Mirror's Edge messenger bag build - advice, discussion, etc

I recently purchased Mirror's Edge on Steam and fell in love with the aesthetic of the game; most of the environments are pristine and white, with strong splashes of color here and there to indicate locations and items of note. One such item is the messenger bag:



EA mass produced a replica of the bag and offered it as pre-order swag:



I've seen quite a few people pining for the pre-order bag, but I have yet to find anyone who's come up with a replica bag that matches the concept/in-game depictions. I also find myself in need of a super-sweet laptop bag, so I thought I'd try to come up with a functional bag that was as close as possible to what is seen in the game.

PROCESS

I'm a super-newb when it comes to sculpture and prop-making, so I'm flying by the seat of my pants here:

Using the concept art as a guide, it looks like the pockets of the bag and the main compartment are two seperate pieces. The body (I've been calling it the "shell") looks pretty rigid to me, so my initial thought is to cast it in fiberglass so it'll be light and sturdy. The pockets look almost like they're made of a rubber sleeve that fits around the front of the bag, perhaps? My knowledge of materials is pretty thin at the moment, so I was thinking of making the front pockets out of a weather-treated canvas of some sort, since I imagine that would be a bit cheaper and more accesible. The hardware and straps are all found easily enough, so I won't worry about those until it's time to put the whole things together.

So far, I've made a model of the bag in Google Sketchup. The pockets are mostly inaccurate, but they still help me get an idea of the final depth of the bag:



Above, from left to right: full shell color study, shell (front), shell (back), pocket studies, completed bag study.

I plan on converting the models of the front and back of the shell into g-code so I can carve them out of pink foam with a CNC and make the molds from that. Ultimately, I plan on lining the inside of the bag with a thick so it'll actually, you know, protect my laptop and stuff.

So, what do you guys think? Is fiberglass a good material choice for the shell, or is there something more awesome out there? What do you think of sewing the pockets out of weather-treated canvas? All recommendations and advice would be tremendously appreciated

Very brief progress post!



A couple of days of carving (and one expanding foam explosion later) I have my shell pieces mostly carved out. Now I just need to add the geometric shape to the top of the back half of the bag, and I need to attach the two halves and band-saw the edges to get them level with one another.

I didn't realize how much of a disaster our shop is until after looking at this photo

Very cool, Mirror's Edge is one of my favorite visual styles. Those crisp colors, the city is quite amazing. Good working so far, very cool project you are taking on.

Thanks! Hopefully I can fiberglass this puppy up to make it parkour-sturdy... we shall see!

Looking good. I've been using the pre-order version as my school bag since the game came out and took it on my trip to England this January. It's held up pretty well, but it's nearing the end of its life. I would definitely recommend nylon cordura for the pockets. It's a fabric made of woven plastic, and what they used on the pre-order bag.

Wow, three-ish years is a waaaay longer life than I would have predicted for the pre-order bag!

Thanks for the fabric recommendation, too... one of my challenges with the pockets has been finding a durable fabric with a broad enough color selection to maybe match the concept art. Looks like I've got some calls to make!

The cordura on the bag was originally a super bright yellow like the concept art. It's dulled considerably after the 3 years to a more normal tone that isn't so flashy. Holds up well though, I think the stuff was specifically designed for bags and tents. I got some really similar stuff in bright orange from a place in LA called Michael Levine's, I'm not sure if they sell online, but it might be worth a look.

I've always thought that bag would be perfect for vacuum forming.

About a week ago I was looking on line at cordura and found lots of places that sell it in assorted weights and colors.
Instead of glass mat you might want to consider kevlar instead, there are places on line that sell the fiber glassing type at reasonable prices.

Awesome work on the bag so far! Heh I'm from Milwaukee too, seems like a few of us RPF'ers are from Miltown.

@Risu: It looks like they don't sell online, but just reading their store description had me salivating... need to get to LA soon!

@hobbitbreath: That's the next step! We're building a vacuum forming machine at my local makerspace, so I'm trying to get these base forms squared away before that gets completed.

@division 6: Kevlar, what a great idea! I had no idea how to use that stuff until you mentioned it and I did a little research... looks like the process is roughly similar to fiberglass. The first website I found is definitely selling me on the idea: Carbon Fiber Panels/Sheets, Fabric/Cloth, COLORED Carbon/Kevlar, Composite Envisions

@simplecomplex: Thanks! If we're not eating cheese and brats or drinking beer, I guess we're building stuff you're not a member of the MKE makerspace, are you? I feel like I've seen your username before...

