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[Vercopaanir]

Fabulous work!  The portable high ground will be a great addition to your kit.

[Fenn Beviin]

That's a good looking custom jetpack dude!

Well done

[Aster Veris]

Portable high ground!!!!
Been following on facebook, really great work vod. This will be a fine addition to your collection.

[Second Son]

And we're back with a few upgrades, some new and visible and some that are structural and hidden.
First, I re-worked the attachment of my cod and butt plates - they were originally just stitched on with heavy-duty tread. Super durable and all, but they weren't easy to remove. So I put some snaps on and now I can remove plates for washing my girth/sash, or swap out parts. I'm thinking to add an extender tab matching the main fabric to convert the sash/girth to a cummerbund for a P/I variant kit.

It's pretty well invisible.

and the rear:



For more visible items, I've put together a sheath for my combat knife:

a sheath for some throwers:

And made the first of two reload holders:

and did some dry-brushing and rub'n'buff work on the main bodies for a bunch more reloads. Knives don't run out of ammo but blasters do...

I've got a few more things on the project list like always, I'll see when I can get another block of time for making stuff.

[Kurshi BeJahaal]

I have missed so much in this post but seeing this kit nearly finished is really exciting! You're looking incredible, man. You do some seriously stellar work! 

[Second Son]

I have missed so much in this post but seeing this kit nearly finished is really exciting! You're looking incredible, man. You do some seriously stellar work! 

Thanks Vod!  I renamed my main WIP thread because even though I got my stripes, I'm never going to be 'finished' building and upgrading.

Little post-let, I had an opportunity to do a little invasion for a local Cub Scouts day camp (See You at the Movies!). My local RL and 501st compatriots asked if there were any folks willing to help, and your friendly neighborhood Armored Space Maniac said, why not? While it was so, so hot out there was at least some shade and the kids had fun so that's a win. I got to practice working a crowd and let me tell you, kids are a tough crowd because they are constantly hopping to either side of the line of "wow you're really real! Tell me about your star ship and have you met Boba Fett?" and "so how exactly do you lay down the layers of paint? How may hours of work was it to make that specific prop?".
Oh, and "Can you take your helmet off? Can I see your face? I'll trade my lunchables for your blaster." 

Keeping character and answering real world questions and finding the right line is a thing to watch out for, and I'll have to do some homework and get some stock character answers put together.
Pics for posterity.
 Found some Space Wizards!
I missed tucking my cinch straps away so I have random red ribbons flapping. I definitely think I need to update my kama to wrap more to the front and make it fuller too.

 This is maybe a third of the kids that were there.
I made some little Iron Heart tokens and put them on cords so the campers could wear them as pendants or maybe turn them into keychains.

My jetpack harness is not ready so I had to skip it, which was a little diappointing. I debuted my boot knife&sheath, throwing knives, my prybar, and my reloads (checked with Ruus first!), and carried my prototype blaster maintenance kit in one of my cloth belt pouches to gauge the weight,  and they all worked out great. I kind of ran out of space on my belt so one of my original belt pouches got left behind. Not sure if I will keep the other one. Maybe switching my holsters to a drop-leg style (using the reload holders as the belt anchor) will free up enough space to keep them. I'll use the next couple times I kit up to fine tune the layout as I build towards my Privateer application and beyond.

[Second Son]

After two troops and seeing the kama in action, I decided I'd add to it a bit. I finished up some leftovers from the original piece and mounted them with some snaps so they can be removed without much trouble if I end up hating them. The split should also let me alter my pistol holsters to drop-leg without getting in the way too much.

Space Grime, of course.



I also put in some time on The Monstrosity.





Gonna add some brown grime and a sling for this, and as long as it gets good reviews it'll be part of my Space Piracy equipment.

[Fenn Beviin]

Love me some good space grime.

Blaster looks good! To match the level of detail in your kit though - I would suggest tossing some greebs on in.

[Second Son]

Love me some good space grime.

Blaster looks good! To match the level of detail in your kit though - I would suggest tossing some greebs on in.

