Tron Legacy Guard Concept costume

twinight

First a quick introduction. I was turned onto this site when I posted up a custom bullpup stock with electronic trigger I made for my field target air rifle. Someone replied that the guys over at RPF would love this. So I googled RPF.


I've been lurking for a few months, amazed at the skill an ingenuity from the members of this site. I'm somewhat of a mcguyver, handy with just about anything. Once I get into something, I research the heck out of it and jump in with both feet.
I've been following the tron legacy thread with great interest and once I saw the concept lead guard design, I knew this was it. Unique that the lighting is even more detailed than the screen costumes and is ideal for the use of EL wire.



Since it's an illustration, with only the front shown, I am taking some artistic liberties with this costume. Joints will have to be opened up to allow for movement. The lower half will be redesigned for lighting pattern that matches the design of the upper torso. The back I came up with 2 possible options.
For the short term helmet, I plan on modifying a bike/showboard helmet with a modified tinted visor. For ComicCon, I'd like to use pepakura to make a helmet similar to the quorra concept helmet. The staff will only have 1 line of el wire on each side, since the space for inverters are very limited. I estimate the the amount of EL wire needed for the entire costume to be about 65 feet (including staff, helmet and disk)

I am planning to build it entirely out of foam, at least 2 layers thick to get the details. I will seal and the finish with plastidip. I am worried about the curves such as the shoulder pads which should look 1 layer thick at the edges, but have more bulk in the center of the pad. I know I will make a lot of mistakes, since this is my first attempt at working with foam.
I plan to connect each panel with 3mm foam backers for bending areas and elastic bands where there may be separation from movement. At first i was planning to glue all the panels to a lycra undershirt, but it would be difficult to control the gaps between panels as well as difficulty putting the costume on itself. I figure the use of elastic bands in strategic places would keep the costume tight on the body and stretch enough to allow for movement.

So here's my first stab at costume making.
Step 1: I started making a pattern for the large foam panels.


I'll post updates as I make progress.

twinight

First update. I got most of the panels roughly patterned out to get an idea of scale and proportion.



The I decided to go ahead and make the 1/8" foam base layer on which I can more accurately refine the patterns. The cutout in the chest piec will house the batteries and inverter.


Here is the disc holder I made cutting up one of my kid's sand buckets.
With the ring, it's a perfect fit and will be held on with magnets. I may put some el wire in the channel for lighting when the disc is in hand.



For the helmet I'm using my protec snowboard helmet with an HJC 3/4 helmet visor. It's mocked up but not attached yet:



As for the staff, I'm still debating whether to use wood or PVC. I will have to use 2 micro inverters to power the 10' of el wire and fit inside a 1" tube................

OldKen

Hommina... WHOAH! That helmet looks the best I have seen yet! Could totally be used as a "Sam" helmet!

Nice disc mount as well! This should be good! Welcome to the RPF!

BumblebeeRecycd

Welcome, and your plans look great!, I am fearful that 1/4" foam may be too week for long use...are you planning on going clubbing, or just cons?( drunk people are not so nice ). I also LOVE the helmet. Good luck !

twinight

No clubbing for me (married with a kid). I want the costume to be form fitting and not be bulky like a Iron man build. There are other protec helmets with slot vents which would look better, instead of oval, but the spending could get out of control if I don't use what I have, where I can.

I got the magnets(Neo from Michael's) hot-glued into the holder, I changed the polarity on 2 of the pairs, so the disc will only stick right-side up. I was planning to use the rare earth-magnets from Radio shack on the identity disc, which are small enough to fit in the 4 nubs. But the distance between the magnets when mounted made for a weak connection. I'll probably go back to michaels and pick up four more larger Neo magnets.

Here is the start of the base layer of foam on the chest piece. The is the layer which will serve as the channel in which the EL wire sits. The detailed 1/8" template panel pieces will sit on top of this. I found a vacuum molded foamie pirate hat which I can cut up to cap the neck piece.


Due to the foam thinness, I will use a backer to keep the disc-holder from tearing out. They will be pop riveted together and glued to the inside of the costume.

St. Matticus

Helmet is looking great! Did you cut the face shield for the shape, or did it come that way?

twinight

Thanks. The notch I cut out using a bandsaw to make it more convincing. I'm thinking I might need to tint the visor darker, so my face can't be seen.

The 4 magnet disc holder is not powerful enough to keep the identity disk from getting knocked off. It will stay in place, but the slightest push and the magnets release. Wlking is fine, but I can forget running with the disc on. I'm trying to add some hot glue to get an edge to keep the disk from sliding off, but this makes the disc more difficult to put back on one handed.

I got the boots from ebay and painted the logo and shiny parts with plasti-dip. I painted my mountain biking gloves with plasti-dip as well instead of purchasing new ones.


Here is what I have of the costume so far.
The neck piece is all done. I wear an XS helmet and I can barely squeeze my head through. The pirate symbol is from the foamie pirate hat I cut up for this piece. It's already molded in the ideal curve for this.


