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[Rhys Yaan]

Thanks for the kind words!

I will be adding more velcro to some parts of the armor, might even bend it more a bit with the hot gun. My glove plates are frustrating, because no matter what they do not want to sit in place and keep "floating off" :/

Would you perhaps know of a better way how to attach them besides velcro? Any assistance would be appreciated

[Kryamla Redalur]

Snaps or magnets might work slightly better for hand plates? (As a disclaimer, I’ve tried neither personally but I know others have with success)

[Rhys Yaan]

Hmm, I will try adding more velcro and see if it that works, if not, I will try the snap ons/clip ons. I was thinking of attaching the glove plates permanently to the gloves ( if I could figure out how ).

[Ascalon]

You are making really good progress.  We would look for similar colors used on our CRLs as the 501st Has in theirs.  I think if you stick to various medium grays to get the difference in the tones from plate to plate you will be ok.  Weathering and misting darker/lighter colors can also help to alter the shades across the plates.

Chest plates are looking good. I think they will need weathering on your plates to match the canon references but they are looking good.  Your helmet has a decent amount of weathering to match the canon references you need to bring that to your plates too.

There are still some visible print lines on the gauntlets.  These are a common thing we see on apps so I would rather tell you know than during your App.

The kit is really coming together nicely.

[Rhys Yaan]

Backplate Log 

Hello! Thank you all for the kind words.

@Ascalon, I will be working on the chestplate weathering!

In the mean time, I have been working on two projects: backplate and boot plates. For this post, I will try to detail the progress we (my girlfriend has been crucial in helping me out, if it were just me, I would have given up long ago ) have been making on the backplate.

First, I have printed out the basic Jango Fett backplate template and adjusted it to fit Pre Vizsla Phase 2 plate. Because, as with almost everything relating to Pre Vizsla and his second armor, 90% of his armour is custom or slightly different.

After that I have cut this out of a 3mm sintra board and brushed the edges with sandpaper:

This is how the initial shaping turned out. My girlfriend used a cover for a pot to get the round shape in the middle of the back area:

I was not happy with the neck/shoulder edge area so I used some bondo and a special bonding agent in a spray can. After several days of sanding and adding more bonding agent, I was satisfied with the results:

And lastly, before adding velcro I have also put on a thick three layer of fiberglass and resin onto the backplate to make it much more sturdy. I prefer working with a thin sintra board and then once I get the correct shape, I add a lot of fiberglass:

As with every other part of my Pre Vizsla kit, I am almost always satisfied with how they turn out until I try them on - I am still waiting for the paint to dry properly and then I will try sewing on the velcro on my vest and we shall see how that turns out.

See you next time! 

[Kryamla Redalur]

Nice progress! It’s hard to tell, but does the back plate rub against your shoulder bells? If it does, I’d recommend a bit of a trim to the back plate

[Rhys Yaan]

@Kryamla Redalur, it does not  ! It just looks like it does in the picture where I am holding onto it when its "untreated". Ive had it double taped onto the vest and walked around with it and it felt pretty natural. I will post more pictures how it sits on the vest soonTM 

I have been working on the boots in the mean time, I have cut out and glued together the parts for the shoelaces and then bent it around my foot with the heatgun, now it is sitting fiberglassed and drying out, will post more pictures soon of those as well!

[Kryamla Redalur]

Glad to hear it’s not rubbing against the shoulder bells

[Rhys Yaan]

Armor Test 2 - Weathered + Custom Darksaber

So, it has been a long road until this point and I still have a few ways to go, but I am starting to get a really good feeling about my kit. Here is second armor test, currently I am only missing my outer belt and the jetpack. I tried contacting someone from the pre-app team (I will message Ascalon again!  ) to see if I could get approved as a canon character without a jetpack or not - if yes, then I could be sending my app very soon! If not, well, come January maybe? Also, I will be posting comments below most of the pictures about things I have only realized once I put the whole kit on - so those are issues I am aware of and will be fixing them ASAP!

A couple comments about the front: I still do not have the girth belt properly fastened and as such the trouser part of my flightsuit is sagging a bit and therefore my kneeplates and shins look as if they are too low - they are in the correct place on the suit, but the belt is resting kind of on my waist, so its not properly tightened.

The hoops that are the bottom/back of my shoes which are supposed to help you get them off and on will be removed. Also, I dont know what the hell was I doing in this picture? Looking for a penny? Anyway, I am in a weird bent forward position for some reason, Im sorry :/.

One pistol is finished - the other needs more bondo and sanding as the lines are still visible. I will write a separate paragraph about the Darksaber here, which is cusotm made by my amazing friend.

