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Drac

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Posts posted by Drac


  1. in me ton of research I've done, if ya can't find a good used mannequin and gotta buy a new one, go here. good selection, great prices, great customer service and fast shipping. 2 of the 3 current mannequins I'm using to mold armor I got from here and as soon as I can gonna order at least one more from 'em. if ya do order from here tell 'em Drac Kelley sent ya. I don't get incentives from 'em, but hoping I'll get sumpin if enough peeps do say I sent 'em! *L* and if I don't get anything, oh well, they're still the best I've found. now if I can just find a plus sized female and male mannequin that have a square stance instead of a cocked hip or one foot forward I'll have all the ones I need. any ideas on those? bueller? bueller? anyone?


  2. That looks awesome! Did you manage to wear it at Dragon*Con? I imagine you had tons of folk taking your picture... I really have to get out of the Exhibitor's hall more often!

    yep, wore it friday night and most of the day saturday while I was at me booth. know there were a bunch of pics taken, but have only found 2 of 'em online so far. yeah ya do need to get out of there more often. there's a whole 'nother room downstairs! *L* wish I coulda gotten around at least that one though. anyway, here's some mo' bettah pics along with a couple of the "Batman Before" armor. oh yeah, and next year I'm planning to do... Moon Knight! and maybe an oriental based Wolverine too.

    post-5673-028067300 1286078259_thumb.jpgpost-5673-011714000 1286078281_thumb.jpgpost-5673-085463000 1286078302_thumb.jpgpost-5673-093440000 1286078317_thumb.jpgpost-5673-042212000 1286078340_thumb.jpgpost-5673-074988300 1286078356_thumb.jpgpost-5673-066337500 1286078375_thumb.jpgpost-5673-091879800 1286078407_thumb.jpgpost-5673-095328200 1286078429_thumb.jpgpost-5673-087782600 1286078480_thumb.jpgpost-5673-035772800 1286078504_thumb.jpgpost-5673-000180600 1286078524_thumb.jpgpost-5673-048835000 1286078687_thumb.jpgpost-5673-063653800 1286078723_thumb.jpgpost-5673-040717700 1286078786_thumb.jpgpost-5673-014946500 1286078804_thumb.jpg


  3. you're using bellies, so that leather is gonna be a bit softer and stretchier than, say, a shoulder of the same weight. and look at it this way, using that weight means your bag is gonna outlast most others! *L* as far as stitching versus lacing, depends on what look you're going for and what style bag.


  4. Seems that it would make it harder to whip with the extra weight? I had a cheap whip I bought years ago at a tourist area, and got to where I could snap it pretty good. Always figured you just needed tip speed to get the snap. What purpose does that added weight have?

    adding weight (up to a point) requires less work to crack it and it rolls out smoother and straighter (very important for target cracking) with a quality made one.


  5. Lead dust scares the heck out of me. Tungsten is a safer alternative and is 1.7 times more dense than lead. You can buy tungston at any hobby shop that sells pinewood derby supplies. Here is one supplier: http://www.pinewoodp...weight-sets.htm This site also has a tungsten putty which I thought was pretty cool.

    John

    the problem with using tungsten for whips is that it's not as soft as lead which can cause the whip to not have a good flex.


  6. so a couple of years ago I decided to make some medieval styled armor that was based on the "Batman Beyond" cartoon version of Batman to wear at Dragoncon and possibly renfaires (which I still need to get pics of). I really liked the way it turned out, so decided to start doing a new one each year. even though I came up with this idea last year, I didn't have time to do it so I'm doing it this year. here's the start of the Hal Jordan Green Lantern armor. I'll be wearing a black puffy shirt under it, black leather pants, bracers and greaves. later on I might add more, but that's all I'm doing for now. the cape is actually a dark green leather even though it looks sort of black in the pic. the symbol is tooled and I did the scales individually and riveted them onto a vinyl backing. most the dying was done with an airbrush then using a brush for the black around the symbol. the black was usmc black so of course had to buff it afterwards. sealed with resoline.

    post-5673-046895700 1280634190_thumb.jpg


  7. heavy rubber mallet (heavy enough so that on 4-5oz vegtan leather all I gotta do is drop the head onto the punch from a few inches and it punches the hole for me).

    no one's gonna notice dimples on the underside of the belt/strap/whatever unless you're stitching 2 pieces together back to back so that it's smooth on both sides in which case use either the cereal box or black hard rubber poundo mat.

    make a template out of poster board with your holes punched in it. lay that on top of your strap, place hole punch in the template hole and press the hole punch to the leather to make an impression. remove the posterboard, punch holes in leather. do NOT punch your holes with the template sitting on the leather coz you'll make the holes in the template larger since the hole punch tapers and then your template holes will be off.


  8. the complete set of councelor and prize armor for Camp Half Blood (a literary day camp in austin, tx put on yearly by the store "book people" and based on the "percy jackson and the olympians" series of books. yep, the same series that the movie "percy jackson and the lightning thief" was based on, which was book one of the series).

    post-5673-127974157394_thumb.jpg


  9. an update from me if anyone cares. made the move to texas and the alternator went out on the way and a hose broke. what was supposed to be a temporary pit stop in austin has turned out much longer. currently all me stuff is in a storage unit which I'm also using as a workspace. unemployment ran out and I got screwed on a check from it. the move to houston got delayed because of the transmission going out on the van and had to get it fixed which took the money I had saved plus had to borrow the rest and now the steering is messing up and I can't take it to a shop since I'm sleeping in the van coz I don't have anywhere else to stay. worse probs sleeping than usual, not really eating, wah wah wah. of course there's more, but that's the highlights.


  10. Drac these are sweet. Yeah the claw marks are pimp. Glad you are busy bro. how are you gonna make the bracers? just a general form? Will they be tooled? ouch. Good luck.

    nah, they're all gonna be just the chest piece with straps and a small back plate. everything had to be done cheap but still look decent for the camp.


  11. Holy Crap that's a lot of work! Those look very cool too! Will they be dyed a color or kept fleshy?

    -Andy

    actually, it's not that much work. figure out your pattern, cut it out, mold it on a form, dye, seal, done. except for punching holes and adding straps, of course. mostly just time consuming from dyeing and sealing. thanks for the compliment! the first one's actually is dyed. dyed the whole thing, then went a little heavier to highlight the musculature. just need to punch holes, seal and add straps. the second's getting dyed right now.

    Very nice indeed, sounds like your gonna be very very busy for a few days.

    danke! yep, busy busy busy! not sure if that's good or not! *L*

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