pghfett

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Ghst915, I got a variety of information to pass onto you and the lady as it relates to pouches, materials and colors I've been toying with. I'll be in touch today or tomorrow with a slew of goodie info and some pics (illustrations by myself) ect.. ~Mike

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Pretty Darn close - yes, where can we get some or perhaps bulk material ?

It appears the brown/black/grey Camo material is dead in the water for the time being due to the silk screening costs involved at the moment (still under negotiations.... I have all the pouchs sized out already and will be mocking up the foam pieces in the next week or so. I'm also waiting for things to "cool down" here to take some pics with all the upper armor / helmet worn over a black jump suit. I can see the suit as a jumpsuit with a corset style cumberbund that wraps and secures in the back. I'm also sculpting the gloves, shin guards and cod as we speak. Then onto the boots.

Yeah they do have those types of straps. Not pictured with mine is the thin elastic strap that runs down the middle of the rubber pieces on both the knees and elbow armor. Heres a link to some pics BARC pics Also, my shoulder straps appear a little thick in the pics for some reason ? I think it's due to the heavy weathering I did... They are only 1/8" thick.

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Easy bro, slow down a bit... The two part epoxy is an epoxy clay that smooths with water. It's not the two part adhesive type epoxy, although it has these qualities as well. I have no problems with my pm's here (sometimes I wish I did lol) so you might want to talk to the admins about whatever problems your having. I have no clue what size or where you chipped your helmet so I don't want to offer an opinion on what to fill them with. You can use bondo if you want, the green putty is just my preferred putty to use on small imperfections. Don't rush the project, no offense, but it seems by your posts your really moving fast to get the project completed. If this is the case you should slow down, especially when you start the camo paint job if your doing one. The more quality time you put into the project the better it will turn out. I know it's hard to fight the desire to complete the project but if you can, slow down a bit. If I'm off the mark on this observation my error and disregard the above, ~Mike

The visor should be worked to fit snug, but there should be a slight gap all the way around. The visors I make are custom made out of lexan and mirror green window tint. Someone here at the board did use a green motorcross replacement lens that looks very good but I don't know what thread it was posted in :/ I can send ya some tint, free of charge, just drop me a pm with the info where to send it. Be advised, laying this stuff is not as easy as posted on the net, so take your time. I don't use bondo for the most part I use a product called Squadron putty or "green" putty that modelers use on the seam area and for minor imperfections. ~Mike

I use a two part epoxy putty that smooths with water and layer it in a very smooth, thin layer. This also adds some girth to the visor as well. Magic-sculpt or any other product such as this could work or even a bondo type product as well. Only the first 2" or so are critical on the underside of the visor.

As it stands right now the only hard pieces I have left to finish sculpting is the shin armor and cod. Once these pieces are done I will mold them up then finsh up a set to go along with the other parts I'm working on now. Curently, I'm very close to finishing the back plate (I'm installing some lighting effects to the tank top plate) then I have to weather it to match the other armor pieces. Once this is done, I'm planning on taking some quality pics with the finished parts: Helmet, chest, back plate, shoulders, knees, elbows, and bicepts, all of which are DONE, painted/weathered and all. The next step will be sculpting the gloves and molding the boots and modding them to a more accurate pair like in the pics. Both these pieces will be custom rubber cast pieces. Next up some finished pics of the upper armor... Man am I behind on this project LOL ! Updated post

As it stands right now the only hard pieces I have left to finish sculpting is the shin armor and cod. Once these pieces are done I will mold them up then finsh up a set to go along with the other parts I'm working on now. Curently, I'm very close to finishing the back plate (I'm installing some lighting effects to the tank top plate) then I have to weather it to match the other armor pieces. Once this is done, I'm planning on taking some quality pics with the finished parts: Helmet, chest, back plate, shoulders, knees, elbows, and bicepts, all of which are DONE, painted/weathered and all. The next step will be sculpting the gloves and molding the boots and modding them to a more accurate pair like in the pics. Both these pieces will be custom rubber cast pieces. Next up some finished pics of the upper armor... Man am I behind on this project LOL !