In this picture here, I took some pins and fastened the belt to a somewhat better size/shape, but it is still WIP. Anyway, the shins and she kneeplates look better here.

Darksaber

My very talented friend who works at a worskhop, called the Creative Point (they make and support creative projects for students using various machines) have made a custom darksaber for me. He designed the hilt himself as well as made the inside of the darksaber/the electronics. The blade is cut out of two polycarbonate plates and taped together around an LED and the entire thing has almost no screws and holds together only with magnets. Its amazing!

Finally, here are some non-canon images that I made and I do not consider the cape to be part of this kit, but I could not resist taking some pictures with it!

P.S. I know that the Darksaber and the cape are in the wrong hand - Vizsla was right handed and as such fenced with his cape on his right shoulder, but I mirrored him since we took pictures on the opposite shoulder and hand, but we could not get any decent lighting :/

[Rhys Yaan]

Smallish update: Belt + Motion Test

I have started working on the outer segmented belt. I was inspired how to do this by a fellow Merc from this thread = https://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=130437.0 who I believe also made the template for the pre vizsla jetpack (which I am now trying to convert into a pep file and have that printed - no longer have access to a 3d printer, due to C-19).

Cut these out of a 3mm sintra board.

Gunmetal grey as base.

Prepared the old hiking belt for attachment - removed the buckle.

Final sizing test on the girthbelt - fits perfectly!

Final painting and weathering. I am sorry about the crap image quality, but it is getting very late and my phone can not take pics properly in my poor lighting :/. I will post better pictures tomorrow in daylight. Or when the whole belt is finished!

Armor Motion Test Vid (you might need to right click on the video and play on another tab/page)

I have also tightened the girth belt and every piece of leg armour, so it holds firmly in place. It is not much, but its something. I feel like I can move around in the armour much more easily. It holds in place and does not move.

[Rhys Yaan]

Armor Test 3: Finished (without Jetpack)

And voila, here is my kit finished - except for the jetpack. More on that later! Special praise should go to my girlfriend who made the exceptional satchels and the belt. I am useless when it comes to working with sintra. I mean I can cut out the simple ab plate and bend it, but there my expertise ends. There is a very tiny detail missing from the left gauntlet - the dart "launcher"(?), however I have it ready but I forgot it at the office and now being in home office, I have not had the chance to go and get them, but by the time I am ready for app, I will.

Now, some poses! I cannot wait to start trooping, just walking around the apartment in my kit feels great

Now, as far as the jetpack goes; here is my thought process - at first I wanted to have it 3D printed, however even with a 20% infill it would weigh around 3kg which is not much, however I want a lighter jetpack... Now, my thoughts are going towards a pepakura file. Have that printed onto thick sheets of paper (card style), cut them out, fold and glue the pep model together and then cut into two pieces = outer layer and inner layer. I would then reinforce it with very light fiberglass, it would be "bendable" but it would still be able to withstand a lot. As a general rule when working with pepakura, I always remove the paper once the fiberglass is properly dryed out, however in this case I want to make an exception. I want to lightly sand the outer layer where the paper is so as to remove the hard surface, then I want to brush it with a thick layer of epoxy resin. The idea is for the epoxy to "eat" into the paper and harden it. Epoxy resin onto the outer layer and fiberglass onto the inner layer = this should give me a weather and crush resistant jetpack that weighs barely half a kilo. That is my plan, anyway.

The only issue right now is that I do not have any pep files but I am already working on converting the 3D file into an unfoldable pep model. It is hard to be this close to the end and yet so far. Frustrating!

[Kryamla Redalur]

Looking good so far! I see a little Velcro (i think?) on the boot plates but that’s an easy adjustment! Can’t wait to see the jetpack

[Rhys Yaan]

@kryamla thank you! You are correct, there is a bit of velcro on the boot, I did not adjust the boot plate properly, my mistake! I am hoping to build the pep file over the weekend. I got a pepakura model from Fierfek, which looks pretty good!

[Rhys Yaan]

Jetpack Adventures: Main body tank finished

So, the jetpack has been taking some time, but I have made progress. The base of the jetpack is a pepakura file from Fierfek. I have assembled the main body tank and fiberglassed individual parts, then filled them with foam. After that I used epoxy resin to "glue" them together. Then I weathered the jetpack. It is looking pretty good and it is also super light! Only 290g. If the rest of the jetpack goes this nicely, I will have a sturdy jetpack that weighs around one kilo.

Anyway, I am looking forward to getting this done, so I can send in my application and concentrate on my girlfriend's Bo jetpack

[Cdeal]

Wow this looks so good! amazing job!