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[Bfahome]

Six months into the build is a good time to start thinking about what it's going to look like, right?

Made this base in a Mando Maker:



And then hit it with some edits to customize it a bit:



The base will be heavily weathered and then there will be some purple detailing over it.

The idea is that my character has the armor of a fallen friend, with some additions, and is generally out to seek revenge for their death.  Or something along those lines.

Left gauntlet will have controls for the rangefinder, possibly through an RF link to the microcontroller in the helmet.  Right gauntlet will have the guts of a Nerf Secret Strike embedded so that I can shoot darts if I want to, and to act as some weapon greeblings.

It'll be a melee focused build, with two swords and two knives (all vibro) sheathed on the back.  Small sidearm on the right hip (modified Nerf Scout).

The colors pictured here are just a general idea, and the distribution and hue will very likely change depending on availability and how it looks in real life.  The purple streaks will be more or less arbitrarily applied with a paintbrush, with the intent to look like they're painted over the existing color (and over the weathering).

So yeah, maybe now that I have a plan I can actually figure out what to work towards.


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Individual threads:
armor bits
electronics
armory
helmet scratch build
soft parts

[Zeek Aran]

Looking good so far! Do you have any details for your melee weapon designs?

[Bfahome]

Looking good so far! Do you have any details for your melee weapon designs?

Last step I took in the design was this.  So basically, no.  Probably going to keep them very simple, though.  Black with some silver detailing, and maybe some of the purple addition for continuity.

I did find some decent boots at Goodwill today, and I've ordered some coveralls for my flight suit.

I also scratch-designed some gauntlets a couple days ago.  Wrapped pizza box cardboard around my arm, trimmed it to look nice, flattened it, traced it onto Sintra, ant cut it out.  I need the time and resources to shape them, now.  I found a short length of piano hinge at work, too, so hopefully I can use that so they can open.  I'll get some pictures of said items next chance I get.

e: boots

[Vastoom]

I used the oven to get all my PVC to a workable state. However if you are using Sintra you need to be careful as it will shrink in the oven.

[Verco Nuhla]

I used the oven to get all my PVC to a workable state. However if you are using Sintra you need to be careful as it will shrink in the oven.

Do you know if the same shrinkage happens to Sintra worked with a heat gun?

[Syko Voss]

If anything Sintra (or as we call it in the UK, Foamex) expands when hit with heat from a heat gun (at least at the edges if you concentrate your heat on them.)

I've only worked my stuff with a heat gun and found that on the lower heat setting I just have to work the gun back-and-forth across the surface of the plate, flipping it while it's still sturdy to get an even heat all the way through.

The great thing about a heat gun is that you can target exactly where you're putting the heat and in some ways, forces you to think about the shapes you're bending.  So, for example, if you're doing a complex piece - heat it vertically up the middle and get the piece curved over, let it cool, then hit it with heat in the opposite direction and then work in the other curve - much easier than trying to juggle a big wobbly mass of half-melted plate.

If you can - make cardboard forms to bend over - that'll save you hours of mucking about (there's some stuff in my WIP on how quick they are to build out of card) and mean that things like shoulder bells, knees and gauntlets can be evenly curved for both sides.

You will notice that working with a heat gun, if you do hit edges with too much heat they tend to expand and 'bloom' out = good reason to use the heat gun evenly.

One other advantage of a heat gun  is sometimes you may want to bend something over - like rolling the edges of a plate - in that case, apply heat from only one side of the plate (the inside of the plate) and allow the heat to propagate through the plate - you can then bend the plate over where it's hottest with the outside of the plate still keeping its finish and form as it is slightly cooler.  That's a trick I've used a number of times where I was happy with the outside finish on something and I wanted to make an adjustment without having to rework the outside.

Also, final reason for using a heatgun...your partner won't kill you when they find the kitchen stinks of melted PVC and every pizza from now until 2017 tastes vaguely of plastic...

Hope that helps!

[Verco Nuhla]

Extremely helpful, thanks!