Okay, here's an update finally, and probably the only one for this month because I'm tackling NaNoWriMo!
So yes, the plates turned out to be a bit big and will need some trimming and shaping. But here's my process to the point I'm at now.
First of all, I forgot to show how I modified the template for the shoulder pieces. I both lengthened and narrowed the shape.
First piece cut out! Yay!
And here's how I arranged the pieces to cut out. I thought it would be a good idea to leave enough space between that I could cut past the marked lines for cleaner corners.
After holding the collar piece up to myself, I realized it was too wide for moving my arms, which I hadn't noticed with the posterboard template. So I trimmed it down.
Next morning I took a dremel to it. Months ago, I was debating whether to get 3mm or 6mm sintra. I decided on the latter. But once it arrived, I worried it would look too thick and bulky. So my solution has been trimming the edges at a slant, and using that as a design element.
Then I took a heat gun to it. I'm discovering with most of these materials I've used for helmet and armor that they take awhile to heat up enough to shape, but once they do, they can quickly get too hot and melty... and let off bad fumes. So be CAREFUL and wear a RESPIRATOR, my fellow foundlings, with a filter that can block chlorine gas (and maybe other things?) if you're working with sintra or other PVC stuff.
This is kind of like making a grilled cheese sandwich. It takes forever to heat up, and then you burn it.
I cut the ab plate shorter and a little narrower to try and fit between the chest plates and not go over the flak vest edge. So it ends up at a smaller scale than the rest of the pieces.
Then . . . oops. I tried to pry this out of the sintra too soon. The smaller section is what tends to break first, I've discovered. I'll have to recut this one. I just used it for Halloween though, and pretended it was durasteel that got too close to a lightsaber before my character started replacing armor pieces with beskar.
Here it is after some heat forming. More will need to be done, as you will see.
Trimmed the top outside corners of the chest plates so they'd look better with the narrower collar and also allow more mobility.
Dremeled the edges and melted the crack in the ab plate a little so it would sell the lightsaber idea better.
NOTE: As I said before, for any fellow foundlings out there, you want to be CAREFUL with getting sintra too hot because of fumes. Do research on whatever material you're using. In my case, a friendly Mando on the FB forum warned me about sintra letting off chlorine gas.
Also, I think I'll need to go over the dremeled edges with some kind of filler because inside the sintra is foam cells, so the texture is kind of rough.
Black primer before the metallic paint because that makes the metallic layer look more . . . metallic. Really, it makes a difference!
I tried out some weathering on the broken piece for fun and effect. Later I'll cut out a new beskar piece.
I scraped a rock and a crumpled piece of newspaper on it and chucked the rock at it a few times, which left a few little nicks.
Ta daaa!
Okay... This attachment method was another temporary thing. But I learned some things. First of all, I need something that closes somewhere not in the front. (See my soft parts thread:
http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=205883.msg2245813#msg2245813 ) I had some sticky back industrial strength velcro on hand. So I tacked a bunch of that onto the back of the armor plates and pressed it onto the vest. Then I started sewing on the vest ones because I REFUSED to go around half the day on Halloween with velcro losing its stick to the cloth and having armor fall off. Well, sewing and super sticky stuff don't mix well, sewing machine or by hand. My solution? No, not duct tape.
Staples.
Well, It held up for a day. Might hold up for longer. But I'll have to come up with something more secure for the actual soft piece I end up using to hold the armor. Like velcro that isn't sticky that I can actually sew on.
So here's how it fits currently. I did a trunk or treat for a few hours with a service organization I'm part of, and that helped me get a feel for what needs fixing. Yes, it's a bit wide. The middle outside corners of the chest plates dug into my arms and the plates rubbed into each other. So, some trimming down and further shaping are in order. But a lot of trunk or treaters were excited to see a Mando (in progress)! And the armor and helmet held up to hits from a combat grade lightsaber and a cheap Walmart Darksaber while dueling.
Well, thanks for all your input and support so far, ner vode! See you on the other side of NaNoWriMo!
(I'm half tempted to include this post in my word count. But no...
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