40k Eldar Farseer of Ulthwe- V1.0 completed (NSF56k)

[Cleric]

Hey all, I've started my attempt to put together a costume for PAX2012. I'm aiming for an Eldar Farseer based on the Craftworld Ulthwe DLC from Dawn of War 2. Here's the render from a model viewer:

The color scheme pictured is just a product of the model viewer, the real color scheme is:

I pulled the model into 3dsmax and made a series of 0.25" slices, which then went into Photoshop:

Unfortunately I didn't have access to a plotter, so I had to do it on standard 8.5x11 paper and needed a way to ensure all my pieces were lined up correctly...Time for some ABCs!

Those red marks are for 3 dowels to pierce all of the slices to make sure everything is aligned correctly.
THEN, with the use of my ULTRA HIGH-TECH LIGHTBOX...

...that only seems to work between the hours of 7 and 4 or so... The pieces were taped together and spray-adhered to 24"x48"x0.25" sheets of MDF.

Since the helmet is symmetrical, I was able to lay a 2nd sheet of MDF underneath when I cut the slices out. Once the slices were cut, I drilled the dowel holes between both stacked sheets of MDF and sliced up a 3/8" dowel.

When it was all put together, it started to actually take on the shape of the helmet:

I made the decision to omit those two "horns" that hold the soulstone between them at the apex of the helmet for fear that it would make casting difficult. I've got much sanding to do because of the way I printed the MDF slices: Instead of being able to fill in all of those spaces you see above with bondo, the MDF is meant to be sanded away, leaving an entirely MDF ... thing. I was worried about if the bondo would sand differently than the MDF, and even though ultimately it gets coated by layers of paint/primer etc, the possibility of dissimilar materials causing a problem seemed an easy enough thing to avoid at the time.
So sanding galore, here's where I am currently:

(The right side has been assaulted with the sanding tools)

Does anybody have a recommendation on how to sand down that recessed area under the faceplate's cheekbone? The mouse sander's pointed end can be used, but I foresee myself going through many sanding pads if that's the case. A dremel's size won't allow me to get the bit flat enough, and the detail sander from home depot is ... well it's getting returned once I get home. It was awful, but for how low the price was, I should have expected it.

If anybody wants the full-resolution images or a PDF of the pages I printed in order to create the MDF templates, I'm dong my best to keep it all on one page:
M!NiCR!T - Farseer Costume Build

I suppose I should throw in the disclaimer that this is a fan project and is not affiliated with or supported by Games Workshop in any way. They're awfully stingy about their IP.

 

[crabra comander]

Re: Eldar Farseer of Ulthwe (Warhammer 40,000)

Oh thats cool, nice to see someone doing Eldar, seen enough Space Marines!

 

[Cleric]

Re: Eldar Farseer of Ulthwe (Warhammer 40,000)

Back with an update:

After countless rounds of bondo/sand/prime/sand, this is it after wetsanding: (Note: It's still wet here, it's not that shiny)

Started adding Rebound 25 to it with some thickened 25 in the faceplate. I have to keep a little space heater aimed at it so the silicone cures.

My laziness knows NO BOUNDS!

Now comes a question for you all, There's a big "fin" that sticks up from the back of the helmet like so:

and I'm at a loss as to how to make that. If it's too heavy, it'll be pulling my head backwards all day, and that won't do. If it's too light, it's apt to break if I should catch it on the top of a doorframe or something. I was leaning towards making each side face of it out of thin ABS and then the connecting bits out of fiberglass? Should I pick up some plasticard and just make it out of that?

Damn your ostentatious head ornamentation, Eldar!

 

[AnotherChris]

Re: Eldar Farseer of Ulthwe (Warhammer 40,000)

Eldar! My weakness! Oh man I have wanted to do a generic Farseer for a long time and this is looking -amazing-! Sadly, I don't have any suggestions for the head fin as I'm new to this madness. But I will be watching with great joy! Any chance this might be molded some day?

 

[Finnlock]

Re: Eldar Farseer of Ulthwe (Warhammer 40,000)

Looks great so far.
Perhapse make the fin center from foam or insolation then cover it with either thin styrene or sintra? It would give you the looks and durability and hopefully be light weight enough to to bother you.
You might have to tweak the design a little bit to make it more stable and less pron to breaking.

