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[Kol Hokan]

The stakes were high, the crowd was assembled. It was brother versus brother. Protector vs. Death Watch. Gurreck Clan vs. Concordia Clan.  We walked 10 paces... we turned... we fired.

And I lost.

As the agreed upon terms stated I now have to build an MMCC approvable Mandalorian Protector.  This is incredibly fitting, and I'm actually not upset by my loss at all, as I was the one to write up the Mandalorian Protector BRL's back when I was the canon/legends Brigade Marshal. I know the costume in and out, and the Protectors are actually one of my favorites in Star Wars Legends.  So here we go!

I sketched out my initial Mandalorian Protector design about a year and a half ago.  There are some elements I will probably drop, like the extra kill stripes on the collar and ab (not sure if the current Brigade Team would allow those), and the Solo-styled belt.  I am mostly aiming to build my Protector more similar to Jodo Kast than with Boba.  Yellow for the visor frame rather than red, sidearm with holster, and probably the addition of a Kama.


Somewhat unbeknownst to my rival, Jaster Fett, I actually began collecting the parts for a Mandalorian Protector costume several years ago.  It's been a slow acquisition of parts and pieces, but I'm nearly done.  I figure I can reuse quite a few parts from other kits that I've built, most notably my flightsuit that I wear on both my Boba and my Mando Medic.  I have protector boots I wear on both my Medic and my Death Watch, so that will be fine, and I can use my Boba spats that match the flightsuit.

I picked up a generic Fett style helmet from Head Shot Props before they were sold off to new owners several years ago and have been sitting on it, waiting for my Protector build to start up.  A full day with the dremmel, some bondo, and sandpaper and this baby will be ready for primer and paint.  Super easy.  This will be my 10th helmet I've worked on.




I also have two jetpacks that I am not currently using, and could easily repaint either of them.  The Z-6 (red and white) is a scratch built sintra pack. The JT-12 (grey and black) is fiberglass and is already set up to work with my Boba harness.  I would prefer to use the Z-6, but it needs a lot of love, as several parts have broken off.



Rather than the large belt pouches I have the Jodo Kast belt greeblies that are 3D printed that I may add.  Picture was taken with the Jaing Eye cutouts that I used on my Death Watch that I intend to also put on my Protector.  Additionally I have some army surplus pouches I feel I can include.  I will likely cut off the vertical straps to make them look more like Boba's.  And lastly I have the scratch made girth belt I made for my Death Watch.  The brown might not look too great with all the other tan and brown I have going on though, so I may swap it out with my red ROTJ Boba girth belt.




I picked up some basic Boba styled knees a year back or so.  They need some work, but should be a fine base to go off of.


One of my local friends in the 501st has a vactable and can vacform some Boba plates for me easily.  I've got plenty of sintra laying around the garage, but I think vac-formed plates would give the kit more definition.  I haven't decided if I'm going to do shins or shin tools.  I'll probably end up making a pair of Jango style shins, as they are easy and will give the kit more balance in terms of plate layout.  I already have a set of Protector shoulders made, that I used for my Brigade-approved light melee specialist, but with all the drama associated with the banning of the Protector sigil on custom costumes, I haven't worn them in ages and have all but retired that kit.  My gauntlets from my original Kol kit are original RKDs and I think I can repaint them the same yellow as the shoulders and make them work.  I have a backup if Vraeden or Mi'ix find that they deviate from the BRL's too much, however. Please let me know.



I'm thinking I may incorporate this alternative mythosaur symbol I found on a random shoulder in SWTOR.  It has the classic Boba look to it but isn't recognizable.


For the cape and/or kama and/or leg wraps, I have a bunch of tan fabric that I used for my sister's Rey costume.  I have other options as well, but this is what I have the most of on hand, and it's easily weather-able.


For trophies thus far I have my Wookiee scalps from Boba that I can use if I wanted to, but I also have some Padawan Braids and lightsaber trophies from my original Kol kit.  A couple of the sabers need some touch-up, but they still look pretty good.  Fun fact: the black and gold saber was my ex's. 



And lastly, weapons.  My primary weapon I am planning to use a Shoretrooper's E-22 that I got for a trade recently.  This is by far my favorite weapon in my collection, and actually prompted me to just go ahead and sell my Verpine Shatter Rifle.  I'll be adding a strap to it and probably sanding it down some more to get rid of any print lines that are still peaking through.


For the side arm I have two Nerf-brand Q'ira blasters from Solo, that I can work on.  One of my clanmates modified one of those last year, and it turned out phenominal.  It looks to be a perfect small sidearm for a Protector. I also have a small collection of classic-era blasters that I may incorporate at some point, but right now I'm drifting toward just modding up the Q'ira blaster.