 
My other weapons are very plain, so I was trying to match that level, but the point is well taken. I may have gotten closer to the cartoon line with this one.
A few surface-mounted details or carefully added grooves / reveals might add enough visual texture without damaging my simplified, 'gun-shaped block' aesthetic.
A brown wash will also help tone down the yellow's  'punch you in the eyes' brightness.
Thank you for the feedback.

[Fenn Beviin]

Yeah, even just adding some extra detail sintra pieces with cut grooves, open spaces etc. would work well!

For added detailing on some of my own blasters, I actually just glue on wood craft sticks cut into certain shapes. Works great! You just need to seal them or sand them first so that the texture is smooth when painted. Cutting PVC pipes in half and adding end half circle caps out of sintra works well too - that's how I did some detailing on the Montross blaster rifle I made.

Wood craft sticks:


Half PVC pipes:

[Second Son]

Thanks for the suggestions, Fenn - I added a little bit of detail by filing some panel lines in, but I don't think I'll go much further. I also laid down some brown space grime, concentrating on grooves and touch points like the power pack receiver, grip and foregrip. I did a little bit to knock down the yellow but I didn't want to make it go away. The good thing about building up a little at a time is that you can always add a bit more.


Funny story, I was doing some extra image searching to see where I could add some little details and in my search for Westar Carbine I found that someone else had already made a similar small-frame pistol and bullpup looking carbine variant!  Good stuff from five years ago.

EDIT to avoid the dreaded 'double post'
I got a wild hair and decided to do a speedbuild prop to help meet my breaching tool requirement - so I made an interpretation of the OG shin tool "anti-security blade" which sounds cool and like it does something to over-ride electronic locks. I think maybe the little wheel on the side and the knurled rod allow adjustments of some sort.


Back when I was just making a mando and hadn't decided to pursue Space Piracy, I made my right thigh pouch with two little tool pockets behind it - so my breaching tools have a home.


Keeping my incremental progress going.

[Fenn Beviin]

Neat! Love the additions of the tools for the pouch

[Second Son]

Neat! Love the additions of the tools for the pouch

Thanks Vod. I wish I could say I planned it out completely, but it turned out pretty cool anyway.

I was left unsupervised with the laser cutter at the office today....


I'll spend a bit more time sanding the surfaces and then hit them with some black+metallic, then maybe a light blackwash and a final dry brush of silver to pop the edges back out.
I've got some little tool pockets on my left sleeve that will do just fine for a few of these, the rest can live in a pouch or on a little key ring.

EDIT to ADD:   There was some finishing and filthing. Sleeve pockets are just right for them. 




Next up:  Rank bars.
Got some pushbutton swtich covers, I'll be making some backers for them soon.


Having too much fun making accessories.

[Fenn Beviin]

Are those laser cut do-dads like spike keys for hacking doors/computer terminals and stuff?

[Second Son]

Are those laser cut do-dads like spike keys for hacking doors/computer terminals and stuff?

Yup. Explosions and fusion cutters can make new doors but sometimes its better to just...open the doors you've already got.
]*UPDATE* don't want to 'double post' so I'll edit instead.[
Speaking of which - Code cylinders lifted from an Imperial Officer that no longer required them after their abrupt retirement...they could also help out when dealing with Imperial cargo doors, right?

Chalk holders and some transparent blue paint to color the caps make a pretty decent prop.


I finished some 'good guy' rank bars as a proof of concept. I'm pleased with the outcome so I'll get started on some 'bad guy' ones. I think I'll keep the ranks around captain/lieunant level. What you'd expect to find on a freighter. Having a full 2x6 Grand Moff badge is pretty far-fetched, even for a pretend space pirate.

Need a bit more buffing, then holes and cords and Space Grime.

[Cattriss Wren]

Keep up the good work!! This all looks awesome   

[Second Son]

Keep up the good work!! This all looks awesome   

Thanks vod! I'm having a criminal amount of fun with this.

I've been pretty unhappy with my knees. They generally work and passed the application process, but away from head on shots where I'm not moving around, they tend to shift away and look not-great.
App photo versus real-life use pictures.

So I began working on another method. The initial plan was to pull them off of my flight suit and mount them to padded backing that gets attached to my shin armor. This would make the flight suit layer completely independent of armor, making it easier to clean.
So I got some fabric that matches my flightsuit (leftover from an extra shirt I bought for making double sleeves and pouches), wool batt(this I got more of, for future soft kit projects), interfacing, and unbleached linen remaining from my flak vest closures and shin plate padding.
I know that almost no one will see the full thing, but I wanted to practice topstitching for reasons, so I laid out my quilting lines.

Then I built my fabric sandwich. face and lining fabrics go face to face, right sides together with face fabric on top (outer seam lines drawn on to guide stitching). Under the linen goes batt (doubled over knee for extra padding), and finally the interfacing.



Stitch the outside, flip it and trim close to the edge stitches.

Then turn it all right side out (this was a bit of an effort due to the t-shape and the overall thickness) and run a few lines of stitching to secure everything.

Then so much topstitching, times two.



I was going to just use the same attachments (self-clinching studs through stitched eyelets, secured with nuts).
in trying to remove the nuts, which I doubled up and glued in place, I broke the 'clinch' on several of the studs so they were just spinning and the nuts were not loosening. So, I drilled them out and replaced them with snaps riveted through the leftover holes.
There was cursing.



Before mounting each snap to the plate, I used the hole to mark where the matching part would go on the pads, then mounted the fabric and hard part half of the snap. Then mark the next one, then repeat until done.





They were...a little floppy. So I put some stays on the back side. I picked up a few packs of plactic boning with casing years ago on clearance and finally had a reason to use it. They stand up much better now.

And secured my straps & buckles. There's a little bit of elastic at either end for  flex, but it's mostly hidden by knee plates and the closest grey I could easily get (had it on hand)


I don't believe that this will cause trouble with visible elastic strapping.

Secured to my shin padding. There's still a gap from the top of my shin plates, and it's a soft connection so I think they would still be counted as separate plates, if I were going to be counting  lower body armor.

TOO CLEAN
so did round one of Space Grime: Ochre and umber, a touch of brown and black.


I added some scorchy marks next to my knee dart greebles.


Much like the quilt lines not really being visible, I extended the edges of the grime under the plates. It's one of those things that brings the thing to life, not having those sharp edges where the plates would cover. real dirt and sweat gets everywhere.


 I may have got a bit heavy with the umber, which ends up giving it a pink-purple dried sweat-and-blood look, so once this is fully dried I'll add some more brown and black washes and re-work the stitches with ochre.

I will hold off final in-place pics until I am staisfied with the grime, and may add another row of straps just above may calves to help hold everything in place. We'll see how I feel about it.
I'll need to get this finished before I can move on with other things, so watch out for the thrilling conclusion.

[Tramp Graphics]

Looks like I might have started a trend. I do something similar with my knees, as they are attached to a pair of knee pads which act as plate carriers.

[Fenn Beviin]

Dude yes! Those look fantastic

[Second Son]

Looks like I might have started a trend. I do something similar with my knees, as they are attached to a pair of knee pads which act as plate carriers.

   It's not a bad plan - I just had to be extra and scratch build them.

Dude yes! Those look fantastic

  Thanks vod - I think I made a good switch from direct flight suit mounting to the separate carriers. We'll see how they perform at my next invasion.

-MEANWHILE-
I had a wild hair so I made some space wizard glow rocks.
.5" colored acrylic rods. bandsaw, knife carving/scraping, experimentig with white diamond buffing compound, wet sanding, flame polishing.



I had two brass threaded coupler things in the greeblie bin, so I heated them up, twisted the crystals in, and immediately quenched them in water to set them permanantly.

I drilled some holes and stuck them on the chain.


I swear I'm not putting off my brigade application.

[Cattriss Wren]

Those trophys are looking awesome vod Love the laser sword crystals!

[Second Son]

Those trophys are looking awesome vod Love the laser sword crystals!

  Thanks Triss. They were very enjoyable to make - no expectations or pressure, just letting the moment dictate what happens.

 I have made some holsters for my snub pistols.

I I was playing around with the idea of an ankle holster, but even the Rule of Cool was not enough of a justification. I was playing about with ideas and found that my reload carriers can hold my snubs.
 
 BUT they kind of like they're just stuck in there (since they are). SO I took some advice and started making holsters.

