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[Arco'thyel Wyshla]

Arco Thyel Hard Goods WIP
[AR-koh THIGH-elle]

[Updated: 4/2/23]


Key points of interest for this build’s armor:

• Beskar plates
• Chrome paint base
• Candy paint accents
• 3D narglatch signet
• Durasteel plates
• Metallic paint base
• Candy paint accents
• Custom PI chestplate
• Paz Vizsla – light infantry variant
• Visible underwiring

Key points of interest for this build's gauntlets:

• Custom 3D model
• 3D print: PETG
• Offensive gauntlet
• Whipcord
• Flamethrower
• LED display
• Keypad (?)
• Darts (?)
• Defensive gauntlet
• Shock panels
• Flamethrower

Key points of interest for this build's helmet:

• 3D print: PETG
• Altered Aran Tal file
• Chrome beskar finish
• Candy paint accents
• Fans (?)
• Voice amplifier (?)
• LED accents (?)

Key points of interest for this build's weapons:

• Amban phase-pulse blaster
• LED short blade
• One million throwing knives
• Vibroknife
• Tranquilizer gun (?)
• Grav charges (?)
• Electro whip (?)
• Dual westars (?)

Key points of interest for this build's accessories:

• Mythosaur pendant
• Teeth / claws
• Tooka toys / treats
• Narglatch quills (?)

Overview:

Arco is a Post-Imperial narglatch breeder and follower of the Way, with custom beskar plates and generic Tribe durasteel plates. Armor inspirations are V2 and pre-beskar / post mudhorn Din Djarin, as well as two unnamed mandos from the Tribe. Soft goods inspirations are Post-Imperial mandalorians, Fennec Shand, and Altaïr from Assassin's Creed. My endgame after OM approval will be a beastmaster / tech aesthetic with furs and LEDs, aiming for Beast Tamer and Light Melee brigades.

Here is my initial kit breakdown (will keep here as inspiration for upgrades):



Here is my revised kit breakdown (will use this for app):




There are a few visual themes to my kit:

Visual theme 1: durasteel vs pure beskar! A big aspect of this kit is to highlight the difference between durasteel and pure beskar. This will be apparent in both the type of paint and in the weathering. Most of the plates are plain silver, but even the paint accents are translucent to showcase the different finishes underneath.

Visual theme 2: Children of the Watch! The season 1 covert is responsible for my interest in Mandalorians, so I would like Arco to be identifiable as a member of the Tribe. I admit my creative side is leading this kit to stray from screen references, so I will need to make an effort to ensure this kit's covert influences are still noticeable.

Visual theme 3: spikes! Between the pulse rifle, throwing knives, linear vents, and paint scheme, a key visual impression of this kit should be spiky! The angular design should reflect the narglatch. Wouldn't it be cool to have a narglatch pelt cape in the future?


Character Inspirations:

For armor, my primary character inspiration is none other than Din Djarin, who is responsible for my interest in Mandalorian culture and Star Wars overall.



Although Din's pure beskar set is what motivated me into costuming, this covert mando's plain durasteel look also captured my attention, leading me to eventually do a mixed kit like early Din.



(I love this guy. Look at him with his mismatched ab plate. What a lad. Wish we had pics of his whole kit.)


Weathering Considerations:

My intended brigade requires heavy weathering, so this will be key.

Environmental considerations: Arco's primary environment is similar to my own, so I can take nice pictures! I live in an ecotone, a transition between a deciduous forest and a grassland biome. I'll keep in mind the kind of plants I'll be walking through, the shades of dirt, and even the seeds and burrs that might get stuck to me.





Animal considerations: Arco is a narglatch breeder who also has a loth cat program. For weathering, I will keep in mind how each of these animals will interact with each aspect of this kit. (Beware, vode! Three-clawed beasts abound...)





Weathering level: Given the simultaneous "heavy weathering" and "consistent weathering" requirements, it will be tricky to have a combined beskar / durasteel kit. Thankfully, I have a perfect canon reference: post-mudhorn, pre-beskar Din Djarin! My kit won't be quite as damaged as this, but it's great inspiration.




