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[Sirus the Red]

That's true. I usually practice my setups for when I glue stuff together anyway, so by the time I actually get to gluing I'm not fumbling around while the glue drys.

[Adenn Kyram]

I like the epoxy better for long term strength but the E2C is great for small parts and greebs.

[Sirus the Red]

Thanks for the tip! I'll play with the epoxy a bit tomorrow so I know what I'm dealing with, but I'll keep my eyes open for any E2C glue.

[BobaFiend]

Hopefully they've improved the design, but my experience with those plunger things is that the two parts combine and slowly cure inside the tube after the first time you use it.  Try to glue as many things as possible on your first shot so not too much is wasted if the whole thing cures in the tube. 

[Dresdon Acacin]

If the glue starts to run, you can make a maskingtape dam of sorts to keep it in place. and as for the duel ube thing, yes-that is a failure at economical design. It works with 2 individual tubes best, so check the automotive fluids section were tehy would have gasket sealent and such things.

[Sirus the Red]

Oops, I'll have to remember that next time. Thanks for the heads up.

[Sirus the Red]

I haven't posted anything on this thread in a while, so I thought I would go ahead and give a quick update! First off, I started a weapons thread to go more into detail on my weapon builds, which can be found here: http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=55824.0

Next, just a quick update on where my blastsword is:



I'm debating about sneaking some lights in there, but my personal deadline for this is closing in, and I have a LOT to do on other stuff. So I'm thinking about just wrapping this thing up, finish attaching everything, add a few greebs for good measure, and paint.

I've gotten some work done on my shoulders, and I'm going through a few gauntlet designs, neither of which I have pictures of atm. I do, however, have a development to share on my gauntlet-mounted vibro-blade. Taglar Dreskk recently posted a thread on the potential of some rotating lint brushes, which can be found here: http://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=55855.0
I ordered one for myself, and now have a mount for a rotating vibro-blade. The blade is not a final design, but take a look:





And no, it's not spring loaded. Check out the video on Taglar's post to get a better idea of how it works. Whatcha guys think?

[Kane Friax]

i think wielding that baby might be a little bit... awkward. 

-Kane

[Sirus the Red]

i think wielding that baby might be a little bit... awkward. 

-Kane

What do you mean? Sure, it'll be a little extra bulk on the forearm, but it shouldn't be enough to throw anything off, and it extends enough past my hand to be feasible as a striking weapon. Please explain your thoughts Kane 

[Kane Friax]

ooohhhh i thought it was going to be held by that handle! i figured it'd be WAY off balance. heh i seem to have missed "gauntlet mounted vibro-blade"...

new worry: i thought spring-loaded and battery operated "weapons" weren't allowed at cons...

-Kane

[Sirus the Red]

You skimmed over a lot of my details, didn't you buddy?  As I stated above: Don't worry, it's not spring loaded. Nor is it battery operated. I can't quite explain the mechanics myself, but Taglar has had someone ask him the same thing, and he knows that it passes muster.

[Sirus the Red]

Just a quick update on a costume idea I wanted to run past you guys. I wanted some kind of cloth around the shoulders when I'm in full kit, be it a scarf or cowl ow what have you. I recently purchased this at a local Joanne's:



...and I was wondering what you all thought of it. It may or may not end up draped like that, I was honestly wanting more of a long scarf kind of set up, I have about 9 yards of it (got it on sale plus coupon, yay!) I'll try to get pictures of it with my kit progress next time I take a picture of it, which I need to.

I've gotten some work done on my shoulders, am finalizing gauntlet designs and test piece, and I might be redesigning my jump pack (again). I'm also wrapping up add-ons to my helmet before I actually glue it together and bondo. the biggest thing I have left to start would be my greaves/shnees/whatever. I may just make my November deadline yet!

[BobaFiend]

You could do worse

http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/gallery/showfull.php?photo=10415

[Sirus the Red]

You could do worse

http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/gallery/showfull.php?photo=10415

...Worse on what?  I don't quite get the point you're trying to make here, I gather it's something about the fabric covering a good portion of armor. If that's the worry here, if I do end up using the fabric like in the picture above, it won't cover up quite that much. If I missed the point, then please feel free to clarify. 

