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[Karl Dha'Werda]

Update 11/25/2016:  My half chaps arrived today, I put them on immediately and wore them most of the day at work to break them in.  I did however put them on backwards at first, not very comfortable.  My co-worker joked that the horse wouldn’t want the zipper rubbing up against it all day.  This meant that the zipper was on the outside leg, instead of the inside.  Image below shows straight out of the box and weathered after work.



One of the big points you’ll notice from above is my boots were also weathered to match the rest of my kit.  Brown and tan spray paints were sprayed into the crevices/treads of my boots to make it appear that I’ve been all over the planet searching for the predators I hunt.  You’ll also see that I may have used the grinder on my leg in the mesh area while wearing the chaps.



The solution to hide the zipper was to over-lay a piece of leather type material scraped from the sleeves of my flak vest.  I used heavy duty snaps with some leather straps to mount this material to the chaps.  I then used left over Velcro to make a strip down the opposite side of the chaps from the snaps.



This works extremely well, as I’m able to quickly remove either the snaps or the Velcro to access the zipper on my half chaps.



So after altering the chaps to hide the zipper and weathering both chaps & boots I kitted up.



I tried everything in my kit, anything a beast hunter might do, like kneel or lay on the ground.



This shot is my character (Rex Dha’Werda) with macrobinoculars out, looking into the distance.  Might be a fun one to Photoshop in the future.



I love how mobile I am in this kit.  I can kneel no problem, jump, bend, tip, lay down and get back up without help.



I took the regular pre-app pictures and after running them past my clan Alor’ad and Ruus`alor they are putting them up on my regions pre-app board.  This kit is getting close to submission and every tweak is making it that much better.

[Karl Dha'Werda]

Pre-App Photos are posted here: http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=113462.msg1659832#msg1659832

Please comment with feedback on that thread.

[Happywookie117]

Dude this is awesome i love it!

[Karl Dha'Werda]

Update 11/30/2016:  Made some adjustments to my SWTOR sniper rifle.  Had basically a snow day today with the last three days snowfall totally 13"-18".  I am working from home, not sure how much "work" is getting done though.     I removed the "earthy" looking magazine, a lot of unnecessary leather wraps, and the trigger guard.  I also did some touch up paint, painted the hand grips, and weathering.

[Karl Dha'Werda]

Update 12/3/2016:  My clan leaders gave me the go ahead to submit my application today and gave me the link to the regional pre-app.  He mentioned the top things that came out of the pre-app.  Move girth belt over top edge of cod piece.  It was already over the top edge, but I moved it down even more to cover the tabs as well.  Someone also mentioned that my sniper rifle looked too modern, I altered it more to look like the reference photos from SWTOR (as seen above in my last post).  I removed the magazine clip, trigger guard, and most of the leather strapping after I adjusted the scope.  My armour was not found in the reference photos and it was pointed out to someone that my armour is in fact approved by the App Team for the Late Crusader Era; the Ramikadyc Armor from the Mandalorian Arsenal. 

Some thing was also mentioned about lower armour, when I read the CRLs it suggest lower armour be used other than the cod piece.  I took this to mean that I was encouraged to have knee armour, because it was not mentioned anywhere else about knee armour in the CRLs.  I do use heavy leather half chaps for my shins in addition to my knee armour.  My shoulders where noted as maybe being too small, but if you compare Official Member Ru'Der Marekar's LC kit he uses the same hard hat shoulders.

My suggestions to myself after de-kitting the first time was to adjust my back plate and apparatus to be more center.  I also wanted my balaclava to be tucked in, closer to my neck.  I also got some antler tips to be used as beast teeth as a trophy on my kit.  This was the last component I needed for my Beast Hunter kit, after this LC kit gets approved.  This combined with the beast spikes across the dome of my helmet are the two trophies needed for this brigade profession.

My new character's name is Rex Dha'Werda.  It may have to do with an elementary school project that we had to pick a new name for ourselves.  I wanted to be named T-Rex, so you can guess what age I was (7 years old I think).  Also when I first showed my family the picture of my helmet, my sister said I looked like a dinosaur.  I didn't think of any of this until after I was searching the name generator and found references to the name Rex in my Era.  So there you have it, the ancestor to Karl Dha'Werda is Rex.

[Kyr'yc Ramikad]

Good ideas.  I'm also getting LC armor from the Arsenal.  I guess he's reworking the molds so I'll have to wait until January.

[Karl Dha'Werda]

Update 12/29/2016: LC kit has been approved, on to the brigade application. 

