Attaching styrene to fabric

[Cole Dockery]

The batman 2021 trailer git me excited so im planning to make a batsuit using both soft and hard armor using peltex and styrene respectively. So im curious what are some ways to attach styrene to fabric. (Underneath are some rough concepts for the look im going for)

 

[BrundelFly]

Fabric TAC

 

[division 6]

Velcro.
2" wide industrial self stick and super glue (on the edges) on the plastic, sewn on the fabric.

 

[Cole Dockery]

Fabric TAC

Would loctite work aswell

 

[Gerard2567]

What type of styrene by any chance?

Certain plastic requires specific glues for best adhesion.

Typically it's hard to get a long-lasting attachment with plastic to fabric.

You can use contact cement which is generally the industrial standard in the costuming department, but you can also use snap fasteners or as others have said, velcro.

Typically you would design a webbing (Like a vest of straps) and mount the plates onto the webbing.

Also, if you intend to wear the fabric, I would not use superglue. It hardens the fabric acting like how fibreglass matting is to resin. It hurts and stabs at your skin.

 

[JoshBot]

For am embellishing project I actually used Plastruct Plastic Weld to melt some styrene and make a kind of paste that I saturated the fabric with. I then clamped the styrene parts to the front with a little dime-sized circle of styrene on the back and let it set. Worked well, though it was only worn once, and only for an hour or so. I can not speak to the longevity of this solution.

 

[asavage]

This method is actually how the one real stormtrooper suit I witnessed firsthand was built. All the strapping was attached using a weldbond/styrene slurry that bonded the web to the armor parts. I've never tried it but it looked to me to be damn near permanent.

 

[APOLLO IND]

I would highly suggest using EVA foam instead of styrene, for flexibility and durability purposes, and using a heat gun to seal your foam prior to fabric attachment. After that paint a layer of contact cement over your foam to give your fabric a strong hold. Also if you want it to have that hard but fabric look and feel you can also use a matte mod-podge over the fabric to finish it off.