Neo Crusader WIP

well, sdcc is over and repairs have been completed.
my neo helmet should be arriving from the mandalorian arsenal soon and my carrier vest arrived in the mail yesterday.
today i went out and purchased some poster boards to start my build. this is how far i got today...
chest/ab plate build





right now it's just poster board held together with tape. the next step is to hotglue all the interior seams. that will be followed with taping a flat back to the chest/ab plate that i can use to mount it to my carrier with. once the backs on, the fiberglassing begins.
the chest may seem a bit exaggerated. if so, it is. this is for two reasons. 1 i'm using the comic artwork from the vector comics as my inspiration and 2 i'm a big guy with a barrell chest so i can carry it and pull it off.
i'll keep th wip pix coming. lmk what you all think!

See it is amazing of what you can use just to make a good looking set of mandalorian armor or even a costume. And some said that those type of materials of poster boards and trash cans where not good. HA! and HA again; I see you all putting together amazing armor with that stuff which is enspiring me. Overall great job vod!!!!!

Looking good so far A'den! I shall definately have to keep my eye on this thread. Keep it up

Tracyn

Nice, I myself wanted to do one, but still working on getting Kal done. Will keep an eye on this one for sure. Seeing you do one will give me some tips on how to build myself.

Looks great!!!

Good job bro!

Alrighty, so today's plan was to put the backing on the chest plate and strat glassing it. However, I realized my brother has all my sponge brushes for fiberglassing. So, I shifted gears and decided I'd just get the rest of t he armor built out of posterboard and tape.
So, here it is...
Gauntlets:




Shoulders:




Thighs:



Lower legs:




Back plate:

All together:

The back plate is just a flat piece that I'm going to glass. Nothing fancy. I plan to have a jetpack with this kit. I will try to find another Mega Bloks jetpack or, if I can't, I'll just snag Ordo's and build him a new backplate.
No cod armor as I will have a 1/2 kama and a loin cloth with this set.
The gaunts and lower legs are snug and will be glassed in one piece. I can't slide them on and off. After they are glassed and sanded, I'm going to cut them open and use piano hinges to close them.
LMK what you all think...

Looks AWESOME!!!
What kind of posterboard are you using??? Those curves are wicked!!!

You aren't by any chance on the SDSWS forum as well???

Yes, I am on SDSW as well, been posting the WIP there as well. It's just the regular posterboard you buy for like school projects and stuff. Not the foamboard.

That's just like the neo-crusador's a lot of armor. But so far you are looking really good there vod. I really can't wait to see what you have for the finished product.

I'm millennial_caedo on the boards there.

Thanks for the tip.

Oh ok!

Thats looking really good so far! Very snazzy! Keep up the good work, I can't wait to see more progress!

Tracyn

sweet what color is it going to be?

The end color is going to be metallic yellow. One of the Neo Commanders.

Alrighty... today I glassed the exteriors of the plates and rough trimmed them.
The next step is to add 1 more coat of resin to the exterior and the interior of the armor.

Alrighty today's project was adding a second coat of resin to the exterior of the plates, splitting the whole pieces and adding 1 coat of resin to the interior sides of the plates. I primed the plates as well to show how rough they are and to give a guide to the rough sanding which is the next step.

In this pic, you see the female sides of the Chicago screws glassed into the backs of the chest, shoulder and back plates. This is for future mounting.

Still good; working pretty well on this costume.

How do you attach the chicago screws???

Originally Posted by Fractal-Fett

How do you attach the chicago screws???

In this case, they are fiberglasssed right into the plate. I put down the resin then the fiber then the resin just like you would lay the glass. However, when I prepped the glass, I cut a small hole for the post to go through. So the post is coming up through the glass and the base is under it. It's sandwhich between the glass and two layers of resin. I;m hoping that eliminates any issue of popping them that can occasionally happen when you use a glue or JB Weld.

Once everything's done, I'll mark off on the carrier vest where the posts go, cut a hole in the vest and screw the male end end from the back of the vest. Similar technique I used for the bolts on my A'den plates and vest. Except with those I just bolted them straight through the plate.

O.K, that makes sense. Thanks!!!

Alrighty, here is today's update:
Rough sanded and prepped for Bondo...

Bondo'd...

Next step that will take place over the next couple days is sand the bondo down and get those plates smooth! Once theyre all sanded, I'll reevaluate to see if any additional Bondo needs to be added and sanded again. My experience with Bondo has always been 2 to 3 applications is required to get it totally smoothed out.

I salute you for your service to us as a police officer!!!

