All my points to his posts where to basically say "Hey, this is what you need to do or know if you plan on working with metal.".
The reason for this is because some people jump into using metal thinking "Hey, I'll just cut and bang it looks good!" when the reality is totally the opposite. However, it's no different than using fiberglass, resin, or plastic. It's all in how much you want to learn and what you want out of your armor.
Now to address some of your points and why I posted what I did on your earlier response.
However if you are new to the game and you go out to your garage and get out Dads dremel with the standad grinding tool for the Dremel. I can promise you its going to take all day using a standard cutting grinder, Or The Person working on the project would most likely force the dremel as it cuts and snap the cutting tool.
My first set was cut out almost entirely using a dremel and a pair of tin snips. Something you have to take into account is the thickness of the metal your working with. 14-16gu aluminum cuts about the same as 22gu steel using a reinforced cutting wheel on a dremel, and I can rip out a whole set of armor in either guage in about a week (This means metal knees and gauntlets with all the little detail parts cut out). Would take less time if all I had to do all day was armor. If I had nothing but armor to do...I could rip them out in 2 days flat.
You can have all your main pieces (no gauntlets or knees) cut out in a day. Sure that may be a little longer than using an exacto on sintra...but you can't compare working on metal to using other mediums. Fiberglass/resin takes MUCH MUCH more time to use if your planning on making your own pieces and NOT buying premade.
In my opinion Metal is a waste of time. you mess up on it you are done. Where as fiberglass/bondo pieces you can always use styrin and bondo to fill holes or mistakes you have made. also the weight of metal essentially can be more. and if you want a metal look there are so many great paints out there today that you can make anything look like its metal.
While metal may be a waste of time to you...the reasons above are not entirely valid reasons to dislike using metal. Metal can be repaired just as easily as fiberglass or plastic...it's called JB Weld and Goop. Filling holes in metal = JB Weld then sand till it's flush. The weight of the metal depends on the metal your using and it's thickness, but I can tell you right now that a set of 26/22gu metal armor weighs MAYBE 5-10lb more than a set of jango style fiberglass/resin armor. Not a really a big enough difference to deter yourself from using it, unless you can't haul around 5-10 more lbs.
As to the paint, yes your true there are many good paints that can give you a metal effect. With metal armor though, thats a layer of paint you don't have to use. So you've saved about $10 in paint you can use for something else.
Only time metal is a great piece to a mando or boba fett costume is to the accesorrys such as aluminum ears, toe spikes, stalk to the rangefinder, knee darts, etc, that is where in my opinion metal outshines any other material
Yet these pieces are a rarity among most costumers because they simply can't afford them. IMHO this is where metal takes a hit, because it goes from being the "scrap-yard sometimes cheaper than a trashcan armor" to being the most expensive stuff on the planet. In reality, I can buy a piece of stainless steel at the scrap yard cheaper than I can buy sintra off the internet and I can buy enough metal for 3 sets of armor for what I can pay for many sets of pre-made fiberglass armor or the ingredients it takes to mold and cast your own armor.
For armor vacform and fiberglass/bondo is the winner.
If your willing to pay more, and thats your preference. my personal preference is much different because I enjoy a more real feeling. The only reason my person set costs so much is because I have many electronics and custom built elements that have driven the price up. This however would hold true for anyone set of armor that wishes to take the step toward being a more advanced suit...no matter if it's plastic, fiber, or metal. When you look at fellow armorsmiths like Wickedbeard, his full sets of armor are still less than many of the great fiberglass sets out there and his workmaship is just as masterful.
Now, my origional reply to you was in regards to this post:
not sure but metal can have very sharp jagged edges as well as weight can be difficult also denting the armor is much easier is vacform, fiberglass, bondo has some give vs tin metal that could just dent with the tiniest amount of force plus painting be a bit hard you would have to sand and wet sand really well and use a really good primer for a good hold but you also have to think about detailing because detailing and tailoring metal is a much more vigourse(sp) activity than just getting the dremel or block sander and sanding some plastic or fiberglass,
all in all it could work just be alot of work to get it set and done
Metal can have sharp edges, but since the metal never touches your body (except on gauntlets, but you can line the inside of those with rubber or leather) then this is really a non-issue. Weight, non-issue (see above). Denting the armor is much difficult, and events that would be catastrophic for vac-formed/sintra/fiberglass armor are non-issues for metal armor.
It's a fact that fiberglass/bondo has much much less give than any metal armor ever would. I can break the stuff without to much stress, where as metal...you take it off and pop it back into shape over your knee. I would never tell anyone to use Tin as an armor metal anyhow, it's good for roofing...thats it.
I've never had to wet-sand metal before applying paint. You hit metal with a medium grit sand paper once and thats usually it. I sand fiberglass before I paint it, and if you wanted to you could sand vacform also for extra hold. You should really be sanding any armor your working on before you paint it...it helps the paint adhere better. As for primer, I use a self-etching for extra hold...but I used that on Fiberglass also.
Detailing/Tailoring requires a bench grinder. There shouldn't be much tailoring anyhow if you have pre-sized your patterns. You might need a pair of snips if you didn't. Now, in detailing if your talking about actually adding custom shapes to the metal, that will require you to again have some snips and a grinder also. I really can't think of anything else in the detailing of metal that would require further tools...especially for the beginner.
If you look at one of my initial replies, I expressly tell the OP that his best bet for a first set is Sintra. My personal opinion is that it's better to take baby steps and learn some of the basics like painting, weathering, and cutting from patterns on sintra or trash can armor than jumping right in to metal. The fact of the matter is that it costs MUCH MUCH MUCH more money to buy a set of vac form or fiberglass armor...or even begin to consider making a vac form table or fiberglass molds than it does to make sintra/trashcan/metal armor.
Your preference is your opinion, just like mine. This is just to clarify the fact of what working with metal is like as well as how it compares to other mediums. I saw some responces that I thought needed to be clarified, and I don't fault you for it because unless you have worked with or worn it all then you really don't know.
Hopefully this helps the OP as well as yourself understand my above posts a little better. There are many many online references for using both sintra, fiberglass, and metal for crafting. Almost all of them are here on TDH and over at Mercs.
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