Nevu's Custom Mando (Lots of Pics)

thats pretty cool man

Hey thanks Captain Virk. Lol your the first to actually post a reply. Ive gotten more done but since no one really posted I decided not to post my work. I might add some more since you seem interested a bit. Expect updates by Wednesday.

It seems the trash cans worked out well. If you're having bother with the weapons look at some referance material, stormtroopers, clones etc and see how you can incorporate the look into your guns. You'd be surprised at how a few greeblies and a shot of matt black changes the appearance of something.

Sorry missed this... Looking good so far

Tracyn

Lol its Thrusday and I didnt post any updates sorry! Having issues with my camera again. I found a good starting point for my gun. I will customized a stormtrooper heavy MG-34 gun.

Hey if someone could help, how do i post the pics as attached thumbnail instead of image link?

go to an advanced post and upload them from your computer. Looking good, keep it up. We all love to see new stuff. If that doesnt work, try downsizing the pic before uploading. 4x6 at 72 dpi should be small enough.

Alright, thanks for the help BrenSett. Sorry no updates right now. Still progressing. School just ended on Friday, I was caught up with exams. I will get updates going as soon as I can.

More updates, but no pics right now . Went to the store and looked around for some Bondo, and couldnt find the right one I plan on getting more work done with my helmet as soon as I get the Bondo. O and do u guys prefer that I put the pics in a link or just have them in my post? I know that I personally sometimes just scroll down till I find pics instead of reading everything. Sorry for slaking, I know but it will get done!!!

Work on my helmet has started again! Still no bondo... But I have the templates all cut out and ready for use on my helmet, I just have to attach the dome once I put it together. This might be kinda hard because I made my helmet out of that craft board like AntMan used, kudos to antman for the awesome tutorial!, and it takes longer to dry. Maybe I'll use a hot glue gun... Any ideas how I can glue the dome together??

idk how you are going to glue it, but whatever you do, do it CAREFULLY!!! the dome is tricky...

Yes it is! I got some work done on it this morning. Decided to use a combination of craft glue and hot glue. Using the hot glue here and there and then spreading the hot glue a bit up and down the seam to secure the sides from slipping. I then just slabbed a whole bunch of craft glue over the part I got done with the dome. I got 1 full page of dome template put on, which is about 1/3 of the dome.

Awesome!!! Glad you figured it out and it works!!!

And btw, i just looked at you pics, and you have an AWESOME color scheme!!! looking great!!!


A'den

progress pics? even if only 1/3 of the dome, I love pics.

Originally Posted by Nevu440

O and do u guys prefer that I put the pics in a link or just have them in my post? I know that I personally sometimes just scroll down till I find pics instead of reading everything.

Everyone loves pics! Even if like I said before ^. I would love to show you pics but I am staying at my friends house for a few days and the camera is at home and to far away to get back. I will try to get pics up by late Saturday or early Sunday.Glad you guys enjoy.

Aden: Glad you like the color scheme. I might re-do it though, paint the black parts either white or silver because my jumpsuit is black and it just blends in to much.

Blending in can be a good thing, but it is your suit and your preference. Keep it up and keep us posted. To answer your question about pics, I don't like off-site pics. I live outside of the city, and can only get dial up. Too slow to try to pics from everywhere else on the net. ( Jeez, you'd think a real mando would be able to get better connections) Anyway, I am really looking forward to seeing this done.

instead of changing color to make the armor stand out from the soft parts, weather the armor plates, so they make it stand out.

Check out Apollo's build: http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f34/apollos-build-25340/

Scroll down and check out his weathering, it is XLNT.

You can weather by painting in layers, people use tooth paste as a mask, I just did a couple of layers of color and scratched with screw drivers and even put it on the driveway and did a few pulls across the cement.

So layering and scratching is good.

As for trash can, scratch, dent (ball hammer works great) gouge, then layer paint and scratch some more.

