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[Mav Nexu]

something like this?

[Zophar Ptay]

Mav - I wouldn't have thought of that... that has potential.   I've got my wife's bike helmet and a stack of cardboard and scarp paper, I'm going to throw a quick model together.  I should have it posted in a bit.

[Zophar Ptay]

Paper model thrown together using my wife's helmet .  What?  Polka dots aren't in-universe?  I know the visor isn't quite straight and I'll thin out the horizontal part of the visor opening.  the opening in the front of the mohawk will be sealed with a head lamp in it.  leave the back of the hawk open a smidge to be a vent.  sides of the 'hawk will sweep in rather than vertical like this, and work "eyebrows" into the hawk.  also the back curl naturally didn't stay put in printer paper.

[Mav Nexu]

I think you need to widen out the mandables a bit more and keep that angle that they have about halfway down but you're off to a good start!!

[Zophar Ptay]

hahahahaha my wife just came home and saw her helmet on my desk,   "Wow, cool!  Is my bike helmet going to e a space helmet for me now?"   LOL


I may have to make her a mando slip-on shell to go over her helmet for riding her bike around or something

[Zophar Ptay]

Some updates:  Doubled the space between the mandibles, cut down the horizontal bit of of the visor, lengthened the mandibles and added a little beefiness to them, and reshaped the curved bit of visor a little..  The visor ends about the tip of my chin as it sits now.  Extended the 'hawk forward and added the brows which decreased the size of the opening for the head lamp.  I think it is looking about right...

[Zophar Ptay]

If I made a kit using primarily bronze, would that look particularly odd?  I'm afraid it would be too steampunk or something if I go with a suit of primarily bronze and leather.

[Kel Toi]

Up to you which colours you use mate, I think it would look cool 

[Zophar Ptay]

Hey Kel, I like the little profile makeover you have going :-P 

Very minor update, I've been scrounging the local thrift shops looking for a used full-back bike helmet to use as a base to play with without destroying my wife's brand new one but apparently they don't accept/sell them out of fear of being sued f it was faulty. I'll hit craig's list and give it a week or so, then give in and buy a new one at wally world.

Job interview today, wish me luck :-P

[Kel Toi]

All this health and safety nonsense makes me want tae spew ! LOL Good luck wi the helmet and the Job interview ner'vod 

[Zophar Ptay]

Tell me about it.  Heck, hang a big sign that says "Used helmets are obviously used and were donated for free so clearly there is some reason the previous owner didn't want them.  If you get hurt, it's on your head." *snicker*  can't resist a good pun.  Nor a bad pun, come to think of it.

I may just try to use the old-shirt-and-duct-tape method of body casting to make a cast of her helm, then I can go from there perhaps.  It just seems silly to waste $60 for something I only need as a template, but we'll see. The end results I plan on cold casting using the Talos Kot method so if I use the bike helmet as the base on the plug it should have plenty of room inside for padding and electronics. We'll have to see what comes of it.

[Kel Toi]

Double Good luck mate 

[Zophar Ptay]

Can't sleep so I threw this together quick.  I'm still sketching out the armor on paper, this is just a modified mandomaker screencap with the basics of the design in mind to show the paint scheme I am currently mulling over. 

Armor is bronze over black soft bits; light gray or silver loin cloth/oil rag; leather pouches, mainly for tools but a few sized for ammo; comm backpack instead of a jetpack.

Armor highlights:  single piece chest; single piece combined knee/shin either with a hinged/pinned connection to the boot plate or a separate "steel toe" plate;  single piece collar/shoulders; thigh plates will incorporate built-in hard blaster holsters; left gauntlet kitted out for electronics, right one very plain.

 I am thinking I want fingerless gloves, if that is permitted, and I am debating some ear-height pauldrons to protect the exposed neck sides, but I'm thinking as a wrench monkey it may be more important to be able to move the head about than worry about an axe to the neck; maybe I'll save the high pauldrons for the next [heavy weapons] kit, it seems a bit more fitting.




As always, please help.

[Zophar Ptay]

I will have a first sketch of the armour up either tonight or tomorrow.  One thing I am trying to sort out is weapon load.  I am/was picturing a pair of medium blasters in thigh holsters and a beskad.  A comm pack on his back and a pair of thigh rides for the blasters kinda rules out my immediate ideas of where to carry the beskad.  Suggestions?  Between the back and the pack is an option I suppose, but that would be rather awkward from a practical point of view.  On a belt like a traditional long sword would cause issues with the holster on the thigh.  

