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[Sizors]

So I started my mando armor for MegaCon in Orlando Fl back in 2016 with my wife. We bought some sintra and used the templates to create our armor. We had a friend help us make our vests to attach the armor.  I bought the rubies jango helmet while my wife tried to make her own out of home depot buckets. We did all this in just under a month, but didnt get as far as we wanted because of the limited time.


Obviously we wanted to do better but we had started to late. My rubies helmet was simply hot glued together and the seam was clearly visible. I didnt have any matching clothes or a belt. It was a last minute job all the way.

So we decided to work a little more on our overall costumes for Halloween. My wife decided she didnt like the one she made as much and bought a rubies jango and then I sealed up the seam with bondo.


We got some cheap belts, gloves, and knee pads off amazon. While searching for cool trophy ideas, I came across a guy who had an imperial badge and I thought that was pretty cool. So I decided to get one myself as well as an old light saber Ive had for years.







I found an old nerf gun and I took it apart, painted it black, and used it for my blaster.




Its hard for us to find time with 2 small kids running around the house all the time. It was all pretty basic, but it worked for my wife and I. So fast forward some more time and MegaCon 2017 was just around the corner. We hadnt planned on going since we were supposed to be out of town. 2 weeks before MegaCon and we find out our plans hand change we could in fact go.

We had been talking about completely redoing our armor and everything, but that just wasnt going to happen with 2 weeks. So I decided to a communications back pack, and I also picked up a shemagh for cape.



During this time I also created some gauntlets from some plastic cups and pieces of sentra. I think they looked alright, the problem was that they were top heavy and would slide all over my arms and rotate upside down. A day before MegaCon I decided to scrape them and just go with some painted cups instead.


I had also made a cod piece, but I didnt like the way it had turned out so I scraped it as well.

Blaster:



belt with trophies:


gloves and gauntlets:


bucket:




We also ran into the BVC. I meet some really cool people and they convinced me to do all the social media stuff as well and join here and post some of my pictures. Unfortunately, I dont remember any of their names, but they were all super friendly and helpful.

[Darth_Vemon]

Might just be me, but none of your pics are showing up.

[Og' Reh]

Might just be me, but none of your pics are showing up.

Telepathy? I wanted to use exact same words.

[Sizors]

so my wife and i had created a new kit for megacon 2018.  i am planning on trying to get it approved before megacon 2019. while talking to the batuu clan members at megacon, they convinced me to get back on the forum and post pictures and updates. im more of a facebook guy but decided to get back in here and continue on with my wip thread.

whatever site i had originally used to host my pictures died almost as soon as i had posted them.  i had no idea because i basically posted them and just got to busy with work/kids to remember to check back. i wasnt actively working on that kit anymore so life took over.

so i took the time and went back through my phone and found the relevant pictures, put them on imgur and hope to keep this going. im going to start posting some pictures of my 2.0 kit. i hope to post some of them later today/tomorrow.

my wife and i plan on attending an armor party this weekend and hope to make so progress on her kit. shes basically doing something completely new.

[grantaire]

So you've got a really great start for both of your kits. You did a great job cleaning up that seam along the dome of the Jango 2 Piece (J2P). With regards to your gauntlets sliding down - it's helpful to add padding on the inside. The fit on the gauntlet will be tighter and it will help keep things in place a bit better. In terms of going for OM status, the three issues I see off the bat are (1) your shoe laces which have to be covered, (2) your functional lightsaber has to either become nonfunctional or not added to your kit, and (3) you can't just use sports armor for your knees.

Thankfully, all of those things are quick fixes that I'm sure members at BVC will help you with at the armor party. I'm sure they can also touch on things that I didn't notice. But otherwise, you guys look great and are already so close to getting approved. Can't wait to see the upgrades you make with your kits and where it all goes from here.

