Edge of Tomorrow - EXO SUIT - Build Thread

After seeing Edge of Tomorrow, I have been obsessing about making an exo suit. This is a huge undertaking, but what the heck...

So my first steps towards build the actual suit comes down to reverse engineering it and creating a good virtual blue print for fabrication.

I found a bunch of pictures online and decided on the exo suit that Tom Cruise was wearing. I think for the final costume I'll build out the full faced helmet with the skull on it... mostly cause its bad ass and partially i'm shy. : )



After gathering the plethora of images and references from a few youtube videos I began modeling up the parts in SolidWorks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKkguL251cw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRnQeE8wlhY


I still need to finish out all the bits and bobs as well as the lower half but I spent a lot of time with scale and making sure things look and fit right. There are so many parts its hard to say how close I'm actually getting to the screen used one, but I feel like its pretty darn close.





Most of the scale is based on a few things I know to be a true size.. Such as the tactical rails on the arms and a few of the screws and things. But All the angles and things will probably have to be adjusted as the build progresses.

The Great thing about using a cad program is you can put all the parts into an assembly and make sure everything moves and fits like its supposed to. The great thing is that most of the engineering is already done for me. Its crazy how many points of axis this thing has. Its really cool to see how everything is based on the movements of the actor to play through the suit.



I also uploaded a short video to show how the model functions and show a bit of the movement in the mechanisms.

The video can be found here

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6Uz4I149VM

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I wanted to go ahead a share the progress of this build and I'll try and update this thread as I go. Like I said I still have to build out the lower half, hydraulic/battery pack, chest details, hand held displays, etc. More than likely I wont build out the huge back pack guns... I might have to add them later, but for now I'm going for more of the lighter artillery version. I will be building out the arm weapons. The machine gun seems to be a modified mk16 scar with grenade launcher. The other arm is a larger rocket launcher type setup.. Doesn't seem to have any found parts.. but it shouldn't be too terrible to build.



The helmet seems to be based on a standard military helmet with rails and then some cheek guards were fabricated to attach to it.. The full face jaw seems to be the same thing but wraps fully around the face. That's the version I'll be focusing on first.

The biggest area I could use some help on at this point is all the soft parts. Locating the shirt and pants would be huge. I think I've located the knee pads etc. The tactical vest is all custom, but shouldn't be too bad to replicate.




I hope you guys enjoying following this build. Its been really fun so far replicating such a cool practical suit.

-Devin

This is one hell of a project you're attempting, but with all of the research and CAD work you've done so far shows your serious about making this. Good luck to you sir, I'll be keeping my eye on this thread, I'm sure the process will be very intriguing.

Yea it's a big project. But it will be a fun one.

The originals where 3d printed. You can see the grow lines when you look at them up close. I got some good pics from sdcc last year. So I'll probably do a mix of CNC and 3d printed parts. But I want to nail down the cad files first.

Any idea what materials you're going to use to build it? I imagine it has to be sturdy enough to hold itself together and tolerate repeated movements, but also light enough not to make it miserable for the wearer. Or is this just going to be a display piece?

Awesome job so far. Can't wait to see more.

It will be made entirely out of concrete and iron. Lol

most likely it will be a mix of nylon, abs, epoxy, urethane, and probably some foam. The originals weren't super light,but that's to be expected. I'll have to play with it a bit and replace parts with other materials as I go.

Guess I need to start hitting the gym too if Tom had to train for 11 weeks.

ps there will be aluminum parts as well, along with standard fixtures, barrings, etc.

Made a little progress on the chest detail today. I still need to add all the little attachments, buckles, and what not, but overall I'm happy with it.

Now for the chest doohickeys.

Looking great, can't wait to see it come to life!

This is looking excellent. Definitely subscribing to this!

Subscribed!! Love the art direction in this movie and the suit great work so far.

Great start you already have on this project! I think I wanted to make one of these the day after I saw it! I assume you already have on hand the Cinefex magazine article that features the movie? They detailed quite a bit of the suits and the overall fabrication. And yes, it's gonna be heavy! The ones in the movie were around 100lbs all told. American Cinematographer magazine also had some useful details too, so check that out too. Any chance when you're all done you'd share your SW assembly as a neutral STEP file? Good luck!

Making a little more progress today. I have the start of the legs and a few more doohickeys. Mainly the weapon system computers on the hands. I also added the bicep standoffs.

Great work so far. subscribed. this will be cool to watch come together.

Who knew it took so much math to get these thigh guards set and working right. Its pretty cool, they swivel out of the way so you can get in and out of the legs. It's all adjustable height and has a little rail latch as well.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DGV73cnx94

I too have wanted to make this since I saw an early screening a year before it came out. But reference has been scarce till now. I missed the comic con display so this build is beyond amazing. I wanted to build mine out of foam for light weight movement, but your accuracy is showing me things I need to reconsider on my understructure. How did you figure out the back arms? I have yet to see any decent pictures of that area. Please keep up the great work!

Most of the references I have of the back is from the little featurette that was posted awhile back.. I just did some serious screen grabs from it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKkguL251cw

-Devin

wondersquid said:

I too have wanted to make this since I saw an early screening a year before it came out. But reference has been scarce till now. I missed the comic con display so this build is beyond amazing. I wanted to build mine out of foam for light weight movement, but your accuracy is showing me things I need to reconsider on my understructure. How did you figure out the back arms? I have yet to see any decent pictures of that area. Please keep up the great work!

Click to expand...

Awesome work so far. I can't wait to see it completed.

Still need some tweaking... Still have to finish the inner shin joint and all the rods on the back of the legs, but I'm getting pretty close to finishing up the overall shape.

Awesome stuff ! I to want to make a Exo suit . Can't wait to see what you build . I'll be wacthing this link

Ok... Its time to talk about found parts. I would also like to get everyone's help in finding some of the stuff I cant track down.

So Tom's right arm weapon is a mk-16 scar that's been modified. I did however find some images of the Dog Soldiers and they actually have completely custom arm weapons. So I'm assuming they might have been a little heavy for tom or something. I can post pics if anyone is interested.


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Now for the parts that we found so far...

I have to give a big shutout to Charlie for helping me find the weapon system screens. They are actually waterproof digital cameras that were modified to look more industrial. It totally makes sense to me they used these cameras. One they can just load an animation sequence as a movie file on them and then you just press play and like magic you get a flickering weapons screen with sound I might add. So that will be a cool component on the costume for sure. PS.. I did adjust the scale of the two screens in the model.. So we're still good.

olympus tough stylus tg-630


Next on the list is one of the doohickeys on the chest. I'm assuming its some type of radiation meter or proximity sensor or something.. but It looks like they took an existing tactical battery case and just cut it up and filled in spots and added a few screws and stuff. But its for sure a good place to start. PS. I did scale the appropriately. I havent found the exact on yet, but again they may have modified it heavily. This one is the closest.



Next is the gloves and knee pads. Most of the other soldiers had standard knee pads, but Tom had some specific ones. I was able to track them down as well as his gloves. So these may not be the same for all the Dog Soldiers but they'll work for what I'm doing.

http://www.camelbak.com/en/Canada/Military-Tactical/Gloves/Magnum-Force.aspx
http://shop.foxhead.com/store/products/Guards/detail/Fox-Launch-Short-Knee-Guards/16165/cat60004




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