What do you use to sand the fiberglass??? I hear fiberglass dust is deadly. ???

Originally Posted by Fractal-Fett

I salute you for your service to us as a police officer!!!

What do you use to sand the fiberglass??? I hear fiberglass dust is deadly. ???

Thanks

I just use a Black and Decker palm sander with 80 grit sandpaper for the rough sand. I'll use a 150 grit sandpaper when I sand the bondo.

As always, yes the dust from Fiberglass, Bondo and Bondo are toxic. Not instant killers but, they sure won't help anything and are carcinogens with time.

Always use a respirator mask when sanding that stuff.

Well your armor is looking good. Can't wait to see what you have for the finished product.

Looking good so far A'den! Loving the display rack you have been using...
As all ways keep up the good work

Alright, today's update:

Two hours of sanding. The shoulders, the right gaunt and 3/4's of the right lowere leg are fine sanded. Over the next couple days I'll try to get the rest of the pieces fine sanded.
As expected, there were air pockets. However, nothing is too major. I think I can fill them with glazing putty rather than more Bondo.

Lookin' good! Keep it up.

Hey they are looking really good. Great job!!!!

It's looking great A'den. I'm looking forward to the finished product. Very inspirational that a build like this can be done without breaking the bank.

Here's today's update:
These pieces were fine sanded today before I ran out of sand paper, I have 3 pieces left to finish this portion of the job.

I went to the store to buy more sanding pads and picked up some glazing putty as well. I figured I didnt want to do anymore sanding today, I'd save it for tomorrow. So, I glazed the pieces that had been fine sanded:

At this time, this project is turning out to be exactly as labor intensive as I had anticipated. Making the templates, painting, assembly, that's all the easy stuff. The fiberglassing itself isn't even difficult. It's the sand, bondo, sand, bondo, sand, putty, sand, putty, sand... that gets old quickly.
As I sat sanding today, an epiphany struck... All the flat plates, ie those without intense angles etc., I should have made from 3MM sintra. It would have saved alot of time and work. Likely, I'd be to painting by now. If anyone is following this build with the idea of doing one for themselves or applying these techniques to the build on the Mando from another era, I would suggest that any plates you can make with metal, sintra or trashcans you do so. In the case of my build, that would have been the backplate, left thigh, fronts on both lower legs, right gauntlet and the upper shell of the left gauntlet. Due to the raised plates on the right thigh, left lower shell and the intense angles on the chest and shoulders, they are the only pieces of this build that I really had to use these techniques.
So, tomorrow, more sanding. I will hopefully get the last 3 pieces fine sanded and hopefully glazed. Hopefully I'll be cooking along fast enough I can start sanding the already glazed pieces as well. However, that may be another day.

They are starting to look more like armor peaces now. Great job and keep up the good work.

Bummer bruv!!! Live and learn.

As they say, hindsight is always 20-20!

Nevermind, keep up the awesomeness!

Ditto! Don't give up now, the armor's looking to good to turn back.

Another update...
Today I finished with the fine sanding on the last 3 pieces...

And got them spot filled with glazing putty...

Next step, fine sand the glazing putty!

Getting closer vod; great job. Keep up the work. Sooner or later it will be done.

Almost done vode!!!

getting closer lookks great

I took yesterday off for my birthday. Got back on it today.
These pieces are still in the glazing putty/sand phase. They are on their second application of putty. A couple will have at least one more fill tomorrow.



These I filled and sanded all I can. They have been primed with an automotive primer. Next step for them is to be wet sanded.

Happy b-day!!! Looks great!!!

Looking good. I'm looking forward more and more to the painting of these armor peaces. C'mon tuesday make your appearance so that he can get them done. Oh and hope you got my Happy Birthday message.

Hey ner'vod have a happy b-day I cant wait to see what thay look like when there painted

Looking Great!!! can I have it

LOL.. actually, I will probably never wear these. I'm working out a deal with a buddy of mine who does vacforming. We're going to see about Vacforming sets out of styrene. If it's successful, we'll be selling complete sets or just componants. The plan is to keep them cost effective for people. We're not looking at selling sets for $800.00-$1,000.00. If we go into this venture, probably complete sets for less than 1/2 that.

Awwwwwwww man was really hoping to see you in the armor. Oh well I guess that dream wont be accomplished LOL!

Originally Posted by Commander720

Awwwwwwww man was really hoping to see you in the armor. Oh well I guess that dream wont be accomplished LOL!

Well, it will be this armor just a styrene replica of it. These actual plates are going to be converted to molds and will hopefully spawn an army of Neo's!