Here is the front. I have the upper chest done, except around the shoulders which needs another layer of foam. I'm struggling with the shoulder pads. Having them overlap the chest piece really restricts movement and it's still 1" too wide form my shoulders. I think they look too bulky and will require trimming once I figure out how to better overlap the pieces.



Here is the back. I got the center piece on, but still needs the sides which frame the channel for the EL wire.



I'm pretty confident I will finish well before the premier.

Knowone251

What brand are the boots and how much did they run you?

Rinzler

Wow looking good so far, I am using more than 4 rare earth magnets to hold my costume ID disk on. hopefully that will work :S Should pads are difficult unless they are cut just right they will flex all over and look bulky,like mine still probably will

twinight

They are Setup Grand Prix made by Sidi. I picked them up for $50 on ebay, but I think they are a discontinued model. The visions are similar for $130.

twinight

week 2 update I got the front and shoulder pieces completed and am working on the side panels and rear. The shoulder pads were the most difficult part so far. It was difficult to get some mobility without the other parts of the costume catching on the parts that overlap and geting moved out of place. You can see all the elastic bands to keep the other costume parts in place.
The hip and skirt pieces will be last, since they will have to be flexible to be able to sit down to watch the movie.









I got the el wire in the helmet. I dremelled a channel and expoxied the el wire in place.




Here's the gutted disc with EL wire guts. The driver fits no problem. But the AAA battery case needed to get trimmed for the clamshell to close completely.

OldKen

Oh sweet! Some really nice progress! We need a disc test pic stat!

twinight

Unfortunately I most of my focus is on the costume. The EL wire is not bright enough to light up the disk. I have it up against the C-Channel and it just light it up like a nightlight. I added some LED's to the outer ring, but I only had 6. It definitely needs at least 4x that amount, but I may not have time to do it. I wired the LED's to the existing switch and shimmed it so any pressure on the shell above the c ring activates the outer ring. No button to push, all I have to do is grip the disc at the top.






Here's a few shots of test fitting the costume

BB43MAN

NICE!!!!! I will definately be watching this with interest!

Jathoris

wow man, this is coming along very nicely!

twinight

Major progress over the holidays.

First the identity disk.
I got some SMD LED strips for cars and converted them to work of 3 volts. They were wired in series of 3 with a resistor inline. I rewired them to run all the LED's in parallel off the same (2)AAA batteries running the inverter for the EL wire.



I also started on the gauntlets built around some fox elbow pads.





Sealed and painted




Adding some El wiring



EL Wiring to the hip circles





I finished up the lower foam pieces and mounted them with elastic bands to allow for flexibility.
The upper body has been sealed with mod podge and painted with plastidip.









With the EL wiring added to the back lit up with the gauntlets.





I should get EL wiring added to the the front and shoulders in the next few days, then I 'll get started on the thigh and knee pieces.

OldKen

The suit is looking incredible! Wow!

Is that the Rinzler disc toy? Or did you add the red plastic rings?

twinight

Thanks. It's the Sam disc, but I painted the blue pieces transparent red and used red LED's and EL Wire. I haven't seen any other deluxe disks in stores.

OldKen

A buddy PMed me some pics and they are shipping to some stores early at random.

There is a Kevin white disc with clear plastic trim and a Rinzler with red and orange. (why it isn't orange and white WHO KNOWS!)

Rinzler

Wow this is a bloody great job! I am still struggling with mine, I was going to go something like this to begin with but since I have a fancy dress party in a couple weeks I won't have time (money) to make so I am doing a cheap nasty costume for party called Mark I & I will slowly make Mark II similar method to this. So I have a couple questions, the plastidip you used, did you spray on that colour or did you spray then paint? Secondly what is the specific type of foam you are using, I am hoping to mix 3mm & 1.5mm EVA foam, just checking what you think.

Pandemic

Very cool

oculus1857

At first I wasn't sure how this was going to come along for you on this. Looking at the part where you used Mod Podge, one of the few things like duct tape that uses 'The Force', and plasta dip is just impressive. Really, great stuff you got going on here.

twinight

Rinzler, I used mostly 3mm foamies and 1/8" Plastazoate sheets. A few places that didn't need to be layered like the lower hanging panels, I just used 1/4". I think 1.5mm is too thin for anything, but to add detail.
I used sever coats of diluted Mod Podge first, till I could'nt see the pores of the foam anymore. Then a few coats of spray Plastidip to color it black. Then a final coat of Mod Podge, so it doesn't feel rubbery from the Plastidip.


Thanks for the compliments.
This is my first costume, so much of the methods I learned were by using the search button and Google. Looking back, it's pretty amazing what I accomplished from a single concept rendering and lots of foam sheets. The amazing part is that it looks pretty similar to the drawing and that there were no major screw ups along the way.

Rinzler

Awesome, thanks for info, I really liked how the surface came up, have to buy some Plastidip (called Performix in Australia)

SUESYLVESTER

What can't Asian's do. Wow.