Mass Effect 2 Armor

Hey everybody! I'm new here, and new to this whole costume making. Anyway...

I've been playing a lot of Mass Effect, getting ready for Mass Effect 3 and I became really interested in Shepard's N7 armor. I've done research, talked to fellow "costume makers" and I'm having trouble figuring out where to start.

First of all... Templates. I'm not quite sure how to make the template. I've donw a lot of web searches, but haven't really found a decent tutorial. I think I would be able to draw them out myself, but thinking about how the pieces are going to have to bend and such make me a bit nervous, because I don't want it too look like garbage! Which brings me too....

Bending, and Forming. From the research I've done, I guess the best material to use is Eva foam. But the only way to bend the foam is by heating it with the use of a heat gun. How exactly would I do that? I don't want to destroy too many templates trying to get the perfect result. Especially if I spend a lot of time on the....

Patterns and design. When it comes to the back of Shepard's armor, the shoulder plate, wrist guards, ect... how do you get the correct look? Do I layer the foam? Do I cut into it? I have no idea.

And lastly, materials. I know I'll need lots of Eva Foam, but I'll need a heat gun, a tool to make the cut edges smooth, materials for painting ect, ect, ect.

I know there is much more that will need to be done to have the complete set of armor, but I feel like this would be good to start. And I plan on posting my progress so you all can give me tips on what to do next. I want this armor to be for Halloween of 2012 so I have a lot of time. But I don't want to wait until the last minute.

All tips and advice are much appreciated!

Here's a link to Volpin's website that has his build for some ME armor.

Volpin Props: N7 Armor & Dragon*Con 2010 Recap

I'm sure he has some build threads on here too.

Here's another one from a different person. It goes into some detail as to how they made their template.

Mass Effect N7 Armor Build! « Evil FX / BioWeapons.com

Heat guns are tricky when you're first starting out but not too difficult once you get the hang of it. What you want to do is heat the section you want to bend as evenly as possible, shape it, and let it cool. It helps if you have a form to shape it against.

Hope this helps and good luck!

I'm doing the same research right now too. If you haven't already found it, there's a good group of Mass Effect costumers on facebook. There's some handy info in the group's photos and docs sections.

Here's some basic armor templates that were recently posted (.rar file), made by Eric Jarman.

I recently bought an inexpensive heat gun to use in my sandtrooper build. It's surprisingly easy to use and works great: 1200 Watt Two-Setting Electric Heat Gun.

And finally, there's a collection of amazing reference shots here from Troodon80 on deviantart.

ive been waiting for pep files of any mass effect armor to pop up. i havent found anything and havent been able to make anything. i dont like the templates that are out there. they dont match up very well.
maybe someone on here has some hidden away, they can share.

Grave said:

ive been waiting for pep files of any mass effect armor to pop up. i havent found anything and havent been able to make anything. i dont like the templates that are out there. they dont match up very well.
maybe someone on here has some hidden away, they can share.

Click to expand...

Only pep files I've seen of ME2 is of the Blood Dragon armor. The chest piece alone is 250 pieces.

piece count doesnt matter when made in foam. its all smashed together into a few nice pieces.

Grave said:

piece count doesnt matter when made in foam. its all smashed together into a few nice pieces.

Click to expand...

If you think you can make the chest piece out of foam, I will gladly follow your progress.

not of the dragon. dont like it. i started one of the me2 heavy armor, but i had the templates and it didnt turn out well. i want to do it like the first link. with the layers instead of the dremeling