[edit]

  A thought.  Right thigh holster, left hip beskad, second pistol either right shoulder holster  and reach across the chest [armour design willing] or left side on the back of the belt with the grip up and drawn by reaching around your back.  The second choice sounds a little better and more easily done with the single-piece chest armour I have in mind.  Better/other ideas, please share...

[/edit]

[Zophar Ptay]

So not exactly symmetrically drawn, but the idea stands.. shoulders not quite as high as drawn, naturally the shin plate doesn't actually fasten above the knee as drawn, but the plate's front will extend over it like kneepads.  Trying to sort the weapon kit out, current thought is a beskad in a scabbard off the left hip, medium blaster on the right thigh and a medium blaster horizontally on the left side back of the belt.

Single piece chest, two overlapping segmented gut plates.

Add comm backpack and that is more or less what I have in mind at the moment.

[Slade Kel]

I don't believe fingerless gloves are allowed with late-era Crusaders; goes with the requirements for a 'sealed flight suit' appearance. The second design on this page is much better, scrolling through, I was going to say that the chest and ab plates of the first one were too modern era, even with the chest being one piece. This other one looks good though, assuming I'm getting the delineation between armor and soft parts right on the torso. You might want to toss up a colored version to make the difference clearer.

[Hagen Nor'ak]

I have to say the rebreather on the side of your helmet worries me for two reasons. If you install an actual one used in the modern US military gasmasks you're going to have to counter the weight of it by gluing fishing weights or something of that nature to the other side to balance it out. Even with proper padding that side of the helmet is going to be sagging compared to the rest of the helmet.
The second issue I see is with your raised armored collar, I don't think the rebeather is going to let you turn your head with out it causing damage to the armor.

So I'd recommend trying to fabricate something that looks similar out of plastic ( as I don't believe a resin copy would be much different weight wise) and then you'll have to play with the armored collar or the placement of the rebreather so those two don't conflict with each other.

Have a good one,
Hagen

[Zophar Ptay]

I don't believe fingerless gloves are allowed with late-era Crusaders; goes with the requirements for a 'sealed flight suit' appearance.

Quite right, I had forgotten that bit.  Thanks.

The second design on this page is much better, scrolling through, I was going to say that the chest and ab plates of the first one were too modern era, even with the chest being one piece. This other one looks good though, assuming I'm getting the delineation between armor and soft parts right on the torso. You might want to toss up a colored version to make the difference clearer.

The first one was just a namdomaker that I colored in and modified slightly, the color scheme is what I was tinkering with there.  I'll color this one in tonight and see what I can come up with, it ended up more complex than I had initially planned so a simple sash paint job likely won't work.  I'll either clean up the fake abs or come up with another scheme.

Thanks for your feedback

I have to say the rebreather on the side of your helmet worries me for two reasons. If you install an actual one used in the modern US military gasmasks you're going to have to counter the weight of it by gluing fishing weights or something of that nature to the other side to balance it out. Even with proper padding that side of the helmet is going to be sagging compared to the rest of the helmet.

The entire thing is going to be cold cast, so the canister itself will be hollow.  Much easier to counterbalance.

The second issue I see is with your raised armored collar, I don't think the rebeather is going to let you turn your head with out it causing damage to the armor.

That, however, is a valid point that I saw when I popped the helmet over the armour sketch.  As much as I liked the idea, it may be time to drop it.  I'll just have to wait until I throw it all together and see how frustrating it really is in person.   I was hoping to avoid the ubiquitous hoses and came up with something more unique.  I may just leave off the collar and give him an exposed neck.  That collar would make it a pain to do any work in too so it's rather out of character....

Ah well... plenty of time to mull it over and modify it.   Thanks for the suggestions :-D

[Zophar Ptay]

delineating armour from flightsuit 

[Ajax Kaal]

I like your color choices and you could always stick the filter housing, which is what you are refering to on the back of the helmet...it doesn't have to be on the side. In theory/sci-fi land the helmet is sealed so it doesn't matter where the filter housing is located.

I like the idea of the blasert in thigh holster and small of the back and beskad on the hip. If you are going to have a long beskad, then a hip is a good place for it. If it is more of a fighting knife you can put them anywhere, especially in the small of the back. When I was doing my foam weapon fighting I used a flail and shield and had a knife/dagger horizontally on the small of the back. When the flail got tangled up, I would drop it, thus encumbering their weapon, and then pull the dagger and lunge for a stab at the same time. The look of sheer surprise is still priceless to this day.

Another way to do the side shoulder/neck protection is to build them onto the shoulder plate itself with an outward bend so when you raise your arm they don't hit you, kind of a like a Roman gladiator shoulder shield of sorts.

