Fem-mando Early Crusader (APPROVED)

[Jagen Ordo]

I'd tuck the plate under the chest leather.
That way, when you bend over, the abs plate slides under the chest plate.
Trust me, it's more comfortable that way.

[seugtai]

I'd tuck the plate under the chest leather.
That way, when you bend over, the abs plate slides under the chest plate.
Trust me, it's more comfortable that way.

When I do my next upper test fit I will try it both ways; then I'll know for certain. Thanks. 

Hahaha, yeah i saw that when I was loading the pictures and wondered if anyone else you catch it. Good eye. I also dripped a spot of stain on my backpack that has to be fixed as well.

It was a joke... I see nothing wrong at all, but damn I'll be staring at them all day now trying to find it

Yeah, there actually is a small spot I missed...LMAO Maybe I'll circle it and post it later to show it's location....

We can't have that! I guess I'll just have to go dust off that old thesaurus!

LOL, I may have to get my dictionary out to see what some of them mean too!

[Ajax Kaal]

I would leave the small gap for flexibility sake and what you can do is when you are weathering it up, you can put some dark brown or black rub behind the plate in that space of fabric to darken that space up and it will end up blending into the background. Besides, dirt, water, etc. would naturally end up in cracks and crevices. So when you weather that space, it would be darker anyway. That will reduce the visibility of the space, so I would say don't worry about it. Ultimately, the test wearing will tell you what to do with it anyway.

Cai't wait to see test fit pics.

Keep up the stellar work. I agree going to have to break out the ol' thesaurus as well...

:-)

On another note I have ordered the base piece that I am going to use for my chest armor for my late era/KOTOR era mando. I haven't started a WIP yet as I'm still figuring things out and don't want to start a thread until I can make some serious progress on it.

Cya.

[Ajax Kaal]

Sorry, another thought that may or may not help.

I was noticing the rivet heads are silver and brass, an old trick we used to do in the military was to use a black sharpie, yes, a black permanent ink sharpie and color over the shiny bits that showed from where the paint or such had worn off. The neat thing is, that once it is dry, it weathers naturally from use and will show shiny rub points and such as you go. When, or if it gets to the pure shiny phase again, you just break out the sharpie and do it again. If you don't like it, use alcohol to rub it off. If you intend to leave the rivet heads silver and brass, then never mind. :-) Just a thought and I'm only talking about the rivet heads, not your brass collar piece, that is fantastic in brass.

[Cyrus Rang]

Brilliant! This build is looking better than I imagined it! I really hope I can see it in person someday

[Remo Jadd]

Seugtai Girl, i'm really looking forward to seeing this finnished  .

[seugtai]

Seugtai Girl, i'm really looking forward to seeing this finnished  .

Is that a gentle prod to get moving and finished already? LOL Me too Remo, me too.

Brilliant! This build is looking better than I imagined it! I really hope I can see it in person someday

Thanks Cyrus! Well, I have family out in California so I think that can be arranged.

Sorry, another thought that may or may not help.

I was noticing the rivet heads are silver and brass, an old trick we used to do in the military was to use a black sharpie, yes, a black permanent ink sharpie and color over the shiny bits that showed from where the paint or such had worn off. The neat thing is, that once it is dry, it weathers naturally from use and will show shiny rub points and such as you go. When, or if it gets to the pure shiny phase again, you just break out the sharpie and do it again. If you don't like it, use alcohol to rub it off. If you intend to leave the rivet heads silver and brass, then never mind. :-) Just a thought and I'm only talking about the rivet heads, not your brass collar piece, that is fantastic in brass.

Interesting, never heard of that. I actually have three brass dome rivets left over that I was thinking about using where the silver Chicago screws are. I have them in as place holders till I have the final fit figured out before I make them permanent.

I would leave the small gap for flexibility sake and what you can do is when you are weathering it up, you can put some dark brown or black rub behind the plate in that space of fabric to darken that space up and it will end up blending into the background. Besides, dirt, water, etc. would naturally end up in cracks and crevices. So when you weather that space, it would be darker anyway. That will reduce the visibility of the space, so I would say don't worry about it. Ultimately, the test wearing will tell you what to do with it anyway.

Cai't wait to see test fit pics.

Keep up the stellar work. I agree going to have to break out the ol' thesaurus as well...

:-)

On another note I have ordered the base piece that I am going to use for my chest armor for my late era/KOTOR era mando. I haven't started a WIP yet as I'm still figuring things out and don't want to start a thread until I can make some serious progress on it.

Cya.

That is an excellent suggestion for the plate gap issue! Even makes me want to look up water damage on suede and some other elemental effects left on suede. 

And you know how much I'm looking forward to the start of your next project from our chats. So hurry up already!

[Ajax Kaal]

That's why if you plan on using pig suede or suede outside you have to treat it with water repellent spray or it can ruin the suede. On brown, water will spot it darker and over time it will lose the fuzzyness of it and just end up being rubbed down to the skin. The first desert jungle boots issued to the military were of a suede like material and after a lot of wear and tear it just rubs down and such. I still use my old desert jungle boots for yard work and other grunt work and they are pretty worn. I will take a pic of them and you can see what happens to tan suede like material over time from use and abuse.

