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 "Gearhead" WIP

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"Gearhead" WIP
« on: Oct 09, 2020, 06:31 PM »
GearHead - a nickname i gave to a mando that popped into my head a few years ago, and have just started work on! A young, Post-Imp, combat engineer who focuses on solving problems before they arrive. Doesnt always go well, but hey, he tries.

How i plan on making it a reality: 3D print files, make sure they fit right, then cover with fiberglass and epoxy to make a much easier sanding job for the hard armor pieces, and source/commission/sew soft pieces, excluding flight suit and vest.

Currently, all that is done is a very rough job of the helmet, linked here: https://imgur.com/pdzndir. it has not yet been given the fiberglass/resin treatment, nor a file job yet so its not very pretty yet. At this moment, the chestpiece is printing.

Concept from Mando Maker: https://imgur.com/omeYpWb
this concept doesnt quite capture what i want due to the limitations of Mando Maker, but its close enough to get a general idea.
I look forwards to giving you all updates soon!

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Anansi


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Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #1 on: Oct 09, 2020, 06:47 PM »
The helmet looks pretty solid and will look even better once you've cleaned it up. Is it a 3d print? I've not seen many people apply fiberglass & resin to a print so I can't offer any advice there. Most folks opt for bondo spot putty, XTC3d, filler primer or some combination.

What are you using to make sure you have the right sizing for your prints?

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May Hod Ha'ran guide my tongue, may Kad Ha'rangir guide my gun, and may Arasuum guide you to your final slumber.

MMCC #2010 - Nevik Marev
Cabur Akaata Member 139 | O.S.B.A. 007
Gunslinger - Special Weapons Brigade
Anansi's Longstrike Carbine
Another Anansi Nerf Mod
Anansi's Armor WIP
Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #2 on: Oct 09, 2020, 10:36 PM »
The helmet looks pretty solid and will look even better once you've cleaned it up. Is it a 3d print? I've not seen many people apply fiberglass & resin to a print so I can't offer any advice there. Most folks opt for bondo spot putty, XTC3d, filler primer or some combination.

What are you using to make sure you have the right sizing for your prints?

Yep! all 3D printed. I was thinking fiberglass because right now its a tad flimsy, but i hadnt considered bondo! i think that'll work a lot better

Sizing is just CAD scaling plus measurements i took of my proportions, but as you can see on the helmet, something must have gone wrong, so i used a 3D pen to fill the gaps as a temporary solution, which is part of the reason i prefer 3D printing prototypes lol. Once im ready to apply Bondo, Itll all be filed smooth.
thanks for the feedback!!

« Last Edit: Oct 09, 2020, 11:18 PM by LordOTheWands » Logged
Chestplate fail and some questions!
« Reply #3 on: Oct 11, 2020, 06:35 PM »
So after assembling, i realized the chestplate was too small in proportion to everything else, so ill be re-printing it soon. but before i do, in the Post-Imp armor req. it says that there must be an ab plate. i would assume the ab plate is a seperate entity from the rest, and should be able to move independantly of the rest of the chest/torso armor?

while i am re-designing the chest plate, i have begun work on the gauntlets. theyre lookin pretty good so far, cant wait to share once theyre done printing!

have a great day folks!

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Anansi


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Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #4 on: Oct 12, 2020, 12:52 PM »
It's a little bit more than that. From the CRLs:

Quote
The ab plate is optional for the Din Djarin version 1 armor and the Paz Vizsla Heavy Infantry armor.  Din Djarin version 2 armor (Beskar armor) and any custom modified plate designs must be worn with the ab plate.
Ab plate configurations for Din Djarin version 1 armor or the Paz Vizsla Heavy Infantry armor are as follows:

    Din Djarin version 1 armor may be worn with the chest plate only or with the ab plate
    Paz Visla Heavy Infantry variations are, A) Light Infantry: chest plate only, B) Medium Infantry: chest plate and diaphragm plate, C) Heavy Infantry: chest plate, diaphragm plate and ab plate.

So custom designs absolutely need an ab plate. If you go with the first design of Din's armor or Paz, it's optional. For reference, I believe this is considered V1


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May Hod Ha'ran guide my tongue, may Kad Ha'rangir guide my gun, and may Arasuum guide you to your final slumber.

MMCC #2010 - Nevik Marev
Cabur Akaata Member 139 | O.S.B.A. 007
Gunslinger - Special Weapons Brigade
Anansi's Longstrike Carbine
Another Anansi Nerf Mod
Anansi's Armor WIP
Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #5 on: Oct 13, 2020, 11:51 AM »
It's a little bit more than that. From the CRLs:

So custom designs absolutely need an ab plate. If you go with the first design of Din's armor or Paz, it's optional. For reference, I believe this is considered V1


okay! Thank you for the help!!

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Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #6 on: Oct 14, 2020, 11:53 AM »
The bondo is done and the first layers of paint are on! I left some pitting in the helmet to weather around and give some character to it, next up is taping off the parts that will stay red and painting the rest black! (Visor is not yet mounted, I just have the sheet sitting in there at the moment lol)

Gearhead V1.5 https://imgur.com/gallery/5dxA58y

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Finalized helmet!
« Reply #7 on: Oct 14, 2020, 06:28 PM »
here it is! The second version of Gearhead's helmet. i went for a VERY weathered and battle-weary look,  but its not quite what i wanted. i cant seem to get the bondo smooth and without pits, but im happy with it so far. im going to try and smooth it out some.
https://imgur.com/gallery/6lu4eAg

« Last Edit: Oct 14, 2020, 07:18 PM by LordOTheWands » Logged

Anansi


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Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #8 on: Oct 14, 2020, 07:14 PM »
It looks heavily corroded, which would make an interesting look. A few things to consider:
1. Weathering has to be consistent across an entire kit. That means all of your armor and your soft parts have to be equally degraded. If that's not the plan, I'd recommend some more sanding to smooth things out further. It's time consuming, but the final product will be worth it.
2. With that much pitting and flaking, some exposed metal, rust spots and blaster bolts will make the texture more believable as intentional. The usual process is to lay down primer, then a metallic coat of your choice, clear coat, mask off "damaged" areas, lay down another color, mask, layer, repeat as desired. Once you remove the masking, the helmet will look like it's been to hell and back and you can enhance the effect with washes and other effects.
3. I highly recommend cleaning up the corners and crannies so that the angles are sharper. You might have to make a sanding stick or use needle files like the ones available at Harbor Freight. Go slow so you don't take off too much material too fast.

All in all, it's a good foundation and I think you can elevate it.

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May Hod Ha'ran guide my tongue, may Kad Ha'rangir guide my gun, and may Arasuum guide you to your final slumber.

MMCC #2010 - Nevik Marev
Cabur Akaata Member 139 | O.S.B.A. 007
Gunslinger - Special Weapons Brigade
Anansi's Longstrike Carbine
Another Anansi Nerf Mod
Anansi's Armor WIP
Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #9 on: Oct 14, 2020, 08:24 PM »
It looks heavily corroded, which would make an interesting look. A few things to consider:
1. Weathering has to be consistent across an entire kit. That means all of your armor and your soft parts have to be equally degraded. If that's not the plan, I'd recommend some more sanding to smooth things out further. It's time consuming, but the final product will be worth it.
2. With that much pitting and flaking, some exposed metal, rust spots and blaster bolts will make the texture more believable as intentional. The usual process is to lay down primer, then a metallic coat of your choice, clear coat, mask off "damaged" areas, lay down another color, mask, layer, repeat as desired. Once you remove the masking, the helmet will look like it's been to hell and back and you can enhance the effect with washes and other effects.
3. I highly recommend cleaning up the corners and crannies so that the angles are sharper. You might have to make a sanding stick or use needle files like the ones available at Harbor Freight. Go slow so you don't take off too much material too fast.

All in all, it's a good foundation and I think you can elevate it.

thank you as always for the feedback! i realized that it wouldnt really fit in with the story im trying to tell to have a young hotshot in horrifically scarred armor, and as you noted it would be quite a bit more work to keep that amount of weathering consistent, so ive re-done the Bondo to make it smoother and nicer, so sanding will make it look quite nice! (i hope lol)

have a good one!

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Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #10 on: Oct 14, 2020, 10:39 PM »
about 2 hours into sanding (the lowest grit i have on hand is 150 RIP me) and its already SO much better, im very pleased with it! should look alot nicer  :D

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Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #11 on: Oct 15, 2020, 10:49 PM »
Sanding is done! Its very marbled right now, due to layers of bondo and paint intersecting, but it looks AMAZING in person. very pleased with it!
(I dont know why the keyholes are like that in the picture, they look very nice IRL)
I left the occasional dent/scratch to give some character, but the majority is silky smooth. First layer of burgundy is drying now, gonna see how it looks once that is done!

