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[GraniteDad]

OK, this is a terrible kit name, but the color of the flightsuit I bought is "Postman Blue" so that's what I've started calling my mando. Just barely getting started right now. Basic color scheme is light/faded blue for the flightsuit, navy blue for the flak, and army or hunter green for the armor. Brown is likely for belt, girth, gloves and boots.

Looking for advice on these gloves and belts.

Gloves- I'm torn between the brown duck cloth vs the all leather. While the color of the duck cloth is really nice, I think it doesn't look very "Star Wars-y". I know I'll need to dye the leather gloves a deeper brown, but I think it's overall better. I am a bit worried that the leather gloves are too short and will show skin. Thoughts?


Belt- here I think the simpler look and less work is better. The dark brown will require less work (except the buckle) vs. the light tan that would require a lot of staining, burning off the logo, etc. Or are both terrible and I should start over?


Next up, flak vest and weathering!

[GraniteDad]

Look at these pristine white gloves....


And here they are after some weathering. We wanted to create the effect of someone who wears the gloves while repairing stuff on the ship, out in the field on ops, and "occasionally" getting into scrapes with bounties that won't listen.

Protip -letting your kids run around outside getting the gloves dirty works great! Then, take acrylics and windex and create some more mess. We tried both burgundy and red colors for the blood on the knuckles, but found we had to add a lot of brown in there as well to deepen things and make it look like dried blood. Still not perfect, so we'll likely come back and touch both gloves up some more later.

[GraniteDad]

EDIT BELOW:
Flight suit is here, and it's baggy! Here's a picture with me wearing it. I think the two main parts to slim down are around the forearms (and try and shorten it a bit) and the legs (needs to be shortened about 4" I think, and the legs need to be slimmed as well). Any other thoughts on things to make more fitted?

Also, holy crap I gotta get more flexible- getting this thing off around my shoulders is a disaster.



EDITED TO ADD:
OK, I ended up feeling very concerned about the fit of the flight suit. And, I really struggled getting it off over my shoulders (I like to say I'm broad-shouldered, that sounds better than chubby). After a minor panic attack trying to take off the flightsuit, I decided it was time to try something else.

I headed to Wal-Mart and got some Dickies work pants, and also saw some scrubs there in a bluish-gray. I was worried that scrubs would look too cheap, but these seemed pretty good overall. I picked up a set and a thick Dickies longsleeve shirt as an undershirt.

Here's how it looks:


What do folks think? Obviously I need to fix the length of the legs, but I think otherwise it looks OK. We might need to taper the legs in addition to shortening them, but we'll see once I have the real boots on. And with the navy undershirt, I think those sleeves will work well once we sew them onto the scrubs. They just need to be weathered to really take off the deep color.

I'd love any feedback on how it looks.

[Kryamla Redalur]

Hello! I agree with you on needing to tailor the legs a bit but I’d wait until you get your final boots to see how much! You want them form fitting but still able to walk, kneel, and just in general move comfortably

[GraniteDad]

Pro-tip- x-acto blades are sharp! Glad I bought two pouches for a potential holster, because I accidentally sliced one almost in half by accident. Now it's scrap for the other!

Looks OK with my cut-down Westar 34 (which needs a lot of work)


Looks OK on me, needs a bit of adjusting probably to finalize



Any specific suggestions or thoughts on what might improve the look of the gun and gun belt?

[GraniteDad]

Still looking for any feedback on the belt/pouch situation, but spent some time today doing weathering. Awesome stuff- a lot of fun.

I used a mix of 2 ways of doing acrylic paints- brown watered down with a tiny bit of black added, and black with a little brown added in a windex solution. Having the two to work with really made a huge difference. The black worked best around edges to show aged grime, and the brown worked well for a muddy/oily/splattered approach.

I also worked out in the sun and let all garments dry in the sun. It seemed to help bake in the colors nicely.

Boots are still being weathered, but they've gone from a light tan to a much more murky/beat-up appearance.



Scrubs are coming along. I actually focused a lot on areas that will be hidden by the flak vest so as to practice. But I'm really happy with how this turned out.



I'm adding heavy cotton sleeves to the scrub top, but I need to fade that a bunch more. I added brown spots, but they are barely noticeable. I think a diluted bleach mixture is my next step there.

I've got deglazer and dark brown dye for the belt and pouches, so that will be my next step for those I think.

