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[Slade Kel]

Thanks vode

So, visit from the mother in law meet cleaning until about 1:30, so time lost and not quite pre-app ready today, but I did manage to get kitted up sans helmet.








f immediate note; cod piece needs more shaping, but I already knew that, knees and thighs need to be moved up and straps tightened up, flight suit maybe needs to be tighter and shoulders need to be secured so they don't move about like that.  Flight suit and vest are weathered but I'm not sure how well it shows up in pictures here, since I know where to look, so I might have to be more creative in weathering them.

If there's other stuff I'm missing, hit me with it, or if you concur with my assessment.

[Sep Ho'ban]

weathering on the flight and flak, definitely on your butt.
in the side photos, your backplates are doing some weird things and pulling away from you in places-- mostly in the one where you're facing photo left.
You've got quite a bit of space between your collar in the back and the base of your neck.

That's all that's jumping out at me vod!  Nice progress!

[Slade Kel]

Thanks for the input vod. I have feared I need to just replace the top lame of three back plate, but I think I have enough metal around to do so. I also need to lengthen the flank straps of the torso; part of the funky sit of the back plate is the upper plate, the rest is the straps being too tight I think.

About what I expected on the flight suit too, I'll stop on the way home today and get brown and darker grey fabric paint; all I had was black and light grey, so without daylight it doesn't stand out. Fortunately I drive right by a Michael's craft store and there's a joann's within two minutes of my work place.

[Dresdon Acacin]

Will this kit be part Zabrak likem your old one? Reason I ask is if you get a helmet from me I can weld on Zabrak horns TCW DW style made of 2205 duplex stainless steel... I got a fair bit of it laying around from my strut bar brackets.

[Slade Kel]

Will this kit be part Zabrak likem your old one? Reason I ask is if you get a helmet from me I can weld on Zabrak horns TCW DW style made of 2205 duplex stainless steel... I got a fair bit of it laying around from my strut bar brackets.

Yeah, that's the plan going forward, though not for Celebration. I intend to get prosthetics and all this time around, so TCW style horns would be dope!

So I spent the afternoon making Avelin's second thigh plate and cutting down and reshaping my cod piece (too wide), but I did not get a chance to remount it yet. I also made a new top plate for the back, in the hopes that it alleviates the issues Sep pointed out.




Still some tweaking to do on the plate shapes, though they'll never lie fully flat as my back is weirdly curved, and I still need to make new straps for the harness. These closeup shots really illustrate how short they are D:. Hopefully I'll be able to knock those out tomorrow while waiting for paint to dry .

[Sep Ho'ban]

Backplate looks awesome now

[Slade Kel]

Thanks! Big glaring issue is I can't get it on and off without undoing one of the Chicago screws, so I'm going to have to play around with it today after work. I can't reach it myself and I'd rather not be trapped in my armor in a pinch

[Sep Ho'ban]

Cotter pin on a string and clevis post.

[Dresdon Acacin]

You could replace the chicago screw with either a large bolt/stud/acorn nut setup boba style, or a pair of snaps on the strap. Thats how Mandalores kits fasten at the top. I usually do 3/4" buckles or the aforementioned bolt stud method.

[Slade Kel]

Thanks for the suggestion vode, I'll play around with a few options and see what works best. In the meantime I got the new top back plate painted, and worked on fixing the straps for the thigh plates.



No pics of the thighs, as the dye on the adjusted straps is still drying, but hopefully I'll have more tomorrow.

[Slade Kel]

So a minor adjustment to the harness straps lets me slip the torso plates over my head again without widening the gap between collar and back noticeably, saving me additional time and effort. In addition, I finally got the visor installed in my bucket, and finished the straps on the thighs .



The straps still need a touch of weathering, but I was able to salvage most of the old straps when I added the buckles by using Chicago screws to attach extensions. I also decided to go with buckles so that I could make the straps adjustable, in case my on-going weight-loss regimen has an effect on the fit of the thighs. I was able to use the same method to adjust the torso straps as well, so the fit should be much better. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be posting Pre-App pics!

[Novoc Mereel]

Looks phenomenal!!

[Slade Kel]

Thanks! I got some pre-app pictures done this morning. This time, what jumps out at me is that the sleeves look a little baggy and the cod piece might need to be moved up a little. If y'all don't see those as problems, I can submit as early as tonight . If they are fixes needed, probably looking at tomorrow. It won't take but a few minutes to adjust those, but Avelin is working this morning, then we're off to family parties all day.

Without further ado:

[Sep Ho'ban]

Alright, first off, your kit is looking great!

Second: Super nitpicky mode ACTIVATED

Agree -- sleeves need tailoring or tucking -- and there's some baggyness at the arm pits as well
The front facing side of your pouches on your sides need some weathering
Vest at purple shoulder side needs a bit of tailoring/tucking/rolling to match the red shoulder size and eliminate the airgap between it and the flightsuit
Agree -- cod is floating a bit, either move up, additional shaping, or trim, or combo platter of those
I can see part of your neck and chin in the side photos
If you can tuck the point of your first ab plate down a bit closer to the second ab plate do it, but it's part of what comes with legacy, and that bit is tricky.
The gun in your right holster appears to be silver in kitted photo, but both appear black in weapon photo, could just be lighting
A touch of really nitpicky tucking on the shins between knee and shin
Your blasters could use  a bit of weathering -- just a touch of silver drybrushing on high spots and corners would do it.

Stay on target Vod!  You're almost there!

[Slade Kel]

Nitpicky is exactly what I want!

Some of it is simple wear issues; I kitted up in a hurry so I could get Avelin to take pictures before she got to work.
With the weight loss, I might just need a smaller shirt, but I'll see if I can't offset the issue by better tucking the sleeves into the vambraces and leather gauntlets, maybe sew a thumb hole in them to keep them taut.

Pouch weathering is an easy fix!

The vest is almost entirely an issue of rushing it on; the velcro on the flank and be pulled tighter, and it looks like it wasn't sitting straight on, as the armor is not actually attached to it.

That darn cod . I'll trim an inch or so off the top, re-tap the strap holes so it sits higher and see if I need to reshape it a bit.

Yeah, I see what you're saying on neck and chin on closer inspection. I do have a lightweight balaclava laying around that I've been toying with adding to the kit, looks like I'll be doing so officially!

I can get the ab plate a little closer by using a velcro strip on the inside. There's already velcro on the plates from when I was first mounting them, and that might help make them sit together better.

Definitely lighting on that blaster, between the kitchen light and the flash on her camera I expect.

I can definitely tuck the pants better to avoid the issues around the knee and shins, I've considered sewing a stirrup onto the bottom of each leg to keep them from riding up when I pull my boots on. Dangers of pull-ons, I suppose.

And last but not least, I can definitely hit the blasters with some silver dry brushing. I actually did do so, but them I blackwashed them as heavily as the rest of the kit and washed out most of the silver .

All in all, easy fixes, and I thank you for your input!

[Sep Ho'ban]

Happy to be of service Slade!  Looking forward to seeing those stripes reinstated!!!

[Novoc Mereel]

I really dig the look of those non-anmiated Westars. Where'd you pick 'em up?

[Vor'en Marr]

Really nice work Slade..

[Slade Kel]

Thanks guys . Novoc, the blasters are resin cast from a 3d model made by a fella using the handle 3dpicasso. The file is like $15, but he open licensed them so that people can do pretty much whatever they want with them. I think that's part of the caveat for posting something on cgtrader.com, as I everything I've seen on there has been open license. We're (and by which I mean Avelin as she's the 3d print guru) probably going to alter the model a bit. She zipped off her 'iron' sights and took off the back loops like one of mine and it looks much better. Unfortunately, those two little loops (right above the grip on the back end) are a little fragile and one broke, so they translated weird to the mold, which is why I cut them off the right hand blaster.

