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[Kar'ta Tionas]

Here goes:

A few years ago, I built two versions of Mandalorian Armor, but both builds had pretty major flaws. 
Since then, I've learned a lot and hopefully that will help the armor  come together much more nicely.  My deadline for this build is to have something wearable for Episode VII this December. 

Here's the image for the basic color scheme and concept.  The general idea is for an elegant set of armor that has been through quite a bit of wear and tear.  It's not going to look exactly like this since I'm a female mando, but it was easier for me to get the patterns correct on a male model.  Side note: the original image that I used to create this is not mine. I took an image I found online, traced it, and then altered the colors to create the current design.  The one color I couldn't get to work on power point was the pattern; in the images below it looks yellow/orange, but in the final paint-job it's going to be done in bronze.






As I'm in the process of losing some weight, I'm not going to shape most of the armor pieces until I absolutely have to.  Instead, I'm going to be building everything else (weapons, jetpack,etc) and collecting pieces for the final kit (boots, pouches, etc).  It'll be tough to finish the build back in my college dorm, but we'll see what I can do.


For now this is going to be somewhat of a budget build as I'm aiming to reuse as many pieces as possible to cut down on costs, but it's still going to cost me a fair bit of money.  My big ticket item is going to be a helmet.  I have a scratch built one, but it'd need a lot of work to look half-decent and it's going to be a better overall decision to just buy one. 


Here's where I'm at right now as far as things I need to become official  (Updated: 11/21)
CURRENT PROGRESS (updated: 7/5/2016)
Helmet - HAVE- classic Boba style dentless mandalorian ordered from Anime Fan on TDH forums. 
Visor - HAVE - I have the materials for a mirrored visor. 
Flightsuit - HAVE - needs to be fitted and weathered
Flak Vest - In progress
Plates - In progress
Jetpack - HAVE - Cody style, lots of alterations/improvements needed
Gauntlets - IN PROGRESS - April Storm gaunts.  Ready for paint
Verpine - IN Progress - working on a scratch build.  Greeblies and final paint job needed.  Pics in weapons thread
Westar 34 pistol - DONE
Holster - DONE
Pouches -HAVE



Extra's that I'd like to have on my kit if I can find the $/time:

Beskad -  have 1/4" thick red oak that should work.  design in progress. On hold while living in my dorm
Throwing knives -DONE - Set of three complete. 
Macrobinoculars -  Found an old toy camera that is pretty good.  After I finish my belt layout I'll see if I need to finish these.
Boots - HAVE- Upgraded to mid/high calf boots
Cape - Boba style single shoulder
Force hunter trophies - Have 2 braids and 2 lightsaber crystals.




Current Progress - UPDATED 7/5/16

Boots - Done
Shins - strapping needed
Knees - strapping needed
Thighs - strapping needed
Cod - Done
Girth - Done
Ammo Belt - Done
Pistol - Done
Holster - Done
Half dets - Done
Mini dets - Attatch to kit
Kama - needs belt
Flightsuit - take in arms and weather
Gauntlets - greeblies and paint
Chest plates - finish shaping
Back plates - template
Helmet - install visor and pad

 
   

[Catika]

I like what you have so far!

[Kar'ta Tionas]

I like what you have so far!

Thanks!    Your build is coming along amazingly quickly from the looks of things and I love the color scheme.



More pictures:

Here are a few pictures of what I've got (will upload more soon).

Westar pistol: this is my old paint job.  I have since drilled several holes into the weapon and filled the grip and barrel with hot glue. This would have been easier if I could take it apart, but unfortunately I sealed it shut and applied bondo over the screws last time I built a mando.  Anyways, the hot glue gives the plastic toy a bit more weight and has also helped stabilize the plastic which has really made sanding the seam a lot easier.



I've seen that x-wing pilots and clone airborne troopers carry around flares of some kind and had the thought that a couple of belt flares might not be a bad idea.  Here's some pics of my first rough attempt.  I've got about 11 other pieces of dowel lined up to attempt to replicate the inital attempt.  I'm hoping that 4-6 of those come out similar enough that they'll look okay once I clean them up and do apply some paint.





