A new Bounty Hunter-Shae Vizla The Old Republic

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mdb
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A new Bounty Hunter-Shae Vizla The Old Republic

Post by mdb »

Hello all,

Well after much tooing and froing about what to make for Auckland Armageddon (and Melbourne and Sydney & Adelaide) besides a ridiculously glittery frock (Glinda from Wicked) I finally decided to start work on a project that should be nice and timely :)

Last year I stumbled across The Old Republic website and was really curious about one of the avatars being used. Fairly soon after I spotted the full length concept art for her and it was clear she was art work around the female Bounty Hunter class.

And then the Deceived trailer came out and I was blown away. The cinematic looks amazing and the female bounty hunter just went from "cool" to "OMG I have to make that!" The details in the trailer make the bodysuit a wonderful challenge ;)
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Shae_Vizla

I debated about this for a while as I wasn't sure if I was up to making the armour or if I would get other armour projects done first as a real test. Well it didn't happen and the bug has bitten hard again with the new GG statue just released and the teaser for the next trailer that has just played in the states. The teaser that is, the trailer is a few days away :)

She has finally gotten a name which was also another prompt to get my butt into gear and make it.

Another was my continued allergy to Epoxy Resin. My loathing for plaster (well my current inability to work with it easily which is about to change) is matched only by my loathing of polyester resin also so I get to test some urethane again with parts of this project :)

This armour appeals as I can build it the way I started to build my Female Templar armour last year with sheet plastic and styrene glue. It's how I customised my Mara Jade greaves too.
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That project is stalled for a while ;)
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And TK shins heavily modded with styrene strips.

I have some amazing rubber coated heavy duty stretch fabric that I have already used for one costume and will use for this. I also bought some more of the heavy faux suede I used for my Leia boots for the leather parts of this costume.

I got a soldering iron for Christmas and have been honing up on my 6th Form physics- electronics and circuits so I can make the jet pack, gauntlet and helmet ear bugs light up. Slightly nervous about this but I have enough LEDs to practice on and ruin ;)

The helmet I am sculpting as it's cold enough that even my budget stuff is nice and carvable in this weather ;)
An hour of slapping plasticine onto a head form (duct taped to my head size)
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15 mins with a metal ruler and a little more plasticine on the face.
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And felt tip pen on bodysuit for the crazy piecing:
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I am trying mostly for the look in the cinematics but am also using images of the statue, t-shirt, concept art and whatever else may come up. Though they do all differ quite a lot!
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Re: A new Bounty Hunter-Shae Vizla The Old Republic

Post by Deadalus Thorn »

Very Nice :)

The Templar chest is especially cool :)
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Re: A new Bounty Hunter-Shae Vizla The Old Republic

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Thanks :) I think I wound up throwing the Templar away.. Oops. I still have the templates though, not quite that silly ;) The curves were to much of a pain to shape as I was doing it and it was all still a bit too new. I think I started work on that before Mara actually. I'll have to check time stamps of my photos :)

This armour being made from flat shapes should work out better ;)


Can't wait for the second trailer and for the game next year :)
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Re: A new Bounty Hunter-Shae Vizla The Old Republic

Post by MattG »

This is a cool character/costume. I'm quite liking the designs coming out of this game (quite particular to the Sith Warrior: Juggernaut class), and with webcomics out, novels announced, and monthly comics likely, I think LFL will really be pushing for this to be something big.

Looking forward to seeing how you develop this. :)
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Re: A new Bounty Hunter-Shae Vizla The Old Republic

Post by mdb »

I keep hitting save instead of send, oops!

The new trailer shows the trooper class in action too. I do love their gear as well. The art direction feels like a blend of KotoR and the prequel movies in some ways. I think there was discussion on that somewhere too.

I've just recently had a tiny test of one of the skills I need to work on; even straight lines and smooth surfaces. "Patience grasshopper" will be my catchcry when working on much of this ;)
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Re: A new Bounty Hunter-Shae Vizla The Old Republic

Post by Anaria »

Her costume/armour design is just fantastic, if I didn't have so many orders for Gentle Giant stuff already I'd be tempted to add the maquette to my list!

Really look forward to following your progress on this :)
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Re: A new Bounty Hunter-Shae Vizla The Old Republic

Post by mdb »

Thank you :)

I'd love to add her to my incredibly tiny collection of figures but I am recouperating from my trip to Sydney (Wicked, sigh at last!!!) ;)

Having spent the weekend wearing a complex costume again I am a bit nervous about this costume.
So I am now contemplating ways of making it wearer friendly. Dehydrating over the course of a day (because darnnit if I am going to the effort to make this I am going to wear it til I can't wear it no more) is no fun because of the effort to get in and out of the thing ;)

I did however get to test drive the main fabric I'll use for the bodysuit, and I had a great test drive of the seaming of said fabric.

It sews really easily and is bulky enough that it I should be able to get those ridges on the arms and booty as well as small piecing of the torso. Because the rubber layer is so thick it also doesn't show pin marks as badly as PVC/Vinyl thank goodness. It'll also work in well with the heavy faux suede I have bought for the soft "leather" parts.

Bioware does a great job on developing very cool armour, especially for women, but occasionally it requires more than one pair of hands to put on, which I did not have ;) And occasionally it defies reality- I'm mainly concerned with the knees and bodysuit at this point in time. And the actual closures to use.

And here is an article with images detailing the different layers and materials:
http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/star-wars- ... 3120143024
Though I really doubt I'll be making the weapon despite my icon ;)

It's interesting though how all the different reference images use different textures, I'm sure if she winds up in the web comic she'll look different again ;)
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Re: A new Bounty Hunter-Shae Vizla The Old Republic

Post by mdb »

Image Image
Templating the chest piece tonight. I listened to Shorty and Survivor while doing this so it didn't take as long as I worried.

This was difficult as I am used to being able to tape directly to my mannequin to get shapes sorted. It's how I did the templar piece up there and my Human Hunter (templates for leather) but this chest piece is built over a fair amount of air so I couldn't. In the end I used a spot of guesstimation for angles to allow the paper to sit in the air. Happily most of it transferred well to the manilla folders I used for the real template though I do have a spot of fixing of gaps to do in the curve at each bust point.
Had this been a mannequin of the soft squishy sort I would have pushed pins to the right heights into her and used those for a guide ;)

Next up is to fix those gaps and then build up the bottom section as I just have the base for that so far.
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Re: A new Bounty Hunter-Shae Vizla The Old Republic

Post by Deadalus Thorn »

Tis looking good :)

quick qusestion, how are you reinforcing this?
Are you going to use FG resin?

If so, can I offer a word of advice?
Get a product called Surface Tissue, its about $1.50 a Sq mtr.
its a thin tissue that has the density of 80gsm paper, it can be cut to pattern and used with Resin on the outside face of the armour to help it hold shape, and give it rigidity.

Then you can do normal glassing, or slush coat resin on the inside after you have taken it off your Mannequin.
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Re: A new Bounty Hunter-Shae Vizla The Old Republic

Post by mdb »

Thank you :) It's amazing what breaking out the ruler does for straight lines ;)

At this stage this is just the template. I am debating on what material to use for it. I had thought I could revisit the styrene and styrene glue method I used for my Mara shins as per above but I am still keeping my mind open :) I just bought some heavy card (for sale signs) to test the curves of the piece (manilla bends just so readily and I need to keep the planes as flat as possible except where the curves are supposed to be).

I may need some more card to test the greaves as well.
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