Happy New Year to all!
I've been reading about armor for months and have started gathering resources and guides on armor. First I want to say, this is a pretty amazing site with an incredible amount of knowledge on it. From costuming to 3D printing to just general questions on trooping, it's amazing to see so many helpful people.
I'm based near Fredericksburg VA and have two kids (3 and 5) that have recently become obsessed with Star Wars. My daughter told me yesterday that she wants to be a bad guy instead of a good guy. My reply was "Excellent!! <evil laugh>". I'm currently making lightsabers for both of them out of Arduino Nano's and 3D print custom parts.
As far as costume, I'm probably going to go for the ROTK. I absolutely love the Stormtrooper look and have always wanted a blaster. I'm currently printing the last few parts to my blaster and will be filling it out with an Arduino Nano..........and also making it so I can play laser tag with my kids. :-) I've engineered the lenses for that and will be making guns for them as well.
Initially, I was planning on 3D print armor but from reading several other incredible threads (mainly Jason's from Stafford) about 3D printing, I decided I probably don't have that kind of time or patience. I mean.....I probably do, but printing something, spending all that time on it, and then having it crack is just not something I want to deal with so I'll likely buy most of my armor. I may print parts of it here and there, but for the most part I will piece it out from listed sources from this site. Except the helmet.
I really want to print my helmet and really spend some time getting that right. I know I could just buy one, but I've read a great deal on finishing helmets and applying resins and hardeners, so I'm pretty sure I could do a good job with it.
Anyway, I'm excited to be here and I hope that 2021 will see some events that I can attend in our area (though I'm a little doubtful).
Catch you all on the flip-flop!
Jason G