[Kurz]

Hello there, I'm back again. Still not an OM nor app team, so as usual take what I'm saying as a personal opinion.
First of all, really like the boots and the weathering on them.
About the weathering:
Like your technique, but it might look a little random. Thinking abut your Mando might help you. Let me explain. Does he work in hot environment? Sweat marks might help (armpits, neck, chest...). Does he crawl a lot? Elbows and knees will be pretty worn out, armor will have scratches. Does he walk around in forests/swamps/mountains? A lot of mud on boots and lower pants. Is he a rifleman? Left tight (right if lefty) will distress faster. With your background I'd go more with a worn out look than with a dirty look, so I would keep the stains you have and distress the fabric (remember personal opinion, do what you like anyway. It's your kit, you have to like it and no one else).
Belt situation:
Like the yugoslavian pouches, they always fit nice.  I don't see anything wrong with your belt setup (personal opinion, App team will have last word). I'm just not a big fan of having all different parts (different leather/leather color), I had problems finding leather parts which could match and I ended making them by myself. Of course personal preference. Nothing wrong having different soft parts. Someone might want that effect for a scavenger/adventurer look, but you have deglazer and dye, so you good to go.
The pouch/holster conversion is brilliant. It also feels perfectly right with your background.

- is that a shortened blaster in that pouch?
- yeah, you know, I'm a courier. I don't really need to... *blast*

Please, don't see anything I said as a critique, and keep up with the great work 

[GraniteDad]

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, the pouches definitely need a more uniform look, the more I look at it. The holster especially looks really odd. And yeah, I cut down a Westar 34 into a type of holdout blaster. It needs... a lot of work right now 

I agree on the weathering. Right now I've got some good "grease from working" and "dirt caked on" stains, but I think I might need to wait until I've got the armor more done to finalize- bring the whole kit together for a final weathering that gives that uniform look you're referring to. Thanks, that's really helpful for crystallizing my thoughts!

[GraniteDad]

Some solid progress on soft goods. Leather dye applied and drying now! I had some spare time last night, so started working... 90 minutes later I came up for air with my pouches looking darker, more beat up, and unified!

Before pics - variety of colors, variety of dye


Mid-way through, you can see the difference


Done with the first round- I might need to do some touchups before adding the finisher/sealer. But overall, looks good. Now to cut some wood blocks to help remold the shape.


Thanks to the advice from some great folks on this thread that helped point me in the right direction- Odran Krayt, OriKad, Kurz. http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=191388.msg2137889

[Kurz]

Glad being helpful   
Awesome work! Now it all looks from the same kit. Love the shade of brown, which dye did you use?
Can't wait to see everything together.

[GraniteDad]

Glad being helpful   
Awesome work! Now it all looks from the same kit. Love the shade of brown, which dye did you use?
Can't wait to see everything together.

Fiebing’s Dark Brown. I used a small paint brush for details and a foam brush for broad strokes. Looking back, I wish I had used the included swab for the broad brush strokes, as I think I wasted dye soaking into the foam.

[GraniteDad]

My wife started sewing the flak vest today. She's not super confident yet, but she's making great progress. We've got the top of the vest looking good, I think. The sides are still wide open, and we need the material added for the shoulder bells to sit on. But... progress!

Velcro on both sides so I can get this thing off over my enormous gourd:


The overall shape is pretty good (bowfanny's tutorial worked great), but will obviously need fitting as we work our way down, and the vest will need to be shortened a bunch.


The fit across my shoulders is pretty good. I'm broad-shouldered but chubby so overall fit will be a struggle, but we'll figure it out. The duck cloth material seems really forgiving.


Neckline is in a good spot I think, with enough room for the neck seal, but not too open.

[bathman]

 

[GraniteDad]

Making more flak vest progress. Even did a quick check with armor on the sleeve, which helps get rid of that sleeve cap "flare". I think it looks pretty good overall. Two main questions:
1. How do the shoulders and armholes look fitwise? It's just taped on the sides, so there's a weird flare out under my armpit in the second photo but that shouldn't be there once the Velcro is in place.
2. Also, I have the vest ending right below my bellybutton, does that look right?

[Mi'ix]

Looks like you are getting there!

You have a couple options as far as vest length goes for Modern kits. The first of which, I call "Boba length", where the vest stops above your waist items. The second option would be "Jango Length" where the best tucks into your waist items, but isn't so long as to see it peeking out from under your belts! 

Boba and Jango Fett's flak vests are differing lengths, and that's how I remember what works for vest length when we're talking CRLs. Lol

Arm holes look a little long, but I'd like to see your left side from the side to see just how much of the opening is visible when you have your arms down.

I would also caution against dried blood or just blood in general on your kit as that would violate the gore clause at the app team review once you go to be official.