Hi Aronjr,
mate firstly WELCOME, secondly awesome choice, its always fun to see a new cadet that has decided to be dark and mysterious, dare i say, talk dark and handsome as us pilot types like to think of ourselves.
As well as signing up here I would recommend you come on over to the Jolly Roger Squadron forums
http://www.jrs501st.com where you will be inundated with Tie pilot Awesomeness and also assigned a Tie Pilot Mentor (being that you are in Queensland it will be our very own Stormraven, whom I am sure will swing by this thread soon).
As for hard armour, there are a multitude of approved armourers that you will find at the JRS, the challenge is determining what you are looking for based on your build, your budget and other factors.
Personally I chose to go with Arakyels armour and Helmet as it suited my budget, time frame and he produces a larger helmet (the helmets in the movies were all oversized) whereas things like the Don Post/Rubies helmets tend to be smaller and require more work for approvals.
If your heart is set on a Pilot uniform then you can do all the soft parts quickly and relatively cheap, allowing you to become a full approved member as a Reserve Tie Pilot before moving on to your hard armour, if you want any info then feel free to PM me and I will gladly help you out,
Again Welcome
Cheers,
Slide.