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[Og' Reh]

Note: If you just came here my friend, you might take notice that this armor took me over 2 years to build. During that time we had an unfortunate breakdown with photobucket and most of my pics went south.
To satisfy your curiosity about my beskar, I suggest you skip to the fun part with pictures, which should be around here:
http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=105164.msg1898963#msg1898963



I'm finally up to starting my first set of armour.

Stage one of my project is:
- get the proper design agreed in here
- get the soft parts up to 80% ready
- get the materials for hard parts up to 80% ready

This week plan is to cut paper armour parts (posting pictures here) and get flysuit to fit it on me.

I'll need some sarge to kick me in the PG13 if I'm not complete with the above! Volunteers? 

I want to build the set of aluminium. - Question: What thickness is most recomended? I can get 3mm right away. 4mm will take a while.

I've got broad set of tools, with more at request, so I'm not seeing any risks in here.

Timeline: I have no on mind, apart to sticking to a weekly plan/schedule I set upon myself. I plan extra reward for myself, if I get my armour ready for Comic Con though.  8)

Costs: Since I'm at the start of the project, I can assess roughly, but I intend to keep track of expenses rather than assign budget beforehand.

The concept:

The suit I want to have is heavy set of armour. In the final stage I'll try to go towards environmental assault, so I'll have it on my mind when designing. Any advices on that will be appreciated.

I love the idea of rebreather and oxygen bottles on the mask, breathing filters etc. I just need to stay away from "vadering" the face. I'm not done with exact helmet concept at this moment.
I'm also fond of the loincloth, capes etc, but I imagine enviro assaults would dig out such ideas, so I'll need to keep it for another Mando. Kama is a must though!

The color concept is white for softies, red for plating. It's a bit inspired by clone commander Thire.

Below I attach some concept arts made by not-so-famous artist, that would be me.





If anyone has some word of advice, or constructive criticks, I'm all yours.

[Og' Reh]

Weekly update (week 1):

- Ordered bucket dome
- Worked on chest (see below)
- Decided I'll be triming suit after I have some parts to fit (later stage; it might take several corrections, so I want to make them all at once)

Plans for week 2:
- get more paper fitouts (at least backplates)
- get first part of aluminium
- start bucket

Weekly costs c.a. 20$ (dome, paper and some domestic tools)

I also worked a bit on colors - at this point I'm going as shown below, but I'm still discussing it around.



The main issue I'd like to have your opinions is the fitting.
Thank you in advance for any word of advice.

[Og' Reh]

UPDATE:
Got some backplates cut out of paper.



Got some questions to those more experience Vod:
1. Does it make any sense mobility wise, to have split backplates if the front is not divided?
2. Should I consider making collar as one piece, or they always go front and back?
3. Does dividing back into multiply pieces actually work or is a constant threat of pieces moving around without any control (I plan attaching with velcro and perhaps some add on to ensure placing)?

Weekly update (week 2):

- Bucket arrived, had to go back. Ordered new one.
- Got more paper fitouts - back, sheen,
- Got some tools that might come in handy

Behind schedule: 
- aluminium
- bucket

Weekly costs c.a. 20$

[Og' Reh]

Weekly update (week 3):
- dome didn't arrive yet. I'm experiencing some delivery trouble.
- got back,  sheen and thighs cut from paper
- got material for vest and kama
- vest cut,  needs fitting*
- buy'ce design is getting 3d paper formed, as in http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=106492.0
- i also got myself a heat gun, but that's for more general use,  not only armor

Delayed:
- dome and thus helmet
- aluminium purchase

Cost so far 20$
This week: 22$ for vest and kama material
20$ for  plastic bucket, sintra, dummy and other materials
Totals: 62$

Since I'm doing most of my work by myself and fitting is becoming quite a challenge, I've decided to make a dummy of myself (why do I get the feeling something is wrong with the sentence above? ).

With tons of tape I had an evening of fun,  while an unmodified clone of me decided he wants to have some joy as well. How could I resist? 


I can't wait when he sees me in full armor! I believe at some point this topic will be about two or more armors! 

Having a dummy, I'm hoping to get vest fitted way quicker, instead of monkey jumping I tried till now.

So next week plan involves :
- getting vest
- kama
- getting delays cleared out

Keep your fingers crossed and post any comments you have!

[Kris Jasra]

If you're real unlucky, they start bugging you till they get there own armour and theirs ends up being completed first just so they'll leave you alone to work on yours

[Og' Reh]

If you're real unlucky, they start bugging you till they get there own armour and theirs ends up being completed first just so they'll leave you alone to work on yours

I'm secretly hoping for that! Unfortunately, Sabina is not princes-enough for my eldest, so I need some more manipulation!

Other than that, I did vest fitting today. It goes for sewing on thursday, so I'd appreciate any and all comments on that, while I can still make changes with ease!

[Og' Reh]

Weekly update (week 4&5):

Last days are sponsored by a quote "You want to make God laugh? Tell him what plans you have!".
Now everyone's ok, back from hospitals and such, so if reality is testing my dedication for the subject, it's going to see me back on track! Which means:

- dome arrived and cut


As you can see it's not perfect cut  but it's been first time I ever used a dremel, nothing blew up and no blood was spilled, so I think it's still a good score! 

