Another First for Jax and Shado

I like the fist red painting... the others are too 'toxic' IMO. However someone else could love it. How have you done it?

all, will be revealed in time my son.

here are some more weathering...used the yard this time.






still have to add kiwi to get it too look the way thats in my head...

I like the old leather look

My guess is:
Vegetal tanned leather (3 or 3.5mm), unboiled for the male armor, boiled for the female.
Dyed with cloth, and then acetone bleached using brush.
If I'm correct, after your kiwi dye, you'll end with a polish oilskin and the armors will look brighter and a little more brown.
(if I'm wrong, you're amazing at turning any material into leather )

Very nice work here !

I've never seen Medieval Mandos !!!

they wont be midevil, or rennesannse at all. just trying new materials.

as for material they are shoulder leather 1/4" thick

neither are boiled, just run under the faucet in the kitchen

only used 22o grit sandpaper at the moment, and a hammer and sparkplug

started on the male vest tonight

duckcloth, nice thread count.

couldnt find it in the color i wanted so ill have to dye this one...

I'm intrigued.!?

I'm sure you have a colour in mind for the vest, but I think it looks awesome with that armor as it is.

It's awesome the way it is with those colors. It's like desert camo/gear.

OH WOW:thumbup
I am gonna sub to this one.

eh....the contrast is too huge i think.....

will work on it

okay, so ive always been honest with you guys to the point of pissing some of you off, but others are greatfull.

please return the favor and let me know what you think of this project along the way.

these types of comments are what i used back in 2002/2003 to make my first white mando...

...so please let me know what you honestly think.

dude I really LIKE the leather, and I know from your previous work that when you are done with this (these) its gonna look good enough for film.

thanks.

what about the color?

I think the color is fine, maybe add a few blood splashes since it's leather, it wouldnt wash off like it would from standard armor.

And some charring from laser fire and explosions.

yeah, I like the last one, but darken the vest just a little, kind of like a little more brown, but only a little.

And the bucket... that is AWESOME, I like the green visor, you gonna get yours from fleabay like I got my red one?

Looks good Jay!!! I agree with Adonian though, a little darker on the vest perhaps...

Looking good mate!

A'den

thats pretty much the color of the vest. dying it seems to be a mystery with mixing dyes.
i might just get the thing dirty, and see what happens

soak it in coffee or tea to absorb the color, its cheap, and you can drink it
Just do a test piece to time how long for the proper color.

i like the first or the last.

are you planning to keep the plates looking leather or are you going to work them to look like metal?

leave them.

Leather look is awesome and it's different in a kool way.
I like the last one, but that's just me.

update:

polished



different color



details



the lighting (incandescent) in the garage looked weird, so i brought it into the kitchen (florescent).

Originally Posted by bh-7603

note: "corgi-weathering" may be added at a further date....

Saweeeeet!!!!!!!!!!

This is the first I've seen of the thread, or I'd've replied sooner. Gotta say, I don't like the "natural" materials for armor. Seems to me it becomes more a costume and less a variation of durasteel/beskar/etc. On the other hand, I have to admit that you're definitely doing something different here, and I know you really focus on metal--every time someone asks about material for armor, you suggest metal. You said earlier that you had no intention of this being a medieval or renaissance mando, but when you pull some materials in, like chainmail, for instance, you have to deal with the connections people form in their heads. Like if you incorporated samurai armor, for instance.

Then I see the pictures you loaded yesterday. Forget everything I said above. I can't argue with your weathering ability or your eye for color or your ability to completely alter a material when you make it part of a look. Those last two pictures of the male leather plates--just fantastic. And you know what's funny? I'm not sure which one I like more, even if the light in the garage was wonky. So my next question is method--how did you achieve that effect? Paint and weathering, I assume, but I'd like to know details, if you're willing to share them.

You seem to bang out these relatively quickly, so I'm looking forward to a more complete picture. I hope that the same level of weathering continues on the rest--flight suit, etc. Nothing looks more out of whack than a masterfully weathered set of plates on a brand-spanking-new flak vest.

Impressed me again.

After I posted this, I looked back at your recent photos and saw the vest under the plates. Can't see too clearly, but it's obvious you've done weathering on that, too. Looking forward to more.

I like it, great work!

tried to dye vest. disastros results. came out pink, and i used brown RIT dye.

***??

so i bleached it and left it in over an hour. now its brown. but i cant use brown, so ill be sellign it locally.

anyway, not sure i like the plate design anylonger. colors are pissing me off. can seem to nail down the desert look.






again, with different light sources




thanks for the VOC.

until i figure out the colors, im not gonna be happy. :\

possibly white plates with that vest?

also note: PRE-WASH ALL DUCK CLOTH, IT SHRUNK LIKE CRAZY DURING THE DYING PROCESS!

update:

located some proper colored duckcloth and the thread count is higher, so thats nice. Im gonna prewash it this time, so i dont have issues later on down the line.

repainted the plates as well. finally found a correct color after lots of trial and error.

what do you think?

