I figured it was about time to get on here and post about the progress of my kit other than my helmet. If you would like to see the progress on that though, you can go here:
http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=114215.msg1647975#msg1647975. Where to begin? I started by purchasing a black flightsuit from the local Army Surplus store. This place had everything; while I was there I picked up a pair of gloves that fit perfectly with my vision for my armor.
Afterwards, I had a friend come over and help me make a ductape dress form/mannequin.
I managed to find some decent fabric from another friend that I thought would look cool for my flak vest. After some hours of working off of a template with some awesome help from a Clanmate, we managed to get most of it taken care of. Still need to add the shoulders and put some darts in the front, but I think it is turning out pretty cool. For the design of the flak vest we used two parachute buckles and nylon webbing to snap the front fabric portion in the middle of the back. While the back fabric portion we did the same, but they fold and snap on the sides. As of right now, that is as far as I have gotten for this part. On to the next area!
Due to some great opportunities here in Colorado, I was given the option of going to some Leather working classes. I figured this would be a perfect time to start working on my belt. It was going to be a bit complicated, but I knew what I wanted. I started by buying a whole side of leather. I cut off one long strip at length of my waist, but made it 2 1/2 inches wide. Then I cut it in half, trimmed the ends to curve in some and rivoted them to 2: 2 1/2 inch rings. On one side of a single strap, instead of using rivots, i used snaps, so the belt could be put on and taken off at any point.
Following almost the exact same same guidelines as above, I cut another strip, except this time I made sure both pieces could go from the side of my waist over the opposite shoulder and back down to my waist in the same position as the other end. this will be the baldric part of the belt and will eventually connect to the other belt already made. Also, instead of cutting it in half I made the cut so that when I put it through the buckle in the end, it would lye just below my shoulder, but not on top of my breastplates. This does mean that you will have to different sizes in length, but that is okay. Attached two ends together with another 2 1/2 in ring, but on the other two side, just as with a ring, I attached a buckle. This is as far as I have gotten on my belt so far. Updates to follow as I continue to make progress.
I did however happen to get a hold of a belt over at hot topic that I thought I would use for my ammo belt and would eventually go along with the belt I was already making. Do keep in mind, I have not done any dying of the leather yet, but I plan on having them a black or dark purple color and a lighter purple thread sewn throughout.
With the trusty old pepakura files I have found on the interwebs, I put together my left gauntlet and went ahead and fiberglassed it. Did the same steps as found with my helmet WIP (link found above). I ended up getting to a point that I did not completely like how it was looking, so I went back and cut out a section and decided to use an ironman toy in its place. Bondoed it in place, sanded it down, smoothed out everything, and then cut out the top flat section of the gauntlet. this is going to be a small cover to where my phone will sit (made to not resemble a phone later). That way I can control a bluetooth sytem in my helmet without breaking character.
As you notice, there is another hole that I left open. I will be using this area to attach a hose to that area and make it look more like a pop-up flamethrower. Once I got everything all nice and neat, I cut the gauntlet in half and proceded to use epoxy glue and pop rivots to attach a piano hinge to the inside. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned and I broke the hinge off inserting the rivots. Luckily, Bondo is very forgiving and I just redid the edge and tried again, with success!
