activation email

[Boxception]

Again thanks for the clarification. This will help me moving forward in directing others on kit improvement. I think Kyr'raim's kit is amazing. I seriously love it. Such amazing skill and care was put into the beast mode costume. I hope you do go for jedi hunter brigade. Im currently finishing up my jet pack and my accessories for Recon Brigade. There are not many recon mandos so I figured Id bring that area some new blood. Hope to meet you one day in person. Your kit is fantastic and hopefully one day we can get a good photo op looking good....its kinda what we do.

[Vhekadla Yustapir]

Thank you vod! I really do appreciate it, even if I still have quite a bit to do before I feel that I am where I should be. I echo your sentiment, I don't make it out to California easily, haha. With that said though, let us begin the next stage of the journey. I bring you MKIII upgrades and additions as I both improve on my current kit and redesign certain aspects of it to be more sturdy, increase it's durability and fitting, and add more bits that are closer to the idea of a Jedi Hunter design. 

Warning: this post will undergo several iterations of edits over the next couple of days.

Targeted areas of improvement:

Helmet
Addition of Rangefinder Kit - Commissioned from Lonewolf Customs

Upper Body Changes

• Reduce Double Plated Shoulder to Single Layered Plate
• Shoulder Decal Designs
• Design and Craft Improvements to Collar Plate and Lorica Pauldrons and Neck Guard.
• Ditch Balaclava and replace with full neck seal
• Finish Shaping and Fitting for Backplate
• Slash cape through the middle for adjustment to kit.

Bicep Plates Additions and Development
In keeping with my desire to push my kit over the medium category and into the heavy category,  I designed a set of slip on bicep plates. While they are functional as they appear right now, they are not yet complete.

Kama and Belt MKIII Development
--Section Pending Photos and Resources--

Knee Plate - MK II Upgrade
This is a must for this build because at this point I'm extremely annoyed at my attachment method and spacing for my knees. It is still incredibly inconsistent whether or not they will have good spacing. It's either perfect or can completely ruin a shot for the ocd and PR purposes. Case in point:

• Radically redesign a sport base with heavy modification and overlay.
• Attach using Chicago Screws and E6000.

--Images Coming Soon--

Lower Leg

• Simplify section by ditching cloth covering of bootlaces and replacing it with spats.
• Spats will function as an additional and better attachment point for shin and boot plates. Devise better attachment point before boot and bootplate
• Adjust Shin Shaping to be more flush and less winged along the shin.

[Kol Varek]

Night and day brother, your kit has come a long way! Well done and congratulations, those kill stripes were well earned!

[Vhekadla Yustapir]

Thank you vod! I appreciate it!

I am now unveiling the blueprint for my  planned shoulder upgrades, armor pieces only.



I think my biggest concern is that as I add upgrades and additions to my kit, at what point would someone point and say, resubmit, because your design is drastically different than submission? As long as the base of my kit remains the same and I keep posting my progress to receive feedback I should be okay right?

[Kris Jasra]

If you change era you must resubmit as it is a new character and kit. (Era refers to the CRL grouping - Legacy, Fett, Katan, Wren etc are all Modern)

If you change anything and remain in the same era you must show the changes to your Ruus'alor if you are in a clan or to your Ruus'sol if you are in a stronghold.
They will then approve it, deny it with suggestions on how to fit it to the CRLs or they will tell you to resubmit a full app. If you haven't had any upgrades seen by your Ruus'alor then you will be considered out of compliance when trooping if you wear upgraded parts.
I will as an example say that in a full year I've only had 2 people go back to a full resubmit and that was due to literally overhauling everything to go Brigades. In a clan of over 50 that's a lot of upgrades on the others that we've passed without having to swamp the app team with kits with small changes.

[Vhekadla Yustapir]

Thank you for the information Kris!

Here's a 3-D mock up of my 2-D shoulder design, with and without canisters.




And my bootplates frustratingly broke last night so I scrambled to repair it to match my new spats. Still drying and WIP.

[Kol Varek]

Ugh, I was never able to get boot plates to work, didn't want to be worrying about them with every step. I'll keep an eye on your solution.

[Vhekadla Yustapir]

My original solution was elastic on the backs of the wings on the plates, something you will notice is missing right now and Velcro on the front. It's was greatly frustrating always regluing those. I used a simple cloth spat previously with Velcro on the back but scrapped it in favor of these Swiss WWI spats.

Since the wings didn't work for those, and one broke off anyway; I snapped them off, cut my plates in half, bolted the upper half to the spat and attached the lower plate using bridge plates and a lot of e6000.

[ShadowRex]

Clan Naast Russ' checking in: Kyr'ika's has kept myself and our other Russ' alor alerted that he was planning to upgrade. I, for one, am delighted that he's listed so much detail out.