Build Plan:

I have a problem: my ambitions are too high for my skill level. I'm essentially new to all of this, and with my perfectionist tendencies, I could get disheartened and scrap the project altogether. That's why instead of diving straight into the Duralumen paint, screen-accurate flight suit, and complicated electronics I want, I'm starting with a simple version of my kit. I hope the skills I learn will allow me to remake the pieces to my liking in the future!

Arco'thyel Wyshla Build Thread Index

Planning thread: A planning log that includes swatch tests, template development, reference screenshots, and lore considerations.

Soft goods thread: Includes in-depth build process of soft goods such as flight suit, flak vest, kama, leathers, and accessories.

Hard goods thread: Includes in-depth build process of hard goods such as armor, helmet, gauntlets, weapons, and accessories. [you are here]
Also serves as a master thread by sharing key updates from the planning log and soft goods thread.

[Arco'thyel Wyshla]

As of 3/30/22, here is the current state of my kit. As per my planning log:

• Narglatch signet
• Paint swatches
• Armor templates (thighs need to be inverted, I patterned them for the wrong side, oops)
• Helmet (needs to be reprinted in a bigger size)

As per my soft goods WIP:

• Tailored scrubs with double sleeves
• Neck seal
• Gloves
• Spats WIP

Lots to do! I have a con in late April that I'd like to be in a wearable state for if possible. This means helmet, gauntlets, and flak vest at bare minimum -- hopefully the chest plate and at least one shoulder as well. I'll start by sewing the flak vest and tuning up the 3D printer. Let's get to it!

[Odran Krayt]

Wow, looks like you have a solid plan! Looking forward to seeing this come into being!

[Arco'thyel Wyshla]

Thanks, Odran! I'll keep everyone updated!


3D printer people, this newbie could use your advice!

Today's goal is to get my 3D printer bed levelled. After a few bed level tests, I've determined my stock glass bed is convex (not the aluminum bed, thankfully!). I flipped the glass and tested again to find the center is too low now. Makes sense. Right now I'm working on adding painter's tape between the aluminum and glass to push the center upwards.

While my test squares are printing, I'm attempting to model the keyslots. I was initially going to form these out of sintra because I trust my hands more than my 3D modelling skills, but I think it's turning out lovely!



Lots of ventilation holes! I have slits on the front cheeks and side earcaps, some hidden holes under the upper earcaps, and now the open keyslots.





Question! How big should I resize this helmet?

Here is a reference of my first print with my upper body armor, note that the shoulders are floating a bit so that will affect the ideal helmet size.



My current helmet "fits", but my ears touch the sides and I have to do some wild face gymnastics to get my glasses on underneath it. I want to add fans for sure, and am interested in adding a voice amp and LEDs under the earcaps in the future, so I will need room but I'm not sure how much.

How big of a gap should be between my ears and the helmet? Any tips on sizing?

[Senra Qiin]

Looking amazing, Arco!

Make sure you’ve got enough room to pad your helmet as well. Not sure how much you want, but factor that into your resizing as well as the thickness of the tech you’d like to install since that will vary too. With your glasses, I’d say play around a bit by printing a few filament lines of your helmet’s bottom rim / cheek indentations and seeing if you can fit that around your glasses. Much easier to do instead of printing the whole helmet and realizing it’s still a bit too small for your liking.

Hope that helps, vod!

[Second Son]

  Don't mind me, posting to follow your Official WIP^tm

[Karson Wren]

Ohhhhhhhhhhh, this is gonna be good 

[Arco'thyel Wyshla]

Looking amazing, Arco!

Make sure you’ve got enough room to pad your helmet as well. Not sure how much you want, but factor that into your resizing as well as the thickness of the tech you’d like to install since that will vary too. With your glasses, I’d say play around a bit by printing a few filament lines of your helmet’s bottom rim / cheek indentations and seeing if you can fit that around your glasses. Much easier to do instead of printing the whole helmet and realizing it’s still a bit too small for your liking.