Grenades:
The one on the left is the start of a grenade based on a tutorial(http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=41090.0)   I still need to fill the inside and cap off both ends with greeblies.
The grenade on the right is from another pipe coupling I found at Home Depot.  The top is unfinished and will be rounded off.  The initial piece of pipe reminded me of the old style grenades with handles attached (think potato masher grenades). Bonus:  the handle can be pushed in to shrink the grenade down or pulled out for throwing.


Grenade for size (I used a half inch pipe coupling as opposed to the one inch in the tutorial):



This is my old jetpack based off of very basic templates I put together.  It is constructed from foam board and then coated in fiberglass.  It was never finished, I just slapped paint on it when I was rushing to finish my last build before Halloween.  The pics are primarily for size reference as I'm not really sure what size jetpack is ideal.  I'm going to be ripping off the engine and fuel tank before sanding the piece back down and adding a ton of greeblies. I'm also going to have to come up with a sort of 'pad' to move the jetpack a bit further from my backplate.  Cody has a natural raised section of his backplate for this purpose, I need something similar just attached to the jetpack. 





Here's my old holster.  It was a rush job of garment grade leather (thrift store jacket) over a fiberglass base. I'm thinking about ripping the leather off to sand down the fiberglass and smooth/thin it out a bit and then gluing some different leather back on.  This method works ok for holster making without really thick leather or leather-working tools.
 
Upside down, but it works.


And here's my current boots. They won't have any visible logos once I put some armor on them to cover the laces.  Does anyone know if I should be filing off the logo built into the tread?  I'm hoping that I'll be able to upgrade to a calf-high motorcycle boot, but I think these will work if that doesn't pan out.

[Kebii'laar]

If you want new boots, they proved to be a serious PITA for me.  I know you're female so the sizes will be slightly different, but here's what I got: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0040AGA3W?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

I couldn't size them in person, so I just took my shoe size, added a half size to it (standard thing to do when fitting for boots), then took a half size away because I have thin feet.  After buying a pair of insoles and getting some good Underarmor boot socks, they fit just fine.  They're pull-on work boots, real leather, and not a zipper or lace to be found.  You'll have to take other factors into consideration, but Dingo's sizes don't seem to run too big or small.

The cape will be a fairly easy addition. Joann's Fabric has reams of material for you to pick out, whether you want a heavy cape of a light, flowing one.  And it's usually no more complicated than a rectangle that has both corners attached to the same shoulder if you're going for the Boba cape look.

Leather ammo pouches are also usually pretty cheap and easy.  Keep an eye on the sales threads on this site, people will often have some for sale.

[Kar'ta Tionas]

Thanks Kebii'laar!  Those boots are beautiful, but maybe a little out of budget... I'm going to see where I'm at after I order a helmet. 

Right now I'm thinking NME Mercenary because their buckets are gorgeous. Unfortunately, they're also expensive.    I've messaged them and it sounds like the ETA is about 8 weeks right now, so I'm going to wait until I get closer to returning to college before I order.  I'd rather not have it arrive and then have to ship it across the country again.  Because this is going to be so expensive I've been hard at work yard sale hunting to try to see if I can piece a few things together for cheap.  I'm hoping to wander across some boots, but no luck yet.  If I do manage to scrounge up some cash then I'll definitely look into picking up a pair of those boots because they do look pretty amazing.  Thank you for the tip. 

I have some of those Nagant Pouches, but I'm not a huge fan of the look, so I've definitely been stalking the marketplace/ebay for other options.  I'd prefer the Yugoslav Mauser pouches or something along those lines and I'm looking into acquiring a few of those.  I may also try to replicate individual pouches in the style of the Swedish Mauser bandolier since I rather like the look of those pouches as well.  If I get the time I'll see if I can do a mock up sometime this weekend or next week.


Today's progress: M spy gear grenades arrived and they've turned out to be a bit smaller than expected.  These have been officially labeled my "cute" grenades...   I'm going to see about sanding the logos off, filling the screw holes, and painting them up in the next few days.  They come with a belt rig, but if I have the time I'll probably try to rig up something more swarzy.



 

[Mando707]

I like your Paint scheme a lot!

