Black Templar : Azrael the Hammer (WIP)

[Finnlock]

The Templars have a lot of robes and hooded capes.

 In fact the majority of the Black Templar mini's I have seen have had a tabard covering the BP and legs. Are you planing on making one for your suit?

[Djinn]

Yes.

[Finnlock]

I found this today and thought you might like a link to it.

It's a ribbed neck seal made for a storm trooper costume, however 40k armors will often show the same type of "under armor".
 you can see it on the new Gabriel Seth modle





http://www.shadowdalecreations.com/imperial.htm

They offer a full body suit, but only the neck is ribbed.

[wookieegunner]

I'd be a bit wary of Shadowdale, they seem to bounce back and forth between good vendor and "never get your stuff.". That being said, if you look around a bit, you can find those pretty easily.  Most of the 501st has at least one of them of some form.

[Djinn]

Don't you worry! I plan on getting a 501st style one of those neckseals. If I put as much work as I have been into it, I cannot afford to skimp on the little things. My first costume was a full body set of mandalorian battle armor, and after being a member of the mandalorian mercs for awhile, I've actually become good friends with the bulk of the 501st here in the islands. That is pretty much the exact neckseal I will be using, I am probably also going to make a ribbed style under armor for any part that shows through the armor.
I've got it all planned out, it is just going to take time.. and money.. of which I sadly do not have copious amounts of =P I've taken the last few days off from making armor, but I'll get started with it again next week.

Edit: That site has some great resources, thanks for the link.

[Djinn]

Not a big update, took the weekend off of working on it to cool down. Dark Millinium trailer has increased my desire to complete this project twofold XD

Bondo'd up the shoulders, I have a lot of sanding in my future. Can't start on it till tomorrow though.. sadface.

[Colin]

You have a way with Bondo, unlike myself. Oh the things I've ruined by being sloppy with that stuff.

[Djinn]

Also: My next project.. I'm going to try and do a half pepped half scratchbuilt power pack. I dont want to have to do all the folding and bondo work to fix the round parts and make the holes.. so im just going to scratchbuilt those bits.

[Djinn]

Sanded down the pauldrons today. Took 2 hours >.<
Need to do a bit of clean up, going to do fixes and 2nd round of bondoing tomorrow.

Still. Progress!

[Djinn]

Also, I didn't spend that 12 hours waiting for the bondo to dry and sanding, I spent 2 hours sanding. and 11 hours cutting/scoring/folding THIS.


will post more pics when I complete it. I'm pepping the body part of the power pack, and then scratchbuilding the vents and other bits. I have all ready resined the inside of the main body, and have plans to wire it up with blinking lights and all sorts of little goodies. It is perfect for a hidden hinge/door combo. I am going to have too much fun working on this bit.

My buddy in the 501st is going to hook me up with one of these bad boys.

I like the look of the bigger ribs vs the smaller storm trooper version.

[Kommissar]

any tips for first time bondo users?
brands, methods of application, thickness and sanding techniques?

[Djinn]

As far as I know there is only one brand of bondo. a Gallon thing of it is like $18 here (and hawaii is expensive, so its fairly cheap stuff)
For the pep work.. there were a decent bit of folded edges that I needed to hide. You pretty much use as little bondo as you possibly can (any extra you'll have to sand off later, adding tons of time to your workload) I used a plastic card (old credit card) to spread the bondo around the shoulder pads, its a 2 part mixture, comes with a hardener that is red and the bondo which is white. Mix enough hardener into whatever amount of bondo you are using till it turns orange or red. Not SUPER red, just .. a little red.(use small amounts, it sets REALLY fast and you can always make more).
Once you mix it, you got about 5 minutes before it sets and you're stuck with what you've got. I used too little hardener on my shoulders, and they never FULLY dried, it was dry and rock hard, but "gummy" enough to ruin sandpaper pretty fast. Make sure you can see the redness once its mixed =P
It only takes like an hour to be rock hard, and from there you just sand it down. I used a rotating power sander with 80 grit sandpaper. For the edges there was this sonic vibrating.. edge.. sander.. .. I pity the fool who tries to do bondo work without power tools. The sanding alone would make you want to die.

As you can see i sanded mine pretty thin, I actually sanded through the resin and paper in a few spots, I'll have to go back with tape and resin and fix those, then rebondo them and sand again =P Sigh sigh sigh..
It's not really that easy of stuff to work with, but it has pretty amazing potential. It only takes a TINY TINY TINY coat of bondo to produce a really nice paintable surface.

Bondo is very rigid and will crack if flexed.

[Djinn]

God I'm tired. I made massive progress today though. Turned off my phone and worked on my armor from 9am till 2:30am XD My mind is broken and I swear to god if I see another piece of paper or bottle of glue I'm going to kill someone.

But here it is! >.<


While i was constructing it I had it split into 3 parts, i resined the inside of each of those parts (since i wouldnt be able to do it when it was put together) and had some weird looking resin bleed through on the front sheet =P Easily fixed when i resin the outside tomorrow. (and then there is always bondo)

I decided not to pep the jets.. I think i can scratchbuild that myself.

[wookieegunner]

For the jets you might check out Lowes or Home Depot.  I've seen some acrylic light domes that would work well (they even have the lip).

[Colin]

You're doing an awesome job.