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[Evad]

Small Update

Another update from Kelan Ord armories.  He's getting to the final stretch and we had an awesome conversation recently to go over some more details of the build.  He's got some more progress done on the armor plates, as well as some new pieces of the armor that weren't shown before.  By the end of this month he thinks it'll be ready to ship out!

Chest and Back

The chest piece got some trauma plates put on, and you can also see on the collar plate above the shoulders there are also some plates there for aesthetic purposes, and for stability to reinforce the curve.  The back piece and collar will also get some more trauma plates to give some more definition and detail.  These pictures weren't taken at the same time, so there is some differences between them.

Pauldrons

Here's how the angle of the pauldron will look, but they won't be joined to the collar like it is shown here.  They'll be strapped to my bicep and give that plated look for the legacy era armor.   

Cod Piece and Thigh Plates

I really like how the thigh plates came out, and the cod piece will also have some trauma plates to them as well.  Most of the cod though will be hidden beneath the belt/kama that I have envisioned. 

Updated Checklist

• Helmet - Mostly Finished! Needs Corsec Symbol and Detailing
• Flight Suit - Ready for Weathering
• Vest - Velcro Patch needs moved.
• Armor Plates - In Progress with Kelan Ord
• Gauntlets - Roughly formed and shaped, with hinges attached
• Girth Belt -  Pre-Design Phase
• Cape - Received from Serenity Revenge Cosplay
• Boots - Obtained
• Gloves - Obtained
• Kama - Re-Design Phase
• Harness - Design Phase

[Evad]

Gauntlet Consideration

For my left gauntlet, I have the design in mind to use an old Nerf Arm blaster and cobble it together with my rough formed gauntlet to create something of a stun blaster.  Right now I don't have a ton of ideas on how to actually mesh these two objects together in a good and convincing way.  I know I need to scrub out all the nerfiness from the part - but that's something I can take care of once I figure out how to join them.  For now here's a few shots to show some of the potential function of this gauntlet.

Basic Concept

The twin barrels when pointed forward will have two LED lights with round bulbs at the end of each tube, which will look as if it's a taser/shock unit when touched to an enemy.  Much like how a circuit would be completed inside them. 

Worn Demo

Looking for any advice or suggestions to help merge these two objects into one. 

[Padishar]

Oooo I'm digging the look!
I like your little guantlet thing too. As far as connectiong them I'd say some epoxy and then used some epoxie skultp or something to make it look like its all one piece??

[Evad]

Final Commission Photos
Pre-Shipping

Hey vode, the final installment of photos have come in from Kelan Ord and they are nothing short of a masterpiece!  This guy really went all out and gave me something to drool over, and it's nearly time to have it shipped out to me.  This is a custom commission, and every step of the way he's been fantastic to work with, I cannot recommend his abilities enough!

Laid Out

Here we have the legacy set.  A three plate system in the front attached to a single collar piece that goes all the way around from front to back.  The shoulders were inspired by some other Legacy kits I was heavily following, as was the design to have the entire chest, back, and collar all attached together as  a means of easier kitting up and kitting down. 

The Pauldrons were engineered so that they can fit underneath the shoulder scoops and cover the upper arm area, which having the dimensional appeal that Legacy is known for.  Trauma plating was added to enhance the aesthetic and provide some further definition for the pieces.   Included are a pair of shnees with the necessary upper portion being a distinctly thicker attachment to qualify.  The base plates are 6mm sintra, the trauma plates are 4mm sintra, and the knee caps are 10mm sintra. 

On Stand

The strapping for the three pieces of collar, back, and chest are all done and cemented into place with Kelan's preferred method that has stood the test of time.  (Hot Glue) The torso and ab plates have a little play so they will let me be a little more flexible and not too rigid.  The back sports a collection of spine trauma plates that will reinforce that area.  You might have noticed that handle looking protrusion from the back, on the upper right side.  That is a feature which will hold in place my shoulder cape which is a call back to the militant minded Royal guard.

Final Thoughts

After two attempts myself to create armor plating, I realized that there are some things that limited resources and a complete lack of tools simply cannot overcome.  It's been about 5 years since I started this project, and eventually I realized that I was going to need someone that knew what they were doing.  This has been very much worth the wait, and I am stoked to get my hands on these plates and start to progress forward again!  Once I do get the package, I'll be getting a friend to help me test fit it all, and there will be many more pictures for subsequent posts.  Stay tuned, vode!  Oya!

[Kol Varek]

The armor looks fantastic! Kelan is a great dude who does amazing work. Glad he was able to hook you up!

[Evad]

Just a quick update folks - my armor arrived!  Here's a sneak peek with more to come this weekend!

[Padishar]

Looking forward to seeing this on you :-)

[Straka Zulu]

Looking forward to seeing this on you :-)

THIS!!

[Evad]

Pre-Armor Party Update

Greetings ner'vode!  It's been a while since I posted anything.  The long and short of it, is that after I got the commissioned plates and tried them on, the pictures showed that these plates (although wonderfully crafted) were really too small for my frame.  While I can put them on comfortably, they don't have the coverage I'd need or that I want.  As such I packed away my kit for a while and set it aside for a while.  Recently Rancor has decided to host a large armor party next month, so I started looking at this again.  I'm going to be bringing these armor pieces to see what might be salvageable.  At the worst I can always go back to Kelan Ord and commission another chest/back/collar piece sized correctly.  But we'll see if that's necessary first; or if something can be done about what I already have. 

Upgraded Tote

First, I wanted to show the new tote I got from Home Depot.  It's the Husky 23" 50 Gallon tote, and I think it'll do much better for holding all of my in progress kit pieces and parts.  The old bin I had got a bit banged up and it no longer closes and locks, so it was time for an upgrade.

Sizing Issues

So here I have laid out some of the sizing issues with the current chest/back/collar armor I have.  First the helmet rule of one half helmet size on each side goes beyond the shoulder portions of the collar, showing that it is too small for the ratio size.  I've also outlined in red on both pictures that there is too much area not being covered, and thus it appears to be too small for me. 

Some suggestions I've gotten is to try and use additional plating to make up for these gaps.  What I'm thinking about is using some fabric to attach to the back plate and then wrap around my sides to the front portion of plates, whereupon I can have a couple of formed 'kidney' plates or side armor.  Here's a rough mockup of where I'm thinking this would go. 

Upgraded Checklist

• Helmet - Mostly Finished! Needs Corsec Symbol and Detailing
• Flight Suit - Needs Tailored a Third time to remove the bagginess.
• Vest - Neck Seal needs removed, for a separate piece.
• Armor Plates - Top Armor needs revised
• Gauntlets - Base is being 3D printed
• Girth Belt -  Pre-Design Phase
• Cape - Received from Serenity Revenge Cosplay
• Boots - Sold, and needs replaced (they were too thick)
• Gloves - Sold, and needs replaced (they didn't meet CRLs)
• Kama - Re-Design Phase

[Straka Zulu]

I’m pretty sure that if you make it to the AP, we can find ways to salvage what you have.
And having that checklist certainly helps a lot.

[Evad]

Additional Armor Concept

In thinking about filling the gaps in the armor around my torso, I came up with a sketch of a possibility.  I don't know if this will be the final design or not, but it's something I've been working on conceptually.  If anyone has good reference material for side/kidney armor that you have added on, I'd love to look at it and see what you came up with. 

Note:The curved section between the back and front armor plates is supposed to represent some sort of fabric connection between the plates where the additional armor will mount to.

Upgraded Checklist

• Helmet - Mostly Finished! Needs Corsec Symbol and Detailing
• Flight Suit - Third tailoring done, fits much more snug.
• Vest - Neck seal removed, need to add in a Neck Gaiter/seal
• Armor Plates - Top Armor needs revised
• Gauntlets - Base is being 3D printed
• Girth Belt -  Pre-Design Phase
• Cape - Received from Serenity Revenge Cosplay
• Boots - Purchased replacement, waiting for shipment.
• Gloves - Sold, and needs replaced (they didn't meet CRLs)
• Kama - Re-Design Phase

[Evad]

Boots Acquired!

Originally I had purchased a pair of brand new Redwing Boots, custom fitted to my feet - but unfortunately I hadn't considered the issues with the laces, and the thickness of the boot.  Although they were comfortable, they were not practical for the armor.  So I ended up selling them, and was able to purchase a replacement pair of used Motorcycle boots, still in good condition.  I've seen a few others using these boots in their kits, so I felt confident in picking these up.

Apparently these cost somewhere north of $250 for a new pair, but a worn in pair is what I was after.  The heels are very solid hard rubber with almost no give in them, so I'm going to need a good cushioned pair of insoles to be able to wear these for any length of time. 

Armor Plating Test Fit

I'm going with a single boot plate on the front and a shnee that I want to mount to the boot.  The boot plates themselves will need additional forming to be snug to the actual boot shape, but the shnee seems to fit around it fairly well.  However, the boot loops on either side do interfere with the placement of the shnee when my leg is in the boot.  So I'm going to use a seam ripper to remove that, and then some chicago screws should do the trick to afix to the actual boot.

However before any of that happens, I need to do a test fit with my newly tailored flightsuit to see if I can successfully slip my flight suit pant leg into the boot itself.

[Tramp Graphics]

I wouldn't. remove them. If anything, use them as an attachment point.

[Evad]

Flight Suit and Boots

Test Fit

With my flight suit tailored again to fit even more snug to my frame, I went ahead and tried it on with the newly purchased boots.  I am planning to attach the shnee armor (seen in my prior post) to the actual boot itself, which means I can't have the pant legs over the boot, they would have to be tucked in.  So this was a test fit of the pants trying to get tucked into the boots.  This process is quite difficult, and I feel as if the pant legs will creep out of the boot during any walking or general movement.  I'd really like some suggestions on how to better get the pants nicely tucked in, without bunching up as they do, and how they can stay tucked in until I take off the boots.

 



 

[Tramp Graphics]

They look fine to me. The trick to tucking pantlegs into boots, it to fold the cuff of the pant leg tightly around your leg before putting your boot on. This means either holding it to your leg as you put the boot on with your other hand, or use elastic blousing straps (different from blousing bands) to secure it before putting you boot on.