WoW Lich King WIP (original, no Pep; sort-of a budget build)

After building a fiberglass Mk 6 Iron Man suit about a year ago or so, I'm back in action making a couple new builds for a couple reasons: 1. cause I just want to and 2. to offer the versatility that the Iron Man suit couldn't provide (mobility/flexibility, comfort, access to pockets for keys/phone/wallet, etc.)

So, I started on a TDK/TDKR-style Batman Beyond build, which I might be posting about later (still in the planning stage). I decided to take a break from that build though and re-visit the idea of making a costume of one of my favorite villains ever, the Lich King from Blizzard's Warcraft and World of Warcraft games.

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/_...WotLKArthasPose.jpg/500px-WotLKArthasPose.jpg
(A reference photo for those of you who are unfamiliar; sorry I'm just gonna have to do links because it won't let me upload pictures directly to this post)

I did this costume about 5 years ago as a freshman in high school, using black blue jeans, a leftover cape from a previous costume, and "armor" made from canvas cloth stiffened with starch, spray-painted silver with black sharpie detailing. I thought it was great at the time but it was actually my first attempt at cosplay ever, and looking back on it I think it is total crap, not to mention the wig I got for it made me sorta look like a girl. I outgrew it anyway and we probably ended up throwing it away haha. Here's a pic of it, feel free to laugh:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/ff538a88842dfc401f24aae52b8a3948/tumblr_mgfskqSKAF1rspo0po1_500.jpg

Now that I have alot more artistic skill and cosplay experience under my belt, I've decided to make a new one and make it as badass as I can. I decided the best/cheapest way to go would be trashcans. I've drawn out all the armor parts on poster paper to create my own templates, then taped them to a plastic trashcan and traced around the outline. Then I just cut the pieces out. So far I already have the outer chest layer, forearms, elbows, thighs, and shins already cut out; I'll be cutting out the rest tomorrow. Here's a picture of some stuff I've done so far:

http://24.media.tumblr.com/35dcc27dcb5a86fa58b726031dc9fd5e/tumblr_mnxwwoRVwL1rspo0po1_500.jpg

of course, the only parts in this picture that are the final armor are the outer chest pieces.

I plan to use a large, round plastic planter from the garden section at Wal-Mart for the pauldrons/shoulderplates. I also plan to use those plastic beads (that Stealth used in a few of his videos) to sculpt out the details on the armor, and maybe even to make the helmet.

This has been an extremely fast and pretty cheap project so far, should be done way before June is over. More pics to come later, probably tomorrow

Well, I now have all the armor pieces cut out:





The shoulder plates (in the bottom picture) are a tad too big (they extend behind me too far) so I'll have to cut some more off of them. But other than that I'm done with the armor besides the raised detailing and painting

I'm not a big WOW fan but I do like seein' builds for WOW costumes though looks like a good start keep up th' good workopcorn

Hello everyone! Quick update: I've been doing some of the raised armor detailing; right now I have the forearm plates and handplates done

Paxtoprime94,Is that hot glue? good work I look forward to your progress, keep up th' good work.opcorn

Thanks! And actually no, that detailing is made from plastic. It's called Friendly Plastic Pellets; they're plastic pellets that melt down into a clear, wax-like molding putty when heated. It takes a good bit of heat to melt them but once they're melted you can handle them with your bare hands without getting burned. Once you've done your molding, you just hold it under some cold water and then wait for it to cool down, and it'll cool back into a hard plastic. Stealth, who does the TheHeroTutorials on YouTube and I think is a member here, used them in a couple of his Iron Man suit videos, to make a triangular unibeam cover, plastic bits in the eye slots to facilitate light-up eyes, and part of an arc reactor. I saw these and figured they would be perfect to do some of the raised detailing on my Lich King build

Yeah he is, I love his tutorials he's a very talented individual here on th' forums, thanx for th' info keep up th' good work.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2

Yesterday I started on Frostmourne too. Because what is a Lich King without his trusty cursed soul-stealing rune blade?

I cut the blade and a couple pieces from another garbage can, and I'll be gluing them together. Then I made the hilt and handguard things with PVC pipewith wedges cut into it. I plan to use more Friendly Plastic pellets to first bulk up the area where the PVC pipe meets the top of the blade so it will be evened out and won't be really wobbly, then I'll use some pellets to make the ram/demon skull that goes on top of that area as well.

I also made a one-sided scabbard for it. Here's the pics of that progress so far:

It's lookin good where I stand great job so far keep up th' good work.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2

Getting really close to being able to paint and connect pieces!