Heh yea, there isn't alot to do in Milwaukee so we might as well build cool stuff! I'm not part of the makerspace but I was thinkin about joinin them. I just do papercraft stuff mainly tho.

Kevlar sounds awesome! A bag that might be able to stop a bullet? Sweet.

Have you tried checkin out American Science & Surplus for materials since it's local? (and amazing)

Mirror's edge is such a cool game. Looking forward on your build.

Yea, it's surrounded by hundreds of other fabric stores, too. Definitely the number 1 spot for costumers to check out when they visit LA.

This looks like it's shaping up well!

You've inspired me to make a inexact replica of the replica mass produced bag

I cant wait to see your progress!
Cheers!

simplecomplex said:

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Have you tried checkin out American Science & Surplus for materials since it's local? (and amazing)

Oh snap, I hadn't considered them for that! Strange, since I visit once a week or so XD I'd like to find hardware that's as close to the concept bag as possible, but surely they'll have some side-release clips for cheaps there.

Welldweller said:

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You've inspired me to make a inexact replica of the replica mass produced bag

Dooooo iiiit! There is a saddening shortage of fan-made Mirror's Edge props out there!

Any more progress on the bag?

simplecomplex said:

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Any more progress on the bag?

There has been a lot of indirect progress, yes! The bag itself is at a standstill because I've been working on building a vaccuform machine at the Makerspace that I'm hoping will help with the moldmaking bit.



I'm going to try vaccuforming the positive molds and supporting the plastic molds with a small box filled with GreatStuff before laying the kevlar down. After looking at it in writing, it might not appear to be the most stable thing ever... but if it works out, it'll save me a little cash

Thanks for keeping tabs on me! I'm working on a series of illustrations for a show at the space right now, but once that's finished I should be able to get back in the groove of things with this bag.

Dang! That looks like it's gonna be a sweet vacuum forming machine. Has it been a difficult project to build it? I been considering building one wit my buddy just to make molds for some of my pepakura projects.

It hasn't been too difficult to build so far -- just a bunch of 2x4s, some wood panels, peg board and an old shop vac have been put into place so far. We just need to build the heating box and the plastic-holding thingy, which is gonna be the hard part (at least for me, since I'm not a welder yet).

My husband's got a project page he's working on at the moment (incomplete at the moment, but it'll eventually be a tutorial page): Vacuum former | The Maudlin Press

Can I just say, thanks for inspiring me to play through the game because of the replica bag project. I can't wait to see the finished result.

Materials Update!

After staring at my pink foam and drywall mud shell of the Mirror's Edge bag, I decided that there has to be a way of making a cleaner, more workable mold for a prototype bag. The pink foam was beginning to chip on the edges, and I feel like the drywall mud is going to crumble away at any moment (I'm probably just paranoid, but ya know) So I looked around, and I found a couple of things:

Sax Carving Foam in 9x12x1 inch sheets and "StyroSpray", which creates a hard, smooth plastic layer over foam. Perfect.

My soul is weeping a tad since I have to start over, but I'd rather start over and have an awesome prototype than keep going and have a sub-par product for all this hard work.

Now to get back to building that vaccuform while I wait for this stuff to arrive in the mail!

Anymore progress on the bag? How about the vacuum forming machine?

Hello again!

There has been some indirect progress, yes. The project took a couple of steps backward when I decided to stubbornly continue with the pink foam and drywall mud mold positive until it completely disintegrated into a fine powder of foam, tears and crushed dreams. This was immensely frustrating, but I at least learned some of the limitations of pink insulation foam and drywall mud >.< I've taken a break from the project in search of different moldmaking materials, and I've decided, for the sake of my sanity, to use actual sculpting foam!

Thanks for sticking with me so patiently! The project is slow-going because of my 100% newb status as a sculptor, but this bag means a lot to me, so it WILL get finished one way or another. The good news about all this is that I'll be 100% better at making props than I was when I first started

Current goal: have a good, sturdy positive mold by the end of Summer. September-ish, perhaps? Yes, that sounds good.

First of all, glad to see some love for Mirrors Edge – definitely in my top 10 video games. In my dream life, I direct a TV movie based on this for the BBC.

Are you considering doing a run (no pun intended) at any point in the future?