Custom Mandalorian Custom Gauntlet WIP

lerxstrulz

New Hunter
Working on a Mando costume based loosely on and inspired by the 1313 Fett and am only going to have one gauntlet for now. Was going to buy some ESB gauntlets, but only need one and decided I wanted to build myself and have some fun with it.

To start, I grabbed WOF's gauntlet templates (thanks WOF!) I'm using the right-arm gauntlet only and am basing my design off of it, not doing a full build.

Materials used:

- 3mm Sintra for gauntlet shells (2 layers according to templates)
- 5mm foam board (for attachments)
- DAP spackle (to fill in creases and joints)
- Rustoleum Epoxyshield Concrete Patch and Repair (Home Depot)
- Evercoat Glaze and Spot Putty (red - O'Reilly's Auto Parts)
- Dremel
- Various grits sand paper/blocks, wet and dry

First thing was to print the templates. On my printer they were very small, so I had to print them at 310% for them to fill the page correctly. This size was reached after some trial and error :)

I cut out the shell templates for the top and bottom shells and traced them onto 3mm white Sintra. I formed them using near-boiling hot water and first wrapping them around a 2-liter soda bottle for initial shaping and then several steps of reheating and placing around my arm for final shaping. If found that if I used a heating gun there was a tendency for them to get too hot and they would warp a little.

I used the templates to create the attachment pieces with foam board, adjusting to allow for the 5mm thickness of the board. As you can see from the pics I altered the final shapes a little as I am not building them exactly like the templates.


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Once I had the foam board pieces the way I liked them, I glued the top attachments on with hot glue (being careful not to melt the foam) and once that was dry I used the DAP spackle to fill in the joints and seams. It goes on pink and dries white. I then sanded these areas smooth.

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My plan for the side attachment is to use it as a means to hide the hinges on the outside of the gauntlet. Since starting the build and attaching the hinges I realized I could have inverted the hinges and mounted them flush, but in any case I do not want them showing. My plan is to use rare-earth magnets to attach the side attachment cover at the end of the build.

I coated the shells using Rustoleum Epoxyshield Concrete Patch and Repair. I found it in the paint department at Home Depot. It goes on kind of thick and dries quickly so you have to use small amounts and work fast, but it is very solid and created a really sturdy shape that I then sanded using a Dremel at first and then finished up using 80, 120, 220 and then 400 grit sandpaper. It takes some elbow grease, but it makes for a pretty durable shell.

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Next I used the Evercoat Glaze and Spot Putty to fill in valleys and gaps, etc. I picked it up at my local O'Reilly's Auto store for around 9 bucks for a 1lb tube. Again, this dries very quickly so I typically fed it onto a popsicle stick or spackling knife and put it in place. You don't want to put a lot on at once, so if you have a deep area to fill it's best to put it on in layers. It dries to a sandable consistency within 20 minutes or so. I used an 80 grit sanding block to do initial shaping (you do not need to put a lot of force into it) and finished up with 220 and 400 grit wet sand paper to smooth it out and feather it.

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Next I began painting the shells. I started with a couple coats of gray primer, followed by two coats of black primer. Then I added two coats of metallic silver. (Note, for a really cool metal effect, spray the black and before it dries spray on the silver. The result is a steel-look with really cool shadows, which I discovered by accident but then painted over later since I'm not leaving them that way.)

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This next step I should have done before putting on the epoxy as it would have been much easier, then the epoxy coat would have been sufficient cover. Anyway, I routed out spaces for the hinges and glued them in with hot glue, then covered them with the spot putty. Again this took several layers and some sanding and feathering to have it blend smoothly. I then had to primer and repaint the area using the process above. It would have been easier to do this part before coating with epoxy :)

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I did not fill in ALL of the spots and nicks, etc. as I decided they would make for some good battle damage. After all, we're going for the used and beat up look :) I coated them with a watercolor painting mask I picked up as Michael's in the watercolor paints. It goes on kind of like a rubber coating and after painting your top coat you can peel it off and the silver underneath with be preserved. I think overall it came out with a kind of hammered metal look :)

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I realized I wanted to put the little indentations from the templates in the gauntlet, and again I should have done this before the epoxy step. Oh well :) I used the template to mark them off but then decided I wanted them smaller (shorter) in order to fit a little better. I traced them onto the shell and then taped them off and will route them out then sand, primer and paint AGAIN lol.

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Next up I will start my final top coat colors and apply battle damage, then install the electronics.
 
Yeah I couldn't find much reference material for the 1313 gauntlets other than a single pic in Google, so just decided to have a little fun with it :)
 
Yeah I think their are really only 2 pics which show the gauntlets good. Another member was making 1313 gauntlets with the flame thrower that looked good too. Nice seeing others still interested in the 1313 gear.
 
So I started to route out the indentations on the cover flap and then halfway through decided I didn't like them :) I filled them in with the spot putty and then sanded smooth and decided I wanted those to protrude out instead. So I cut some sintra to size and then cut them in half so that they did not stick up as far. I glued them on, applied spackle around the edges to give them some depth and then repainted.

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Next, I used the painting mask to cover areas I wanted to show as battle damage. Then I painted with a flat gray primer. I removed the masking (it is basically a rubber coating) and had the first layer of battle damage.

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I repainted the silver areas with the painting mask and covered a little more area on each one so that the gray primer would be preserved, then painted the top coat. The blue I picked out came out a little brighter than I wanted :( But that's ok, a good dust up should give me the darker tint I wanted. Also, I think I may have a little TOO much battle damage LOL. Oh well, that can be fixed in post :)

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Next I'll spend some time adding some shadows and making it look a little more "dirty." I'll probably remove some of the battle damage as well.
 
I have not had much chance to work more on the guantlet and won't until after the holidays, but I did decide I wanted to put on a different color of blue. I really like the color now, but will need to go back and do some sanding. It seems the two brands of paints did not like each other well and there was some rippling. The brighter blue was Rustoleum paint+primer and the darker blue was Krylon :/

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I FINALLY had some time to work on the gauntlet...at this rate my whole setup should be ready before I retire ;)

Anyway, sanded and repainted the gauntlet to get rid of the orange peeling that happened last time. Also worked on the accessory a bit, but trying something different. For the closure for the gauntlet, I am toying around with using rare-earth magnets to keep it closed. So far so good using regular round magnets (see pics below) but I will prob switch them out for rectangle ones or use magnets on one side and a metal strip on the other. Anyway, you can't shake it off your arm...it's pretty well stuck on there.

Also, I'm using magnets to attach the accessory. The magnets stick to the hinges in the gauntlet pretty well. I even mounted some copper tubing in the accessory and even with the extra weight it wouldn't come off! So this allows me to use it or not.

Also, I cut out the space for the buttons and electronics. Trying to decide what color to paint the accessory then I'll start mounting the electronics for the RF stalk and blinky lights, add greeblies, etc... :)

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