Warrior Hawkgirl - Articulating Wings + Armor

springsteel · Jan 4, 2015

Thanks guys! Finally finished up with the detailing, except that I have yet to make the spiked belt or shoe armor. Blah, some other day. Becaaauuse: my awesome little lighting gadget came in! And it's freaking fantastic. It has ~a dozen flash patterns, and variable speeds for each. Videos of my favorites below.

Pulse/fade:

[video]https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10203666629442321&l=2361439998350221389[/video]

Candle flicker:

[video]https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10203666632842406&l=5889544668110468478[/video]

(hopefully those videos work)

Unfortunately, the LED is a bit wimpy, so I'll likely be shooting you a PM this week, Canobi!

I did start working on the articulation points of the wing frame today, but my drill bits are equally wimpy and won't make it through the aluminum tent poles. Again, some other day...

More to come...

George · Jan 5, 2015

I definitely like the LED lights light up inside the weapon,but like you said: it needs a little bit more power.
Good luck with the power-up! It's getting there!

Canobi · Jan 5, 2015

Looks great in the vids :thumbsup

I have a few questions for you, hope you don't mind:

What diameter is the handle?

How is it attached to the ball?

How do you feel about using lithium batteries?

I have loads of tubing in various materials and diameters that I collect for making sabers and Nerf gun mods, some of which I can't use for either but would make a decent handle that's hollow. I could easily knock up an integrated system for the LED, module and batteries for next to nothing, plus I need an excuse to use them up anyway as I hate throwing potentially useful things away.

springsteel · Jan 5, 2015

Canobi said:
I have a few questions for you, hope you don't mind:

What diameter is the handle?

How is it attached to the ball?

How do you feel about using lithium batteries?

That would be great!

---Diameter is ~1 inch: your standard rake handle.

---Attachment is a bit of a wibbly-wobbly, jerry-rigged sort of job. The spike/end of the rod floats through a hole on the top of the mace head, and the bottom of the ball is a 3" lid which the handle runs through, attached with the Worbla material. (The ball twists off and removes completely, leaving only the "lid" attached to the handle).

(ball without handle)

---As far as lithium goes, sounds like a nice long battery life!

I previously had plans to remove the majority of the handle that runs through the ball and replace it with clear tubing, in which I would seat the LED for central lighting. However, I'm liking the idea of replacing the entire wooden rod with a hollow one, then integrate the switch into the handle. PM'd!

Also, I know what you mean about throwing out useable bits; I've got boxes of goodies and thingamajigs too useful to part with!

George · Jan 9, 2015

How's your project going,Spring?

springsteel · Jan 10, 2015

George said:
How's your project going,Spring?

Slowly! The freezing weather is keeping me from spray-painting the armor - or from going to the hardware store, apparently... the tent poles I'm using for the wings are made of a heavy-duty aluminum alloy that I need a better drill bit to get through.

I did put some attachments on the armor today, using some inexpensive, metal O-rings from an army surplus store.

They're fixed with a double-thick strip of Worbla, looped over and heated.

For the pauldron, I wanted a flexible, tiered effect; so each piece is attached to the next with a long runner of paracord, held down with strips of Worbla.

How it's coming along:

To get the full costume requires some awkward, standing-on-a-chair, bathroom-mirror camera work, so we'll skip that for now. The breastplate needs a bit of reshaping, but otherwise, the armor is ready for priming with woodglue, and ultimately paint!

The plan is to use a bronze, hammered finish spray, with gold detailing. The lower legs will be a red enamel + gold.

Slowly!!

Hazmat · Jan 10, 2015

Hmm, you're pictures aren't showing.

Also is it just me or is the term "O-ring" redundant? I prefer "toric joint".

Armatus Cosplay · Jan 10, 2015

The details on your armor are absolutely beautiful, I'm quite envious. You've inspired me to seriously consider getting some worbla for my next armor build. Keep it up

Judge Spartan · Jan 10, 2015

springsteel said:
Slowly! The freezing weather is keeping me from spray-painting the armor - or from going to the hardware store, apparently... the tent poles I'm using for the wings are made of a heavy-duty aluminum alloy that I need a better drill bit to get through.

I did put some attachments on the armor today, using some inexpensive, metal O-rings from an army surplus store.

View attachment 424339

They're fixed with a double-thick strip of Worbla, looped over and heated.

View attachment 424338

For the pauldron, I wanted a flexible, tiered effect; so each piece is attached to the next with a long runner of paracord, held down with strips of Worbla.

View attachment 424337

How it's coming along:

View attachment 424336

To get the full costume requires some awkward, standing-on-a-chair, bathroom-mirror camera work, so we'll skip that for now. The breastplate needs a bit of reshaping, but otherwise, the armor is ready for priming with woodglue, and ultimately paint!

The plan is to use a bronze, hammered finish spray, with gold detailing. The lower legs will be a red enamel + gold.

Slowly!!

No Pics:cry

springsteel · Jan 10, 2015

Hazmat said:
Hmm, you're pictures aren't showing.

Also is it just me or is the term "O-ring" redundant? I prefer "toric joint".