Thanks for the advice Adonian! Since it's sunday, I will not be working on this to much. But good news! I finished the helmet dome and it looks promising, well minus a few spots. It looks bad because its really coated with a lot of hot glue. But once I get some Bondo on there it should be just fine. I am experiementing with some custom ideas for the helmet. I will post those soon.

the robe idea you are borrowing from me will look great with this colour armour. was going to make mine a sort of midnight blue as well with a dark brown coat. hope you dont mind me still using the colour scheme (different design to you of course)

No problem. And thanks for letting me use the idea. I have an old Jedi robe I might cut the sleeves off. If I end up doing this idea I will cut the sleeves off to the point where I will put the shoulder armor over top of it. Thanks! Updates soon!!

Ok, here are my ideas for the helmet. The grey areas will be painted and unknown color, any ideas on that welcome. The grey areas will also be raised a bit instead of just painted on. Please share your input. Any ideas, likes or dislikes of them?
On this one, the very thin grey lines are just there to show the barrier between the cheek pieces and the visor. The lines will not actually be there.

This one I am probably more sure about. I liked the chin idea. Originaly I was going to slid it down more, make it more like a gotee by fliping it over too. But this looked way better!


Input or ideas are welcome!

Ok, I am now going back and making all of my pictures into a pic shown in the post. I will keep the attachments in case for any reason the picture does not show up or isnt big enough to view.

The grey design around the visor? I am not sure about that. I dont know if I have the painting skills. But that sure would look cool. Thanks for the helmet ideas you posted. I really like the yellow. How you cut out pieces to make the visor bigger also is really cool. Its just that would mean I would have to buy a custom visor or somthing right? Most ones I have seen for sale are only just big enough to cover the open area for a reglar Fett helmet. Is there a way I can make a visor?
Thanks Adonian, you rock!

you could use a motorcycle visor, they come in lots of cool colors too.
I like the yellow one too, it looks like a clone bucket crossed with a Mando.

Yeah, I noticed that too. I took the ideas that we made and put them into posterboard and attached them to the helmet, temporarily. Just to see what it looks like. I will post a pic of that soon. Right now I've got to eat breakfast, I'm starving!

Ok I got kinda bored and ended up drawing a design for my shoulder armor. You might be able to figure out where I got the base design idea. Does it look good or just like a sad copy of the mando skull? I wanted to make it look something more kinda my own so its got a twist to it.

Just a couple of variations of the design. Some with color and some without. Any ideas on it or just say which one you like. If you have different color ideas I put ones without color so feel free to edit those. I tried to use these colors because black probably wouldnt show very well and blue is a color very widely used on my costume.

I like the First, Fourth, Second from Last and Last designs, but that's just me... I actually painted up my shoulder plates yesterday, they turned out pretty nicely, except the white paint on the kad'uliik's head kinda cracked... oh well... adds character! lol

Lol this thread of mine is so boring without pics... I promise pics will come soon! It will just be a very long post because I got a lot of work done on the dome. I've decided to put a clone trooper fin over the dome. Anyone know how I can either make or buy a visor for cheap?

you could use one of those acrylic photo frames, cut it to fit, then tint it what ever color you need, there is red/yellow/green/blue/grey/silver tints for cars out there. Or just get a motorcycle visor or a welding shield.

I promised pics so here they are. The first set is without sanding, the second with about 15 minutes worth of sanding. This wil take forever to sand by hand... I wish I was more careful with the bondo.

And as you can see in the last 4 pictures. I decided to add a clonetrooper fin like I said up a few posts.

just playin with your pics again:

as for sanding, get a mouse sander from walmart, they're pretty cheap, and dont forget to use a mask, I have to go to the doctor today, I was sanding last week with out a mask, and have been coughing ever since, and it is getting worse.

*blinks* I missed all this progress! Nice bucket Nevu, I love the designs. And you should totally do adonian's idea or something like it!

I did more sanding today. I managed to find my old Black and Decker sander buried in the garage. I'll post progress pics really soon, first I have to clean it up a bit though. Otherwise it has no shape to it. Lol.
Adonian: Thanks for posting the pic of my helmet. It might not look exactly like that but pretty close.
Ordeyn: Thanks for the kind words. I plan to do something similar to adonians idea. I must first find a visor that will fit the plan though since I will be cutting out some on the sides to give it that clone trooper look. But thanks to A'den I might have found one!!
Pics soon to come!
-Nevu

Ok here are those pictures as I promised. I ran into a problem though. The original dome was so uneven that when I sand it down to the right spot the paper and hot glue show!! WHAT DO I DO? AHHH! I do NOT want to restart it, I just cant. I might have to also fill in a few spots because the dome is now in the correct shape, well minus the very tippy top the fin will cover it, and there are spots that are still to shallow. You can sort of tell by the color difference, the darkest colors being the area that I will have to raise.
I apologive again for the low-quality pictures, but hey there pics. (My camera stinks )

my first bucket (see avatar) had the same problem, just sand it to the shape you need, then use spot filler to smooth it over and fill in the pin holes that are gonna show from the paper. When you paint, use a good filler primer and sand some more.

