Female metal armor WIP.

So I'm putting together a suit of female metal armor for a friend of mine. I've had the thread up on the Mercs board for awhile, but figured I'd post some pics here also.

http://mercs.firespray.net/forum/index.php?topic=3397.0

The top half of the armor has been pounded out. It's made out of 20 guage aluminum and 26 guage plate steel. It's light but strong, especially the plate steel pieces!







Everything has been hand hammered (We call it "dishing" in the armorsmith world), and that has taken a good amount of time. The build is based off a Vhonte Thervo style armor but will have it's own distinct look once it's finished. Those of you going to DCon will be able to see this armor in action.

That's looking pretty good, did you guys do a duct tape cast of her torso for the mannequin?

She did one and sent it to me yes.

Must have been a pain in the rear end to hammer that thing out...

But anyways, it looks really really nice!

And I hope you wear a respirator whenever you use that fiberglass filler I see in the background. hehe.

Originally Posted by 987654321a

Must have been a pain in the rear end to hammer that thing out...

But anyways, it looks really really nice!

And I hope you wear a respirator whenever you use that fiberglass filler I see in the background. hehe.

Not as bad as you may think honestly. I spent some time in my early 20's doing medieval style armor, so I just had to remember the curves. I actually finished the backplate up today and am working on a nice metal cod piece. The hardest part about the whole thing is that she isn't where I can just put a piece of the armor on her for sizing up, so she's been sending me measurements as I ask for'em.

I only use the fiberglass for filling up parts of the cod armor where metal is absent. Of course I wear a respirator...been doing this long enough to not have one and use it.

Here's a pic of the armor after thighs and shins are completed. Gonna back them with rubber tonight to give them a good stiff feeling, and keep the wearer comfortable. Cod piece needs to be filled in with some fiberglass also. Will be working on knees, gauntlets, and boot armor soon.

Are you dishing and planishing by hand?

Yes I am. Theres no way to get the breast curve in metal if you don't. Each piece is hand dished and roughly planished (keeps a better "used" look that way).

Would you describe the method and materials used in backing the plates with rubber?

It's a spray on rubber undercoating made by 3M. 3 coats stiffen it up good and keep it from having the potential to cut in on ya.

Here's a pic of the backplate's inside after the 1st coat.

Tooled a Mercs mando skull into the left pauldron lastnight. Gotta put a hot iron to it and smooth it out good before dying them black.




Painted everything that was ready to paint today. Primed, masked, and got the first color of paint on. Cod has to be finished, diamond, foot armor, and gauntlets are on the slate for building next.

Dang what are those vicious looking spiked things? Are they for the hands or the feet? Also I might state that your leather working just as impressive as your metal skills. I havn't gotten that far into medivle armor yet, I just work chain. I don't have a place to dish armor out.

Keep those pics comeing.

The spiked things your referring to are her chest armor and thighs. The ends are rounded to keep from impaling herself when bending over, you just can't see it from that distance.

I wanted to give her a fierce look, and the armor style of Vhonte Thervo has alot of tight angles.

The dishing isn't so bad, even on the plate steel parts (back). The hard part is getting the correct curve and shape, especially when all you have to work with is a cast of the person instead of the actual person.

Thanks for the compliments!!

Oh now that you say that I can see that. You ought to make her hand armor with spikes like that comeing out. Would be wicked looking, sort of RC clone style.

Actually, her gauntlets are going to have spring loaded beskad blades that can be released at will. Of course they will be non-functioning as weapons but they will be extremely cool non the less.

Cool deal, can't wait to see them.

Nice job on the armor, Colika will be thrilled I'm sure.

Here we are after the major painting and weathering on the bulk of the armor.











Gotta trim down the cod a bit, then paint it. Diamond and foot armor is next, then knees and gauntlets.

