Chibi, thanks for the kind words and yes I remember your build and costume VERY well (I think I even saved a few pics to show other people your work on it). You did an outstanding job on it!
Well here's another update (and final for a while, until I tackle the gaunts next year some time) on the V3 kit. This cod took me a bit longer than I originally anticipated, but I didn't want to rush through this just cause I was at the end (it was hard not to though I'll admit) and forced myself to give it the same care and attention as all the other pieces. Another huge thanks again to RF for his incredible templates. I must say I didn't expect the piece to look quite this way when it was done (particularly the lower groin area), but I'm very pleased with it and it was very comfy/form-fitting when I tried it on.
On to the pics.
After blocking out and finishing up the mold, I started working on the raised flat area with dent (out of wood). Kind of a pain, but worth the extra effort and this is pretty much how I did my other V2 cod mold as well. That method worked out pretty well for me so I decided to use it again on this piece (don't fix it if it ain't broke right?
)
Here's the template (I really like the way Levi made this and the tiny little sharp 'tabs' connecting the lower groin frontal sides to the belt sides are a nice feature)
Here's the wood plate and bits in progress
I decided to just make these little guys out of wood. It's a great working medium for this type of stuff and also hard enough for vaccing as well as conducive to heat resistance
Some might think this next part is a little overkill, but it was my homage and salute to RF for taking the time to add such detailed curves to every aspect of these templates...I figured if he's going the extra mile, why shouldn't I (yes I'm paying attention to all of it brotha!
). As you'll notice, there's a slight indented curve on the front bottom of these...
And here they are all attached to the mold
So the large center dent that I cut out of the wood didn't look right in the first test pull, so I filled it in with some 'Rondo' and tried again. I usually will carve it out with the sharper bit shown then switch over to a ball bit and then finish it up with final sanding for smoothing out (very happy with that method)
And here it is in all it's white plastic glory....Cod, meet the world....world, meet my... uh...cod
One thing I should mention (and some of you might remember it from earlier in this thread) is that I widened the kidney/butt plate just a tad in order to give it a beefier look (it was pretty narrow looking, even though I know RF's templates are spot on). Naturally, in order to keep the matching cod the same in proportion and consistency, I had done the same to it as well. I pretty much just added a half inch to the top edge of the cod itself (cause it was pretty small) leaving everything else below it as is (I did have to make an adjustment for the raised rectangles and larger dent). Have no worries though, all the dents are still in the same spots for painting purposes and Rafal's templates should still line up correctly (albeit just lower) with them.
Here's how it matches up with the kidney -
And of course, as promised, here's the final 'family photo' of the new V3 family
ESB Set
And ROTJ Set
I'll try to get some size comp pics up with this kit and my V2 in a few days as soon as I get a chance, so everyone can see the differences.
As always, thanks again for looking and stay tuned for more in the 'not so far far away' future
-RKD