Being pulled away for AM chores and errands. I plan to review this evening.

Cheers!

[Vhekadla Yustapir]

Thank you Mama Rex!

Continuing on some of my updates, I've got my rangefinder! I'm going to finish putting that together this evening.




WIP on my adjusted bootplates. They're actually finished and weathered but I forgot to take a shot of them before I left this morning.

They sit more flush against my boot with little need for the old Velcro to the boot craziness I was doing before.



Last but not least, we shaped the lorica last night. I'll shape the rest of the plates against these as base tonight now that the hard part is done.



Backplate is done from a sizing perspective, a little black wash and approval and I can think about cut my cape in half to expose my back. 

[Myra Tiin]

That's a good looking backplate !

Your kit already looks good, and the amount of details you're putting in makes it stand out even more.
Greeblies everywhere !

[Vhekadla Yustapir]

Thank you Myra! I like to think of my armor as an agile project. I'm on the next sprint right now.

I've finished installing my rangefinder. It's pretty basic, no servos, lights or anything blingy like that but I think it adds to the overall look of the kit.



Boots are complete.



I also decided to finally stop needing to reweather my flightsuit every time I washed it because I used organic dirt and water application. I finally decided to play around with misting and applied a quad tone to my flight suit where it might be exposed and to cape to match.

The lighting is bad to really show the impact but it looks really similar to the effects I was gettin previously just with better terrain colors.




Progress on the lorica is going well. When you run out of clamps you improvise!




When I get back from traveling this week, I'm going to finish applying the detail to my backplate and blackwash it, then cut my cape in two for my next two troops this coming Friday and Saturday.

The lorica are unlikely to be done in time for next weekend.   

[Vhekadla Yustapir]

Well, I have not posted in here in a hot minute! Time to fix that. Not sure where to begin. A lot has happened since I last posted! I guess for starters I should show what my kit looks like these days before getting into updates. These are four of my favorite shots.



That said the biggest change so far is that I am no longer based in Georgia, but in Southeast Texas, and of course *glances at title*, that. 

I am reviving this thread because during my farewell troop to my home state I took quite a bit of damage. Not enough that isn't an easy fix, but the patchwork would keep breaking down so its time for me to start replacing and updating pieces of my kit. Which means...Brigade!!! I've got quite a lot of work to do, so I am working on mainly repairing needed pieces and checking the boxes as I go. Good news is I have my old pieces and going to keep them so I can keep trooping when...well whenever we can finally troop again. It's agony not being able to wear my second skin. 

I'll have to go type up my upgrade list and paste it hear soon. Here's a few teases in the mean time!

Full Body Manniquen. Let me tell you this was...an experience. 



Desigining and upgrading my lower half. Still a WIP, but after two knees which have snapped in half or cracked 6 times, been repaired and reinforced, and now the bottom lip of one shattered, I think these can be retired for a new set, lol. While I am at it I am working on a full wrap around shin plate with Jet boot on it. I'm about half-way done with constructing the base piece. Now I need to work on the sides/back. I decided to aim for an interlocking design concept for appearance even through the plates will never touch.

I'm nowhere near done, but as always, I am following my soul. 










Pic Heavy post and I'm being lazy about the formatting right now because I'm tired, haha. I'll post the full status list like the old days and get back to my detailed self. I'm also using imgur now so no more broken links! I learned my lesson!

[Kol Varek]

Dang man, you are going all out! (nothing new there  ), good to see you back at it!

[Vhekadla Yustapir]

Dang man, you are going all out! (nothing new there  ), good to see you back at it!

Thank you ner vod! It's a weakness of mine,  Alright, time to try to put together this plan. Odds are it's going to need many edits to get this post right as my BBcode is a bit rusty as far as formatting is concerned. As I write this, my lovely partner Kara,  ,  is helping me sketch up some of these plans so I can get all the designs, pre-and post in here. She started an arms race with her design. I'm super excited to work on that too. COVID has me a pent up mess,  , and I REALLY need to spend more time in the workshop. I've never missed my second skin so much, nor realized how important it had become to my mental health. 

Now the goal of this update is two fold, and will likely end up with me re-apping regardless as I am going for brigade, and I am keeping the Ruus'sol up to date on these plans as well because I am probably going to end up surpassing the 50% mark, even with the fact that my color scheme is NOT changing and that the core chest area will not be a targeted update. "This Time". Good news is I am keeping my old pieces so I can still troop, sometime eventually with some smack dab repairs as I have for the past year before I "broke". Secondary aim is to finally incorporate the elements of nordic/arctica/taiga inspired design while improving the appearance and photogenetics of the kit by streamlining the concept. (It may be a lost cause, but I'd like to try.)

Still debating on just getting an oxygen tank and hooking up my own personal air circulation system to my kit, cost be kriffed. Don't judge me, yes, I'm that desperate right now.