2016 Official Member Welcome Thread

[Karl Dha'Werda]

My kit was recently approved so I went out and got some photos (14 photos) of my fully finished official kit; despite the weather.  Thank you to all that helped me get to this point especially Naran Baatar.  I'm excited to troop in this kit at our next event.

[Karl Dha'Werda]

Update 1/5/2016: Today I got a decals for my truck and for my armour of the Late Crusader ring.  I adhered it to the left on my chest plate and then weathered it.



It needs a little bit of work with some actual dirt and grime from the garage, but I’ll wait until it warms up past 15 degrees before I venture out there.

[Kyr'yc Ramikad]

That's outstanding.   Awesome work.  That temp is a bit brutal.

[Karl Dha'Werda]

That's outstanding.   Awesome work.  That temp is a bit brutal.

Ha, it hasn't gotten above 0 degrees F, this week.  Brutal could be worst.  -3 right now (no windchill factor).  The week before Christmas we had a windchill of -44 degrees F.  Before I moved up here to North Dakota I read that the temperature could be 180 degree difference from Summer to Winter weather.  Last year (2016) we hit a "feels like" of 123 degrees and then the -44 windchill a few weeks ago.  Paint doesn't work when it is that cold.   

[Tomar Laval]

OMG loving this. Some darn good info here.  Love the details on the back etc..had considered something like that but until seeing it I wasn't sure but now I'm really wanting to move forward on this
Very inspirational. Thank you Vod.

[Karl Dha'Werda]

OMG loving this. Some darn good info here.  Love the details on the back etc..had considered something like that but until seeing it I wasn't sure but now I'm really wanting to move forward on this
Very inspirational. Thank you Vod.

No problem Vod, looking forward to you progress on your kit and glad I helped spark some ideas. 

[Karl Dha'Werda]

I went to Walmart the other day to find an additional trophy for my kit.  I found these rubber dinosaurs and saw lots of potential with them.  The the head of one of them is on my kit as a fun thing for kids to see.  I’ll say it is the skull of one of the baby predators I hunted or something.



I thought of using the spine parts on this stegosaurus, but it didn’t fit my kit very well.  The back of Dimetrodon is what you see below.



It actually works quite well for a trophy from the planet Lok.  Not my ideal hunting planet covered in sulfur pools and orange dusty terrain; but a job is a job so I took it.  The species my buyer wanted was similar to the Krayt dragons of Tatoonie (another planet I’d like to avoid as there isn’t much green there).  Kimogila.



“This creature had no known predators on the planet, but had evolved to boast a layer of extremely resilient scales, capable of withstanding all but the strongest anti-personnel weapons. They were also known to have one of the most toxic venom in the galaxy, which could kill ambushed prey in seconds.” -Wookieepedia



“They were hard to find creatures, but they usually traveled in small family packs ranging from two to three, and could sometimes become extremely territorial.” -Wookieepedia



This was an exceptionally challenging target and well worth the hunt in my opinion.  You can see some of the rear spinal fins I scored from the buyer as a trophy from this magnificent beast.  I hang the fins on my belt along with a few other trophies from my various hunting expeditions.



I'll continue to update this WIP as I add more details to my kit.  I plan to keep an eye on the Late/Neo Crusader boards as there are some awesome kits out there.  I can't wait until winter is over, so I can get some photo shoots with some green backdrops.

[Karl Dha'Werda]

Reviving my thread.  Are there any references to kamas in the Late Crusader time period?  Thinking about a leather one for more coverage with a Beasthunter build.

[Naran Baatar]

The only references for kamas are going to be the ones from the Old Republic MMO there are a few armor sets that have kamas, there isn't anything "different" about them from the standard kama and there is no issue with rocking out a leather kama with a crusader kit.

[Karl Dha'Werda]

there is no issue with rocking out a leather kama with a crusader kit.

Awesome!  Thanks Naran.  It will be a slow build for now.  Building a house next year, so all funds are going towards that. 

[Karl Dha'Werda]

I made a step forward with my kit and commissioned a leather kama to be made by our new Ver'alor; Kota Grell.  He and his wife just made one for an upgrade on his kit.  I'm super excited to get going on upgrades for this kit again.

The only references for kamas are going to be the ones from the Old Republic MMO there are a few armor sets that have kamas, there isn't anything "different" about them from the standard kama and there is no issue with rocking out a leather kama with a crusader kit.

So I’ve been tinkering with the idea of a kama to use with my Late Crusader kit, geared towards a beasthunter brigade.  I applied once and got some feedback about the lack of thigh coverings on my kit with my long legs.  A leather kama was my solution, but I could not find anything that I liked.  Below are two images one of a female Mando with a Kama and the other is a clone trooper with a kama.



The other day our Ver’alor Kota Grell posted on our Clan’s Facebook page an image of his new kama (before weathering).  His kama or battle skirt was made by his wife Kira Grell and her awesome sewing skills.



At our armour party yesterday I asked if he and his wife could do a commission leather kama for me.  I already had the leather (upholstery leather for boat seats), but couldn’t find a pattern or have the sewing skills to make my own.  Some quick measurements with a tape measure and in less than a day later it was done.



It is the right length on me (below is Kota wearing it).  It needs some work, but at least the ball is moving and I have some momentum to keep it going.



Needs weathering, a net or something, trophy parts added, and a belt.  This kama will be under my current waist items.

Blog Post HERE.

[Karl Dha'Werda]

Update 2.22.19

Due to club rules I have upgraded my hunting bone knife for a real bone knife.  This knife was on Amazon for less than $10.  It is a buffalo bone carved knife.



First thing I needed to do is make the bone knife blend into my existing kit with weathering and match the existing “bone” knife I made (the one with a metal blade).



I started by wrapping the handle in the same leather I used for my kama.  I then tried painting the knife with black and tan spray paint.  It didn’t work very well on the bone itself but made the leather wrap look weathered.



I then used some super glue to adhere dirt and grime to cover the blade and make it look weathered.



The bone knife is a bit smaller in the handle area then my previous knife, but the blade is longer so it fits in my sheath.  Tomorrow I will apply my heat gun to the leather wraps to weather it some more.



I also hope that with the use of my heat gun I can reduce the build up of dirt on the blade and spread it to be more uniformed instead of being in one clump.





Update 3.2.19:

Leather kama gets some loving weathering added.  I tried to add some yellow like scales to this kama, but the effect looked fake and I removed them.  Instead I used super glue to add rigid lines up and down the kama.  I then added black spray paint and while still wet I rubbed the paint and super glue in together as seen in the second image below.



Next I added light tan and regular tan to the mix with black and did the same style with rubbing the paint while still wet into the leather or out of it as seen below.  Since the temperatures are roughly around -14 with a -32 windchill right now, there is a lot of mud and snow that falls off my vehicles when parked in the garage.  I was able to smear my kama into the mud to get a more realistic weathering on it (see bottom image in picture below).  I focused on the bottom tips when I rubbed the mud into the kama, as this would be where the most dirt would build up.



After the mud was smeared in, I used some light sprays of army green and hunter green spray paints into a rag and rubbed those color tones into the kama.  As a beasthunter I would be in among tall grass, weeds, and shrubs; ultimately there would be the effect of “grass stains” on my soft parts.  In addition to the green I used my torch to add some blaster effects or singed from a beast or brush fire (as seen in top image below).  In the bottom image of the picture below you can see my use of acetone to further weather my kama as it removed areas of paint and grime build up across the kama.



Below you can see that I have completed the outside portion of my kama, but still needed to weather the inside as it would be clean but not that clean.  I used a combination of just black and tan spray paints rubbed into the inner side of my kama.



Then I put on my kama for a test fit and it fits right and looks fantastic.  So I decided to kit up in my Late Crusader kit to see the final results.



As seen below it has the correct weathered effect to match the rest of my kit.  It adds tot he thigh areas and really looks great to me and my Alor’ad.  Still looking at adding some netting to my right thigh area hanging down from my waist and then on the left thigh area side I will have my snares (not pictured below).



I’m excited for progress on my kit and have included an action shot of me in kit outside in those below temps in the snow.

[Karl Dha'Werda]

I'm picking this kit back up to make some adjustments.  Due to some troops in this kit paint has flacked off both my shoulder bells and knees.  This material is made of hardhats and the paint doesn't stick very long.  I'm open to suggestions of how to fix this, so I can troop again with this kit.

[Kyr'bes Shukalar]

If you take the shoulders and knees back down to the plastic, then sand the plastic with like 80 grit sandpaper to rough it up, it should take the paint better.

[Kol Hokan]

I'm picking this kit back up to make some adjustments.  Due to some troops in this kit paint has flacked off both my shoulder bells and knees.  This material is made of hardhats and the paint doesn't stick very long.  I'm open to suggestions of how to fix this, so I can troop again with this kit.

I'd recommend sanding it down and getting ahold of some Rust-oleum "self-etching primer."  That should bond better to the hard-hat material than standard primer or paint.

