activation email

[ValinKrai]

Post-Imperial Valin Planning

Potential Things of Interest

• Post-Imperial
• Modeling custom parts with Fusion 360
• Custom blaster electronics
• General heavy use of LEDs, OLEDs, electronics, and avoiding premade solutions
• 6500 word initial post
• Space pirate hacker
• Lots of Arduino coding
• Beat Saber as the holy test of mobility

Statement of Goals
This is my Google Doc/thread for planning a Post-Imperial version of Valin’s Armor. This is both a design goals document, as well as a planning document for deciding what prerequisites I want to set for myself. For my Modern kit, I more or less winged it, and while that gave me flexibility, it also wasted a lot of time/money. Given I now have something approved for trooping, I intend to do an actual planning thread for this kit. Mostly because Arco’s thread is stupid good, and now I wanna be competitive, and have things like back story written out.

Arco has hugely influenced my desire for perfectionism kit, and while my Alor’ad always reminds us to keep it simple for an initial build, this build I want to harness that perfectionist energy, and really up my game in techniques, and in-universe ambition. Similarly our friend, who I believe goes by Bairn Sidhe here, makes me want to push my lore and backstory game further, and also find some opportunities for doing better hand stitching where Post-Imperial looks allow.

While this will predominantly be planning for the Post-Imperial build, it will also be interrelated with upgrades to my existing kit, and the shared aspects between them. Michael from Yustapir has been doing some of the stuff for his kit, and it’s so impressive. Part of my goals is to follow his example on integrating ammo pouches, and more visually interesting soft goods, as well as more custom designed parts.

I’d also like to better split out the aspects of my armor. I may not make a specific thread for everything, I do want to do each piece documented in such a way that it could serve as instructions to replicate, and better document the costs, and where I got materials, with links to Amazon and MicroCenter, for example. Additionally, I’d like to avoid difficult to re-obtain fabrics.

Where possible, for things I don’t have any plans in my head to sell on Etsy, I’d like to document/open source any materials/code developed for my armor. We’ll see how this pans out, but I want to try and better document Illustrator templates for sewing, or Fusion360 projects, as well as my code.

I’d also really like to keep to the Post-Imperial spirit, and involve clan mates where possible to make the armor more personal, so where possible I’d like to use this as a chance to do favors I can get returned later. In this realm, a large goal is also to keep my skills sharp, and be able to provide guidance to my fellow clan mates in Yustipir in many of the skills this build will require.

One related guiding principle I’d like to have is freedom of movement. I’m proud to say I’m able to nail some Expert and Expert+ Beat Saber songs while in my existing kit (minus helmet and blaster), and I’d like to keep that true of this, while still in a troopable state, if not with all the brigade knick-knacks and weapons (and helmet). Back plates and cod pieces don’t equate to a difficulty of movement, and there’s tons you can still do while having lots of mobility. In most cases, the biggest increases in agility I think I can achieve would be from increased durability and better attachment mechanisms.

Adjacent to agility is sustainability. My current kit, all told, is about 25lbs. It’s not terrible at all, and I’m pretty comfortably able to wear it indoors (other than some airflow/visor stuff), and outdoors I struggle a bit more, but I’d be perfectly comfortable with an hour or two in 80+ weather. I could stand to add a bit more weight, but I do want to try and consider weight more, as Post Imperial generally seems to have the potential to be more mass, so I’ll want to add more hollowed out bits when possible, for weight and electronics. Weight has been more limiting than agility for things like beat saber.


Finally, this is the beginning of longer term planning. I’d like to do substantial work on at least 1 of a Galactic Marine and a Jedi first, or a side build like a Jawa first before beginning the Post-Imperial in earnest, so it may be many months to a year before this takes form. Or I’ll begin aspects now to apply to this kit, and leave others for later.

Initial Sketch

This is not a work of art by any means, but it's more or less a summary of the end goals. Valin infiltrating an Imperial remnant space ship, pistols blazing, ready to whip out the vibrosword I clearly forgot to add for a good old pirate duel. At the end, hack his way into the enemies’ systems, and claim the credits from those who dare to glass Mandalore.

Back Story
Following up on the basic backstory of “Modern Valin”, I believe Valin would be roughly my age (29) around the OT era. Old enough to have memories of the Clone Wars, and a source for the love of the DC-15s, which would seem silly if I’d never seen a Republic Commando. This I believe would place me at 36-38 in the Post-Imperial era, which, who knows, maybe I’ll be that old when I finish this version of the kit. This character is essentially supposed to be a soft insert, so I’d like to include aspects of my background in electronics, cybersecurity and computer science in particular.


Currently, my essential lore is that I served in the Rebel Alliance Intelligence Service. I’m either part of or related to clan Wren, where I suspect Sabine Wren would have steered me from my ways as a Mandalorian with a yet to be written further back story, into serving the Rebel Alliance, particularly in the OT era.

I haven’t particularly nailed down much more than that, but I’d like to flesh this out to at least a page or two by the time we near the end of Mandalorian Season 3, and learn more about the purge and the Mandalorian factions in the Post-Imperial era.

Post-Imperial Armor Game Plan
I’ve divided this up into a few sections, and while I’ve aimed for this to be a decently exhaustive top line stream of consciousness of my initial thoughts on each piece, it’s definitely not complete, and there’s further stuff I’d like to do specific to the full BRLs that I’d likely want to cover with a brigade specific thread. Where brigade stuff fits with a very topline description and 1.0 version of this kid, I’ve listed them.

Primary Brigade Interests
Given this is intended to be the same character as my Modern kit, a lot of potential brigades for this will cross over as I look at brigades for my Modern kit. Where mutual exclusivity seems likely to be an issue, such as for Privateer and Combat Slicer, I’ll probably just aim to complete as much as possible, with the other going for actual approval.

Privateer
The space pirate aesthetic, and bold vibes this gives off just fits so much of what I’m already doing. I’d like to keep as much of my design as possible for the Post-Imperial kit, so the general space pirate requirements of this will serve as guidance for how I build the base of this armor. I don’t see any notable requirements on this that require consideration early on, mostly seems to be fit and finish. The main initial goal would just be to keep strong on vacuum compatible soft goods, and weathering considerations.

Combat Slicer
A huge goal of mine is to integrate my background in hacking and (a little bit of) electronics into my kit. It’s listed as incompatible with the Privateer (due to the colors), but regardless, the hacking/security attack elements of this fit with what I’d like to do as far as electronics goals go. For my helmet, if I redo, I’d want to integrate the required data pad connection from the start into one of the ear caps. I probably can’t be approved, but I kind of find the color requirement silly given real world hacker culture’s diversity, so I think I’ll try and do as much of this as possible, and use privateer for approval purposes, and combat slicer requirements for my own satisfaction.

Secondary Brigade Interests
While I'll go for privateer first, these also interested for potentially proper dual brigades.

Pistoleer/Gunslinger
These fit nicely with the dual DC-15s. I don’t think there’s a ton specific I’d need to consider for the initial build, though both require a range finder, which my current helmet lacks.

Mechanic
Related to slicer, similar cool DIY/maker lab items I wouldn’t mind on a belt.

Aerial Assault
Would need to drop the cape, but I love a lot of this. Additionally, would 100% require a jetpack, which I want to integrate anyway. Further, I’d have to leave my kama setup to add jetpack-related weathering later, which was also why I’d chosen my current heavier kama material.


Soft Goods
This is where I see a lot of room for improvement from more planning than I did previously. I learned a lot about sewing and fabric choice that I’d like to apply here. Also I’ve seen so many people with stupid cool soft goods, and I’m just dying to try and be half as good.

Flak Vest
This is where I’d like to make substantial improvements in a few categories. While I’m gonna go for the maximalist version initially, and for the purposes of this planning thread, I’d very likely make a hot and cool version of the flak vest, to avoid my goals conflicting with wearability in summer outdoor troops. I’d also probably be more inclined to move colors around, instead of falling back to black. My final plate color ended up a dark purple in the Modern build that didn’t contrast well, but also kind of precluded my desire to use purple fabric. I didn’t end up integrating white into my build either until after I’d done my original flak vest.

