We sell finished masterpiece armor sets because most people want something they can don straight out of the box. It doesn’t require them to become a full-time prop maker with a garage full of sandpaper and regret. We also sell DIY kits because some of you are either stubborn, overconfident, or want to play the part, but times are tough, (all three can be true at the same time).
Take the B-01 Helldivers Armor Set. It’s the perfect example. You can buy the DIY kit and get unfinished raw 3D prints. Or you can buy the finished masterpiece and get something that doesn’t make you question every decision that led you to a workbench at midnight.
The DIY kit is the cheaper alternative. That’s the whole pitch. You save money. In exchange, you get to do everything we didn’t feel like doing for free. It can be a fun building experience if you actually know what you’re doing and enjoy suffering for your hobby. Or it can be a multi-week reminder that “I’ll just finish it myself” was the kind of optimism usually reserved for people who think they can run a marathon after watching one YouTube video.
What the DIY Kit Actually Is
Unfinished raw 3D prints. Printed in ABS. That’s it.
No helmet lens. No straps. No padding. No buckles. No pins. No glue. No tape. No sandpaper. No primer. No paint. No instructions. No soft goods. No undersuit. No leather pants, jacket, belt, boots, gloves, pouches, cape, or any of the other stuff that makes a Helldiver look like a Helldiver instead of a guy wearing raw plastic.
You’re getting the armor pieces and (as of the latest update) the helmet and Liberator. Everything else is your problem. We expect intermediate to advanced makers to take on this challenge. If your idea of “finishing” is one coat of spray paint and calling it a day, this kit will punish you. Layer lines don’t disappear because you believe in yourself or managed democracy.
What the Finished Masterpiece Actually Is
The finished B-01 set is what happens when we do the work instead of you. Sanded. Filled and sanded again. Primed. Painted inside and out with automotive-grade paint and a 2K hard coat. Padded. Strapped. Ready to wear. Full Liberator Edition includes the armor and helmet plus leather pants and jacket, belt, balaclava, boots, gloves and pouches, holographic Hellpad, Liberator Pro rifle, basic Helldiver cape, wrist wraps, and belly pads with leather piping.
Custom paint schemes are available (usually at no extra charge). Weathering and damage on request. Electronics if you want them (for a fee). Lead times are longer because finishing takes time and we refuse to rush it into looking like garbage. You’re paying so you don’t have to spend your weekends discovering that plastic welding is harder than the tutorial made it look. I don’t have a life, so abuse that fact and let us finish it for you.
The Differences We Don’t Soften
Price
DIY is cheaper because you’re the one buying the sandpaper, the filler primer, the straps, the padding, the glue, and the willpower. Finished costs more because we already spent those hours and those dollars.
What’s in the box
DIY: raw unfinished prints.
Finished Masterpiece: the complete, painted, padded, strapped, clothed set that doesn’t require you to own a respirator and a prayer.
The experience
Some of you will love it. You’ll sand, fill, plastic weld, prime, paint, and figure out the strapping system, and you’ll end up with something you’re proud of. Others will hit the third coat of filler primer, realize the seams still show, and start googling “how to cancel a project without admitting defeat.” We support both. We just don’t pretend the second one is rare.
Results
A properly finished DIY piece can look excellent. A half-assed one looks like a raw print someone sprayed and hoped no one would notice (usually found at your local comicon for an absurd price). The difference is almost never the printer. It’s whether you were honest with yourself about how much work “unfinished” actually means. We put a graphite coat under our finished paint for a reason—when it gets scratched at a con, you don’t want to see plastic staring back at you. DIY owners are on their own for that level of spite.
If You’re Still Buying the DIY Kit
Here’s the part where we stop being polite. These steps are not optional if you want it to look like anything other than a failed print:
- Clean it and assemble it properly. Bad seams stay bad forever.
- Sand. Then sand more. Then sand the spots you thought were done.
- Fill and plastic weld like you mean it. Spot putty and filler primer are not suggestions.
- Multiple primer cycles. One coat is a joke. Two coats are usually still a joke.
- Paint in layers. A single flat color will look flat.
- Weather with some restraint. Random sponge hits are not a personality.
- Seal it. Clear coat exists because convention floors and other people exist.
- Source and install every strap, buckle, piece of padding, and bit of hardware yourself. None of it came with the prints.
Skip any of that and you’ll have an expensive reminder that layer lines show through paint. Do it properly and you might end up with something that doesn’t immediately announce itself as a raw print from across the room. Or you might not. We’re not your therapist.
Pick Your Poison
Choose the DIY kit if you want the cheaper option on the B-01, you like building things, you already own (or are willing to buy) every tool and supply, and you’re okay with the real possibility that “fun project” turns into “why did I start this.”
Choose the finished masterpiece if you want the full set done, painted, padded, strapped, and clothed so you can put it on instead of staring at raw plastic while it judges you. Lead times are longer. Quality is higher. Your weekends stay yours and we do the swearing at no extra charge!
Both exist because people keep asking for both. We make the finished ones because most of you don’t actually want to spend 60–150 hours turning prints into armor. We make the DIY kits because some of you do—or at least think you do until the sandpaper comes out.
Freedom isn’t free. Neither is good padding, a set of straps that doesn’t dig in after an hour, or the decision to finish the job properly. Choose accordingly. Or don’t. We’ll still be here either way.
— Mediocre Studios
(We’re slow and we know it. The armor still has to be right.)