HELP                              HELP                              HELP                              HELP                              HELP                            HELP                              HELP                              HELP                              HELP                              HELP                               

"Deep Breath" NOVEL TIME!

Brigade Aspirations:

• Primary: Force Hunter
• Secondary: Heavy Assault

Helmet
So starting with the helmet. This is likely the last one I will update but it is in desperate need of replacement. It was already a B pull from NME to begin with, but now the helmet integrity is shot and the warp got really bad over time and use. It looks like I got punched in the face by a wookie. The T visor is at an angle, the visor snaps are crumbling or missing, and the inside of the visor is held by tape and a prayer. But kriff if i still don't love the design. That said, I'm not planning on another NME. I have a particular helmet in mind and I just emailed today Storm Seeker Studios because I fell in love with a helmet that looks like a tankier and better sized version of my current helmet with attachments and enough room for modification I can make it truly something that speaks to me and my kit. Probably going to be a wait for this though, they seem to rotate their buckets and I might have to wait for this run to get the one I'm hoping for.   For now I'm going to have it in the mock-up we're working on art wise.

• Mock-Up Helmet Design based on SSS Helmet & include potential design additions
• Get head measurements to figure out proper sizing.

Chest

• There are not the plates you are looking for, move along

Upper Body, Back, & Shoulders

• Backplate:
• Scrap and redesign back plate. It is currently held on by only hope and a prayer, as all velcro attachments have melted or fallen off. Get better shaping, and update the design to better match the whole kit.

• Shoulders:
• Scrap and redesign shoulder bells. While these worked well, particularly after I removed the double layering of two bells, they stand out where they don't quite accentuate the design I was going for. Instead I'm going to take a bit more of a trauma-plater, flatter curve design that I can build on and have hold weight more appropriately while meshing with my pauldrons, or "Lorica"
  
• Scrap and remake my lorica pauldrons, update the design to execute truer to concept, with better shaping and attachment methods - note reference old second life design and go for a layered sintra and black leather armor look.

• Cape:
• Retire my old cape. I loved it for sentimental reasons, but with the quality clause, in my opinion, it no longer suffices as a cape and scrapes by as the bare minimum for approval. To uphold the standard I am setting for my recruits, it is only fair that I lead by example.
• Design will be one or two panel cape similar to current design, color tbd, either blue or black. Incorporate fur into the design concept to bring that cold weather Scandinavian feel into the design.

• Neck:
• Decommission balaclava's. They are either ripped or two bulky for Texas weather.
• Design and build an armored neck seal. Reference old photos with lighted buttons and post design here.

[/list][/list][/list] - These won't go away REEEEEE BBCODE REEEEE

Kama, Belt, Girth, and Cod - UPDATING RIGHT NOW. SAVE POINT FIX

• Girth, Sash, and Kama:
• Boy this did not age well. Ladies and gentlemen, do not back your belt with cardboard.  This thing needs to be redone like...yesterday. Goal here is to find a way to use this fabric, or a similar effect and clean it up greatly. Do some serious sewing and cleaning up of the Kama in general, remove the backing, and replace with leather, shift the waist sash down so it doesn't touch the ab plate. and better secure the rope belt to the girth belt/sash using something far more substantial than hot glue. Heat and hot glue....GA taught me a lot there, TX isn't going to be much better.
• Add an armored loin cloth to replace the one I have and improve the execution. I already have a soft cod so this is still solid.
• Clean up belt items and add more pouches, swarz them up.
• Add beaten and broken sabers, crystals, and braids. I had some braids but i didn't seal them and the humidity made frizz braids. 

Arms - Upper Body

• Gloves:
• Gloves are literally coming apart at the seams. Replace and add armor plating to the gloves.

• Bicep Armor:
• Revisit and redesign the pieces themselves were really hurried and can be executed a lot better and seem a lot less like an afterthought.

• Gauntlets:
• Redesign and rebuild, to better match the rest of the kit. Transfer greeblies over, original design of the gauntlets was hurried and a bit slap dash. Current gauntlets are cracking and breaking at bondo junctures and clasp mechanisms are largely failing. I plan to design a better method that doesn't constantly cut my skin open taking on and off.
• Add fur!!

Thighs & More

• Thighs:
• Finish strapping, add plating, and fix existing straps.
• Add grenades and greeblies.

• Knees:
• Finish redesign of knees.

• Shins:
• Finish redesign of half/full boot enclosure and jet boot additions.

PS this post is going to go through a ton of iterations and photo additions. 

[/list]

[Vhekadla Yustapir]

I'm remembering how paralyzing lists are. So here's a concept of some of the changes in plan. The back shot is extremely rough in concept as are the guantlets take it with a grain of salt, we're still sketching this out and not much is actually changing beyond the harness. Yes I'm flirting with actually a Re-App but I'm going for brigade anyway so...we'll cross that bridge if/when we get there. My Ruus'sol knows each of these steps. No paint or color scheme change.

