Hey all! Like everyone else in this thread, I've got a Mando kit concept that I'd love some feedback on!
I made this in Mando Creator (and did some fine-tuning using MS paint, namely on the chest plate and ab plate shapes and on the helmet). I'm kind-of mixing and matching a couple armor styles (Galaxy style chest armor, Legacy pauldrons), so please let me know if that's not okay! I looked around and saw other people here doing similar, so I assumed it was fine.
I've already got a flak vest pattern in its beginning stages (plan is to use duck cotton for it), and I'm still debating if I want to do scrubs as my flightsuit or if I want to figure something else out.
I also already have the boots I plan to use, and I'll be trying to match all of my brown leather features to this color.
I plan to use either leather or pleather for the kama. I've never really worked with leather before, but I have the right needles and thread already and have done the research on it. But, I would appreciate thoughts on whether you think one is preferable to the other. My main thought is that I want the kama to be a little stiffer instead of cottony and flow-y like I see some people's are, hence leather/pleather lends itself to that instead of other materials. But, advice/thoughts are welcome.
I also plan to style the bust of my chest plates around the shape of Bo Katan's from The Mandalorian. I'm
not doing a post-imperial build. I'm just not the biggest fan of the rounded/bubble chest plates that a lot of female armor has, and I adore the overall shape of Bo Katan's chest plate. So, my plan is to adapt that shape to the Galaxy style armor.
I'm going to be making everything out of a mix of PETG 3D printed parts (helmet, vambraces, knee plates, other small details) and Sintra. For all the gray areas on the armor design, I want that all to look like exposed metal, not just painted gray. I see a lot of tutorials for making that nice, chrome beskar finish for Din's armor, but not a lot for making just a nice (durasteel/beskar alloy) metal finish. Any paint suggestions?
I also made a bunch of pencil hand sketches (not an artist, but that doesn't stop me from trying, haha) on a trace of my body's figure, that way I could get a better understanding of how everything would fit, and that way I could hash out some of the details. Those are below.
Armored Front:Armored Back:Soft Parts Front:Soft Parts Back:I'm having a hard time figuring out how to handle the back plate. Might end up doing the Galaxy style for it too.
I also sketched out a more detailed view of the helmet. It's based off Ursa Wren's helmet style with a few minor alterations (made the cheek indents styled more like Din Djarin's from The Mandalorian, changed up the ear caps, and simplified the back). I just really like the look of the cheeks on Din's helmet (and it's sort-of my nod to the show that made me want to start this project in the first place), and the back of the OG design of the helmet felt too bulky for me, so I wanted to make it simpler.
And that's about where I'm at. In terms of weapons, I plan to have 3 blades hidden across the armor (one spring-loaded in the right vambrace, one down in the right shank armor, and one strapped to my back facing the left hand), 2 holstered guns, and right knee missiles. I was also tossing around the idea of some sort of thermal detonator canister on the back of my belt, but I'd have to hash that out some more before committing to it.
Also was thinking it would be fun to bust out some of my mechanical engineering skills and wire up the other gauntlet to have an LCD screen with a capacitive touch pad that can do, like, simple functions. Again, another idea I'd have to flesh out, but I'm tossing it around and figured it would be cool.
Finally, how exactly do y'all come up with names? I see people saying to just pick a random word and switch up the spelling and add apostrophes, but that doesn't seem to work for me? Picking a random word just seems... very random, haha. Any advice on how to find the perfect Mando name? Until then, I shall remain a
neverd...
Would love comments and feedback on what I have so far before I get started! I might be moving soon, which would switch up my clan, so I'm not sure how to handle that in terms of starting my build and figuring out who my ruus'alor will end up being... But, excited to get started on this either way!!!