Finished Foam Stormtrooper Armour build - now with Deathtrooper conversion on page 2.

So since discovering Pep building with foam in August, I've become a bit of an addict, the back room of my shop is filled with a half built R2D2, a completed but unsealed Iron Man and a half completed Ironman made from less felixble thicker foam, this also goes with the Iron Man build I completed for Halloween.... So anyway..

My wife decided that we would be hosting a New years party this years and then decided that its going to be fancy dress, my Iron Man suit is pretty battered after 2 Halloween pub crawls and one party so that has been retired so I need a new costume.

I remembered JFcustom recently unfolded the Stormtrooper armour so I decided that was what I was going to go with.
After discussions with JF and others in his thread I'd decided that for my next build I was definately going to try the Decathalon TG100 mats that JF himself uses I ordered 7 for around £24 delivered which is about the same price I was paying for the cheap blue camping mats.
(If anyone is interested in the Decathalon mats I highly recommend them, they are not like the typical cheap foam Yoga/camping mats they are much stronger and are almost more of a plasticy foam than the cheap Yoga/camping mats avaliable yet they are pretty much the same price. The cheap camping mats can be ripped very easily, these mats I have tried to rip and it is much more difficult)

Now before I begin, I'm not going for a 100% accurate Stormtrooper here, that isn't going to happen with foam, I'm going for a Stromtrooper which will cost me around £50, the same price as a store bought costume but look much much better

So....

Day One

While waiting for the mats to arrive I printed the Templates and cut them all out, this really is the only part of foam Pep I don't like but it has to be done I literally spent a full 6 hours cutting out and sticking together the templates.
I'm a big fan of JF's unfolds as they have much larger pieces than the typical foam builds meaning less joints etc and quicker builds.

The mats arrived yesterday so I decided it was time to begin the build.

Day Two

I started with the chest and back, then the abs, the belt, the shoulders and that is as far as I got yesterday, I decided to take a alternate approach to the pep file for the belt, rather than building the blocks out of the thinner foam I have a bunch of thick foam from my Ironman build so used that for the blocks, I also added in the shoulder straps using some thin foam I have left over from my Ironman gloves.




So that's the progress from day so far, I'm going to get on and hopefully have another update later I will need to order some black webbing and clips so the chest and back armour don't bend like they do now when worn.

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build

this is looking really nice, do you know how you're going to do the helmet? I'm in a WIP with my Captain Rex costume from JF's files so similar builds i guess haha, goodluck!

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build

I've got pep files for a foam helmet but I've also got a cheap kit helmet in my watch list on ebay in case it doesn't work out.
You got a build thread for your Rex? Would like to see it, there doesn't seem to be many foam trooper builds.

As a small update so far today I've done both biceps, cod plate and butt plate. just about to start on the forearms.

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build

So today I've built the Cod, Butt plate, Biceps, forearms, hand plates and one of the thighs, hopefully on Monday I'll have finished the remaining thigh and the shins then I can have a bash at the helmet.
I have a pair of boots which I'm going to rub down and spray white when I paint the armour.

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build

Fun build---subscribed!

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build

I'm tuned in and looking forward to your progress.

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build

Kirk0 said:

I've got pep files for a foam helmet but I've also got a cheap kit helmet in my watch list on ebay in case it doesn't work out.
You got a build thread for your Rex? Would like to see it, there doesn't seem to be many foam trooper builds.

As a small update so far today I've done both biceps, cod plate and butt plate. just about to start on the forearms.

Click to expand...

Wow, really clean work there and nah I don't. I have a lot of suff planned for it so I think I might start a thread when the fun stuff comes as I'm not the fastest builder :facepalm

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build

No picture update today as I don't have time, unfortunately real work got in the way at work today so I only managed to complete the remaining thigh and the right shin, I have the left shin all cut out and ready to glue tomorrow though and also hope to get the helmet files printed and cut out.
I've realised I am definitely going to have to with a flexible paint as the shin/calf armour is going to need to be cut at the back and velcro attached so it can be worn as the ABS plastic armour is as it's just to narrow to get a foot through.
If anyone has any tips on a good cheap flexible white gloss paint in the UK please let me know.

