Warframe full body latex costume

I want to try making an Excalibur costume from Warframe. I've never really done anything like this before, so any help would be great! I think I want the whole thing in latex but I might end up making some details out of other materials. The biggest problem I see is that I would need to fill the suit with something to keep things from going floppy. (I want it to feel relatively solid when wearing it) If anyone knows how I should go about doing that, please tell me. The plan so far is to do a casting of my torso, arms, legs and head, then sculpt with clay onto those before molding it. I'd also like suggestions for what kind of clay I should use.

I dont know much about that game, but Im excited to see how this costume turns out! You could fill the parts with upholstery foam that extend off the suit. You'll have to do a little more research on this process, though. I think you trim the foam to the shape you want and then put it in mold with the latex.

Anyway, you could sculpt it in oil based clay or water based clay, if you ask me you should use oil based clay. Because you have to cover up the water based clay in a trash bag or something to keep the stuff from drying out and cracking, I presume that can get quite annoying.

I have questions as well, just one really. How will you see? Are you planning to put the holes a little bit higher?

-Marvelfan

Thanks for all the great feedback! I'll deffinately look into upholstery foam and oil based clay.
As for your question, I was thinking I would move the seam in the helmet an inch or so higher to match my eyes. either that or I'll have to make small holes in the helmet and cover them with a very fine mesh, then paint over that and hope it's not too noticable. I've marked the seam I'm talking about with red.

I found two types of clay at my local art supplies retailer. Chavant and something they call Plaxtin. It doesn't say if they're oil or water based, but it says neither one is air-dry. Which one should I go with?

Chavant clay seems promising, your idea for the seam/eyes sounds good. Which clay is more dense?

-Marvelfan

P.S. What will you be sculpting this on?

From what I can tell Chavant is more dense than the Plaxtin. The Chavant also comes in several different levels of softness.
I'm still looking for advice on what I should sculpt it on.

bummer6 said:

From what I can tell Chavant is more dense than the Plaxtin. The Chavant also comes in several different levels of softness.
I'm still looking for advice on what I should sculpt it on.

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I am currently working on a full silicone suit and molded mine on a full size manikin. As far as a filler goes i plan on using upholstery foam in some places and then Smooth On Flex Foam 6 in the arias where i need more movement (knees wrists ........) You are smart working with Latex this was my first go with Silicone and while it is great stuff it is a pain to work with.... As far as clay you can use the water basted clay like I did and with the latex you don't have to worry about the sulfur content. It is a pain to wrap it up every night but it was a lot cheaper.... I picked up some at my Hobby Lobby 25 lbs for like $12 after using the online 40% off coupon. I think I ended up using around 225lb (probably should have used more fillers). If you want to see my progress and pitfalls feel free to check out my link......

Good luck and have fun.........

http://www.therpf.com/f62/venom-suit-help-212708/

I was thinking about using a mannequin, but I'm worried it wont fit my body at perfectly as I need it to. Venom is kinda bulky in comparison, but with such a tight-fitting suit there really isn't much room for error.

bummer6 said:

I was thinking about using a mannequin, but I'm worried it wont fit my body at perfectly as I need it to. Venom is kinda bulky in comparison, but with such a tight-fitting suit there really isn't much room for error.

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The trick is to measure yourself and alter the mannequin with wads of news paper or foil and duck tape....... then you can get all the dimensions you need . to alter the height you will need to be able to work with fiber glass. cut the legs shorter if needed and fiberglass it together. if it need be taller than adjust the legs with blocks of wood dremeld down to the right size. if it is not the legs that need to be altered the torso can be done in the same fashion..... I found an old 1950s mannequin that fit my build almost perfectly they were more realistic to the average man back then. I am 6 foot tall and about 185lb.

chazdragon said:

The trick is to mannequin yourself and alter the mannequin with wads of news paper or foil and duck tape....... then you can get all the dimensions you need . to alter the height you will need to be able to work with fiber glass. cut the legs shorter if needed and fiberglass it together. if it need be taller than adjust the legs with blocks of wood dremeld down to the right size. if it is not the legs that need to be altered the torso can be done in the same fashion..... I found an old 1950s mannequin that fit my build almost perfectly they were more realistic to the average man back then. I am 6 foot tall and about 185lb.

