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 First armor build

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First armor build
« on: Dec 05, 2019, 03:17 PM »
*UPDATES*
Soft parts:
Vest complete, flightsuit tailoring in-progress, boots acquired, leather for holster acquired
Armor:
Sintra acquired, Dropbear helmet printed and painting in progress, templates printed and pinned
Weapons:
Blaster from The Mandalorian printed
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Super pumped to get started on this!
Planning on starting on the soft parts first so I don't lose motivation - I'm most excited about the armor making process  :D
Plan so far is to use Simplicity pattern 8480 with some modifications for the flak vest (too curvy for the guy patterns to work for me), plus scrubs or UA baselayers for the underneath part.

Haven't decided if I want to build a fiberglass helmet or 3D print one (my fiance and I have a 3D printing side business, so lots of printers I can use!)
Going to try and use the fencing chest protector mod to make my curvy plates, we'll see how that works. Also managed to find some 3mm sintra offcuts from a local sign shop for making the other plates.

Design concept is below, open to suggestions  :porg1:

« Last Edit: Feb 02, 2020, 04:53 PM by Kay Toh » Logged

Jin'thal Ca'vallas


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Re: First armor build
« Reply #1 on: Dec 05, 2019, 04:00 PM »
clean, straight forward. id recommend some sort of graphical feature to the grey plates, perhaps in the same white as the cheek section of the helmet, even if its just minimal. you might also consider going with a green, white or third accent color girth belt to break up the black and grey mass of the flightsuit and armor and adding a splash of an accent color on the gaunts would probably give this a little more of your own personality. Good start though.....looking forward to seeing this come to life for you.

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Shar Dagger


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Re: First armor build
« Reply #2 on: Dec 05, 2019, 05:47 PM »
Cool concept!  I for one like the color scheme.  It's simple yet intimidating.  Just be cautious that your plates don't end up appearing to just be primed. 

A nice belt rig will go over the black sash and really add to it.  Seems like you have a solid idea on how to start.  Can't wait to see this idea become a reality!  :sabine: :porg2:

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Re: First armor build
« Reply #3 on: Dec 05, 2019, 08:06 PM »
Cool concept!  I for one like the color scheme.  It's simple yet intimidating.  Just be cautious that your plates don't end up appearing to just be primed. 

A nice belt rig will go over the black sash and really add to it.  Seems like you have a solid idea on how to start.  Can't wait to see this idea become a reality!  :sabine: :porg2:

Thanks! I'm going to make the plates metallic so they don't fall into the "did you get lazy and not finish painting?" camp - sadly no good way to show that on the mando maker  :laugh:
I'm thinking about doing some striping on the plates to tie into the silver on the cheeks of the helmet... like this (thanks interwebs!) 

Shar Dagger


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Re: First armor build
« Reply #4 on: Dec 06, 2019, 03:48 PM »
Looks like a solid plan!

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Re: First armor build
« Reply #5 on: Dec 07, 2019, 07:57 AM »
Our dog Finn is "helping" me with my muslin vest mockup.... now it has dirty paw prints  :rolleyes:

3ddyb


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Re: First armor build
« Reply #6 on: Dec 07, 2019, 08:39 AM »
Our dog Finn is "helping" me with my muslin vest mockup.... now it has dirty paw prints  :rolleyes:

He just wanted to make sure it gets weathered...

Liking your concept art, should be nice and scary. :like:

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"An artist by nature,  a monster by necessity..."
Re: First armor build
« Reply #7 on: Dec 09, 2019, 08:40 PM »
I think I found some boots - they're chelsea boots since I saw a note somewhere about needing solid soles. Also, low heels - always a plus!


Shar Dagger


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Re: First armor build
« Reply #8 on: Dec 15, 2019, 11:32 AM »
Our dog Finn is "helping" me with my muslin vest mockup.... now it has dirty paw prints  :rolleyes:


I love doggos, they are the best helpers  :D

Boots look great as well.  No laces to cover up and easy to slip on. 

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Re: First armor build
« Reply #9 on: Dec 17, 2019, 12:15 PM »
Boots look great as well.  No laces to cover up and easy to slip on.
Woo!

Going to be posting vest pictures tonight, I have the actual vest cut out and about halfway done  :D
Got my scrubs in the mail over the weekend, so have to take the pockets off and tailor them

Re: First armor build
« Reply #10 on: Dec 19, 2019, 10:04 AM »
Ok - progress was made on soft parts yesterday!  :porg2:


Now it's time to add side lacing - waiting for supplies, come on Prime delivery!
Ripped all the pockets and logos off my scrubs, now I just need my Fiance to pin me so I can hem and tailor things.
Still need to add sleeves to my scrub top too, that should be exciting.
Tried making a neck seal out of the vest material to attach it to the vest and promptly broke a sewing machine needle - probably going to make it out of spare scrubs fabric. I'll for sure have enough fabric left over - I swear scrubs are cut for people who are 6 ft tall  :(

Re: First armor build
« Reply #11 on: Dec 19, 2019, 10:08 AM »
Also starting to run into this issue...

Re: First armor build
« Reply #12 on: Dec 21, 2019, 06:36 PM »
Vest is done!