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build

The build side of the armour is now done (just need to add a little detailing to the cod), it all looks a little wide in the photo as its all flopped down a little when laid out, once my clips and webbing arrives I'll put them all in place and give it a test fit before I start sealing/painting and get a photo.

I think I may need to trim the top of the thighs a little but that is all.




I'm pretty pleased overall with how its come out, I've still got a roll of foam left so the building side of the suit has only cost me around £20. Paint wise, I am actually considering going with a brush on white gloss paint, I've found a few which say they are flexible for ceilings etc so think it could work :confused, I just want something White, glossy, flexible and cheap and with brush on paint I can paint the suit without having to use sprays.

Just finished cutting the helmet templates and about to start transferring them onto the foam.

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build

I think the chest piece looks a bit asymmetric ... Other than that, real nice and fun, inspirational project!

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build

I think it's the way the foam is bent, once it's held in place with clips and velcro it should look ok.

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build

And the helmet is finished (I'm going to attach the mics once those and the helmet are painted), I'm reasonably happy with it, ideally I would like to try and pic up a cheap casted helmet if possible as I can always display it alongside my Sideshow 1/4 Stormtrooper when I'm done but for now this one will do.
Other than attaching the clips and velcro the building side of this project is complete.



I tested a scrap piece of foam yesterday with some B&Q quick drying white gloss paint, I gave it 4 coats through out the day and left it in a warm room overnight, tested it today and it does not crack at all, I literally screwed this piece of foam up into a ball and when it sprung back into shape no paint cracks at all! Another bonus about this no need for PVA, I have tried PVA then paint on another scrap piece and it made no difference to the finish of the paint or the texture of the foam, Gloss paint adheres to this foam fine without PVA however spray paint does not so this method will work out quickest and cheapest.

This means I can paint the suit with a tin of White gloss paint and this whole Stormtrooper costume will have cost me around £40 including the black undersuit, cheaper than a store bought Stormtrooper and much, much better imo.

I've given the helmet and chest/back armour a coat of paint, I've got quite a bit of work to get done in the morning tomorrow but then hopefully I can get on with painting for the afternoon until I go home, I HOPE to have this suit fully painted by Saturday.

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build - building finished time to paint

So Painting didn't get as far along as I wanted, actual work took longer than I anticipated and my clips and webbing arrived so I decided to get these all in place so I could test fit a few pieces before painting.
I was then looking at the pictures I took of the helmet and I really wasn't happy with how the bottom of the helmet wasn't centred or the mouth piece so I decided to cut it and adjust it and removed the whole mouth piece.
I've left the mouth piece off this time done it as one solid piece with groves in it which looks much better, I will paint this black separately and glue it on when the helmet is painted.

As you can see the helmet looks much better now


And here's a few pieces in place with the clips on the shoulders etc.


And here is the helmet and torso after a couple of coats of paint.


I likely won't update again now until I've finished painting as there isn't going to be much to post.

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build - building finished time to paint

It would be great for you to finish off, showing a pic of you wearing it.

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build - building finished time to paint

nice dude!
what was the final build time?

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build - building finished time to paint

Build time from printing templates to finish was 4 days I'd say around 25 hours, painting is going to be around another 10 though.
I'll post a pic with it all on once it's done.

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build - building finished time to paint

keep us updated if you fine anything you can use to make the surface more smooth here in the UK. This is going to be my next build

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build - building finished time to paint

I haven't pvad any of it just went straight on with paint, I imagine.some coats of thick pva would have smoothed it more, I may give it a couple of coats of pva then a final paint and see if that helps.

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build - building finished time to paint

sweet. yeah let me know how that turns out. Which paint from B&Q did you use? This will sound daft but is the paint self leveling? or do you have alot of brush stroke? do you get much runs as you are painting with brush?

Re: Quick Foam Stormtrooper Armour build - building finished time to paint

This is the paint:



I've not really had any issues with brush marks the helmet and torso have had 4 coats now the texture has gone a little but not a lot.

This was after 3 coats:


This is after 4, you can see the texture is gradually going.



I'm just going to make do with this for now and may try some of the roof seal JF recommended after the new year. I've not done a lot of painting this week, gave everything a second coat yesterday will give everything a third coat later. I've also bought some small tins of acyrlic paints for the coloured parts of the helmet. I'll likely give the helmet one maybe two more coats of white before doing this.