The first category is the Post-Imperial look. They’ve got far more visual interest going on on their flak vests, with things like top stitching and multiple panels, and so on. Related to this also is looking like it’s provided protection. Whether it’s all over or in key areas, I’d like things like batting to imply there might be some level of soft armoring to protect myself and a vacuum safe flight suit from shrapnel. Another consideration here is integrating options like the cape backplate, and my ultimate chest plate design from the start.

The second category is in visual interest. I’d just like to make sure spots not covered by armor will still be interesting  where I might be caught by an errant photo, and not just a front shot, chest towards the camera.

The final category is just usability. The flak is a super useful tool for mounting things like a back plate, jet pack, cape, and so on in addition to just the armor plates. I wanna make sure key areas are sturdy, even if on a summer version the majority might actually be a single layer. Part of this might be researching things like water cool solutions, though I don’t currently find that to be needed. Another part is planning ways to run wiring to as many armor pieces as possible. Even where I don’t currently intend to add LEDs, I’d like to have a plan for where I’d run cables if I add electronics. My original plan had involved using CAT6, but I think I’d go more custom, with stitched in routing options this time.

I also would like to avoid a rear zipping option. It wasn’t actually a huge pain on its own to do it myself, but it was really difficult to hide the rear zipper in a way I liked. This pairs with my desire to at least consider a separate neck seal. I believe this can be considered separately from the snoopy cap I’ll talk about later, as they’re distinct pieces.

Flight Suit

I don't have tons of specifics, but just would liketo generally make my flight suit more detailed, and include things like built-d in pockets, top stitching, and so on. My original was navy, mostly just because it was what I had, but I’ll probably consider grey shades this time. Maybe even sharing a flight suit with a future Galactic Marine build.

Kama

This is something I don’t want to change a ton. The overall design was primarily based on Commander Bow. What I really love here is the triangular lines in the front, crossing over the codpiece. My current cod goes over instead, to simply mounting, but if I redid the kama, or cleaned the current one up, I’d swap it to have the cod under the kama like Bow’s. This may seem small, but it’s probably the most significant change I want to improve the mobility I have available on my Modern kit, as the snaps I currently use frequently come undone when bending over or sitting down.

What I don’t love here was the execution of the Kama itself, and the back view. I really just want a better execution here. I like the thick Kama design, but because of how thick the fabric I used was, it was pretty challenging to get the lines I’d really love. I’ve seen Arco and Athena Dawn’s kamas really work well with multiple layers of Canvas, even without the thick fabrics that gave me trouble on my Modern kit’s kama.  I’d also probably make it much longer and wider, as it doesn’t inhibit movement much, and I think more surface area, even if I don’t keep to the thick Vinyl, would result in a better movement.

This is a major candidate for a costume element I’d intend to use to replace my Modern build’s kama, and for the Post-Imperial build. One other note, I’d like to try integrating an optional kidney/butt plate. In most cases, I’ve tried to avoid dropping Jango plates just because I could take an out, and so far, none have impacted my mobility substantially as much as the cod mounting here.

One point of concern, and potentially added feature here is integrating this with my desire for a DC-15s drop holsters (Those Republic Commando pistols are way bigger than you think from playing the game)
Girth Belt/Cumberbund
I don’t really have a plan yet here. I suspect I’d drop the girth belt for not being common in the Post-Imperial area, but I don’t really want to do a ton, besides switching from suede to a canvas for the white on it, and having a more military aesthetic attachment mechanism.

Cape
I’d definitely like to redo this if my brigades are compatible with a half cape. I quite like the half cape aesthetic, but I wouldn’t mind this build’s Tunic/Backplate being set up for both a full and half cape, depending on if I’m carrying a jetpack.

The current version references the Alliance Intelligence emblem, with more mandalorian starbirds and a mythosaur thrown in, to indicate perhaps I was part of allied mandalorians working closely with Rebel Intelligence. Why would I advertise this from a lore perspective? I’m not sure, but it’s a cool symbol!

