Commission Mission

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RagtagVenom

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hey gang, juuuust throwing a hypothetical out there for y’all; I’m thinking about what to get my best friend as a wedding present and was debating fishing money from the groomsmen to commission a Suit for the Groom; but before I did that I wanted to see How much it would be, how long it would take, and if it’s possible to have it done without his knowledge and I guess what you’d need to make it happen.
Feel free to comment or inbox me
 
First, get the bride-to-be's permission.
Then, you can have her take his measurement's for his "tux"

Time frame 3-6 months seems reasonable.
Money $600-$2000 depending on quality and detail

This info is just based on what I've gleamed while hanging around here. I do not know from personal experience.
 
Time frame 3-6 months seems reasonable.
Money $600-$2000 depending on quality and detail

Three months is doable, it's just a come home from work and do costume for 8-10 hours a day type thing on most days. For my Spartan by the time it's done it'll be pushing 350-400 hours of work which makes that $2000 seem like a conservative low estimate for a full one off custom suit unless someone is willing to donate their time.

For a vacuum formed suit or cast parts you can probably hit the $1500-$2000 ballpark but it'll be raw casts and pulls with a more limited selection of armour variations. If he likes ODST Sean Bradley has excellent work but it'll run you 1200 CAD, take about two months and require assembly, painting, a flightsuit and boots.

Not to poo poo on your plans but I just wanted to give you a proper picture of what this sort of thing will run you.
 
For my Spartan by the time it's done it'll be pushing 350-400 hours of work which makes that $2000 seem like a conservative low estimate for a full one off custom suit unless someone is willing to donate their time.

Would you believe before I finished my suit I quoted a guy $900 for me to make a fiberglass suit like mine for his 18 year old son, but Halo 4. Figured it'd be cheaper to buy the materials in bulk. He thought it was too much. I finished mine and he asked me for a quote again.. I said $2000 would be the friend discount . :)
 
Would you believe before I finished my suit I quoted a guy $900 for me to make a fiberglass suit like mine for his 18 year old son, but Halo 4. Figured it'd be cheaper to buy the materials in bulk. He thought it was too much. I finished mine and he asked me for a quote again.. I said $2000 would be the friend discount . :)

EYUP.

$2000 would be nice but I mean, your suit was a 2 year endeavour. Hardly seems worth it for ~$3/day.
 
I’d still have to run it by the bride and the groomsmen, because if I can’t split the bill among X amount of people; I’d probably just rather get him the helmet and the files prepped
 
So; while I secure permission from the Bride; I covertly figured out which helmet he prefers. Bucks Spartan variation of the ODST helmet from 5.
And I’m trying to figure out what armor he likes too. But that’ll take a bit more time
 
Okay I’m gonna revise this;
Basically I wanna know how much it would cost to have someone craft just the body; like all the armor bits out of foam, and it would be the Locke armor set, so Hunter, and then not paint it; just the base armor.
How much would that cost and how long would that be?
 
not to put a wet blanket on this awesome wedding idea, but this thread would best be served in the market place.
 
Okay I’m gonna revise this;
Basically I wanna know how much it would cost to have someone craft just the body; like all the armor bits out of foam, and it would be the Locke armor set, so Hunter, and then not paint it; just the base armor.
How much would that cost and how long would that be?

Using a similar but not identical build as reference so numbers may be squiffy.

I build with efficient use of EVA and used approximately 60sq.ft of 10mm EVA with EVA working out to be anywhere from $1/sq.ft (Walmart textured) to $4/sq.ft (high density foam from specialty cosplay supplier) so in raw base construction material assuming no rebuilds from errors it can range from ~$60 to $200 depending on the strength of the material. Most builders also use multiple thicknesses of foams as well so another $10 or $20 on top.

For adhesives I use a mix of CA glue, contact cement and hot glue depending on the situation. CA to tack down edges, contact cement for joining structural pieces and hot glue to back seams internally. For a suit, 3 bottles of CA and one bottle of kicker ($40), one can of contact cement ($15) and ~120 sticks of high-temp hot glue ($15).

Depending on what you mean by "just the body" an under suit might be included in that which means sewing a stretch fabric body suit. 4 way stretch materials vary in price wildly by supplier so that'll be dependant on who you end up going with as your primary builder. For rigging to the suit you will pretty much be using a mix of Velcro, nylon webbing and parachute clips. I'd estimate $40-$50 in rigging.

Electronics? That's up to your discretion.

These estimates are again based on the prices I have to pay on the West Coast of Canada so assume some markup with BC tax and markdown with the low Canadian dollar. Overall though if you went on the dirt cheap level I'd expect ~$400-$500 in raw materials and then a negotiation based on hourly rate for the builder to be in the $1000+ region for the weeks of work required for a detailed build.
 
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