April 2023 I decided my next “art project” would be to build a Mandalorian costume. I’m not a huge Star Wars fan, but have a healthy respect for Star Wars, and really liked watching The Mandalorian series on Disney +

With a my love for costuming, I quickly found myself wanting to backwards engineer all the gear I saw on those Mandos. Another motivation for building a Mando is learning a new set of skills. All my past costume adventures had been historical in nature, so this was something completely different. I wanted to learn new skills of working with plastic/3D printing in building armor, using spray paint, aging fabric and armor, pattern making, and pattern modification. I also wanted to try a costuming experience with a costume that covered everything – head to toe, and fingers, etc…. This definetly ticked all the boxes!

Ironically, I didn’t realize there was a huge world-wide club dedicated to helping people build legit Mando costumes. It wasn’t until I was WELL into my crash course of “learn to do ____ via YouTube,” that I discovered The Mandalorian Merc Costuming Club (MMCC). The MMCC have a CRAZY long list of standards, but the end result is that you look awesome and legit. It’s all about a costume of high quality that looks good on you. Having said that, I also found a very welcoming community and enjoyed more than one friendship that came out of this experience. I joined MMCC in 2023, and in 2025 joined the adjacent group the Mandalorian Protector Costuming Club (MPCC), which has very similar requirements.

I started the design process off with a series of sketches. There is actually a Mando building tool online called MandoCreator that can help in visualizing colors and designs.

Below is a montage regarding my flight suit top – I made a mock-up in muslin before cutting out the actual piece. The black fabric is cotton and the brown fabric is heavier duck cloth. My flank vest is made out of the brown duck cloth. The two-toned sleeve design is inspired by the costumes in The Mandalorian.

Below are several photo montages showing some of my armor build. The shoulders, gauntlets, and hand plates are all 3D printed, otherwise the plates are made with 3mm plastic sintra – a material that can be moulded with heat.

Armor was a new medium for me. I designed and made this tasset (thigh armor piece). I have a pair of brown leather Clark’s that I wear tall custom made spats over, then shin and knee armor is connected via velcro.

Mando: Quick Draw

MMCC Official Member: 2954 (November 2023)

MPCC Official Member: 188 (May 2025)

Helmet – resin pour pre-primed, painted and finished myself, with addition of back 3D printed key and inside helmet fans and padding (using Henry’s Helmet Fans).

Under my helmet I wear a black balaclava and Bluetooth wireless mic (Zoweetech)

Flight suit – My flight suit is a custom designed and sewn shirt, with modified stretch pants from Old Navy. I added ribbed cuffs to help curb ends with the wearing of armor.

Vest – flank vest is also custom designed and sewn out of brown duck cloth with decorative black edging, and stitching using orange denim thread. Velcro and snaps hold armor plates in place

Belt – custom made leather belt, and various pouches, by DarmansProps

• I made and added a small set of 3 bottles to the belt
• Weapon: Smuggler’s Heavy Blaster (3D printed)

Shoes – Clark’s Chelsea boots in brown leather, with custom spats that have zippers up the back of the leg. A vibro-blade knife pocket is sewn into the lining of the RIGHT spat.

Gloves – antique black leather ladies gloves gifted to me by a friend.

ARMOR:

Epaulets – layered sintra

Back plate – sintra

Front plate – sintra. This is a complex piece made up of some 9 parts glued together.

Shoulders – 3D printed

Right Gauntlet – 3D printed clam shell design with hinge pin, custom design, constrains an Energizer flashlight with a red filter and on/off button. Rechargeable battery.

Left Gauntlet – 3D printed clam shell design with hinge pin, designed with a scomp link on the side, which is a computer interface arm (think of what R2D2 uses). This gauntlet also holds 4 whistling bird darts.

Hand plates – 3D print, heavy duty plastic

Tasset – sintra, vinyl, brads – custom design by me

Knees – sintra

Shins – sintra