Material wise, my Modern cape uses two layers of differently colored gauze, with different symbols on each side, with the inner symbol using the opposite side’s background color. I’d probably do a darker color, closer to hot pink if I redid the gauze instead of the outer pale pink, but this didn’t require dye, so it had made my life easier to just shrug and pretend the sun had bleached it.
The material itself though is a bit thin and stretchy, and while I really like the texture, and especially how it flows, it’s extremely difficult to work with for adding the symbol, resulting in an execution that I was only really able to tolerate after adding tears, burns and other weathering. I think if I can have a cape, I might try and partially use something sturdy like canvas to integrate the symbols, and try and weaken/soften the fabric to better achieve the flow.
My biggest feeling of unfinished business has come from the difficulty of matching my visual desire for a tattered bottom of the cape from dragging against the ground/brush with the requirement for a “finished piece”.

Related to this, I do wish I could find a CRL-compliant way of doing my previous cape, which was the same gauze simply draped from its mid-point.


Both of these photos capture a bunchy, tattered aesthetic that I’d like to find a kosher way to integrate into my shoulder cape, though this might ultimately be impossible with my desired brigades. If anyone has thoughts, I’d love to hear. I currently just have my cape folded over itself at the top to reduce its width by about a third from where it’d be if I’d have just draped it as a full cape, where you can properly see the stitched-in symbols.

Snoopy/Flight Cap
I’d really like to include this design as an optional element for troops. It seems like a good inclusion for things like cons, where you’ll frequently be taking your helmet off to talk to people or communicate, and helps avoid breaking an in-character illusion. It also provides a convenient mount for headphones and microphones.


Depending how I do mine, this serves as a fun real world analog to the snoopy caps that Apollo astronauts wore.

[ValinKrai]

Hard Goods
I'm pretty happy with the execution on most of these on my Modern build, butt I think there's plenty of opportunities for improvement, especially with how heavily Post-Imperial can rely on 3D printing, which makes custom models a little more fun to explore!

Jet Pack

I’m facing a bit of conflict here. I don’t really have a strong visual image yet, but what I do lean towards now is keeping to Boba’s large, silhouette impacting Z-6. I’m struggling to find a justification though, because outside of Boba himself, basically the only Jet pack we’ve seen large enough to impact a silhouette from the front is Paz, with his massive cannon on the side, and his wider/higher outer jets. The Post-Imperial builds seem to lean heavily towards mid-sized arena style jetpacks, only seen from sides and behind. Certainly not like Boba’s protruding beyond the helmet.
I’ll probably just default to a Z-6 regardless for practical reasons, but I could always do a Jetpack V2 later.
This does also raise a philosophical question I’ve had with weathering. Why is Boba’s rocket weathered? Like does he never use it? Is Boba busting out the sandpaper to fulfill the CRLs requirement for consistent weathering? What’s the deal here? It’s clearly just gone once he uses it, and he has to go buy more. Is Boba just pulling old mishandled inventory, or is this supposed to be a standard mass-produced rocket that’s still being manufactured? This poses serious concerns for me from a weathering/lore perspective.


There’s already models out there, I just need to figure out my plans with them, electronics compatibility, weight strategies and so on.

Helmet
I’m pretty happy with this, but there’s always room for improvement, so here’s what I’m considering!

Design wise, I love the Foreman from Alter Ego, I would love to mix up the visor shape a bit, whether to exaggerate the existing elements of not being perfectly straight at the eyes, or more substantial Nite-Owl like features. This is probably outside the realm of what’s realistic for an initial build, but it’s something I’m keeping in mind.

Even if I don’t change the actual Foreman design up, I wouldn’t mind reprinting and rebuilding for a few reasons.

• I got Adam Savage to sign the v1, so I’d love to keep that safe.
• It’s a bit small, which might limit my ability to do the Snoopy cap I really want to use, as well as electronic add-ons. This also limited me to only rear keyslot fans. I’d like to be able to do blowers on a PWM circuit or really quiet blowers this time.
• I’d just like to look into things like a mechanized range finder, and other helmet-integrated electronics. I’d initially avoided planning things that’d require power in my helmet, but I think I’m a little more comfortable now to pursue a LiPo battery to give me a strong 5-12v power source. Additionally, I could include cut outs in the base design for fans, arduinos, and paths to run wiring for LEDs built in. I’m way more comfortable with modifying meshes.
• Related to custom meshes, I’d like to design custom ear caps to include slicer elements and/or other brigade requirements. This is also where I could plan from the start to include integrated flash lights, outer microphones, and so on. I’d done a custom keyslot for this helmet, and I found I really liked the look of placing a metal mesh behind it to obscure the fans. Would love to use that mesh in other places.