On the note of chicago screws, I use them for all of my projects so if I ever need to replace a part, I can easily do so. Trying to drill out a rivet and rip it out without tearing up the area is a major pain in the shebs. If you are worried about it coming loose you can use a simple drop of thread lock to help it stay tight until you are ready to take it apart. You will want to use a low strength thread lock and not the high strength. Just enough to hold it in place, not lock it down forever. I think blue is the weakest and then green and then red will lock it down really tight. Usually you find it in auto parts stores as it is used a lot in the building of cars and such for bolts that are under massive amounts of pressure and vibration.

I know, I know...I'm hoping to start more work soon on it, but still haven't figured out some major parts yet...but I will definitely let you know once I get it up and running. :-)

[Remo Jadd]

Is that a gentle prod to get moving and finished already? LOL Me too Remo, me too.

Only a little bit 

[Ajax Kaal]

Ok got the pics done for the suede like wear and tear.

First off as a note, the suede like material used on military boots is more of a "rough out" leather that has suede like qualities. It is very hardy and lasts for a long time. I've had my desert hot weather climate boots since 1995 so that's around 15 years. I haven't worn them everyday but they have a lot of time in them. Also, I never treated them with water repellent spray as their wasn't a need to due to it being the rough-out leather and designed for abuse. Most normal suede is not setup to take a lot of abuse, but as normal always test the spray on a small piece beforehand to see what it does to the coloring. If it is a synthetic suede like material, most times it won't be bothered if it gets wet as it is not true suede.

In order to understand how something wears you need to see it new to have the baseline.

Boots when new:


Ok here's mine now:


The big thing to note is that over time the roughed up leather tends to wear down and just go smoothish, the material feels like a form of sandpaper now and not soft and such. It also goes towards a darker color as you can see.

Here is a close up of the toe:


Obivously the toe takes the most abuse as it is first and foremost and upfront. See how the toe cap is practically bare and down to the leather base. It is worn smooth and dark basically, well smooth is a relative term...

This is a view of the side of one of the back heel cup areas:


Not only is it dry and cracked, but I noticed that they had scuff areas where they look gouged and ripped up somewhat. That is from the sides hitting each other and getting hit by branches and such as you walk through stuff.

This is more of a viewpoint and focus on overall wear.


Notice how it is really dark around the outside and remains lighter as you go upwards towards the areas that don't receive the most abuse. But also you will notice that in some high areas with lighter colors, the higher areas get darker or dirtier while the lower areas which are more protected remain lighter. You can also see the crease areas across the toe and see how they wear and dirty.

This is to focus on cracks and under areas and how they get darker due to dirt and moisture getting shoved up in them. Also notice how the raise areas of the leather look burnt, from rubbing and abuse. Also look closely at the area around the eyelet and see how it looks compared to the area around it....


This was interesting, I noticed that the color and depth of the darkness changes color when moved in the sunlight:


So ultimately when you have lighter color leathers, they wear darker in areas that receive a lot of abuse over time. Now remember this is after around 15 years of abuse and also from walking in wet grass and such. If they had never been exposed to wetness, they would have worn differently. A lot of the higher areas are going to look dirtier and cracks and crevices are going to look darker as well. Areas behind an upraised object immediately behind it is going to be cleaner as the raised up area blocks the part right behind it from damage kind of think of a rock in a stream and how the water moves around the rock...the area immediately behind the rock is smooth and quiet while their is turbulence along the side until it reaches an apex at which point it joins back together.

Also, insides of worn objects will wear differently than outside exposed areas.

Hopefully this will help you in picturing some possible weathering directions for your leather items. Obviously this is an extreme example, but gets the point across.

:-)

[seugtai]

Wow, Ajax, thank you! Those pictures will be extremely helpful for me to use as a reference. I love it too that all the pictures taken of your old boots have such an artistic flair to them. And my goodness. what's the megapixel on the camera you use? It captures such amazing details! I will definitely be in contact with you to get pictures made once I'm done.

[Zakara Amna-Falco]

Seugtai, again this work is awesome and inspiring.  I should get back to work, but I'm stuck at work. 

[Jagen Ordo]

To get boots weathered, I suggest wearing them for a few months.
The boots I use for my armour look old and used, just by wearing them during the winter months.
With all the salt that was on the streets and walkways, the boots look like they're ten years old instead of two.

[Arashi]

This kit is inspiring, I haven't even finished my first kit yet, and this one has me rolling ideas around in my head for my own early crusader kit.

[Pesh 'katar]

I've just spent several hours in awe of your skills. VERY nice thread, INCREDIBLE kit, THANK YOU for the privilege of watching you work! You have pretty much made me re-think my whole build. Being new here, it might not mean as much, but in my opinion, this is the finest beskar'gam on the whole site! Awesome work vod!!