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 Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us

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Syko Voss


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #175 on: Feb 15, 2016, 03:48 PM »
Thanks folks!

Well, glacial progress on the kit at the moment as we're in the final race-to-the-finish work-wise for our new videogame.
But, pleased to say that all the kit has been sprayed silver and sealed with clearcoat in advance of painting and attaching it all.
Since I'm limited on time lately, I've been doing small fixes and additions - first up - building the 'grenades' for the left thigh...



PVC pipes.  The red pieces are actual the tops from washing up liquid bottles - I was rooting around for greeblies and noticed that out-of-context and closed these would make pretty decent-looking switch-like ends for the grenades.  The ribbing on the smaller two pipes is some detail from some large plastic milk containers - I cut around them and with a little heat, wrapped them around the pipes. 

Other small raised panels are more plastic from the milk containers, cut square, corners rounded off and details added by scoring lines in it and punching nice circular holes in it with a paper hole punch.

The large recessed button on the larger pipe is simply a bottle cap, and the clip assembly is a piece off a plastic trouser hanger (remaining from the bits that I made the 'grenade rack' from), a Foamex shape and a screw...



Sprayed up silver and lined up - I'm quite pleased with the results, considering it's just PVC pipe and things out of the recycling. 
Looking forward to getting the time to paint everything and weather it all.







Feet-wise, I've just about finished the boot armour.



Decided to use Chicago Screws to attach the armour - with the front pieces I decided to heat form a few bits of flattened out PVC pipe to add strength to them (learning from how well it performed on strengthening the knees) and attached them using 2-part Epoxy and a couple of screws, punching holes in the PVC to glue the screw heads between the Foamex and the PVC.

The heel armour I decided to add as I noticed the boots had a very subtle logo embossed into the leather.  Since I was making these to fit, I chose to push the Chicago Screws through the Foamex and countersink and fill over the head.

The thing that guided the design of the boot armour for me was trying to make it flow with the existing shapes and lines on the boots - the trauma plate across the top of the foot follows the same lines of the leather underneath and, as you can see, I made both pieces of armour so that they shaped to the elastic  and drew an imaginary curve along the line of the bottom of the front armour that the bottom of the heel armour then flows into.

Have worn the boots for a few hours - the Chicago Screws do press a little into my foot - when it comes to final fitting I'll be stealing a bit of Jayne's old yoga matting to cushion the heads and then wear them solidly around the house for a few days before committing to any kind of trooping in them!

Finally, made a start on my girth belt.  10m of olive green paracord.  Having studied a lot of the tutorials out there I decided that although it might be quicker using hot glue it wasn't for me (I guarantee I'd burn my fingers at least once and would be cursing trying to get the paracord to 'take' the glue) so I adopted the following...more organic approach...



I measured my waist and then cut a piece of card half that distance, tightly wound 7 strands around it and using a large needle sewed the strands together.  I used a 'Z' type stitch - straight through the line of threads and out the other side, stitch straight back through them in the opposite direction, then make a 45 degree stitch across and then two perpendicular stitches before going diagonal again.

Quite therapeutic and I now have 4 small 7-strand belts with hidden stitching that I intend to cut to size and then stitch together to make the whole belt.



...and that's the update for today.  Girth belt hopefully completed soon and in the background scribbling tons of ideas for colour schemes (seriously, deciding on one is the hardest part for me) especially since I've now realised that my intended kit is actually only going to be one sidearm and a breaching charge away from an Assault Brigade kit...

« Last Edit: Sep 25, 2017, 07:24 AM by Syko Voss » Logged

Havelock


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #176 on: Feb 15, 2016, 08:13 PM »
I so wish I could make to Celebration London to see you two walking around in these beautiful kits.

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Kyri


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #177 on: Feb 16, 2016, 06:06 AM »
Grenades are a work of beauty. I expect nothing less  :P

The Mandos will be ruling Celebration with all these kits out there

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Kavryn Falco


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #178 on: Feb 16, 2016, 08:38 AM »
You have an incredible eye for greeblies, vod. Great work!

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Kotyc solus guyani, a mirdala solus shukala.
The strong one survives, but the clever one conquers.

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Syko Voss


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #179 on: Feb 17, 2016, 02:17 PM »
Thanks again!

Havelock - we'll be doing our best to commune with you via the Force to have you their with us in spirit
Kavryn - my greebly tip - take everything apart that goes into the recycling and keep anything that's cylindrical (amazing how many things are the same size and fit within one another) or looks odd.  Then, scatter the whole lot around while you're building and constantly try to see if you can fit things together.  Oh, and plastic coathangers...

Been playing around in Photoshop experimenting with colour schemes - would this look sufficiently 'urban' for the  267th - I'd rather not go 100% grey, and I rather like the idea of getting in that Swarzy off-white/cream colour that the Rebels have in their outfits...



