Armour tips for the bigger Mando

[Vardøger "Var" Wraith]

Good thread Saz, thanks for the tips.

Any we're "fluffy", not fat. 

[Kel T Skirata]

Ive got a bit of a gut, you can see it side on but the leather vest and belts hold me in fine 




Get the angle right in pics and you lose the beer belly.

[Ghostwalker]

So in a round about way you're saying my kit looks rubbish?

nope I wouldn't go as far as saying it looks rubbish. It looks great front on and probably from the back as well. look at the side shot though and tell me if you think it looks optimal. You KNOW that is the weak point as you've tried to hide it with a cape.

Look, I've broken the taboo by addressing the issue and offering my advice to how I would achieve a similar slimming effect and allowing larger members to feel comfortable about talking about their size in response to finding the best solution for them. Falin's method also has merit, but whilst I respect that point of view, if I personally wanted to spend the time strapping plates to myself I'd have joined the 501st.

okay true, you DID kick this off and I should have given you kudos for it in my original reply.
Yes, I can see where being a walking tank doesn't appeal to everyone.

Whilst you are free to have your opinion, others don't share it, my plates are fine and are shaped to my body, my sash covers my gut and I am well above crl compliance. A couple of days ago I was talking to larger members of other groups who saw my kit and decided that on the form I presented, they are looking to join based on the fact my kit looks good despite me being fat.

awesome! Glad you inspire others to get into this!
Your plates ARE shaped to your body, I just feel you'd ROCK wider ones.

Picking a bone with me is making the assumption you are right, and while your opinion has merit for some members, let's not turn this thread into a pissing contest please?

I should have remembered that tone is not conveyed. When I said i wanted to pick a bone with you it was intended on a much more light hearted tone than what I brought across. My apologies Saz!

This thread is for people to make a decision for themselves by members showing examples of how it's done and discussing ideas. There is no one way to solve the issue, which is why I put this thread up in the first place. So, instead of taking a crack at how other people have decided to do the issue Ghostwalker, try being helpful and posting your kit up, so you can at least show them the way you think is best to covering that girth.

Fair enough.

[Dral Buurenaar]

Saz love this post. I'm 6' 1" and 270lbs. I think these points will help me immensley (No pun intended) to make my kit a comfortable success. Thanks!

[Boz Ving]

Great thread Saz! I think I have all yal beat though. I am 6'1" and 400+ pounds. I was looking for a costume to wear to cons and I kept coming up short (lol). I looked at super heroes (too big), clones (too big), and stormtroopers (again...too big). Then a buddy emailed me a pic of....wait for it...none other than Saz! I said to myself "I can pull that off" and so I searched for "custom Mandalorian armor" and, well, the rest is history! That is what I love about this club...there is room for everybody. Big, small, short, or tall...custom beskar'gam can be made to fit any body type.

As has already been stated, there are 2 ways to deal with size. Hide it or embrace it. Both work and both can be made to look awesome. For my first build, I have chosen the latter. I wanted to look like a walking tank. I wanted to be a "mountain of Mando". Here is one of my app pics.



I'll start from top to bottom with the things I did to compensate for my size:
1. Shoulder-I made the shoulders oversized and made them stick out horizontal instead of laying along my arms to make me look wider up top.
2. Cape-As Saz said, it covers up back fat and big butt.
3. Vest-I used a padded shipping blanket to hide my unruly curves.
4. Legacy Plates-Falin and Ohl'd Vart sold me on this design. The tapered plates draw the eyes inward and take the focus off my girth.
5. Stripes-Ask any fashion guru and they will tell you vertical stripes are very slimming.
6. Pouches-My pouches serve the purpose of a girth belt or sash. They cover the transition from my gut to my lower body.

The most difficult thing for me has been the flight suit. In order to get one that fit my girth it was too big everywhere else. I had to add velcro to the waist so I could double it up so the torso wouldn't be so long. I also had to have the lower legs taken in. I took in the arms and upper legs some too.

Part of what I like about this hobby is overcoming the different challenges thrown at me and making the best kit possible for me. In this kit, I embraced my size. In my next kit, I'm gonna do my best to hide it. If anyone has anyone has any questions, feel free to shoot me a PM.

[Dral Buurenaar]

I have always loved this kit. Kel looks completely hard core Mando and he has very standard looking plates. We just have to play with a layout that either hides or accentuates what we want.