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I already know I will be doing the suit in parts, so a full-body mannequin isn't really needed. I wish I could do a lifecast and make a mannequin of myself, but I don't really know how I'd do that.

I now know how to make the floppy parts rigid! I'm going to use expanding gap-filler foam that comes in a spray can. I'll link to an example of it being used. skip to 14:21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f7HTbojPTc
So I'm going to spray that into the mold that I used for the latex suit to give it the same shape as the latex and then shave off enough that I can fit into it. I'm obviously not gonna fill the entire mold, but just the areas where things stick out.

Never heard of this, but after googleing around, i have to say there is some seriously fantastic art in that game. Good luck on the build. Looking forward to your progress.

To make a "mannequin" of yourself you don't need to life cast. Google duct tape dummy. you can make a sculpting armature with that and it will be close enough to your dimensions to sculpt a suit on.
As for the great stuff in a can. I wouldn't use that to pad the inside of the suit. It is very rigid and will limit movement. Use the upholstery foam as someone else has mentioned.

xdmray said:

Never heard of this, but after googleing around, i have to say there is some seriously fantastic art in that game. Good luck on the build. Looking forward to your progress.

To make a "mannequin" of yourself you don't need to life cast. Google duct tape dummy. you can make a sculpting armature with that and it will be close enough to your dimensions to sculpt a suit on.
As for the great stuff in a can. I wouldn't use that to pad the inside of the suit. It is very rigid and will limit movement. Use the upholstery foam as someone else has mentioned.

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It wont limit movement because it wont be used throughout the suit. It will only be used in parts that stick out, like the horn or the fins on the arm. I think it's perfect because it will seem a lot more real than if it's all soft and squishy. The rest of the suit probably wont need any padding since I want it to be relatively tight. I'm going to wear something underneath as well, so that should fill it out decently on it's own.

As for the duct tape dummy... Those things are good for displays, but I need something rigid to sculpt on.

you fill the duct tape dummy with foam and then fiberglass the outside. it will be rigid enough to sculpt on. plenty of people have done it.

OK, so i played the game some. It's not too bad. The art for it is just amazing. The warframes look kinda like kaiju which is awesome. i really love a mechanical helmet mixed with organics. I think my next project is to sculpt one of these up. Just so you all know, the game is free to play in beta right right now on steam.

Thanks Bummer for introducing me to this.

xdmray said:

OK, so i played the game some. It's not too bad. The art for it is just amazing. The warframes look kinda like kaiju which is awesome. i really love a mechanical helmet mixed with organics. I think my next project is to sculpt one of these up. Just so you all know, the game is free to play in beta right right now on steam.

Thanks Bummer for introducing me to this.

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You're welcome! It's a very interesting game, and I'm happy to see more people playing it.

So I found a mannequin which I bought for 30 dollars. (it's the one the arrows are pointing at). I think I'll end up casting my arms, legs and head in polyfoam. One question though! Are there any chemicals I should avoid using with Polyfoam? It looks like it might melt if it comes in contact with certain chemicals. Either way, I feel like the planning stage is coming alone nicely! According to my math I should be able to finish the entire costume for about 400 dollars.

For some reason the image wouldn't show, so here's a link to the image. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24168211/skyltdockor juli 2014.jpg

I've been toying with the idea of using a camera to see out of the helmet. Has anyone here used a similar setup? If so, how would I wire it? What supplies would I need?

I played this game a bit last year cos I was crazy about the designs too, but the gameplay itself didn't really hook me and I don't have time to play games anyway :C That said I'm psyched you want to make a costume and I WANNA SEE IT so I'd like to help

bummer6 said:

I've been toying with the idea of using a camera to see out of the helmet. Has anyone here used a similar setup? If so, how would I wire it? What supplies would I need?

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I've never personally used a camera for costumes though I have considered it... it's an expensive complicated hassle and I think because there are plenty of alternatives, that camera-only vision isn't a great idea. And if you use it, have it be supplemental so you aren't 100% relying on it, and even then for safety reasons you should probably have a handler/costume buddy/seeing-eye friend with any costume where your vision is impaired even a little bit. ESPECIALLY at busy conventions.


