@Blarg: Sorry for replying so late, but thanks for responding to my original questions! I actually have scrapped my first chest armor attempt too, hahaha. Sad to think about all that time wasted, but it's a learning process indeed. My second go is just using a cardboard base, as it's easier to work with. I figure if I'm going to cover it with something like paper mache anyway, I may as well use something easier to work with as the base! It already looks much better than my first one. Good luck with your next attempt! I hope you share it with us here when you get to it.
@Dei: I love your Sky High!! Your helmet is so smooth and realistic. Very nice work!
@Crimson: Wow, your helmet looks amazing! I can't wait to see the whole costume! I love your idea about using school folders, hah! That might be a good, cheap material for me to use for some of the lighted parts. Hmm!
@Rahkai: I don't know how small you are, but I'm small too (5'3" small girl) and am trying to make up for my size by using 8-inch platform shoes (which will be covered by the armor - I'm building fake feet around the platforms to make it look like my feet are close to the ground, even though my feet will be several inches higher), and I've also made a muscle suit to bulk myself up. So with the shoes on I'm almost 6ft tall and with a bit of a muscle build! It's not perfect, but I'm not far off from my boyfriend who is 6'2 with a medium build. And the armor on top of it all adds to the size. I think you could do Tiger if you wanted!
If there's a will, there's a way, dangit! I'm finding that the length added onto my legs and having a comparatively smaller waist work to my advantage on some parts, since they have unnaturally long legs and narrow waists (well, Bunny's waist is small, but you can always add on for Tiger if you need to!). Also, having a smaller head helps too since they seem to have such tiny heads compared to the rest of their armor, hahaha (oh silly proportions!). I say you should try for Tiger if that is who you would rather make.
Also, about the clear parts, I myself am planning to make a small vacuum forming machine to make them. D: It'll be a huge pain, and cost more, but like you said, the hot glue seams will be too obvious with piecing together plastic sheet. The seams are totally fine if the shape is angular like Tiger's helmet horn, but for the round shapes like Bunny has, I don't think it'll look right. I'd rather have opaque pieces than have clear ones with hot glue seam lines, but that's me! If I totally fail at vacuum forming, I'm going to just make the parts opaque (though I'd probably keep the arm guards clear, they would just have to be flatter than I'd like).
@ikkakuro: Thanks for posting the 3D model! I would love to see the helmet unfolded. I can't do pepakura, but I would really like to see a pattern for it. I have a rough base I made, but my chin and face plate could use a lot of work. I'd love it if someone unfolded it!
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It's so exciting to see so many people making the hero suits. I really wish I could use resin so I could do the pepakura method! Alas, apartment life limits me to paper mache and paper clay. D: Here's hoping I can get my armor to look smooth. I'm hoping to do a lot of work on my torso armor this weekend. I'm so eager to see the costume come together! It's painful having to take this long to make it, haha. I'm not used to it since I usually sew my costumes, and that does not take nearly as long since I usually know what I'm doing. There's sooo much trial and error with this, especially since I have to eyeball it all. >_<