How Much Are You Willing?

[Ithica]

I know we don't talk about prices of suit so I'm not..lol. What I am going to do is bring a little reality to people that don't know how much money this can envolve so when you want to buy a piece or a whole suit you won't be surprised of the asking price. Like I stated before someone on here is casting my suit and I will leave it up to him to say who he is. Now without putting a price on that I want to say I have been a very busy man price shopping for supplies for my under armor and supplies needed to put my suit together. I did not even start shopping for the lil things like sandpaper, paint and odds and ends. The amount of money you put into your suit do not make you a better person then the next. The amount of time put in does not make you better. People have different goals and different skills. I think that EVERY suit on here is valuable and is a great sign of dedication. With this being said about different levels of detail, time and money spent. I spent $450.58 today on armor related items such as Sette Impact Protective Suit, Motorcross Underarmor, buckles, straps, velcro, acordion plungers and pretty much everything else you can think of...lol. This can be a rather cheap hobby or as you can see it can be rather expensive. I am still not even near being finished getting everything I want and need. Now my wife is rather understanding (I'm her sex Nerd). So before you jump into the hobby expecting to get a suit like Adams or any of th other very well crafted suits then be prepared to pay more. you get what you put into it. I think I did really good price shopping to but I'm sure there is better. Share your stories of the heartache of your wallet or ways you save money or dodged frying pans.

Ithica

 

[Veritech017]

So far I haven't broken 100 dollars on my suit, but I'm a thrifty person by nature and I know a lot of people so I can get things for free. However, I can easily see myself putting in over 200 dollars worth of work, and that's for high detail. So yeah, even if you're the thriftiest person around it's an expensive hobby especially if you want to be as accurate as possible.

 

[LastSpartan]

This hobby is far from cheap. I spent nearly 300$ for just 2 helmets I built from Pep.

That's cheap for me.

A whole suit, detailed suit I precise will cost you lots of money. But you can save money but shopping correctly, finding used tools and stuff you have at home. Why buy a new pair of scissors when you have your old school scissors?

Stuff like that will save you money.

Recycle your brushes also helps when fiberglassing alot.

 

[kodiakbear1]

i agree. me and a friend are planning on making our suits and by looking at various sites we saw that nothing is relativitly cheap. The stuff for us alone to make the molds for our armor is just around 300$ and that doesnt include visors and inserts and etc. so we are looking at a very pricey but well worthy plan/project.

 

[sirblood]

I had to go out and buy a new printer as my Xerox laser doesn't like cardstock, lucky for me they had one hell of an after christmas discount and I got a $200 printer for $50.

I already had a stash of electrical supplies, high yield Automotive LED's (no resistor required, just attach battery), tons of scrap wood, a dremel and a wide variety of attachments, 2 table saws, quite a few pieces of foam, variety of different glues about 1/2 of a can of bondo and several yards of fiberglass cloth.

Some people don't take into account certain additional supplies you need to have on hand
plastic gloves
resperator
closet full of spray paint...
Dremel AND accessories
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
A PLACE TO WORK...

things that will nickel and dime you:
batteries
Cardstock

Until you start attaching your armor, you won't appreciate the difference between regular 'China-Mart' velcro and industrial strength velcro

Until you wear your armor, you won't appreciate:
UNDER ARMOR brand clothing
Cooling Fans
gel insoles for your shoes

I don't think I could put a price on how much I invested in my armor as some of the supplies I already had. I do buy 3 visors at a time for helmets though (unless I have a spare one) because that dual layer visor look is so pimp! (and unless I know I have a spare one I'm more inclined to mess one visor up...)

 

[Iceman065]

The same night that I posted my first WIP pictures I had someone PM me about making them an HD pep helmet. I politely told them no and to look else where because they wouldn't like how much I would charge them.

Preparing to go into an industry where you do things like make props, sets and costumes for a living you being to see that the cost for things like this goes beyond just how expensive the stuff was that you put into it. For those that charge to make these props and costumes they charge what they think their time is worth, for some its $10 per hour of work, others is more, sometimes much more. But I think that for many of those here its not about the money, its about having fun, doing something you have found a love for doing and knowing that you put your heart (and when the X-acto slips, your blood) into something.

 

[BFDesigns]

In my gallery you'll see the first suit that I did which was a low res model with Flying Squirrel's HD torso. It probably cost me just over $200 and it was a definite beater suit. You get what you pay for. The next one I'm thinking of using carbon fiber with specialized epoxy instead of just resined cardstock. It'll probably run me around $1500 altogether by the time I'm finished.

One of the ways that I found that helps to save money is to use a few layers of drywall tape instead of using fiberglass matting. A $7 roll will cover a bunch of parts instead of trying to stretch a 3'x3' piece of matting. Aluminum windowscreen will also work and probably even better if it's sandwiched between 2 layers of drywall tape. And aluminum screen is very very cheap!

The other cheap way to do it is just to vacuuform all your armor parts.

 

[DaFlea]

Yea if I put together what I have invest in materials and tools I am just getting to 100 bucks but I know its just the beginning.

However it is an enjoyable hobby for the cost.

 

[jawshwaa]

$7 on cardstock and thats about it.....recycling is a good thing , im a pretty crafty fellow so i already had most if not every thing i needed already out in my work shed ...leftover bondo and fiber glass from the resto work im doing on my ol lincoln...(rollin in an 86 town car) and actually i just got a new dremel for $10 off ebay...and all i have is 2 helmets..(one fail) i dont see myself spending over $100 all together...and thats a really high estimate....i spent a few years moonlighting as an rc car repairman and modifier so i have a pile of lil speakers and leds lying around as well as every resisitor you could need..i hope when im done with my whole suit i dont "get what i paid for" lol

 

[Vader]

This is a topic that I've battled with for a long time (well, about 8 years, I suppose).
From what I've seen from a lot of costumers and costuming groups, the general misconception is that money = quality/screen accuracy/perfection. But the truth is, it's not a direct equation. I get really annoyed when people just blurt out that "this costume will cost X amount to make." People think I bought my Vader costume and assume I spent in excess of $1000 on it, but the truth is I spent about half that. I put a lot of time and effort into it, and it is by no means screen accurate (I often catch myself pointing out all the things that are "wrong" with the costume), but it works. People never ask me who I am. People don't notice that I mixed an 'A New Hope' style chest box with 'Revenge of the Sith' style chest armor and an 'Empire Strikes Back' style stunt helmet. They just know it's Darth Vader.

Basically for me it comes down to compromises. Depending on how much detail and accuracy you are willing to give up, the more you can save in time and money. Time is a key factor, not just time in project, but time to complete as well. I sew most of my costumes myself, and I've found that if I wait and search long enough, I can find what I'm looking for on clearance. But if I set a deadline, I'm forced to pay a higher price to finish on time. Another big factor is effort. The more you can do yourself, the less money you'll have to spend. Since I sew, I could probably put some time and effort into making a decent looking undersuit and save some money. It probably won't look as good at Ithica's undersuit, but I can live with that.

So with all that being said, I can see myself putting a few hundred into a Spartan costume, probably somewhere between $250 and $350, but I can't see spending much more. That's not to say I'll give up if I hit that price point, it just means I compromised somewhere and chose money over time and effort.

 

[Veritech017]

Vader makes a really good point. Money never means quality in this hobby.

I've seen people who say they put upwards of 700 dollars into their costume just have plain bad costumes. But then I've seen someone make a costume entirely out of cardboard that looked more dead on than molded/vacuum formed pieces.

While money does play an important part in the hobby, it's really more about time put in and the amount of experience you have.

My first costume cost me the most money of any costume I've built, and it was "scratch" built, and the quality of the costume itself was so "meh" that I don't dare show it off. It sits in a box in my room where hopefully no one will see it.

