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<blockquote data-quote="TurboCharizard" data-source="post: 774670" data-attributes="member: 19020">I'd second pep being the strongest/most durable but it also depends on how you treat the stuff.I can yeet a foam helmet across a room and know it'll be fine. Pepakura if treated well will outlive you. 3D prints if made from the right material can be extremely strong but it's often a stepping stone to moulding and casting objects which is generally a more durable/easily replaceable alternative.Prices of tools are generally the deciding factor. Good quality tools for a pep build are dead cheap and you can pull off a SPARTAN-III for around $500 if you try but the time investment is huge. Foam is in the same ballpark as a pep build for setup costs but the time investment is a bit lower per suit, just expect to build one or two before getting to a point where you're happy with the end product. 3D printing a full suit can be done for about $500 but the number of pieces and huge number of assembly and sanding hours is daunting, get into the $1000-$1500 range and a suit will be considerably quicker to produce (400-500 man hours and ~2months of machine up time). Moulding and casting, take out a small loan or sell your car to build one suit, then make dozens more that are identical to recover costs.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="TurboCharizard, post: 774670, member: 19020"] I'd second pep being the strongest/most durable but it also depends on how you treat the stuff. I can yeet a foam helmet across a room and know it'll be fine. Pepakura if treated well will outlive you. 3D prints if made from the right material can be extremely strong but it's often a stepping stone to moulding and casting objects which is generally a more durable/easily replaceable alternative. Prices of tools are generally the deciding factor. Good quality tools for a pep build are dead cheap and you can pull off a SPARTAN-III for around $500 if you try but the time investment is huge. Foam is in the same ballpark as a pep build for setup costs but the time investment is a bit lower per suit, just expect to build one or two before getting to a point where you're happy with the end product. 3D printing a full suit [I]can [/I]be done for about $500 but the number of pieces and huge number of assembly and sanding hours is daunting, get into the $1000-$1500 range and a suit will be considerably quicker to produce (400-500 man hours and ~2months of machine up time). Moulding and casting, take out a small loan or sell your car to build one suit, then make dozens more that are identical to recover costs. [/QUOTE]

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