activation email

[Arceane64]

Hey all!

I've been doing some talking about making a less-intensive Post-Imperial kit than the one I started planning almost a year ago, and I decided that I should make a concept post with every idea I've got so far. I'm working on a budget-friendly framework as much as possible, and by that I'm certain I will make a ton of mistakes along the way and won't be spending any more money than I have to. Additionally, certain components might not be up to OM snuff from the get-go, but that's okay with me. Once I have a put-together kit, if it ends up being worth something then I'll polish it up, add or replace parts as necessary and apply for OM, otherwise it will be 'my first kit' and I'm okay with that. Anyway, onto the current state of the kit!



The theme of this build can be summarized as "Covert Self-Reliance:" inspired by the Covert designs by Brian Matyas, everything has been scavenged, stolen or repaired from something else, meaning an overall deeply used, patchy and worn aesthetic will be needed for the armor. In lore, the wearer has to build the armor from scraps that have lost their integrity, which can in theory provide leeway for any potential mistakes I make to be cleaned up.

The soft parts are definitely the weakest point of the plan as a whole in terms of application. The flightsuit and flak vest are as low-budget as possible, but as stated I can always upgrade them with better materials and dedicated pieces. The belt, pouches and holster are unplanned as of now, and I'll probably end up with a premade belt and add things to them as needed. The dark red belt and cape shouldn't be too hard to acquire, a trip to Joann fabrics for the fleece and a couple hours of forming the fabric will be all that should be needed and I'll design the cape as a shorter version of Din's, and a similar story for the legwrap.

The plan for the chestplate, backplate, kneeplate and the right bracer will be made of 6mm sintra, to provide contrast with the thinner components not made of 'beskar' or 'durasteel.' That's of course subject to change, and the details of the armor will be treated case by case, such as the raised flamethrower component on the bracer. I've obtained paper templates for these pieces from PaperCraft Univere3D on Etsy that I'm currently working on sizing. I'll use 3mm sintra for the shoulder bells, the left bracer and the right greave; the pieces swiped from shadow troopers, in lore. Again, to build that contrast with the thicker, metal-esqe pieces.

The helmet will be the MMCC Standard Round bucket, 3D printed with the campus printers. Not much to say on that front except that I'm trying to figure out sizing, like with the other pieces.

Finally, the blaster will be an SE-14r that's currently on order from 3DPrint Merc Mart. I'm also throwing around the idea of a long vibroknife for the other hip.

As far as the Post-Imperial CRL is concerned, the main things I'd need to change would be the flightsuit, flak vest, neckseal and adding more leg armor, mostly the posterior and hip plates. Would hip plates count as leg armor on the CRLs for the four-plate minimum?

Beyond that, I welcome any additional thoughts or remarks on the state of the kit, as well as wondering if anyone has access to any stormtrooper templates I could use for the left bracer and right greave.

Vor'e, I appreciate your time friends!

[Ashad Shrynn]

First of all, I like your color scheme Simple yet effective.

I think that's a good idea. I tend to plan a lot of things too, think too much about it, and then I'm blocked because I can't decide if I need the brown or the black belt  I'd just say that I think it would be less expensive in the end to do the "right thing" at first rather than planning to upgrade, but I understand your point of view here.

I love the concept of a scavenger character, but it sounds a bit tricky to me
- First, don't forget the 20/80 % rule. 80% of your kit must be mandalorian, so you won't be able to do a lot of "repurposing" here, but you seem to have that in mind already. Also remember that it is forbidden to use a part as another (an unmodified hand guard as a knee plate for example), which will reduce the possibilities.
- Mistakes and damage done by error while making something rarely look like real damage and repair. Unless you're working with the real materials your armor is supposed to be, an error while cutting or glueing plastic won't look as scavenged metal for example, because the two materials behave very differently. So, if you want your kit to look like it has been assembled from old parts, it will actually add a lot of work and weathering, compared to a "normal" kit. But if done right, it will look awesome.


I you want a really cheap built, take your time and check online and real life thrift shops. I found my flight suit for 5€, the base for my flak vest for 3€, my boots for 10€, all on vinted and ebay  For the belts and pouch, check military shops. For leather belts, it can also be cheaper to buy strands of leather and some buckles and cut/assemble it yourself (you'll just need to be able to pose rivets which can be super useful for a lot of things). Also ask your neighbors/friends to tell you when they're throwing something away. I have a neighbor who knows I'm a crafter, so any time he has something he doesn't want anymore, he brings it to me first. Sometimes it's useless, sometimes it's really cool (like a huge box of scrap metal, an old bag with nice buckles, pvc pipe...)

