First set of armor, need a lot of advice

I've been lurking the forums and have found templates and methods of making armor. Personally I wanna do the trash can method as its the least spendy.

I'm 6ft and 235lbs, so I'm not sure where to find templates that suit me. On the flip-side, I need a helmet to mod. I was looking at rubies and planning to use foam and sealer to tough it up and have a tighter fit and base my armor colors off if it. I also need to know how to make/where to buy decals for the armor. Belts and the under suit seem fairly easy, I was gonna go with a Grey long sleeve, pants to match, and a white vest to put the snap the armor on to. Wrist gauntlets are also a stickler, not sure what to do there as well as the jet pack.

Currently, I have a heat gun, box cutter, and sand paper but I can buy a dremel.

This whole post probably sounds very unprofessional but Boba Fett is amazing and I'd really like to give this a shot. Thanks in advance to those who reply

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At your height and weight you might find it tough to ever make trash can armor look even remotely good. I would recommend 6mm sintra. It isn't very expensive and you can cut and shape it to look much better. One major problem with trashcan armor is the plastic has already been heated stretched and shaped into a trashcan. It really wants to still be a trashcan for the rest of it's life, so shaping it is tougher. Sintra is fresh plastic that hasn't been shaped yet. You might can even get some scrap sintra from a sign shop. I actually had luck doing this. They gave me enough that I made three sets of chest armor for custom mandos and it didn't cost me a penny for the raw materials.

BTW Sintra is a name brand for PVC foam board plastic. It is often used in signs.

For the flight suit I would recommend getting coveralls in all cotton. Buy two sets the same color so you can use one set to make the thigh pouches, spats and double sleeve.

There are many ways to make a less expensive Boba Fett but there is no way to make a cheap Fett. Spend time on the boards reading some of the budget builds and you will see what works and what doesn't.

Enjoy.

Thank you for the reply. Sintra is super cheap I see, cheaper than a trash can for a good amount. That covers everything body armor wise so I'm super grateful that your replied. Now just for the jet pack, wrist gauntlets, and helmet.

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Most of your questions have been answered before. I would strongly suggest setting a budget, either for the whole suit or for each piece.

The templates can be found here for the gauntlets and jetpack. I made my gauntlets from sintra, and Bondo. I have a build thread you can check out. I think they turned out great.

The other thing I am not seeing is what movie version you want to build. Good luck , keep working, post progress pictures

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Thought I put that, I wanted to do ESB. For the whole suit I'm willing to put in $250 max, this will stretch over the year probably

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fettsvette99 said:

Thought I put that, I wanted to do ESB. For the whole suit I'm willing to put in $250 max, this will stretch over the year probably

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Click to expand...

Do your best but you will spend that much in paint, sandpaper, bondo and dremel bits. I am all for saving money and keeping cost down. But you do need to be realistic. Read a ton on the forums find out how people have successfully cut corners and saved money and feel free to do all you can to stay low budget. I am not trying to be a downer but things just cost money. The more skilled you are at fabrication the more you can save but even then raw materials cost money.

Just a thought for an example. Lets say you are going to need 8 different rattle cans of paint and a can of primer. At $5 dollars a piece (which may be a low price because you have to choose specific colors) you are already at $40. You will need several grits of sandpaper.....especially if you are scratch building.........so there will be $20 more. If you buy vinyl to make the belt you will spend $10-$20 bucks, then you need to ...............so on and so on.

Like I said I don't want to be a debbie downer for you but you need to set realistic expectations to keep from loosing heart during the build.

My best advice at this point for you is to read a ton more on the forums before you start to buy or decide on an exact budget. There is no hurry, you will be better off and spend less money in the long run if you take your time.

Good luck.

Noted, I wasn't expecting to get this done in one year honestly, at most just have the body armor done from Sintra by the middle of the year. The last project I tried to do similar to this was mass effect armor and I royally screwed that up, I want this to come out pretty good so I'm willing to put a lot of time and money into it. I think $250 might be realistic for the first year with just getting basic Sintra stuff built. Never worked with Bondo so I'm a little afraid of messing it up but I'll just keep researching and figuring this stuff out.

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As long as you go into it with a good attitude and understanding on the budget you should be fine (which you seem to be doing). It is just the unrealistic expectations that crush the dreams of new builders.

When you are learning to work with new mediums just remember that you can practice on scrap and such before you do the real thing. Bondo does take some finesse to apply well but you can learn as you go. Again read about it on the forums and take your time. One thing about bondo is learning the mix ratio so that it doesn't harden too fast but you also don't want it to never cure....and you will learn how much to apply. Too much and you spend the next day sanding.

You will do fine just study and read. Have I mentioned reading? lol

All I will say is give it a go like we do in the land down under I have started to make my fett with PVC foamboard in 2mm and 5mm all I will say is its a lot of time and a lot of planing expect to have a learning curve with materials you use. I had to pull apart the jetpack a few times to get it all inline with the drawings

I made my armor from some cheap-o thin walled 4" diameter PVC pipe. It took just as long to do as a set from Sintra would do I would think and was very in expensive (like $8 for a 5ft chunk) you would probably spend the same on both of these so I would get what's easier to obtain in your local area

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