This is my humble attempt at making homemade armor. My objectives are very humble:
1. To create something that actually fits.
I had shared on how a lot of available armor does not fit the person properly, be it a fan sculpt or a "cast from originals" or claims of being "Prowse-sized." Perhaps I'll elaborate on it later. But the over-the-shoulder straps on a of armor have too much slack, causing the armor to slouch down, creating a very large neck gap as shown:
2. To create something comfortable.
The muscle between your neck and your shoulder is the trapezium. If the armor doesn't match that slope, it can apply uncomfortable pressure and cause your trapezium to tense up. Also, too much pressure on the collar bone can cause discomfort.
3. Look aesthetically pleasing with my helmet projects.
Note that I've not said anything about making this 100% screen accurate, because I completely lack good armor references, save for some HD screen shots and a good photo. Since the ANH look was achieved by wearing the robe on top of the armor, you seldom saw the armor save for the middle portion. Most people didn't notice there was asymmetry to the armor, and if there were closeups, they were closeups on Vader's face.
To start, I found a photo (I believe it was taken by vadermania) and did a careful line study of the front in Adobe Illustrator. I also used other shots. I'm not a big stickler for 100% accuracy. I just want something I can wear. You can imagine how I feel after having gone through 4 sets of armor and not finding the perfect fit. I not only need it to fit me, but to fit friends in the 40-44" range, and at the same time make the chest deep enough so that when you wear the cape and are photographed from the side, your proportions look about right.