Jindrax
New Member
Hi there. I've been meaning to post this project of mine on here for a while. I finished it up a little while ago and though I'd share some final and build pictures.
Research/Reference
I pulled some references from Hyrule Historia and was able to snag the 3D model of Zora Armor Link to get some nice references. I really wanted to build this armor after playing through LoZ:Twilight Princess. It's such a unique costume compared to other games in the series that just recolor the original tunic. Though, there are plenty of challenges from this costume. Getting an accurate helm, attaching the tunic pieces, and how to do those flippers.
I started off this costume with no prior experience making anything. The first version used craft foam for the scales. I cut out a bunch of scales, sealed them with glue, and then painted them with spray paint. They were attached to a shirt using velcro. A lot of velcro.... The helm was made out of wonderflex and tried to sculpt to resemble the helm from the game. I used a bit of Apoxie Sculpt for the raised details and painted it with acrylics. I sketched up a few patterns for the tunic pieces and cut them out onto broadcloth. Then used some bias tape on the edges to finish them. I then painted the details on with acrylic paint mixed with fabric painting medium. The gloves, mask, and leggings were stuff I had laying around to use for the costume. I made the bracer using some craft foam and a soccer shin guard. I attached a few dog collars on the bottom and strapped it down to my wrist. I originally made flippers for the costume but they were difficult to walk in for obvious reasons. So I used some left over fabric and made some similarly themed boots instead.
A few v1 WIP pics and a final pic: Zora Armor v1 WIP - Imgur
Though, I thought I could improve the costume a lot more with a bit of time and a few changes. I found about Pepakura and really wanted to make a few things. I wanted to make the clawshot and the helm for the Zora Armor using Pep so that way they would be completely game accurate. I really wanted to redo the scales to something a bit easier to move/breath in and looked a lot nicer. I also wanted to make the Iron Boots to replace my zora boots. So I started building the clawshot and the helm.
I grabbed the 3D model in game of when Link gets the Zora Armor at first and is holding it. I was able to split the helm off and make a pep file. I used fiberglass mat to reinforce the top and rondo to reinforce the ear guard things. I sanded down some of the edges and rebuilt some of the surface on top to make it look a bit more round. The helm attaches to my head with a couple of hard drive magnets and a little bit of velcro.
I pulled the clawshot 3D model from the game and made a pep file from that. I reinforced the majority of the parts with rondo. The little attachment arm that tie the claws to the chassis were made with urethane plastic (I eventually had to reinforce the joint between the claw and the attachment arm with a bit of threaded steel rod.) All of the pieces of the clawshot were united around a frame made up with a square dowel rod I had laying around.
The iron boots were made of a mix of using Pepakura for pattern pieces and a bit of hand shaped wonderflex. The iron bits were made out of floor mats and I used Pepakura to get the patterns for them. The bronze bits were the wonderflex part. I used a bit of hot glue to put them all together then did a bit of painting to weather them a bit and to put all of the runes on them.
After a little while into the build, I was reading about cold casting in some of Volpin Props' projects and wanted to give it a shot. I wasn't sure initially if silicone and cold casting would capture the detail of a mussel shell. Though, luckily I was proven wrong after testing it. So I grabbed some Smoothcast 300Q and some aluminum powder and set off on a cold casting spree. 425 shells later, I finally had enough for the costume. I added a bit of ebony rub n buff to help bring out the edges and polish them up a bit. I removed any excess with steel wool. Each one had three holes drilled in to them and was hand sewn on to a shirt.
Some WIP Photos: Zora Armor v2 WIP - Imgur
After probably 400+ hours of work, I finally finished and went down to A-Kon 24 for a bit of fun.
It was one hell of project. I've learned so much over the entire course of it. I thought I had a bit more WIP pics to show but I can't find them at the moment. I'll have to post them some other time. If you want to what other costume and prop shenanigans I get into, I usually post more often on facebook. http://facebook.com/jindraxsis
Research/Reference
I pulled some references from Hyrule Historia and was able to snag the 3D model of Zora Armor Link to get some nice references. I really wanted to build this armor after playing through LoZ:Twilight Princess. It's such a unique costume compared to other games in the series that just recolor the original tunic. Though, there are plenty of challenges from this costume. Getting an accurate helm, attaching the tunic pieces, and how to do those flippers.
I started off this costume with no prior experience making anything. The first version used craft foam for the scales. I cut out a bunch of scales, sealed them with glue, and then painted them with spray paint. They were attached to a shirt using velcro. A lot of velcro.... The helm was made out of wonderflex and tried to sculpt to resemble the helm from the game. I used a bit of Apoxie Sculpt for the raised details and painted it with acrylics. I sketched up a few patterns for the tunic pieces and cut them out onto broadcloth. Then used some bias tape on the edges to finish them. I then painted the details on with acrylic paint mixed with fabric painting medium. The gloves, mask, and leggings were stuff I had laying around to use for the costume. I made the bracer using some craft foam and a soccer shin guard. I attached a few dog collars on the bottom and strapped it down to my wrist. I originally made flippers for the costume but they were difficult to walk in for obvious reasons. So I used some left over fabric and made some similarly themed boots instead.
A few v1 WIP pics and a final pic: Zora Armor v1 WIP - Imgur
Though, I thought I could improve the costume a lot more with a bit of time and a few changes. I found about Pepakura and really wanted to make a few things. I wanted to make the clawshot and the helm for the Zora Armor using Pep so that way they would be completely game accurate. I really wanted to redo the scales to something a bit easier to move/breath in and looked a lot nicer. I also wanted to make the Iron Boots to replace my zora boots. So I started building the clawshot and the helm.
I grabbed the 3D model in game of when Link gets the Zora Armor at first and is holding it. I was able to split the helm off and make a pep file. I used fiberglass mat to reinforce the top and rondo to reinforce the ear guard things. I sanded down some of the edges and rebuilt some of the surface on top to make it look a bit more round. The helm attaches to my head with a couple of hard drive magnets and a little bit of velcro.
I pulled the clawshot 3D model from the game and made a pep file from that. I reinforced the majority of the parts with rondo. The little attachment arm that tie the claws to the chassis were made with urethane plastic (I eventually had to reinforce the joint between the claw and the attachment arm with a bit of threaded steel rod.) All of the pieces of the clawshot were united around a frame made up with a square dowel rod I had laying around.
The iron boots were made of a mix of using Pepakura for pattern pieces and a bit of hand shaped wonderflex. The iron bits were made out of floor mats and I used Pepakura to get the patterns for them. The bronze bits were the wonderflex part. I used a bit of hot glue to put them all together then did a bit of painting to weather them a bit and to put all of the runes on them.
After a little while into the build, I was reading about cold casting in some of Volpin Props' projects and wanted to give it a shot. I wasn't sure initially if silicone and cold casting would capture the detail of a mussel shell. Though, luckily I was proven wrong after testing it. So I grabbed some Smoothcast 300Q and some aluminum powder and set off on a cold casting spree. 425 shells later, I finally had enough for the costume. I added a bit of ebony rub n buff to help bring out the edges and polish them up a bit. I removed any excess with steel wool. Each one had three holes drilled in to them and was hand sewn on to a shirt.
Some WIP Photos: Zora Armor v2 WIP - Imgur
After probably 400+ hours of work, I finally finished and went down to A-Kon 24 for a bit of fun.
It was one hell of project. I've learned so much over the entire course of it. I thought I had a bit more WIP pics to show but I can't find them at the moment. I'll have to post them some other time. If you want to what other costume and prop shenanigans I get into, I usually post more often on facebook. http://facebook.com/jindraxsis
Last edited:
