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[JenEcho]

Hey there from snowy Ottawa! This is my first mando build, so I know I'll have a million and one questions...

My design is heavily influenced by the shrike and roller bird. I plan on incorporating feathers into my cape and I have some really cool resin claws that were cast from eagle talons. I'm thinking of lots of sharp pointy weapons (like this awesome knife I just ordered), and possibly a nightsister's bow?









I ordered my armour from the Mandalorian Arsenal before Christmas and have been halfheartedly looking at it since then. My helmet is from a local 501st mate and visor is from Kalevala Visors.









Seems like soft bits are the way to start since everything has to attach to them. I hate being bunchy, and I'm really cheap so I'm going to use my storm trooper under armour, neck seal and gloves. I figure it's entirely possible that my mando seduced a TK at some point and killed him. All of my fabric parts are black, so that makes life easy.

I picked up these amazing boots on Kijiji for $25.  Am I ok to leave the buckles on? It's been suggested that they would make great Jedi boots too



I am terrible at sewing, but I think I've got my vest mocked up enough to take apart and make a proper pattern. One thing I've noticed, the shoulder armour seems to sit very low  on most kits? Is that by design or is it better to have it placed a bit higher up?





I did start playing with the holsters to get a feel for the armour. I have a commission/trade in place for leather holsters/belt, so I most likely won't end up using these so this seemed like the best place to risk screwing up.



I'm excited to be hosting an armour party this weekend. It'll be FANTASTIC to get hands on help and suck up all that knowledge.

[Ordeyn]

Wow! Lots accomplished already.

I don't see an issue with the TK undersuit because those tend to be pretty generic? Like black under armor/spandex, basically?

Great looking boots! Buckles are fine, thought they definitely look more in-universe if they're covered up with a metal or metal-looking piece (like Han Solo's belt). Does it have a zipper?

Two things about the shoulder armor that are relevant from the CRLs: one is that the armor "Must sit above the bicep muscle and cover the deltoid area," and the other is that "The top edge of the plate can either be lined up with the shoulder seam or sit slightly above it." As far as their location, those are the only requirements, other than being appropriately sized and placed on the shoulder because, well, it's shoulder armor. Both Boba and Jango Fett wear their shoulder armor a little differently, so there's room to play there.

I hope the armor party goes well! Those are great ways to get things done and absorb knowledge through magical osmosis.

[JenEcho]

Making good progress on my soft parts. Super happy with the fabric I've found. This will be for my kama and loin cloth and possibly cape.



My vest turned out pretty well! It didn't look right with the shinier/thinner fabric of my TK neck seal, so I figured I had nothing to lose by trying to make one. Kinda surprised myself  that it's not terrible.  I just need to add the zipper to the neck seal (it can't be that hard to do zippers, right?) and then make/add the shoulders to the vest and I think it'll be done.  I'll use the contrasting turquoise thread for the shoulders as well since I like the little bit of detail it adds. I've left the vest unhemmed at the bottom until I get all of my armour sized and placed.





Edit: TMA got back to me super quickly and is remaking and sending me new plates (free of charge). Yay for good customer service!

Speaking of - you can see where I had my build partners help chalk the outline of my armour onto the vest. Sigh - some bad news on the armour side of things. Apparently TMA is NOT the place to get your stuff from. I had embraced the crappy finish as "battle damage", but it wasn't until we placed the pieces that it was glaringly obvious that it's so asymmetrical. I'm very frustrated right now. I guess I'll attempt to build up that one side with ABS paste, but I have a miserable feeling that I'll end up remaking these from scratch. So much for saving time and money.





On a positive note though - had a fantastic group of mandos (and 501st cuz they're my buds) over on Saturday and it was awesome to chat builds and see what everyone is working on. There is nothing better than brain storming and sharing ideas 

[Bryn Cin'Prudii]

I just responded to your FB post.

I would trim those diamond areas yourself, but also ensure you talk to the vendor. To be specific; Trim down the diamond area and then backfill the return edge area with some spare plastic, then fill gap with bondo spot putty. This is pretty standard practice for those of us who have had to work with vac-formed plates. Or as you were talking, build up the other side. Again, I would trim off the return edge, glue in sintra or ABS from the back, trim that to shape, and then bondo spot putty to clean it all up.

That said - you've got a great build going for you - that vest is awesome. Let this armor be a slight hiccup and keep grinding!

[JenEcho]

Productive weekend! Even with 3 troops, I still got lots of sewing done.

Got the shoulders made and attached to my vest, but I'm not super thrilled with them. This was a first attempt so I think I'll remake them. I also don't really love the shoulder armour that came with my kit. I'm thinking of trying to find some TK shoulder bells and modifying those since I like the look of shoulder armour that sits higher on the arm.



95% finished my kama and loin cloth. Super happy with how this turned out, especially since I've never made/sewed edging before. And the kama is reversible if I want to have the lighter turquoise on the outside.







Only thing left to do is add some embellishment to the loin cloth. This is the crest/icon I'm thinking of using. Off to Michael's at lunchtime to get some iron on vinyl stuff!



My stabby little friend arrived!! It's very nice. I'll have to figure out how to clean up the 3D print a bit and make it look a bit more "real".



Speaking of 3D printing - I was thinking that it would be really awesome to have a nightsister's bow, but it's been suggested that this would be much to fragile for a 3D print. I would love suggestions/input if anyone has made something like this.

[wmmbuzzkill]

Great looking build! can't wait to see how it goes.

[Corvyn Nuhunar]

Those soft parts are looking lovely, vod! I just adore your choice in blues. I can't wait to see your armor come together 

[JenEcho]

More progress! I think I'm getting the hang of this sewing thing.

SOFT PARTS
- Added the crest to the loin cloth
- Remade the neck seal so it doesn’t choke me.
- Replaced the shoulders with a  much smaller version that has more quilting and no contrasting stitching
- Added trim to the top of the kama and loin cloth
- Hemmed the vest
- After a bit of debate, I sewed the Kama and loin cloth to the vest. This way it will always be symmetrical and reduces bunching, tying, and overall messing around.



HARD PARTS
Replacement plates are on their way from Florida, but I was excited to get a rough idea of how she’ll look so I taped some armour on.  I guess first steps will be sanding and trimming which should hopefully be easy after  building my TK. Then assembling the gauntlets? Maybe building up some layers or details to add depth and more realism? I'm still very undecided with my design for paint, but when I finally make up my mind I have a friend in the automotive painting business who has offered to help. This is awesome since I'm the worst when it comes to spray paint!

That back plate seems really huge.







CAPE
Playing around with feathers on my cape. These are from a set of wings that I made, but I ended trading the mechanics (for some custom holsters and leatherwork). While I do love the Vegas showgirl thing happening here, I suppose it's not super practical. The spray of feathers slung over one shoulder is pretty cool though.

Need to decide:
- What colour to line the inside with - Dark teal or the light turquoise? (outside will be black) . The lighter colour will be a nice backdrop for the darker armour, etc. but is it TOO bright? Thoughts?
- Shape - normal rectangle (Boba) , bias cut/asymmetrical trapezoid (more Phasma)
- Hood/no hood?

[Atin Lea'ahya]

Your kit looks awesome.  Love the color choices and your furry little helper. 

As for the bow. Depending on the file and how you print it, it could be totally doable with 3d printing.  To make it sturdy to stand up to trooping use 3 or 4 walls and a high percentage of infill. But with that sturdiness you would not be able to pull it back like a bow.

[JenEcho]

Small progress report. Spent time on the weekend working on colour scheme and design for my armour. I think I'm getting close! The dark teal parts will be a second raised layer of armour. Still not 100% sure on shins, knees, gauntlets, shoulders, helmet... baby steps



My replacement armour from TMA got here today!! It's so much better - crisp edges, less imperfections in the surface/finish, and symmetry. The old parts will be perfect to build up that second layer.

[JenEcho]

Been a while, but finally back at it.

Got a bunch of pieces sanded and cut out the second layers. Almost ready to paint! Setting up the murder room in the basement tonight and hopefully there will be some priming action happening tomorrow. Still need to decide if I want to have actual gouged damage or more of a "wear and tear" look just using paint.



All the colours



I was so excited - I bought this cool LED name tag that I've seen other people use. Completely didn't factor in my "girl shaped" armour. Boo.





Changed my mind about using Under Armour as my "flight suit" since it seemed like it was going to be crazy difficult to weather it. I got a great deal on a set of black work coveralls (thanks Mark's Work Warehouse) that should be perfect once I hem 7 inches off the bottom, shorten the sleeves and taper them a bit. Nice heavy fabric should be easy to beat up and weather.

Question - the "bridge" of my helmet curves rather dramatically in towards my face and the eyes seem a bit small. Do you think I would be okay trimming them along the top  to be a bit bigger/more symmetrical? It would definitely help to remove a bit of the sharply angled piece. (helmet was purchased from a garrison mate. No idea where it's from originally)

[JenEcho]

Used an online Nite Owl template and redid the eyes on my helmet. Yay for symmetry.



(That wonky bit on the bottom has been straightened up)



Got everything trimmed and sanded, set up the murder room and all the priming is done!







Still need to figure out what I'm going to do for gauntlets.

[Sep Ho'ban]

Changes and progress look good.  You may also be able to tweak the point on the nose with gentle application of a heat gun.

Really liking your trauma plating!

[Havelock]

Agreed. This is looking really nice!

[Dac'Gar Ordo]

I've got nothing more to add then: We need to see more! 

[Slade Kel]

Your build is coming along nicely! Sorry to hear about the quality issues with the first set of plates, but at least the replacements are better and you have a plan to reuse the bad pieces!

[JenEcho]

SHINY!!! Can't wait to get the turquoise/teal on next.

[Havelock]

Can't wait to see it!

[JenEcho]

Lots of progress! I hate to jinx it, but I think most of the spray paint is done.

Next steps will be lots of sanding for weathering and then black washing everything. I opted to go for the "subtractive" method of damage/weathering since I didn't really like my toothpaste experiments. There's a layer of black primer, silver, black, and then colour on almost every piece so my plan is to go slow and delicate with some wet sanding at the edges and high points. Fingers crossed since this whole part of the process is a little terrifying.











Helmet needs an interior coat of PlastiDip, padding, fans, clear coat and then then visor. I'm pretty stoked to get that shiny turquoise in there!








Still have to attach the hinges on the gauntlets and figure out what I'm doing for toppers and greeblies.



Soft Parts
Finished tapering and making my flight suit smaller. Just have to hem the cuffs and arms. Then it'll be a matter of weathering and making everything dirty.

I think I've made a mistake though - I hadn't originally planned on using the hard death watch thigh holsters and so my kama is attached to my vest and comes around pretty far in front. I'm worried it's going to be impossible to draw my blasters and it'll affect how the fabric falls. Guess I'll figure it out when I get to the strapping/ fitting stage. I have a bunch of custom leatherwork being done later in the summer, but am anxious to submit for OM before then.

[Slade Kel]

Looking good! Your plan for wet sanding will work, but keep a some silver acrylic on hand just in case you sand all the way through by accident . Re: Kama and holsters; I used my old kama and had a similar issue with regular thigh drop-holsters. I ended up tapering the kama, hemming it back so it fell diagonally back from the top and settled behind the holsters. You might have to get a little dramatic with a taper with DW thigh-plate holsters, but it should work.

[Havelock]

Nice!  Looking really good!

[Corvyn Nuhunar]

Lookin' gorgeous, vod! I love your helmet, those colors are fantastic. 

[JenEcho]

Still making progress. Weathering and blackwash done on everything except the backplate (because I forgot it in the other room), helmet and gauntlets. Didn't go too crazy with the damage and dirt.









Learned that Westar 34s don't fit in those thigh holsters - but at least they were cheap on Amazon and I'll use them for my leather holsters. Having a pair of sized down 35s 3d printed.

Tailored my flight suit. Just need to hem the cuffs and figure out what I want to use for gloves. Any suggestions? Small hands here.

Very nervous to put everything on in case it doesn't fit, looks weird, etc. I'm sure it'll be fine

[JenEcho]

Getting down to crunch time.

Painting:
Everything has been clear coated with matte finish - Rustoleum can kiss my bottom. The clear coat reacted with one of the paint colours and caused some pretty drastic bubbling and cracking. I'm incorporating it as battle damage, but oh man if I wanted this to be a pristine build I would have been furious.

Soft parts:
Flight suit is altered and hemmed, all pockets removed and/or sewn shut. Modified my kama so I can easily drape the sides behind my deathwatch holsters. Still need to make my belt and I'm still debating a cape.

Armour:
Started attaching things last night. Breathing a sigh of relief that everything seems to fit nicely after trimming, etc. Need to sew the velcro on the vest when I get the spacing nailed down. My body is way more asymmetrical than my lovely model, so that'll make things a bit tricky. Used snaps on the backplate and knees. I'm thinking that'll be the way to go with the shins too, but I'm not sure how to best attach the thigh holsters.

Still playing around with greeblies, painting, etc. on the gauntlets. I made them too big so will have to put a bit of foam padding in them until I find the motivation to rip that hinge off and trim them down. Trying to figure out how to incorporate the LED name tag I have into the gauntlets.

Helmet:
Interior plasti-dipped. Template made for visor. Padding needs to be done and fans mounted.

Weapons:
Ordered a set of sized down 3D printed Westar 35s which should here soonish. 34s are all sanded and getting primed. Vibro blade has been given a dose of realism. Bought the 3D files for the nightsister's bow and I'm hoping to bribe a coworker to make it for me.

[Corvyn Nuhunar]

Love that silver feather detail! I can't wait to see this kit completed