You could also use a chainmaile helmet "skirt" of sorts that attaches to teh bottom of the rim of the helmet to add in that layer of protection you are wanting. It is also flexible and moves with you as well.

Just some ideas...

[Zophar Ptay]

Ajax - Thanks for the comments and suggestions

I like the creative solution of placing the filter housing in the back and understand that in a sealed suit it wouldn't matter, but would the general population see it that way?  Maybe I'm underestimating the fans, but half the fun is making something they can appreciate and enjoy.  I think if I did it in the back I would have to maybe over-exaggerate it to make sure someone looking at it the first time would recognize it and not wonder why my helmet had a wart.  At that point, I may as well just go with the stereotype and run a hose to my pack.  I'm not shooting the idea down, just trying to discuss it.  if you think otherwise, by all means say so.  I love the idea personally and it would be both very unique and realistic.  I'm just not sure it works on a costume.

As for weapons load, I've mulled it over and discussed it with a friend or three and I think I'll go with the setup you seemed to like.  Blaster right thigh, long beskad left hip, blaster left back, various tools in assorted places.  There was also a suggestion to convert a bandoleer into a tool "belt" which I am pondering.

Regarding the helmet skirt, I had thought to do one that went from the helm's inner rim to the chest's neck line, essentially replace a skin-tight balaclava with a leather one that would drape a bit but I think I have decided against it at this point.  Using maille hadn't occurred to me.  I saw a pic when I was first getting ideas that showed what appeared to be a mando with a chainmaille cape which looked interesting and oddly incongruous at the same time.  Would chain [gorget?] hanging from the helmet to the chest plate [worn over a black balaclava] be in-universe?

Which brings us back to armour design.  I've been looking a that sketch for a couple days now and it is just too damned busy.  Went back to the drawing pad last night and I'll have something else up soon.  Keeping his support role more firmly in mind this time, I am dropping the collar in favor of better vision and flexibility and the plates will be less sculpted.  Still going with the full chest with two articulated gut plates and same overall combination of plates, but reworking the chest design.  Also found a huge box of colored pencils so it won't be scanned and flood-filled to lose all detail this time :-P

[Ajax Kaal]

I agree that the housing on the back would need to be somewhat sized to look like a filter housing and not something small. I also like the idea of using one on the side of the face in the normal position, I just like to think more outside of the box as we can, to make the look really unique. Either way it will work for you, but esthetically speaking, you will have to make that final call of just where it looks best.

I know that one of the Mando's here in the midwest got his kit approved using a chainmaile coife that he wears to cover his neck with the helmet on so it is accepted. It doesn't have to attach to the helmet, it could just be a coife or such or even you could make a neck tube and sew metal links or chainmaile to it, having the neck tube reinforced on the inside to make sure it doesn't collapse under the weight will have to be done though. There are many different ways to possibly protect your neck from damage.

That's the fun part of this process, design, design, design. When it's right it will just seem right to ya, remember to have fun with it.

[Zophar Ptay]

A new design on the armour.   I'm liking this a lot more.  The original design looked too sculpted and too "fantasy plate" for my mando taste.  Still sporting single piece chest and dual segmented gut plate.  Dropped the collar.  Black bits are flightsuit to help delineate plates. The baton-looking-thing in the left hand is a beskad sheathed on a separate [the low-hanging] belt




So.. comments?


Also, 520 views?  Wow.  Someone fall asleep on their F5 key?

[edit]
Too "Rainbow Connection"?  I'm liking it.  Subtle-ish.

[/edit]

[seugtai]

I like the new design alot more than the previous one. I think you dropped and added just the right stuff this time, I believe you have a winner!  Now let's see that made!

[Zophar Ptay]

I like the new design alot more than the previous one. I think you dropped and added just the right stuff this time, I believe you have a winner!   Now let's see that made!

Thanks, I'm liking it a lot more than the first design as well.  It is going to be a while getting this together.  You always hear "Fast, Cheap, Good: Pick two"... to which I always like to add the DIY Corollary:  "You can have either time or money, rarely both."   Since "cheap" is chosen for me, and I'll take good over fast any day, that narrows down my options. :-P   I'll start out a model using cardboard perhaps but I want to final kit to be done in Talos Kot's casting technique so it will take some work and a decent bit of money.  Also, as I don't have a seamstress' dummy, I'll likely be making one so I can form the kit's bits to fit my bits. [yeah, I went back and reworded that just for the alliteration... I'm a dork :eyeroll:]  So I have a good bit of prep work before I can start in on the real deal... plus it's my first build so of course there will be hitches along the way.  

Looking forward to the adventure though :-D


[edit]  What do you think about basing the pair of blasters off of the 434 DeathHammer?

[/edit]