Custom Mandalorian First Try at Mando

WaltFlaniganDog

New Hunter
Hello all-
First and foremost I want to thank all of you that have guided me thus far and those continue to create and inspire. I wouldn't be any where near where I'm at now, had I not stumbled across this site.

On to the project: I made a Halloween costume a few years back to go with my Clone Trooper helmet I bought. I had a lot of fun making the costume, even though it looked terrible by TDH standards. My goal is to someday work up to the level of making a true to movie Fett suit (probably ESB). This project is a custom Mandalorian suit inspired by the Republic Commando books. I kind of imagined a Clone Trooper going rogue and becoming a bounty hunter.

For my practice run, I purchased two helmets: a normal men's batting helmet and a girls softball helmet (complete with ponytail extension). I bought them both at a used sporting goods store for about $10 a piece. I cut the brim/face mask off of the softball helmet, which already kind of looks like Lando's mask from ROTJ. Here is what I have done so far. I apologize in advance for my lack of photos from the earlier stages. I'll do better next go around.

Thanks for all the support.

ber
 
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Sorry, technical difficulties with the photos...

DSCN1213.JPG
 
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View attachment 66273 View attachment 66274 I used the ponytail extension as a rear vent. I'm still probably going to cut some slits in the back of it as well. I don't know why, but I like the look of this style of helmet better in person. Looking at the pics now, I think it looks like ****. I'm thinking I should have angled the bottom or something.

More to follow.
 
The Pictures didn't come through on the last two posts but from what i can see, it's coming along awesome! I'm curious, how did you transfer the pattern onto the plastic. I'm assuming you printed out the pattern right? I'm really impressed as to the lines. I really like this method for doing a Mando. Since my next project is going to be a custom Mando, I'll be watching your build for sure.

I will make one suggestion and you may already know this; forgive me if so. Before layering on the Bondo or fiberglass/resin, scuff up that plastic sign sheeting really well with some 120 or 220 grit sandpaper. I didn't scuff the inside of mine before putting the fiberglass on the inside to provide reinforcement and now I'm dealing with issues resulting from the sign plastic basically delaminating from the fiberglass underneath. Why is this bad? Well, while sanding around the cheeks, where it's pulling away, the sign is effectively 'bouncing' while the body filler in the cheeks remains static. This causes the body filler edge in the cheek to sand more and this creates a lip as well as a crack between the filler and sign material (where the seam is). So... I've had to dig the filler away, lift the sign, and then slide glue between the sign and fiberglass. Then, of course, press the sign down, allow to dry, refill, sand, etc. Big pain.

Again, that's just a quick tip I learned the hard way. If you're not past that step, it would be a prudent one to do. :)

Looking great so far! Thanks for sharing.
daryl
 
Actually, I didn't even think about that. That's a great tip and I'll be sure to use it before applying the fiberglass.

As far as the cuts go, this was a little bit of trial and error. I tried making posterboard templates for all the paper templates I printed out, but I found it works better to cut out the paper ones then use a glue stick and attach it right to the styrene. For the straight line cuts, I used a steel square clamped down along the edges then cut with a box cutter. My wife has a slide cutter used for scrapbooking, that might work pretty good as a guideline too, but isn't strong enough to cut all the way through styrene. My biggest regret thus far is not completely cutting out the visor on the top layer of the mask. I thought I would be able to cut fairly accurately with an exacto, but I was way off on that one. The Dremel didn't help much for this either.

I'm struggling with the ear pieces right now, mostly because they require a lot of detail and time, and I don't have a lot of that right now. I was hoping to have everything ready for paint by this weekend, but that ain't happening. When I get some time next week, hopefully I can get some more pics up.

ber
 
I hear ya. Everytime I think I'm getting close to being ready for final wetsanding and molding, I spot something else wrong with mine. This being my 1st attempt at a helmet, I've been able to chock all these setbacks as growing pains. A few more helmets down the road and I wont' have that luxury. Haha!

Have you started browsing around at the Mandolorian Mercs site? One thing is for sure, if you haven't already, putting a build thread (or just cross-posting this one) up over there will get you many more responses. It makes sense really; this being a Fett site and all.. :) You'll probably get allot more tips, help and general feedback over there that will hopefully all add up to motivation to get through your build. Just an idea..
 
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