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 Vod'ika's Kit

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Vercopaanir


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Vod'ika's Kit
« on: Jun 21, 2021, 10:00 PM »
I was discussing my plans for future kits with my handler (one of my sisters) when my younger sister leaned over my shoulder and told me she liked it.  I showed her my color test, and yup, she said she'd wear it if I built it.  So here it goes, build number two.

The original design has changed a bit from the first sketch and I have altered it a bit more to make it more personalized for my little sister.  This is the current working sketch I am building off of.  Some design ideas have already been scrapped or changed according to my vod'ika's perferences.



And the color test



The kit will be a legacy kit with an Ursa Wren styled bucket.  Due to the fact that she needs to fit her glasses in the bucket (the suggestion of contracts was met with hard no) I am planning to pad the shoulders a bit and do several layers of plates on the shoulders to enlarge her silhouette and prevent the bobble head look.

My original plans for this build was a beast tamer, sniper, forest specialist.  Considering that she is about half my size (yet some how taller?) I am taking her down to a light armor kit and we're just shooting for beast tamer at this point.  Well OM first, then beast tamer after that.

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Rhue_Shofytt


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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #1 on: Jun 21, 2021, 11:55 PM »
Looking good, I love that color combination! And yay, another member of team "shorter than my younger siblings" !  :laugh:

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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #2 on: Jun 22, 2021, 07:41 PM »
Definitely following this one -- what a gorgeous color scheme!

And aww yisss, a fellow aspiring Beast Tamer! Does she know any beasts she'd like to specialize in?

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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #3 on: Jun 22, 2021, 07:45 PM »
Looks cool! For the big shoulder affect, I recommend doing a vest/shoulder setup like Jango where the shoulder pieces go straight out instead of being more attached to the upper arms (like Boba). I did that for mine and it makes me look huge (I'm tiny)  :laugh:

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Vercopaanir


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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #4 on: Jun 22, 2021, 09:17 PM »
Looking good, I love that color combination! And yay, another member of team "shorter than my younger siblings" !  :laugh:

Yes, three are already taller than me!   :porg2:  But they're still my 'little' siblings  ;)

Definitely following this one -- what a gorgeous color scheme!

And aww yisss, a fellow aspiring Beast Tamer! Does she know any beasts she'd like to specialize in?

Thanks  :like:
If I were to pick a beast for her it would be a varactyl.  She's our chicken whisperer (they come when she calls and they follow her around) and loves reptiles so that seems the best fit.  When I asked I got a shoulder shrug, so... :rolleyes:


Looks cool! For the big shoulder affect, I recommend doing a vest/shoulder setup like Jango where the shoulder pieces go straight out instead of being more attached to the upper arms (like Boba). I did that for mine and it makes me look huge (I'm tiny)  :laugh:

Thank you! 
I suggested doing that with the shoulders, she said no.  She wants to be able to walk through doors,  :P  I tried to reassure her that she would be able too but she followed that up with how she would run into everything, couldn't argue with that one.  So were going to go the padding route first and see where that gets us.  I'll keep that one in the back pocket incase of emergencies though.   :D

For those who are following this build, I am starting mainly with the softs so this thread will be a little quiet for a bit.  I'm throwing in a link to the softs through so y'all can see what we've been up to.

https://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=203568.0


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Falke


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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #5 on: Jun 24, 2021, 04:02 AM »
I really like your colour scheme, I will follow this build!

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Vercopaanir


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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #6 on: Jun 29, 2021, 12:08 PM »
I really like your colour scheme, I will follow this build!

Thanks Falke!  Advice is always welcome  :)

Update:

Softs are nearing a point where they are completed enough to start patterning armor for her.  (Plus there is an armor party this weekend so I can get some help heat forming it if I have it at least cut out before the party.)  So I reassembled the tape pattern we made for her vest and drew a rough outline for where I wanted her armor to fall based off the lines and shape of the vest pattern.

   

Then I cut the pieces out and transferred them to my tissue paper.  I use this step to help even out and straighten any lines that I know need to be straight regardless of how I drew them on the tape.  I also added the additional length I will need to overlap the plates for the legacy style.

   

Then I made cardboard mockups

   

Taped them together



And brought them to my sister, who put on her vest and allowed me to use her as a, ahem, 'dummy'.  :D   Issues were quickly made apparent and I trimmed the plates accordingly.  What isn't shown is the notch I took out of the collar to bring the edges closer to the neck and the bit I trimmed off the the outside edge of the collar plate.

   

And trimmed down

   

   



Obviously the plates are floating a bit as they are only attached to her at the shoulders but I think the overall fit is just about right.  Next step will be transferring the patterns to sintra and cutting it out.  Now I need to decided if her plates will be 3mm or 6mm.  Mine were two layer of three because I wanted trauma plates but I don't think we will put any on hers so...TBD.

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Falke


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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #7 on: Jun 29, 2021, 03:19 PM »
The template looks good!

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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #8 on: Jun 29, 2021, 04:09 PM »
Looks nice! Btw, where do you get references for legacy armor?