Oh, I'm sure she will LOVE it. She's already beyond thrilled over it. =)

impressive

Is there a reason you/she went with leather for the pauldrons? Was it so the Mando symbol could be tooled, or because the metal would be too heavy/restrictive? You did such a fine job with dishing the other pieces, I'd've said do those in metal, too. Very impressed with how smooth the plates are. I've only done very basic hammering, and years ago, for a boss for a viking shield, and I lost patience before getting anywhere near as smooth as I would have liked, and galaxies away from your finish.

Thanks for the info about the rubber backing, too. I'd heard/read about the spray-on rubber before for some things, but wondered if you were applying sheet or pad rubber.

Actually Ioelus, the costume is based on the Vhonte Tervo costume, though with some modifications.

-Naas

The leather pauldrons are part of Vhonte's armor, and I liked the idea of using leather so much that I ran with it. It's not very practical to make those out of metal, because you restrict the heck out of movement if you do. I'm probably going to be using earth magnets to hold them in place and make them easily removable. This suit is designed to be put on and taken off fairly easily.

Doggonnit--you said that in your first post, too. Sorry for the stupid question.

Update!

Haven't updated this thread here yet, but the metal portions of the armor are almost done.









Gauntlets are on the table to do next!

That's some great work!

Dang those are some nice knee plates.

Thanks man, been pretty much non-stop for the last month. I look at what I have to do for the gauntlets, and I'm excited and terrified at the same time LOL!

So far, my ideas for gaunt accessories are as follows:

Spring-loaded blades on the lower gaunt enclosuer (dull of course).
Working LCD readout display on the left gaunt
short range blaster on each gaunt
maybe a pull-out lanyard launcher on one or both (depends on if my hands hate me or not)

I pretty much make it as I think it up. =)

Originally Posted by Z-man12

Dang those are some nice knee plates.

The best thing about them is that she can actually kneel down on'em without having to worry about snapage.

The launchers I hand milled with my drill press (It's first use!) and the spike are 2.5 inches long. The knees themselves are fairly heavy...so they'll feel real.

Here's a better shot in the light.

You should give us some WIP picts of the knee build if you have them. This might be a way of makeing knees that I might try. I am always afraid that they are just going to snap on me if I do plastic ones.

I'll do up a WIP for my own knees which I should be starting on this weekend sometime.

Thanks! Guess its time to go get some dishing hammers.

Knees don't require dishing thankfully. =)

Man! that looks awesome. is that the helmet at the bottom? got a pic of it?

I think that his personal MS helmet.

Originally Posted by NovallTalon

Here's a better shot in the light.

Very nice suit there!
I'm no custom mando but that rocks! very nice work...

Originally Posted by Bountyone

Man! that looks awesome. is that the helmet at the bottom? got a pic of it?

Yeah, thats my helmet as Mand'alor of Mercs. Theres a thread on it here in the DV board. Mandalorian Mercs Mand'alor helmet...or something like that. =D

Originally Posted by Mojo-Fett

Very nice suit there!
I'm no custom mando but that rocks! very nice work...

Thanks man, all the good words are appreciated. The gauntlets are really gonna be the challenge. I gotta finish my own metal set before I can work on those, mines due in May...so I gotta get humping on it.

That's awesome well done indeed!

Wow! Looks absolutely fantastic! Great job :thumbup

man, she is a lucky lady! that stuff looks awesome. and i'm not usually a customs fan!!

i've seen her myspace posts about it, so i know how happy she is! can't wait to see her all suited up!

Thanks all! Yeah, she is extremely excited to put it on. I'm actually taking a break for a couple weeks on it so I can finish my own set! I've spent the last month+ working on hers and left mine just sitting in the corner. Now I've got 4 events in 30 days and I'm freaking out LOL!

I've thought about the helmet for this set, and she's sending me down a Rubies Jango to use on it...but I'm thinking I'll probably cast a custom helmet just for this suit. We'll see what happens around mid July for something like that.

I wish I could mass produce this kind of armor, but I don't have the time and most people couldn't afford it. Easily $1k for something like this with the amount of time and detail I've put into it. Considering that every pattern has to be hand drawn, can't use WOF patterns for this. Plus there's no general size like for us men. You have to take into account the chest area, and really work to make it comfortable for'em. If it doesn't feel good then it's not worth having on IMHO.