Ack! I don't know why I have such problems with attachments. Half the time they don't show up, and if they do, they're the wrong orientation, despite the file being correct!

And to differentiate from a D-ring, I guess? Though I suppose they aren't technically o-rings/toric joints at all! Just metal rings.

Armatus Cosplay said:
The details on your armor are absolutely beautiful, I'm quite envious. You've inspired me to seriously consider getting some worbla for my next armor build. Keep it up

Thank you! I actually really love the stuff. I never thought I'd spend so much money on a costume, but it is such a useful material.

And after seeing your comBatman armor (that was a bad pun), I'd love to try the same with an armored Batgirl.

Judge Spartan said:
No Pics:cry

So, I've re-attached the images. HOPEFULLY they're visible! Thanks for the heads-up!

George · Jan 11, 2015

The pics are showing on my end :thumbsup amazing progress,Spring! It looks great,especially the colour that Worbla seems to give to it adds something to it.

Hazmat · Jan 11, 2015

The amount of detail you get out of worbla is incredible. You're really making me want to drop my current project and start a Hawkman design.

Judge Spartan · Jan 11, 2015

Amazing work!!

springsteel · Jan 11, 2015

George said:
The pics are showing on my end :thumbsup amazing progress,Spring! It looks great,especially the colour that Worbla seems to give to it adds something to it.
Btw my foam is ordered and on its way,workbench is installed...itching to get busy

Yeah, I always enjoy how it looks before painting. Something about it is very pleasing... And good luck! It's always frustrating to have to wait around before you can make progress.

Hazmat said:
The amount of detail you get out of worbla is incredible. You're really making me want to drop my current project and start a Hawkman design.

I would tell you to stay focused, but I honestly can't deny I'd like to see more Thanagarians in the world!

Judge Spartan said:
Amazing work!!

Thank you! Appreciate it

SO, I finally managed some wing progress! Which was quickly cut short by the fact that I ran out of bolts/hardware/etc. So, I have most of the the base of one wing so far, and only need bolts/washers for the other half.

I added a "telescoping" extender inside the bottom tube to allow the wings to reach up and towards each other, because I really like upward-reaching wing designs (I'll add a string inside to keep it from over-extending). I don't know how to make them keep this position when I want, but that's a problem for another day.

The blue clip/panel/thing is just something I scavenged from the trash at work, but does a decent job as a fixture. The horizontal attachment does swivel freely, which I'm going to try out, though I might make it fixed or attach a spring. Undecided. We'll see.

Judge Spartan · Jan 11, 2015

What I like about the Worbla is it already looks like a weathered light colored leather. At least in the pics

I have yet to work with it but am trying to expand my arsenal from just fiberglass and vac forming..

springsteel · Jan 12, 2015

Judge Spartan said:
What I like about the Worbla is it already looks like a weathered light colored leather. At least in the pics I have yet to work with it but am trying to expand my arsenal from just fiberglass and vac forming..

I would love to work with fiberglass and vacuum forming, but such projects aren't realistic in my tiny apartment -- which is one reason I love the Worbla. Need little more than folding workbench and heatgun!

Made a bit of progress on the wings, tonight (please ignore picture orientation). Annoyingly, they ended up a bit asymmetrical, but after the feathers go on, that shouldn't be too noticeable.

The feathers will be two layers of fabric sandwiched over a wire shaft and saturated with adhesive. I will likely use an old, white bedsheet and galvanized fencing wire, both of which I have on hand, to keep the costs down.

For the pattern/design, I'm shooting for a red-tailed hawk:

That image is from The Feather Atlas, which is an awesome library of feather scans by the USFWS.

George · Jan 13, 2015

To work with what is available to you is more than enough.We can't all have 3D printers etc. and build like others do.That's what makes every project and artist unique,and in fact we are all artists,be it in our own small way.
The wing exoskeleton looks ingenious,however I wonder how you should place the feathers,since every section is morphing after the wings (un)fold?
Great job so far,Spring! :thumbsup

springsteel · Jan 13, 2015

The feather placement is definitely going to be tricky. I'll do it a lot like my last pair of wings, where each feather overlaps the next, folding/unfolding like a fan. Still working on how to attach them to the frame to work like that!

springsteel · Jan 16, 2015

Finally, all the armor is (mostly) squared away!

I primed the Worbla with two coats of Titebond wood glue, which gives it a nice smooth surface with no sanding; wood glue is sort of self-leveling, so it spreads out super smooth with no brushstrokes.

After that dried today, I threw on a coat of Rustoleum's hammered finish spray paint. I was looking for a pewter or bronze, but settled on this "chestnut."

It looked great until, what the hell, the color changed!

Anybody use hammered paint and have this happen to them? I rattled the can more than enough, but apparently the results beg to differ! It'll work out fine, but I'm still a little annoyed. Hmm... I would like to use Volpin's technique of layering sponged-on metallic paint with weathering, which will hopefully brighten the darker pieces up.

Captain Rogers · Jan 16, 2015

I have never had this happen before, but honestly I think either color looks great. I wouldn't stress over it too much. It looks really great.

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