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Vercopaanir


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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #9 on: Jun 29, 2021, 04:28 PM »
Looks nice! Btw, where do you get references for legacy armor?

So these plates are just what I wanted no particular inspiration but there is a whole legacy board if your looking for more stuff like that.

http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?board=167.0


The template looks good!

Thanks!

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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #10 on: Jul 01, 2021, 09:10 PM »
Alright, so I got my vod'ika dressed up in everything we've got so far that will stay on and stuck the carboard armor on her.  I got the back armor templated out and then everything drawn onto my PVC board.  (I'm still using the stuff I bought for my armor.)  The blue tape was just a visual placeholder for the shoulders.  Those haven't been templated yet as we are still discussing styles.  I made the back armor templates same as I had done the front.



 

 

She choose a backplate with a similar style to mine.

   

She also want's the half shell bracers and knees out of PVC so that they can take more damage without risk of being broken.  We have a rough knee design taped on to her suit in the photos but we're not sold on it just yet. 

« Last Edit: Jul 01, 2021, 09:23 PM by Vercopaanir » Logged

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Arco'thyel Wyshla


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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #11 on: Jul 01, 2021, 11:30 PM »
Man, I'm amazed at how quickly you're breezing through such a detailed kit! Looking forward to the plates! :like:

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Vercopaanir


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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #12 on: Jul 02, 2021, 07:01 PM »
Man, I'm amazed at how quickly you're breezing through such a detailed kit! Looking forward to the plates! :like:

Yeah, I went from three jobs to one over the first part of the summer.  I was going to take it easy.  That lasted about three days, I don't do well with inactivity.  So this is getting my extra time and attention.  Won't last too much longer, second job starts back up in two weeks so back to a more normal pace soon.

Update:  Plates cut out and a quick rough sand on the edges to give them a bit of a bevel before we heat form them tomorrow.


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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #13 on: Jul 04, 2021, 07:11 PM »
We got the bulk of the shaping done at the armor part Saturday.  I still have to finish the shaping of the abb plate and a little bit more on the top back plate at the overlap.  It's doesn't quite lay right so  just a bit of heat and it will be ready.








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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #14 on: Jul 09, 2021, 09:17 PM »
I started work on two sheaths for over top of the leg wraps.  She wanted a more knife heavy kit then I had planned so we are going to be adding a few more bladed weapons to this build.  :)


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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #15 on: Jul 20, 2021, 07:16 PM »
Today we finally got around to doing the little bit of heat forming that still needed to get done.  I adjusted to corners of the little angled plates at the bottom of the chest plate and did a little bit of heat forming on the edges of the backplate.  I glued the little angled pieces to the chest plate.  I glued them in place initially with superglue.  Then I ran a bead of hot glue to help hold it together until we fiber glassed it.   Then my vod'ika and I fiber glassed the inside of the chest plate.  She had to help me as I stabbed myself with the Exacto blade and am down the use of a thumb for a bit.  (No worries, nothing permanently damaged, just need to keep it immobile for a bit.)  Never been so grateful to be ambidextrous (that has it's own problems but for something like this it is a good thing).  It is also getting her more involved in making her kit which is also a good thing. 

   

   

I also worked a bit more on the knife sheath box.  I got one mostly assembled, just need to add a bit of filler to the one seam and then paint it up before attaching it to the straps.

   

I also got a bit of sanding done on the knives and grav charges but no pictures of those.

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Aster Veris


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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #16 on: Jul 21, 2021, 02:06 PM »
Looks good! Hope your thumb is okay  :<3:

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Vercopaanir


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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #17 on: Jul 26, 2021, 05:37 PM »
Looks good! Hope your thumb is okay  :<3:

Thanks!   It will be good, just have to not use it for 3 weeks or so.   Honestly I just feel a bit stupid about it as I am always the one harping about PPE.  I took off my gloves to change the blade and yup that's when it happened.

Update:  Vod'ika is crafting!!!  She cut out her own trauma plates and did a bit of sanding for the edges.  Then we started to heat form them to match the plates they are going on top of.  We also finished the rough construction of the second knife sheath.






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Vercopaanir


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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #18 on: Aug 01, 2021, 07:21 PM »
We finished heat forming the trauma plates and glueing them on to the other plates.  ;D

   

   

   

We still need to heat form the ab plate but then we can sand in the inset spots for the magnets.  After that we get to paint!

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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #19 on: Aug 05, 2021, 05:14 PM »
Since the last post we have heat formed the ab plate.  We marked and sanded out the spots for all the magnets on the back and chest plate.  Then we cut and sanded both knees and the one half shell gauntlet.  We then procceded to fill some of the small gaps between the plates with bondo.  Then we sanded them down and did a layer of wood filler.  I also used the wood filler on the knife boxes.  I really like this combo because the wood fill allows for a finer finish.  After that we sanded the armor pieces for the loin cloth.  We'll have to wait on the weather to get some paint on the plates.

   

   

We still need to finished sanding down the Karta and I need to pattern out the plates for the alternate gauntlet (aka the bite guard).
The helmet should be finished printing and in our hands by the middle of this month so we should be close to my self appointed deadline for finishing this kit.

