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[Thaxos]

Looks nice and clean with the lines now.

[Tracyn Ordo]

That's very nice man!

[Byrek Avery]

Looking sharp! Ever used glazing putty?

[Jaa'det Otxoa]

Looks nice and clean with the lines now.

That's very nice man!

Looking sharp! Ever used glazing putty?

Thanks Vode, I'm happy how it came out! And Byrek, yep, I've heard of glazing putty, thanks for the tip, but unfortunately (as I stated in my Buy'ce build) my "Fun-dage" for this project is pretty much nothing and I'm trying to use materials I have on hand, so the imperfections will be integrated into the weathering as well as using enough coats of primer and we-sanding will minimize alot of the imperfections!  (I hope )

[Thaxos]

Good plan, hiding imperfections as weathering is a great "cheat" to use.

[Jaa'det Otxoa]

Well I was browsing the boards yesterday and came across this little tutorial by AngryBoba for an iPod touch chest display...

Sooooo, I though to myself... "Self, you have an iPod nano, does it fit behind your chest display in any direction?" 

So I grabbed my iPod and test fit it behind the display window, and guess what? It did cover about 99% of the windows (1% was lost to the border of the screen on the 4th gen iPod Nano's 2" screen) when set at a 45^o angle!  8)

So I looked at the sequence that AngryBoba used and found that it was the same as the one found here on the TDH boards


So I jumped onto Illustrator and built a customized sequence to match the angle of the display openings with glow (LED's usually have a slightly brighter center), light on / light off overlay sublayers so that I could create the individual images for the sequence and export each frame to .jpg files.
After that I brought it into my video editing software and worked out the timing based on the TDH sequence then exported to an .mp4 file for my iPod...

And here is what it looks like:

I used a scrap piece of the stock J2p T-visor and taped the iPod behind that
(Yes, I know... the edges of the window are rough... still in progress, this was a test!)

To get the 4 second video to loop I did the following:
- Import the video into iTunes
- Right click on the video and select 'Get Info'
- Select the 'Options' Tab and change the "Media Kind" to 'Music Video'
- That video will now appear under the 'Music' list in 'Videos'
- Now create a playlist with only that video in it *
- Connect your iPod and transfer both the video and playlist to your iPod

* to get the sequence to loop with minimal "blinking" between loops I had to set the video start/stop points in iTunes 1 frame from the beginning/end:
- Right click on the video and select 'Get Info'
- Select the 'Options' Tab and set the 'Start Time:' to "0:00.1" and the 'Stop Time:' to .1 second from the end, in other words, if your end time was 4 seconds set it to 0:03.9 (this is technically more like 3 frames but it works)

To get your iPod to loop (using my Nano's OS, the iTouch is different)
- Go to the home screen -> Settings -> Repeat
- Select "One"
Now when you play your playlist it will play the video file you select in an infinite loop!
Here is a quick video demo of this process:

(Don't forget to turn off the repeat settings when you're done otherwise all of your music will play one song over and over again!)

[Thaxos]

Nice implementation.

[Tracyn Ordo]

very cool!

[Jaa'det Otxoa]

Nice implementation.

very cool!

Thanks Vode, now I just have to figure out an easy way to slide it in and out without the ghetto tape job!

[Jaa'det Otxoa]

More soft parts updates!

Well I got my top for the "flightsuit" done last night, adding the double sleeves!

