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[Rhysal]

I think I'm at a point where I can post this and actually get stated with the planning stage for my build. Here is my concept so far, please excuse my crude photoshop skills ^^'



I am thinking light grey flight suit, darker grey vest, and the armour will be a darker blue with purple accents & details. The blue and purple will both be more towards the grey side, the purple in this image is a little closer to what I'm thinking than the blue, which is a little brighter than I intended. The markings on the chest armour will go up in a sort of Y shape, but this could change yet, depending on how it might end up looking. Right now the collar piece is blue and the shoulder bells are purple. I want to include a scarf/mantle type thing, which will hang down a bit in the back, and a loincloth from grey fur. We'll see how that turns out, but if it doesn't work then the cod will be blue as well.

Belts will be a girth belt made from cotton rope, probably purple, with dark grey pouches. Loincloth underneath all of this! I don't think I want a kama, but we'll see how the design evolves.

I don't have a backstory or anything figured out, but I would be leaning towards a wintery locale, hence the greys and muted colors. Possibly sniper? I'm not certain about weapon either, but I am wanting to do something big, maybe a sniper rifle or large polearm type weapon, like a vibro glaive or something similar to Rey's staff?

Sorry for the wordy post! Let me know if anything jumps out as needing to be tweaked, but I think I can start planning the acquiring of supplies and materials

[Havelock]

This looks like a good, solid concept.  Now get to work!   

[Sh'Sou HolDa]

I like it, good call on the "wintery" sort of feel and concept, especially after the weather we just had.

I think you will find, as you begin your build and carry through, that the "character" starts to come about the closer you get to finishing. Ill be keeping an eye on this thread

D

[Rhysal]

Thank you Havelock and Sh'Sou  I'll admit I was a little bit inspired by our climate...

A few updates! No sketches though as I'm no good at drawing...
I've purchased my first supplies! I found a set of white scrubs (on sale!) for my flight suit and will attempt to dye them as I couldn't find the color I was hoping for. But, white should be easy enough to dye right?? I'm nervous about it, but will start light (hopefully) so that I can go darker if needed. Fingers crossed that I don't make a huge mess.

I also bought some cotton rope & buckles to eventually use for a girth belt. May have to dye this as well, so we'll see how the flight suit dying goes, and then give that a shot if needed.

I've got some ideas for the vest, I think a tough part will be finding fabric, as fabric stores are quite intimidating... I might have to enlist the help of my MIL to come with me!  I am hoping to make it with a side closure, so I can get in and out of it myself. Hopefully I can do a velcro closure, perhaps with snaps to help hold it, as I don't have any experience sewing zippers. To be honest, this will be the most ambitious sewing project I've taken on so far! I've sewn some basic things in the past, but the projects have been quite forgiving. I'm intimidated by the challenge of making something to measure up to a strict guideline, but also looking forward to the challenge and excited for the outcome.

I've been browsing online a bit for boots but have not gone shopping yet. I don't want to spend a lot if I don't have to, but I do want to get a decent pair that will be comfortable to wear for extended periods of time.

I haven't thought much about armour yet, though I intend to use sintra. One question I do have is regarding helmets. As much as I'd like to save some money, I'm not sure if I'm ambitious enough to try building my own. Any suggestions on where to look for a good quality, beginner helmet?

Thanks for reading! WIP threads to come once I have some actual progress to show.

[Sep Ho'ban]

I haven't thought much about armour yet, though I intend to use sintra. One question I do have is regarding helmets. As much as I'd like to save some money, I'm not sure if I'm ambitious enough to try building my own. Any suggestions on where to look for a good quality, beginner helmet?

Your ideas sound great, it looks like you're taking a lot of care in planning your purchases and build.  We have a several trusted helmet vendors in the Supply Depot sub forum under "Ongoing sales"  -- these are the folks that sell helmets that are vetted and approved by the app team for use on custom mandos.   The other route you can take is buying a Rubies, or Target Boba Fett or Jango helmet and modifying it for approval -- replace visor, fill in dent, reinforce, new range finder stalk, repaint -- there are tutorials depending on which you buy.   

Happy Hunting vod!

[Evaar'la Kal]

Hey vod!  The snow design sounds pretty cool! 

For helmets, Droodles out in Saskatchewan makes a beautiful bucket.  Very nice quality with pretty good pricing, definitely cheaper than most others since he's a Canadian seller.   https://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=91551.0   There's lots of other great helmet makers on the forums too of course!

As far as the vest goes, I've made a bunch now (four for me and one for a friend) and would be happy to help with any sewing stuff.  I've done both back closure and side closure, and definitely prefer side closure both for wear and construction.  For fabric you'll want something that doesn't have any stretch cause otherwise the weight of your plates will make it saggy.  A lot of people use duckcloth, a woven fabric similar to canvas and is pretty good for breathability.  If you want to go with more of a leather look then you can use pleather/vinyl, but since this fabric is basically solid plastic it doesn't breathe well at all and you might find it to be too hot.  Another option is upholstery fabric, I used this one for my most recent vest and it's my favourite so far.  No stretch at all and it holds it's shape a bit better than duckcloth.  Whatever option you decide to go with, definitely check out the bargain area in the fabric stores, the best treasures can usually be found there.  A lot of the time fabric stores will have their duckcloth in the outdoor fabric section too, so that's good to keep an eye on as well.

[Rhysal]

Evaar'la Kal, thank you! I actually came across Droodles's thread while browsing the forums (thanks Sep for pointing me in the direction of where to look for buckets!), and I was considering his! It is a toss up between his and another one I had seen that looked promising.

Also, thanks for the info about vest fabric! My MIL is familiar with duck cloth as well, so if I'm totally lost in the fabric store I'll bring her along ^^'
I was thinking of checking the clearance area, I'm always down with finding a good deal. Upholstery fabric is a good suggestion as well, I hadn't thought of that! I'll have to take a trip to the store soon and check it out. I am leaning away from a leather look right now, mostly because of the look, but breathability is something I'm keeping in mind as well.

Soft parts thread incoming as soon as I upload some photos somewhere to share 

ETA: A couple questions I have, can we add pieces later on, after approval? I'm not sure if I want a kama or not, so say I did decide to add can I do that or does it need to be submitted/approved before trooping with it?

Also, I was wondering if it is okay to put a personal symbol (for lack of a better term) on the armour somewhere? I thought of putting the mythosaur on one shoulder and perhaps a personal one on the other shoulder, I may tie it into my character's history/family or something somehow as well. Ideally I'd like to stencil something on.

[Sep Ho'ban]

Most of us have an upgrade addiction, pieces can change and be added after approval.  Just work with your Ruu to make sure you stay in CRL compliance.

Personal symbols are okay as long as they look swarzy.  Best to post a sketch and get feedback before you paint it on

[Rhysal]

Just a quick update with a link to my soft parts thread!
https://mandalorianmercs.org/forum/index.php?topic=150637.0

I haven't come up with anything for the personal logo yet, we'll see if something comes to me eventually. If so, I'll be sure to post a sketch!

No big updates aside from flight suit, I need to pattern out vest and armour but I have been pretty lazy this week. The weather needs to shape up so I start feeling more energetic!  8)

[Havelock]

Just checked out your soft part thread.  You're doing some great work, vod.