I intend to expand on the custom ear caps later with more reference, but one feature I definitely want that there’s reference for is a gasket/helmet skirt. Just looks more complete, and with more space, I think it’d be easier to pursue.

Finally, I’d like to consider ways to do a colored visor, originally I’d decided it wouldn’t work well as purple or pink since pink already surrounds the visor.

Gauntlets
I haven’t nailed down my goals with these yet, but I’d like to model them from scratch. Currently I use a modified version of April Storm’s custom Death Watch gaunts. Proud of them, but I think I have the skills now to do better, and to design with brigades in mind. One thing I’d like to add is integration between gloves and my gauntlets, and to add a hand plate. Just so it’s less of a question whether it’s a vambrace or a gauntlet. Both?

Backplate
I like it, but I want a more angular one. Per Arco’s thread, there’s precious few visual references to go off of here, so I’ll probably have to be creative, and try and leave my options open as Mandalorian Season 3 draws near.

Tasset Plates
I’d love to integrate these into the Kama to some degree. They look cool, and seem like they might mix well with an armored Kama, perhaps drawing inspiration from Samurai armor.


Shoulders
I really love my shoulders. They’re the only piece of armor from my original attempt at making a kit around ~2012, so I hope to keep them or their design as an element in anything custom I do.  They’re a direct lift of this art of a Nautolan warrior.


Chest Plate

I do quite like the Post-Imperial chest plate. Specifically this style of pointing forward facing, vaguely pointed forward Iron-Man esque design. It’s got a lot of visual energy, the pointed look kind of implies a bit of movement, and most of all, I don’t have to deal with chest plate spacing.

Right now I’ve got medium armor, so I’d at least like to start there for a goal. Paz style medium plates don’t seem crazy, but as we start getting more Aran Tal content, I’d like to keep his chest plate design in mind as a possibility to mix and match with the Paz abdominal/diaphragm medium plate. I think there’s plenty of opportunities here to do some Iron-Man-inspired glowing chest elements, though in my case, I’m having a bit of a love affair with the idea of integrating the white on my armor now into my armor with acrylic and LEDs. Would work even if batteries are dead, but I think it helps keep to a cyber-punk intimidation tactic that fits my goal of slicer pirate.

Next key goal is figuring out greeblies, electronic integrations and so on. One thing I liked while rewatching Rebels was the vent on Ursa Wren’s chest plate. I went ahead and grabbed Armorsmith recently, because I’d like to be able to model armor better myself. For electronics here, I don’t have a ton of solid plans outside of perhaps a fan in the vent, and exploring the acrylic white stripes (with perhaps some beskar mesh on top, to keep it armored/swarzy and avoid straight Tron, despite my love).

Cod Piece
I don’t have a ton I’d like to change here. I think I’d like to go with something more angular, potentially 3D printed, and definitely have more sturdy top connections to my belt/kama. The boba thong kama has served me well, so not much to change here. Will look for more angular references here, but wouldn’t mind stealing Bow’s/Clone’s cod, or making it a hair more angular, and do a rendition in fusion 360. My current one already has padding and such, so not much to improve other than execution.


Thigh Plates

Keeping with my desire to have as many angular low-poly looking plates as reasonable, I quite like the plates of this olive mando, who Arco had been using. I’m not really married to them, and I might need to modify them depending on how I do my holsters for the twin DC-15 pistols.

That is where I think it’s possible plans will change, and my plans here heavily depend on what happens with my kama and holsters.
My current Modern kit doesn't have any thigh plates at all, though I have some painted and with snaps ready to attach somehow, so this will be semi-new territory.

Knees
Honestly not sure yet, I don’t think I’ll do the basic Death Watch ones again. I kind of like Bo-Katan’s, but I’m sure there’s something I’ll find that’ll work for me.

