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[Mercy]

Another rough-in stage almost completed. Meet das boots...





I tried a full-articulation to cover the gaps, but it started looking all medieval dungeons and dragons-ey, so I left gaps in the plates like you see. It actually allows much better freedom of movement. Once the final shaping and paint is applied, the Chicago screws will be reversed (slots on the inside) and painted over to look like rivets.

The shins actually run about 1" above the top of the kneecap, doubling as knee armor. They are a 2/3rds wraparound, built with an option to fully enclose them later I decide to.

Trouble is now....with all of my experimenting I've run out of sintra! Ive got bunches of armor pieces that are 90% done and I can't finish layering and texturing them.
Delays delays...

BTW, if you can't tell, I am having an absolute blast building this stuff. Every piece is a new creative act, and a design challenge.
Now I know why you guys and gals are so into this...

[Mercy]

I have my boot armor attached like that (chicago screws reversed) and have had a lot of trouble with them coming unscrewed. I've put all sorts of strengths of loctite on them and it hasn't worked. If you want to be able to remove your plates then good luck, otherwise you might consider a dab of superglue.

The plate sizing looks pretty good to me. With the plates on can you touch your shoulder with the opposite hand? If anything the plates are a smidgen too large, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, especially with your custom design. My plates are definitely too large for me. I'd say the collar is the plate that looks large on you. It's a lot larger than a standard collar plate.

What all are you going to bondo on your plates?

Well, I was planning on using loctite, but if that doesn't work then superglue it is.

I can easily touch the opposite shoulder. If it try to do that with both hands at the same time it does shift the plates and is a bit uncomfortable, but doable.
The collar started as a standard Boba large. It comes down an extra 1/2" at the point above the diamond to match the top edge of the breastplate.
The breastplate is more squared than standard, so the collar was extended 1/2" on either side to meet the edge of the breastplate.

All of the pieces are laminated sintra to get the dimensional look, and the edges of the breastplate are rolled over. This leaves some edges that have a terraced look where the lames show, and some gaps where sloping curves are used. The bondo is to fill these areas to give it all a finished look.

At this point I can still easily trim the collar if necessary, but reworking the breastplate to match the lines...have to think if all the extra work is worth it.

Thanks for your input

[Mercy]

Well, blue Loctite may or may not hold. Red is semi-permanent, but if that doesn't hold that just leaves mean-green, and to get that apart you will need more heat than the sintra can ever handle. At that point it might as well be super glue

To give a little more flexibility in the shoulders and to bring the collar closer to stock width....I took the plunge and trimmed in the breastplate. Same width at diamond height, but tapered in1/4" on each side toward the top and the bottom, so now there is a slight trapezoid shape instead of perfect right angles. then re-rolled-over the outer layer to dress the edge. It wasn't as tricky as I thought, but that first cut made me nervous. Range of motion is a tiny but better (I think), but that subtle trim made it look better, and more interesting than right angles. I also brought the collar in by the same 1/4"  so the lines flow.


Spacing is off by a few mm...ignore that, its just kinda laying in place.

The ab plate is 3 fingers (2") above the bellybutton. The recommendations I saw for a Boba body shape were about 3", but I have a long torso, so I started with a long ab plate knowing that I could trim it later. I could just as easily trim the length off of the collar instead, bringing the whole harness up a tad.

Thanks again.

[Natan Vizsla]

I really like the slight trim on the chest plates there. Any more work on the back?

[Mercy]

I really like the slight trim on the chest plates there. Any more work on the back?

Yea, it's subtle but I like it too.
The back hasn't changed any, other than a bit of sanding.I/m waiting on my "final" vest to get these pieces mounted so I can do the final shaping and spacing.

Snapped a pic with the newly trimmed plates and the belt to see how those lines flow. It's so hard to keep things straight while you have one arm extended to work the camera...



I pulled the collar up 1/4" by deepening the neck cutout, but i think I'll do a bit more. The more I look at it, the more I'm agreeing with Kiffren. The measurements may say one thing, but it's the actual fit that counts...

With the belt in place, I'm thinking of trimming in the fangs and ab plate a bit to taper down toward the buckle. Taking a straight line to it would be too much, but I think a little bit would look good. Looking at this pic I seem a little fatter at the waist than I really am. (or maybe that's just my ego talking... )

What do you all think?

Ed: quick modification in paint to see what it might look like...

[Ralin Voth]

I like the taper you gave it in the Paint edit. There's one thing Mando armor isn't forgiving on, it's your body shape. Even a slight gut is accentuated. I meant to comment the other day about the collar getting trimmed, I'm glad to see Kiffren made the suggestion too and you took it. I think you're just about there!

[Mercy]

There's one thing Mando armor isn't forgiving on, it's your body shape.

Yea, tell me about it. Just because ESB Jeremy an I have identical height/weight does not mean we use the same plates...

Tweaks are done. The final fine-tuning happens when the plates are finally mounted on the vest.
I'm pretty happy with the results. Thanks all for your critiques.

