DEUS EX - Augmented Arms

RSloan76, I'm going to need to order more cordura fabric for parts than I need. Are you interest in sharing some of the stuff needed for the build?

That's ok. I've got everything I need. Thanks though :)

The upper shoulders required a lot of testing before I got the right patterns to use. I used upholstery foam which I "sculpted" with a turkey carver, then I used craft foam to create a flange around each muscle to which I could attach the gray strips. I used this wonderful adhesive called Fabri-Tac. It's workable, but still grabs quickly. I don't need to sew anything which is great since I can't really use a sewing machine :p

Barring any unforeseen complications, these are final muscles. Once I have all the upper arm pieces for both arms done, I will affix them to the black, spandex shirt. That way they won't crease as they bend over my shoulders.




 
Your muscles are looking good, are you using patent stretch spandex. I should receive the carbon vinyl on Thursday, I have some new progress photos this weekend.

In the meantime I worked on the center/back of the tactical vest. It was raised up a bit some i'm going to build this and lower back belt piece out of pep and fiberglass.

Half of the tactical belt back plate:



Center back section of tactical/flak vest:

 
Your muscles are looking good, are you using patent stretch spandex. I should receive the carbon vinyl on Thursday, I have some new progress photos this weekend.

In the meantime I worked on the center/back of the tactical vest. It was raised up a bit some i'm going to build this and lower back belt piece out of pep and fiberglass.

Half of the tactical belt back plate:



Center back section of tactical/flak vest:


I'm not sure about what kind of spandex I'm using. It's a cheap, Target, Champion-brand spandex shirt. -I am concerned that if I affix the muscles to that shirt, it will just pull up on the shirt. I'm hoping the vest will hold it down though.

Take a picture of the carbon fiber when you get it, I would really like to see what it looks like and how it works out.

I'll be interested in how your pep-fiberglass parts come out.
 
That cosplay is pretty solid. Been working on mine still. Good new also, was able to secure tickets to Comic-Con Sd so working towards that for the completion target.

Minor update tonight. I got a few of the peps complete for the tactical vest and tactical belt back plates. Below are shots of the peps before I fiberglassed them this morning. I should have another update tomorrow.





 
That cosplay is pretty solid. Been working on mine still. Good new also, was able to secure tickets to Comic-Con Sd so working towards that for the completion target.

Minor update tonight. I got a few of the peps complete for the tactical vest and tactical belt back plates.


Question: Why and how do you pep it with it still built into the paper like that?


On another note: We seem to be on similar schedules. I've not done anything for about a month, then last week I bought more supplies and just about finished out the upper arm muscles. If we keep this up, we could have one entire costume between us soon. = Useless :lol

Here they are:
 
Question: Why and how do you pep it with it still built into the paper like that?

As far as my peps. There are quite a few reasons mine look different. I do use Pepakura software. I unfold the model as little as possible and only at areas with a significant angle crease. Because these elements are smooth arcs, I made the peps with more of foam method, turning down the angle edges to like 160-163 degrees.

However I then export the unfolded model to DXF. I have an old HP7475A pen plotter that can draft on 11x17 paper. Since the paper is held flat I can run very heavy card through the plotter. I use smooth face bristol board actually. 11x17 lets me create larger areas of pep uncut as well, which is good. I use AutoCAD to scale, finalize the pep layout on the 11x17 paper. So basically they look different due to the DXF and pen plotter.

The back belt plate pep is made straight from the game model with some minor tweaks in 3ds max. The vest back plate is made in FormZ and brought it into 3ds max so I could use the warp lattice modifier, this let me warp the flat model I made into and arc to contour to the curved back of the vest.

Your Synthetic Muscles are looking awesome! I'll post mine soon. I have the left side done but can't decide if I want to rework them, especially after seeing yours. I was unable to work out a solution for the grey trim. I tried lots of stuff but gave up. I think it is a bit of a trade off, use the carbon fabric with no trim or switch fabric and add the trim. I'll need some feedback...
 
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Started work on modifing the game model to create the peps for the shoulder straps on the tactical vest.



Here's a photo of the peps trimmed up. I'm in the process of refining these pieces and smoothing them out with bondo.

 
I ran into a problem that I'd thought I'd share so you don't make the same mistake.

As you know, I used upholstery foam with a thin, craft foam backing. Seen here:

This is the biceps


-This is still a good method, and I recommend it, but I ran into trouble when connecting the muscles to each other. I connected them with strips of elastic. Kind of like actual epithelial tissue between muscles! This makes it so the the joints between the muscles are where the whole thing bends around your arm. This created a problem with the shape of the cross-section:



That spot where that round thing is and the gold plating needs to be stiff and flat. I'm going to address this by cutting a wedge out of the triceps and biceps allowing them to bend around my actual muscles. I'm also going to try to cut a plate out of styrene for that gold plate so it will stiffen up that area.

The arms will be a complete failure (for anybody) if you don't get that area right. It's the main visual focal point for the arms!
 
Any progress on this? I finished Human Revolution for the third time this weekend, and remembered this project. I'm really interested to see how the completed arms turn out.
 
UPDATE: The main issue is not so much the joints between the muscles as much as it all needs a rigid base to attach to.

This is very important for all the muscles to sit properly. I took a piece of 1.0mm styrene and cut out this shape (in gold):

(I'm at work at the moment so I had to draw this up in Photoshop)


By attaching the muscles to this "cuff," they should all sit properly, and wrap around my arm properly.

My new problem: I cut that shape out of a styrene sheet, and I start to bend it into a round shape. I can get it so it can wrap around my arm, but it starts to crack at those corners in the shape. It also wants to bend at those points.

I need something thicker to make this cuff out of. I'm thinking a section of PVC pipe, but I feel like that will be too thick and bulky. What I really need is something that's about 1/8" thick that I can cut out, then shape into a cylinder. Any ideas? -Cheap would be good too.
 
Anytime you get a change in direction on your material such as the corners in your shape you're going to naturally create weak points in the design. I worked on something similar involving a plastic sheet that needed to arc to be used as a visor. By trying to bend the material it would break starting at corners similar to your part.

I was able to curve the piece without breaking it by securing the part from the middle on a foam buck and gradually heating each side with a heat gun - allowing gravity to form the shape as I worked around it.
 
I was able to curve the piece without breaking it by securing the part from the middle on a foam buck and gradually heating each side with a heat gun - allowing gravity to form the shape as I worked around it.


Yup, I had it duct taped around a plastic thermos. I submerged it in boiling water, and it worked, but I may have left it in a smidge too long. I could probably eventually get it right and not have it start to crack at the weak points, but I think I would like to explore other, simpler options.

That said, I just picked up a Rubbermade bathroom trashcan. It's an oval shape, and it's easily bendable. I think this could work. Will post when I've attempted it.
 
UPDATE:
I need something thicker to make this cuff out of. I'm thinking a section of PVC pipe, but I feel like that will be too thick and bulky. What I really need is something that's about 1/8" thick that I can cut out, then shape into a cylinder. Any ideas? -Cheap would be good too.

We could create a Pep for this piece and and fiberglass it. I was thinking of making this piece out of 1/4" foamy at first.
 
At those corners try drilling a hole like in alot of circular saw blades, that helps to remove the stress on corners.
Or try bending the styrene and then cutting it to shape. I would still drill the holes though.
 
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