yet to finish) it seems as if the kneeplates are too low. I made triple sure that they are not (actually I think that according to where they should be - slightly above the knee cap - they are bit too high) - but again, it is an optical oddity. The vest with the ab plate is actually sitting right on my navel. Heh.

This pictures is all about the gloves and the glove-plates. I think the gloves are a 100% match. I am not sure about the plates themselves. In a following picture I will  show you how they look in the fifth season of the Clone Wars. The more I look at them, the more I think they are weirdly looking. My girlfriend thinks that they are screen accurate. I am not sure.
Picture No.1:
Picture No.2:

Thr thigh plate also looks as if it is too low but again, that is because of the lack of the girth belt and the actual belt (I am 99% sure). Here you can also see my very weird legs. I never had an injury or anything, I just always had trouble buying pants lol

Thanks!

[Kryamla Redalur]

Looks like you’re making good progress! One thing I’m seeing is that from the sides, it looks like your armor is floating away from your body? You might need to a little bit more shaping or need a bit more Velcro to pull the fabric to the plate. Either way, looks like you’re making nice progress

[Rhys Yaan]

Thanks for the kind words!

I will be adding more velcro to some parts of the armor, might even bend it more a bit with the hot gun. My glove plates are frustrating, because no matter what they do not want to sit in place and keep "floating off" :/

Would you perhaps know of a better way how to attach them besides velcro? Any assistance would be appreciated

[Kryamla Redalur]

Snaps or magnets might work slightly better for hand plates? (As a disclaimer, I’ve tried neither personally but I know others have with success)

[Rhys Yaan]

Hmm, I will try adding more velcro and see if it that works, if not, I will try the snap ons/clip ons. I was thinking of attaching the glove plates permanently to the gloves ( if I could figure out how ).

[Ascalon]

You are making really good progress.  We would look for similar colors used on our CRLs as the 501st Has in theirs.  I think if you stick to various medium grays to get the difference in the tones from plate to plate you will be ok.  Weathering and misting darker/lighter colors can also help to alter the shades across the plates.

Chest plates are looking good. I think they will need weathering on your plates to match the canon references but they are looking good.  Your helmet has a decent amount of weathering to match the canon references you need to bring that to your plates too.

There are still some visible print lines on the gauntlets.  These are a common thing we see on apps so I would rather tell you know than during your App.

The kit is really coming together nicely.

[Rhys Yaan]

Backplate Log 

Hello! Thank you all for the kind words.

@Ascalon, I will be working on the chestplate weathering!

In the mean time, I have been working on two projects: backplate and boot plates. For this post, I will try to detail the progress we (my girlfriend has been crucial in helping me out, if it were just me, I would have given up long ago ) have been making on the backplate.

First, I have printed out the basic Jango Fett backplate template and adjusted it to fit Pre Vizsla Phase 2 plate. Because, as with almost everything relating to Pre Vizsla and his second armor, 90% of his armour is custom or slightly different.

After that I have cut this out of a 3mm sintra board and brushed the edges with sandpaper:

This is how the initial shaping turned out. My girlfriend used a cover for a pot to get the round shape in the middle of the back area:

I was not happy with the neck/shoulder edge area so I used some bondo and a special bonding agent in a spray can. After several days of sanding and adding more bonding agent, I was satisfied with the results:

And lastly, before adding velcro I have also put on a thick three layer of fiberglass and resin onto the backplate to make it much more sturdy. I prefer working with a thin sintra board and then once I get the correct shape, I add a lot of fiberglass:

As with every other part of my Pre Vizsla kit, I am almost always satisfied with how they turn out until I try them on - I am still waiting for the paint to dry properly and then I will try sewing on the velcro on my vest and we shall see how that turns out.

See you next time! 

[Kryamla Redalur]

Nice progress! It’s hard to tell, but does the back plate rub against your shoulder bells? If it does, I’d recommend a bit of a trim to the back plate

[Rhys Yaan]

@Kryamla Redalur, it does not  ! It just looks like it does in the picture where I am holding onto it when its "untreated". Ive had it double taped onto the vest and walked around with it and it felt pretty natural. I will post more pictures how it sits on the vest soonTM 

I have been working on the boots in the mean time, I have cut out and glued together the parts for the shoelaces and then bent it around my foot with the heatgun, now it is sitting fiberglassed and drying out, will post more pictures soon of those as well!

[Kryamla Redalur]

Glad to hear it’s not rubbing against the shoulder bells

[Rhys Yaan]

Armor Test 2 - Weathered + Custom Darksaber

So, it has been a long road until this point and I still have a few ways to go, but I am starting to get a really good feeling about my kit. Here is second armor test, currently I am only missing my outer belt and the jetpack. I tried contacting someone from the pre-app team (I will message Ascalon again!  ) to see if I could get approved as a canon character without a jetpack or not - if yes, then I could be sending my app very soon! If not, well, come January maybe? Also, I will be posting comments below most of the pictures about things I have only realized once I put the whole kit on - so those are issues I am aware of and will be fixing them ASAP!

A couple comments about the front: I still do not have the girth belt properly fastened and as such the trouser part of my flightsuit is sagging a bit and therefore my kneeplates and shins look as if they are too low - they are in the correct place on the suit, but the belt is resting kind of on my waist, so its not properly tightened.

The hoops that are the bottom/back of my shoes which are supposed to help you get them off and on will be removed. Also, I dont know what the hell was I doing in this picture? Looking for a penny? Anyway, I am in a weird bent forward position for some reason, Im sorry :/.

One pistol is finished - the other needs more bondo and sanding as the lines are still visible. I will write a separate paragraph about the Darksaber here, which is cusotm made by my amazing friend.

In this picture here, I took some pins and fastened the belt to a somewhat better size/shape, but it is still WIP. Anyway, the shins and she kneeplates look better here.

Darksaber

My very talented friend who works at a worskhop, called the Creative Point (they make and support creative projects for students using various machines) have made a custom darksaber for me. He designed the hilt himself as well as made the inside of the darksaber/the electronics. The blade is cut out of two polycarbonate plates and taped together around an LED and the entire thing has almost no screws and holds together only with magnets. Its amazing!

Finally, here are some non-canon images that I made and I do not consider the cape to be part of this kit, but I could not resist taking some pictures with it!

P.S. I know that the Darksaber and the cape are in the wrong hand - Vizsla was right handed and as such fenced with his cape on his right shoulder, but I mirrored him since we took pictures on the opposite shoulder and hand, but we could not get any decent lighting :/

[Rhys Yaan]

Smallish update: Belt + Motion Test

I have started working on the outer segmented belt. I was inspired how to do this by a fellow Merc from this thread = https://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=130437.0 who I believe also made the template for the pre vizsla jetpack (which I am now trying to convert into a pep file and have that printed - no longer have access to a 3d printer, due to C-19).

Cut these out of a 3mm sintra board.

Gunmetal grey as base.

Prepared the old hiking belt for attachment - removed the buckle.

Final sizing test on the girthbelt - fits perfectly!

Final painting and weathering. I am sorry about the crap image quality, but it is getting very late and my phone can not take pics properly in my poor lighting :/. I will post better pictures tomorrow in daylight. Or when the whole belt is finished!

Armor Motion Test Vid (you might need to right click on the video and play on another tab/page)

I have also tightened the girth belt and every piece of leg armour, so it holds firmly in place. It is not much, but its something. I feel like I can move around in the armour much more easily. It holds in place and does not move.