It looks worth every penny and more! Still can't believe how awesome it is, your friend is going to look amazing!

If I get my helmet done in time and my vac table set up I can cast one for her. If she is interested. Its similar to the neo style. I think it would go nicely with this outfit.

I just got to get my hands on some filler and finish off the back, before I show it off.

I've actually got a really sweet design that will be a little similar to my MS custom without being TO similar. Something sleek for a woman, with it still having that mando "I'm gonna break your teeth in!" look. I've never been partial to making women look like girls in mando, in the EU they fight just as hard as the men.

Been gone a while, Novall...just caught this thread...excellent work, my friend...
Rob

Really great work, the armor looks fantastic!

This is all great info, thank you... it looks like I have my work cut out for me. I have a nice design of armor for myself. I'll have to scan the sketches. For now, I'm reading as much as I can!

If I get any time to do so this weekend, I may start cutting out the gauntlets. I'm in a rush to finish my own set atm...so there really isn't anything more I can do to hers yet till I can relax on mine. I'm already way way ahead of schedule on her set, not due to DragonCon. Trying to get it done by mid june so I can decompress before August. =)

Well, after some down time to finish off my own metal armor and tons of appearances for Mercs...I've gotten back on the horse with Col'ika's armor.

Here is some shots of her right gaunt next to my right gaunt. The shells are 2 layers of 26gu plate steel, so they are some tough mothers...no doubt. Strong enough to deflect any bombardment.









Gotta tweak some things and clean it up before I start adding the little extras and moving on to the working parts.

Looking good bro.Good to see the old custom there.I almost kept those.lololololol..J/K

Originally Posted by wickedbeard

I almost kept those.lololololol..J/K

LOL!! Dude that would have earned a house call.

Gauntlet update.

Right gaunt is about half way done. Just fleshing out the plans for putting together the spring mechanism for the vibroblades. Light duty blaster has been attached and 2 darts will be on the front of each gaunt.

For some reason I missed your topic! I think it looks realy realy wonderful, I can't wait to see more pics!!!

Holy ****!! That armour build is a stonking piece of work. can't believe I've missed this until now. As for those gauntlets, they look like a masterpiece of metal work, in fact I can't really pick one thing that stands out, as it all is quality of the highest standard.
Brilliant

Originally Posted by NovallTalon

Gauntlet update.

Right gaunt is about half way done. Just fleshing out the plans for putting together the spring mechanism for the vibroblades. Light duty blaster has been attached and 2 darts will be on the front of each gaunt.

****...is THAT where that peice goes....ahahhahaha...whoops! (gets back to steelworking)

great armour so far especially the leatherwork
how does the mechanism for the gauntlet blades work?

Sweeett!!! Great work!

I'll post the blade mechanism as I put it together. It's supposed to act like a vertical switch-blade. Uses a charged spring to fire forward and lock. Then pull back into place to lock it in the housing. Just got to make sure it's not to strong for her to pull back.

Been working on the blade spring housing and mechanism for the right gaunt. It's about half way done, but the pic shows you pretty much how it's gonna work.

On the top and bottom of the housing, a guide trench will be cut. The blades are one of a kind laser cut stainless with 2 thin shafts coming out either side of the tang (back of the blade) that fit up through the guide trenches. These will be threaded and a small metal button will be screwed on. By pulling the button back and pushing it over into a nook or U cut, you'll be able to cock the blades back. Flicking the button will result in the blades releasing and springing forward.

The spring is very strong, so I'm glad she's a very fit girl or she may have probs with it. The blade itself will be serrated but not sharp and slightly rounded on the point so not to get to many eyes from the guards.



I have an aluminum shaft that that will fit perfectly over the spring to direct it's energy. I only need to cut about a 3/16 of an inch gap on each side of it to allow the blade cocking shafts to slide back.