For these I wanted a subtle bit of flair so I lined them with some blue leather I had on hand.
]



They look pretty good and fit where I want them - once they are fully done drying I will get them on me and see if I need to do more tweaking to the setup.

 

Gonna just keep making stuff until I run out of material or I look like this...

[Fenn Beviin]

Those look great dude!

Well done

[Second Son]

Those look great dude!

Well done

   Thanks Vod!

This weekend I took the opportunity to debut all my Space Pirate accessories and field test my recent raft of upgrades under live invasion conditions.
My Rebel and 501st compatriots were awesome as usual. My Tie Pilot dudes rolled up looking fresh, and Ewok Friend was a lot of fun, and then there's me looking like I been thrown through a wall, loaded for Rancor with weapons like a proper Mando'ad. 

My new knee mounting was comfortable but slid down more than anticipated. I'll workshop it a bit, perhaps I'll break down and add some snaps or (gasp) Velcro.

Blurry Second Son action Shot! Managed to get some cape swoosh caught on camera.

My new snub holsters are great, but mounted in front they tend to sneak up behind my vest. I'm not sure if that's a big CRL problem but it doesn't look and feel quite right. I'll workshop it a bit, maybe just switch them to be at my lower back instead.
Jetpack harness was better than expected. I hardly felt the weight and it didn't slide back terribly. It's not super easy to put on yet, I need to improve how it integrates with my vest and make sure all loose strap ends are properly coralled.

It's not a big visible update like the Portable High Ground, but little internal things are always good. My Kama has been held on with safety pins until this past week, when I got off my duff and installed snap tape to make it easier to deal with. I've also added two panels to make the whole thing fuller and more Dynamic.


I also taped in my fan kit in anticipation of a warm day with little breeze, and coupled with the Cat Crap on my visor I had no fogging and stayed pretty comfy. I'll install it better with proper sticky velcro and cable management because it was a great success (and quiter than I feared it would be).

My ruus'alor gave my new antenna greeble the thumbs up; it is pretty low key and looked fine in photos IMO.


The number one thing I need to add is a proper sling for my carbine. It's not required for Space Pirate, but it is a compliance path to a requirement for Walking Arsenal. I found myself asking my fellow costumed nerds to hold it or tucking it under my arm to drink water. Having a solid way to go hands-free will be a big help.

Our handler was kind enough to take some app-style pics while I was kitted up. They were taken towards the end of our appearance time, but I did that specifically to see what issues develop while wearing and moving. It's pretty easy to take very convincing app photos when you're standing still and not sweating buckets.





I think I did pretty good for being in the middle of things, and the helmet hair wasn't too bad either.



Finally, my favorite snap from the event - a dad with his daughter (and very understanding wife) wanted some pictures with the scary blue space man.

I've blocked her face for privacy, but her expression means business and it's absolutely fantastic.

[Second Son]

I upgraded my jetpack harness, just in time for a local con (Archon 45!) that carries great meaning for me - I grew up travelling to cons on the weekends with my dad & brothers and this one in particular was Our Con since it's right here at home. I'd been away from fandom in general since my late teens/college years but new Star Wars content and the Mando gig has gotten me back into it. I only really got to hang around on Friday but it really did have a coming-home kind of feeling.
Saw lots of familiar faces & met lots of the usual lovable weirdos (I fit right in) and had fun mando-ing about with some of the 501st gang and R2.


I even ran into friendly Space Wizards and galactic denizens.



I ran into some OG nerds, talking about rigging up vacuum formers and styrene sheets back in the 80s when I was just a knee-high little devil - it was definitely cool to hear them talk about the old school ways.
I didn't get their names, but a pair of potential Mando costumers asked to check out my harness setup, and I made sure they knew who the Mercs are.
My new harness setup is rock solid and stayed comfortable the whole time I was armored up - several hours.  Walking about and standing around looking cool and mysterious at the joint SW club table reinforced what I learned at my last invasion - I need a good sling for The Monstrosity, and I need to tweak the knee support just a bit more. I did manage to keep my snub blasters from slipping behind my flak vest.
I hope I carried myself right and represented the brand and the club positively. All in all, I'll call it a success.