Whaddayareckon, folks (thinking red oxide primer under most things, the purple as an undercoat to the green, grey primer under the gaunts)

« Last Edit: Sep 25, 2017, 07:26 AM by Syko Voss » Logged

Malek Dair


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #180 on: Feb 17, 2016, 02:51 PM »
Looks groovy here and extra swarsy!

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Armour Thread: http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=94290.0

Helmet Thread (COMPLETED): http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=95445.0

Soft Parts: http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=107583.0

Gauntlets: http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=114126.0

Education and armor, self defense, our tribe, our language and Our Leader All help us Survive

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Myra Tiin


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #181 on: Feb 17, 2016, 03:43 PM »
The color combination is just epic and unique.

I wanna see this coming to life :D
You have a real attention to details and manage to get them right.

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Kyri


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #182 on: Feb 17, 2016, 05:09 PM »
I love it man. As someone who now has to change his colour to brigade I highly recommend you PM the offensive brigade marshal to check with them. Better safe than sorry.

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Havelock


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #183 on: Feb 17, 2016, 05:43 PM »
If it's good with the Brigade Marshall, then I think you're good to go.  It's awesome regardless.

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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #184 on: Feb 18, 2016, 09:23 AM »
This is one killer build!

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Syko Voss


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #185 on: Feb 18, 2016, 06:14 PM »
Thanks all!
Absolutely, Kyri - want to learn from your experience. Have PM'ed and posted to the Brigade boards (twice) - hoping to get some kind of reply soon
Hope everyone's having a great day/evening/night wherever you are!

Ashen Kelborn


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #186 on: Feb 19, 2016, 05:21 AM »
If you can't see the BRL for Urban assault here it is as a copy:

URBAN ASSAULT
Armor Requirements
•Armor - Medium coverage (with some additional parts if desired). This includes the minimum of boot, shin, knee, thigh, groin, torso/chest, shoulder, back and gauntlet armor. It is heavily recommended the primary armor color be a tone blending in to urban/industrial environments (black, grays, dull white, brick red, etc.). Weathering and other damage is also highly recommended and must be consistent with operating in an urban environment (ie, no claw marks, no 'sun faded clothing', etc).
•Helmet - Helmet must fit the helmet of Era specific CRLs.
•Shoulders - Shoulder armor should be low profile. Pauldrons, while not encouraged, are allowable in addition to, but not in lieu of shoulder bells.   Submission pics must include shots with and without pauldron.
•Backplate - A back plate must be used. A cape or back pack may be used in addition to but not in place of back armor. If a cape is used it must be limited to a Boba style shoulder cape made out of a moderately heavy material that would not get caught on protrusions.
•Backpacks/Jetpacks (optional) - Should be of a low profile design. Jetpacks should be along the lines of the Jango arena pack.
•Cod - Codpiece or Soft Cod / Armored Loin Cod. Loin Cloths to be taken into consideration on a case by case basis, and only with extremely strong supporting reasons why the required piece should be waved.

Weapon Requirements
•Primary weapon must be a carbine, short rifle, or "shotgun" style weapon. No sniper rifles or heavy weaponry.
•Pistol/sidearm required as a secondary weapon.

Required Accessories - These Accessories must be prominently displayed on the Urban Assault kit.
•Three grenades of some sort.
•At least one of the following "breaching" devices:
◦Breaching charges-explosives that may be attached to walls/doors to facilitate entry into a structure.
◦Breaching tool-some sort of hand held tool to assist in the opening of locked doors/windows/hatches.
◦Electronic lock breaking device-some sort of device used for interfacing with and over-riding electronic locks.

Optional Additional Equipment:
•Additional "trauma plates" on top of chest plates.
•Flame thrower. Can be gauntlet or weapon mounted.
•Combat knife.
•Weapon mounted grenade launcher.
•Tactical light on weapon.
•Tactical webbing on armor.


If you keep to the above and also the CRL's of normal mercs apps you should be fine  ;D

Syko Voss


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #187 on: Feb 20, 2016, 09:37 AM »
Thanks buddy, much appreciated!  (And thanks all for your advice and kind comments)

Yep - I reckon I'm en route to building to all that - the only things in my Mando's inventory I haven't got in-progress are a breaching charge and a secondary weapon for that side holster.

Want/need to get OM yet obviously, but didn't fancy hitting Kyri's colour problem where he's having to repaint his entire kit.  (As much fun as it is to paint a kit, I'd rather try the once!)

As to "primary armor color be a tone blending in to urban/industrial environments (black, grays, dull white, brick red, etc.)." - I'm hoping my use of grey, very dark grey and an off-white (that oaty light brownish tone that is all the way through Star Wars) fulfils that requirement. 

After all, this is a canon urban environment and I'm hoping that my Mando would blend in here okay...

 ;D

Thanks again!

Kavryn Falco


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #188 on: Feb 20, 2016, 06:37 PM »
I'm not a brigade member but I feel like someone would have said something by now if it wouldn't work. Personally I think it's just fine - if you're concerned just weather it up real good  :P

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Kotyc solus guyani, a mirdala solus shukala.
The strong one survives, but the clever one conquers.