[Mercy]

Well, I have some time this coming week to work on the kit, and I'm thinking about paint now.
Im a primary colors type of guy, and primary colors is exactly what I DONT want on this build, so Im looking to my fellow mando-folk for input.

Here's a rough of the torso as it sits in white...


I tried a few things with a newbie paint program using my finger as a brush...dont laugh



Ignore the spider man thing...that was just done on a lark. I want to go togruta tribal, but this looked kinda fun so I kept it for the moment.
Colors Im thinking of are a dark maroon/brown (darker than the picture), Ahsoka orange secondary, and bare metal where you see the white.

Anyone have any cool ideas? designs? other color options?

If you are handy with photoshop and want to take a stab at a cool scheme, have at it. Im still pretty open at this time.
Thanks in advance...

[Natan Vizsla]

Togruta do tend towards warm colors apart from their blue in their montrals and lekku. I like what you have except the Spider-Man legs, maybe run the Ahsoka orange along the outside edge.

[Mercy]

OK, on a slightly less silly note...

Remember...fingerpainting, colors a bit darker/earthier, and gray bits are bare metal. Here are some variations Im thinking of.









Thoughts?

[crutchthecrusher]

I like the 2 one the one with the red diamond and white in the middle   

[Mercy]

Yea that's the one I like best so far too.
If I don't find any other inspirations I think that's what I will go with...or at least as a starting point

[Kitala-Enby]

3 i very nice.

[Mercy]

Project on hold...

I came back from vacation to find a burst pipe under the sink had flooded half of the house
Nothing can change priorities quicker than a homeowner disaster...

Back in a few weeks.

[Mercy]

OK, ready for a final plate sizing check. My vest is here, temporary velcro in place, and preparing for the final alignment and installation of mounting points.

I've applied a lot you your advice, and now I'm looking for one last round of opinion on sizing before I lock this part in.
Please ignore the background...the house-flood left me with a completely stripped bathroom except for this one mirror...the only one in the house





Unless anyone notices anything that I don't, I'm ready to move on to the next steps.

Thanks in advance.

[Naasad Tal]

I think the spacing looks good...any gaps can be filled in with a girth belt which I think you've already got covered. As for the paint, I like the 3rd one (the one with the orange border around the white chest diamond). You're rapidly closing on the finish line ner vod, keep up the good work!

P.S. it was great to finally meet you tonight at the armor party.

[Mercy]

Between my kit, renovating the house, and work, I've been pulled in a million directions. Finally have something to post...

Mounting and finalizing all of the plates on the main harness. I'm getting much closer, and am happy with the results so far.
Something I've learned...start with one or two pieces, mount them, and build on from there. Once you can see things in context it's so much easier to see what will work and it evolves much more naturally. I decided to rethink and rebuild a lot of things as this process went on. Could have saved some time and money if I'd have taken this approach from the start.

I was finally able to tweak the design to achieve a single harness for all of the upper body plates.




I intended from the start to use a pair of small blaster pistols as holdouts, and I knew that I wanted some sort of cross-draw holsters at the waist. What I decided on was to incorporate the holsters into the armor, as a part of a set of flank plates.

Beginning with cardboard templates and moving on to sintra...





I wanted a minimalist look, so some tricky shaping and balancing was required. Even in a nearly horizontal position the guns will stay put unless you twist the body aggressively, so a small snap-strap may be required. The holsters will be mounted on to a larger flank plate, then to the vest/belt.

The insides will be lined with black felt, but am trying to decide if the outside should get a leather fabric layer to match my cape/kama, or should they be painted to match the armor? What do you folks think?

Maybe more to come this weekend if my motivation and sintra supply hold up

[Elekbah Dhagal]

I really like you armor work.  Beautiful symmetry.   

[Mercy]

I really like you armor work.  Beautiful symmetry.   

Thanks.
I put a lot of effort into getting the symmetry and spacing just right.
(Though it's hard to tell with my cockeyed dummy )
I'm glad someone noticed.

[Terrik_Darkyen]

Nice nice work!

[Havelock]

I like the thought of painting the holsters to match your armor.  And you've got me rethinking how I was planning on doing my cross-draw holsters for my blasters.   

[Mercy]

I like the thought of painting the holsters to match your armor.  And you've got me rethinking how I was planning on doing my cross-draw holsters for my blasters.   

That's the way I was  thinking of going, but haven't seen it done so wasn't sure how it might look.

[Kavryn Falco]

I love this. We don't have nearly enough alien mandos. (At first I saw your profile pic and thought you were doing Maleficent, but I like Togrutans much better)

[Mercy]

I love this. We don't have nearly enough alien mandos. (At first I saw your profile pic and thought you were doing Maleficent, but I like Togrutans much better)

LOL! I think the big black wings would be a bit beyond my costuming skills 

[Havelock]

LOL! I think the big black wings would be a bit beyond my costuming skills 

Give it time.