New Recruit - 3d printed armor and other questions

[RyanS]

Hi Guys, 

Just finished printing off my suit of Scout armor which I will be starting to finish over the next couple months and wanted to know what's the go with (high quality) 3d printed suits etc. 

I know in the Mando sphere that 3d Printed suits are the norm and within other fandoms 3d printing is fairly commonplace however when it comes to 501st certification are there limitations or expectations when it comes to 3d printed armor? Obviously print lines, fit and finish are of utmost importance but I had a couple of questions when it came to finishing off my costume.

1) Is there a "stigma" around 3d printing at all? i.e. Are 3d printed suits considered "lesser" in some way to the vacuum formed ABS suits (lower quality or not "accurate")? Can you achieve Level 2 certification with a 3d printed suit, assuming all other requirements are met?

2) Suggestions as to where to purchase the "softkit" to go along with the armor... Are there suppliers of flight suits, gloves, boots etc. here in Australia or do we have to look overseas? There are several Star Wars cosplay/costuming companies out there that supply soft kit but wanted to see if the 501st have an arrangement with any of them for discount, or if there are "501st pre-approved" suppliers.

3) How much of your costume is expected(or needs) to be DIY/home crafted as apposed to purchased? Obviously some parts of the costume need to be hand crafted, straps in order to achieve an accurately fit etc. but for less visible items like flight suits, as there are several patterns online, are these acceptable as home-made items or are purchased items preffered to ensure accuracy?

4) When it comes to weapons, guns and the like. Do we require the orange tips as per Supernova/Comiccon? are screen accurate 3d printed items (finished correctly and painted accurately) acceptable?

Thanks in advance and looking forward to joining in on trooping
Ryan

[Firestorm]

Welcome to the forums. As far as 3D printed armour, I’m sure someone much more knowledgeable than I will chime in soon.

As for where to get armour and soft parts, if you haven’t yet, hop over ont the scout trooper detachment https://www.501stpathfinders.com/ for everything scout related.

When it comes to homemade things like flight suits etc, as long as they follow the specifications set out in the CRL it will be fine to use.

3D printed blasters and weapons are ok as long as they are screen accurate and don’t have any visible print lines in them.
I think we get away with not needing the orange most of the time but depends on what the convention organisers request. Some orange tape is easy to apply and remove when required.

Hope this helps and if I’m mistaken on anything someone will correct me ?

[RyanS]

Welcome to the forums. As far as 3D printed armour, I’m sure someone much more knowledgeable than I will chime in soon.

As for where to get armour and soft parts, if you haven’t yet, hop over ont the scout trooper detachment https://www.501stpathfinders.com/ for everything scout related.

When it comes to homemade things like flight suits etc, as long as they follow the specifications set out in the CRL it will be fine to use.

3D printed blasters and weapons are ok as long as they are screen accurate and don’t have any visible print lines in them.
I think we get away with not needing the orange most of the time but depends on what the convention organisers request. Some orange tape is easy to apply and remove when required.

Hope this helps and if I’m mistaken on anything someone will correct me ?

That's great advise thanks for the assistance. 

I joined specops501st.com last night and am posting my build log there to ensure that the Shadow Scout is accutate and they have been a great help too. 

I wanted to avoid the orange tape option as i have found it can remove the paint on the prop when removed so wanted to double check if i needed to model up an attachement or something similar so that's a great help. No harm in doing a little something up and just having it in one of my pouches.

Thanks also for the link to the pathfinders. I will join them and with some luck they know some local suppliers

R

[Bolt_2112]

Hi Ryan
I will do my best to try and answer your 3d printing questions.
I’m going to assume you are talking about FDM printing, and not resin printing as FDM is far more accessible to the general public (and far cheaper).
 
You are correct, 3d printing is very commonplace in cosplay and costuming in general these days. It is certainly a very handy tool to have.
You ask if there is a “stigma” around 3d printing in the 501st… Stigma is kind of a harsh word, because no, we are not against 3d printing, it just often isn’t the best way to make our costumes.

The 501st is a worldwide group that creates film accurate bad guy costumes from the Star Wars movies. This most often includes making them in the same way they were created for the filming of the movies.
 
In my opinion, why would I 3d print something if I can have a vaccuformed kit, which I can build in the same way they did for the filming for my favorite movie? It’s more accurate and I feel like I have a piece of Star Wars history.

