opinions on kits from ebay or your recommendations?

[alexx2208]

hello!

I am a full time student looking for a starter kit of armor.

It doesnt necessarely have to be from ebay, but i just need an easy kit to build under the price of 750 CAD. Any recommendations are welcome, but I know all you guys are going to say is dont buy one, make one, and once again......... I am a FULL time student, I really only have the time to to the bare minimum to make if wearable, I do not want to be making it from scratch.

[SubSkip[TK]]

Your best bet might be an RT-Mod kit. Do some research of all the different types here: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/11538-the-various-types-of-armor-and-where-to-find-them/

[LadyInWhite[TK]]

Hi, Alex, welcome to FISD!

 

First of all, it all depends on what you want to do with the armor. If you plan to join the 501st Legion, you definitely need to buy from an approved armorer. If you buy a kit off ebay or other unapproved sources, it takes far, far more work than you will want to put into it to make it approvable for the 501st Legion, even the ones that claim to be "501st Approved" etc. That is the #1 reason we discourage the ebay route. If you just want a costume to hang out with your friends, for parties or Halloween, or whatever, then you are free to do anything you like!

 

Second of all, you CAN find a kit for around or just under 750 CAD from our armorers. Accessories, such as boots and neck seal, proper belt, strapping and snaps, holster, etc. will cost extra. I have told people on very tight budgets not to be above fundraising, bake sales, and so on The hardest part is the wait... demand is high and supply is low... this is a hobby of patience! Best thing to do is contact all the armorers to ask about their pricing and availability/wait times, and then make a decision from there.

 

Third, for 501st Legion approval, you'll want the kit to be fit to you. Some of are armorers are easier to adapt to bigger or smaller body sizes. You will need to trim it, fit it to YOUR body, and so on. You can't really just buy a used suit or generic suit without having to put some work into it to make it fit you, since it would have been built to fit someone else. Another reason we discourage the ebay route, especially for people who believe themselves to have no time. Even the ebay suits and the ones you can buy commercially that don't look right have to be built once you get them. What you CAN do, if you are willing to wait longer than the normal wait times for anything in this hobby, you can pay more to have your suit built for you; usually you provide measurements and the person who builds it for you does their best to get it to fit you - but even then you may still need to do some tweaking.

 

Lastly, and this will either totally discourage you or maybe, hopefully inspire you, building a suit isn't like a snap kit. It takes some people several months, an hour here or a half hour there, and others who have more free time and skill can do it in a week. From my observation of new people signing up every day, I would say the majority of us came in with no real crafting or hardware-like skills, and yet we all achieved our goals. I took 3 months and I was a full time employee (50+hrs a week) and also raising a kid in the off-hours, and a part time graduate student.

 

I hope that gives you some perspective so that you can make all the right decisions for yourself! Meanwhile, feel free to ask questions and have some fun in the community. Cheers!

 

PS What part of Canada are you in?

[alexx2208]

Thanks a lot guys, i really appreciate it!

LidyInWhite, do you have any recommendations on the armorers? I totally agree with the fact itll take a long time to get the kit ready, thats why I want to start ASAP so i can have it ready by next years FanExpo (Canada's ComicCon) in abput August. I also agree wih the fact thats its a game of patience.... Ive been doing my research for about 2 years, and I trufully havent found someone that is 100% recommended by everyone, and your guys help will really help, and is greatly appreciated!

thanks

alex

PS, Dont want to exactly say, but Google where the Blackberry was Invented!

[Spectre]

Hiya Alex. No maker is 100% recommended because technically the FISD doesn't recommend makers. We simply supply a list of vetted sellers.

 

The main reason, though, is that no one armour is going to be 100% perfect for everyone. Some are made for bigger troopers, some are made for more screen sized or smaller troopers, some are made for troops on a budget that still want the goods, etc.

 

So it comes down to a few things:

1 - body type: height/weight/proportions (big arms/thighs/wide shoulders/etc.)

2 - budget: you are looking at a minmum $1000 in most cases for a complete setup, even with cheaper armour kits. The undersuit, gloves, neckseal, boots, belt, holster and blaster are the necessary extras you need to consider on top of the armour/helmet. Plus the glue, snaps, webbing, etc.

 

That's a basic breakdown of it. As others have said avoid eBay. It is cheaper (for a reason) but you will end up spending more time, effort, and money to bring it up to standard and even then it will usually be below the average of most troopers.

 

So let us know what kind of build you are and we can throw in some suggestions.

[Nicky]

Money and time's not a real problem if you want to make this your hobby. I believe people overuse this line because they think that by saying that they're full time nurse with past gambling issues we will uncover a secret passage where cheap armors just build themselves for you and their application will just fly through garrison approval. But this passage doesn't exist. And once we've assured that it doesn't exist, not even on eBay aka eGarbage compactor, they suddenly they go: "oh well, I do have about 1-2 hours every other day I can work on an armor, and a few more hundred bucks for getting soft parts separately isn't that a big deal!". Am I right?

 

If you have been doing research for 2 years and even considered joining the 501st, then you want this, and you are ready to take the long road and invest like you would invest in a PS3, soda maker, or iPhone 5S with much less discussion involved. If you're a student then you know what to do when you're overwhelmed with information and how-to's: you take a nap. It's the same with armor making. And isn't it like 99% of the 501st who never assembled an armor before they... assembled their first armor?

 

So keeping in mind your budget, let's be honest. How tall/big are you?

 

PS: Last month one person in my area didn't bother to ask first, and got himself an old, used, formerly 501st approved (formely), TK armor with soft parts, for 1200 CAD. It wasn't even ebay so he overestimated the deal. See the armor he received has a dozens of things that were built, sculpted, trimmed, and painted wrong, he wanted to join the 501st quickly so he tried to take a shortcut. The GML who handled the application does her job like every other GML: look at the application photos, follow the CRL, but can't approve the costume - i.e. he can't participate in canon or semi-canon garrison events.

 

We're trying to help everyone regardless of what mistaken purchase they come from, some will have little flaws to fix and will just look "passible", some will have too much to do, and be discouraged. It's one out of hundreds of stories we base our opinion on. If you have a 2013 plan in mind already, then you definitely want to trust our judgement completely. And what hard parts to get is the most crucial starting point to get right, especially if you're on a budget or tight schedule because you get the potential to get everything right. If on the other hand the GML for the garrison you apply to requires you to retrim, shim or replace a whole piece of armor for example: you'll have to do it to get your costume approved, regardless of your schedule.

 

Alex, what LadyinWhite writes is true and enough reason not stay away from ebay, and I rarely feel I need to add anything more, but from what I read in your first post you knew we would tell you that already, and your having plans to troop next year showed that you needed some crude perspective on how shortcuts can ruin your plans and wallet.

Edited December 18, 2012 by Nicky