Battle Sister Costume Showoff Thread (Pic Heavy!)

[SaberFreak]

This costume started out as one man's dream (since 2006) until I took it on in April 2009. Initial construction (cardboard mockups) started in June 2009, and serious effort was only put in starting August/September 2009 when my schedule opened up.

I had no prior experience in armored costume making, or any kind of training in this field. All I had was an enthusiasm to learn, and to observe how others make stuff. A good part of my knowledge came from the generous members of this, and other boards.

Before I get down to the nitty gritty of what the costume is made of, here are some beauty shots. Thanks so much to Radzie(http://ziedesign.com/blog/) of Sri Gaya Studio for taking these photos for a song.

Remember, this is the first time I've made anything from scratch, so please be kind

(click on pic to see a high-res version)













Torso armor (including shoulder guards) is made entirely of plumbing pipe, shaped with a heat gun; Chest cups were fashioned out of plastic bowls; Collar is cut from a bucket; relief details on shoulder guard and chest cup, and the purity seals were sculpted out of paper clay. the skull on the 'I' was made out of paper clay, then casts in resin using a silicon mold.



Vembraces & Grenades were made from plumbing pipe as well. Finger gauntlets were fashioned out of Wonderflex , which is self-adhesive while its still hot. The skull on the cross was made out of paper clay, then casts in resin using a silicon mold.

Corset is purchased, and beads sewn on by our female costumer.



The base for the leg armor are the only fibreglass pieces in this costume, They were purchased, and started out as Clone Trooper leg armor. I had to modify them extensively to make them fit our female costumer. The base for the knee guards are made of plumbing pipe, and the relief details sculpted out of paper clay. Armor plating on the shoe is made of Wonderflex.

She is seen holder a couple of grenades which I made for fun while waiting for epoxy and putty to dry. They're sized to fit into the magazine chamber and fired like regular rounds.





Close up of the knee guards.



The squarish part of the backpack is made of corrugated cardboard, then covered with mounting board. The rounded section on top is a combination of plumbing pipe, MDF board, perspex sheet, and couple of plastic bowls. The spikes are cast resin.



Close up of the backpack and shoulder guard.
The hose is leftover from a TIE Fighter Pilot helmet I purchased sometime ago.



Backpack detail & close up of purity seal.



The Bolter is constructed almost entirely out of foam board. The handle is made of MDF board, and extends all the way up to the top and out to the front in an 'L' shape to give the whole thing a 'spine' to rest on. The muzzle is a plumbing pipe.



The creators:
Joanna (costumer): All soft parts and sculpted details
Daniel (on left): Bolter base structure
Myself: Everything else except the finger gauntlets (hand guard)

[Sidewinder]

Utterly brilliant.

SAS

[kalkamel]

Dude, that is INSANE!!!! Next project is my Fett, right?

[Robot Monster]

That kicks tail. Thanks for the detail on construction. I have a armor project with my brothers kids for next Halloween so this is useful info for me.

Great job and kudos to all of the creators.

[Flachzange]

Nicely done. Definately one of the best I have seen so far!

[Saz]

Maybe you ought to speak to Games workshop and see if you can get a feature in their white dwarf magazine?

[SaberFreak]

Thanks for the kind words guys

Originally Posted by Saz

Maybe you ought to speak to Games workshop and see if you can get a feature in their white dwarf magazine?

Thanks for the suggestion. I think someone from the local gaming community already did, though I'm not sure if there's been a response yet...Will definitely post here if anything do come out of it

[Ghadrack]

Incredible. You did a fantastic job, just a stunning looking costume!

[jackdoud]

Looks great! For some reason SoB's seem to be one of the easier 40k costumes to pull off as they always some out well. Too bad the rest of the universe's armor seems so hard to do.

[WookieeGunner]

Saw a link to this over on http://z6.invisionfree.com/Obscurus_Crusade/index.php . Very nicely done.

[Straycatt]

Outstanding Ephrael Stern ....

[Setzer]

The Emperor protects.

Great job, man.

[leaw]

Awesome work love the detail.

Saz is so right - White Dwarf should do a feature on this costume

[fuelish]

I had to look up battle sisters, and that costume is spot on.
Great job building such a massive pistol but keeping the wieght low enough she can handle it like a feather.

My wife noted that the thread tension was to high on the red fabric.

[B-Movie Zombie]

Oh WOW! That looks Great.

[Rotwang]

In the great tradition of the love/hate relationship people have with GW, I'd say it needs more skullz.

Honestly, that is an amazing job, with great attention to detail.

[Geniepants]

First off, don't apologize for this being your first time, what you've done is f'ing brilliant! Seriously man, great job, and kudos to you and your team.

[dansmith]

Thats just amazing.

[klmscott12]

There are couple of us working on Marine suits. It would be super to meet up at say D-Con 10 for a few shots.

[SaberFreak]

Originally Posted by fuelish

I had to look up battle sisters, and that costume is spot on.
Great job building such a massive pistol but keeping the weight low enough she can handle it like a feather.

My wife noted that the thread tension was to high on the red fabric.

Yeah we decided right off the bat that there HAS to be a BFG, and she HAS to be able to wield it like she's really wearing a power armor. Therefore we spent a whole load of time figuring out how to go about achieving this before we started building anything.

And yes the fabric is a bit off. It was too late to do anything about it at that time, but it will be replaced, hopefully with gabardine cotton, if we can find it in the right shade of red...

Originally Posted by klmscott12

There are couple of us working on Marine suits. It would be super to meet up at say D-Con 10 for a few shots.

Yeah that would be super cool, but I'm not stateside and can't really afford ($ wise) to go there just for a convention, especially when I have to pay for both myself and the costumer...

[klmscott12]

Well then, lets see what we can do with a little Photoshop. I will send a PM when we are near the end and see what we can line up.

[troopermatthew]

WOW! Fantastic!

[mothmonty]

wow, great details

[cavedwellar]

Fantastic use of everyday items, great vision!

[3720to1]

Love it! as a SoB player myself Spot on are you planning on doing the Sabbat pattern Bolter and Helmet too?