Viable starting point?

I've been wanting to get started for awhile now but time, money, and the weather have limited me til now. I have kind of a weird build(short but muscular) so I wondered if it might be best to create a fiberglass replica of myself to sculpt over tp insure the best fit for my pieces.

The method I found involved another person using strips of cloth dipped in plaster of paris and fitted against the front of the body and after hardening placing vaseline on the edges before doing the back. Once the second half is dry the two pieces are carefully separated and placed on the ground. The inside is covered with vaseline(or similar substance) and fiberglassed. After both halves are finished they're removed and connected together to basically have a replica of yourself from the ankles to the neck that you can work on.

I know it's a fair amount of work but it seems like it would be a great way get started and would be reusable for future projects as well. Thoughts on this?

That sounds like a good idea! Haven't heard of it before but I'm sure it'll work. Sounds better then a duct tape dummy.

I'm interested to see you manage to whip up because I have a feeling that I'll be doing something similar when I start my build..

Perfectly reasonable, if you have the money for that much fiberglass resin. If you're looking for the actual terms to search for guides, the first part is called "plaster life casting" and the second part is called a "fiberglass layup".

Plaster bandage casting is also sometimes used for mouldmaking mother moulds as a cheaper alternative to fibreglass, so that's another possible avenue to look at, since they'll almost universally use the multi-part technique you describe with walls, dams, mold release, whatever.

The only disadvantage of a fiberglass body double is that you can't stick pins in it, but if you're only taping on foil and brown paper for templating purposes, sculpting prosthetic appliances, sizing Pepakura, etc. that's not an issue.

It'll be a little pricey but I have plans that will require sewing at some point so being able to double up and use it for that and then maybe using it to hold my armor should make it worth it.

Since it should work, the hard part will be convincing a friend to sacrifice an afternoon and promising the project won't be that messy lol

I'll take a look online for the terms you suggested and get a concrete plan together

You will want to vaseline yourself as well to keep the plaster from adhering to you as well. Be careful with plaster as well since it builds heat and can burn or irritate your skin. Hydrocal is a lighter plaster you can reinforce with. Like Robb said do some research well first and be safe. Always use a dust mask when working with plasters.

Oh yes, I know how fiberglass(and other materials) can become quite hot. My first attempt at trying to make a suit of armor for Halloween(Dark Knight Cecil from Final Fantasy) involved creating a fiberglass underlayer that could be built over with bondo. Not completely terrible given my first attempt and relative ignorance but having several layers directly onto the skin was a somewhat uncomfortable experience. There are also several areas I'm pretty sure I killed hair follicles lol There's a quick way and a right way for everything and at this point I am definately looking to do it the right way. Thanks for the tips