Build & upgrades | Hurty things | K.O.V.A. #15 | M.A.R.S #7

Reyn Vok'chi


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #189 on: Feb 20, 2016, 07:14 PM »
It's all good bud. Don't be afraid to include dashes of blue and purple in your colour scheme, cool tone urban shadows have that tinge to them  ;)

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Bowfanny


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #190 on: Feb 20, 2016, 11:11 PM »
I've gotta say that after sitting and reading your thread for a total of three plus hours today I am extremely impressed with your entire build Vod. You're showing advanced skills that will be very beneficial to your clan and the Mercs. Amazing helmets builds and thanks for furthered motivation for me to get my Shebs in gear and make my stuff that much more amazing!

Also I've bookmarked this thread because you've got me talking about you and have given me further motivation!

« Last Edit: Feb 21, 2016, 10:51 PM by Bowfanny » Logged
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Syko Voss


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #191 on: Feb 22, 2016, 01:41 PM »
Aw shucks, thanks guys.  Bowfanny - that means a lot - I hear awesome things about your kit so that's much appreciated - especially since I'm basically making this up as I go along and drawing on the hours of model-kit bashing I did as a kid in the 1970s!

Progressing on girth belt and when I get spare minute, will tweak colour palette - been chatting to Ashen about it - I think I'm going to work some of the purple out of the gaunts by swapping in some dark grey.  I think weathering should do the rest of the work.


Update:



So that's the plan - pulled down the purple!

In other developments...

Well, lots of Netflix over the weekend saw me finish sewing the strips of paracord together



And then I lined up the 10m of paracord up against my ammo belt and found...



..that it was barely thick enough to poke out either side of the belt.

I considered buying another 5m of paracord and then had another idea - a quick consultation with Kris (Jasra) confirmed that this wouldn't be a problem...

Split the big strip into two...

Glue some Velcro strips...


And then attach to the inside top and bottom of the ammo belt...



(The illusion works and it means that there's one less uber thick layer around my middle!)

Next step is to fake a closure at the back, so some card, some stitching, staples and loads of Evo-Stik glue sees me at this point...



Final step is to cover with pleather in a convincing fashion and make Jayne's girth belt too!

Interestingly - the green paracord for my belt has quite an open weave and so when stitched compacts down quite a lot.  I've already begun stitching Jayne's paracord - that has a much tighter weave and will, for the same number of strands make a much deeper belt.




« Last Edit: Sep 25, 2017, 07:31 AM by Syko Voss » Logged

Havelock


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #192 on: Feb 23, 2016, 04:48 PM »
Very nice, as always.  I love watching your work-arounds.  Always so creative and effective.

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Bowfanny


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #193 on: Feb 23, 2016, 06:06 PM »
Nice thinking on that mod to save yourself work!

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Syko Voss


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #194 on: Feb 24, 2016, 10:41 AM »
Thanks!

Here's how it turned out...

It sells the illusion for me...

(Discovered that if I always glue pleather in over itself it's really easy to hide the edges that show that it's material.  Also, to break up big shapes - I simply cut a couple of strips, glued over their edges and glued them vertically around the big panels = simple detailing for about 2 minutes work!)



(..reminds me need to put a bit of stitching on the left hand panel where it attaches the rope belt - doesn't need it, but it's a little bit of cosmetic detail that fakes that this is a handmade sewn piece, not a cereal packet, staples, glue and all manner of dodginess creation!)



With back piece attached (needs painting up so it's not just silver)



A couple of snaps to secure it in back there...



(Must now stay on low-carb diet - there's very little give in that belt = incentive to keeping Mando Tough all the way to SWCE!)

Malek Dair


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #195 on: Feb 24, 2016, 10:59 AM »
Beauty job! Mandos always find a way.... :D

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Armour Thread: http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=94290.0

Helmet Thread (COMPLETED): http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=95445.0

Soft Parts: http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=107583.0

Gauntlets: http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=114126.0

Education and armor, self defense, our tribe, our language and Our Leader All help us Survive

M.V.S. #29
B.O.M.B. #65
B.o.B.B. #009

Kyri


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #196 on: Feb 25, 2016, 05:23 AM »
Very clever workaround, impressive belt!

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Kurshi BeJahaal


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #198 on: Feb 26, 2016, 07:33 PM »
Seeing this thread makes me want to stop doing what I'm doing and redo my entire kit. Wow. I love your attention to detail.

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Bowfanny


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Re: Armour Planning & WIP for 2 of us
« Reply #199 on: Feb 26, 2016, 07:36 PM »
Seeing this thread makes me want to stop doing what I'm doing and redo my entire kit. Wow. I love your attention to detail.
It's definitely a good example of how to do it the right way Vod!

Simorph,
How did you build your gauntlet forming blocks?

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