Hello. Newbie here. I’ve been investigating the possibility of building armor for a couple years now. I think I’ve finally decided it’s something I want to do and the other night I sat my wife down and told her as much. She took it pretty well, all things considered. She’s good that way. A few years ago when I told her I wanted to build an arcade cabinet to hold a MAME emulator and she took that pretty well too. Mostly she just can’t figure out why I would want to do something like this. I could never explain it, it’s just something that needs doing.
I’ve scoured forums and some other sites. I’ve looked at a bunch of web resources, most notably here: -----
I’ve searched here and other forums.
I’ve joined my local detachment (New England) though most TK questions seem to get referred over to here.
I think I have a pretty good idea of what I’m in for and I can see the technique will take some time as well as a lot of trial and error. Not to mention money. Let’s be clear: I am under no illusion that scratch building will save me money. I know I could probably buy some decent armor and put together a costume for a grand or so. I expect building armor will cost me at least that. Mostly I want to build it myself just to be able to point to it and say “I MADE that!” and also because it seems like it will be a lot easier to justify the expense if I build it rather than buying it.
The satisfaction of building it myself is more important to me than 100% screen accuracy, though I would like to be accurate enough to pass and hopefully join the 501st.
Anyway:
So assuming I decide to take the plunge, what resources are at my disposal other than the top sites that come up in a google search?
My main question is, just how tight is the armor? The above mentioned website says to sculpt the pieces out of clay on a mannequin (or body cast) but it doesn’t say how thick to sculpt them. Is the armor tight on the body or is there some space between, say, the shin and the plastic? It’s obvious that the chest plate is pretty thick but the other pieces are a bit unclear.
Are there any templates available? I’ve seen this site: -----, he has some measurements but I’m not sure how accurate they are. Thoughts? Are there books and/or models I could use to give me a decent idea of the size and shape of the pieces?
Where does one buy a mannequin? I’ve seen sites that explain how to build a mannequin by wrapping yourself with duct tape and filling it with foam, but that seems like it’s more for a display rather than something to build molds around.
I would expect to purchase a helmet.
So, am I crazy? Can this be done? I’m not a sculptor, though I can be meticulous when I set my mind to something. I’m good with tools, technical enough for any of this, and I enjoy learning new things.
