Maulevolent

ATTENTION Friday morning setup is cancelled for 501st members! Table is ready to go. Please be ready for your first designated shift! Thank you!

So unfortunately I’ve hit a snag during the final fitting. The chest/yoke and ab plate need to be extended to fit on me properly and I don’t have the time or material to make the correction. It looks great on the mannequin… But less so on me… I know what I need to do (e.g., extending the yoke at the shoulder and shimming the ab plate) it’s just going to be a bit before I can do it. I’m really disappointed I won’t have this done for Terrificon especially after all the time spent the last several weeks, but I’m optimistic I’ll overcome this hurdle too in due time.

Saturday progress…finished up the belt attaching all the resin boxes and upgrading the pouches with those from Trooperbay. I also finished up the pauldron pending magnets to fix it to the armor. It’s black for now but if I have time I’ll likely paint it red: I also started working on the riot shield. I trimmed the pulled shield and put down a few coats of primer on the shield and the resin pieces: and I finished the last details on the SE-44C and have a matched set with the blaster rifle: I had to order some 2” webbing to extend the a plate harness which should arrive tomorrow and I can resume on the strapping.

Continuing the momentum today. Finished up the details on the now painted thighs and shins: and also installed the fully functional holster and screws for the SE-44C: I also started painting the resin belt boxes and trimmed up and started painting a pauldron: Tomorrow will be finishing the belt and the remaining harness and strapping!

Lot of progress today…finally a break in the heat and humidity allowed me to get the thighs and shins painted: I also spent a lot of time on the fit and finish of the Ross parts. getting everything strapped and velxro’d: I also rigged up the chest and back with magnets (no Velcro at all) for easy aligned on and off. The 3D printed thermal detonator was also mounted and I aligned the tubing with black fabric to grip the detonator as well as black out the tube: And the SE-44C enters its final stages of finish, pending the red LED and the holster mount: Hoping to ride this momentum through the weekend and finish off the kit! Fingers crossed!

Hit a major milestone this weekend as I’ve finished trimming the last of the armor parts, with the thighs and shins ready for assembly and paint: I need to mark the holster and “Kit Kat” install points next with the printable templates then I can finish putting them together. I also carved out the lower oval on the shins to back with the screen accurate fabric/gaffers tape. All of the other pieces have been painted and are ready for final details and strapping: I also revisited my resin printed SE-44C sidearm. I ended up printing a new one piece shell and grip cover to go along with the other pieces and started to prime and paint. The entire piece will be resin when I’m finished minus the pins and screws: I have a full day at work on Monday before starting PTO until 8/11. I should be on track to have at least the armor ready to debut at TerrifiCon!

I hit another pause as I was consumed by work and another project, but focusing the next few weeks on getting this done for Terrificon. Today I spent part of the afternoon finishing the ab plate and belt boxes. Really happy with the seams and overall finish here: Also added the accurate hex screws to the 3D printed rails on the forearms: This week I’m determined to finish trimming and assembling the thighs and shins. Stay tuned!

Again, keep in mind this is the Mercs costume definition and standards. You can start with that but you should join the BHG and track the status of that CRL as that is the only path to 501st approval regardless of other club standards. At the risk of being repetitive, the path of least resistance is the published Mando S2 CRL and tapping into the expertise of Jerred and others here. You’re going to have to rework your existing components regardless of CRL but it at least removes the Legion administrative delays from the equation. Your choice, and good luck.

More progress to close out the weekend. I’ve had a lot of battles with dust and insects ruining great top coats, so I went ahead and setup a paint structure outside of my workshop: and broke it in by finishing the top coats on the abdomen section. Very happy with the seam work and finish on this piece: I also finished trim and paint on the cod, posterior, knee plates: Next up 🆙 is the final armor pieces I need to trim which are the thighs and shins. Getting closer!