Re: First armor build
« Reply #13 on: Dec 21, 2019, 06:47 PM »
Also, Helmet parts are starting to come off the printer!  :porg2: ;D

ashohqin


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Re: First armor build
« Reply #14 on: Dec 23, 2019, 02:44 AM »
Also, Helmet parts are starting to come off the printer!  :porg2: ;D


Wonderful progress!  :like: I'm printing the same helmet currently and I was wondering if you used supports on your printer with the cheek and dome pieces. I haven't printed them you for my helmet because half of the dome would take 23 hrs with supports and I don't want to leave it unattended over night as I've had some printing issues before. I'm very new to 3d printing and research so far has been non-conclusive.

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Re: First armor build
« Reply #15 on: Dec 23, 2019, 08:00 AM »
Wonderful progress!  :like: I'm printing the same helmet currently and I was wondering if you used supports on your printer with the cheek and dome pieces. I haven't printed them you for my helmet because half of the dome would take 23 hrs with supports and I don't want to leave it unattended over night as I've had some printing issues before. I'm very new to 3d printing and research so far has been non-conclusive.
Thanks  :D
Supports are your friend! The cheek pieces didn't need support on the outside if I remember correctly, but did on the inside for the lettering and the cooling vents. The cooling vents only needed support at the bottoms and top openings, if you use autosupports it'll fill the whole cooling channel full of supports that you can't remove  >:(
It probably wouldn't hurt to over-support it if you're new / worried - you're going to have to sand the heck out of it anyways so a few supports won't matter!
The main helmet was printed at the recommended layer height / quality settings, the earcaps and coinslots were printed at a higher quality since it would be harder to sand them down.
I actually ended up using MeshMixer to split the helmet down into smaller pieces (split dome into quarters, sides in half) so that a failure wouldn't be quite so much material and would fit on our set of Ender 3 printers. If you need help with meshmixer let me know, it's got some pretty sweet features.

Shar Dagger


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Re: First armor build
« Reply #16 on: Dec 23, 2019, 12:19 PM »
Wow! Its starting to all come together now.  Awesome work on the vest.  3D prints are not my forte but it seems you are figuring it's out okay. 

Keep up the great work! :porg2:

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Re: First armor build
« Reply #17 on: Dec 24, 2019, 08:06 AM »
Wow! Its starting to all come together now.  Awesome work on the vest.  3D prints are not my forte but it seems you are figuring it's out okay. 

Keep up the great work! :porg2:

Thanks  :D
My Fiance and I have a 3D printing business over on Etsy, so we've got a lot of experience (and resources) at our disposal!

Ok, need advice - do I look like a bobble head? I printed the medium dropbear so it would fit over my glasses, but I'm worried it's a bit big... and yes, it's temporarily put together with packing tape  :8):
Also, doggo wanted to help again



Edit: Sanding and filling is taking place. Starting to look like a helmet instead of a hot mess... and yes, I know I need to remove the visible print lines *sanding intensifies*

« Last Edit: Dec 24, 2019, 08:00 PM by Kay Toh » Logged
Re: First armor build
« Reply #18 on: Dec 28, 2019, 10:59 AM »
Soft parts are 90% done now! My mini-mando stature and curvy short-waisted body are making the sewing difficult tbh  :rolleyes:
There's photos of me without the bucket too!





Re: First armor build
« Reply #19 on: Dec 28, 2019, 12:31 PM »
The helmet does look a bit big and it may need to not touch the shoulders with your armor on.

Great work on the vest.

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Re: First armor build
« Reply #20 on: Dec 29, 2019, 08:27 PM »
The helmet does look a bit big and it may need to not touch the shoulders with your armor on.

Great work on the vest.
Thanks!

Progress was made today / yesterday - I now have a blaster and a primed bucket!


We're also going to print the smaller size helmet, I'm going to see which fits better and then probably post the other in the one-time sales forum  :8):

Shar Dagger


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Re: First armor build
« Reply #21 on: Dec 30, 2019, 03:31 PM »
Awesome work!

For the helmet. It is hard to tell size without having a direct front facing photo.  If the bucket does end up being too large for some reason you can bulk up your shoulder armor.  So this could be adding a pauldron, or layering the shoulder bells.  There are lots of options.

Keep up the awesome work!

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Re: First armor build
« Reply #22 on: Jan 01, 2020, 04:10 PM »
Waiting for some epoxy to come in before I do too much more finishing on my 3d prints.
Also got several large orders so the printers are busy printing things for paying customers instead of my second helmet attempt or more bits for my kit. Dang responsibility!

This is how my clan feels about failed prints, doggo helps:


Re: First armor build
« Reply #23 on: Jan 19, 2020, 05:24 PM »
Isn't it lame when life gets in the way of what you actually want to do  :(
Making some progress on my kit again... helmet v2 has been printed, resined, sanded and primed. Did my first round of spot filling with acryl green and touch up sanding. Also printed a replica of the blaster The Mandalorian carries on the show, which also got the same treatment as the helmet. Everything got a bath to remove sanding residue and is drying before being primed again!
Helmet:





Blaster:



For anyone curious, the files for the helmet were purchased here: https://tinyurl.com/sgptsb5 and the blaster files are from here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3977528

Re: First armor build
« Reply #24 on: Jan 21, 2020, 07:20 PM »
That looks great! I take it the smaller helmet print fits better? I love your vest, vod!

 


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