A new Bounty Hunter-Shae Vizla The Old Republic

[Anaria]

Fantastic progress! So inspiring

[mdb]

Thank you you three

Small note- the more filler the more brittle the resin gets so I may have a few places to chip off some of the surface.

Anyway. I did manage to pull out all the card. As anticipated the resin did not work its way through all the layers and in fact a light misting of glue created a barrier. it was good as it was easier than i was worried about. But do with I had not glassed the back with my good cloth first. But then I did forget how much i wanted that step between the top and middle sections of the plate.

Also managed to trim the top edges of the greaves I am hoping I can actually use these as forms to heat shape my PVC over The shapes are good I just was unable to really get the curves using the mannequin as she was or my own legs. The former because the are alien shaped the latter because they are flesh and don't deal with hot plastic very well and are not rigid like a form
if so I will probably use the pieces to replace my Mara greaves or.. oooohhh.. start my dream armour (Elizabeth from The Golden Age- gothic plate, totally the wrong period but so amazing on screen).

If not I'll cut them to shape.

[mdb]

It's been a bit disheartening to blow up like an itchy radish every time I work with the resin so I was getting a little disenchanted with the project.

Momentum has gained however (and the local pharmacists are happily bought out of antihistamines and I am no longer radishy) and I am happy to be working on her again

Added more bog to the front and sanded some of the legs and then rebogged them.

I have finally bought a mouse (droid) sander after a year or more of checking them out. I think the local hardware stores were getting annoyed with me going around lifting all the detail sanders and waving them about. In the end I have the cheapest Predator (grr argh) which is so budget it has no fan to suck away the dust. But it was that or by what would be a paper weight as I wouldn't be able to use it

So in one evening I have got the greaves nice and smooth and almost even. And got to work on the chest plate:



Greaves. one side bogged the other sanded back. I kept the bog fairly smooth by spreading it on with a silicon spatula. That thing is never going near the kitchen again obviously... I also mix my resin with a silicon pasty brush. I let the resin cure and pull the brush out of it after. It leaves little tunnels in the resin. It saves on buying new mixing tools and reduces landfill. I have horrible guilt issues over the waste in this process. I even reuse the same plastic container where I can. If excess cured resin could be reused I'd be all on it.


Chest plate sanded back. I may have to give it a spray of paint just to see where the dimples are. But she is starting to look nice and crisp again


Greaves fully sanded. Well as far as the mouse could go. I kept hitting the on/off switch when trying to sand the inners. Please ignore the bloomers and vest. There are for my Steampunk outfit (at last- it's been unfinished for two years) and I just needed something to hold the chest plate in place.

[vctrsone]

Ive been lazy and havent been working on my stuff..glad to see you havent been

coming along nicely..and yer a mouse sander is on my list too...lol

[mdb]

Gun and jetack progress. Sintra and rescued piping cut ready to be sanded and glued then shaped primed and painted. I have missed a few photos of between progress I think. My greaves are off the form, the clay behind mostly removed and now I do want to back fill them and use them redo my Mara greaves (sculpt over and maybe vacform?) as they are a perfect shape.

The piping cut to shape over the forms are taped together still so I can trim them to a better shape and then bevel the edges, sand the inside and outside and mount them to a support base. These were one of the most frustrating parts to work on. The original artwork is very conical and calves do not work that way, at least not to the knee But the figure and cinematic show a more shaped set and of at least two layers. So I'm blending the ideas and not driving myself insane.


I also took a look at my helmet sculpt again and have decided I was seeing flaws that were not there. There are of course flaws but I think they will be fixable with a heavy blast of primer and some very fine grit paper. This is why it is sometimes good to step away for a while and come back to a project- sometimes you decide it is better to start again sometimes you decide you were being a bit obsessed....

[mdb]

So... I put a little too much glass on the back plate. Just a leeeeetle too much. it is lovely and strong now though.... But I have decided I will in fact rebuild it as I have now lost the nice crisp detail I had from my card.

Last night I rebalanced my helmet details and it is now about ready to mold Again I'm debating on what to use. I have a horrible habit of breaking things so I am inclined to FG rather than purchasing urethane resin.

I have managed to get more detail into the chest There is a wedge at the side that is stepped back so I have cut that out.

The gun piping has been sanded ready to glue to shape and then I can cut holes for the stock and grip etc. and get those pieces detailed then molded and cast.

Many smaller parts have finally been templated: hand plates, belt display, belt pouches, knee cops, shoe guards. Still more to go. I am pretty sure I will sculpt and mold the shoulder bells given they are fairly curved with curved edges.

Thigh plates are a little harder to work out from the sources but I have screen caps galore so they will be worked out this week.


Meanwhile hunting out replacement parts for my rotary tool is proving hard. I need a new diamond cutting disc and a set of drill bits and a new flex shaft (the outer seems to have stretched so the inner sometimes rattles around a bit- I can work around it but I still am sure it'll snap any time soon).



I finally got a spreadsheet made of what to do. Oy. What was I thinking. But having done as much as I have means I have a better idea of how long it will take. We won't go into that too much.....

I need new mini files, will add that to the list of Things to Buy.

[thehiflyer]

Good stuff! Keep it up!

Ive just had to replace my rotary tool, my first one is only working when its plugged in and even then it doesnt retain any charge
Ive bought a new one off Trade Me for $50 with a flexible shaft and free shipping,so heres hoping itll last longer than 30 mins

[mdb]

lol! Yes. I got the hard sell yesterday to buy a whole new tool just for a few parts But a) my tool is actually going fine, and b) none of the accessory packs or full kits had what I needed anyway

I have figured out a way to stop the flexi rattling so I am hoping it will last for long enough. My last one snapped on me after a lot of use so I am trying to use my sander and hand tools for everything I can and saving the tool for cutting.



So I'm about to print off my new back plate and glue it. Might manage a few photos of actual progress as it is a nice sunny day.

[thehiflyer]

Ahh accessories...know of any good cutting accessories for armour?

[mdb]

Depending on what you are cutting and how big the project is

For trimming off the FG matting I use my rotary tool on a low speed and with a cutting disc. Not one of the ones that usually come with kits but a diamond coated one- just the rim is coated. I think mine is 22mm in diametre.

I've also used it successfully on cutting styrene (up to 4mm!) and pvc pipe (so it should work on sheet pvc too) by going slowly and letting the plastic cool between passes. Styrene especially melts and gums up the disc.

For foam board I've been using a box cutter type knife and breaking off the end every so often as the edge needs to be super sharp.

I like the dremel/rotary tool best for safety and ease of use. I hit my left thumb webbing with the tool the other night and got a tiny cut. But I have wound up with stitches with a cutting knife


I just taped all the parts I have made so far to my mannequin And while they are all so very very very very unfinished I am going to wind up with an identifiable costume in a few weeks and then I can build up the detailing.

Thank goodness! I am going to work on the jetpack this week

Now off to get antihistamines so I can get that back plate sorted too.