More bondo. keep layering and sanding and layering and sanding and...you get the idea.

I will sand it down some more today. Thanks for the much needed help so far you guys. I thought that maybe if i put Bondo on the underside of the helmet (inside the dome underneath) where the paper and glue sticks through I could just sand it down more to the right shape. I won't bother my head because my head doesnt touch that part.

Hey all. I am so sorry for not having progress in a week... I went on vacation to my favorite place, Miami! Had a good time down there at the beach. sorry I didn't post that I was to be gone for so long. It slipped my mind, even though I was thinking about my costume the whole trip!!! Progress will hopefully resume tomorrow. And pics will be posted too!

looking goody buddy.

I'm on a bit of a financial vacation myself, that is to say that I am taking a break from spending money

I'm interested to see the painted lid. Any progress with the weapons? I think I'll be starting mine this week.

Yea I understand. Thx for compliement. No progress with the weapons really. I'm just stuck there. I have so many options that my head is all confused with it! I want to have double pistols, but I have enough pistols but I dont have 2 of any of them! I really would like them to be matching. I have 3 options for a rifle. 1 requires totaly making. And the other 2 just require some mods on the barel and stock and then a nice paint. I will try to post pics of it. Maybe you could help me out.

Sorry for double post, but lol I just noticed that in my post before I used the same 2 smiley faces in almost the same spots. Lol its the only 2 that I know the codes for. Must learn the others!

Personally I would try the doing your barrel mods and see how they look, could save a lot of time, plus If you do decide to tackle a scratch build you could always incorporate them (or bits of) all good practice either way!

I agree with the matching pistol idea though, I think it would suit your uniform style.

Looking good!!

currently in the process of making a weapon myself.... FAIL.

i think i'll have to modify one of those Nerf Recon CS-6's.... i already repainted one so it shouldn't be too much work.

Thanks for the input Boba-Debt. I might have to go buy another Nerf Nightfinder because I only have 1 and I partcially modded it and I really like the look of it as a pistol. I have started to lean towards the idea of making a Mandalorian Verpine Sniper Rifle and a Stormtrooper's MG-34 rifle (with modded barell, I will only keep the reciever the same)

Pacxiblix: Thanks for the compliment! And Welcome to the TDH!! I have the Nerf Recon and have seen them modded, they are amazing! I actaully still use the Nerf gun so I dont want to mess it up. (I still like being able to shoot my friends when they come over for parties, he he )

Any ideas how to cut out wood that is about 3/4" thick? I have a dremel and small hand jig saw, but I cant afford to go buy any tools.

I got some work done on the helmet today. Currently the filler is drying so I cant sand it. Idk when pics will be up, sorry summer has made me lazy, lol. I also just got Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare and totally addicted to it. Yesterday i spent like 5 hours on it!
-Nevu

Originally Posted by Nevu440

Idk when pics will be up, sorry summer has made me lazy, lol. I also just got Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare and totally addicted to it. Yesterday i spent like 5 hours on it!
-Nevu

Lazy summer with an AWESOME game...or armour...

Any ideas how to cut out wood that is about 3/4" thick? I have a dremel and small hand jig saw, but I cant afford to go buy any tools. I really want to cut out my verpine!!!!

Work on the helmet is at a stop, so sad! I ran out of spakiling! So i've got to run to the store to buy more sometime soon.

