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[Jorad Werde]

e6000 will hold sitra, but pipe glue is a lot better at it.

[Kar'ta Tionas]

Picked up a few more supplies and it looks like I'll actually get some free time this weekend.  Verp will be done, I promise.

In the meantime, I talked my professor into letting me construct a shoulder plate from scratch in order to fulfill my "How to" assignment.  She moved the deadline up, so I did this in around 5 hours this evening.  My poor blowdryer actually survived the process which is a miracle.  This is more of a trial piece than a final paint, especially since I suffered a few paint smudges along the way.  There's a few things I'll do differently next time around (more drying time for sure), but overall I'm pretty happy with it.

[Kavryn Falco]

That is awesome, you have a cool professor    Nice paint application!  Especially for just a few hours. It takes me all day to paint my plates 

Let us know what your classmates think 

[Kar'ta Tionas]

That is awesome, you have a cool professor    Nice paint application!  Especially for just a few hours. It takes me all day to paint my plates 

Let us know what your classmates think 

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with it all things considered, but I definitely need a new metallic paint.  It's not shiny at all even when first applied.  The look improves quite a bit with enough dirt however it's still not quite right. 

Westar paint app is finished.  Dirt makes everything more believable...

[Kar'ta Tionas]

I've got a nearly free weekend, so it's time to get down to work.  First off, I finally came up with a method I liked for the 'lights' on the half-dets.  Sanded all the way down to the resin and then used clear nail polish to get them nice and reflective. 

[Vhett Naast]

Fantastic paint work on that shoulder plate, paint-chipping and grime is on point!  Looking forward to seeing more of the armor painted-up.

BTW, those large French military pouches you have work very well to carry a your cell phone in during troops.  I have one and utilize it for that, that way you don't have to leave your phone (or wallet, keys, etc) wherever you changed into kit. Plus when kids ask what's in your pouches I tell them I have my communicator, republic credits, and starship keys in them. 

[Kar'ta Tionas]

Fantastic paint work on that shoulder plate, paint-chipping and grime is on point!  Looking forward to seeing more of the armor painted-up.

BTW, those large French military pouches you have work very well to carry a your cell phone in during troops.  I have one and utilize it for that, that way you don't have to leave your phone (or wallet, keys, etc) wherever you changed into kit. Plus when kids ask what's in your pouches I tell them I have my communicator, republic credits, and starship keys in them. 

Thanks!  It was very much a rush job since I literally had to do the whole thing start to finish in 5 hours (including building the tutorial for my class).  It's not even the right color scheme.    Excellent practice though.
I'm one of those people who has to have space to store things - phone, inhaler, cash, etc.  Definitely very useful.  I'm stealing your excuses.


Small updates:
The pouches are finally softening up nicely after a few coats of oil.  Some of these things were literally leather rocks at first...

HELMET IS IN THE MAIL!!!  SO EXCITED TO RECEIVE IT!

Found a new grey paint and a slightly better metallic.  It's not perfect, but unless I want to go with Chrome it's as good as it's going to get.


These babies are finally ready for paint.  Now I just have to wait it out until we have one good day of not too much wind/rain

[Kar'ta Tionas]

The knives are nearly done.  I'm just experimenting with how to get the edges right.  A bit more blending is needed to make it more realisitc, but I'm nearly there.  What do you think?

[Jorad Werde]

looks great!

[Kavryn Falco]

Looks really nice. Gotta admit, your throwing knives made me remember that I wanted a set on mine

[Vhett Naast]

Yeah, I'd say those look pretty slick.

[Kar'ta Tionas]

Thanks!  I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.  Kavryn, I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

My helmet is here!!!  I think the sizing will be about perfect after I get my shoulders and torso armor built.



I'm going to see about getting it ready for a possible paint-up this weekend.  I finally found out where the painting booth on campus is, but I still need to check it out and discover what the operating hours/reservation system is. 

It looks like the ears are designed to come off (built-in chicago screws), so I'm just going to clean them up and get them attatched.   How do people normally handle the antenna?  Magnets so it stays upright?

[Vhett Naast]

Nice looking helmet!  I believe most people use magnets on the RF stalk, seems to be the best and most efficient way to me anyhow.  If your range finder stalk has a metal wire cast into it then rigging up some magnets is pretty easy (mount one magnet into the helmet/earpiece to hold it in the "up" position).

[Kar'ta Tionas]

Nice looking helmet!  I believe most people use magnets on the RF stalk, seems to be the best and most efficient way to me anyhow.  If your range finder stalk has a metal wire cast into it then rigging up some magnets is pretty easy (mount one magnet into the helmet/earpiece to hold it in the "up" position).

Awesome, thanks!  I'll see if the student store has magnets. 

Ok, so here's my flight suit on me.  It's a bit snug, but I'm working on that.  I think the arms will have to be taken in a bit, however the legs aren't bad.  My boots are supposed to arrive tomorrow and if they fit, I'll see whether the legs 'poof' out over the boot. Edit: boots are here; picture is updated

(My roommates decorated the mirror...)

Unfortunately, I've been really busy and haven't made much progress lately.  I did order leather supplies and vest fabric.  Both of those have arrived and I've found a bit of time to start fiddling with them.  Holster attempt #2 may happen tomorrow depending on how long my paper takes.

 I'm still trying to finish this for the TFA release if possible.  I've got a 'build week' coming up starting next weekend and continuing throughout Thanksgiving Break (7-9 days depending on my work schedule).  Theoretically, I will be completely free to work on costume projects for the entire break. 

This Weekend: I'm going to try my best to get my gauntlets started this weekend since I've finally found a printer on campus that's letting me adjust the size of the PDF.  The regular Boba size is huge on my forearms and wasn't working.   

[Kar'ta Tionas]

I heard back from the app team and it sounds like it's okay to do Corellian Blood Stripes.  I've already got the supplies and will probably be doing some major sewing Fri/Saturday.  Unfortunately, I never heard back from anyone regarding helping me with my flak vest, so I am going to have to try it myself.  I've used a sewing machine exactly once before. This should be fun...   

Assuming that I get all of my schoolwork wrapped up this week, the entirety of next week is free for building.  Standby for major progress. 

I got a bit of work done this weekend:
-ears and rangefinder on the bucket.  This ended up taking hours since the drill attachments for my Dremel have gone missing.  I improvised with some of the other attachments but had to bore one hole with a metal file since it was a smaller diameter than the dremel bits I had.  That took forever.  I still need to install a magnet for the RF, find some washers for the inside, and perform some general cleanup (especially around the visor).
-I nearly have the sizing figured out on the gauntlets.  Hopefully progress on that soonish.
-Finished up my trophy lightsaber crystals.  The intent was to make them look like a rough wire wrapping job and I think it worked.

[Zharatustra]

sewing is not hard... imo. just do a couplr tests first to get a feel for it.

[Kar'ta Tionas]

sewing is not hard... imo. just do a couplr tests first to get a feel for it.

I'm glad to hear that some people consider it easy, hopefully I'll think so too. I've got machine access Mon-Wed., so that's when I'm planning to get the majority of that done.



Build Week is here!  I've got a solid 7-9 days of building time and will be updating as frequently as possible.  All feedback is welcome and I'll try not to move too quickly in order to allow time for feedback before I go ahead and do whatever I was thinking.

First, here's my second attempt at a pistol holster.  I still have to do the backing and the straps, but I think it's looking fairly nice.

[Kar'ta Tionas]

Started on my girth belt today and did two rounds of dying with RIT Cherry Red. I'm hoping that it takes a little better the second time, as it wasn't as dark as I'd like after only the first try.

Here's a pic of the spacing for my legs. I'm missing my other thigh and I know they're on the wrong legs but I like this look better, so I'm hoping I can keep it.  Does the app team require members to have the thighs on the 'jango way' or can I keep it this way?  How's the overall sizing/spacing look?