[Havelock]

Those are definitely cute grenades.  Personally, I love them.     And I feel the pain of building on a budget.  But keep at it.  You'll get there.

[Kar'ta Tionas]

I like your Paint scheme a lot!

Thanks! I'm hoping to get some trial pieces done in the next couple of weeks.  I've thoroughly explored the local Home Depot's Rustoleum section and am mainly debating between satin and gloss paint.  The sheen on the gloss seems a little much, but the colors are much closer to what I want.  Has anyone used the gloss paints before and if so how do they turn out after weathering?  did the paint dull down quite a bit?   

Those are definitely cute grenades.  Personally, I love them.     And I feel the pain of building on a budget.  But keep at it.  You'll get there.

Here they are painted up, though I may have to redo the paint as a couple of the screw holes are still lightly visible. 

My budget is coming along ok, mostly because I've becided to reassemble and sell a bunch of old Star Wars lego sets to help fund my latest Star Wars project.  I am a little terrified of purchasing a bucket as they are really expenisve, but I am never sratchbuilding one again.  On the topic of buckets I need to take some measurements and post those up sometime soon to get feedback on which helmets might fit me.

[Jorad Werde]

Looking good

[Vindar Falco]

I'm liking what I am seeing!  8)

[Welkin]

Loving what you've got going on so far. Don't worry about the "cute grenades" my Alor'ad has a couple sets of those and everyone loves them.

For boots you can try checking out xelement boots. They've got a decent variety of styles and generally prove to be more affordable.

[Kar'ta Tionas]

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone!   

For boots you can try checking out xelement boots. They've got a decent variety of styles and generally prove to be more affordable.

I explored the Xelement site and their boots look great.  I particularly like these two options:
http://www.leatherup.com/p/Womens-Motorcycle-Boots/Xelement-Womens-Classic-Motorcycle-Advanced-Engineer-Biker-Boot/49543.html
http://www.leatherup.com/p/Womens-Motorcycle-Boots/Xelement-Womens-Classic-Motorcycle-Harness-Boots/42805.html


I've also made a few acquisitions in the last few days that I hope will work out, but I want some opinions on a few of them.

Possible Macrobinocular base:


Possible base for door charges:

These are the ears off of some Disneyish headsets (I also cannibalized the lights).  The red one is flat on both sides, while the blue one is slightly domed on one side.  I have 6 of these in total and thought I might greeblie them up and see if they'd work as door charges. 


Possible Force crystals:

I think a couple of these might work as Force crystals, but I wanted to get some feedback as they may be too smooth to look realistic.  The ones I like best are the three in the very bottom row.  I'm trying to figure out a way to separate the middle one into two crystals but am unsure how to accomplish this without smashing the entire rock.  Has anyone done this before?

Other Current Questions:
-Can I do a set of Correllian blood stripes down the leg of my flightsuit?  I was thinking this might be a good way to get some of the red onto my lower half without actually adding it to my paint scheme.
-If I plan to join the Force Hunter brigade someday, does my armour have to look as though it was made of beskar?  I'm mostly curious about the limitations to battle damage. Moviegoers are used to seeing dented mando armour (durasteel) and I feel it adds a level of realism for a greater majority of fans if I ding and dent the plates rather than just creating surface damage, but if the plates are supposed to be forged from beskar then the best I can do is minor damage to the sintra and more focus on paint damage.

[Havelock]

I think that's a great base for a macrobinocular set.  You'll just need to cover up the two lenses and build out the center bit.  I think it'll be great.  And those would be awesome for door charges!

As for the crystals, I think that yes, the bottom row is your best bet.  Of course, there's also this:  http://www.amazon.com/Top-Plaza-Amethyst-Pendants-Necklace/dp/B00LCQQXYS/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1424313934&sr=8-12&keywords=chakra+pendants

It's not as cool as having some on hand already, but this is a pretty good assortment for what seems to be a nice price.

[Kar'ta Tionas]

I think that's a great base for a macrobinocular set.  You'll just need to cover up the two lenses and build out the center bit.  I think it'll be great.  And those would be awesome for door charges!

