Third time’s a charm, right?

[Choruk Diryc]

First – 5 or 6 layers of FG… Heavy, didn’t sand it, took shortcuts, etc
Current location: in a box in Newark Ohio… I’m in El Paso Texas


Second – Aluminum for sale signs. Had issues with it not staying shaped and glues were very temperamental… I probably cut myself a million times.
Current location: El Paso landfill (Glue came undone, moving chaos… I said screw it)


Third Attempt as follows:
Concept: Make Male plates look as feminine as possible for my Tom Boy style.
Goal: 1. actually finish a kit that I am proud of enough to submit for application
           2. get some cool stuff made that might spark my Husband’s interest enough to come to armor parties with me (he already wants to go to cons… just not kitted out – he WILL come to the dark side eventually)
Crappy Drawings outlining design:





Current Soft parts: I have small arms (i.e., feminine) I’ve decided to go sleeveless. (Different color tanks for color pop – currently have black, red x3, and orange)
It does get uber hot and sunny in ELP, and I plan on moving eastward in my next PCS (no idea when/if/where that will be) – so alternate attire may require sleeves at some point for protection from the elements.

Current Armor: I purchased a TK Chest set to my custom measurements – I wasn’t expecting vaccuu-formed chest pieces, but they do have a boobish shape. I still need to cut the top corners (they poke into my shoulders) and apply a little bondo/sand. Vest will be made tailored (by me) to the torso plates. The back will be made after I am satisfied on the vest’s back, and side plates will be made to accommodate the chest/back while on the vest.




The knee/shins – yes I know they will have to be moded, but if you look at the concept drawings from all three of my kits, that is the shape I’m going for… I will make these work. I plan on cutting the overhang padding from the sides and filling in the vent holes with bondo. Shins need extended and Straps in back will be covered with leather (as will every other strap that you’re normally supposed to hide - hide in plain sight kinda thing). Any other mods y’all can think of?
Helmet – I had a one piece Jango that I extended the cheeks about 2-3 years ago (that bondo is going to be a pain to sand)…. BUT I’m not exactly sure where it’s at… I am certain I saw in the apt when I was on leave in Feb (just got back from A-Stan), but I can’t find it and my husband said our roommate didn’t take it with him when he got kicked out 2 weeks ago-I guess I’ll just look in storage in the upcoming weeks . I am thinking of getting a Demagol helm from forge props, but that one’s going to be a very long job cause I want to do it right.. I.e. make it look like one piece, but still have it as 2… I know how I’m going to do it if I get one

Questions - can I get away with some kind of pouches instead of shoulder bells?
     Just want to verify from the App team… will the animals be an issue even though they are tribal and not an exact image of earth creatures? I just wanted to make sure before I get into painting everything
                     
Thoughts, opinions, and comments are highly requested.

[darthmayhem]

firstly i love all your concepts and the fact that you have made most of all of them lol...

um if the creatures are an issue what if you made tribal versions of star wars universe creatures? and a demegal helm would be cool

[The Pandalorian]

Current Soft parts: I have small arms (i.e., feminine) I’ve decided to go sleeveless. (Different color tanks for color pop – currently have black, red x3, and orange)
It does get uber hot and sunny in ELP, and I plan on moving eastward in my next PCS (no idea when/if/where that will be) – so alternate attire may require sleeves at some point for protection from the elements.

Just to give you heads up, as far as I understand, sleeveless is highly frowned upon and I don't think they will "approve" of it unless you have the "guns" to back it up which most people don't have especially small females including myself.

[Nara Kebiitra]

You are looking really good as far as the planning goes!  I always tell people that the more thought out your concept is, the easier it will be to bring it to life.  If you need any help hand painting or stenciling on any of those designs, let me know.

[ConDar Ward]

I'm sure this kit will be awesome .... you've got plenty of experience now .....






BTW - Sorry the Aluminum signs didn't work out for ya ....
 They're one of my Favorite mediums for Armor ... 

[Si Titran]

I don't think there would be a problem with going sleeveless if it is executed well and works with the rest of the look. As the drawing goes I think it will look spiffy. Especially if you get the angles to accentuate the shoulders.

If you're feeling worried about not being big enough, do hella push ups. They're free!  (Dang I should follow my own advise ha!)

[Jerek Darr]

The "big guns" stance comes from the only canon image of a sleeveless mando is Montross, who was huge. As there is no precedent for a sleeveless female, I would say toned would suffice.

[Slade Kel (Marrok)]

I think Jerek has the right of it, though frankly sleeveless has always looked off to me, even when executed well. Seems to me that you wouldn't want anything exposed when there's a high likelihood of ending up in combat; the flight suits are 'canonically' stated to have some blast resistant properties, like clone and stormy body suits. Of course, with the heat and humidity I've trooped in, I've considered doing it myself, but that's beside the point .

As for shoulder pouches instead of plates, I can comfortably say it won't fly; was in on the Council discussion on whether or now we would allow 'soft' shoulder armor. The final decision was no, as every single canon depiction of fully armored mandalorians (and pretty much everyone else with armor) shows them with hard shoulder armor. We allow soft knees and handwraps (and sleevelessness ) because of Montross, and soft cods/loincloths because of canon mandos wearing loincloths and various other armored SW characters wearing soft cod pieces. However, if you wanted to mount some kind of pouches to the shoulder plates, that would be just fine.

With the animals...dunno, that's definitely an App Team question, though I'm with mayhem: why not do SWarzy animals? The lizard, for example, could easily be made more Krayt Dragon, or maybe even Nexu, by widening the head and adding tiny little claws.

[Choruk Diryc]

Thanks for the comments everyone

sorry for the delay... Ive been on leave and my husband and i have been getting used to being together again after the Army separated us for 10 mionths... He's finally decided that Im allowed to play in my office at the house until 1700 each night  , so Ive been working on my vest... I just need to attach the front to the back, shorten it and I should be ready for the armor (when ever I get done with the plates)



one question... its a little late now, but how do I get my sewing machine to stop hating on Duck Cloth? It works great on any other fabric... cotten, satin, etc... but it gets stuck on, does loose stitches and goes crazy with duck cloth... I bought coat thread when I ran out of cotton and it does just as bad... I was just curious if anyone else ever had that type of problem

Heres a close up of what im talking about... you can see it better on my new vest (the black one) rather than the old tan one that had the same issues
 

[Jerek Darr]

Are you using a heavy enough needle? Needles for heavier faric create a slightly larger hole for the thread to pass through.