I need some opinions... Refurbish or Start Over?

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TheAstroBot

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So, I ended up picking up a Sean Bradley ODST Kit 'Bout a year ago- A lovely kit, wonderful quality.... Only, I, like an idiot, chose not to reinforce it in spite of my clumsy, accident prone, and hasty nature. Lo and behold, almost a full year later the suit is in less than ideal condition- Parts are split almost in two in some areas, strapping failures galore, and I'm scared to use the suit any more than I have, so that begs the question- Should I just buy a new kit, and start over with what experience I now have?

Parts of this suit are done really poorly- Some overtrimmed, or otherwise sloppy, like a bad construction idea I'd had that now seems irreversible, or bad rivet placement or even me just wanting to start the paint work from scratch... Which leaves me concerned if I should even shovel the money into reinforcing and revamping this suit, vs buying and constructing a new SB Kit to have something much nicer to wear when I (Hopefully) hit several cons when the season hits.

I really am unsure what to do here- Your thoughts?

(Pictured is a few of the bigger splits and damages that I don't quite know how I'll be able to fix- Partially because I'm scared they'll break further if I use SB's glue & sand technique, or in the case of the thigh, removing the rivets may break a whole piece off.)

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It doesn't look too bad. Nothing some reinforcements to the back couldn't cure and touch-ups in the front. It might mean hours of work but the cost wouldn't be as much as a new kit nor the amount of time it would take if you did get a new kit. I would say fix what you have.
 
Dirtdives hit it on the head, cost of repairs is likely peanuts in comparison to going back to square zero.

A bit of fibreglass for structure, some body filler and a whole lot of elbow grease will fix everything up. I'm not sure how closely everything fit you in the first place but adding a foam backing to the parts that did get damaged might be a good idea to act as shock dispersal if the parts were damaged from wear and tear or impact from moving around at a con.
 
Lmao-

Thanks, you guys. I'll have to get straight to work on cleaning this up and fixing it... I'll likely do the full fiberglass & bondo treatment to keep this thing surviving at cons, as well as just outright take everything apart and put it all back together to start fresh.
 
No worries, it showed what it needed to. I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't be applying bondo to foam.

I agree with the other guys. It is salvageable and the amount of time it will take to do so is probably close to the amount of time it take to make a new kit your own anyway.

You got this. Just take each problem area on one at a time starting with the least noticeable or easiest. That way you will get better at it and when you get to the obvious or harder spots you will be better prepared to fix them.
 
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