- got aluminium sheet for first elements
- got most of the smaller plates drawn on the metal, so they await for cutting


- vest fitted, unfortunately reality was real di'kuta this last week, and didn't let me finish that. I'll get it done soon though!

Delayed:
- vest sewing
- kama

Plans for next week:
- vest
- progresing the buy'ce
- cut the metal pieces

Cost so far 62
This week: 15$ for aluminium
Totals: 75$

[Og' Reh]

Weekly update (week 6&7):

Since my time to work is scarce recently, I've been doing mostly bucket these days, but I've managed to get some amount of success at some point.

I managed to cut some pieces of the aluminium. I have something that translator calls "fretsaw". Coupled with metal cuting blades it turned out to awesome machine to cut the pieces out of the sheet. Faster and straighter than I expected.
For anyone making the armor out of the metal, I  encourage to get to know of this tool, with the precaution to get the health and safety remembered first. Perhaps if you can find someone familiar with it, to help you?

Unfortunately at some point I measured the cuted pieces backwards to the form and it turned out I'm few mm out of symetry... So I'm back at marking everything on the sheet to get my symetry back!

Any advice you might have about keeping eerything in line, would be appreciated!

Delayed:
- vest sewing
- kama
- cut the metal pieces

Plans for next week:
- vest
- progresing the buy'ce
- re-measuring pices and cutting

Cost so far 75$
This week: 0
Totals: 75$

[Og' Reh]

Hard to say which week is that, but after some delays on the road (like having a new mandalorian born, and all the mayhaym that goes with that ) i kept doing the day by day progres. That's what I'm proud of - I didn't manage any of the incredible feats of artwork, but my systematic, weekly tiny bits of work pay off, and I must admit I'm really happy I'm still with you here, against all odds.

So back to the good part:
Stuck at home and forced to work only quietly, I focused on bucket (my bucket WIP is here: http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=106492.0 ) and softies.

I finally got my flysuit fitted (Oh! And I got myself a sock on my head! )


Next step is cutting all the pockets and working the neck.

I also got my vest sewed, with only finishing touch on the bottom left:


So with bucket on it goes like this:





But that's not the end! Here comes the part I'm really proud of!

Since warm days are on, I can take my family outdoors, where I can finally hammer and cut my plates! Co this weekend was rich in progress on this matter. I managed to finally cut all my backplates, and shape the front!


*that pic was taken with a collar put on wrong. I've got this covered. This is the general shape. Plates are taped together, and I'm going to space them better later on. Also I started working on the 2nd layer on the chest, to get diamond and false plate.







Usuall report:

Delayed:
- kama

Plans for next week:
- finish vest
- cut off pockets in flightsuit
- kama

Cost so far 75$
This ***: 12$ (chicago screws) + 5$ tape for suspension + 12$ (tailor for the suit) + 6$ (bondo) +6$ (sandpaper) +5$ (mask)
Totals: 121$

[Kris Jasra]

May beed to cut a little more of the side of the chest plates - looks like the armpit cut out may not be low enough once the collar is actually at your throat. But otherwise, good progress.

[Redness]

That... looks... amazing respect, vod!

[Og' Reh]

Ouch... I'll need some advice folks!

I've been trying to space out all the plates for further drilling and sorting out issue, that Kris has pointed out above, and I've encountered a major issue to solve.

Turns out, the entire plate and collar are too wide, and hamper my arm movement. I can't strech my arm forward without tilting the construction.
For reference, please see pictures below. That's what's happening with a straight forward stretch.



Zombie walk is total fun as well!



So as I see that, I've got three options to go with:

1) Leave it as it is. - What am I thinking? That's a heavy armor for Force's sake! It's not like I'm going to play basketball in that thing!
2) Trim the sides. - So basicly keep this collar and just narrow it half an inch on each side. Cut a piece of the chestplate as well, so it suits and voila! It might look like I'm wearing my plates on a thong though.
3) Redo collar. - Chestplate needs just a bit of trimming here and there, and rearanging false plates a bit. But I can re-do collar again. Make it a size smaller in width, without cutting the thickness of arm cover. I mean, it looks like I could steal an inch or two from the middle, and that might actually do some good to that collar.

Thing to keep in mind is, that if I cut the sides of collar, it'll be thinner than abdomen part.

Well - after I wrote these options, I kinda know what to do now, but perhaps you've got some witty advices I could work with?

[Redness]

I'd go with trimming the chest on the sides. But as you trim the sides, you'd need to trim the collar anyway :s

[Og' Reh]

The chest is not a major issue in here. I can cut the armpit deeper and it'l adjust. I need to trim entire collar with that. And when I do it, I need to trim collar backplate to go with that. And that means my top is thinner than abs... It might be less visible when I introduce armbells, but they won't be THAT big to cover entire shoulderspace.

[Kris Jasra]

Give me a moment I can do up a paint for where it needs trimming and/or new plates with additional material

EDIT: Here we go, this'd be the two options I'd use.

One is to cut a new collar that sits close to the neck all the way round, trim back the armpit and lose at least one, if not two of the bottom lames.


Option 2 would be to cut the collar in half, lose some material from the centre and shift it inwards, then trim the chest and armpit to match. Then igf the section over the collar is a little thin add a pauldron or something similar to bulk it back out.