Cosplay - Works in Progress *W.I.P*

[SidneyKusanagi]

Hi all,

I might consider re-doing my armor in foam as seen below. The one on the left is the foam elbow in progress while the elbow on the right is the finished one in resin/auto filler.

Spoiler:

Creating parts out of foam is a lot faster to make than I expected (took only a day to make two elbows ready for painting as opposed to having to wait for resin/auto filler to dry for one). However, it seems I have to decide between lightweight+construction speed or durability for my armor. Do I go with foam or auto filler?

[SiguusaEcho]

Hi all,

I might consider re-doing my armor in foam as seen below. The one on the left is the foam elbow in progress while the elbow on the right is the finished one in resin/auto filler.

Spoiler:

Creating parts out of foam is a lot faster to make than I expected (took only a day to make two elbows ready for painting as opposed to having to wait for resin/auto filler to dry for one). However, it seems I have to decide between lightweight+construction speed or durability for my armor. Do I go with foam or auto filler?

Which one is easier to move in? I'm guessing the foam. But ask yourself - how long/how many events do you think it'll last, and how many events do you tentatively plan on wearing it for. With the foam, it'd be easy to fix, or replace parts, while the resin would probably last longer. I would personally go for the foam, since it's faster to make, and lighter. After you slather the foam with glue and fabric to make it more durable ofc. Anyways, it'd depend on you for that decision xD

[TaJaDor]

@SidneyKusanagi: Adding to what SiguusaEcho said.. since it's easier to make it out of foam, wouldn't you be able to make replacement parts just as easy? You would just need the stencils to keep consistency.

[SidneyKusanagi]

@TaJaDor: I've been doing more foam stuff today, and I realized you're right that making replacement parts are quite easy. My current stencils are easy to be printed out and cut out (cuz it's just from Pepakura).

@SiguusaEcho: What kind of fabric are you referring to? I was thinking of coating my foam stuff with Kilz primer+sealer then spraypaint...

Anyway, thanks guys for your help! All your advice are greatly appreciated! I should probably open a new thread next time specifically for my building progress and post more progress pics instead of asking questions in this thread...

[SiguusaEcho]

I refer to this tutorial about the fabric xD Well, it's just one way of doing things - maybe test on scrap foam and see what works best?

Hint 1:

This character is from a manga and only has a small bust shot in colour.
I hope I'm not way off with the outfit colours :'D
...I hope the mangaka doesn't kill them off before August...
Minor character.

Spoiler:

Guess who? =D No guessing if I told you already D: I'll do my best and keep posting wips x)

[ninjatofu]

@SidneyKusanagi: Have you seen this page yet? http://www.xrobots.co.uk/coating/
Looks like it'll make your foam more durable, but it depends on the time/cost tradeoff.

[SiguusaEcho]

@SidneyKusanagi: Have you seen this page yet? http://www.xrobots.co.uk/coating/
Looks like it'll make your foam more durable, but it depends on the time/cost tradeoff.

His Iron Man suit... want... That was pretty neat! I'll have to look into it if I'm ever looking to make any amour pieces xD

[DJ#]

@SidneyKusanagi: Have you seen this page yet? http://www.xrobots.co.uk/coating/
Looks like it'll make your foam more durable, but it depends on the time/cost tradeoff.

His Iron Man suit... want... That was pretty neat! I'll have to look into it if I'm ever looking to make any amour pieces xD

I'm interested in using his techniques for my armor project. The only thing is, the foam material that he highly recommends (plastazote LD45) appears to be only available in the U.K. and Europe. I'm looking into the costs of shipping some over here. I wonder what would be a good substitute?

[ninjatofu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c51gUa8VW-k&feature=plcp

He uses EVA foam sheets, which is craft foam, but for bigger pieces you can look for rolls of it or use the larger interlocking floor mat pieces.

And now for something I've been working on.
Gonna be test building it this weekend. I hope I managed to get the scale correct

[xETHEREALx]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c51gUa8VW-k&feature=plcp

He uses EVA foam sheets, which is craft foam, but for bigger pieces you can look for rolls of it or use the larger interlocking floor mat pieces.

And now for something I've been working on.
Gonna be test building it this weekend. I hope I managed to get the scale correct

That looks like quite an interesting project you got going on, hopefully the test build and scaling works out will
Looking forward to seeing you progress on it or at least once completed at the convention