In reply to Hungary Bill:
'Good visibility' is a relative term LOL
Mando helmets, just like Iron Man's helmet, have a magical 'large screen' inside to allow a super amazing field of vision, it's just too bad it doesn't work anywhere other than the SW-verse...
The dome is on! The dome is on!
Waiting for the last little bit of bondo to harden so I can sand it then it'll be time to paint!
In reply to Morbid:
Why paint? It looks pretty sweet as is.
In reply to bgkast:
Because it needs to be purple. Purple, like Miata, is the answer 
This happened:
I hate primer. Hate it. I hate the way it smells, I hate the grainy, icky texture, but mostly I hate the way it makes every.little.issue extremely visible.
So this had to happen:
I also had to spend some time with the hot glue gun evening out the crappy hot glue job I did initially. The cheeks looked like they were (shoddily) welded in, which was cool, but not the look I was going for.
It's all sanded and ready for another coat of primer tomorrow and I'm hoping the next coat will look better than the first one.
Lookin good! That green is perfect, how did you match it so well?
In reply to Hungary Bill:
The green is actually the bumpcap I used for the dome. When bucket-bucket is finished it will actually be purple and teal.
Still no mandolins but cool build all the same
In reply to Morbid:
Ah dig it. 
Rainy day so no painting. Instead I spent the day getting pieces cut and shaped for the vest that my armor will attach to with some 'help'.
Flack vest is sized and pinned (need to get more thread before I can finish sewing it), and my plates fit 'me' fairly well. I may have to trim the ab plate a bit, and I do need to make a new collar plate (which is why it's not in the picture). I considered going a different direction with my chest plates but now that I see them put together and on the vest with the other plates, I'm going to stick with these.
Not sure it would be useful to you, but I have some old Dainese body armor I could donate to the cause. Tired of looking at it. Essentially one of these, only an older version (that's been wrecked in a few times):
In reply to Ian F:
If I was doing Legacy-style armor that would be amazingly useful, but for this there's just not much there I can use. I very much appreciate the offer though!
Since I had my plates on my form already, I decided to put my helmet, sash, cape and hood on it, too. Now I'm rethinking the color scheme, again.
This is the '100% this is my Mando' scheme:
But after putting everything together before bucketbucket is completely painted:
I'm thinking of leaving bucketbucket mainly silver with one teal stripe (the larger one) and one wine stripe, then keeping the main color of the armor wine with teal accents and teal shoulders. Or maybe I'll leave all of the armor silver as well and only have color on the stripes of the helmet... (clearly I'm decided on what to do here 
)
Looking nice!
I spent more time than should ever be required to sew anything ever finishing my flak vest yesterday. After my sewing machine threw many fits, including one where it spit the needle out of the machine, buried in the fabric in such a way that it couldn't be retrieved and ruined the fabric, requiring me to cut a new front panel and spend 45 minutes ripping out stitches.
But now it is done, the closures are on it, it fits, and if I app in and get told I need to redo it, well, I'm not sure what will happen, but it won't be pretty.
The offending vest:
Now I get to add shoulder tabs (fabric) and finish shaping the armor so I can paint it all and app in. There's a light at the end of the tunnel, finally.
I also changed my color scheme a bit, too (again). After seeing the way bucketbucket looked against my hood and cape in plain silver, I don't have the heart to pain the entire thing. The diagonal teal stripes will still be on bucketbucket, but the designer doesn't allow that much customization. The colors are also off just a bit, my purple is more of a wine color, and my teal is a bit darker.
Everything is formed and, as soon as I get clan approval, the chest pieces will be ready to glue and fill. Clan approval is not required and doesn't mean I'll be approved, but I like the input from those who have already done this a few times.
Oh hey ;)
So I quit updating here, and just generally lost interest in the project for a while after hitting a few too many roadblocks. I decided to get to work again last weekend and, somehow, pulled off a completed project to troop at my first event yesterday. I'm still not sure how I made that happen...
Pics or it didn't happen, right?
Because every good Mando should have nails that match their armor...
The whole group
I'm currently rocking the broken toe/foot look, so I spent most of my time inside (primarily outdoor event) at the PR table, bucket-less.
Some fun bits of knowledge...
Our first exposure to any of the costume clubs was in 2013 when the town festival was Star Wars themed. That year my kids would not get anywhere near Vader, girl child would admit it was because she was afraid, boy child claimed he just needed his lightsaber, just in case.
Most of the same people that trooped that event two years ago also trooped this event, including the same Vader (he is NOT on platforms/stilts, he's just a very tall guy). Neither kid would get anywhere near Vader, girl child made it a point to keep me between her and Vader and an eye on him at all times. Boy child, however borrowed the Jedi's lightsaber and decided Vader wasn't so scary after all (there was no god angle for this picture with the way the girl had herself boxed in with 3 Mandos, a Scout and an Imperial reserve pilot).
After Vader de-Vadered and sat across from the kids at lunch, chatting Star Wars and anime and Mickey Mouse with them, though, he is no longer scary, at least out of his kit 
I don't recognize anyone in your photo, but I've been out of touch for a while. Which garrison?
Awesome! Looks great 
Junkyard_Dog wrote: I don't recognize anyone in your photo, but I've been out of touch for a while. Which garrison?
Midwest Garrison, Nar Shadda Base and Nexu Clan
In reply to Hungary Bill:
Thanks! I'm pretty pleased with it!
Island clan obviously, impeccable work.
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