[Blackbird]

Thank you for making this thread, Saz!  There really are a lot of unique challenges for the tubby Mando to overcome before he can pull off a good looking kit.
I am 6'2", close to 400lbs and I'd say most of that weight is in my gut.  It's huge.  I tried enlarged plates, but there are a lot of problems with that.  Simply enlarging the templates doesn't work at all.  Stretching them doesn't work either.  We're not just taller than the Fetts or wider but far more 3-dimensional.  When you enlarge the designs you run into certain spacing and alignment issues that are hard to correct. 
To be honest, if you're a big guy there WILL be a big exposed spot on your sides.  Unless you try to modify your back plate to wrap around to the front or try some side plates or entirely new designs, the traditional Modern Era armor will leave that exposed area that Ghostwalker is talking about.
The way I worked around it was fairly simple.  I used a shoulder cape on my left side that covers it, and I keep my weapon in my right hand so my arm is usually bent or the weapon helps to obscure the lack of armor.
It's not a cheat because we aren't making real armor.  We're making costumes, and costumes are supposed to look good.  You gotta do what you gotta do to look good.

Something else I tried is... less conventional.  I've not talked a lot about it because I'm not entirely sure it's a great idea for everyone.  It can cause you to overheat because it's another added bit of insulation to an already hot costume.  On the other hand, I'm so enormous and out of shape and covered from head to toe in animal skins and a thermal jump suit, I'm constantly on the verge of overheating.
I made a fake chest out of an old shirt, styrofoam and duct tape. 
I made a manzier.  Or perhaps it's a bro?  I took some styrofoam sheeting and sat it over my chest, resting on top of my bulbous gut.  I proceeded to sculpt a fake chest that was fairly realistic and helped to bulk up my my upper body so my torso would be less pear shaped.  This prevents the look I've seen a time or two where the ab plate seems to sit on top of your belly.
Once I had it shaped, I used duct tape to tape it onto my shirt, then folded the shirt over the foam and taped it all again.  It's withstood a tremendous beating but it smells fuuuunn-ky.  I still have full mobility and it's actually very comfortable.

Next, as has been mentioned, I've also used a girthbelt to cinch in my belly a little.  And my ammo belt sits lower on my hip, basically under my belly, and the pouches help to make the gut less defined.  It's less obvious that it's a big gut.
Here's a few pics of my kit:

[Ghostwalker]

Blackbird I did something similar with my current chestplate though mine is hollow.
Even though my gut sticks out further than my pecs the one piece plate is almost near vertical.
The plate curves enough at the sides to hide most of that empty space so you cant see through and my flightsuit fluffs out enough to further hide that air pocket.

lets take a look at my progression to date in images with an emphasis on side shots.




plates were just too small, especially the ab sections.




app photo with previous chest plate but new abs. abs are now large enough but note the angle of the chestplate.



new combined chest/ab plate.



wraps further around the side than the original templates



here you can just see a bit of the empty area behind the actual chestplates.

im going to post this and then go looking for pictures of the latest iteration with my side plates slapped in.

edit1:



I'm sure I have a better shot of the side panels somewhere... but I can't find it.

[Niabi]

I don't understand why Saz has used a pic of me  im really supper skinny  i just hide it under my flab to keep it safe   

One tip from me to help hide it i have a V shape panted on my plates which i feel helps create the allusion of looking thinner than i am.

That and i do up my girth belt really Tight 

Iv been thinking of adding "Side" Plates to my vest in an attempt to brake up the side of me a bit. any one tried that with success ? 

[No'saj Huune]

I'm in the process of trying that out with my Legacy kit, hence the reason I haven't posted my pic yet.  But someone has, just can't remember his name 

[Ghostwalker]

umm that'd be me. last picture i posted has the side panels installed.
they are bolted underneath the front plates and tuck behind the backplate so no obvious seams.

[Dral Buurenaar]

umm that'd be me. last picture i posted has the side panels installed.
they are bolted underneath the front plates and tuck behind the backplate so no obvious seams.

OK....Loving the side plates. Definately going into my armor design !!!!

[Blackbird]

There are some good tips here but should we put the Legacy stuff in the Legacy area?
It's pretty well established already that Legacy armor is slimming.

[No'saj Huune]

There are some good tips here but should we put the Legacy stuff in the Legacy area?
It's pretty well established already that Legacy armor is slimming.

True however I think it would benefit new forum members keeping it here as they may find this thread prior to the Legacy forum.  In all honesty if I had seen a topic such as this when I first joined I would've looked here first.

[Ghostwalker]

You make a good point!
extra side plates will be harder to pull of with the classic plate design than with the legacy plates.