Custom Mando :D (Pic Heavy)

[Ordeyn]

After much thinking in my thinking spot, I devised a way to improve my pathetic knee plates. I remembered that we had some old rollerblading kneepads out in the shed. I'm really the only on in my family who rollerblades at all any more (which isn't that often anyways) and I don't need kneepads. So, after checking with my mommy, I gutted the kneepads:

Then, I sized the foam pieces properly to fit the knee plates:

I thought a little more (always a good thing to do) and decided to cover the pieces in black fabric leftover from my kama -- scraps really. Always save good sized scraps. The sewing machine got rather angry at me for trying to sew through something so thick and I had to do some hand sewing but got a pretty good result:

So, how do I attach them to the plates? Velcro, of course. Always save good sized velcro scraps. I hand sewed them all and it worked out very well:

When I had finished I noticed all the extra foam I had from the kneepads and utilized them in my bucket. Always save good scrap foam pieces. I have them in place with duct tape but I have to find that stupid glue gun...

Now, can someone give me a visual diagram of where exactly the knee plate is supposed to sit in relation to the kneecap?! I'm so confused about it. Thanks!

P.S. I weathered my armor with some black and brown paint the other day. No pictures as of yet, but soon when I do my photo shoot. When I say soon, I really mean in like a few weeks. I'm going on a trip for a while.

 

[Snowzard]

I think you've done a great job. Keep doin' good.

 

[Ordeyn]

Thanks!

I'm going to shape that boot armor today. I've learned how to properly use the oven and aluminum foil to do this without a, killing myself and b, screwing up the plastic.

I'll be back when I'm done...

 

[Ordeyn]

That's done. The boot pieces are "in-shape" (haha I'm so funny...).

I'm thinking about painting them white rather than painting them black (like my hand armor). The main reason is the fact that I still have a ton of white paint and because everything on my boots--beside the shin armor--is black already. However, my knee pads are already white and I think having the boot armor white too might throw things off. Either way, I can always repaint.

So yesterday I was bored and decided to throw on my armor and record myself because i wanted to see it all put together. It's not a photo shoot but it is something. Here y'all go, but excuse my strange behavior... You've been warned.

And weapons are slowly not really coming together, but I'm really motivated because I'm going to go to GenCon this year! I've thrown together some pathetic designs... that's about it.

 

[kalika]

great work Ord'ika, looks good! If you need help with the weapons... Like I said on the mercs, I'll be happy to help you out.

 

[Ordeyn]

Thanks. I'm probably going to need lots of advice in the weapons department.

Speaking of which, while I was waiting for the silver coat on the boot armor to dry, I saw some wood lying on my dad's work bench and decided to try my hand at crafting a gun (a skill which my younger brother has mastered quite well, as the bench is littered with them). I want a hefty pistol and here's the gun base that I came up with:

I'm going to sand around the grip and "trigger" more and use that long lanky piece I Gorilla-glued to it as a starting point for attaching what random bits of gun-like things I've been collecting. It's not impressive yet, but it will be.

And here's those boot plate weathered, silvered, and masked. I'm going to see if I make it using what black paint I have left and if not sand it all off and go withe white paint.

Probably more progress tomorrow.

 

[Ordeyn]

And when I say tomorrow I really mean in a few days.

Here is whats happened...

Boot plates are dun dun dun:

I've made way more progress on my pistol than just this, but it's my most recent picture:

I can't wait to show you what I've done to it. Waiting for glue to dry.

And I think that I can officially say that, for the most part besides like belt pouches, my beskar'gam is finally DONE! I grimed up the last few pieces this morning.

*dances* I'm excited.

 

[dustunite]

just went through all 8 pages and wow looks great, seems like a lot more work when you see all the steps

 

[Scott Kaufmann]

I wouldnt knock the video. It can be difficult to figure out what exactly you should be doing in front of it.

 

[Ordeyn]

Thanks. It's only taken me a year and a half.

This looks pretty hefty to me:

I know it's not perfect, but for what I had I think I've done all right. Lemme know whatchya think. (hint hint kal)

 

[kalika]

well... the boot armor looks great Ord'ika, and the blaster is coming along rather nicely. Do you have an overall idea of what you want it to look like or are you playing it by ear?

 

[Ordeyn]

I'm playing by ear with what I've got. I didn't really start with much as far as a plan, but pieced things together like a puzzle and that's what I got. Here's something that I'd like to do to it:

Once again, I'm all about leftovers. These are scraps from my vest and boot spats. It covers up some of the bad spots, though I'm not sure how realistic it looks. This is Science Fiction, but I don't want it to look stupid.

Also around the round part before the mesh:

and, maybe:

Here's how it looks in my hand:

This may be crazy, but I want to paint it white (seeing as I've run out of black paint and don't want to buy another can just for one object). Let me know what you think! I welcome input.

 

[kalika]

nah looks fine... kinda has a hair dryer look to it but then again so do some of the cannon blasters

 

[Ordeyn]

Do you remember that hair dryer I used to shape my armor? Well, not too long ago it went up in flames, literally, and I salvaged some of it. So it is part hair dryer. Speaking of which, I weathered and painted it just a few hours ago.

Between my last few posts I've been working on an ammo belt/pouches. I'm happy to say I'm done with them:

Left-over kama material, btw. I hot glued it on and it seems to be holding pretty well.

I designed two side pouches to fit my IPod so I could carry it. Also fits my phone. I designed them with the clone trooper pouches in mind.

Finished(ish) gun pics soon!

 

[Ordeyn]

I'm pleased to say that I'm am very very very sure that my beskar'gam is finally complete as of tonight. I've taken some pictures with my computer but they aren't nice at all. But I'll post a few anyways, and maybe some videos, too, since you enjoyed the last one so much.

Cheers!

(Videos, btw) \/

 

[Brail khan]

very nice, excellent work

 

[dustunite]

yes very nice! colors are great and the two tone chest armor is awesome. are you still planning on doing the cape?

 

[Strabo]

Very cool I was thinking something similar when I get to the kneepads on my current project. I was thinking of using those foam work kneepads and cutting them out to the desired shape then mounting the plastic part over that. Hopefully it'll work too

 

[Ordeyn]

Thanks for the compliments, y'all!

dustunite: Now that the I'm pretty much done with this kit I don't know what's going to happen. I still like to do some sort of cape so we shall see!

Strabo. Lemme know how it goes.

I know I've said this like a thousand times, but I'm going to do a photo shoot! Maybe even some of my senior pictures can be in my armor.

 

[kalika]

Ugh... not the capes again! lol Your kit looks great Ord'ika.