Good luck with your kit, the concept seems promising

[Arceane64]

First of all, I like your color scheme Simple yet effective.

I think that's a good idea. I tend to plan a lot of things too, think too much about it, and then I'm blocked because I can't decide if I need the brown or the black belt  I'd just say that I think it would be less expensive in the end to do the "right thing" at first rather than planning to upgrade, but I understand your point of view here.

I love the concept of a scavenger character, but it sounds a bit tricky to me
- First, don't forget the 20/80 % rule. 80% of your kit must be mandalorian, so you won't be able to do a lot of "repurposing" here, but you seem to have that in mind already. Also remember that it is forbidden to use a part as another (an unmodified hand guard as a knee plate for example), which will reduce the possibilities.
- Mistakes and damage done by error while making something rarely look like real damage and repair. Unless you're working with the real materials your armor is supposed to be, an error while cutting or glueing plastic won't look as scavenged metal for example, because the two materials behave very differently. So, if you want your kit to look like it has been assembled from old parts, it will actually add a lot of work and weathering, compared to a "normal" kit. But if done right, it will look awesome.


I you want a really cheap built, take your time and check online and real life thrift shops. I found my flight suit for 5€, the base for my flak vest for 3€, my boots for 10€, all on vinted and ebay  For the belts and pouch, check military shops. For leather belts, it can also be cheaper to buy strands of leather and some buckles and cut/assemble it yourself (you'll just need to be able to pose rivets which can be super useful for a lot of things). Also ask your neighbors/friends to tell you when they're throwing something away. I have a neighbor who knows I'm a crafter, so any time he has something he doesn't want anymore, he brings it to me first. Sometimes it's useless, sometimes it's really cool (like a huge box of scrap metal, an old bag with nice buckles, pvc pipe...)

Good luck with your kit, the concept seems promising

Vor'e ner vod!

Doing things 'the right way' the first time became my rub with the first kit I posted here, because while this one is going to serve as a ways for me to test the waters on armoring and propmaking, I want to make that one as perfect as I can. I'm okay with this kit not being up to standard if that's the way things end up. And if things go well and I end up with a solid kit, then I'll go the extra mile to make this one OM-standard.

On the subject of repurposing, not to worry; I have no intention of adding arrow handplates to a knee To that end, it's impossible to illustrate using MandoCreator but my thinking was to provide weathering and paintwork to pieces of the armor, namely the beskar components, to give the impression that perhaps two separate pieces would be welded or grafted back together. So some discoloration from welds or the overlay of black paint has weathered off to expose specks of different, older-looking enamels underneath. Something to that effect, anyway.

I'll be the first to admit that I've always been a little bit vary of buying soft parts online, but perhaps I can get lucky down the line. The materials I'm currently planning to use for the flight suit and vest are on order (though they won't be OM-standard), and I have a pair of boots that should work fine. I will definitely look into options for the belt though, that's far and away the component that I currently have the vaguest idea for acquiring.

Once I get the sizing of the primary armor pieces figured out, I'll start posting my progress!

[Arceane64]

Bit of an update for the old concept progress post. I've started work on some custom PVC templates for the chestplate based on the templates I got off of Etsy. My local department hardware store only had 3mm thick expanded board, so that's what we're going with for this one.


The design here is 1/2 scale based on the template below it as stated. I want the iron heart to be a recessed piece so I'm going to double up the two breastplates, making the total thickness of the combined plate approximately 9mm. Combined process of heatforming the individual pieces and using a dremel and filler to round the edges, bevel them to be more angular and make the pieces appear seamless. I'll probably make the edges a bit bigger than necessary as well to adjust the size once I've made my first flak vest.

Additionally I've started work on the right gauntlet, and I'll post my concept design here, as well. The actual piece will probably end up far less detailed that this sketch which is based heavily on the standard Din bracer. I'll make an armor WIP post as soon as I've made some substantial progress in that direction. Also made a template for the handplates which I'm thinking I'll just 3D print because I'm not super happy with how the ones I'm currently working with are going. Again, that will be on the Armor WIP.