I will also be going slower with this,(is that possible? I think I might crash if I do!) because I am making a set of armor for my little sister. She begged me enough. Its rather cheap, not anything special. She just wants to be able to say she has her own armor. Lol.
-Nevu

Just a minor update. I got rather bored today, I never got a chance to run to the store . SO I pulled out my chest armor and started to weather it! I think it turned out pretty nice. Idk if you notice it or not, you probably do since u all have been doing this long that I, I do not have a silver undercoat. I plan to later add that by totally re-doing the paint job I have. I just did this to see what it looks like.
I will have pictures up in the next few minutes.
-Nevu

Ok here are the update pictures. So sorry for the bad quality, I have a cheap camera and its dark here so getting the right lighting was tricky, but heck its pictures!
In the pics are the progress I have now on the helmet, the progress I have done on my sisters armor (its just cardboard with paper around the edges so you won't see the cardboard from the side. I will do more to it later). And also a picture (I had more but they didnt turn out) of the minor weathering I did to it.










there you go!
-Nevu

looks like its commin along nice. gotta get to walmart for more spackle. when you get it finished are you gonna glass it?

Thanks! I talked to u a little bit last night but we both had to go. I didnt get to ask you this, when you say glass, do you mean Bondo glass or fiberglass? I would really like to fiberglass it if its within my budget. Though I have a bit of pay coming in on thursday for a minor job I did last week.

Glass it meaning fiberglass.

Honestly, there is no need to fiberglass your helmet at this point. Your focus should be on making it as smooth as possible. Fiberglassing is really only worth doing if you are going to layer the fiberglass with resin. If you used bondo glass, then honestly you've used the best thing you can outside of layered fiberglass/resin.

I only used regular bondo. Not bondo glass. I wanted to use it but I just wasnt familiar with it enough. I've been trying to sand it down to make it as smooth as I can but life keeps gettin in the way right now. I hope to get outside today to get some work on it.
The back of the helmet is really weak though. So would it make sense to glass the back just to add that strength to it? Thanks for the input.

Yes, you can glass the back to add support. That should give you the strength your lookin for.

Sounds good to me. (lol if ur wondering y I respond back so fast, its because I have been on here for like 3 hours? Waiting for my parents to take me to buy for spackeling..... Im afraid to get on Call of Duty because I might never get off! )

Something I like to do is to fiberglass (resin and mat) the inside of the helmet, then bondo glass the outside and sand that smooth. It makes it REALLY strong and leaves it with a good smooth exterior for painting &c.

Originally Posted by Nevu440

Sounds good to me. (lol if ur wondering y I respond back so fast, its because I have been on here for like 3 hours? Waiting for my parents to take me to buy for spackeling..... Im afraid to get on Call of Duty because I might never get off! )

sometimes we sit here waiting to see responses nothing wrong with that...
hmmmm call of duty or bucket, that is a hard choice
You can just use resin and fiberglass mat on the inside for strength, its cheap enough, you can get a kit for like $10.00 which is enough for the inside, just make sure you get the glass smooth enough that when you sand it, you wont have large strands sticking out inside your bucket

Ok i've hidden the call of duty CD!!! Sadly I know where it is, I kinda hoped I would forget where it is but I didnt and I found it yesterday.... Whoops! Though I found that if I play COD to long my skills on my Republic Commando game get ruined and I do a lot more there than on COD so I might just stop COD for a while..
Anyways.... UPDATES!! HORAY!
I was able to finish painting and weather my sisters set of armor. I went a little overboard with the weathering.... It looks a bit like someone stuck it in the blender, which I didnt but would have been and interesting sight.. Lol. I also got a bit spray paint happy with my helmet. I just HAD to see what it would look like with a coat of blue. Sadly the paint brought out a lot of my mistakes so I will have to sand that down a lot more and I still have yet to bondo the back of the helmet.
Pictures by the end of the day or sooner!

Originally Posted by Nevu440

Sadly the paint brought out a lot of my mistakes ....
Pictures by the end of the day or sooner!

Yeah, paint has a way of doing that , but that's a good way of finding mistakes and imperfections, dont let it get ya down.

My bucket is on hold until the weather cools off... I work on it in my garage and it just gets too hot to do any work.

Originally Posted by adonian

My bucket is on hold until the weather cools off... I work on it in my garage and it just gets too hot to do any work.