And that's what I have so far.  I'm looking forward to working on this kit.  The helmet will be my priority, once that is done, I should be able to bang out the rest pretty quickly.  Please stay tuned and keep up the encouragement, I'll need it to stay focused and not get sidetracked on a different build (of which I have several in the works).  And lastly, let me just say that Jaster Fett sucks Kowakian Monkey Lizards. 

[Jaster Fett]

How many people get to say they have a life size trophy?  LOL!

That duel was WAY more fun than it should be. I hope we started a new trend! I love how you're going for more Jodo Kast inspired. You've got a lot of good pieces here I'm anxious to see come together! Will be following this thread with greater than great interests

[Fenn Beviin]

How many people get to say they have a life size trophy?  LOL!

That duel was WAY more fun than it should be. I hope we started a new trend! I love how you're going for more Jodo Kast inspired. You've got a lot of good pieces here I'm anxious to see come together! Will be following this thread with greater than great interests

Yep this. Also he shot so hard his gauntlet came off lol At least it's sturdy and yeah, you already are off to a pretty solid start so it's a good thing you lost haha Looking forward to seeing thos progress 

[Mi'ix]

Looks like a lovely start to this long awaited project.

 

[Kol Hokan]

Thanks for the encouragement guys!  And I'm hoping to use your bandoleer tutorial, Fenn, to build a belt and possibly an optional bandoleer as well (though I know that wouldn't fit within the BRLs).

I just got back home from picking up some vac-formed plates from a local friend in the 501st.  They look perfect!  He threw in some shoulders as well. Even though I have a set made, I'm thinking I'll paint these up green as an optional alternative.



Hoping to get started on the helmet tomorrow while the weather here in Portland is cooperating.

[Jaster Fett]

I do really like vacuum formed plates just for micro-uniformity. I was VERY fortunate my MP plates came out the way they did for hand molded sintra, but still. Vacuum form always feels like an extra step in looking better

[Kol Hokan]

Made progress on the helmet today. Trimmed all the excess resin off the bottom, smoothed the lip, cut out the T-visor, drilled and filed the keyslots, and then filed and sanded everything down. Lastly I prepped and glued the left earcap and the lower right earcap in place.

 









Oh, and because I’m just insane, and I’ve got the itch, I decided to go ahead and prep a second helmet in tandem. I’m thinking of painting it up as a weathered super trooper - all white. It’s just the helmet for now, but I could easily cut out some extra plates and use most of the soft parts from the Protector to make an alternate kit.

[Kol Hokan]

Wasn't able to get much done this past weekend due to a pretty full schedule, but I did start planning out my paint layers for the helmet.
It's going to be the most masking I've done on a helmet thus far.



I'm planning on adding a small amount of physical damage with the dremmel and then utilize a combination of liquid latex (like my other helmets) and the hairspray & rock salt method for the rest of the damage. A very small amount of topical damage will be added similar to ROTJ Boba's few scratches and paint smears. 

I'm going to try not to over-do the damage, and keep it in line with ROTJ Boba's amount. The one unique damaged part that I really want to do is a "crack" in the back panel that has a metal plate that has been riveted into place to keep the integrity of the helmet. I want it to look like this part of the helmet was nearly destroyed and that Kol didn't have the time nor patience to properly repair it.  The plate will still be weathered, but not painted.  I've had this concept for a long while, but haven't posted it anywhere until now.

Question for the Brigade Team:
Are killstripes relegated to the dome, or can they appear elsewhere on the helmet? How about elsewhere on the armor, such as ab plate or gauntlets?

Here are some of the other helmets I've done with a similar weathering style.

[Mi'ix]

I'd like to maintain the classic look and have the killstripes remain on the helmet.

Feel free to move them around the helmet, though!

[Kol Hokan]

I'd like to maintain the classic look and have the killstripes remain on the helmet.

Feel free to move them around the helmet, though!

Copy that!  Thanks for the quick reply.

[Kol Hokan]

Not much progress during winter unfortunately. But I ended up picking up a pair of Kruser's 1313 gauntlets in a trade with a clanmate.  They need a bit of work, but should be perfect for the Protector.



Updated sketch of the helmet color layout, just cause I was bored.

[Fenn Beviin]

I like where this is going! 

[Mi'ix]

Very nice.

[Kol Hokan]

Was hoping to get more done over summer, but while I was quarantined I ended up working on a side Mando project. I did use some methods and paint colors as a prelude to the protector. Want to get the yellow just right. And I think I nailed. It. This helmet is for a different kit but the T should look nearly the same. I’ve been half tempted to just use this helmet as the protector helmet with a repainted green dome and white cheeks.


