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[Slade Kel]

Thanks Slade! Fortunately we're a custom club. The design is made of choices, not compromises, and it fits the aesthetic I want.  I want it to look and feel like it can deal with explosions, cause it's likely going to be Demolitions at some point this year or early next.  Thus no RF, and the somewhat blockier design. It also fits on my head with glasses, and is narrower than my first helmet.  (Just explaining some of the choices) It's also got some callbacks to my old helmet, and some call forwards to my new trauma plates.

Thanks for the compliments on the paint.

The important part is it fits the look you want, does what you need it to do and has enough space for your noggin! It definitely has the feel of a bomb suit, looks like it can take a thermal detonator to the face

[Sep Ho'ban]

Absolutely, that was the hope

[Sep Ho'ban]

First two days of trooping the upgrades this past weekend.  Already made one change from the pics that will follow.  The word "almost" is the key word in the usual guide line of "your collar should be  almost choking you."     After Friday, I had a bruise at the base of my Adam's Apple.  Sunday, I moved both collar plates down one notch on the strap, and there was no more collar neck bruising interaction.    

Pics:





Fix before next troop *hopefully* List:
-Re-engineer girth belt closure
-Figure out a way to stop all waist items from sagging throughout the day
-figure out a way to attach cod to girth instead of a separate belt
-Replace or permanently fix internal strapping issues
-reprint gauntlets with a fillet on the wrist end, got some bites/chafing/bruising
-brown weathering where kama overlaps boots because mud
-More padding for helmet?
-Lose back the weight I lost before I started these upgrades, and then gained when the newborn arrived ~about 15 pounds to there, then some more weight on top of that to get where I really want to be... with a goal of being able to reach the floor in kit.
-Add a side-arm

Long Term:
-Replace all visible straps other than shnee straps with leather
-Replace Canvas pouch

[Nano Rey'son]

Looks great Vod!

A tip I got on the sagging is Velcro.  Either on flight suit or vest and then add to girth belt so it holds up in place.

[Sep Ho'ban]

A tip I got on the sagging is Velcro.  Either on flight suit or vest and then add to girth belt so it holds up in place.

Will keep it in mind as a last resort.   Currently the only Velcro on my kit is where the vest closes to itself.  I'm trying to keep the kit as velcro free as possible.  I don't have a lot of logical reasons for why... but my bolts and straps never pop loose when I walk or bend down or squat.  the velcro that IS on my kit sometimes fails me in those scenarios.

[Nano Rey'son]

Will keep it in mind as a last resort.   Currently the only Velcro on my kit is where the vest closes to itself.  I'm trying to keep the kit as velcro free as possible.  I don't have a lot of logical reasons for why... but my bolts and straps never pop loose when I walk or bend down or squat.  the velcro that IS on my kit sometimes fails me in those scenarios.

I'm the same way, but my preference is simply because then I have to wait for someone who can sew to help the velcro 

[Slade Kel]

Will keep it in mind as a last resort.   Currently the only Velcro on my kit is where the vest closes to itself.  I'm trying to keep the kit as velcro free as possible.  I don't have a lot of logical reasons for why... but my bolts and straps never pop loose when I walk or bend down or squat.  the velcro that IS on my kit sometimes fails me in those scenarios.

That just means you need better or more velcro (or both ). To each his own; I like my velcro because it allows for small adjustments with relative ease and in all my years of trooping I've never had it fail me.

Regardless of attachment method, this armor looks fantastic!
I do have some suggestions, but they're additions rather than changes to the existing parts. Some kind of faux buckle, like Han's, or the one depicted in the Legacy comics at the front of the belt would fill the middle very well; it looks a little blank now. Possibly boot armor and bicep armor to complete the 'heavy' look of Legacy armor, and for when you go demolitions, armor on the back of the gloves.
With or without those additions, this will still continue to be a dope set of armor .

[Sep Ho'ban]

Thanks for the thumbs up Slade

planning to ditch all the parachute buckles when I switch to leather.  I like the idea of the feaux buckle, but I'd want it to slide so I wasn't stuck with how the belt was turned on me

Thighs and boot armor are required for Demo, which honestly thighs are my one big hangup with going demo... my quads are as mutant as my head is... idk if I'll ever by comfortable with hard plates there. Maybe if I can come up with a flexi-layered design....

[Demor Kodiko]

Thighs and boot armor are required for Demo, which honestly thighs are my one big hangup with going demo... my quads are as mutant as my head is... idk if I'll ever by comfortable with hard plates there. Maybe if I can come up with a flexi-layered design....

This

This is pa r t of my holdup on getting OM
I hate how the thighs never seem to sit right on me god knows how many variations of thighs ive done.  That's why I'm waiting to see how the RC thighs fit on me.

[Sep Ho'ban]

Will be watching your... thighs... :p  with interest.

[Slade Kel]

For the buckle, I made a fake one for my legacy build that just velcro'd on the front of my ammo belt. You could make one with clips (like a money clip) that slide over the belt so you can move it around as you please.

Hrm, thigh armor. Perhaps a layered look like your back plate and Legacy style shins? You could make soft pads that the armor plates attach to, that you can either magnet/bolt to your thighs, or have straps from the belt and thigh straps. Or, and I'm just spit-balling here, perhaps some layered armor lames around the thighs of the kama, like faulds on old plate armor or kusazuri on samurai armor.

[Sep Ho'ban]

I like the idea of the faulds... wonder if they would qualify or thigh coverage for brigades....

[Nano Rey'son]

I thought of faulds....but was afraid they would look too close to samurai armor to be approved.

[Sep Ho'ban]

I think they should be okay if I echo the shapes in the rest of my kit as apposed to just doing rectangles,  but will do a sketch and get feedback before I build

[Slade Kel]

Good call on the sketch, there's often a fine line to tread with drawing real world inspiration, especially as there are some clear samurai influences already (shape of Vader's helmet, anyone? ) but with proper design I'm confident it'll do the trick. I can see the requirement for thigh armor, as you want it to look like you can take a close range explosion, but faulds shaped to match the flow of the armor should be adequate. Of course, that's all up to whomever does Brigade approvals these days.

[Sep Ho'ban]

Yeah, I just posted this in Brigade chatter to see i it would take care of the thigh requirement.



Would be over the kama, also added a faulds reference pic to the post

[Naran Baatar]

Nope armor kamas/tassets don't count as thigh armor, at least not by the general standards of the club.

[Sep Ho'ban]

Roger that Naran.  Thanks for weighing in    If under the kama my thigh coverage won't be visible in most photos, but I definitely understand where you're coming from, and I was worried it might be classified as an armored kama instead of thigh plates even though it'd be serving the same purpose.

[Slade Kel]

I saw in the Brigade thread you posted faulds got shot down, which is fair but unfortunate. Are you up for altering your kama? If you've gotta have thigh plates anyway, might as well show 'em off. I'm thinking keeping the top of the kama the same, but tapering it so that the front lays at an angle, with the bottom more or less at the outside of your knees so the edges cut outward angles from top to bottom. If that doesn't make sense (I've been up since 3 am because of work and starting to get loopy ) I can mock up a sketch on your pic with my dope MS Paint skills .

[Sep Ho'ban]

It makes sense.. I'll have to think about it... and think about whether I'd rather have the faulds than the brigade lol.  I also need to go looking for non-bog-standard thigh plates that others have done.

[Slade Kel]

Heheh, well if you decide against the Brigade, I still think the faulds would be dope and complete that 'can-take-a-bomb-to-the-face-and-laugh' vibe that your helmet and armor have already set up.

[Sep Ho'ban]

Yeah, if I don't brigade, the faulds are happening. They may happen even if I do brigade, and I'll just have double thigh coverage.

[Slade Kel]

Awesome! I'll be keeping an eye out for them

[Sep Ho'ban]

Have decided not to brigade this kit, as it's turned into kind of a living laboratory of a kit...  May eventually purpose build a kit for a brigade at some point, but for now... ON WITH THE UPGRADES!!!!!


I resolved some issues with the internal strapping that were revealed in the first troop at Fan Expo.  Also replaced the front to back straps on the side with leather to get rid of the nylon. I need to beat them up and then hit them with some brown and black acrylic. but I'm happier with the strapping setup and confident my alignment will be solid when I troop:


Modeled this hammer head based on the Power Maul from Star Wars Galaxies:

Printed it at 1 hander - belt hanger scale and pole-arm scale.  Thanks to some help from Keely with sanding and glazing putty, I hope to have them assembled and ready to get a little help with greeblification (TM) from Dan on June 9th.

Modeled and am currently printing my new gauntlets (inspired by the platforms on Enfys Nest's gaunts)  Going to get some help from Buddy with cutting and etching a piece of acrllic to go on top of the tray on the shield gen side, and make that gauntlet my first LED project:



After consultation with our very capable Ruus'alor's, I will probably be adding a few non-printed greeblies to those under the overhangs on the platforms as well.

I also need to make a cross draw holster for my westar.  Going to try to get all this stuff finished before I start on the faulds lol

[Raynos Ge'tal]

As always I am skeptical, but you manage to have a quality of work that suprises me. keep it up.