AxiomUltra's Mass Effect Project

Woohoo! My foam mats have arrived. I may have over estimated how much I needed. At least I'll be able to use one of the mats y'know.. as an actual mat.

Your pepakura files, I'm guessing they're still scaled to your height, how tall are you? If you wouldnt mind saying.

Super costume, love it.

Epic armor. Did you double layer on the chest and back piece? Also how did you connect them?

this looks awesome! hope my N7 build comes out this good

As I wrote on Facebook thats very cool!

For Ashley armor I think you need to use this method.

Wow the suit has turned out great! Just amazing

AxiomUltra said:

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Thanks all!



I tried not to stack the foam in layers as much as possible. If needed I usually used thinner foam sheets or offset the parts when gluing. Most parts are just glued together. Areas which take more tension have a stronger epoxy reinforcing them. And a few parts are attached with your standard parachute clips.

New update..
So here is where we're at with this. Forgive the battle rifle, I needed to see how mobile I was while holding a weapon. In the meantime I have a very nice Mattock kit on the way. Currently I am still looking for a good cheap pair of boots to sacrifice for this project. Other than that the costume is finished build-wise. I was able to go back and build the elbows and hand plates. The initial painting is done. Weathering will be next. Then the lights. I have some very nice LED strips which I need to plan to install so that should be fun. Oh, and I forgot to mention the visor - it was cut out of plexiglas and heat formed by hand over a foam buck. Then tinted with VHT niteshades.

thanks. for that part just below the breastplate section, where its connected to a secondary piece, is the a cut groove on a slanted cut? id point out what i mean but its kinda hard with words

Voltaire Surge said:

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thanks. for that part just below the breastplate section, where its connected to a secondary piece, is the a cut groove on a slanted cut? id point out what i mean but its kinda hard with words

Oh I see what you're asking. For the upper chest/front the pectoral area and the lower rib areas are actually connected with a third strip of foam with a beveled edge (30 degrees) For the entire suit I was able to cut using 15, 30, and 45 degree bevels along the foam edges.

Hope that helps!

rickironman said:

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this looks awesome! hope my N7 build comes out this good

Thanks If you ever need any help or have questions feel free to ask. I'm not as detailed on these build threads as a lot of other people and I apologize, but I'm quite new to building props/costumes so my methods probably aren't the best.

Sanek94cool said:

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As I wrote on Facebook thats very cool!

For Ashley armor I think you need to use this method.

Thanks! Yeah I've studied EvilFX's blog quite a bit and I'm still not sure I want to resort to heating anything in my oven yet. I have two other plans for that part I'm going to try first and if they don't work out then this will have to do.

SqueekinOrka said:

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Wow the suit has turned out great! Just amazing

Thanks! Glad you were able to build the helmet, that was probably the most tedious part of the build for me

Wow man that looks amazing. I actually might attempt this as my first foam build... maybe not the full suit but at least the helmet chest shoulders.

Great work

Hugh i love you :P

Currently I am still looking for a good cheap pair of boots to sacrifice for this project.




Dude, bro. I've looked at your progress for a while, and you're doing a stunning job. But I just compared your boots to my FemShep footware and felt super-girly.


Shep boot v 2.0 by freya willia, on Flickr

Hey im working on my own set of armor, and I was just wondering how you got those shoulder plates to stay so perfect? did you glue the two plates together then strap it on with elastic? or are they both strapped on seperately by elastic?

This is truely excellent stuff. Nice one. Love the helmet.
The BR goes nicely with the armour too, although I think it's still more suited to Spartans.

Tarchinoko said:

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Hey im working on my own set of armor, and I was just wondering how you got those shoulder plates to stay so perfect? did you glue the two plates together then strap it on with elastic? or are they both strapped on seperately by elastic?

Good question! I decided not to keep the inner and outer shoulder separate. For one, it wasn't practical to keep them as sliding/overlapping pieces.

In the game the inner and outer shoulder don't have a lot of conflicting movements unless Shepard is holding onto something above his head - in which the geometry actually collides with his neck/head. So I decided that it wasn't worth trying to be "authentic" in that regard since his range of motion wasn't realistic to begin with. I also wanted the outer shoulder to maintain the proper distance from the inner shoulder. In the game the outer shoulder is actually hovering.