(yes, i know i have the female ab plate and male ab plate mixed up)

I likey!

So far so good

finished vest minus the velcro on the sides....

tried the boba sleeves. came out pretty good i think.




stuck on with duct tape

LOVE the 7603 in the vest

shhhhhhhhhhhh

............. it's like a futuristic middle earth....ya know?

um..no?

but okay!!

desert mandos are coming to a town near you....

So far so good; I am actually looking forward to seeing you guys in the new armor. Hopefully, at the Phoenix Comi-Con I know I already saw you there and even had a picture taken but its looking good with the armor. Can't wait to see what you get when it is finished.

maybe it wont be so hot in the desert in leather rather than metal?

its not the metal. its the darn marine vinyl vest.

is the duckcloth better?

yup. it breathes better. and isnt as heavy

This is shaping up really nice, great weathering!

So leather chest armor, but what about gaunts?
One idea I was thinking of using was to attach a piece of gadgetry to a wrap around material gauntlet !? (does that make sense??)

I decided to bail on that idea because I dont think it would fit my mando too well but its some thing for you to consider maybe?!

keep up the great work man.

Here is a very quick photoshop to try and explain my madness.

cool idea. I'm staying away from stuff that isn't star wars-ish.

ill prolly use normal gauntlets.

Wow, awesome! Very well done, I love it. That's a cool effect. Are the plates actually leather or just made to look like leather?

Thats the main reason i dropped the gaunt idea, TBH you would never tell from the pics (other than the stitching) that this is leather.

I'm interested to see how you tie all the elements together!

Great stuff ( oh and btw you're only 99% pure condensed awesome because you used too many e's )

yes, its actual leather.

Yeah I kind of figured that gauntlets will be the hardest thing for me for my mandalorian armor. See I was thinking of using bicycle knee pads as my knee pads and it is still in effect but I am concerned for the gaunts in a way. Maybe I can purchase something in the saftey bicycle world and use that as my gauntlets but I'm not sure. I am actually going to have to head out to wal*mart and search around the store and see what can come up for gauntlet ideas.

All in all the "desert" armor is looking great vod. Hopefully, mine will be finished up in time for the Saboten Con and maybe I'll just show up the 2010 Phoenix Cactus Comi-Con and hang out with all of you mando guys there. That will be fun!!!!!

shin guards, by Franklin can be used for gauntlets. or you can print the templates found on here and resin and fiberglass them.

UPDATE:

almost done with vest. Still messing with patterns for the ballistic padding. i think i know what im gonna fix, but the walmart i got the duckcloth at is out of stock of that color, so must wait.

so here it is with several flash settings.





this gives it about a 1/4" or less of raised surface to see.

I'm no good with that sort of stuff of fiberglasing. I may just go with some shin guards and use them as gauntlets. Probally a good old black pair to go with my armor that way I dont have much painting to go through. Thanks a bunch vod.

Nice progress btw!!!

Looks great ner vod!

Originally Posted by Boba-Debt

This is shaping up really nice, great weathering!

So leather chest armor, but what about gaunts?
One idea I was thinking of using was to attach a piece of gadgetry to a wrap around material gauntlet !? (does that make sense??)

I decided to bail on that idea because I dont think it would fit my mando too well but its some thing for you to consider maybe?!

keep up the great work man.

Here is a very quick photoshop to try and explain my madness.

I know you're leaning toward standard gaunts, but I think Boba-Debt is onto something here. The leather armor is so primitive (yet completely cool), that high tech gadgetry may kill the whole look. I'm not saying go cavemando or anything, but standard gaunts may be a bit much. Have you thought about going with a more primitive tech like a Tuskin Raider would have access to?

Anymore updates bh?

Originally Posted by Commander720

Yeah I kind of figured that gauntlets will be the hardest thing for me for my mandalorian armor. See I was thinking of using bicycle knee pads as my knee pads and it is still in effect but I am concerned for the gaunts in a way. Maybe I can purchase something in the saftey bicycle world and use that as my gauntlets but I'm not sure. I am actually going to have to head out to wal*mart and search around the store and see what can come up for gauntlet ideas.

All in all the "desert" armor is looking great vod. Hopefully, mine will be finished up in time for the Saboten Con and maybe I'll just show up the 2010 Phoenix Cactus Comi-Con and hang out with all of you mando guys there. That will be fun!!!!!