I tried that a few weeks ago. I really wanted to get it done so I found a big fan and had it blowing on me to cool me down. But it didnt help. When I was working on it yesterday I would paint it and then run inside really quickly. Just so the heat wouldn't get to hot for me. But its not the heat that bothers me, im used to being in 98F weather outside, its just the humidity that makes it unbearable. It turns into wet heat, ugh.
I might, just might go out a try to do a little bit of painting before it gets to hot.

Be careful if your painting down in Southeast during the summer. The humidity will really kill the curing ability of the paint. In a dry heat it's not so bad, but our humid summers are the worst for painting outside.

If you have a basement, I would highly suggest painting where you can find good ventilation. Thats pretty much what I have to do if I paint in the summer, because it stays a constant 68-70 with low humidity.

Hahaha!!! to hot?!?! I'm here in 120 degree weather working in my garage!!!

Lol, owch A'den. Though you are in desert land so you would think the temperatures would be really hot there. Thanks for the advice on painting in the summer Novall. I dont have a basement. I dont think anyone in florida has a basement =P
I might head over to home depot later this week and buy some wood for my custome Verpine sniper rifle. Anyone know how to cut wood thats 3/4 inches thick and still get nice curves??

band saw is the way to go there. Then a nice drill press and perhaps a belt sander...along with a lathe for doing the barrel...



I wish...

Try a jig saw. Those work pretty well as long as you dont take to sharp of turns.

Im sure I've got a jig saw buried somewhere in my garage. A lot of stuff is buried in my garage. I'll probably find the car if I look hard enough.

I know the feeling!!! I am going through cleaning mine for an armour party right now, and I keep having these "HEY! THAT'S were that went" moments.

I have the "Bermuda garage", last week I found a fully functional computer in there, I think it was one of those Pentium D's, D for Dinosaur

D for "deathly slowwwwww!"

Originally Posted by NovallTalon

Be careful if your painting down in Southeast during the summer. The humidity will really kill the curing ability of the paint. In a dry heat it's not so bad, but our humid summers are the worst for painting outside.

If you have a basement, I would highly suggest painting where you can find good ventilation. Thats pretty much what I have to do if I paint in the summer, because it stays a constant 68-70 with low humidity.

yeah, our paint dries in about 3 minutes or less

Originally Posted by bh-7603

yeah, our paint dries in about 3 minutes or less

More likely the "or less" part.

I did a little painting in my garage last night, and it dried to the touch in less than a minute, and was able to handle it completely in less than 5 minutes.
Today I'm leaving my garage opened 1/2 way to air cool the house since my electric bill doubled this month (Kid on summer vacation killing me).

Great pictures, I'm getting a reference library. \o/

the armor looks good. im just starting on my first armor using the trash can.. im 12 so most of the stuff that other people are selling are for adults so i have to make my own. trying to decide if i should go with neo crusader or just a crusader armor. any advice? also wut does the reguler crusader armor look like? if possible please post some pics.

The armour is amazing, the concept of using a simple everyday item into something... that resembles a work of art.

The colouring is a good idea, i like the designs on the bucket (which i hope is coming along well... my bucket is at 0% and on hold). Post more pictures soon!

Pacx Out

JasterRouge,
To answer your question about the Crusader armor. I myself do not know a lot about the crusaders. I only know what some look like but as I looked deaper I saw there are many types and eras of the armor.
For reference here is a link found on the Mandalorian Mercs forums. It has their requirements for a crusader armor, which you dont need to really pay attention to but just keep in mind as advice. In the post are pictures of all the eras of Crusader Mandos.
http://mercs.firespray.net/forum/ind...?topic=14399.0
My advice to you is if you really have your heart set on doing crusader armor, I say go for it. But as some one your age I would sudgest doing a simple custom using the Fett Armor templates provided by the WizzardofFlight. The crusader armor is very complex, so it seems to me, and in my opinion would seem to be a very tough first build.
But if im wrong about anythign, someone please correct me. I really dont know the difference between a neo crusader and a regular crusader besides a few topics I found but that didnt give me all the info I needed.

Pacx, good to see you on here ner'vod. Didnt know if you really were doing this or not. Glad to see that you got a topic up of your armor. I want pics of that verp you have!!

And to everyone I apologize for my lack of pictures. I have said several times "pics by the end of the day" and 3 days later, no pics. So I apologize for that. A great way to make up for would be to post all the many many pictures I have!! But I cant do that... I have sadly misplaced my camera while searching in the garage for the jigsaw. I brought the camera with me because my helmet was out there and I wanted to take a picture. SO i must go on a search and rescue mission for my camera...

Good news though. I found another white sterlite 13 gallon round trashcan!! Now that i have this I plan to re-do or just add on to my leg pieces. I dont have any knees and I want to make wrap around shins. I read a post a few minutes ago about how so many people just have re-painted Fetts. I am not saying that everyone does, I've seen some totally awesome customs. But I dont want my custom to be in that group of re-painted Fetts.

If anyone has any ideas how I can make my custom more custom and less of a Fett repaint I would reallly appreciate it.!
-Nevu

Bisep plates! Great way to vary the noraml Fett pattern and they add a practical plate that really should be there in any set of armour.

JasterRogue,

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/File:...orianKOTOR.jpg
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/File:...ian_Armors.JPG

here are some comparison pictures for crusader and neo-crusader era armour.
The first one is neo-crusader.
The second one is (from left to right) crusader, neo-crusader, death watch

hope that helps!

All great ideas, minus Pacxs xD. Lol no all are great. I have a minor idea for bicep armor. But all it would be is just a regualr shoulder piece put there with it shaped perfectly to my arm. I am toying with the idea of having 2 of them on each arm and layering them. Im not sure..
Any ideas as to how to make good looking wrap around shin pieces? Since I have clone trooper looks on my helm, I thought I could make clone troooper shins. Those look nice. But I have no idea how to do that...

You've lost me now, Nevu. I do the basics, remember?

I like the look of your helm, kinda looks like the poor thing is crying :'(.

if we think about it, though, Mando's would have to be very strong to carry knee pads, full chest armour, shoe plates, arm armour (?), cod piece and a helmet, all made of the very heavy DuraSteel (or DuraPlast, one of the two) and be able to run with it....

NO!!! no durasteel. we wear beskar...which is even heavier.

in all seriousness, metal armour can way in excess of 75lbs depending on the gauge and the amount of plates.

Nevu, have you tried http://clonetroopers.net/

I dont spend that much time there, but I think they may have what you are looking for.


A'den

Beskar is the material used to make armour after manhood, right?

before, it's durasteel... i think...

Pacx

You asked for it....

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzttt


swish crack goes this wip.

Bleed for us

*points at nevu and laughs*

do it again! again! again!! :P

only joking Vod.

Originally Posted by Nevu440

Ok, Ok. lol. I have my camera back so i will be able to post pictures soon. Dare I say it, by the end of the day!

Hmmm? End of day?

Yea about that... If you look at the post NOW, it says the end of tommorow, meaning today. Which means I better get those pictures uploaded now!

Okay, I wont be home from work tonight until around midnight, so you have time

Im uploading the pics right now!!! But dang imageshack is taking forever!! It got stuck on 1 of the pictures so I had to restart it... Takes a long time for 16 pictures to load xD

Here are pictures of the helmet. I still have a lot of work to do. The back still needs pretty much all the work. I have to add some custom features to it and then bondo and sand. I only painted it blue just to see what it would look like. This is the color blue I will use on it. I stillsome of the 3D objects I need to place. Like the design that goes on the sides of the visor and the little chin at the bottom of the visor. More sanding must be done on the helmet. I've got a nice long list...

This isnt my armor, its armor I made for my little sister. Its very cheap armor, but it looks pretty cool. Its just cardboard base with posterboard over top of the cardboard to make it shiny and give it a smoother texture. I also went around the edges of it with paper and cover the edges so form the side you couldnt see the inside lines of carboard. I then painted it with spraypaint according to the design she wanted. I then followed the distressing techniques given by a youtube tutorial I found. I just took a knife and a screwdriver and make the damage and scars. Then I painted the scared area and edges with silver model paint. After the silver dried I went over it with black model paint to give it an old age affect. Very simple and looks pretty cool. I might have gone a little overboard with the damage. The first shoulder bell I did looks like the Sarlacc got to it.... (that one isnt pictured. I threw it away and restarted) SOOOO here are pictures of that.

P.s if anyone wants the link for the video tutorial its http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjxWz...eature=related