So after I decided to keep them attached, I measured the empty space between the two parts (approx. 1.25 inch gap) I then modeled a simple cube to fit in the space and trimmed it to fit flush on the surfaces.

After that it was just a matter of exporting the pattern out, locate the exact position for the cube with calipers, sketch where the piece would go, create a foam block at the right thickness, and epoxy the three parts together.

There are a few steps that are probably overkill to some builders out there who would just eyeball it. But since I had such a good resource I didn't mind getting the detailed measurements. (I also used the model to map out how thick the stripes were on the right arm parts) In the end I think that taking the time out to do those little things actually helped keep symmetry across the build.

The shoulder is connected with parachute clips (1.5 in nylon straps & clips) and connected just outside of the neck. Two vertical straps run over the shoulders for accuracy and help hold the first set of straps down. A thinner (1 in) nylon strap loop was put on to run under the arms since the game model also had it. This 1 inch loop wasn't made to be adjustable or tight, just to keep the shoulder from flopping all over the place.

AxiomUltra said:

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Good question! I decided not to keep the inner and outer shoulder separate. For one, it wasn't practical to keep them as sliding/overlapping pieces.

In the game the inner and outer shoulder don't have a lot of conflicting movements unless Shepard is holding onto something above his head - in which the geometry actually collides with his neck/head. So I decided that it wasn't worth trying to be "authentic" in that regard since his range of motion wasn't realistic to begin with. I also wanted the outer shoulder to maintain the proper distance from the inner shoulder. In the game the outer shoulder is actually hovering.

So after I decided to keep them attached, I measured the empty space between the two parts (approx. 1.25 inch gap) I then modeled a simple cube to fit in the space and trimmed it to fit flush on the surfaces.

After that it was just a matter of exporting the pattern out, locate the exact position for the cube with calipers, sketch where the piece would go, create a foam block at the right thickness, and epoxy the three parts together.

There are a few steps that are probably overkill to some builders out there who would just eyeball it. But since I had such a good resource I didn't mind getting the detailed measurements. (I also used the model to map out how thick the stripes were on the right arm parts) In the end I think that taking the time out to do those little things actually helped keep symmetry across the build.

The shoulder is connected with parachute clips (1.5 in nylon straps & clips) and connected just outside of the neck. Two vertical straps run over the shoulders for accuracy and help hold the first set of straps down. A thinner (1 in) nylon strap loop was put on to run under the arms since the game model also had it. This 1 inch loop wasn't made to be adjustable or tight, just to keep the shoulder from flopping all over the place.

Thanks I knew you mustve connected them somehow, Ill probably just hot glue in a foam spacer for mine

I was gonna ask one more question tho, i built the bicep pieces and they keep pressing into my side and because of that sat on me crooked, did you just change your posture to stop that? :P or were yours tightly fitting?

Tarchinoko said:

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Thanks I knew you mustve connected them somehow, Ill probably just hot glue in a foam spacer for mine

I was gonna ask one more question tho, i built the bicep pieces and they keep pressing into my side and because of that sat on me crooked, did you just change your posture to stop that? :P or were yours tightly fitting?

No problem

The biceps are pretty snug on my arms, and don't move much farther up than you see in the pics (thank you Marine Corps ) If they are loose on you then don't be afraid to cut another set that you can trim down. You might like the fit better.

Hah its always cool seeing a marine dressed as... well a marine from the future :P thanks for the tips!

Your build is inspiring. Please continue to update.

The work is marvelous.

How do you mold two half rounded sphere to make bumps (sorry, I don't know any other terms for those). The foam is quite thick, my guess is 10mm, can it be done by using heat gun?

hey man, this is just amazing. I'm actually wanting to do pretty much the exact same thing as you, thanks for posting such detailed steps.

but how tall are you? I'm 6'2'' so would your measurements work for me?

In other news..

Despite my ventilation efforts the garage is covered in a nice layer of blue dust. But I feel like it was worth it

Progress photo on her armor before the mosquito strike

AxiomUltra said:

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Beautiful!

You wouldn't happen to have a shot of the biceps-section, would you? If not it isn't a big deal, mostly curiosity, and they're dark in that shot.

Foam (I'm assuming that's what it is) looks really GOOD on her. Especially the upper leg curves. Making something flattering and feminine is tough!