Hello all!
I am determined to start a kit and become a full member of this amazing community.
Though I'm aware that brigades are only open to Official Members, I will be aiming for a Beast Master-suitable kit. At the very least, it gives me design goals and a goal for the future after official membership.
Since I live in Australia and our wilderness is dry and scrappy, I pulled this desertcam swatch off google images for a colour guide to get started/motivated:
I'm quite happy with the results after playing around with Mando maker:
Light though muted colours to both limit overheating and also blend in, "leather" gloves, belt and boots, "unpainted" armour plates, tattered half-length cape to keep the harsh sun off my back, and darkened area around the visor to limit glare. I was having trouble finding the brigade requirements, so I'm not positive these colours are all allowed for the beast master, especially if I stick with hunter's safety orange on the rangefinder! But I'd rather try to meet those requirements too now rather than have to remake part of my kit later.
Next step will be to prototype armour panels, first from paper then cardboard. Not sure whether to draft a template from a duct-tape-dummy or to try to resize premade templates. Guess I'm just worried I'll waste my time only to screw it up and regret not going the other route. I guess that's how we learn though, isn't it? And all I've really got to lose is an old t-shirt, some tape, paper, and printer ink.
I've also gotta learn sewing so I can make a two-piece flightsuit in my favoured fabric, and figure out how the heck to get/make a solid bucket. But those are worries for another day! I'll be proud enough once I've got a perfect template for the plates.
Thanks for reading! Any critique, advice, observations, etc welcome!