[BobaFiend]

I meant that this was a strong conceptual point in the imagining of Boba - from Clint Eastwood's "the man with no name".  As such, it is is the spirit of the original Boba Fett costume (seen here is the Pre-Production 1 costume) and should be an aesthetic that we as Mando costumers try to pursue. 

tl;dr. Good Idea, keep going

[Ronin Tavic]

I dig it! I was wanting some sort of scarf thing for my kit, but sadly it does not fit my armor, and would've looked outta place... but there's always the next one 

[Sirus the Red]

I meant that this was a strong conceptual point in the imagining of Boba - from Clint Eastwood's "the man with no name".  As such, it is is the spirit of the original Boba Fett costume (seen here is the Pre-Production 1 costume) and should be an aesthetic that we as Mando costumers try to pursue. 

tl;dr. Good Idea, keep going

Ok, well thanks BobaFiend! Your original comment threw me off a bit, but I get what you're saying now.

I dig it! I was wanting some sort of scarf thing for my kit, but sadly it does not fit my armor, and would've looked outta place... but there's always the next one 

I'm glad you like it Ronin! I plan on implementing some kind of cloth factor into each of my kits as I go on, but for now it's a tie between a scarf and whatever I have displayed in the pic on the page before.

[Sirus the Red]

I figured it was about time  I dropped a few more pictures in here to show you all what I've been up to. Let's start with some helmet add-ons!



I decided to avoid the classic range-finder completely, and instead went with the antenna/thing design you see here. I've seen it on helmets before, and I rather enjoyed the look of it, so I made one for myself. You can also see the fangs I've been working on, I finally decided on a style I liked for them.



The fangs are made with several layers of sintra, as I plan on attaching them via the back of my visor, and I want them to line up pretty much perfectly with the visor border. I'm excited for how they turned out, though I'm curious what you all think of them.

Here's a better look at the antenna as well:



It needs a bit more cleaning up, and it's held together with tape in that picture, so it will be prettier and better aligned soon. I plan on using the hole for the range finder to attach this thing, I think I'll add two small tabs of sintra to each side of the tab that's already jutting out of it, bend those tabs to around 90 degree angles once they're inserted into the hole, and use them to glue the whole thing in place, then smooth out the rest with epoxy or some-such.

This will all be done AFTER I finally get to bondoing my helmet 

[Lem'zig Dee]

Nice to see your progress on this! 

[Sirus the Red]

Nice to see your progress on this!

EHRMAHGERD HI LEM'ZIG! Good to hear from you, and thanks! Any opinions or critiques on anything that you'd like to share?

[BobaFiend]

With as bendy as that J2P is it's going to be hard to create a seamless blend down to your "fangs" without dealing with the material cracking.  Also, if the blend is not seamless it will look tacked on and poorly crafted so I'd look at it as a necessity. That means either re-enforcing your helmet to keep it from flexing or revisiting your design.

[Sirus the Red]

With as bendy as that J2P is it's going to be hard to create a seamless blend down to your "fangs" without dealing with the material cracking.  Also, if the blend is not seamless it will look tacked on and poorly crafted so I'd look at it as a necessity. That means either re-enforcing your helmet to keep it from flexing or revisiting your design.

It'll certainly be a project, but I'm willing to try it out and see how good of a blend I can get on it. Trust me, if it doesn't look perfect, I won't be happy with it. Any suggestions on reinforcing the helmet?

[seugtai]

You could sculpt them on with plumbers epoxy putty. That stuff sets like steel. When sculpting them I would make a section that goes up on the inside to secure it to the helmet, then work the remaining putty into the fang. That way they will be nice and secure and you wont have to worry about them snapping off.

[Sirus the Red]

I thought I mentioned that I wanted to use epoxy on the fangs, but after reviewing my post I realized that I neglected to mention that. So yes, to clarify, I planned on smoothing it all over with epoxy and sanding that down so that everything is smooth and seamless. And I do have a section on the inside most layer of each fang that goes up into the visor area, that's probably where most of it's strength will come from once it's glued in. And the front part where the fang meets the helmet is where most of the epoxy will go. Sorry for the confusion before 

[Karvas Dral]

Looking down at the kiddies might suck with those fangs there.