I am Curious which would be cheaper.

[M Solo 1017]

I am wondering whether it would be cheaper to make pep armor, re-inforce the heck out of it, and use it as the base to make molded armor. Or would it be cheaper to make a clay model as a base for the mold? Also, I am talking about just the body armor (everything but the helmet). Advice will be much obliged

 

[sk8er4life]

Theres a zillion threds about this... Pep is cheaper btw

 

[MysticLegend]

I am wondering whether it would be cheaper to make pep armor, re-inforce the heck out of it, and use it as the base to make molded armor. Or would it be cheaper to make a clay model as a base for the mold? Also, I am talking about just the body armor (everything but the helmet). Advice will be much obliged

Depends actually. Are you good at sculpting, or do you seriously need a base to start from?
If you need the base, then by all means...go with resined pep + bondo.
If you're an experienced sculpter, then use something else a a base (so you save on clay). Try styrofoam or a block of wood. That's what I'm doing

It's mostly a question of what you're gonna do from now on. If the clay will be useful for you again later, then I reccommend clay. If you're looking for a one-shot project of making armor and calling it quits afterwards.....then use pepakura

 

[AoBfrost]

If your going to use pep as a base to mold, it is cheaper to buy clay since clay can be redone over and over if you mess up, of you mess up an entire pep piece, you cant just undo it and recut it out, clay will be cheaper.

Unless you mean make a suit from pep and just keep it as pep, if your making a pep suit, it will cost 100-200 dollars.

 

[M Solo 1017]

My sincerest thanks to those of you that answered the question that I was trying to ask, and my utmost apologies if I was not clear as to what I was asking. I know that pep armor is cheaper than molded armor. I was trying to find out wich way to make molded armor might be cheaper. Thanks again, now I need to decide which method will be better for me to do.

 

[Nicktendo]

My sincerest thanks to those of you that answered the question that I was trying to ask, and my utmost apologies if I was not clear as to what I was asking. I know that pep armor is cheaper than molded armor. I was trying to find out wich way to make molded armor might be cheaper. Thanks again, now I need to decide which method will be better for me to do.

Well that's just a personal preference. If you think you can build up a clay model by yourself, then I say have at it. But a pep base could be very helpful if you're looking for a good starting point. As far as cheapness, well, you'll be using clay either way, but I suppose you could buy less clay if you went with a pep base first, but you'd also spend more on reinforcing it. Then again, clay is reusable.

Ultimately, it's up to you, but those are some things to consider. Also, thanks for being so polite!

 

[AoBfrost]

Well spending 100 dollars on making the base and having it take up room isnt that useful, when you can make 2-3 parts of armor with clay, mold it, amd paint it, then re use the clay for more parts...then you dont take up as much room around your house....so thats another thing.

 

[Datahar]

how about...
pep the piece, shape with plaster filler instead of bondo, fill inside with plaster of paris, then vac form the shape.
This would be a cheaper alternative and is the cheapest i can think of (and am currently doing myself)