Originally Posted by A'den Skirata

Well, it will be this armor just a styrene replica of it. These actual plates are going to be converted to molds and will hopefully spawn an army of Neo's!

Yahoo!!!!! Sounds AWESOME!!! How does he vacform??? with an upright, or aflip-over??

Well hopefully we will see that soon. I'm looking forward to the first neo that comes to a comi-con.

Here's this mornings works done...
Primed and ready for wet sanding:

(Hopefully) last application of glazing putty:

Hoping to get some more done this afternoon after the glazing putty sets.

What is wetsanding???

Use water with the sand paper or use a sanding sponge. helps get a smooth surface. And if you wet sand with 1500 or 2000 grit, it will be smooth as glass

Sweet!!! sounds great!!!

Thanks for the compliments everyone.

Wel, I've gone as far as I can go with this kit.

Here are the pieces that were finished sanding and primed late this morning:


Here is the whole set wetsanded:


They are as smooth as a baby's bottom now. Aside from painting them, they are done. I'm waiting to hear from my buddy to see if these are going to be shipped off for vacforming to build an armor of Neo Crusader's for anyone that wants an affordable, well built, prefabbed kit!

Yup, that's what wet sanding is. I didn't use paper that fine. I used 500 grit. Considering when I sand to paint I usuallu use 150 grit, that's pretty smooth for me.

They are looking mighty fine there vod. Great job......now lets see some of those custom neo mandos LOL!

Nice one matey!

You got the usual dead zone of completion?

Or has the satisfaction sunk in early?

Dea zone. Satisfaction won't sink in til I have the styrene set in hand, painted and fully assembled!

hehehe!!! :P

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alright, so I have gotten a few requests on other forums to post up some pix of the armor on before I sent it off to be vacformed. So, I through on a work uniform (not the undersuit that will be used) and my old Jaing Skirata Rohlan Dyre style helmet (not the helmet that will be used with the Neo) and taped the armor in place. Here's the results, let me know what you think (again, everythings just thrown on, it's not balanced, straight properly seated etc. so be nice!):




So now the set is boxed up, wrapped in bubble wrap and surrounded by styrofoam peanuts and is ready to shipp. I will likely get it off on Friday.
I'll continue updates with soft goods, weapons and the helmet as they come in. But, there won't be any armor updated for a bit.

One thing i would say is that the chest armor looks like it sticks out a bit much at the top?!

This may be because of it not being seated properly as you said so forgive me, that would be my only observation!

That said, I think it looks awesome!

Great job.

Looking good so far! What are you going to do for a cod piece? Is it going to be fabric to increase your flexibility? I can't wait to see it vac-formeD! Keep it up

Originally Posted by Boba-Debt

One thing i would say is that the chest armor looks like it sticks out a bit much at the top?!

Great job.

Because it's not bolted down, that has a play in it. But also, I modeled more after the KOTOR comics than the games. So it's much larger. With a hollow backing, like they will come once vacformed, females can wear it too! LOL

Originally Posted by Tracyn Ordo

Looking good so far! What are you going to do for a cod piece? Is it going to be fabric to increase your flexibility? I can't wait to see it vac-formeD! Keep it up

I'm going to wear a loincloth and a 1/2 kama in back.

Sounds great!!!

Alrighty, the armor is going out in the mail today on it's way to get vacformed. In the meantime, it doesn't leave me alot to do but sit and wait. I'm waiting on my helmet, waiting on the armor, waiting on the undersuit... etc etc.
So, I do have a couple things I can work on in the meantime. Here is the artwork I'm using as my primary inspiration.

If you notice in the artwork and many of the Neo's in the KOTOR comics, they seem to have some type of leg strapping system and chest armor carrier. If not carrier's, they have straps or some odd ribbing on the flightsuit. To help recreate that look, I'm utilizing a MOLLE carrier vest and two drop leg MOLLE platforms to mount the torso armor and the thigh armor too...


Finally, I acquired a Meg Bloks Creature Seeker's scuba tank on ebay. Not the nice base the space jetpack one it but, I'm going o try and mod this into a jetpack.

i like the vest

I like the scuba tank!!!

Love the vest. Wish I could find a cheap vest somewhere for my armor. The one at Wal*Mart that I want is an XL which I am no where near that size.

Hey dude quick question... where'd u get your molle gear? I need something like that for my Mando, and for work...lol

Kal

probably ebay or some where else google it i found on bye googling molee vest

Originally Posted by kal'ika

Hey dude quick question... where'd u get your molle gear? I need something like that for my Mando, and for work...lol

Kal

Replied to your PM

got it thnx!

Kal Waco