[Sizors]

thanks. so this kit was actually old. im uploading the pictures of the newer kit right now.

for the helmet, it wasnt the cleanest job for the seam, but ive been told its decent.

i still have the cup gauntlets for now. for whatever reason, they dont slide as much now. maybe i just dont notice. i plan on eventually buying some gauntlets off of april storm's etsy store. right now im leaning towards the sabine ones.

i am looking for boots without laces that i can dedicate to my kit. as soon as i find a decent pair at a reasonable price, i will pick them up. i didnt want to put time into making the shoe lace covers just in case they dont work quite as well with the dedicated pair of boots. i saw a couple people posting about the man of war store, but i just cant spend that kind of money. i am open to cheaper options.

the lightsaber is just for fun. i put the little hook attachment on there so it can easily be added/removed.

well that sucks about the knee pads, they are pretty comfortable. maybe i will attempt to make the more traditional ones at the armor party this weekend.


so i started working on my 2.0 kit back in january 2018 with the hope of getting it done for megacon in may. i got most of what i wanted to built out before then. of course its never done so im going to hit up the batuu clan armor part this weekend with hopes of doing a few more things.

my idea was to create a multi layered armor design. i saw a couple really cool designs on the forums and wanted to give it shot. i also really like the hexagon pattern so i bought some stencils off amazon.



i was still playing with different armor designs so i decided to update my communications back pack first. i thought about doing a jet back but decided it would simply be too much work right now. the original comm pack was just made out of an old amazon box, water bottle, antenna, and some pieces from a vacuum, so i wanted to upgrade it.

my concept was something similar to commander gree's comm pack.



i found a electrical utility box on amazon to use as my base.


i took the old water bottle off and added a vent.



used a couple electrical twist knobs as dials. i cut a couple pieces of rectangular sintra as buttons.


right now i am debating if i should to back and repaint the hexagons with my bigger stencil or just leave it as is.

[grantaire]

Woah your new comm pad looks awesome! I think I like it the way that it is - but it's really up to you.

I was actually looking into buying the Sabine gauntlets on AprilStorm's etsy as well but I think it says it sold out? I could be wrong but I would suggest that you check in with her when you can.

Typically you can just google for men's chelsea boots and you'll find a similar style of shoe to the Boba Fett/Storm Troop. But since it isn't a custom shoe, it's much more reasonable ($40~) and pretty much approvable.

I figured the light saber attachment was just for fun. You can probably still keep it for more casual events like cons and children's events, I'm sure. Just be sure not to include them in the application picture or in official LFL troops (sporting events, screenings, etc.)

For the knee pads, you can build the knee on top of the knee pads if it is really comfortable. You just can't have it visible since it's too off the shelf for the app team. Hope that all helps!

[Sizors]

i noticed that april storm also sells the plans for 3d printing the gauntlets as well. i might look into doing that.

thanks giving me a specific type of boot to look up. i got lost in just searching for mens boots. im seeing a bunch around the $40-50 mark that could work.

i am going to attempt to make new knee pads this weekend. i will also see if i can post some updated pictures later tonight.

[grantaire]

Glad I could help! Can't wait to see your updated pictures and hope you have fun at that armor party!

[Sizors]

Here is the evolution of my 2.0 kit

i wanted to do a layered design.



a friend of mine was able to make me some stickers. obviously i had to have the skull on the shoulder. for the sticker on my chest i wanted to incorporate both the house of florida buurenaar verda and my specific clan batuu. at first i was going to do a one on each chest piece. but then i noticed how they both kind of flowed together. so i just kinda used ms paint and threw them together. i thought it looked cool. idk if thats what the clan had in mind when they designed it but i went with it.


here it is all together.


i also added the hex pattern to the back side of the helmet. i thought it helped tie it all together.



some of the kit laid out.


megacon 2018

[Straka Zulu]

From your initial pics to the latest, that is some amazing progress! 

[Jennari]

There's no other way to describe it; that is beautiful, vod! Outstanding work! I love it! 

[Havelock]

You're doing some nice work, vod.  Well done.  Your cape, however, is quite clearly a shammah-style piece of fabric, and recognizably earthly.  Unfortunately that means you'll have to replace it.  I'd recommend a nice matching purple with no pattern on it; just go with a solid piece of fabric.

Again, good work, and I'm looking forward to seeing new pics.  With some knee plates.   

[Straka Zulu]

Or, you could go for something like Boba's: a single solid stripe of a complimentary color running through it.

But Havelock has you on the right track. Keep at it!

[Sizors]

Would a hexagon patterned material be ok to use because its so heavily featured in my design? i did a very quick search and already found some that could possibly work if thats ok.