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[Verco Nuhla]

Oh lord, so much progress... Lookin' good, vod!

[Akiva Tal'korel]

Oh lord, so much progress... Lookin' good, vod!

Thanks! Glad to see you back There's still a good bit left to do, but it's the fun stuff-- weapon-making and painting C:

[Akiva Tal'korel]

So! Ran some errands today, still have a few things left to get, but here are some progress pictures (and some concerns/questions at the bottom):



WIP of one of my batons. I got some PVC to fit around and make an outer core (so I can take this piece here out to change the batteries).



My left gauntlet, padded and nearly done greebling. Need to buy some PVC to cover the charger (the sintra was just too poorly shaped and I'd already superglued it...) but then it'll be done pretty much.



And that's my concern. Granted I'll have a black flightsuit, and the gauntlets will be mostly black (gonna paint the padding too, at least the visible edges). But I'm suddenly concerned that there's too much space. Problem is, I have neither time nor sintra to fix.. and some of these are already superglued down. :/ I'm really hoping it's acceptable and just a wider-style of gauntlet. I don't see anything in the CRL's about spacing between your arm and gauntlet, and again, my flight suit top is black, the padding will be black so... fingers crossed. ;_;

But I've got all the PVC I need to make my weapons, I've glued my ears onto my helmet and cut out necessary padding.. it's getting there.. but time for a late lunch.

[Kris Jasra]

You could add a small sliver of sintra round the rim on the inside. Not enough that it's a hindrance to you wearing it but enough to give the edges some bulk.
It will hide some of the padding and give an older tech appearance as the electronics are clearly taking up more room inside - right?

[Akiva Tal'korel]

You could add a small sliver of sintra round the rim on the inside. Not enough that it's a hindrance to you wearing it but enough to give the edges some bulk.
It will hide some of the padding and give an older tech appearance as the electronics are clearly taking up more room inside - right?

I may try something like that, though with my gloves and flight suit top on this padding is actually too thick. So I might double up on the stuff I used to line my vest and see how -that- goes... but yeah. The... totally functioning electronics .. -tooootally- take up more room on the inside. Yup. Legit. Totes. >_>

[Akiva Tal'korel]

I swear, the theme for this kit is "if things are going smoothly, expect something to go awry shortly after". <_> But I did make some good strides today, just not as much as I wanted.



Most of my pieces have been primed. Several still need sanding (the old shoulder bells particularly, as the primer cracks which tells me something needs fixing), some need more bondo (aaaaaagh it's so hard to sand ;_; Why me), but some are good to go for the first coat of black come Friday (which is my next day off).



WIP pic of the loin cloth. It'll hit about knee length, and I thought it'd be cool to put brown bias tape on the edges, as well as pleat the front. I'm doing the same for my kama, but no pics of that yet because I need to buy more bias tape.



The almost-finished loincloth. Just need to sew the loop in where the belt will go but it's practically done and I need a break to get ready to go out tonight lol. I like the way the pleats came out, and it just has that little extra 'oomph' to make it stand out.

Here's hoping I can get more done Friday and Sunday. Gonna miss my original deadline of this Sat/Sun for sure, but... c'est la vie, I guess. This is what I get for putting it off :'D

As for the stun batons, things are pretty much ready to assemble, but I wanna see if my Dad can't help me when I go into work tomorrow-- I need the slots carved into the part that will cover the EL wire (so it shines through) as well as holes drilled for where the buttons will be. I don't have the tools (I don't think) or the confidence/surety to do some of it so I'll see if he can't help.

That's all for now folks!

[Akiva Tal'korel]

SO MUCH PROGRESS. I CAN SEE THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL. Prepare for pic spam. Today was a painting day.



I took the Yustapir clan logo (in decal form because it's simpler) to put on my left shoulder bell. The river behind the skull will be in ghost chrome, the skull in the color-shifting paint.



The black basecoat all down. I used up both cans of my Alsa paint (that stuff does not go as far as Rustoleum, lemme tell ya! Wider spray is probably why), and bought a can of flat black Rustoleum and it all came out dandy.



The stencil with the back portion cut out.



I also used this piece as the test piece. Went a bit heavy on the ghost chrome so the edges are a bit messy (you'll see). I'll probably correct it a bit to make the lines a bit sharper.



More work on the ghost chrome! I did this in two/three parts really. First coat was the first half of the pieces, then I did the first coat on the rest, then came back for a second coat on all the pieces once they all had one layer down. I wanted to make sure I had enough paint, and even switched up my design to ensure it. Honestly, I like this a lot better. It's simpler, and will let the black shine through too.



More work!



CAN I JUST TAKE A MOMENT TO SHRIEK WITH JOY? YES? OKAY. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

For realsies though, I'm so super happy with how this turned out. Much as I love the flat black, it's gonna be glossy come end of day because that's what Alsa recommends for the basecoat and the mystic, especially the latter for it to show up well and that paint has to be seen. xD But I love this ghost chrome. Wow. Also curious beast investigating new smells.