Hope that helps, vod!

Thanks Senra! I certainly need to consider padding. I went ahead and printed a size ring to play around with and it is easing my mind.

  Don't mind me, posting to follow your Official WIP^tm

Do you think my Official WIP^tm will reach the 17 page splendor of my planning thread? 

Ohhhhhhhhhhh, this is gonna be good 

Let's gooooo 


So, three days of bed levelling, lots of removing the bed and adding more tape to counteract the warp, 21 sets of calibration squares printed, and I finally get a decent set of squares! I go ahead and print a size ring test for my helmet at 110%... and the ring pops off the bed because the bed was too close.

Current mood:



I printed another set of squares and, perplexingly, the bed is much higher than it was compared to the last set I printed? I don't get it. I'm currently printing another set of squares with the aim of erring on the low side to see what happens when I print the ring again. If that doesn't work out, tomorrow I'll need to go to the hardware store and get a glass mirror and binder clips to replace the bed. My anxious side is worried that those will be warped, too.

Siiiigh.

Good news at least, with the super thin test size ring I printed, I believe a size of 110% will allow me to put on my glasses easier and fit some hardware without the helmet looking comically oversized! My printer can go up to 114%, but I'm leaning towards sticking to 110%.

[Beyla Radalir]

Awesome concept vod! I can't wait to see how it turns out. Will you be making your kama out of fabric?

[Odran Krayt]

I've never done it, but I've heard getting a glass mirror and cutting it to fit your build plate works as a good replacement for a stock bed that is out of shape.

[Senra Qiin]

Thanks Senra! I certainly need to consider padding. I went ahead and printed a size ring to play around with and it is easing my mind.

I know I’m late, but no problem! Glad I could help and ease your mind. If your helmet will fit and allow everything you want to be installed, I’d say try to keep it smaller so you don’t become a bobble-head, though I don’t imagine you will be either way.

[Arco'thyel Wyshla]

Thanks all!

Awesome concept vod! I can't wait to see how it turns out. Will you be making your kama out of fabric?

Yes! Right now I'm using the canvas my flak vest is made of. I may replace it in the future with something else if it doesn't move the way I want it to.


Today's update...

Today I realized, I think my issue is something other than the bed. My first layer is pretty solid by now -- it's the second and above layers where the nozzle scrapes the print. I never calibrated my E-steps, I bet it's over extruding! I could fix the problem and get printing today!

I checked my E-steps... it's UNDER extruding. Fixing the E-steps will make my problem even worse!

Well... I need to check my X/Y/Z/E steps anyway. May as well do it now and diagnose from there.

I'm definitely open to suggestions on what may be up with it, I'm pretty bummed at the moment. I really want the helmet printed by the armor party next weekend...

[Arco'thyel Wyshla]

Oop, falling behind on my daily updates till the convention! Though it's possible I won't be mando-ing up for it. I've kept busy trying to fix the printer, but it's still not going. The good news is, I think I finally know what's causing my levelling difficulties and 2nd-layer scraping issues: there's some kind of Z-binding going on that causes the X-gantry to get unlevelled.

But enough of fixing that. After 6 days of unfruitfully fiddling with it, I am very 3D-printered out!! No helmet for me this weekend. I'm turning my attention to my flak vest and sash for now. Keep an eye on my soft goods thread in the coming days!

[Senra Qiin]

Can do! I hope your leveling issues get sorted out ner vod.

[Aster Veris]

I love your ideas, your build is really cool!
I don't have a printer myself so I'll leave the trouble shooting to the experts. But your helmet is looking nice, if you are re-printing it I would definitely recommend a larger size. Both for comfort (glasses, ears, and padding space) as well as CRLs (you want the helmet to be 1/2 of your width from shoulder to shoulder).
Also looking at your mando maker, you have a loin cloth which isn't approvable for post imperial builds, but at a quick glance everything else looks great!
Keep up the good work, I'm super excited to see all that heavy weathering