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[trashcanmando]

Love the rivets on the plates! Where did you get your thigh pouch things? I've been looking for something exactly like that

[Shammah]

Nice to see this going again.

[CaburIjaat]

More progress! At some point I apparently bought thigh plates, so I figured I had better get them prepped!



I also finished assembling my new gauntlets and gave them a base coat and wash.

[CaburIjaat]

Love the rivets on the plates! Where did you get your thigh pouch things? I've been looking for something exactly like that

I'm pretty sure I randomly found them at a con or something similar. I'm debating getting rid of them in favor of my thigh plates.

[CaburIjaat]

Deflated Mando progress pic for Thanksgiving.

[CaburIjaat]

Two almost full days of working on my kit and I'm making fantastic progress!

[trashcanmando]

Considering getting rid of them, you say? :O Would you consider reselling them to me if you do decide you want to ditch them for the thigh plate?

Everything's looking great, the rifle looks awesome!

[aforklikeutensil]

Very, very glad to see your build come back to life.  #following

[CaburIjaat]

Wasn't able to dedicate as much time today, but still managed to install lights in my gauntlet.

[CaburIjaat]

Another lighter day, but still making progress!

Started the harrowing task of smoothing out the inside of my bucket.

Before:


After:


Definitely not done yet, but I'm hoping this method works and can be easily replicated to the rest of the interior.

Also decided to take the plunge and work on a backplate that will hopefully give me better mobility and maybe even let me sit down in kit! 

Currently mocked up with painter's tape:



And finally, I started work on my half thermal detonator:

[aforklikeutensil]

Hurray for mobility.   

[CaburIjaat]

Back from my business trip and back at messing around with my kit.  Here's a few pictures of what I've been playing around with:







Not entirely happy with the custom plate design, but I had the extra parts sitting around and decided to see what I could do with them.  I think I'm probably going to move toward Legacy style chest and back for this updated build, mostly because I love the idea of a functionally one piece torso armor for ease of kitting up and mobility.  That progress will hopefully begin this week!

I also have resin coming today to attempt slush casting the inside of my helmet.  Hopefully that will be a relatively simple fix for the unevenness and make working on the inside much easier!

I have to keep reminding myself that a lot of this process is trial and error, lol.  I'm definitely pleased with my progress of late and feel like I should be getting close to applying for OM once the App team is back from their break!

[CaburIjaat]

Slush casting was a moderate success!  Crafting pro tip: don't buy 40 minute work time resin for slush casting, lol.  If I try that again, it'll be fast black onyx 10-15 minute work time resin.



The visor fits much better, now, and the bucket is SOOOO much more comfortable without any padding, so I'm pleased with the results.




My clan was kind and brought back a full sintra sheet from the armor party this weekend, so I'm all set to begin work on the legacy plates!



There are two sheets there, so I will definitely be able to reserve some for the foundlings!

Updating with tonight's progress.  I really want to invest in a band or jig saw after cutting all of this with a box cutter, lol.

[Novoc Mereel]

I actually use a small hobby saw for my sintra, and with legacy plates it's mostly straight cuts anyway. Works really well.

[aforklikeutensil]

I like the direction you're going.  Smooth Cast Onyx fast is a great choice for slush cast resin.  65D would also work well I would think.

[CaburIjaat]

Finally finished getting everything cut out! SOOOO many pieces, lol. I'm definitely glad that part is done.



Next will be shaping, which I'm sure will be completely stress free... 

Found another way of procrastinating the shaping! Trauma plate planning!



I'm super enjoying this look and an excited about everything except cutting out more plates 

Update:

Finally ran out of other things to do:



I have a feeling they're a bit too wide, but I think the legacy plates are designed that way?  I might be able to shape the edges a bit differently to improve things, but I'm not 100% sure.

Last update for tonight:

Shaped the trauma plates and taped them on to get a sense for the finished product:



Update 12/12!

Shaping is complete, and I'm almost ready to attach the plates!



My one hiccup right now is that shaping has led to the collar and backplate no longer matching, so I'll have to figure out the best way of fixing that.  I'm planning on attaching using the tutorial and guidance from others. Strapping will end up looking like this:

[Shammah]

Doing good vod, keep it up. 

[CaburIjaat]

Today was armor day, and I'm super happy with my results!













A bit more shaping here and there, which will be so much easier now that it will stay on.  The whole thing is a single unit that goes on over my head, which was my goal.

I'll be adding some leather straps to the side to tighten it up to my frame over the weekend.  I'll have to prime it and hit it with the Rub'n Buff and then the torso armor should be complete!

Now it's on to finishing my bucket, and I think I'll be most of the way there!

[trashcanmando]

Absolutely love the rivets, vod! I don't know anything about Legacy plates, so this might be totally fine, I am just observing- it seems like the back plates come down farther than the front plates. Don't do anything crazy till someone who knows about Legacy plates chimes in, but if I were you I'd consider trimming a couple inches off the last back plate.

[CaburIjaat]

Today's work!





The legacy plates are done! I'm super happy with how they turned out. I even managed to get some time to work on my bucket:



I feel really close to being ready for my OM application!

[Novoc Mereel]

Great work on those plates!

[Ruug'la Tal]

You're making great progress. Looks good.

[aforklikeutensil]

[CaburIjaat]

Had to toss on the flak vest to see how it looks:





I'm really loving the new plates! I also got the visor reinstalled. Almost there!!

12/15/19 Update:

Finished work on my bucket!









I really love the ComMando buy'ce, and I'm really pleased with how mine turned out. That was a lot of Rub'n Buff. 

Test fitting #1!

I didn't realize my shoulder harness was all messed up, so that'll be getting fixed. I have a tailor lined up to fix the baginess of the fight suit and install elastic to keep the pant legs from riding up. I also plan to trim several more inches off of the bottom of the backplate and remount the shoulder bells higher so they flare.

Definitely looking for suggestions on anything else!







Bonus before and after picture!

[Shammah]

Glad you posted the side by side pictures, shows how far you've come very recently. The fixes we gave yesterday should help knock this kit out of the park.