Front

Back

I've been doing a lot of leatherworking tutorials and am nearly ready to give it a shot. I broke this into passes to avoid workshop paralysis. I tried to keep things to sections and those which are connected/reliant on each other.

1st Pass priorities: Spaulders Redesign, Shoulder Bells Redesign, Chest Box/Chest & Belt Rigging, Girthbelt/Kama, Cape. Helmet?
2nd Pass Priorities: Flightsuit Patching (Developed some holes), Knees, Shins, Thigh Touch-up.
3rd Pass Priorities: Bicep Armor, Boot Armor, Gloves/Glove Armor, Neck Armor, Backplate
Final Pass: Arm Gauntlets Patching. Arm Gauntlet Redesign.

Helmet Update: This is largely on me as I have been shy about reaching out to the maker individually on the forum as they do single runs. I tried email to their business, but didn't get a response. Again on me for cold-calling. I'm considering the nuclear option on my helmet and doing structural manipulation but I am terrified. It needs a LOT of work I'm still not sure how to reinforce and fix.

What I have and you can see the issue:
 

What I want:



Insert handholding male here with helmet images overlaid.

Shoulder Bell Progress

[Vhekadla Yustapir]

Well I've made a bit of progress since my last post! Was extremely excited to finally host an in person armor party out of my garage. Got two recruits in there, and one just submitted for approval. He passed Regional Pre-App, so fingers crossed.

Anyway, on to my updates. I bled a little bit into the 2nd pass because soft parts are intimidating and I'm still figuring out what I'm doing with my leather pieces. so with that I have done some work on the shin design, cleaned up the new shins a bit and started the cut out of the back. Full encasement is a lot more difficult than I expected.

Workshop Set-Up:




Shoulder Progress:





Knees: They look like tie-fighters, lmao



Knee Darts: Still need to be painted, hide the serial number, and drill out the center of the dart holes themselves, but I love these.




Boot: Teaser

[Fenn Beviin]

I like what you are doing with the "trauma" plating along with the recessed grooves you have cut in the plates.

Honestly the shoulders kind of remind me of Noble 1 shoulder armor while still being "Mando" and I love it.

Also that is quite the workshop you have there!

[Vhekadla Yustapir]

Also that is quite the workshop you have there!

Thank you! I love the fact it is quick to set-up/tear down as it is for an apartment garage. 

I like what you are doing with the "trauma" plating along with the recessed grooves you have cut in the plates.

Honestly the shoulders kind of remind me of Noble 1 shoulder armor while still being "Mando" and I love it.

I never would have made that connection and I used to play that all the time.  My acting strategy is to move more closely in line with my thigh plate design. It was always pointed at as the hallmark of my kit when I got approved, so I'm trying to lend more pieces of the armor to a similar/advanced design to bring more of it into the same "theme" as I work towards Brigade.

[Fenn Beviin]

Clever with the workshop!

And no you can't unsee it lol so you're welcome.

My only 2 cents on your build would be your knee dart stuff - I feel like those doo-dads you have currently might be too heavy to be on knee armor which might make keeping them in place difficult. Have you mocked those up yet by taping them to your knee armor and seeing how heavy they are?

[Vhekadla Yustapir]

Good point. I have not yet, but I will before I mount them. The knees as they are are similarly sized but lighter than my older ones. I didn't put as much sintra on the outside as the boba style so the weight should be about the equivalent if not better equipped to stay in place.

My old knees have flightsuit matching elastic in the back and velcro on the knee and back of plate which held them in place. That did work well even with the weight which got heavier because they snapped 4-6 times in their lifespan and I reinforced with more sintra.

[Vhekadla Yustapir]

Still need to do the detail painting (mostly blacks and golds to bring out the details) and blackwash, but these pieces are about done! I'm excited the detail is going to make them pop.

[Vhekadla Yustapir]

Progress Dump!!!

Shins are still in progress!!





Shoulders and knees are done!!! Will do a tad bit of paint touch up on the knee darts and silver greeblies but that's all that's left. Tested the weight and they seem fine but won't know for sure until I get out there in them. They came out great. 




Don't have much in the way of photos but going to spot repair my gauntlets (That redesign is literally the last thing on my list. After all the soft part hell, lol.) try and tackle the remake of my cape and kama this weekend (sturdier quality material), sew up the flight suit hole and, finish weather treating and sealing the new leather backing for my girth belt (no more cardboard!). Got the new material and a pattern to work with this past weekend. Will start dying the leather pauldron pieces as well, So much to do!!!!!!

[Arco'thyel Wyshla]

That weathering is crazy! I love your intricate details and armor design!

[Aster Veris]

Knees look so epic!