We’re getting closer and closer to a full set of Mandalorian armor decked out in Buffalo Bills flair. I’ve got final paint on the leg and shoulder pieces, the helmet was revealed early thanks to the Bills themselves copying my design and forcing my hand. I made some promises along the way though, and I can’t be done without coming through on them. One of those gets revealed today, with what I believe is an upgrade on the original idea.
The Paint
You’re seen it with the beskar look before, now it’s time to reveal
the paint design. That’s arguably the least intriguing part of the reveal on this, but I hope still pretty good. Most of the armor has been a base coat of blue and I decided to keep that. Remember though that the helmet is the Sabine Wren one, a notable graffiti artist. I couldn’t leave it with just the blue.
That said, I didn’t want it to be as elaborate as the tassets and spaulders either. When I did the ombre design on the blaster, I hinted I might work to make this piece match, and that did become the inspiration. I’ll stop chatting and just show you my “Bills Nebula” design.
The center decorative element didn’t come out as clean as I hoped, but fits the “kinda beat up” look it has pretty well (but yeah, this is a tiny disappointment). I’m also deliberately hiding the full view of it for now, so you can’t see the Batman elements I integrated for shaping the plates. We have a tangent to go on first.
Promises
Promise made
Way, way back in the series I discussed the helmet design. The vertical charge, which is much nicer than the thick horizontal version (cough, cough), was completed as promised. I originally wanted a design on the opposite side and promised this.
To be fair, I hinted that the promise was a GOOD version of this. This was the initial concept and testing of the Frog Tape for stenciling. Do you remember what this is? It’s a cross between a bison skull and the mythosaur logo from the Mandalorian.
When I got the charge stripe on the helmet I felt it looked… right. Just the way it was. I decided not to paint the bison/mythosaur on the helmet. In fact, I decided not to paint it at all.
Promise kept
But make no mistake, I didn’t abandon it. I improved it. I’d like to think that through all of this I’ve put a stake in the gound as an “acceptable” level painter with a spray can. Heck, maybe even “not too shabby.” There’s one skill though I’ll abandon any pretense of humility over and that’s wood carving. Have you seen my wood and steel miniatures?
I kept my fingertips in for scale. If you’re not sure what any of these are and want to take a peek at how I might have done, they are:
- Great Scythe from Dark Souls
- Blade of Mercy from Bloodborne
- Geralt’s twin swords from The Witcher (some show and game elements blended together)
- Squall’s gunblade from Final Fantasy VIII
- The Soul Reaver from the Legacy of Kain/Blood Omen series
I figured if I can whittle wood, why not plastic. How’d I do?
There’s the nebula paint, batman-inspired plate shapes, and the final bison/mythosaur hybrid. I could have done it more 3D, but wanted it look more like a pin or welded on insignia. Here’s a shot of it directly in case you don’t want to pause the video.
You might have noticed two things. That the eyes seem to be cut all the way through and that there’s a white plastic silhouette behind it. Here’s a hint, the white plastic is there to disperse light. I’m sorry that cell phone cameras suck at getting “LED red” right.
