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[Ca Loar]

Nice. awesome job so far.

[Talan Jekurra]

Nice work Olivia!

I think I'm going to end up with either sewing a flight suit or going with a 2 part. Finding a flight suit to fit my height and shoulders has been quite a challenge.

[Tassone Phoenix]

What most of us, not that I'm one, do is put a mesh over the back of the keyholes. Helps hide hair, and fans.

Yep that's what I did.   I cut out a rectangle from a pair of black panty hose and hot glued it inside my helmet.  Now you don't see my hair, my bandana, and a tiny bit of air gets in.

Your helmet is looking real good. Nice work

[hypnoctopus]

Helmet primed and painted a base coat of silver (and yes, that IS a plunger it is sitting on). I plan on doing weathering in layers, using the toothpaste method for starters. I'll be buying my other colors on the weekend after I get paid, hopefully.




My Mosin Nagant pouches arrived! I ordered ten, from this website: http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?item=XMosinPouch&name=Original+Mosin+Nagant+Rifle+Ammo+Pouch&groupid=81



They look all awesome and weathered (and they were super cheap, although shipping was fairly pricey), and they really have character. Only six can fit on my belt, so I'm not sure when to do with the extra four. Maybe I'll bring them to an armor party (or if someone wants them, they are free for the taking, just PM me).

I've been procrastinating on the vest because it scares me, but I assure you that I'll get back to work on it soon.

[Tassone Phoenix]

Looks good.  Progress is progress. Be proud of what you have  

PM regarding pouches coming your way.

[hypnoctopus]

Oh, and as far as the range finder and ear caps, are those like the last thing that I should put on my helmet, or should I drill a hole for the range finder and attach the ear things before I go any further with the paint?

[Tassone Phoenix]

I don't have the same helmet as you, but I attached the RF and ear caps last.  I painted my helmet, then I painted the earcaps/RF. After all parts were dry, then I glued and attached everything.

[Scorlord]

I did the opposite, and glued on my ears and then painted. Since I have the 2-piece I had to make my ears look flush so I bondoed them once they were glued.

[Ca Loar]

Oh, and as far as the range finder and ear caps, are those like the last thing that I should put on my helmet, or should I drill a hole for the range finder and attach the ear things before I go any further with the paint?

You can either way. The main thing is to make sure the ear caps are flush with the helmet. I have the DSB Helmet that you have. It is my girlfriends helmet that she purchased and I did the prep and paint on it. I believe you are in my side of town, so if you would like to take a close look at it to see how everything was done we can meet up or I can bring it to the meeting on the 13th. Drop me a PM and let me know

[Tassone Phoenix]

I did the opposite, and glued on my ears and then painted. Since I have the 2-piece I had to make my ears look flush so I bondoed them once they were glued.

Yes I should have done it your way.  My earcaps weren't flush doing it my way. I had to fix that later down the road. If I do it again I will attach it all then paint.

[hypnoctopus]

I'm finally finished with the paint job on my helmet.

This was the first attempt:



I used toothpaste for weathering and it worked a little too well. I felt like the weathering on the red was too pronounced and looked artificial, so I sanded that down to repaint it.



However... one thing I learned very quickly was DON'T CUT CORNERS. I didn't sand every little bit of the red off, and my silver coat crackled terribly and had to be sanded down yet again.



This time I decided to add a green under-layer and this was the result:

   

After that, I added my main stripes:

   

After writing all this, I remembered that I'm actually not quite finished. I still need to fill in the front triangles with silver and perhaps add my name in Mandalorian characters in red on the side.

As much as I don't want to redo anything, I'm very much open to critiques, so let me know if you think there are any glaring errors!

[Ca Loar]

You did a great job. The cracking usually comes from two dissimilar paint brands reacting to each other. I would hit the helmet with a light black wash to add some grime to it. you can use black or brown for it.

[hypnoctopus]

You did a great job. The cracking usually comes from two dissimilar paint brands reacting to each other. I would hit the helmet with a light black wash to add some grime to it. you can use black or brown for it.

Oh that's right, I had forgotten about that. I will definitely do that!

[Tassone Phoenix]

You did a great job on the helmet.  I have seen people mess up and complain about re-doing it so sometimes they don't.  You want that extra mile and re-did parts a couple times and I appreciate that effort.  The helmet is really looking fantastic.  Like Allen said, a little black or brown wash will take it to that extra lever.  Great job!

[Tassone Phoenix]

So it's been over a month and I was just wondering how your progress was coming along.  I know life gets in the way, but if you ran into a snag with a kit, let us know.  We are here to help

[Solus Kyr]

Nice job on the paint up!

