Back to the Mando Way of Life

[GStam66]

Hey All,

I got the itch to make my own custom Mandalorian armor, after spending two years assembling an ESB Vader and ensuring it met every single detail possible (so much OCD). It's pending 501st approval now:

Anywho. I got my start into Star Wars costuming by building my Boba Fett suit from cardboard, years and years ago. I was so proud of it back then, but my god looking back now, it looked like cheap garbage lol. I still have the helmet for a display bucket, but I'm gonna need to ditch the armor and start over with higher-quality parts.


So here's my conundrum. I'd love to do a custom Mando build, so I don't need to worry about "but the CRL" this, and "for approval" that. I just need to do some research to see which style of Mando helmet/armor/etc I want to go with. Of course I've been watching The Mandalorian, and have kinda taken a shine to his unique helmet with the mohawk, but I'm also still fond of the "classic" style with the rangefinder pokin up. I'm thinking of getting a BobaMaker Jango coldcast helmet so I can have the freedom of either keeping it shiny, or painting over it with plasti-dip kinda stuff in case I change my mind later. I'm sure the rangefinder can be added/removed at will too?

I figured if I focus on making the armor look good, I can save a little money on things like the undersuit, cape (if I go that route), and other stuff.

Any guidance around which vendors are best (reasonable cost/quality/timeframe), or other resources to look at to get ideas would be appreciated.


Thanks again!

 

[Grimstuff]

Hey, welcome!

If you plan to do any kitbashing or otherwise modify the helmet, might be good to avoid a coldcast. They're really fantastic if you don't plan to do anything more to the helmet, aka leave it on as the final finish, but once you do something to scratch away the cold cast or add something to the helmet, it's really hard to colormatch it. Also topcoating paint laters ontop of it can take a lot of prep work, as otherwise the dust of the coldcast can make paint adhesion difficult.

An alternative is glossing it black and using whats called a metallizer lacquer such as alcad II to add a metallic paint layer, which will also open up a lot more helmet options for you not needing to rely on a coldcast source. They can be delicate surfaces though so it's recommended to clearcoat them, which will bring down the shine slightly.

Trade-offs either way pretty much, but something to think about.

And yeah RF stalks can be taken off at will, though you will have that visible channel for it in the ear cap.

 

[GStam66]

Hey, welcome!

If you plan to do any kitbashing or otherwise modify the helmet, might be good to avoid a coldcast. They're really fantastic if you don't plan to do anything more to the helmet, aka leave it on as the final finish, but once you do something to scratch away the cold cast or add something to the helmet, it's really hard to colormatch it. Also topcoating paint laters ontop of it can take a lot of prep work, as otherwise the dust of the coldcast can make paint adhesion difficult.

An alternative is glossing it black and using whats called a metallizer lacquer such as alcad II to add a metallic paint layer, which will also open up a lot more helmet options for you not needing to rely on a coldcast source. They can be delicate surfaces though so it's recommended to clearcoat them, which will bring down the shine slightly.

Trade-offs either way pretty much, but something to think about.

And yeah RF stalks can be taken off at will, though you will have that visible channel for it in the ear cap.

Ah, gotcha. Thank you for the coldcast advice. I'll have to do some photoshop work to see what style/colors I want to go with.

If i decide to go with the Mandalorian helmet, MinuteFett looks pretty decent? For traditional style i was thinking BobaMaker?

 

[Grimstuff]

Np, and yeah, settling on a color scheme you like can take a lot of consideration, as many mando builders will attest to

Also, yep, those are both fantastic makers. Pretty much any helm of sufficient quality will work since you'll going to be converting it to a generic mando. If you wanna save a little there's a lot of great more budget resin helmet options too, my own offering linked in my profile is one, among many others out there. There's also some sellers that offer custom mando sculpts based off of canon or original designs, like NMEprops and others. You can find vendor lists and reviews for those on Mandalorianmercs.com, which in general is a great resource for all custom mando stuff. For a very budget option you could also buy a rubies toy helm too and convert it, or see if you can get one of the newer black series ones coming out next year.

Do expect some of the bigger name makers to likely be pretty far backordered though, as the popularity of the show is driving a lot of strong interest.