I have, since this morning, made all of the straps for Avelin's armor, cut down and remounted my cod piece and weathered the pouches. Only have pics of the pouches, as I forgot to grab a 'before' of the cod, so an after won't really reveal much. I also remounted the velcro on the ab plates, and I tried on a large shirt (mine is an XL) and it seems to eliminate much of the sleeve bagging. There's a Work N' Gear in the city that carries all of the Dickies stuff, so I'll hit there up as Walmart doesn't seem to carry them anymore. They're about to close, but they open at noon tomorrow! Avelin has graciously offered to repaint my Westars, as she's a whiz at paint and weathering and only going to get better with practice.

In the meantime, I have pouch pictures!


I added more weathering to both sides and a bit more to the fronts, just on principal.

Hopefully tomorrow afternoon I'll be able to post another batch of pre-app pictures, though I'll have to wait for the weathering on the new shirt to dry, of course.

[Malakier Vhett]

Getting very close vod. Next time you take full app style pics I'll break out my fine tooth comb

[Novoc Mereel]

Thanks guys . Novoc, the blasters are resin cast from a 3d model made by a fella using the handle 3dpicasso. The file is like $15, but he open licensed them so that people can do pretty much whatever they want with them. I think that's part of the caveat for posting something on cgtrader.com, as I everything I've seen on there has been open license. We're (and by which I mean Avelin as she's the 3d print guru) probably going to alter the model a bit. She zipped off her 'iron' sights and took off the back loops like one of mine and it looks much better. Unfortunately, those two little loops (right above the grip on the back end) are a little fragile and one broke, so they translated weird to the mold, which is why I cut them off the right hand blaster.

Duly noted! I keep debating on buying a 3D printer and you're not making my struggle any easier

[Slade Kel]

Thanks Malkier! And yeah, Novoc, the 3d printer certainly adds a lot of new options.

So last night I ran out of things I can do before getting that new shirt, and my costuming ADHD/Mania kicked in, so I did a thing and upgraded my vambraces.


The blaster on the right hand vambrace started life as a defunct flashlight I had laying around, with a little waterweld to seal the gaps between the gauntlet and the flashlight. The mini-missiles and blaster on the left vambrace are 3d printed, from one of April Storm's files. I've added a little more weathering since last night, but nothing major enough to warrant new pictures.

[Havelock]

I didn't see any nit-picky details that Sep didn't list.  Although I do want to stress that with the cod hanging that low, it looks really...odd.     Overall your kit is looking great!

[Slade Kel]

Thanks dude . So got another round of pictures, even with the smaller shirt, sleeves are still baggy. I have no idea how to remedy that, as any tighter and I won't be able to get into the shirt.






I know I need to tighten the straps on the knees to get their alignment right, and my right thigh plate appears to have been put on a hair lower than the left. I'm also going to have to figure out how to tailor that right vest armpit because it's still floating, and I expect I'll need to do those pant stirrups or something because just turning in place was enough to make the legs untuck and bag a bit D:.

I've pretty much given up on the idea of getting reapproved before Celebration, but hit me with what needs doing and I'll keep doing my best to get as close as I can before the event. I expect I'll manage to get app pics in before Celebration at least, given that we have eight more days before starting our adventure to Chicago.

[Malakier Vhett]

Ok, Super nitpicky fine tooth comb mode activated!

-Pictures are taken at a bit of an angle, which is causing some of your placements to look off
- Indoor pictures means the lighting is washing out weathering. It's also giving everything a weird sheen.
- Knees are both sitting oddly. Might be your stance. Left is high, right is twisted
- Right holster looks a bit cleaner then the rest of your leather goods. Might be lighting
- Vest is flaring around right arm.
- Plastic buckle that holds together leather cincher (I think?) visible. ensure other belts covers it or weather it to look metal
- Edges of Kama's could use more weathering. some aggressive sandpaper usage would go a long way

That's all I see right now. Your flightsuit is a little baggy but well withing what I would consider reasonable.