Mandalorian Merc Nickel's Open Seasons Death Watch

[Nickel]

I have posted my work in progress over at the Mandalorian Mercs, but I thought I should share it here and get some more input. I've stopped, started, and restarted this project several times over the years, but I have been seriously working on this project for a little over a year now. I'm finally getting close to finishing it and I'm getting excited about being able to wear it.

Helmet
http://mercs.firespray.net/forum/index.php?topic=20531.0

Armor
http://mercs.firespray.net/forum/index.php?topic=48620.0

Soft Parts
http://mercs.firespray.net/forum/index.php?topic=48651.0

Gauntlets
(No thread yet)
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This is the comic book art that inspired my armor build.


I'm pretty happy with how my helmet looks.


I decided to go with metal armor for this build. I bought some chest armor but it might be a bit too small, so I may have to make a new set. The rest, I cut and hammered out myself. This was the first metal work I had ever done, so I am pleased with how it turned out. I also made the vest myself.



I made holsters for my guns; a resin DE-10 and a DL-44 that I made from an airsoft gun. I also made a beskad from a wooden pirate sword.


This was my first test fitting. I've since sewn the vest closed on the sides and added straps to hold the thigh plates down.

 

[Jaro Krieg]

Yay for Metal!

The Plates you did for yourself are realy good.Your backplate realy shows your skills.
Aswell as the Legplates. The Plates you bought - well "a bit" too small is an understatement. This is what normaly happens when you buy something wihtout actually testing the Size of the thing.
But i dont see any problem for you making new ones.

For the Cod,. you could try to dish those diagonal lines in the middle like here Kniekacheln / Tiefschutz aus dem 1. Laserschnitt (1,5 mm Alu) - Schmiedeschule - Mandalorianische Beskarschmiede for example.
For the Chestplates you also could try to dish in the Chestmusculatur like here http://imageshack.us/a/img33/2226/platten.png though you will go black here another example foto of how this line would work out in blackcolor (check the middle one)

I also have to state that your Shoulderplates are to small. Compared to the Open Season comic the Plates nearly cover the whole upper Bicep. You may have to make just a bigger shoulder and attacht them abit lower on the vest, so that the weight would bring them down and cover your arm better (like the shoulders of Boba Fett)

I also like the padded style of your Vest. Keep it up!

 

[GhostDarAvode]

that looks wicked! I especially love your helmet and "soft parts". I don't know how else to put it. that vest looks super cool!
-Ghost

 

[Nickel]

Thanks, guys!

I'm glad there isn't anything major that I hadn't already heard.

One thing about the armor... The chest armor seems to fit my chest pretty well, but it looks tiny on me because of the way my vest is cut. (and I'm fat) I do plan on making larger plates, but the current ones feel right. The shoulder armor feels pretty good too, but I agree everything does look way too small.

The vest was a pain to make. I liked the quilted look of Boba's vest, but I liked the cut of Jango's so I combined the two. The quilting took forever to sew and I got burned out halfway through my vest. The front is quilted but the back was left plain. It's covered by the backplate so it doesn't really matter.

Jaro - You can see in this picture that I did have the angles in the codpiece at one time. I wasn't happy with the way it looked, so I hammered them smooth.

 

[Nickel]

I cut up a foam mattress pad to use for my helmet padding. I didn't want it to be too hot in there, so I tried to use as little as possible. I also wanted to leave some room in case I decided to add fans or a voice amp in the future. I only added enough padding to stop the helmet from wobbling on my head, and to cover any uncomfortable spots. I used hot glue to attach the padding.



Beskad 2.0

I wanted to upgrade my saber and I had an extra pirate sword, so why not? I used better paint this time and I used suede lace on the handle. I wanted to use a Turk's Head weave ( A Long 4 Bight Paracord Turk's Head Knot - YouTube ) on the handle but I didn't use enough lace (I cut about 10ft), so I wrapped it instead. I still didn't have enough lace to finish the handle, so I cut off another 5ft of lace and ended up with this.

 

[Nickel]

I bought some new boots and gloves for my costume.

 

[Nickel]

I bought a pair of Eternal Armory's Clone Wars cartoon Death Watch gauntlets. I figured these would be good enough until I could upgrade or modify these into comic style gauntlets. These are a nice heavy-duty vac-formed plastic and they're roomy enough for my fat arms.

I have trimmed the excess plastic and have started installing the hinges.

 

[Nickel]

I've started making new patterns for my armor. I used masking tape to make them. I think these will look much better than my old plates. I was surprised at how much bigger they were, because the old plates felt pretty good but they looked too small on my body.

These new plates should look a lot better. I still need to tweak my patterns a bit before I start cutting metal.

 

[GhostDarAvode]

Looking awesome!

 

[Nickel]

I've made a bit of progress on my new plates. I should have the rest finished by tomorrow.

 

[Nickel]

As promised...

 

[Nickel]

I primed and painted all the armor in black. I also put new velcro on the armor and the vest.

Here is a mini paint tutorial for how I added the Death Watch sigil to my shoulder bell.

I started by putting a double layer of masking tape on the armor. One layer was vertical and one was horizontal, with the edges overlapped. I then measured the armor and found the center point of the plate so I could place the sigil. I then blocked out the outside dimensions for the sigil and drew it on the plate. Next, I traced my lines with a darker marker. I then used a hobby knife to cut out the design. After adjusting the pattern a bit, I then added some masking fluid before painting. This time I used toothpaste for my masking fluid. I then sprayed a black mist over red paint to get a slightly weathered look.

I also was able to do a test run of my armor over the weekend at a Jeremy Bulloch event. Squee!

Obviously, I still have a ton of stuff to fix and adjust, but I am very happy with how it looks. It's getting close to being finished. My knees are too heavy and keep sagging, so I need to figure out some way of attaching them more securely. I can't wear them until I get that problem solved.

 

[GhostDarAvode]

Hey Guys!
I haven't been on for a long time.......any ways, I like your new chest plate way more! deffinately looks a lot more "safe"
I have a question about the paiting of the death watch symbol.....you said that you used tooth paste as a masking fluid, so I was just wondering what is masking fluid and why do you need to use that?
I've masked some suff before for some of my paintjobs, and other than a few minor seeps, or leaks or whatever you call them, my edges have turned out pretty crisp.
Oh, and just and idea for the knee pads: you know the knee pads volley ball players wear? it's this really soft foamey substance in the front, with an elastic running all the way around the knee, the whole width of the pad. You could maybe try to get a pair of those, and putting them around your knees inside the leg of the pants. You could attach some kind of pin that comes in two parts, maybe like something on the front of jeans, and putting one half onto the knee pad, and the other onto the metal piece. You would just have to put small slits or holes into the pants, and glue the other half of the pin to the metal knee plate.
Just a thought I just came up with on the spot, so it might not even work, but i'm pretty sure it does
you could even glue a thick black elastic to the metal knee pad, and run it around you leg on the outside....
any way, the suit looks great!
-Ghost

 

[Nickel]

The masking fluid is used to create the little paint chips. It gives you a much more organic shape than tape would, which makes it perfect for creating a chipped paint effect. You don't need to use a masking fluid unless you want the paint to look weathered and abused.

Thanks for the suggestion on the knees. I've got a few ideas I want to try before I go that route.