The chest pieces, shoulder pieces, and bicep armor. Bicep armor will be silver, but I'll probably buy a can of Rustoleum for that since I'm nearly out of ghost chrome. I'll also probably make the chest diamond flat black or straight mystic (though to do that it'll need to be black first) because the square in the middle isn't perfectly aligned.



Leg pieces. You can see there are some places where the paint either bled through or I forgot to mask (whoops), but I'll go back and fix those.



And the back plates! Oh, and one more thing:



My Dad's been helping me with my weapons-- specifically he cut out the slots on the batons, as well as drilling where the button will be. (He also cut one of the pipes because I got lazy and didn't wanna hacksaw it rofl). Thanks Dad!

That's all for now folks. More to come Weds! Still waiting to hear back from a vendor on how long her zabrak horns take to ship before I buy any of my makeup or prosthetics.

[Kol Varek]

Oh those look cool!

[Akiva Tal'korel]

Oh those look cool!

Thanks!! I started working on my phone/wallet pouch today (it's almost done, just need a SWarsy closure) and did some cleanup work on the black. Will bring those pieces inside after dinner probably, and start working on masking for the chameleon paint.

I didn't notice this until the other day though, which is that right now, with the black/silver and the lines, my kit is hardcore reminding me of Robbie Reyes's Ghost Rider... xD

TO DO STILL:

1. Assemble weapons. All the pieces are pretty much there, I just need to put them together.
2. Paint weapons.
3. Finish painting armor.
4. Make girth belt.
5. Finish pouch.

But right now, I gotta finish making dinner. Mmmm, burritos...

[Straka Zulu]

I can see the similarities.
Maybe it was a subconscious thing.  Just need to get an Executioner bucket, and airbrush some flames onto it.

Kit is coming together nicely, makes me look forward to seeing it finished! 

[Akiva Tal'korel]

I can see the similarities.
Maybe it was a subconscious thing.  Just need to get an Executioner bucket, and airbrush some flames onto it.

Kit is coming together nicely, makes me look forward to seeing it finished!

Haha, maybe it was! Ironically the conscious motivation was 'I'm not sure if I have enough of this expensive paint to do my original design, how can I modify it..?' and my subconscious must've been quietly whispering "Ghost Rider..." the whole time.. xD

Thanks!

Also, got my Zabrak horns today, so I have all my makeup and prosthetics now! Will probably do a makeup test tomorrow while I work on the armor so I can get used to having horns stuck to my face :B

[Kol Varek]

That helmet design looks similar to a particular mark I build 

[Akiva Tal'korel]

That helmet design looks similar to a particular mark I build 

Ha! That's awesome. xD I actually based this design off what I was gonna paint my NME Stalker. When the Stalker turned out to be too big, I xferred the design to the Mercenary, but then modified it more to ensure I had enough paint. Simple designs are good. Popular too, apparently! There'll be more added with the chameleon paint though. Gonna do that tomorrow prolly!

[Kol Varek]

The basic helmets are good for their own reasons. I actually got this helmet because I knew I was gonna do custom stuff to it, granted I also didn't know EXACTLY what I was gonna do. Also the reason I didn't get a rangefinder. It wound up being worth the forward thinking, as it made the V2 very unique and identifiable

[Akiva Tal'korel]

Today's progress!





Makeup test. I originally was gonna use liquid latex and cotton balls to form little pockets around the horns as if they were actually protruding.. didn't go so well so I scrapped the idea and just stuck 'em on with spirit gum. Gonna make the magenta line thinner and maybe not try to fade it out. May look for a proper black lipstick too.



The first round of color-shifting paaaaaaaint~~~ *u*



After the second round. The helmet, unfortunately, was ruined. KIDDING, KIDDING. It does need some touch-ups though, since I made a mistake on it that you won't see. >_> Ever. But the left cheek also developed a crackling issue, which I think is because somehow, the black paint never dried fully?? Which is a mystery to me, but I'll sand it when I have some time again, then go back and hit it with the black. Good news is all the expensive paint stuck just fine!







The color-shift paint in acttioooooon~. Depending on the angle of the light, it'll be purple or green. This is my ab plate. I'm also getting a very 'Huntress' vibe from this kit now, ahahaha.







Naturally, I gotta show off this rad stencil. C: I worked hard on this piece, and it shows, and I'm super proud of it.

TO DO - ARMOR:

1. Fix helmet crackling, paint inside, pad.
2. Assemble/paint weapons.
3. Paint gauntlets (they need some metallic paint is all) and bicep armor.
4. Clear coat all pieces.
5. Attach remaining velcro/elastic to pieces and then to vest.

TO DO - SOFT PARTS:

1. Fix shoulder bells on vest.
2. Sew girth belt.
3. Finish pouch.
4. Make holsters for batons/whip.