First Mando

Hey guys, just recently started on my Mando and decided to start a thread to get some extra help. Have some questions: 1. any advice on how to get my visor cut out of a welders mask? I tried scoring and snapping it out but it doesn
t seem to want to work. Considering tinsnips? 2. anyone out there know how to wear down leather combat boots so that they are more flexible and soft? Thanks alot :) here are a couple pics of my concept drawings, pics and updates to come! Sorry if the pics turned out sideways, I'm a tad computer challenged :lol

Best way to break in leather is to walk around with it a lot. I have a lot of experience with leather belts and boots.. It takes a little while especially if your going for a realistic look

Awsome! thanks I will be wearing them all day around the house then :)

Well I have some pics of my almost complete helmet, waiting for a cool morning to put on the last layer of paint and then I'll go about installing the visor.

Lookin good! I have a friend that wants almost the same coloring excepy blue with that purrple!

Thanks! I personally like purple and wanted to make my armor that color :) purple and blue would have looked good too tho

ok so i'm stuck on the couch/ bed for next couple days and decided to plan out my mando a bit better. Today I pondered weapons.... My mando had a blaster on her back and one smaller pistol-like blaster. If that wasn't enough, I decided to throw in vibroblades in each gauntlet and almost called it a night.... until I thought bounty aquired weapons. Now I think I have a general idea about feelings on a lightsaber weilding mando, but I don't see why one couldn't b aquired from a bounty and used on rare occassions that the mando is disarmed. There we go, my arsenal of weapons all planned out. Bought some nerf products that i will mod and found some awsome metal bars that I can turn into barrel extensions and a lightsaber (with a few spare parts I can get my hands on. attatched are pics of my un-modified guns.

You, ner vod, are off to a great start. Nothing like a painted bucket to get on motivated to make armor to go along with it! And purple is an excellent color, btw. ;) Definitely try the tin snips or the welding mask, if it's the same one I've got. Is it green and flexible?

its a shade five green I believe and does bend a tad with a small bit of effort. Vor'e! I will try the tinsnips... how hard should I have to try to cut it though? I'm always afraid I'll break it :lol Thanks again ner vod!

I have officially determined that sewing is the most hated activity in the world... not only do I completely stink at it, but it hurts too... (I feel so challenged sometimes :lol ) I have three pouches done and really don't want to stabb my fingers with the sewing needle any more (I am hand sewing) But here is a pic of one of my pouches, they all look the same so tell me what you think. If you make it seem worth it, then I'll keep making them and endure :) Enjoy, hope this post isnt a bore

New question to add to the previous one about sewing my pouches. I went out to buy my fabrics and discovered that they only had brown and black leather. My vest is supposed to be a light grey. Should I use the black instead or try to find grey? will post compare and contrast pics soon.

Pouches look good! Did you use cardboard as a base? I hand sewed my new pouches too. They are leather so they are a pain in the shebs. ;) I feel your pain.

If you can't find what you are looking for you may have to go with what you've got. If you don't want to do that, I suggest taking a look at duck cloth (it's basically a heavy weave, kind of looks like drop cloth for painting). It's hefty looking stuff and you are more likely to find it in the color you want.

Thanks ner vod! sometime tomorrow I might have a pic of my soft parts (short sleeve shirt and possibly the vest) will post by tomorrow night... so much I want to get done tomorrow but I'm trying to pace myself lol :)

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yes they are cardboard based :lol

For repainting the nerf guns... Should I sand them first or can I go ahead and paint them? Any suggestions?

well, I had a very unproductive day in the world of Mandos... :doh going on a small break where hopefully I can finally find time to work on it then. For those interested, pics by monday

For the nerf guns, sand off any and all logos--or anything else you don't want on them--BEFORE you paint. This way you wont wast paint. The only time I would paint first and then sand would be if I'm checking to see if something is smooth enough. Paint is good at showing you little blemishes you missed. ;)

Oh yeah! I forgot about the visor: it shouldn't be that hard, especially with the tin snips. If you are worried you are going to break it, cut the visor out a little bigger than you need it to be and then sand it down. It's hard to break stuff when you are sanding. ;)

And don't worry too much about not being productive. I've been working on my Mando for four and a half years now (not that everyone takes nearly as long to complete a kit). It's a journey. Sometimes you get work done, sometimes you don't. :)

Try backing over the boots with a car that breaks leather in quite well :)

haha! that's awesome! I might try that, it seems really fun! :lol

well for all the help I've been getting, I thought I'd share the results of your guidance. Enjoy!

