Wanting to do Sci-Fi-E Kit Projects

Sid

I'm a big fan of Sci-Fi and Fantasy but I have to say that when it comes to "fandoms" I have no real fandom (Because I genuinely like all series, give or take a few.) save for one. It is a little niche club I like to call the "Armored Hero dorks." I love the theme of a hero who is a regular average guy but can throw on this suit of armor and either do good, bad, or just walk a very narrow line between them both. Kamen Rider (Masked Rider), Super Sentai, Rescue Force/Fire, even Mecha franchises like Gundam, Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagann, etc. fuel this interest.

With that said I've been wanting for years to do a helmet and armor pieces but with my job I don't have the time to put into pepping and resining. I would like to forgo that and just purchase a helmet or armor kit and go from there wiring it up, painting, etc.

I'm kind of hoping that having something done that I can look at for encouragement and inspiration would help motivate me to do more on my own to building and designing my own pieces and kit. So with that said my reasoning for posting this in the costume thread instead of Junkyard is this... I'm looking for suggestions for kits under $75 that I can tinker with. I've been browsing around the RPF Junkyard and I've seen some amazing things but I'd also like to hear some others' suggestions.

With that said I'll probably be starting a foam armor build later this week. Still, I'd love to hear some suggestions!

11B30B4

Sid, I am starting something later in 2012 for Dragoncon. It will be my first costume build and it will involve a lot of vacuforming and will be something that as far as I know, none else has built. With that said, I prefer to do stuff that is very unique. I have looked at a lot of stuff here and I forever humbled by the contributors on this forum. They never cease to amaze me with their imagination and abilities. I would suggest that you not look to buy and enhance something that someone else built.
I understand that apprehension at starting from the ground up but the reward is worth it. As far subject matter, I would suggest heading in the direction of popular but different. What I mean by this is look for something popular like star wars but rather than building a screen correct Darth Vader, look at some of the concept artwork from McQuarrie. His take on what Vader would look like is similar but very different from how we see him in the films. Someone has already done this example but it’s a great illustration on how a different approach to something so iconic can be realized. A genre that has become popular is Streampunk and a Steampunk Darth Vader would be cool. But you can apply this method to all sorts of things. I have seen a steampunk Boba Fet that was completely original and the artist pulled it off perfectly. So with these different approaches you can take the popular and build something very unique.
I hope this helps, and spend some time looking at some of the builds here to get inspiration.