Gearhead final pre-paint https://imgur.com/gallery/uGqfFrQ


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Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #12 on: Oct 16, 2020, 01:55 PM »
the paint revealed a few trouble spots that have been sanded down and made flush with the rest. take two on the burgandy!

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Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #13 on: Oct 17, 2020, 01:05 AM »
*sigh*
well, the rain came much earlier than any forcast said it would and ruined the enamel paint i had on there to help resist scratches... so back to sanding i guess..... :(

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Anansi


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Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #14 on: Oct 17, 2020, 04:29 PM »
Hey, FYI, be careful to avoid double-posting. If you've posted and then have an update later in the day, just modify the first one to include new content.

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May Hod Ha'ran guide my tongue, may Kad Ha'rangir guide my gun, and may Arasuum guide you to your final slumber.

MMCC #2010 - Nevik Marev
Cabur Akaata Member 139 | O.S.B.A. 007
Gunslinger - Special Weapons Brigade
Anansi's Longstrike Carbine
Another Anansi Nerf Mod
Anansi's Armor WIP
Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #15 on: Oct 29, 2020, 02:26 PM »
Progress update!
I had to rush to get a few things done in time for Halloween (will be gone over later to make everything a bit nice lol)
but here it is!

I am well aware that many things arent to MMCC standard, namely the chestplate and ab plate being combined (im no good at editing .stls rip), the Kama being to long and poorly attached, etc etc. many things still need to be cleaned up, more things need to be printed, but for now this project is to the point where I personally am pleased, so progress will slow up a little once Halloween is done hahaha, what with no deadline and all.

have a wonderful day folks!

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Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #16 on: Oct 29, 2020, 03:05 PM »
I am well aware that many things arent to MMCC standard, namely the chestplate and ab plate being combined (im no good at editing .stls rip)

I don't think you're quite right on that one. Looking at the Post Imperial era CRLs, and some pictures, it appears to me that the ab plate and the main chestplate is all one piece, and some of the other post-imp build I've seen are also 1 piece chest pieces, so I'm pretty sure you'r good there. With the kama, there are no specifications on how long it can or should be, only that it should cover a third or more of your waist, so you don't need to trim it if you don't want to.

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Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #17 on: Oct 29, 2020, 06:51 PM »
I don't think you're quite right on that one. Looking at the Post Imperial era CRLs, and some pictures, it appears to me that the ab plate and the main chestplate is all one piece, and some of the other post-imp build I've seen are also 1 piece chest pieces, so I'm pretty sure you'r good there. With the kama, there are no specifications on how long it can or should be, only that it should cover a third or more of your waist, so you don't need to trim it if you don't want to.

Hm, ill have to look into that, but thank you for the tip! i was kinda dreading cutting the ab plate bit off hahaha
as for the Kama, i realize i made a mistake, when i said length, i meant how far around it went, which i definitely need to cut down as it could be a skirt if i were to sew it properly at the current width!
thanks again for the thing about the ab plate, thats really useful!

« Last Edit: Oct 29, 2020, 06:54 PM by LordOTheWands » Logged
Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #18 on: Dec 03, 2020, 06:04 PM »
Im back! no pictures this time, but i have been working steadily on re-furbishing the armor i do have at the moment. the chestplate has been completely re-done and looks WONDERFUL. Right gauntlet and pauldrons are currently undergoing the same treatment.
i have elected to ditch the kama, at least for now. at the moment, my printer is occupied with holiday gifts, so i cant make any new pieces just yet, but i am curious to see if anyone has any (preferably cheap) vest ideas/links, seeing as mine is just a temporary.
thanks!

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osukaru


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Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #19 on: Dec 05, 2020, 09:28 PM »
Following with great interest

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Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #20 on: Jan 21, 2021, 09:21 AM »
Wow its been a bit! In the meantime, I havent done much, but my cat did knock my helmet off the mannequin where it fell to the floor after bouncing off the corner of my dresser. The impact completely ruined the internal supports of the pla in a good chunk of it, and broke off the left cheek. This time, I am considering purchasing a professionally made helmet (and putting a head on my mannequin for better stability lol)

Have a good one folks

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BlackWolf_XIII


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Re: "Gearhead" WIP
« Reply #21 on: Jan 21, 2021, 11:47 AM »
I've been thinking of a similar color scheme for my kit. Seeing yours confirms to me that I'm heading in a good direction.

Sorry to hear about your helmet. But keep up the good work, I'll be watching with interest to see how yours turns out.

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