This started as a basic scrub top, the sleeves started as a pair of similar weight scrub bottoms, here's how I made 'em...
- First I removed the sleeves from the scrub top
- Next I split the inseam of the scrub bottoms and ironed both legs flat with a fold at the side seams
- Pinned both legs together aligning the side seam and bottom cuff
- Used a "modern fit" long sleeve shirt, flipped the sleeve inside-out and aligned the wrist cuff with the bottom cuff on the pinned pant legs and traced the inner seam of the sleeve onto the pants (the ankle cuff becomes the new sleeve wrist cuff so no seam allowance is necessary) I also marked where the armpit and shoulder seams meet the body of the shirt.
- Now take the scrub to sleeve removed earlier and match it to the mark for the shoulder seam and eyeball it to align with the armpit, now trace the curve marking where the scrub sleeve ends, now use a large french curve (or eyeball it like I do ) to match the lines from about center sleeve to the armpit mark you just made.
- Add a 3/8" seam allowance to the inner arm sleeve and armpit to shoulder peak marks
- Lay the fabric on a smooth, flat surface, smooth out and pin the layers together along the inside of the seam edges so that when you trim the pieces they all end up the same size
- Now make the upper sleeve...
- Take the remaining fabric, split the crotch seam from front to back, removing the waist tie in the process, fold along the side seams and iron flat aligning the edges of the waistband, then lay the 2 pieces together (you may have to remove the pockets if there are any) with the outer seam (folded edge and the waist band) together and pin together
- Measure a mark about 11" from the top of the waistband (the waist band becomes the short sleeve cuff)
- Align the shoulder peak of the outer seam of the long sleeve with the mark you just made, aligning the outer folded seams of the 2 sleeves
- Trace the Armpit to shoulder seam to the fabric then make a mark on the waistband about 1/2" down from where the the long sleeve overlaps and draw a straight line from that mark to the armpit mark, pin along seam marks and cut
- Remove all pins from the new sleeve pieces and flip all inside out
- On the long sleeves sew the inside seam only from the armpit to about 4" from the cuff
- On the Short sleeve split the waistband hem back about 3" and unfold, sew the inside seam from arpit to end of unfolded cuff, re-fold cuff and sew hem back down
- Test fit the short sleeve for length, if it is too long just flip the hem up, iron flat and sew along the hem in 3/8" increments until you get to the top edge (3 times, this will create the concentric rings like you see on my short sleeve cuffs )
- Flip all arm pieces right-side-out and pull the short sleeve over the long sleeve aligning at the arm pit and shoulder peak
- Flip the body of the scrup top inside-out and slide the sleeve into the sleeve openings
- Pin the sleeves in place starting with the armpit and shoulder peak and sew the arms to the body
- Once both sleeves are sewn in flip the whole thing right-side-out, you're almost done!
- Now just iron the openings at the end of the sleeves (Cuff split) using a 3/8" seam and sew flat
- Add a wrist closure of your choice (drawstring, buttons, snaps, Velcro, whatever you want )
Now try it on!!

And here are some shots with the vest on:


So what do you think?? 

[Vindar Falco]

I think it's looking real awesome  8)

[Niabi]

Looking nice vod

[Thaxos]

Looks good from what I can see, bit hard to tell if the fit is right when you're taking your own photo.

[Tracyn Ordo]

Looks good. I think it could do with being tightened up a bit though.

[Jaa'det Otxoa]

Thanks Vode!

And I am planning on taking in the sides on the flak vest a bit (will need to taper the sides in at the waist a bit) 

AAAANNNND... An update!

Let's start with the knees...
I decided to base my knees off of my custom shoulder bells, I took the original pattern and stretched the "wings" width and height wise a bit and added cuts to allow the bottom edge to be contoured a bit...

And here is a shot of the knee before and after shaping:
*please excuse the blurry shots... I forgot to clean the lens on my phone! *


Here is how I did the "folds" using 2 1x3's as a vise:


And shots for sizing:


Well, after looking at the knees for a few days I thought they looked a bit tall, so I compared them to WOF's Boba knees and found out mine are about an inch taller!

So I measured down an inch on the center section and made a template to recontoured the sides and traced these marks out on both knees...
Here is the before and after:


And for sizing:


Still need to reinforce all the seams from behind and Bondo the gaps, but I like the sizing and the shape!

I also got the base for my gaunts completed!

These are based on the SWG gaunts with some slight modifications to match the styling of my kit...
Since I will be eventually going for Spec Ops: Sniper in the Brigades I wanted to make sure that my Beskar'gam is kept as sleek as possible including the gaunts, so this is what I came up with:
Parts prior to shaping:

The bottom of the clamshell was made from the bell end of the drain pipe so that the line from the bell remains as a design element, then the edges that will mate with the top of the clamshell were pressed flat to about an inch down so that the piano hinge will lay flat and the fastener side mates better as well.

So a quick tutorial on "folding" PVC...
- Basically once you have your pipe flattened and the pattern cut out mark where you want the fold line to be.
- Now I made a vise by using 2 pieces of 1x3 with a couple of screws to hold them together:

- When you are aligning the stock on the edge don't place the bend mark exactly in line with the edge of the vise instead offset it in relation to the thickness of your stock (3mm stock, offset by 1.5 - 2mm):

- Once your mark is aligned with the edge of the vise heat the PVC until it is completely pliable (USE GLOVES!!! ) then flip it up on it's edge on a smooth flat surface (I used a piece of scrap coated fiberboard) and press down evenly:

(Keep in mind this is for a 90^o bend, if you need a different angle cut the vise edges an the appropriate angle to be bent to.)
- And here is the shape of the bend when completed:


...And the shaped components:


And the test fit:




So what do ya think???