But I wanted more physical damage on the protector like in my sketch. So I worked on the mirror version of this helmet as well it’s now sitting with primer on it.





I also designed a poncho for my protector or when I’m not wearing the jetpack. I’m not very adept at sewing, but I think that’ll just give it even more of a rusted look. I’ve had the fabric sitting in the basement for a few years. I misread the label when I bought it, and it ended up being about 5 times more expensive than I had thought. Oh well, the texture looks awesome.

[Fenn Beviin]

Aaaaw yeah. That's what I'm talking about dude! Love seeing some progress and digging that poncho look

[Kol Hokan]

Got a couple days of uninterrupted work time in the sun this past weekend and made some major progress.

Added some physical weathering to the Jantech vacformmed plates. I also cut slots for the electronic reader.  I will be using an electronic name badge like I did with my Death Watch kit.


Cut a rectangle in the vacformed diamond and backed it.


Applied primer followed by the silver base. 3 or so coats of Rustoleum aluminum.


After applying liquid latex over the physical damage and in a few additional areas I applied the gloss dark grey as the first layer on all the primary plates. 2 layers


Added more liquid latex so that the dark grey would show around some edges of the silver.  Decided to go with an orange layer immediately after the grey, without masking any extra. Very little orange will show.


Then finally the green.


prior to removing the liquid latex. You can see bubbled up in all the areas.


Finally, here are the plates with just a couple spots of orange peaking through.  I brushed it very very lightly with 0000 steel wool to get rid of the gloss.


I'm holding off on the yellow for the shoulders until the helmet and gauntlets are ready for yellow - as I want to do it all at the same time to ensure the color blending of the yellow/tan/bronze/orange will be consistent.  I will be applying my signature scorching  method over all of this.

[Fenn Beviin]

Making some good progress dude!

I have been absent on the forums for the last couple months due to being overwhelmed slightly at work but I am glad to see you working on this again.

Keep it up. I am liking the different colored shoulder bells.

[Kol Hokan]

So I've hit a bit of a wall... I had been waiting on a custom vest from a clanmate before continuing much further, as I wanted to make sure sizing and everything was all set. Unfortunately my clanmate will be unable to make the flak vest for me afterall.

Does anyone have a reasonably-priced vest recommendation I could go with for my Protector? My sewing skills are simply not up to par. I'd prefer to keep it under $100 USD if possible.

[Fenn Beviin]

Well dang dude! That's unfortunate.

Unfortunately, I am of no help in this area.

[Mi'ix]

Aria over there does them, but I recently got a Fett style vest from Arkady for about $100.

[Ru'Stor Rawr]

So I've hit a bit of a wall... I had been waiting on a custom vest from a clanmate before continuing much further, as I wanted to make sure sizing and everything was all set. Unfortunately my clanmate will be unable to make the flak vest for me afterall.

Does anyone have a reasonably-priced vest recommendation I could go with for my Protector? My sewing skills are simply not up to par. I'd prefer to keep it under $100 USD if possible.

Sorry to hear that, a good vest is always hard to find, Mi'ix beat me to it, Aria and Arkady, are the 2 I was going to recommend as well, I may have another option for you if they don't work out for you just let me know.

[Kol Hokan]

Good news everyone! *insert futurama gif here* I was able to work out a trade with a clanmate (Venix) and secured a vest for the Protector.



It fits almost perfectly. I need to modify the Velcro on the neck seal and maybe extend out the tabs on the sides to give me more breathing room.

The black tabs on the side were an interesting choice by the original owner before Venix acquired it, would this still work for the Protector BRL’s? I could try to lighten them using a bleach solution to make them more grey. Thoughts?

[Ru'Stor Rawr]

That is a nice find, looks like it fits you well, Unfortunately the black sides wont work,
if you can somehow get them to match the rest of vest, maybe replace them?

[Kol Hokan]

That is a nice find, looks like it fits you well, Unfortunately the black sides wont work,
if you can somehow get them to match the rest of vest, maybe replace them?

Ah, I see the BRLs were changed minutes after I posted to state the vest has to be a solid color. I don't disagree, but dang, that's frustrating.  So I can't try to use a dye remover and tone down the black to a light gray anymore? It has to be the exact shade?  I don't have any extra of the material used for the vest (as I bought it third hand) and both of my local Jo-Ann's have recently closed, so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to color match and get such small replacement pieces now (online orders are a minimum of 2 yards).

[Mi'ix]

More of a clarification, really.

It's just not something we see on Protectors, or really anything of Fett persuasion.