However, if I ever needed one I'd probably go with this combo:
backup camera: http://amzn.com/B009NVXGAI
video glasses: http://www.adafruit.com/products/1452
screen is MUCH cheaper than video glasses but of course, bulky: http://amzn.com/B00J2PEJTC
someone in the product reviews has a few comments on how you might run it off a battery so that's a good starting point!
I was considering multiple camera/screen combo like this for giant robot costumes to provide peripheral & rear vision.


Another thing to think about is where would you place the camera? The reason to consider the camera in the first place is because his face is a blank expanse of white. Any reasonable place to put it on the helmet causes the same issue as eyeholes. Putting the camera on your collarbone has the potential to be very disorienting whenever you turn your head.


And for this I honestly don't think it's necessary. So here's what I'd do:


- Definitely move the helmet face seams forward a bit to a place where you can put eye holes. Don't even make them directly over your eyes, leave em a bit to the side because peripheral vision is valuable and you can always turn your head slightly to see what's directly in front of you.
- periscope hidden in the horn! really: http://www.instructables.com/id/Cardboard-Periscope/ the opening can be a small horizontal slit or row of holes, this'll give you at least some directly-forward vision
- mold the white part of the "faceplate" out of clear resin and stretch white spandex over it. Glue the spandex down in a few strategic areas to conform to the helmet shape. With spandex on top you can make as many small breathing holes in the resin mask as you want without disrupting the smooth shape. White metallic spandex is shiny enough that it won't look as much like fabric.
- instead of molding resin, use pepakura technique but with clear plastic (possibly some combination of clear styrene or picture-framing acetate, like so: http://amzn.com/B001K7Q6Z0) instead of paper.
- alternatively use fabric-stiffening techniques to form a shape out of the spandex. You can mold a base shape out of metal craft/armature mesh, and reinforce it from behind. If you are interested in going this direction I have links to plenty of tutorials. Breathing will be easy, you'll be able to make out light and shapes so you don't have to rely ONLY on pinholes to see what's around, etc.


Definitely construct a vision-rig first, then make a mockup copy of it in cardboard/foil/whatever and stick that on your mannequin before sculpting.


I honestly wouldn't make the costume out of much molded latex at all, parts of the helmet and arms/legs/small details sure, but it's not super detailed all over in a way that would benefit from being entirely sculpted instead of constructed. Like the chest panel is a big smooth area that would be easy to cut out of eva foam and a hassle to sculpt/mold. I don't know if you've commited to fully sculpting/molding but if not, consider a foam/spandex padded bodysuit? Glossy stretch pvc or metallic spandex over foam is a really popular technique (especially with mecha and plugsuits) and using that with either eva foam or soft batting or upholstery foam (or all three) to get the shapes you want, with strategic gluing and stitching/needle sculpting you can get the same look as something sculpted in clay but the final costume will be much more flexible/breathable/stretchy/comfortable, I can't stress that enough! If your costume is more comfortable you can show it off longer


If you don't want to sew a whole bodysuit there are zentai sites that will make them to measure in fabric of your choice. Get two in the dark color and stuff foam between 'em for muscles, add the white armor (sculpted/molded latex, or vinyl-over-foam technique depending on shape and location) on top.


The key to making it look good is ALWAYS in the finishing, painting highlights/shadows, knowing where to make it shiny or matte (high gloss varnish or matte plasti-dip spray, painting latex over spandex, etc), airbrushing, etc.


Check out these fabrics,
http://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/10941
http://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/7056
http://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/1927
http://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/11277
http://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/11849
http://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/12112


And these these tutorials.
http://z4.invisionfree.com/transcostumers/index.php?showtopic=760
http://www.thehunterslair.com/topic/4477-macguyvers-mr-incredible-suit-huntorial-lots-of-pics/
http://www.matrices.net/foam.asp
http://www.nyunyucosplay.com/?page_id=1265
http://www.theeffectslab.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2473
https://www.youtube.com/user/GoldyMarg/videos (goldy is my hero)




Looking forward to seeing what you do