my Mando helmet & armor

Hey all. I'm starting this thread so as to make a tutorial/progress report of my custom Mando armor (or Beskar'gam)

But first a quick question, how do I add pics from my computer in my posts?

Try uploading to say photobucket and paste the [img] link in your post.

Hello and welcome.

thx for the welcome , I'm afraid I'm not familiar with Photobucket. :P

Any photo host will do. I use photobucket, try to google for one.

Where are you from?

you can also upload them from your pc! you have to go in the advanced tab then click the paperclip then use the browse to find where your pic is, then upload it. I hope that helps you out!

Hi and welcome, pm sent

Thx everyone for the asistance,you were all very helpful.

Now back to the subject at hand.

THE HELMET:
This is the originale helmet.


I then used the dremel to cut out the cheeks.






I then used the sanding bit to sand it down (just so ya know, the plastic will melt somewhat so be careful when you cut it)






I then used WoF's templates to make new cheeks out of Sintra, but before glueing them in I adjusted the visor (it was bigger on the bottom then the top!)


To do this I simply popped the visor off the pegs. (see photo)



And then I used the same cutting bit to make the holes wider, and then used a X-acto knife to make an Indent so it would fit back into place.


Then I glue the cheeks in place with Gorrilla Glue.

Now don't do like I did and tape then glue, you should glue THEN tape. Why? 'cause if you tape it first then you have to try and get the bottle inside the helmet and you won't have a good seal.

And her's the result!


More updates shortly.

A quick note I forgot last post, the cheekss will be bigger then ya need if you use WoF's templates.
But that's O.K. 'cause it'll give the glue something to hold onto.
I'm hopeing to redo all of this in a more professional manner once the Besker'gam is done.

now, on to the next step!

Now I don't have pics yet, but I then used the same bit yet again to cut out the slots in the back so as to get air flow.
Next I sanded it by hand with a 320 grit sanding foam block.

Then I painted it a mettalic silver from Krylon.





Use nice wide even strokes, at a distance of apx.12" I went ahead and used the hole can, so as to get a lot of coats so it won't come off.

Now it was quite rough after that, so I got out he 320 again and sanded it down untill it was smooth, now take care not to takoff the paint!

Now for my helmet, I'm doing colors that they dont make in spray paint, so I went to my local HobbyTown USA and bought an airbrush and the colors I wanted.






Now those are: Chrome yellow,and Panzer..uh..I hope I'm spelling this right, Panzer schwarzgrau...or something like that.

Use the same method as before, big, far-away strokes.



Now I can't tell you how many coats to do as of this post 'cause I haven't finished painting that part yet, just try to make an even paint job.

More updates soon.

(and here's what it's going to look like)

I know a lot of people complain about pics being to big...but those are really too small I cant make any thing out other than your doing something to your Jango helmet. if you can just double those sizes that should be a lot better! thanks!!

Sorry for the small pics, how do I make them bigger in the forum?

I once saw some guys here who did custom shin plates, but I can't find them now, could somone help me?
P.S. will post pics soon, got alot done, and got to go to clone wars in costume!

Originally Posted by verd1138

Sorry for the small pics, how do I make them bigger in the forum?

Try opening the pictures you have recently posted here in the "paint"(assuming you have Windows) program, if they are similar in size, try going over to the "image" tab, then down to "stretch/skew" option this will allow you to enlarge or reduce the pic size, make sure to make the vertical and horizontal the same % number or you might get a short fat version of you picture, and only mess with the stretch option. My camera takes massive pictures, thus forcing me to reduce them to around 25% but I'm not sure what you should use, then when done with getting them to the size you like, click "save as" and make sure to save them as a .jpg or small file type, so they are not around 2-3megs.

Hope this helps.

thx, I'll try that.
ok first I'm going to just try posting some pics then I'll resize if need be.
We were able to get this much done and go to the Clone wars premier!

This is us just before going to Clone Wars.8)

Left to right: Jas'ika, Caz Roumez, and Hesoj Yarwar (me)

A battle pose!


At the movies!


And a good pic of Jas'ika's battle scars while we converse



Sorry for not making this one smaller, but I really wanted you to see the whole scene! the reactions were just priceless!

Invading the stripmall!


It was so much FUN! I've never had so many people take pics of me! we posed for ATLEAST 10-12 photos! my how the heads were turning at Five Guys! I've also never had girls come up and hug me for no apperant reason, other then "you're just so cool" They huged me but not my friends, not sure why, but Caz siad " you liked that didn't you" frankly, I was too stuned to like or dislike.

Anyway

Hopefully I'll be able to get the vid my Mom and I made up so you can see more of the process of the build!

Not a bad start man, looks like you just need some armor below the waist and you'll be good to go!

The tall one (Which may be you) needs to be a heavy mando. Your the right height for it.

novall.. I think he maybe the skinny one.. I shall call him twiggy. ( j/k )

Verd .. it looks like a good start for all of you ...

Nice sets of armour, don't forget the cod pieces as well as the knees. I'm not sure if WOF does knee templates - I use my own so haven't checked but would be surprised if he didn't - but if he does simply use them, cut out and heat. I tend to make mine and those I make for others a little wider then normal to allow the wearer to kneel down without the threat of the knee snapping at the sides.
Given you don't have thigh pouches like Boba wears I'd also consider adding thigh and shin plates with boots spats as well for that fully armoured look. I'd also suggest darkening the visors of your helmets or replacing them with thicker, darker visors. That way no-one will be able to see who you are under the helmets.

Your vod Caz Roumez might want to add a rope belt over the bottom of the vest. That'd get rid of the flair his vest has at the bottom.

Nice work so far.

Thanks! yeah we didn't have time for leg armor sadly, but I'm planing on having atleast as many armor plates as Jango does.
I was thinking that I could take some window tint and put that on the inside of the visor so I don't have to cut it out again.
Yeah a rope belt or somthing would help, and we would already have done that, but we didn't have time.
Thanks for your comments any other ideas would be welcome, I'm always ready to learn!
Btw, any ideas on cod peices? we're not sure how to do that :rolls eyes:

Hey Verd,
Check out the Armour section for WOF's templates and the cod pieces are there bud...

Again, the easiest route to go for things like the cod piece, thigh and shin plates, boots spats and anything else you need is to use an existing template such as those by WOF. Then all you need to do is print them out, trace them onto sintra, cut them, heat as required and paint. Easy as shooting a Jedi off of a moving Speeder...

Haha I like that jedi comment!
Thanks! I'll check that out ASAP.

Found the templates, I'll try them later today (hopefully) I'm a little concerned that they'll be to big since I'm so skinny, I'm sorry "twiggy" :-)
I'll let you know how that turns out.

The key is to adjust the size of the templates so that they suit your body. Takes a bit of doing, but the end result will be well worth it.

I know your plight, as I too am a slender build. If you need any help, just let us know. I've got a trick or two on making the cod piece that you might be interested in, it'll look way better than a flat style as it has more of the proper shape to it.

oh yes please, we like tips! that cod piece looks great!

Nice work buddy. Can we get a closer up photo? You look like you have a mean right hook, but a blaster might help with those difficult bounties

Sure, which pic would you like done? well we didn't want to take guns to the theater, espiecialy since we didn't all three have one

Originally Posted by verd1138

oh yes please, we like tips! that cod piece looks great!

Well then... here's a side view of my cod piece.



All you really have to do, is make the flat cod piece then curve it to your body. Once that's done, make a thin cardboard ( cereal box card works great ) for the front curve ( the part that curves down to, well... you know ). You'll want to make the bottom part of the curve first... I simply drew a nice flowing curve and folded the card in half to cut it out. ( this will ensure that both sides are the same )

Once you're happy with the shape and placement of the bottom curve, then simply trim off the top portion where it will attach to the cod piece. This cardboard will now serve as your tracing template so that you can make it out of sintra/plastic/metal or what ever you're making your armor out of.

Hope that helps.

Thanks Jango72, I'll try that and let you know how it goes.
I've decided to look into weapons a bit, anybody have any ideas for a Verp?
Thx.

hey, I just wanted to show everyone my moddified blaster, wanted a third opinion on it.


So, what do you think?

Hey! Very nice start!
Wich one are you? The Mando with yellow?

The cod piece and the blaster will really improve your beskar'gam.

Congratz.

Thanks! yes I'm the one in yellow.
Thanks on the blaster front.
thanks all around!
I like you paint job, the red triangle looks great!

Orthar's advice on printing out the WOF templates for knees and cod are pretty much spot on. Also, to parallel the 2 piece cod, you can also make a one piece then heat and fold the bottom point under. This is a much easier way, but i think the 2 piece looks better. I don't really have much experience with sintra, never used the stuff personally.

i started my knees a few days ago. I made them out of the card board you find inbetween the plastic layers in binders it worked realy well. I will try to get pics

I just finished my cod. it took some time and lots of filler. but it turned out good. take your time and it'll be as good as you want. here's mine.

I agree, the two peice looks better.
I would never have thought to use binder, that's an interesting method!
NICE COD PEICE! what did you make it out of?

I dunno if you were asking me about my cod but I made mine out of 1/4" styrene. Thick and sturdy. and heavy... haha

it was my knees that were made of the stuff in the binders but I lost my flash drive with pics on it.

two Q's, does anyone know how to modify the vader voice changer to simply amp, not change? and 2nd, I'm looking for ideas on helmet accessories, hud, radio, the like.
working on a verp, hopefuly I'll get pics this weekend.

great job brother

Thanks mando-in-training!
Had grandperents over the weekend so I didn't get to work on my Verp :-(
Forgive me for being off subject, but would anyone be interested in my screenshots from the new Clone Wars episode "Rookies" ?
I also used a couple for comics, if anyone's interested in either I'll post the link.

Looking good, you are making me want to get started on mine. heaven forbid i work on something instead of just buying parts.

I love the cod piece posted...I am having trouble thinking about mine. I really don't like the cod piece, i think it will be weird feeling and I don't want it to be too tight. How does it fit?

Update!
okay, well my friends church had a sci-fi night, so we managed to do touch up paint on our battle scars and repaint my friends' buckets.
also, started work on the weapons, got the Z-6 half way done.
the best part though, was they had a scavanger hunt! we were the only guys to stay in charecter the whole time, Lol.xP
and we won!
I don't have alot of pics, but here's what I have.


Heh, we need to get our visors darkened. you can't see our faces usually, but the flash....

Sadly Caz (the big guy in the middle) misplaced his gauntlets and gloves that night, and had to make do. you can see the new paint jobs and that Jas'ika (far right) and me (far left, call me Hesoj) have custom guns and a lightsaber.


[above] a good profile shot of me, Hesoj Yarwar.


[above] and here's a good shot of Jas'ika's battle scars! (Lol, I have to edit these pics so you can't see the faces.xP)


Jas'ika: this one? Caz: No! That's the self destruct button! hit THIS one to fire the guns! (Lol.xP)

[below] without a doubt one of my favs, the three of us Mandos about to breach the door! if you look closely you can see some battle damage on Jas'ika's shoulder and on my chest and shoulder plates.



[below] Breach sucessful! Let's go!!!
note the dramatic flow of Jas'ika's Kama!


[below] after sucessfuly gaining entry, we took a hostage!!!

I really like this one, because you can get a good look at the weapons. also it let's you see a bit better how ominous Caz looks.
That, and it's just plain funny when Mandos take hostages.xP

I don't know how well you can see it, but I have bullets on my arm, and all three of us have these really cool lights we found at home depot for like $5, which clip onto the attenas very nicely, just be careful taking them on and off, or you'll scratch the paint!!!

well, that's pretty much it for now, hoping to get the Z-6 and the leg armor done before Steller-con, we'll see how that goes.

i always am amazed by the camradarie displayed by this sites members. Everyone always thinks Im a giant geek when I work on my beskar'gam. Looking forward to getting my own group together like you guys.

well we live in the same general area and have been friends for quite some time, and decided to work together to get our armor done!
I hope you and your buddies have fun as a clan!!!
I'm sure you won't be thought of as geeky around here very much, I've always found the Mandos to be a very loving bunch....as long as you're on the right end of the gun.xP

BUMP for updates!

what's that supposed to mean?

Hey all, I'm sorry I disappeared for so long. I met this girl on DeviantArt and have been spending most of my computer time chatting and/or RPing and writeing a fan-fic with her.
I'm going to try and get some Stellar-con pics posted soon, maybe even today if I have time.
But in the mean time I have a question: I would REALLY like to be able to roll around and rough-house a bit in my armor, but I'm afraind of breaking the helmet out since I replaced the cheeks. And an aluminium helmet is a bit out of my league, so does anyone have ideas for re-enforcing the helmet?

Oh and, how do I bump the topic?

Fiberglassing is a good way to reinforce a bucket...do you have a rubies?

looks like you 3 have a lot of fun ^_^

Originally Posted by A'den Kyramud

Fiberglassing is a good way to reinforce a bucket...do you have a rubies?

I think it is a rubies, it's two piece.
I hadn't thought of Fiberglassing, that'd probably work! thanks man, I'll try that!

No problem! just keep us updated with pics!!!

Here's a few Stellar-con pics!

I was told of the Con by Mandalor of the Mando Mercs, so Jas'ika and I went and got to hang out with our fellow Mandos! (Yellow and grey mando, Me. Green Mando, Jas'ika)


And here we converse right before the Cosplay chess battle!


The Enamy!


The Good Guys!


The first move.


Jas'ika's stare off!


Taking one for the team...


A post-battle chat and armor adjust.


Enter Lord Vader!


R2-Kt.


The Mando Mercs!


-Gasp!- My hair! it actually looks like it's supposed to! xD

For more pics, you can either look on Photobucket for verd1138 or check the stellar-con page on the mercs site.

Awesome vod!!! looks like you had fun!!!