 

[CPU64]

Its like when you get an email from someone asking for a suit for haloween (3 weeks before Haloween) and they off you $75.

Happens quite often with me.

 

[Ithica]

That's the reason I made this post. Of course prices vary between people and what is cheap to one is expensive to another. I stated that amount does not equal quality. There are some people that don't really understand and assume that paper is cheap so the suits have to be cheap. I just wanted to assure people that $75.00 for example won't do it unless you owned a store prior and had all the supplies. Even when people have items they saved or had from before keep in mind it was paid for from someone at some time, nothing is free.

Ithica

 

[Vader]

Ithica - that costume in a box gave you something that no other costume will give you. Experience and confidence. You can't put a price on that! While you may not want to show it off, I know it has a special place (besides the bottom of a closet) for you because of the invaluable knowledge it gave you. I feel that way about my Boba Fett costume. If anything, I learned more about myself and what I can do. Also what I shouldn't do, like paint stuff outside and then bring them inside to dry. Yeah.

This hobby can get expensive, but it doesn't have to be. I think the saying, "haste makes waste" is most applicable to this hobby. I know that when things get rushed, stuff looks bad. The other side to that is if you get into a rush and don't research your materials, technique, etc, you can waste a lot of time and money just to throw something away.

I've been meaning to write up a tutorial of sorts for making costumes. Nothing specific, just in general. One thing I've learned is that nothing is perfect, and that the first try on something will be your worst one. Another thing is that you should always pick natural fibers over synthetics. Unless you're in a cold climate...

Anyway, thanks Ithica for bringing this up. I used to turn my nose up at those who put lots of money into their projects, but I've come around. I know that there are things you can buy, and things that you should buy. Those decisions must be made in accordance with the project. Learning to sew is beneficial. Learning to make boots may not be as beneficial. Gotta weigh the options.

 

[Ithica]

Very valid point of view...thank you.

Ithica

 

[JangoFett140]

i spent around $300 but i made mistakes and "payed" for them. i plan on at least $500 for my next suit because of all the electronics and other things im adding. but i want to work down from that price. i might have a way to get the resin in bulk cheap so that will cut a lot of the cost if i can.

 

[shadows0fintent]

my first project is really cheap, i have budgeted myself £5 to make a former of an assault rifle, then i am hping some friends will buy either moulds of it or casts and then with the profit from that i can afford to make my own for free.

start out small and cheap, make it look good and then sell, make some money, do the same thing but better, then eventually you will be make classy armor likes adams and will be doing it for hardly any money at all. thats my path.

plus if you are using polyester resin you can get fillers which even when added at at 170% to 100% of filler to resin will still be strong, prevent shrinkage and extend the amount of resin left, the filer costs about £5 per kg so its worth buying some and saving big time on the resin.

 

[buffalosauceman]

I've not built my suit yet, as I'm still in the planning stages, but I can see myself easily putting in about 250-300USD for a final project. I would probably make it a running-project. I go to a lot of game and anime conventions so I'm thinking about skipping the under armor altogether until I've got the actual painted pieces complete. I helped a friend build his armour and how we did it to get to the con, we skipped a few pieces. Partly because we messed up a little, but as long as you have the helmet, chest piece, and forearms and shins, people knew he was a Spartan. So for me, I think I'll never have a "complete" suit, since there's always things I'll want to upgrade or change which will inevitably raise the price that went into it, especially if I do it as a running project.

 

[dung0beetle]

I haven't spent a cent on mine.....that may be why I haven't finished a single piece of armor yet, but every time I have the money to get the materials to fiberglass the pep pieces, the weather turns bad. I would do it inside, but my kids are insane enough without sniffing the fumes.

I did complete a Boba Fett for $0, so It's not impossible, just keep your eyes open and don't be afraid to ask a stranger "...you gonna keep that? Because I can take it off your hands..."