Crayven Marine build from Ground Control

TheSpaceMongol

New Member
Hello!

I'm new here but I've been reading the forums for some time so now that I started a costume project myself I thought I should post a thread here to contribute- now I'm no expert in what comes to making foam costumes since this is the very first I've made but I still think there's some interesting points to share for a few reasons: I don't have a lot of cash to throw at this project, so there might be tips and tricks for others in a similar situation. Second, the franchise from which this costume is from is pretty obscure and a bit old at this point. I've not found a thread mentioning this game here even once and no surprise there since it's an old RTS game.

Without further ado let's get to the build then!

So what I'm making is an armor set for a Crayven Rifle Infantry soldier, or a Crayven Marine from the game series Ground Control- one of my all-time favourite games. This is what they look like:

Marine ref 1.jpeg

Marine ref 2.jpg

Cool, eh?

This guy was featured in a lot of the promotional art for the game back in the day as well as all the box arts, CD covers, manuals etc. So there is some reference material to be found out there. I still have the original manual and game box which has a better pic on it than most you might find on the internet these days. That said the stuff I have isn't too great and the promo pics from the internet are from the age when the standard screen resolution was 1024 x 800 so most of the refs I've found are... let's just say you need to zoom in and squint a lot and even then there's room for interpretation as to what the details actually look like. The original 3D model is a bit low-poly when you compare to todays games as well so there's really a lot of room to maneuver here and use your imagination when deciding on some of the minor details since they will also be necessary to make this look good.

This is what I've got done so far:

IMG_20170523_121617.jpg

From left to right: calf and thigh plates, knee pads, armoured boots, chest armour, helmet and arm plates. The kneepads and elbow protectors were bought from a military surplus shop and a flea market and they really sit quite well, even though they're just off-the-shelf items. I plan on using more such parts for example for the ammo pouches, even though they do look different from the game model. Here's the reason: good quality factory made pouches will look very good compared to anything I could sew due to lack of tools to sew heavy fabrics and they'll certainly look better than foam pieces. They'll also add a bit of realism to the mix, when there's something on the costume that's used "in the real world", if that makes sense. Also, the clips for the gun don't fit the pouches and I can't really think of another use for the largest pouches seen on the 3D model, there being at least four such pouches on the thigh plates and on the waist.

I have also made the main weapon, the Welby-Simms Devastator assault rifle, that massive shield-gun-combo the marines are holding.

welby_simms_devastator_wip.jpg

One of the best looking scifi guns I know. This isn't exactly to scale though, and I'll have to redo the gun part itself to be a bit smaller, maybe some 10cm(around 3-4 inches) shorter than what it is now. That should be a simple operation of detaching the shield and re-attaching it to the new piece once it's made. Sorry for the low quality pic, I'll have to get a new pic soonish, I've since made some addtional details with an airbrush and stencils made out of transparent sheets- logos you see on the game art and such. The gun itself has been made of thin plywood- not ideal but that's about the best rigid material I had access to and know how to shape well.

As for the armor parts I'm using foam layered with worbla. The resulting surface isn't perfectly smooth but the texture should be a good fit for most parts- if not, I'll have to get filling and sanding a lot! I'll have to fill and smooth some edges and dents anyway, though. In any case this foam/worbla layering produces nice thick armor plates like is seen on the game art and they're quite light as well. For example the shoe and leg parts look like this:

IMG_20170523_122214.jpg

As a base for the combat boot I used my own much worn winter boots. They're a good black color so as to blend well with other fabrics I plan to use as a base for the suit. With the plates assembled on top, it looks like this:

IMG_20170523_122259.jpg

It's quite close to what is seen in the game art, except for the fact that the stand-in sole plate wont work for walking since it doesn't bend like a sole should. I'll have to make it out of some other material- if ayone has ideas on a good flexible material I'm open for suggestions. Rest of the leg plates look like this:


IMG_20170523_122412.jpg

The calf and shin plates, I'll still have to make the straps and buckles plus make attachment points for them on the plates themselves. The thigh and kneepad:

IMG_20170523_122430.jpg

The thigh plates are probably the smoothest parts I've made, I've gotten a bit used to handling worbla. Assembled on my leg they look like so:

IMG_20170523_122815.jpg

Quite good shapewise even though I say it myself. The parts are very bulky, and for a purpose- the top of the suit along with the gun will make my upper half look very bulky indeed so the large shoes and thick calfs should balance it nicely. They'll look even bigger once all the kit is attached to the thighs. On the helmet build I've chosen an old skiing helmet as a base:


IMG_20170523_123507.jpg

It is the correct shape and quite a close fit, making for the right size and shape of the prop helmet once layered with foam and worbla. It's still very much work in progress. I might have to cut some pathways for air conditioning to run from back to front inside the helmet. The mask is one of the parts that will need a good inside made since I plan to have it attached to the helmet with a strap on one side and magnets on the other so that you can open it up if necessary. Here is also a photo of fitting the upper arm plate, elbow pad and bracer:


IMG_20170523_122100.jpg

Disregard the "IKEA" on the arm, it's actually "oikea" which is "right" in finnish. The bracer is a very tight fit with no spare space made out of thinner foam to avoid excessive bulk. It'll need sanding and work still, but the general shape is ok. There ae other parts to be made, like the backpack seen on the reference pics, but I'll write more on that later.

Hopefully this thread will be of interest to you and maybe some might actually remember this game, who knows. Even if no one does let's still have a Crayven Marine built!

More to come later!
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20170523_123526.jpg
    IMG_20170523_123526.jpg
    3.1 MB · Views: 139
This thread is more than 6 years old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top