Awesome! That looks solid. Be happy, LoL. ;)

Nice start. As Ordeyn said, don't worry much about being productive. Slow and steady wins the race:skull

Thanks for the encouragement guys :)

I haven't really been on here much so I figured I'd give an update: Shirt and possibly vest are in the works! Gloves.... those are a different story lol. Needless to say, my sewing capabilities have proven to be below below average. Attempted to hot glue them together but they still didn't look too good. will post pics of them later but any chance someone out there makes them for a good price? I've wasted too much money already trying to make them on my own lol

Will hopefully be posting again soon :)

Thanks, Kalyn

I just used work gloves and removed the labels. Something I was thinking about doing on my next kit (if I ever get there) is to use some horseback riding gloves that are small and thin, though I have not investigated how expensive or inexpensive they might be.

thanks :) I did manage to find some white work gloves online and am looking into them since they are a good price. the riding gloves you mentioned seemed to start around $22 (looked into those as well)

Thanks for the help!

So I was thinking about these, let me know what ya think. A bit worried the blue on the gloves will not look good. Thoughts?
Attachment 62277

You can probably put armor over them, but the surface doesn't look flat so that would make it difficult. Depending on what material the blue/white areas are made out of, you might be able to just paint them. They are sweet looking gloves. :)

I think the blue is leather or some sort of plastic? I'm going to get them and paint them cuz I think thye r amazing! lol :)

Hi all, so i'm trying to start my armor and found WOF templates. But I don't have access to a printer and when I went somewhere to print them, the templates were waaaaaay too big. Any suggestions?

Sounds good about the gloves!

The templates should have different size downloads, like BobaFettSmall, or something. I did the smallest and had to modify them a little bit to fit me. You could also make a duct tap mannequin of your torso and make templates from that.

Can you show me where you got the templates?

I got 'em from WOF but I tried to reprint them from the site at a friend's house and they worked fine :) Thanks for the help! Got a big 36"x36" sheet of metal today :D going to make my armor very very soon! :lol

Suhweet! :) How are you going to shape the armour?

I was thinking a rubber mallet... I'm totally winging it atm :lol but my dad is looking over my shoulder nodding his approval lol so maybe I'm doing something right :lol Thanks for showing interest ner vod!

haven't been on here for a bit, thought I'd share some half updates... Started a pattern for my flak vest and came up with an interesting custom belt design that I shall share with you all once I have it drawn up a bit better :) hoping to have the flak vest done this week and possibly repaint my gloves that should be arriving soon.

And there's my update. Not much done quite yet but getting there :)

LoL! You could try dishing with a ball pin hammer (or whatever they are called) and then planishing. Research dishing. :)

OK so I got a sketch done of the belt idea I mentioned last night. Not sure where I'm gonna put the pushes quite yet but if anyone has any ideas, feel free to draw them onto the belt or share the thought :)

Ordeyn: bal pin hammer sounds good too :) will have to see what I got laying around. :D

flak vest pattern is done, used the one Darth Mule pulled together but I'm not entirely sure how to line the pattern up for sewing, nothing lines up right... did I just do it wrong?? So confused :doh

Armor pieces (most of them) are cut out and ready for shaping, pics soon :)

I dunno anything about Darth Mule, sorry. Find someone you know who can sew to help you. My mom helped me a ton. Armor designs look sweet. Are you going to put any knee plates on?

definitely got knee plates, I just never drew them in the last pic because I was so focused on the belt lol As for the vest, I just decided to have someone make it for me... I would probably ended up spending more if I attempted to do it myself :lol

K, sweet. Kits look funny without knees, lol. ;)

ok, so I finally have a pic update.. Just my gloves but it's better than nothing :) Their a little tacky and have been "drying" for almost a week now :/ very puzzling lol starting to form my armor tonight possibly, chest armor for another time (when I can make a solid mold to hammer them into lol)

pics are before and after

Got one blaster done, going to work on the pistol later, maybe this weekend, but maybe not :)

Before and afters: