Making my own armor

[lizardking422]

I am interested in making my own armor and have just purchased a new 3D printer.  Are there any files that you would recommend for an ROTJ style costume in the level three category or any category?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Hi and welcome to the forum, I've not seen any ROTJ files that would meet 501st approval

[Sly11[Admin]]

OT TK armour needs some flex to deal with the rigors of trooping. I have not yet seen an OT armour 3D printed and trooped in nor approved. Those that are modeling the armour would simply use the printed components to start bucks for pulling in ABS. The difficult prospect of 3D modelling and printing armour that was sculpted and organically created will be the biggest challenge to get it to look similar to the rest of the vac formed armour currently available.

Good luck on your journey and welcome to FISD.

[BigJasoni[TK]]

6 hours ago, lizardking422 said:

I am interested in making my own armor and have just purchased a new 3D printer.  Are there any files that you would recommend for an ROTJ style costume in the level three category or any category?

James,

 

Welcome aboard. I think the easiest thing to do is just provide you the link to my 3d print build thread. https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/49826-the-bigjasonis-rotk-3d-print-build-thread/

Unfortunately, you're not going to find any accurate ROTJ style 3d files. If you have your heart set on a TK, I would strongly encourage you to look at the Rogue One/ Anthology style armor. There's several makers who have designed files, but I would reach out to them first to see if they're willing to work with you in case you find things that need to be changed (you're going to find plenty).  Please look at my build.
Also, spoiler alert... on page 4 of the build, I break down the cost. When it was all said and done, I still spent nearly $1000 on my armor, soft parts, boots etc.

 

If you do want to go forward with this, this is what I'd encourage you to do: Get Nico Henderson's helmet and start with that. You can buy the files from his Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/shop/DesertFareCosplay You can also message him on Facebook. His helmet is pretty accurate and pieced together very well. The helmet file I got was designed by Nerdforgedesigns, but I really had to do a lot of modifications to get it to an acceptable level (some things I didn't document in my build thread). Ultimately, even if you don't go forward with building armor, you'd still have an awesome helmet.

Build everything with either PETG or ABS. I used PLA+ which was very easy to print, but doesn't have the flex @Sly11 talked about. All of my new stuff is being printed with PETG which is almost as easy as PLA, it's flexible, and not susceptible to warping from heat. It's a much better plastic. ABS is difficult, but if you can figure it out, it's a great product.

Finally, while I enjoyed doing the build, I probably should have started with something else like the Shoretrooper. I'm not trying to discourage you, there's just some dead accurate files out there and a solid support network full of people who have already 3d printed their armor. I love my 3d printed TK armor, but I'm going to be doing something else with it in the future. My primary trooping armor will be the Jimiroquai kit I'm currently working on. 

Oh yeah, Nico is currently working on a set of Rogue One Armor. I just spoke with him and it sounds like it's still a ways off, but you better believe that when it's done it'll be good.

Please hit me up if you have any questions. 3D printing armor is very fun, but man, it's a lot of work... a lot of work.