Not to mention, vaccuformed kits are more durable as they can bend and flex, they are easy to repair, require very little sanding or filling (some kits require absolutely no filling), they are lightweight, can be modified easily, are more accurate than any 3d files that I have seen and are often cheaper too.
 
On the other hand, a 3d printed kit is not very durable. I have several friends who have printed kits and have had to replace parts after just a single troop. They do not flex, are heavy and repairs require reinforcing. They also require a ton of sanding and bogging to get up to standards.
Durability can also depend on what material they are printed from. PLA is known to sag and go soft on warm days. Imagine you are trooping in your kit and it starts to deform!


In saying all this, yes, 3d printed kits are approvable if done correctly. I can only speak for the Clone Trooper Detachment of course, each detachment has their own rules. 
As you mentioned, all print lines, fit and finish must meet the standards laid down in the CRL for the given costume.
If you can meet all the requirements, yes, you can get level 2 certification. Unless of course the level 2 certification demands a vaccuformed kit.  

I personally have 3d printed parts in my costumes, I just do not recomment printing an entire kit. 
 
I hope that helps
- Bolt

[RyanS]

Hi Ryan
I will do my best to try and answer your 3d printing questions.
I’m going to assume you are talking about FDM printing, and not resin printing as FDM is far more accessible to the general public (and far cheaper).
 
You are correct, 3d printing is very commonplace in cosplay and costuming in general these days. It is certainly a very handy tool to have.
You ask if there is a “stigma” around 3d printing in the 501st… Stigma is kind of a harsh word, because no, we are not against 3d printing, it just often isn’t the best way to make our costumes.

The 501st is a worldwide group that creates film accurate bad guy costumes from the Star Wars movies. This most often includes making them in the same way they were created for the filming of the movies.
 
In my opinion, why would I 3d print something if I can have a vaccuformed kit, which I can build in the same way they did for the filming for my favorite movie? It’s more accurate and I feel like I have a piece of Star Wars history.

Not to mention, vaccuformed kits are more durable as they can bend and flex, they are easy to repair, require very little sanding or filling (some kits require absolutely no filling), they are lightweight, can be modified easily, are more accurate than any 3d files that I have seen and are often cheaper too.
 
On the other hand, a 3d printed kit is not very durable. I have several friends who have printed kits and have had to replace parts after just a single troop. They do not flex, are heavy and repairs require reinforcing. They also require a ton of sanding and bogging to get up to standards.
Durability can also depend on what material they are printed from. PLA is known to sag and go soft on warm days. Imagine you are trooping in your kit and it starts to deform!


In saying all this, yes, 3d printed kits are approvable if done correctly. I can only speak for the Clone Trooper Detachment of course, each detachment has their own rules. 
As you mentioned, all print lines, fit and finish must meet the standards laid down in the CRL for the given costume.
If you can meet all the requirements, yes, you can get level 2 certification. Unless of course the level 2 certification demands a vaccuformed kit.  

I personally have 3d printed parts in my costumes, I just do not recomment printing an entire kit. 
 
I hope that helps
- Bolt

Thanks for the info Bolt and TBH was kinda expecting and answer along those lines. 

I've been printing for over 15 years now with the improvements in the technology and the improvments in materials a lot of the old issues you mentioned are not really too much of an an problem anymore. That said yes there is always going to be limitations of the technology sanding and bogging etc. are almost always going to be a thing. 

I also have resin printers and even with ABS-like "semi-flexible" resins the additional cost of printing a full suit and the inherit brittleness of medium somewhat rules that out a fully resin printed suit. 

Personally I have always loved the suits in the OG movies but the vacuume formed nature of them always seemed a little "cheap", till i looked at the pricing of a suit and was honestly shocked. I can understand why in the mid 70's George would have opted for vacuume fromed suits due to budget constraints etc. Personally i feel the custom scaling options of a 3d Printed suit are more suited to trooping over an "of the shelf" set of armor that isn't nessesarily going to fit but i guess that's why I was asking the question and to get a "lay of the land" when it comes to this sort of thing.

As someone who knows the materials and technological limitations of 3d printing I'm just really glad to hear that (given what i'm working on) suits are not required to be vaccum formed for level 2 certification as I am really looking forward to getting the suit up to that level 2 standard and trooping with you guys and gals.