I’m finally past a point where I feel closer to the finish than the start. A lot of delays recently for various reasons, including refining the finishing and paint process for each piece, but I’m definitely building momentum! First, I finished filling and smoothing the seams on the abdominal plate and primed the entire piece for painting. This is the last of the significant modifications for approval/TLJ and glad to be done with slurry: I also assembled and primed the ABS spats. I will upgrade these to the urethane resin ones but the ABS were far enough along I could check them off: Next, I did the Behr gloss white top coat on the forearms and hand plates: And I also repainted the yoke after adding reinforcement to the shoulders and the metal tab for the shoulder bells: With all that, I’ve got the difficult aspects of the upper body build mostly done, minus the details and strapping, and ready to start moving to the lower…

So I hit a bit of a stall due to other commitments and some painting issues, but starting to pick up progress again. I completed the assembly of the forearms with the accurate TLJ shape and 3D printed Picatinny rails. These are primed and ready for paint along with the hand plates: I also installed the metal shoulder support tabs on the yoke for the Level 3 requirement: And I completed the paint and finish on the more accurate 3D printed thermal detonator, again to Level 3 standards. I’ll line the interior with neoprene once the paint cures and before mounting to the backplate: Up next is finishing the seam fill on the abdominal section, primer, paint and assembly and then shifting focus to be lower body armor parts. More to come.

So right off the bat, if you’re going for Boba Fresh and the S2 CRL, the helmet will not pass. It’s a RotJ style model with a Boba Fresh paint. There are subtle but significant differences in the helmet called out in the CRL that are judged for basic approval including the dent and the turn signals: The helmet, including its shape, proportions, details and greeblies, is not an OT-style Boba Fett helmet but is true to The Mandalorian series version. The dome features the iconic dent but is noticeably smaller than the ROTJ Hero dent, in the forward-left section of the helmet. There are 2 “turn signal” details above the band in the front of the helmet that are noticeably smaller and farther apart from each other than what is seen in the ROTJ Hero version. The left-facing turn is painted bright red, and the right-facing turn is dark blue. I haven’t looked deeper yet as the helmet is a pretty big starting point… P.S. Not to pile on, but the jet pack is also the wrong design for this version and the belt would not pass muster. Unfortunately, you’re going to need some significant changes to align with your goal. i would strongly encourage you to step back, carefully review the relevant CRL, and start working from that road map and keep us posted here on a regular basis as you continue.

Yep, you’ve got it! The CRL says “numbering 9 to 16 per side,” which means you’re good as long as each side has between 9 and 16 stripes. That range is based on what’s seen on screen and there’s some variation in the original helmets, so the CRL allows for that. Traditionally, stunt helmets tend to have around 13–16 stripes, while hero helmets usually sit around 9–11. TL;DR: Pick whatever looks best to you, between 9 and 16 per side, and make both sides match. If you're going for an in-between “sweet spot,” 13 stripes is a popular and very safe choice.

Looking good so far! You’re definitely on the right track. For holding up the biceps, both methods work, but I also lean towards the short elastic strap from the shoulder bell to the bicep. It’s simple, keeps the bicep from flopping around, and gives you more control than the hook method. Just make sure it’s not too tight or it’ll pull weird when you move. Swapping out the holster straps for undyed leather is the way to go, nice catch there. That’s screen accurate for ANH stunt TKs. On the belt wrapping too far: totally up to you. Some people just add a keeper or extra piece of Velcro to secure the overhang, others trim it down for a cleaner look. If you’ve got the room and don’t mind the extra length, you could leave it but if it bugs you visually, trim and clean up the edge.

Seamless ears are a bit of a myth. This is an area you don’t want to pursue perfection over “good enough”. With that said, I would recommend hand sanding and filing your trim lines/edges to remove the jaggedness and smooth out the shape, especially on the front, and that would help overall appearance as well as help form the curves closer to the helmet shape. There’s a lot of trial and error and patience involved there until you reach a point you’re happy enough with it. If it was a little cleaner, I’d probably let it fly. The screen used helmets in ANH were rarely seamless if at all: