Joy
Member
Nearing completion on this commission, so I thought I'd put up what I have thus far. I'm working on this for a very lovely client who was looking for a way to have a shiny/ sleek armor while still being able to bend her arms and legs, which wasn't gonna work with any sort of rigid material. Thus, I decided on foam for the form construction, and because I have never been able to get foam to 1: paint smoothly 2: actually stay painted, I decided to cover the foam in stretch vinyl instead. The colors of the armor were available and the stuff is really quite sturdy and super water/stain repellant. So here goes!
For reference, this is the Megaman version I was asked to create:
A few modifications were made to makes for a better fit and more functionality; extended the chestpiece since this is to fit a woman, enlarged the backpack to allow for storage, adjusted some ratios on the helm, ect.
I did a tutorial for the basic way I assembled the foam and vinyl, which can be found here: -Removed until site is fixed-
Basically there's an inner structure of foam, then an outer structure of foam that has been "skinned" with stretch vinyl using contact cement. It's really sturdy and can actually be crushed and it'll return to form and original smoothness with only minor coaxing.
I won't spam off with all of the progress bits, but here's where we stand now:
Chestpiece, pauldrons, and backpack. I still need to take new photos of these, as I have since added the front star emblem and backpack gem latch. I've also finished the backside fasteners, so ignore that blue painter's tape. I've also fixed some form issues causing wrinkling in the backpack vinyl. The backpack opens up to reveal a ~ 3x3x5" storage compartment and fastens with a bit of velcro. Enough to hold a room key, some cards, a phone, a con badge, ect.
Emblems:
Non-powered arm, again, old pic, have since fixed the wrinkling issue. Need to take better/newer photos
The helmet, made from a chopped up large clear acrylic dome, cast resin ear parts and eva foam "Hair", the visor flips up for better visibility.
And the currently in-progress powered arm, Omega Xi. I'm in the process of skinning him, I'll also be doing the energy blast behind the head, which will also be LED lit in the same way as the mouth and eyes.
I'll try to take more updated photos here shortly and keep y'all updated as the build progresses. After I finish up Xi and the legs/feet it'll be back to all Loki, all the time!
For reference, this is the Megaman version I was asked to create:
A few modifications were made to makes for a better fit and more functionality; extended the chestpiece since this is to fit a woman, enlarged the backpack to allow for storage, adjusted some ratios on the helm, ect.
I did a tutorial for the basic way I assembled the foam and vinyl, which can be found here: -Removed until site is fixed-
Basically there's an inner structure of foam, then an outer structure of foam that has been "skinned" with stretch vinyl using contact cement. It's really sturdy and can actually be crushed and it'll return to form and original smoothness with only minor coaxing.
I won't spam off with all of the progress bits, but here's where we stand now:
Chestpiece, pauldrons, and backpack. I still need to take new photos of these, as I have since added the front star emblem and backpack gem latch. I've also finished the backside fasteners, so ignore that blue painter's tape. I've also fixed some form issues causing wrinkling in the backpack vinyl. The backpack opens up to reveal a ~ 3x3x5" storage compartment and fastens with a bit of velcro. Enough to hold a room key, some cards, a phone, a con badge, ect.
Emblems:
Non-powered arm, again, old pic, have since fixed the wrinkling issue. Need to take better/newer photos
The helmet, made from a chopped up large clear acrylic dome, cast resin ear parts and eva foam "Hair", the visor flips up for better visibility.
And the currently in-progress powered arm, Omega Xi. I'm in the process of skinning him, I'll also be doing the energy blast behind the head, which will also be LED lit in the same way as the mouth and eyes.
I'll try to take more updated photos here shortly and keep y'all updated as the build progresses. After I finish up Xi and the legs/feet it'll be back to all Loki, all the time!
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