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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #20 on: Aug 07, 2021, 09:24 PM »
Alright, there are lots of photos in this post.  Today was painting day.  We started with the primer,



Then we lightly sanded that with 400 grit sand paper, and on to the silver base coat!

   

Then I sealed the silver off with a clear coat. ( I did not take any pictures at this step because it looks exactly the same)  The next thing that went on was the copper.

 



Then came the taping, lots and lots of taping to get the pattern that we wanted.

   



These sections were then painted with a glossy grey.



Then more taping for the next two colors.  We are using two different shades of green to get a semi-camo look for this kit.  We have also been using toothpaste as the masking fluid to get the layered paint chips and to help get the camo look.

   

Tape pulled but before washing the toothpaste off

   



And all cleaned off

   

   

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Jennari


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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #21 on: Aug 07, 2021, 11:45 PM »
Nice! I love the scale pattern and weathering.

Vercopaanir


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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #22 on: Aug 08, 2021, 10:38 PM »
Nice! I love the scale pattern and weathering.

Thank you!  It was inspired by the Varactyl but I kept getting told it looks nautical.

Update:

My vod'ika poked her nose in my room today and asked if she could try it on.  So we got the strapping done and then taped it to the vest.

   

   

The knees are taped in place and completely falling off but it gives the idea of what's going on.  The half shell is only at the silver stage in these photos but it still provides a rough idea.  The other arm is for the bite guard. 

The one shoulder on the backplate looks like it got a bit warped so I have to try and add a bit of gentle heat and see if I can fix it up without ruining the paint job.

The straps for the knife sheaths around the shins are temporarily clipped in place.  The sheaths are just about done but the knives are still under construction.

I will be taking the belt in some more (I already took off about 6 inches but it still sags just a bit too much). 

After these photos, I added the copper coat to the half bracer, and finished the armor plates for the loin cloth.



   

I still need to pattern out the shoulders and the panels for the bit guard.  I also need to finish the Kar'ta.  We also heard from the person printing the helmet, due to technical issues the print has been postponed about a week.  Which isn't an issue at, while I would like to have this kit approved by Sept. I am realistic enough to know that it will be very close.

It will be pretty cool when it's all done. 

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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #23 on: Aug 14, 2021, 09:59 PM »
Alright so I definitely haven't posted here in a bit.  We put a rush on some parts of this kit to get it wearable for MegaCon.  Not at approvable level yet but definitely wearable.  It got a test run the past three days.  This post will be a big photo dump.

Knees: Attachment method is butterfly pins with locking backs.  They stayed in place very well.  The only complaint I got was that they were a bit scratchy on the knees.  I should be able to add some foam inside and make them much more comfortable for the next trip out.

   

Gauntlets/Bite Guard: Attachment method is a magnets for the gauntlets and hook and eye snaps for the bite guard.  I didn't have time to add the strap to help hold down the hand plate portion of the guard but that is coming.

   

   

Chest plates:  Attachment method is magnets.  The front magnetizes on with the exception of one pin on that odd corner that just didn't tuck right.  I will be going back with my heat gun to try and gently fold it down into place.  The plates themselves are held together with nylon strapping and chicago screws.



Back Plate:  Attachment method is magnets.

I seem to have failed to take a picture of the backplate all completed but before weathering.  Ahh well, just look at the unattached version from the earlier post.  ;)

Shoulders:  Attachment method- temporary.  These are currently held in place with a buckle on the top (that will stay) and a butterfly pin through the strapping at the bottom (this one will change).

   

Again I seem to have failed to take an assembled, finished painted picture.  Rushing to get this done has done a number on my documenting.

Knife sheaths:  Attachment is Chicago screws onto the former belt which then velcros around the leg.

   

   

I took a chunk out of the belt to both shorten and change the angle at which the belt sits.



Then we weathered it all with black and brown washes.  Vod'ika hated this bit.  She kept asking why it needed to be dirty, "she could be a neat freak mando".  "Sigh, what do we look like when we get back from riding?"  "Fine."

   

   

I may have gone a little overboard on some of the weathering (you can barely see some of the stitching in the belt) and there are still a few places where I feel it needs more.  (Like the caramel sleeves)  But overall I think it came out pretty good.  We still have bit more to go but it was done enough for her to debut it at MegaCon Orlando

   

Con photos graciously provided by Stacy DeDeo.

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Arco'thyel Wyshla


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Re: Vod'ika's Kit
« Reply #24 on: Aug 16, 2021, 01:15 AM »
That is some seriously impressive paint masking! You're really setting the bar high for creative paint designs. Both the kits you've made have breathtaking details.

Then we weathered it all with black and brown washes.  Vod'ika hated this bit.  She kept asking why it needed to be dirty, "she could be a neat freak mando".  "Sigh, what do we look like when we get back from riding?"  "Fine."

I definitely know where she's coming from! :laugh: That's the part of my build I'm dreading most.

She looks great at the con -- fits right in! The hood and scarf are a great look, will she wear them with the helmet?

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