I'm going to try to find some duct tape so that I can take better photos in future; it was a bit tricky trying to get everything to stay in place.

[Ihala]

Size and spacing looks pretty good to me.
Rit dye can be tricky, it works best on natural fiber ie cotton...adding table salt helps deepen the color.  If it is a synthetic fiber, Rit has a new product for that but I haven't tried it yet.  As a last resort, you can paint a girth belt with pretty good results.

[Kris Jasra]

Spacing looks fine to me. May want to take a tiny bit more off to give more room between thigh and cod for sitting etc, but just an option.

[Kar'ta Tionas]

The RIT dye is looking a lot better after the 3rd bath and is probably ok now, though a little lighter than I'd like.  I'm out of dye and debating between leaving it as is, painting it a bit, or picking up another bottle of dye for $6 and trying again.  My girth belt material is 100% cotton, so I'm really not sure why the dye hasn't been sticking better.

I'm glad to hear the sizing is mostly ok. Once I get some better tape and have some rough knees and a cod I'll do another fit test for flexibility.  You may be right about shaving the thighs a bit.

Tomorrow is a sewing day since the makers pace is open. I'm going to start with the blood stripes to get a feel for the machine and then work on my flight suit.  The vest is next if I have time.

Today was spent on my 3rd attempt dying the girth belt, more work on the holster, some helmet sanding, and I started on some grenade holders for my mini splodies. I wasn't super sold on the holder they came with, so here's what I thought up. #2 is almost complete, however I made a small mistake and have to redo something.  Other than that, all they need is some dye.



Current girth belt color with the dye bottle, my red paint, and blood stripe ribbon for reference.  The girth belt itself seems to be hovering somewhere between a pinkish red and true red.

[Ralin Voth]

Kit's coming along nicely! It's okay having the thighs on the wrong leg, a lot of people wear them that way. As long as you realize =)

They definitely could use a trim, the templates are actually huge so nearly everyone ends up trimming them down even if they resize the pattern. I'd rotate them just a smidge outside too so they don't rub against the cod, where they are now I can see them catching together sometimes.

Keep it up, it's tough but you could get it done by TFA release. I basically was about as far as you are when I decided to push for SDCC a month out, and i finished up. Good luck and keep us updated!

[Kar'ta Tionas]

I trimmed my thighs up a bit, but progress has kind of stalled out with the end of the semester.  I'm still going to see if I can get this done for TFA, so it's going to be a lot of work over the next few days. 

I spent a few hours playing with chest plate templates today.  I'm experiencing female problems with this, so advice is welcome.  My main concern is that proper coverage is going to really inhibit my movement.  I'm also thinking that I might be able to trim a bit off of my collar plate, and thus a tiny bit off the chest plates.  Thoughts?
 




I can probably get this template to curve much more nicely with sintra as opposed to the paper.  It doesn't hold curves very well.

[Kavryn Falco]

Your collar (and, by extension, your chestplates) is much too wide.  It should fit in between the balls of your shoulders - too much wider than that, and you'll start to lose mobility. Trim up your chestplates to match, and be careful about the corner in the middle there - if it pokes out too much, you'll wind up banging your arm on it every time you go to move, and that's no fun at all

Also, for aesthetics' sake, I would suggest making your collar thicker and your chestplates smaller, but it's not a necessity. It's hard to get it right because we don't have the same proportions as the guys do, but usually a longer collar helps balance things out 

[Kryamla Redalur]

If you're worried about too much plate up top, you could do what I've done: I have the collar plate, a "filler" plate, and then the chest plates. It allows for more movement. I was approved with it and corriban before me (before her current metal plates).

I really like your segmented collar plate very neat! It could just be my tired eyes but the collar does look a bit wide. Best advice is to try to touch the opposite shoulder and see if the templates are crumpled. If they are, definitely will need a bit of a trim.

Sintra will curve better than paper. Check out this tutorial! I haven't tried but looks simple enough!
http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=67535.0
However you can always do darting in the Sintra and then use bondo to smooth it out too!

Hope this helps! Keep up the great work!