[Karl Dha'Werda]

I ended up getting green hardhats to replace my knees.  I still will be sanding down and using a paint etching primer as Kol Hokan suggested.   This way when the green paint rubs off from my constant kneeling there will be a green subsurface instead of white, which should increase the longevity of my knees.

I also realized I never posted an upgrade to my new gloves I got back in 2019.



The upgrade is green gauntlet style gloves when the CRLs changed to say the gloves must be tucked under the gauntlets and not over them.



These new ones will keep the gloves under my leather gauntlets.

[Karl Dha'Werda]

This past week I finally got around to converting an airsoft rifle base into my upgraded sniper rifle. I based it heavily on SWTOR video game references for sniper rifles. It has a similar style of my last rifle with some needed modes, longer, and structure to make it more durable.



The base I used was a 300 FPS – Airsoft Sniper Rifle Gun found on eBay for about $35 USD at the time of purchase in 2019. Closer to $45 USD now. I toyed around with some ideas in 2019 and then shelved the rifle for a later time as we hit the years 2020-2022.



My last rifle was heavily based on a Tac-HUD Heavy Sniper rifle. See below for my reference images along with version 1 of my sniper rifle (front and back).




After pulling it off the shelf I laid it down on my living room floor and all the parts I had from the V1 sniper rifle.



The first thing I noticed was the handle grip from the stock to the grips needed to be removed. Also the trigger guard would need to be removed to match up to reference images.



The next thing, was to remove the forestock in front of the magazine off of the V1 sniper and relocate it to the new sniper (see below).



I cut out the forestock section as well for this swap.



With the forestock swapped over, this rifle was starting to look like a great base for my upgraded sniper rifle and aligned with reference images.



The next thing I did was use hot glue to attach my forestock component and then I used flat black spray paint to paint the whole base one color.



The next step was to convert the barrel and give it extra length. I wanted to keep my existing barrel tip as it has a removal orange tip cap for photos. I had also removed the scope PVC parts and shortened them down to more applicable towards this build and less exaggerated in length from my V1 sniper.



Next I perforated the barrel along the forestock of the rifle, not the entire length of the barrel. I used a few reference images from SWTOR including the one seen below for inspiration in the perforated barrel.



Something I found really cool about this new rifle base is the ability to collapse the rifle down for transportation between troops. My goal would be to keep this feature through the whole conversion process to my Late Crusader sniper rifle. Once the barrel had been perforated, I started on matching the barrel size for the extension. I did this by cutting down a curtain rod to the right length and then used duck tape around the original barrel to expand it out to the size of the curtain rod. This ensured a snug fit.



I then painted the removable barrel a metallic aluminum color, matching reference images.



To give this rifle more of the color reference, I masked off with painters tape a few more parts of the rifle for paint prep. The sections of the scope would also be this aluminum color and the stock plates on either side as well. The pistol grip area would be painted brown/tan to resemble similar colors to wood.



Fully assembled below after paint for reference.



Next I added some definition to the stock plate by adding a type of washer to each location the fake bolts were imprinted on the plastic. I also added some greeblies to the forestock to give dimensional additions to this rifle, similarly found in SWTOR rifles.



I then transferred the appearance of my V1 sniper with the leather strapping in front of the pistol grips. This strapping helps hide a hole from when the pistol grips were removed and aesthetically gives me the look I am shooting for with beasthunter brigade and all the leather parts on my kit in mind. To weather the leather I used super glue drips and then I sprayed the leather with black spray paint. Wiping the glue away quickly gave me the desired weathering affect.



Next I created a second barrel as seen in reference images by using a wooden dowel. I also used a PVC coupling to hide the transition from the original barrel to the curtain rod barrel. I masked this by using it as a support for the secondary barrel below.



After lightly spraying the all the black parts of this rifle with metallic spray paint I rubbed it down to give it the black metal sheen look. I then gathered dust from my garage floor (joys of winter) and sprinkled it all over the rifle. I then rubbed everything, some of it sticking and some of it coming off giving it the weathered appearance.



I had also added a strip of blue reflective tape to a greeblie on one side of the rifle. This tape was affixed to a component of a calculator screen to make it look in universe and not just stuck on randomly. With a flash camera it will illuminate the reflective tape giving it the effect seen in SWTOR video game on these rifles.



Sizing comparison below. This upgrade is definitely bigger and longer than my V1 sniper.




I really like how it turned out and the late crusader reference images from SWTOR video game really helped me create a better upgraded sniper rifle for my kit.



I have a couple fixes needed for my kit still with specially the new knees and then I’ll be trooping in this kit again.

[Bade Duun]

The is one dope conversion. Excellent work, looks meaty and light at the same time