[hypnoctopus]

So it's been over a month and I was just wondering how your progress was coming along.  I know life gets in the way, but if you ran into a snag with a kit, let us know.  We are here to help

No snags, I've just been really busy with work/school/life. I'd like to get back to work on it soon though. I will post more progress as I go!

[Tassone Phoenix]

That's what I figured. Totally understandable.  I just wanted to make sure we didn't scare you off

[Vih'Torr]

Helmet primed and painted a base coat of silver (and yes, that IS a plunger it is sitting on). I plan on doing weathering in layers, using the toothpaste method for starters. I'll be buying my other colors on the weekend after I get paid, hopefully.




My Mosin Nagant pouches arrived! I ordered ten, from this website: http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?item=XMosinPouch&name=Original+Mosin+Nagant+Rifle+Ammo+Pouch&groupid=81



They look all awesome and weathered (and they were super cheap, although shipping was fairly pricey), and they really have character. Only six can fit on my belt, so I'm not sure when to do with the extra four. Maybe I'll bring them to an armor party (or if someone wants them, they are free for the taking, just PM me).

I've been procrastinating on the vest because it scares me, but I assure you that I'll get back to work on it soon.

If you still have those pocket's I may have an mando who is interested 

[Kiyanu Terras]

If you still have those pouches I'd be interested in 2 By the way I really like how your helmet is coming, it looks good!

[hypnoctopus]

I'm sorry, I don't have the pouches any more, but thank you for the compliments!

[Mav runi]

Great job on the paint I get to start doing paint on my plates soon, mostly because i have no clue when i'm going to get a helmet. Can't wait to see more of your kit!

[Tassone Phoenix]

Hey Olivia, just checking in on you.   We haven't heard from you in awhile so I was wondering how you and your build were doing.  Hope all is well and we get to see you as an official member one day. 

[hypnoctopus]

Hello again! It's been quite some time, but I haven't given up on my mando planning. I've had a lot going on in my life during the last several years, so the daunting task of building a mando costume got pushed the back burner.

Starting this January, I picked up where I left off and I've been spending most of my free time trying to get my costume ready for Phoenix Comicon in the beginning of June. I am REALLY close to being done. Currently I'm not too concerned about becoming an official member, but feel free to point out any things that aren't to standard.

I ended up not using most of the metal armor that I ordered. I really loved it, but it just didn't fit the way that I wanted. I ended up purchasing a giant sheet of polystyrene and made my armor out of that. I kept the metal shins and boot armor.

Gauntlets are made out of PVC pipe (and lots of various plastic and metal bits).

My helmet has foam padding, chin straps, and dual fans.

Here's a list (partly for my own reference!) of what has been done and what still needs to be done.
Helmet - finished
Collar Plate - finished
Chest plates -  finished
Chest Diamond - needs velcro attached
Shoulder plates -  finished
Belly plate -  finished
Cod plate -  finished
Back plate - needs to be finished being painted, weathered, and have velcro attached
Knee pieces - need velcro attached
Shin plates - need straps attached
Boot armor- finished
Vest - needs back velcro sewn on
Flightsuit - finished, could maybe be weathered a bit
Belt with pouches - finished
Kama - finished, could probably be weathered
Shoulder cape - finished
Gloves - ordered, waiting for them to arrive
Gauntlets - one needs to be bondo-ed, painted, weathered; other one needs to finish being painted and weathered. Both need proper closures.
Gun - not started

Here are some progress pictures!

The weathering doesn't show up great in photos, but I added lots of weathering to my helmet.







This is a picture of most of the armor together, but this was before I added grit and grime to it. It looks much dirtier now.



Knees. I have elastic straps attached around the back and they fit very snugly, but they still want to slide down when I walk, so I'm planning on adding some velcro just to make them a little more secure.



Boots with armor:



Gauntlet ready for weathering and painting. Second picture is the other gauntlet, which still needs some bondo and sanding before I start painting. I also have a few more greeblies to add to the second gauntlet.





Cod piece (is it still called that for a girl?) : I did a fair amount of three dimensional weathering with little pits, scrapes, and chunks cut out.



Weathering doesn't show up great, but here is my shoulder cape:



Here is the vest before the velcro was sewn on.

[Ty'renn Argos]

Oh my, it HAS been a long time.
Good progress on the armor, it's never too late, or so they say.
Also noticed you managed to get a good fitting with the vest. Be sure to check with the flightsuit, the first pics I saw it seemed like it needed a bit of sweing done to get it a bit less baggy.

Keep it up!! & keep us updated!

Cheers!