Shin Armor
Not super locked in here at all. I could see myself doing multiple iterations, but my tentative desire is to keep to the broad brush strokes of my existing plate, but making the back hard instead of soft.
Not super locked in here, but my current shins have slight comfort issues in longer walkier troops around the ankle from making them ½” to small or so, and while I really love my wrap around suede mount, I wouldn’t mind turning it into a hard back, which seems more common in Post-Imperial mandos (if counting borrowed shoretrooper pierces).

This is a potentially likely candidate for integrating existing armor designs if I wanna utilize the 80/20 allowance for non-Mando parts. The only specific consideration I have there right now is the Galactic Marine, as I really like the aesthetic of their armor in general, but especially the lower half. I don’t have a strong commitment here though, as the boots would be a non-trivial cost to duplicate if I do both a Galactic Marine build, and use them here.



Boot Armor
I really don’t like this on my Modern build. I did it, and I like it better than my current dressy chelsea boots without armor, but unless I find a reference I like in Mando’s or other armor, I think I’ll just keep my out for new boots, or make some I have lying around more CRL compliant. Very up in the air.

Butt Plate
Might integrate with Kama, especially depending on how I end up on tassets. It’s the one armor piece from Jango I specifically ruled out because of comfort concerns on my Modern build, but given how the rest of those ended up being very tolerable, I’m inclined to at least give it a go. If so, I’ll look for references I like.

Weapons/Holsters
The main goal is to focus on the dual DC-15s heavy pistols, but I also wouldn’t mind embracing my Mandalorian impulses and including 1-2 other guns and assorted weapons. There’s a few things I’m specifically interested in, as well as other things like the E-5 and E-5s that I’d like to eventually make as a trooping option.

DC-15s

This bad boy was my go to pistol when playing Republic commando. While when I’d originally begun researching/printing this, I was a bit flustered to discover how stupidly large it actually was, it’s still  unlikely to change as my primary weapon(s). I’d like to add a second one for a dual pistol look, and so I can offer one up to kids to pose with without giving up my only weapon during troops.

I do want to substantially improve my setup. Basically all the dual pistol brigades want some customization, and the only thing I’ve done to mine is drop the side panels on the grip, and replace them with some skateboard grip tape. I want to substantially improve the initial electronics here to include an ammo counter on the back, as seen in game, which considering I’m out of space as is, will require a custom PCB. I need to also fix the code/amp/SD setup, as the current one seems to crash the Arduino, likely due to memory usage.

DC-15s Holsters


Currently, I use a really simple, hard goods holster, directly attached to the belt that I modeled in Fusion 360. While it works alright to just keep the DC-15 out of my hands when I’m not posing, It’s not particularly secure, doesn’t work great when sitting down, and is difficult to draw from in a non-goofy motion. With two DC-15s blasters, this would take up way too much belt space and be impossible to retrieve both with one hand each. I need to redo this.
They’re non-trivially large, nearing the size of smaller blaster rifles, which I fear may make ever doing completely soft goods/leather holsters off of the table, but I’m open to counterpoints on this. No matter what, these need to be dropped down to hang from the belt, and put the holster on my thighs/kama, as it’s just difficult to draw directly attached, and I want to free up room for other belt items. There will be two of these. Again, I do also look to Commander Bow’s twin pistols being very near the front edge of the kama as a potential inspiration.

Scout Pistol

This was the initial gun I’d built for my first kit, and it never got integrated into the kit itself. I don’t have many specifics, but I wouldn’t mind finding a place to integrate this, or a version of it as a hold-out pistol.
Not sure where I’d put it, but I don’t have eminent plans for a scout trooper, so I’d like to put this to use. The scope does make some options challenging. Perhaps I could replace the current scope with something more suitable for a small emergency blaster? I particularly like this as an option given its canonical lack of a trigger, as while my DC-15s’ trigger is removable, it’d require busting out a screw driver and moving electronics at minimum.

DC-15A

Another comically large gun. This is one I’d want to have for a Galactic Marine build anyway, so using it to fulfill an option for a rifle is a strong possibility.
Also presents opportunities for some electronics for the optional 501st CRLs. Not sure what’s out there as far as functional electronic models with moving triggers, but I’ll do at least a little research, regardless of whether brigades require or disallow this longer rifle.