Feel free to use this on your own armor if you wish. This female set is a prototype for many fun "innovations" I'm designing for mando armor.

So what type of spring are you using Noval? might try to copy it in a sintra based version.

Have a good one,
Hagen

The springs are out of 2 Daisy pellet pistols. Basically they are the charging springs. Probably way to much force behind these for plastic to hold'em. I'd go with a weaker spring if you want to copy with sintra.

Right gaunt near completion. Just need to do some finish-off painting with the housing, hinge, and flash suppressor. Add some soft leather to the inside to keep it from cutting her arm, and install the high-intensity blinker circuitry for the blaster.

Armor vest is on her upper body cast with armor temporarily attached to see how it looks.

Not to bad so far IMHO! =)

Nice boobage, Novall....
Rob

I'm waiting for some better images to come out, but here are some shots of her in the full armor at DragonCon.

Turned out great, nice work!

Thanks. Was ALOT of work. Between getting her set done, and the one for my girlfriend...I'm taking a very short armor vacation. =)

And a pic of the second set I was working on at the same time for my girlfriend. She's the Twi'lek, the other girl is Hydra. =)



I was sworn to secrecy on her armor, and unlike what I made for Colleen which was aluminum, this armor was all steel minus the gauntlets which were double layered aluminum.

I'm impressed! Your work is really well done, you can see the attention to proportion, detail and creativity.

Thanks! I need to trim her gut plate up a little as it seems a touch to big. When you think that I basically didn't have either one of these girls on hand to constantly fit the armor to them...it fit perfectly. The steel chest plates were origionally dished by Jax, and I took and redid them in a few areas before planishing (smoothing the dents) them down nice and smooth.

For the collar armor, I took a normal Fett collar and lowered the forward dive of the metal to almost an inch at the point. This way she actually had more mobility in the front and neck. The shin and thigh armor are basically the same patterns I used on Colika's armor but lengthened since Xian is almost 4 inches taller.

She doesn't have a back plate yet, but the same pattern I used on Colika's will also fit her perfectly.

I am debating on making some female and male steel sets over the next few months for purchase. Basically depends on how much time I have between work, cons, and my own new set of armor.

Wow, that's cool! I like the idea of a Twi'lek Mando, it's something quite different. I remember Hydra (pretty sure it was Hydra) doing a bunch of custom designs, including a Twi'lek Mando - was that based on her design? Darn cool either way.

Have you guys thought of designing a Mando bucket that would somehow fit a Twi'lek? I think that would be a funky addition.

Originally Posted by NovallTalon

I am debating on making some female and male steel sets over the next few months for purchase. Basically depends on how much time I have between work, cons, and my own new set of armor.

I would love me some metal armour!

Would it be bulletproof?

ANOTHER set for yourself Novall ? Wowza.. going to still use the Mandalore helmet or are you going to try and do a metal helmet ?

Actually getting ready to work on a bucket for her that will fit a twi'lek. Thinking on using segmented armor to run down her lekku that attach to the helmet. Think of a snake's belly and how the scales sit.

Originally Posted by Oddball Fett

I would love me some metal armour!

Would it be bulletproof?

LOL no, but it will be 18-20 guage forged steel (which means I hand dish it, then throw it in the forge for tempering). That'll make it knife, sword, and ax proof. =)

These sets won't be cheap though, probably ranging in at least $2-4k per set because of the man hours and detail I put into it. Depending on the set, I do all my own leather work to (bolo girths, holster rigs, battle belts/bandoleers).

I'm also highly selective on who I would sell to, because I don't think the need for money outweighs the need for someone who really respects the armor and will take care of it for years to come.

Rokeim, yes I will be going all metal with my final set of personal armor. Metal helmet and metal jet pack with some very very cool surprises inside for the mando fans out there.

Novall, you are one of the few people on this board that never ceases to impress me. A truly skilled individual and worker who never runs out of great ideas.

Originally Posted by NovallTalon

Actually getting ready to work on a bucket for her that will fit a twi'lek. Thinking on using segmented armor to run down her lekku that attach to the helmet. Think of a snake's belly and how the scales sit.

