by: Brent Woronoff
It took Palm Coast resident Keith DeDeo a year to craft his Mandalorian costume. When he wears it at fan events and charity functions, he becomes the Star Wars character.
“It’s not hard to act like the character once you’re dressed up,” he says. “People will come up to you. I pretty much keep quiet. The cool thing is with the costume on you’re pretty much the character.”
DeDeo, a welder and heavy equipment operator at St. Augustine Marine Center, fabricated the costume from PVC Sintra board during his spare time. He heated the plates, shaped them, sanded them, painted them and weathered them to look like Mandalorian armor.