Hey everyone, I want to take a moment to post why I've been "away" from the boards as of late. I'm not big into spilling the beans about myself on a personal level at open forums but I've got a lot of pm's that went unanswered as of late and the progress on some of my projects had slowed for awhile and thought I should let everyone know whats up with Pghfett (some folks know already) In a nut shell - I'm progressing into developing rheumatoid arthritis it seems. I've spent most of the last few months getting it under control. I'm good to go now and basically pain free and back on my project list once again. This "arthritis" comes and goes from time to time. I'm young, so it kinda sucks having to deal with this, but alot of other folks are alot more worse off than me, some folks didn't get up this morning... :-/ - 'nuff said At any rate, time to man up, deal with it and go on... So..... for the unanswered pm's - sorry :-/ it's been a busy last few months. I'm back in action as of today, if you need to pm me again - sorry for the rant above as I'm not into the habit of posting personal stuff like this :-X. I just didn't want no misunderstandings about unanswered pm's and such. ;D Thanks folks - 'Gotta get this BARC stuff done now........ - I do have some updates pending so hang in there....

It's all good bro thanks for watching - ~Mike

Hey folks, just wanted everyone to know I've taken a much needed break from the BARC project here in the past two weeks after doing all the painting on the upper armor pieces (minus the back plate) and making straps, so if I missed a pm or two I'll be answering up soon here. I'm officially back on the project as of today so I'll be back to checking in everyday here. ~Mike

I do plan on doing a small run for the folks here who want to make costumes. I'm also speaking with someone who has a industrial vac former for quality pulls but this is "down the line" still in the preliminary stages. I'd love to paint a few sets for folks interested but this would have be very limited considering the type of paint up this is. There is also a nasty rumor floating around that one of my helmets is currently headed overseas to be recasted, if this is the case the run will be very limited indeed. I know crying about recasters is a moot point - but I will take steps to protect my hard work.

Nah !!! not insulted at all - not one bit This is what makes things better - be honest and brutal if need be, I welcome all ideas and participation. I can add some green up there - I thought it was too brown as well, it's just my eyeballs are going wacko doing all this camo LOL Thanks for the info, I can fix it prior to weathering and clear coating - ~Mike

Too much brown maybe in the upper left section (as you look at it)? LMK more specific info would be appreciated if changes need made. ~Mike

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Updated a few things with more to come in Post #1

My friend, I hardly think you would get laughed at... Your work is a pleasure to follow and anything you touch looks great, please post them up!

When I paint the helmets I try to maintain the same "style" or "flow" to the camo paint job as seen on screen. There are BARCS seen on screen that have different camo "patterns" on their armor but all have the same "style" of "flow" to them. I would love to do a very detailed thread (I actually started one) with templates but I'm up to my neck getting the rest of the armor fabricated and painted up. On my latest helmet I used a "green wash" to soften the edges of the camo and match up the scheme better. Lets keep this discussion open and active because it's very important to have a standard when it comes to the camo like TB-1019 mentioned above. ~Mike

Yeah, the rubber will pick up EVERY bump, marking and defect you don't want. I only mention this because the rubber is rather expensive to use to have to do things twice - I know from expierence...

Phillip, I think your helmet looks great ! These "camo paint jobs" are not easy to do and are VERY time consuming even if you rattle can or airbrush the camo paint job. The only other helmet I've painted that compared to this is the ESB Fett. Once again, great job Phil - and thanks for the visor info as well - much appreciated! Off Topic opinion I'm hoping at some point in the future to provide some templates to help folks out who like my paint job and want to brush it on. An important factor with this camo was brought up by the great Madphisto and myself that the camo paint job reflects the artist who paints it - it's a distinct style - Basically, if you start painting your armor yourself paint everything yourself or it will not look right. i.e. If you paint your helmet, don't send out your armor to be painted by another artist or it will not turn out right. ~Mike

Troy, To keep it cannon, by all the movie stills I have, the markings are neither raised or recessed so I kept it as such. I do however agree with you, it's one section of the helmet I'm not so crazy about. Feel free to be critical about anything, thats what makes things progress and get better. I don't take stuff like that to heart. If not for others being critical, I've never gotten the helmet to where it is now