3D Printed Samus Varia Suit - FINISHED! (Pics on pg.14)

Re: 3D Printed Samus Varia Suit

The problem with letting it run down your back into the suit is that it really restricts head movement. My HANS device for racing is less annoying and restrictive
 
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Re: 3D Printed Samus Varia Suit

If it was as long as it is now, that might be the case, but after it's been cut it shouldn't be a problem. Besides, I can't move my head very far anyway without hitting the sides of the chest straps or, I imagine, the shoulders. Good thing to be thinking about though, thanks.
 
Re: 3D Printed Samus Varia Suit

Haha! Well I'm glad you guys think so. I'm a little worried my hair isn't quite blonde enough, but whatever. And yeah, I will definitely be walking around part of the time with my helmet off. Gotta get my hair cut first though. It's down to about my waist right now!

This was the picture I had in my head that I sets the bar for my vision of Samus. I know it's fan art, but it's maybe my favorite depiction. Seems like you've got just the right shade for it.

21c0f1785c39f8a622018b7bb503116b.jpg

Also, let's not forget that the very first Samus Aran isn't depicted as a platinum blonde.
samus-8bit.png
 
Re: 3D Printed Samus Varia Suit

I'm fine with my hair color too, I'm more worried about how other people will perceive it. I'm pretty much going to have exactly what she had in Prime 1 but my suit is from 3, where they decided to go all weird with her hair...seriously, why...?
63EE4Sh.jpg

Also wtf did they do to her face?

Edit: I don't mean to say people will associate my suit with that particular hair, but people are more familiar with that version...the version with the zero suit. Ugh.
 
Re: 3D Printed Samus Varia Suit

I'm fine with my hair color too, I'm more worried about how other people will perceive it. I'm pretty much going to have exactly what she had in Prime 1 but my suit is from 3, where they decided to go all weird with her hair...seriously, why...?

View attachment 327537

Also wtf did they do to her face?

Yeah. They made her kinda derpy in Prime 3. I also don't know why they had to go ultra blonde. It's unfortunate. Continuity is important!
 
Re: 3D Printed Samus Varia Suit

The natural color will compliment the realism of your suit. I've been following this for a while. I want Samus pictures with my Femshep, somehow, somewhere. Preferably in rocky space terrain looking battle-blasted.
 
Re: 3D Printed Samus Varia Suit

The natural color will compliment the realism of your suit. I've been following this for a while. I want Samus pictures with my Femshep, somehow, somewhere. Preferably in rocky space terrain looking battle-blasted.

Aww yiss. Femshep and Samus kickin' ass and takin' names throughout the galaxy. A pic of them together would be awesome.
 
Re: 3D Printed Samus Varia Suit

agreed, whatta cutie and yeah you look very similar to samus. BUT i want to see more progress pics, I'm stoked to see it all come together!
 
Re: 3D Printed Samus Varia Suit

I'm fine with my hair color too, I'm more worried about how other people will perceive it. I'm pretty much going to have exactly what she had in Prime 1 but my suit is from 3, where they decided to go all weird with her hair...seriously, why...?
View attachment 327537

Also wtf did they do to her face?

Edit: I don't mean to say people will associate my suit with that particular hair, but people are more familiar with that version...the version with the zero suit. Ugh.

Super Smash Bros. Melee happened.
 
Re: 3D Printed Samus Varia Suit

Ahem, *pushes nerd glasses up* technically, Samus never had her zerosuit in any of the Super Smash Bros. games until Brawl on the Wii.
Yes, you're right. I always mix up the names of those two. Been doing it for years now. Not sure why.

Still, Prime and Zero Mission were developed at almost the same time by different developers; hence the different appearances. In Echoes they obviously went for a more cohesive look to unify the character, but when she got really cartoony for Brawl, they tried to match that look in Corruption. It wasn't their best idea if you ask me.
 
Re: 3D Printed Samus Varia Suit

I finished the hip ribbing! Cue pictures of creepy duct tape amputee:

NBchXgA.jpgVqrMMeb.jpg7ZZqWT3.jpg

This is a larger gauge surgical tubing than the kind I used for the arm before. To reiterate, in order to make these I cut a length of tubing in half lengthwise so the back side could lay flat on my body, and glued them together with superglue. Even though superglue is a brittle glue it works wonderfully for this; it seems to melt both sides of the rubber and weld them together, forming a very strong bond. Afterward the rubber is still very flexible. I'm going to be attaching these to the torso armor.

These were not as easy to make as they look. The angular loops require the surgical tubing to warp in such a way that they start to pucker on the inside of the curve if you're not careful. I had to do a lot of gluing the tubing down to the mannequin to keep everything in place. Luckily superglue pops right off duct tape so I could easily get it off when I was done!



