Buying A Costume vs. Making One?

[killer161429]

Hello! I'm very excited to join the 501st, but with college taking up a lot of time and a very large lack of experience creating costumes I'm very scared to spend a large portion of money making a costume and just messing up horrifically and I wanted to know if I could buy a legit costume from the movie.  I've saved up and i'm willing to pay a large amount of money but I wanted to run by the detachment first and see if it was ok to buy a costume as long as its Canon, and if so, which prop company would be the best bet.  I've looked at stormtrooper-costumes.com, theoriginalstormtrooper.com, and rspropmasters.com. Any help would do! Thank you so much! 

 

[supernaut11[TK]]

If you haven't already, I'd take a look at this thread. It should cover your questions.

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/11538-the-various-types-of-armor-and-where-to-find-them/

[I'm Batman[501st]]

In summary - yes. It's fine to buy a pre-built kit. RS Propmasters you mention offer completely built kits, as possibly others do. Ditch those first two you mentioned though. There are also people who do commission builds on your kit. Also, second hand costumes come up every so often aswell. Check the for sale threads regularly. I'd also sign up to your local Garrison, you might see some deals there too. Remember though - an approved kit that someone else wore does not mean it will be approved on you. It has to fit right! On another note, check out the 100s of build threads here. I don't think anyone has messed up that bad that they're destroyed their kit. It's not that bad once you get going.

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Absolutely spot-on advice from Ian there, Sean, especially the part about avoiding the first two makers you mentioned.

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

No shame in getting someone else to build it for you but you'll never know the pain/joy of assembling it yourself. 

[OrangeBird[TK]]

I think the best way to approach any build is to do it yourself, but with assistance.  Such as from your local Garrison.  I always say, all the costume projects I have taken on, it takes a village.  You will make mistakes... it will happen.  But there is not a single thing that cannot be fixed.