Vibroblade or Beskad

This seems mandatory if I wanna go full space pirate for Privateer, and if I do it, I’ll probably look at multiple references, but given my original build’s inspiration, the vibroblade from this Nautolan art seems like a likely inspiration, if not just going for a Beskad.
It is a bit on the natural side though, so even if I keep the shape, I’d likely tech up the handle/pommel to keep with the less organic nature of this build. In general a vibroblade option would just be nice to have for trooping  where blasters just aren’t an option. I believe my original Nautolan Mando build’s plan was to integrate Deadpool style sheaths into the backplate/jetpack, but I’d likely go for a minimalist pirate-style sheath here.

Vibroknives
These just seem like a requirement for the brigade level depth and quality IMO, and are commonly seen in the Post-Imperial era. I don’t have any locks on inspiration here, nor strong feelings in general. 

Belt Items, Et Al
I want cool stuff on my belt. Currently I just use Mosin Nagant pouches on my Modern kit, but I’d like to expand on this to include some slicer elements, and more blinking lights.
Slicing Kit
I’d lean towards including at least one Knights of the Old Republic style security spike, but I definitely want to explore some other kits here for inspiration.


Tibanna Gas Cartridge

While the DC-15s in the game doesn’t appear to need reloading regularly enough to carry ammo for a mission, I’d like to include something. My inclination is to mix up a Galaxies-style cartridge with the glowing center of the DC-15s.

This would give me a solid electronic glowing belt item, with some challenge in how I’d run electronics to it behind the belt from another battery pack style source.




Energy pack and Phone Holder
I don’t have specific inspirations yet, but I’d like to have a universe-friendly and accessible place to store my phone. Whether this is a tailor made hard goods item or a general con pouch, I’m not sure. One consideration is making a general larger belt mounted electronics-central item, which could handle things like a battery for belt items, speaker for helmet comms, and a phone holder, perhaps with a chargers.
Grenades
Don’t have any specific references yet, but would love to have some grenades of some kind. Din’s do appeal to me, but another opportunity for blinking lights exists here. Very possibly want to mix it up with gas/ion grenades with distinct colors/LEDs to indicate their purpose.

Restraining Bolt/Droid Caller

Seems like it’d be thematically consistent with a slicer, and would be somewhat recognizable. Also, it would be good practice for a Jawa build.


Trophies and Personal Items
Would like to integrate some iron hearts, perhaps to honor my cousin who passed a few years back in some way on my kit.

[ValinKrai]

Skills Game Plan
I don’t need to do this yet. It’s totally optional, and I have an approved kit. With that in mind, I want to start construction with a focus on compatible upgrades for my current kit and other projects, especially where I can gain new skills for a Post-Imperial/V2 Modern. These are more or less the prerequisites and ground rules I’m laying out for this.
Definites
These are skills I definitely intend to use, and with that in mind, I intend to practice them on my current kit and other projects first, before applying the honed skill to my Post-Imperial kit.

• Work on 3D modeling skills
      a) Design gauntlets for Arco and other clan members
      b) Redo Modern gauntlets. These may match my new ones, or just share an aesthetic. I want these to be completely a custom model, not plopped on top of April Storm custom files.
      c) Maybeeee make a custom gun with trigger mechanism
• Redo soft goods to some degree for existing kit with minimal topstitching.
• Make dual DC-15s pistols, potentially remodeled from scratch, and/or make a custom PCB to match the one by LigonAP. I already have one, but it doesn’t currently do the ammo on the back, and the sound-related code is terrible, if working.
  
• Add voice amp to existing helmet
• Learn to safely use LiPo batteries in something on current armor.
• Add at least 1-2 belt items with electronics, particularly focusing on a plan to integrate electronics with each other for long run times, and more visual interest. This is where I’d love to do something like a hidden place to store a phone with an extended battery for cons mixed into something like an energy pack.

Maybes
Things I may or may not use, but probably would like to at least integrate token elements of for my kit.