Love the build so far, one of the few eldar costumes out there! Some of the others can be seen here if you care to check them out.

Obscurus Crusade

 

[Cleric]

Re: Eldar Farseer of Ulthwe (Warhammer 40,000)

AnotherChris- I hope to be pulling castings by the end of the week, but seeing as how the rebound25 layers are behind schedule due to curing issues, I hate to think about how long the mother mold will take. Shame I can never sell any of them, GW would deliver a C&D with a thunderhammer to my face.

Finnlock - I think you're right. I will likely put a few plastic standoffs to add to the structure, but pink foam w/ styrene faces is the plan. Thanks!

 

[AnotherChris]

Re: Eldar Farseer of Ulthwe (Warhammer 40,000)

AnotherChris- I hope to be pulling castings by the end of the week, but seeing as how the rebound25 layers are behind schedule due to curing issues, I hate to think about how long the mother mold will take. Shame I can never sell any of them, GW would deliver a C&D with a thunderhammer to my face.

Darn GW and their slobbering hordes of snotling lawyers. :cry

Despite that sad bit of news, I'm still very excited to see where you go with this.

 

[Cleric]

Re: Eldar Farseer of Ulthwe (Warhammer 40,000)

(This picture cropped from this larger picture on the Commissar's deviantart account)


So I had to make LOADS AND LOADS of compromises because I ended up spending too much time on things like having the gems light up. While I did get most of them lit, it's sort of an "all or nothing" deal, so I had to abandon it for v1.

The unabridged writeup that is NSF56k can be found [HERE], but here's the cliff notes:
The armor is made from 6mm and 3mm EVA foam, (hastily and poorly) sealed using TheHeroTutorial's water/glue sealing. The chestpiece is the thicker EVA foam used in floor mats, I got mine from Home Depot.

The Helm pull was a bit wonky because when I did my first smoothcast pour I suddenly realized I hadn't applied any mold release. COMMENCE PANICKED ATTEMPT AT SMOOTHCAST REMOVAL. It also de-seated my mold a little bit, and it didn't seem like much at the time, but it made a big difference when I pulled the helmet. Where I cut the jacket mold was very obvious, luckily those bone-colored foam bits covered up most of it.

The fin on the back was made from 4 layers of polycarbonate that I got from Home Depot It seemed a bit more flexible than acrylic of the same thickness, and I was deathly afraid of having the fin catch on a doorway and snap. In the same vein, I used that clear polycarbonate to make a "solid" shape to prevent it from getting caught on stuff.

I used these PVC connectors from Home Depot to provide uniform spacing between the polycarbonate plates:

I turned the ends of them down on the lathe so the plates would sit on that ridge.

Worked like a charm!

Those protrusions on the solid (not shaped) plate fit into slots cut in the back of the helmet.

The outermost polycarb plate did its job very well: protect while being invisible:

That spear was a real last minute rush job though. It felt like a final exam - QUICK, USE ALL YOU'VE LEARNED TO MAKE A SINGING SPEAR!
-shaped in MDF
-Sealed w/ acrylic spray + primed
-LEGOMOLD
-MORE LEGOMOLD
-Test polyester resin cast
-x2 resin cast (each half)
-Install threaded rod / couplings into dowel so it can be unscrewed like a collapsible pool cue
-Make those decorative tines and secure them with copper pipe hangers

For a rush job, I was okay with the results:

I'm ready to take what I learned from this and make a helmet v2 with the following changes:
-Thinner. I felt the helmet was too wide
-Better method to secure my head inside of it, that fin on the back caused my straps inside to unglue themselves repeatedly. Thank goodness for mass amounts of duct tape. I would want to pursue something similar to what hockey goalie helmets have, that elastic harness and backplate
-Lighter weight fin. It only caught on something once, and since I can't move tremendously fast in the costume due to sight restrictions, I felt it immediately and backed off, so all that polycarb security wasn't worth the weight.
-Detachable fin, might pick up / install a cheaper airsoft rail on the back of it and use that to attach the fin. It'd be secure, easy, and most importantly, I'd be able to put a mess of different TACTICAL ACCESSORIES on there.
-Actually that was meant to be a joke but a carry handle rail attachment would be hella handy.


The rest of it needs updating as well, most of this endured the convention but now I can see what needs to change in order to have it be a bit more hardy.