Other than that I've been smoothing out the unfinished worbla pieces. Gesso and I have made up and we're friends again. I finally figured out the best way to get a smooth finish on worbla is a layer of gesso and then a coat of bondo with spot putty to fix small imperfections. You may recall this was the way I did it previously with the first bicep, except back then I was using bondo to repair the failure of the gesso. Turns out I was right the first time! It was still good to learn how these mediums interact with each other though:

Wood glue is nice for small things like the fingers of the glove, but it's such a hard medium that it takes forever to sand and layering a hard medium under bondo is just asking for trouble because bondo sands much faster (you'll get lumps if you sand past the bondo). It's also great if you don't intend to sand at all.

Gesso on its own takes way too long to layer up enough to sand smooth since it takes ages to dry and is not self leveling.

Bondo alone on worbla will peel off. Roughing it up with sandpaper does work but the worbla fur that's created sticks up too far and just becomes a hassle when sanding.

Gesso before bondo allows the bondo to adhere properly and it sands at the same speed as bondo. Gesso can be applied very thick without cracking so I pile on as much as I can to make it easier in the bondo stage. Conveniently, the white gesso also acts as a warning layer so I can tell when I've sanded past the pink bondo.
 
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Re: 3D Printed Samus Varia Suit

Updates are looking good. You are doing some great work. The attention to detail and patience that is going into this is stunning. I can see how it those tubes would be a rough project, but they look great, so keep it up.
 
Re: 3D Printed Samus Varia Suit

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! It's heeeeeeere!!

5m6h4QV.jpgwoFouV8.jpg77YiohS.jpg

and with the light turned off:

D1HSfiU.jpgYKsHnvO.jpgMqUYWd3.jpg

It's PERFECT!! Man this stuff is hard to get a good picture of. No matter what I do it just ends up looking white when the light is turned on. In person the entire thing is a solid, vibrant, green when lit up.

This sample I got is 1/2"x4' and it runs off a 9v battery via an included driver box.

I think I've figured out what lengths and widths I need to buy. I made a diagram to help me visualize and keep track of everything:
DpRz9bO.jpg
(Measurements are all in inches.)

The dash mark lines at the top are the non-center curves on the shoulder bells. Since it's a curve along the off center surface of a sphere I can't have a singular strip because the strip would have to curve and light tape doesn't curve. So it'll be one big strip down the center and 5 small strips along each side. I'll be using my sample piece for the small strips.

Hopefully it's not too hard to connect everything together, but if anything it won't be harder than doing LEDs, so there's that.

The tape doesn't work for lighting the visor so I'll have to figure something else out for that - maybe just a couple LEDs.


Yay! I am SO glad this is working out.
 
Re: 3D Printed Samus Varia Suit

Been watching this thread for a while now and I've got to say your work is great and the progress has been a joy to watch. Amazing job!

Out of curiosity, where did you get your EL tape?
 
Re: 3D Printed Samus Varia Suit

This all looks amazing! Those EL strips look similar to what they used for the suits in TRON. Those had extremly short battery life though. Any plans for a power source yet?
 
Re: 3D Printed Samus Varia Suit

Other than that I've been smoothing out the unfinished worbla pieces. Gesso and I have made up and we're friends again. I finally figured out the best way to get a smooth finish on worbla is a layer of gesso and then a coat of bondo with spot putty to fix small imperfections. You may recall this was the way I did it previously with the first bicep, except back then I was using bondo to repair the failure of the gesso. Turns out I was right the first time! It was still good to learn how these mediums interact with each other though:

Wood glue is nice for small things like the fingers of the glove, but it's such a hard medium that it takes forever to sand and layering a hard medium under bondo is just asking for trouble because bondo sands much faster (you'll get lumps if you sand past the bondo). It's also great if you don't intend to sand at all.

Gesso on its own takes way too long to layer up enough to sand smooth since it takes ages to dry and is not self leveling.

Bondo alone on worbla will peel off. Roughing it up with sandpaper does work but the worbla fur that's created sticks up too far and just becomes a hassle when sanding.

Gesso before bondo allows the bondo to adhere properly and it sands at the same speed as bondo. Gesso can be applied very thick without cracking so I pile on as much as I can to make it easier in the bondo stage. Conveniently, the white gesso also acts as a warning layer so I can tell when I've sanded past the pink bondo.
Very good information to know. I'm planning on copying your technique for the hands on my Protoman, and the Dr.Doom armor that I'm doing for a client. Thank you so much for sharing.
 
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