First step in skeletizing...at first I sketched it out in green, but it didn't look good. So, it was redrawn in black. Not anatomically correct, but good enough for my use!
After 3 hours of tiring beatings it is looking pretty sweet...This REALLY put some strength in the metal! (The picture makes it look crappy, but it looks better in person).
I still need to cleanup the edgings, smooth out areas of abuse, and re-alter the basic shape a bit. And of course, hit it with black paint in the right places.
Forming the skeleton caused the overall shape to shift a little. It still fits nice, but I would like it to be as good as I can make it, and not just a quickly thrown out piece. 2-3 hours more and it should be ready for paint.
To connect the backplate and breastplate, I'll need to make a pair of plates about 4"x5" each. These will fill in the gaps between the backplate and breastplate.