Today I cut out the helm, using a hard hat for the top and small garbage can for the face area. I had some scrap plastic laying around to cut the spikes out of; I'm waiting till later to do the largest spike in the middle, I'll use Friendly Plastic for that one


I made a trip to Wal-Mart and found some navy blue window curtains that will be perfect for a cape. They came one "panel" per package, so I bought two; one for the cape, and one to cut and create the cloth banner that comes out from under the front of the belt and hangs between the legs.

I also found a shag carpet rug to use for the fur (it looks exactly like fur) around the lower legs; I was going to get some faux fur at Hobby Lobby but the rug was cheaper, and I thought the colors of the rug were closer to the actual colors than the colors of the faux fur were.

I started on molding the spine/rib bones on the thigh pieces from Friendly Plastic, will have pics of that when I finish it tomorrow

And last but not least I found a plain pair of khaki pants (not dress pants, maybe cargo? idk) for really cheap that I'll be dyeing brown.

That's all for now!

Very resourceful build your doin' great keep up th' good work.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2

Thanks!

Alright now I have the thigh plate detail done:


I also just finished using some sandpaper on all the armor parts to create some weathering, so later I can do the black paint/ silver paint dry rub for a good metallic detailed look

I've started to glue the pieces of Frostmourne together, and now that more Friendly Plastic Pellets have just come in the mail, with some plastic skull Halloween props shipping to me as well, I should be done with the detail and ready to paint by the end of this week

Started painting today!!! (Only the base armor, haven't painted any of the detailing yet)







The areas of solid black will be gold this time tomorrow

this coming along nicely, I wasn't too convinced about your choice for mats but its actually quite effective

Thanks!

I now have the gold paint on, and also made the scale mail pieces that go on the biceps (out of a rubber -or it might be vinyl, I don't know which- floor mat because I don't feel like cutting any more garbage cans)




Also I tried to paint Frostmourne but the garbage can I made it out of is like a really glossy plastic, so after the paint dried it comes off really easily so I'm gonna have to figure that out. I might make a separate thread for this problem, but does anyone have any ideas?

Finished the skull and other details on Frostmourne!

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been busy recently with summer class final exams, a vacation, working on this build and my Batman Beyond build (which I created a thread for here: http://www.therpf.com/f24/original-somewhat-nolan-inspired-batman-beyond-build-193016/ )

Anyway I've made some good progress on this one, check it out: (sorry for some pictures maybe being a little blurry or having weird lighting)

First of all, I ran into the problem of the paint not sticking to some of my plastic pieces. Well, little did I know, a little primer makes all the difference! I had never used primer before so I didn't know that that was the solution but after asking for advice on here I decided to try it, and after about a week of letting it cure I was able to move on in my progress.

I trimmed the crossguard down on Frostmourne because it was a little too long, then gave it a primer coat:


Then I painted on the silver, added the runes and some details in Sharpie, and painted on some blue highlights on the runes and the skull eyes. I had some more of that rubber flooring mat that I used to make the bicep-area scalemail pictured in one of the posts above, so I used a few strips of it to make the grip detail. Then it was finished!!!


And I used some Friendly Plastic to make a band to go around the back, and on the tip of the one-sided scabbard that I made that would allow Frostmourne to stay in the scabbard:


After that I primed all of the Friendly Plastic pieces that I had sculpted, along with some of the other plastic pieces on which the paint wouldn't stick; after priming I was able to put on the silver and gold paint on these pieces too. Then I attached these sculpted detail pieces to my armor via hot glue.

Also, for the skull details, I ordered some cheap plastic skulls online and cut the back of those off, then painted them and drilled holes in them and my armor pieces, and connected them all together by using screws with heads that fit the "look" of the Lich King armor, with washers screwed on and glued on the other side to hold these screws in place. Here are the results:

Shins (don't worry I haven't finished working on those fur -- made from a rug -- portions yet)
Thighs
Forearms/handplates

Belt (with the banner-that-hangs-in-between-the-legs-thing made from navy blue curtains; I'm using another one for the cape)
Helm (not really finished painting/assembling yet)
Left shoulder pauldron/spaulder (still needs spikes)
Right Shoulder

Aside from finishing painting/assembling the pieces of the helm and left shoulder, I only have a few more things to do:
-I'll be adding Sharpie detailing to alot of the pieces to add to the detail and design and to make it more accurate, like I did on Frostmourne
-Then I'll need to figure out how to connect and strap all of the armor pieces, and connect the cape to the pauldrons/spaulders
-Then dye those pants that I found dark brown and find a fake-mail shirt, and some faux leather brown gloves, and some brown boots

I think that's it!!

However, I'm shifting my focus to my Batman Beyond build right now so I can finish it before Halloween. Because this Lich King build is more of a leisure project, I'm putting it on hold, so I might not be working on it or updating this thread for a long while. But I promise I'll post my progress when I start doing these last few things on this build!