That sounds a bit like that Twi'lek from that computer game (what's it called) who has one metal head-tail, except hers is supposed to be a cyborg implant. It would look pretty cool, but sounds like it could be a bit of a pain in the neck to pull off. A couple of ideas that popped into my head was one where the mando helmet effectively had two (rather large) slots in the back to accomodate the lekku. Another thought was to have a full helmet that covered the upper part of the lekku, so it would basically have two large 'bell'-shapes at the back, but that could have a high possibility of turning out lame.

But I think your idea sounds better.

Originally Posted by NovallTalon

LOL no, but it will be 18-20 guage forged steel (which means I hand dish it, then throw it in the forge for tempering). That'll make it knife, sword, and ax proof. =)

Axe proof. Cool!

Originally Posted by NovallTalon

These sets won't be cheap though, probably ranging in at least $2-4k per set because of the man hours and detail I put into it. Depending on the set, I do all my own leather work to (bolo girths, holster rigs, battle belts/bandoleers).

I'm also highly selective on who I would sell to, because I don't think the need for money outweighs the need for someone who really respects the armor and will take care of it for years to come.

Rokeim, yes I will be going all metal with my final set of personal armor. Metal helmet and metal jet pack with some very very cool surprises inside for the mando fans out there.

Personally, I don't know how you could top your current armour. As groovy as many other mando suits are, yours to me is the the most impressive. It just screams "Me BOSS!" whenever I see it. Something I think Mandalore himself would be happy to wear to battle.

So if you think that your new ideas can top that one, then I can't wait to see it. 8)

Thanks for the compliments guys. The girls really enjoyed wearing it, and I enjoyed dressing them. ;P

As to the surprises, I'm working on the control circuity in my spare time. Should be pretty sweet when it's all done up.

The costumes turned out great, Hydra is an amazing artist, and I think you brought her armor to life! Great stuff man.

These weren't based off Hydra's designs, however she is a Mercs member and was with us for DragonCon, and her designs are far better then what I could ever put on paper =). All my armor is made by my own design. The red suit was patterned after Rav Bralor/Vhonte Thervo from Tom Hodges' LFL artwork. Patterns for these sets took hours to hand draw and measure out, nothing done currently could give the shape and hug that was required.

I'm always working to raise my skill level at the forge and dishing stump. One of my next projects is working on custom blades and blasters (gotta crank up the lathe!).

Originally Posted by NovallTalon

These weren't based off Hydra's designs, however she is a Mercs member and was with us for DragonCon, and her designs are far better then what I could ever put on paper =). All my armor is made by my own design. The red suit was patterned after Rav Bralor/Vhonte Thervo from Tom Hodges' LFL artwork. Patterns for these sets took hours to hand draw and measure out, nothing done currently could give the shape and hug that was required.

I'm always working to raise my skill level at the forge and dishing stump. One of my next projects is working on custom blades and blasters (gotta crank up the lathe!).

Sorry about that bruv, I just assumed since she is always creating these awesome costumes, killer job nonetheless!

G-Fett

This is fricking awesome. Great ideas. Major props.

wow nicely done! Shes looks great!!

Ahh.. I love reading WIP threads by novall - extremely humbling though they may be.

I would literally kill to have some metal armor! I haven't the funds but if there is anyone you might want to disappear i will def do it for one of your custom suits!

Originally Posted by NovallTalon

So u ever get Pics of the Blade system done!!!???

Thanks for the comments all!

Originally Posted by Adenn Dralshy'a

I would literally kill to have some metal armor! I haven't the funds but if there is anyone you might want to disappear i will def do it for one of your custom suits!

Click HERE if you wanna learn how to build your own metal armor. =)

Originally Posted by Fett_MD

So u ever get Pics of the Blade system done!!!???

I have not had time to finish this out yet. My girlfriend's roommate is using it as part of her armor currently, so I have plenty of access to it...just not the time yet to finish that part out. =)