As for the crystals, I think that yes, the bottom row is your best bet.  Of course, there's also this:  http://www.amazon.com/Top-Plaza-Amethyst-Pendants-Necklace/dp/B00LCQQXYS/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1424313934&sr=8-12&keywords=chakra+pendants

It's not as cool as having some on hand already, but this is a pretty good assortment for what seems to be a nice price.

Excellent!  I'll look into those or try out a couple local rock stores.  Thanks for the suggestion


Recent news: I've started work on my verp over in my weapons thread and am making pretty rapid progress.  The lack of a mouse sander is slowing me down somewhat, but I'm still getting a lot done.



It's also time that I start looking into a helmet since it may take some time to arrive.  I'm looking at a budget of up to $200 USD shipped  (and definitely cheaper if possible) for a classic Boba style helmet.  I've looked at many of the different helmet makers (NME, Saz, etc) but am unsure about general sizes and what might fit my head.  Do you guys have any thoughts as to what might fit? So far my favorites are probably from over on TDH as I really like the proportions to the AnimeFan and Asok helmets, but again, I'm worried they might be too big.

Here's my stats -
Height - 5 ft 9 inches,
Head Circumference - 23 inches
Shoulder width -  18 inches  (measured across the back - similar to measuring for a t-shirt; I think this is the right way to do this, but if there's a more accurate way, just let me know). 

[Jorad Werde]

I got my helmet from Anime Fan on here and I'm almost exactly the same size as you. 

[Welkin]

Your dimensions are roughly similar to mine, anything that's a Boba 1:1 should work fine for you. Even a Jango 1:1 might work, you're at that size where you have some options. If you have questions about a specific helmet sizing you can always contact the helmet maker for any info they don't have posted.

[Kar'ta Tionas]

Awesome!  So, if a Boba 1:1 will fit then that makes this a bit easier.  I'll do a bit more research on helmet costs and see If I can get ETA and shipping estimates.  I'll definitely be contacting Anime Fan to see what the turnaround time is.  The trick is going to be timing it so that it arrives after I return to University, but before I run out of building time (yay, finals...). 

[Kar'ta Tionas]

Ok, so for some reason I cannot view any PM's I have sent after I send them.  I can see my inbox, but when I try to view sent messages nothing is there. Who should I PM about this?

Costume news:  To finish out my grenade loadout I'm ordering some splodies from various people on the forums.  I've got two half-dets on order from Teilyr Farsel (sales thread: http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=95857.0)  and I'm going to pick up a couple cryoban grenades in the next few weeks.  Those, plus the mini grenades I already have, should be more than enough to fulfill any grenade requirements for the Force Hunter/Urban Assault brigades. 

[Jorad Werde]

you have to check "save to my outbox" on your PMs that you send out to get them to save. 

[Jaing]

you have to check "save to my outbox" on your PMs that you send out to get them to save. 

^^This.

Moving to components since this is now a build and not planning.

[Kar'ta Tionas]

Ok, I'll make a habit of checking that box for important messages then.  Mainly, I want to keep a record of any communications about purchases I'm making.


I want to try some paracord for a girth belt, so I was wondering what a good width might be.  I can't really compare it to a gap in the plates, as I haven't gotten started on templates yet, but I was hoping I might be able to spend a few hours and weave something together.

[Jorad Werde]

5-6" is the average for a girthbelt

[Kar'ta Tionas]

Excellent.   I've found a weave that I think would look great on a girth belt and it doesn't seem too complicated.  Now I've just got to do the math, since I've got a feeling I'm going to need a bit more paracord...  If that's the case, then the girth belt will have to wait another month.

I've also been talking to Animefan about his dentless mando buckets, so I have a question for you guys.  Is it worth it to purchase cold cast?  can you actually tell much of a difference between cold cast and a regular white resin cast after the helmet is all painted up?  If it is really worth it, then I may try to scrape a few extra bucks together.  Thoughts?

[Jorad Werde]

I have his dentless regular cast bucket.  I don't think you can really tell the difference, especially if you're going to paint it. 

[Mavik]

Cold cast is nice if you put the work into shining it up. However I agree that if you are not going to have large areas of exposed “metal” I would probably stick with the standard resin.