• Aluminum armor, especially trying to use FDM to make molds and compression fit with something like a car. This was a suggestion by a friend outside the mercs.hackaday has a decent example of what I'm thinking of testing out.
• Water cooling. Some of the hardline stuff I’m helping with for Arco’s build, and that I’d like to do for my computer, would be good practice to see if I want to integrate this into a future Mando project, whether for true vest cooling for practical purposes, or just looking cool for some tibanna gas/bacta feed system.
• High end metals. Especially depending on what Arco does to achieve that beskar finish.
• Fancier paints, in the realm of car paints

Design Game Plan
I’d like to make more effort to have concept art and sketches made before significant work is put into crafting or modeling complex things for this build. Both to reduce wasted time, and to just reinvigorate some of my skills in art/drawing.

• Basic pencil sketch
• Digitize pencil sketch, setup photoshop layers for armor pieces
• Colorize sketch, decide on matching Modern colors, or new set of colors and paints
• Turnaround/character sheet, static pose, design outline

Paint Job
My current colors are more or less:

• Purple
• Hot Pink
• White
• Black
• Navy

The later colors aren’t a requirement, especially on their own, but I’d like to keep purple and pink as dominant, and integrate white throughout, since I really love how it weathers. I’m not married to my current shade, though.

With that in mind, I’m considering a more interesting and complex purple paint job. Perhaps galaxy paint or purple dominant color shift paint. This lets me pare back some of the pink if I desire, that's adding visual complexity, and keep the purple I love dominant.

I did multiple layers for my Modern build. For my Post-Imperial build, I think I’d do this, but perhaps use different undercoats, leaning cowards black/white and/or navy.

Mandos Go To Art School
One aspect that Clone Wars and Rebels made incredibly clear is that Mandalorians have a significant interest in the arts, perhaps on par with their cultural history of violence. While this is something that can be ignored here, where I think a large portion of interest dates to the pure ultra violence of the Traviss era, Mandalorian architecture, and armor visual design has been given a ton of love in the Modern era. More so than most Star Wars cultures get given. To that end, I’d like to integrate some of the common line art we see across Mandalore and in various clans.Especially given Sabine’s likely inclusion in upcoming projects, I want to draw on her a lot too, given how well she carries the extreme of this aspect of Mandalorians.

From a lore perspective, I wonder what other arts Mandos might be notable in. Are there popular holovid genres out there from the Mandalorian New Wave? A Mandalorian combat photographer/holo videographer would be a fascinating direction to take other than hacking. Surely these exist given the influence on Clone Wars with the World War 2 propaganda episode intros.

Pose Planning
I want the armor design with 2-3 poses in mind, where the armor is visually interesting in all of them, including a non-posed photo from behind, as well as planned group photo poses, specifically keeping to match the general vibe of different styles of group shot, from friendly neutral poses, to combat ready, to weapon drawn and pointed.

Custom Designing more Elements
More custom designed elements means more opportunities to keep coherent motifs across my armor.
Questions to Readers
Open to any suggestions or thoughts, but I do have some specific questions as I begin the early stages of planning this.

• Does anyone have good threads to look at for holsters for larger pistols?
• Does anyone have any favorite kits with large amounts of electronics?
• Does anyone have any approved kits with cool purple paint jobs that I missed?
• Does anyone have approved kits that integrate elements of larger sections with LEDs in a way that fulfills some element of a Tron aesthetic with integrating color into lights.
• There seems to be a conflict between rules on fit in the CRLs and the bunching seen on Mando and Boba’s CRLs. Is there a distinction between bunching versus baggieness?

References

Related Links
Initial Modern Build Thread - Mercs Forums
Original Failed Build Thread - Mercs Forums
Source Code and Files for my Mandalorian armor Projects - GitHub
Rebel Alliance Intelligence Service -  Wookieepedia

Other Kit Thread Reference
Local Mandos
Arco’thyel Wyshla - (Will will her into approval)
Second Son - (Getting me wanting impossible dual brigades and making cool jetpacks)
Cool Threads
Bat Akaan - (3D models, vacuform reference)
Color Shift Paint
Ranok Drakkar - (Not Approved afaik)
Oryan Nightstalker - (Approved)
General Purples
KaylinSilverfurr - (App Team, greatest paint job ever, please approve me)
ZaryaArthso - (Approved. Purple leather)