I'd stay away from utlizing sports armor for any of your armor. i know at mercs we've disallowed it for memberships as of about a year ago. unless it's HIGHLY modded to the point it unrecognizable as sports armor.

jax, the build is coming along nicely. not a big fan of lesther for a material for modern era plates. but that aside, youve done an awesome job with the paint and weather, as always, and it looks great! can hardly tell it's leather at all.

best thing is, you get that great leather smell off the plates!

Yeah I know....I'm still working through the bugs which is a good thing LOL!

thanks.

I'm still going with high tech stuff for arm gear. you rally cant tell its leather, and it wasnt the point to be able to tell. just playing with a new way to make plates.

I'm still playin with chop shop:

Looks awesome! Good vest design.

whoa! were'd you get that pic? its from like 2003......

Originally Posted by bh-7603

whoa! were'd you get that pic? its from like 2003......

your older post, I just thought it'd look cool "old" since it's an older pic

true. but Christ, a lightsaber? what was i thinking??

Well you did collect that bounty on the Jedi didn't you

don't remember. was a long time ago. i know i had it for a reason.

Attending a large mando party next weekend. will post updates.

Thats waht the saber I'm puttin on my black/purple setup is for. Just need more trophies to go along with it... I found some faux fur in white, was kinda thinking of a wampa pelt.

You guys and your trophies....don't worry I am moving in the same thing. I am going to have a few trophies for my mando if you have not yet noticed.....

no trophies here. no room.

long time since update....





finally attached plates to vest. will deal with rivets later as well as more painting and weathering.

borrowed Shados bucket for this pic and tried two belts.

Looks good, I like it with the green flightsuit. I'd never guess those were leather plates if I hadnt seen the WIP. Actually, the rivets don't look bad adds some intersting details to the armor. What color are the gaunts going to be?

Like the first belt, and as A'den said, the rivets look nice, a good detail.
I hope my quality will improve and be half as good as your work.

i will hide the rivets in cleaver weathering, i hope. gaunts and shoulders, no clue yet...

Jax it looks great so far dude, like u said the rivets are the only thing I see that needs work. I love that buy'ce, the colors are perfect for the whole suit, it really makes me think of a mando who'd specialize in desert operations like those found on Tatooine, which, I believe has something to do with your Avatar... right? lol It looks great can't wait to see the finished product.

updates for me....

first shados helmet mods









and the 12 year old Gabbie!

I wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of a bounty for either of these two

Kick @$$ and great work. I can tell you are still updating and making changes on the armor peaces. That's fine and they look extremely well. Again great job!!!!

been a while since an update.










+10 bonus points to whomever guesses what the arrow logo is from....or the main logo

street signs

nope. thats not it.

Warhammer 40K! The main logo is from the Inquisition. The arrows are from Dark Angels tactical squad shoulder pads. Ive noticed the winged sword from the Dark Angels as well on some of your armor.

40K rules! 2nd edition forever!

+10 for Ravenclaw house!

I would of never guessed that LOL!

YAY ME! DEATH TO THE FALSE EMPEROR!

Jay, the helmets look great and of course,both sets of armor do as well! Very nice work, can't wait to see them in person sometime.

Lisa will be in the fiesta bowl parade with it. i, of course, am not allowed to wear my mandos in AZ. so might have to wait till con

been a while, here's a recent pic update....took some pics with the local Mercs yahoo's, I mean troopers.

PJ and Tom were on hand for good times. Excellent upgrades by both. Allan and mike were there as well as Tom's dad.

still not set on gear yet, so just messing around with various armor setups....colors, etc.

what do you think? yes, honestly.






]


don't have any good closeups, just these. maybe soon.

thoughts on gear and or colors?

looks great but i was there and saw it in person. there are still more pix going up as of this morning. your solo's should be up soon.

my solos were up yesterday. she only took the 3.

Looks like you had a lot of fun. The armor looks great!

some new pics... singled out my kit to see it better.

Your weathering is fabulous, it really stands out in the first photo.

thanks.

leather is a pain to paint i guess....

think my vest is far too thin....so im gonna fix that eventually, and go with the new knee ideas going around with the hard hats

im currently working on the hardhat type knees and shoulders.

fun times,. will post pics later today.

cool cnt wait to see what you come up with

well here goes....

not sure if i'm pleased with it yet. but I'll tell you this.

Its cool.

Vod, cool doesn't even begin to describe it. Do I detect a little bit of the Tri Force in there?

nope. I use 1 source for my logos... and its not Zelda.



thanks for the compliment

Any time, bro. Watching your work is always a pleasure.

very nice! did you pad the backs of the knee's? nce thing is you can actually kneel in them without being concerned about them getting damaged. the padding just makes them a little more comfortable.