Batman costume - Halloween 2014

[third3ye]

Looking good! But I must warn you, at bar contests, sexy nurses, or sexy anything usually beat awesome original costumes due to drunk guys liking the ladies :-(

+1, don't count on that prize money, you're just setting yourself up for disappointment. Skanky and playing to the crowd always wins at these bar contests. You can show up in a fully functional real Iron Man suit made by Tony Stark himself, and still lose to a sexy nurse :facepalm

Build the suit for the pleasure of the hobby and the fun of wearing it out.

 

[DarthStevenus]

I actually know the people who run the contest, since they also do trivia there every Thursday, which my friends and I went to religiously. When they were picking the winner they went by each contestant and asked everyone to make some noise if they liked their costume, but they have the final say who wins. And the winner last year wasn't actually a sexy nurse or maid, it was the one girl who actually made a costume. It didn't look like it took a lot of work. She had covered herself in beads and glowsticks, painted her face like a skull (think dia de los muertos), and put on a wig and top hat. She didn't even have an answer when they asked her what she was supposed to be. But you're right, I'll try not to get my hopes up. I was doing this more for the experience anyway. I've always wanted an awesome Batman costume.

Also, got a little more modeling done. Behold, Mutton Chop Batman!

 

[DarthStevenus]

Now we're talking. The base mesh is basically done, now to start smoothing things out and adding details.

 

[DarthStevenus]

I spent some time reshaping the ears this morning, since they curved inwards and forwards a bit too much. Do these shots look better?

 

[DarthStevenus]

Okay, three more pictures, then I swear I'm going to take a break from posting here for a while. I got the second part of the cowl modeled, the part that covers the back of the head.

The back part of the cowl
Inside view of the front part
Perspective shot of both pieces

 

[DarthStevenus]

I went out to Walmart today and bought 4 of these small pet collars. I'm going to use the mini parachute buckles that come on them for the straps that will hold my two cowl pieces together. I'm going to get some stretchy nylon instead of the straps that they came on. I think it's going to look something like this.

 

[Albuin]

I really like what you did for the belt, very creativ

 

[DarthStevenus]

Okay, so my model is far enough along that I want to open it up in Pepakura and make myself a test cowl and see how it all works out. Problem is, Pepakura may be the most unwieldy piece of software I've ever used, and there doesn't seem to be a good, comprehensive, step-by-step guide anywhere out there. There's lots of FAQs, but no guides. When I import my model from .obj format into Pepakura, some of the faces are flipped incorrectly and there seems to be no way to flip them manually. I can't edit my open edges, and there's a big red seam where there shouldn't be one.

 

[DarthStevenus]

So I messed around with Pepakura for a good long while, and I finally got everything unwrapped in a semi-logical manner. I just put together a prototype of my cowl. Some pictures.

Cowl pic 1
Cowl pic 2
Cowl pic 3

I'm going to have to tweak a few parts of the model, which I expected. The point of the chin needs to turn up more and not point straight out as much, the whole model needs to be scaled so it's not so narrow, and the nose needs to be pushed in and up a bit. But those are all relatively simple fixes, which I should probably get done today.

 

[AnAgedNerd]

I went out to Walmart today and bought 4 of these small pet collars. I'm going to use the mini parachute buckles that come on them for the straps that will hold my two cowl pieces together. I'm going to get some stretchy nylon instead of the straps that they came on. I think it's going to look something like this.

Very cool idea. I bought a collar making kit from Amazon, without even thinking that I was going to need a sewing machine, which I don't have - dumb on my part, but I will hold it til I teach myself to sew. In the meantime, I was going to roll to Wal-Mart and grab a bunch of these collars in varying sizes to use all around my Deathstroke costume to secure pads, armor pieces, etc. Best part is that, if I ruin them, they're cheap to replace. I also grabbed some Velcro brand cable wraps - they're small, but my gods, they hold fast when you attach them. Good stuff.

 

[DarthStevenus]

Yeah, Wal-Mart has all kinds of sizes for those pet collars. If you're just after parachute buckles you can usually find them in craft or sewing stores along with fabric to go with them.

 

[Billzebub]

If you want a cheaper source of pet collars (and probably even cheaper than fabric store buckles) - try Big Lots

 

[DarthStevenus]

Tweaked some parts of the model and printed out another one. This one was a tad too big. It's funny, without the ears it looks more like a Hawk Girl helmet or something.

No ears
Ears

Also, looking at the pictures now, it kind of looks like I'm wearing lipstick.

 

[DarthStevenus]

I've decided that I'm going to use those interlocking EVA foam mats to make the armor for my suit, with some sintra here and there for certain pieces. I did some quick sketches while looking at all kinds of protective gear and other batsuits, and once I drew something I liked I made a quick 3D model to see how it looks. Here's a pic of what I have so far.

Chest armor

I'm going to alternate pieces between the flat finish of the foam mats, and the textured finish. Kind of like what people have been doing with their Mass Effect N7 armor. The stuff I highlighted here in red will be textured, the blue pieces will be flat. I'm thinking the bat symbol on the chest will be sintra.

EDIT: Here's the texture I'm talking about on the Mass Effect suit.

 

[DarthStevenus]

So I'm done with classes for the semester, and I just got a bunch of supplies I've needed for my costume: a big sheet of sintra, some of those foam mats, and a heat gun. I've changed up the design of the chest from what I posted before, I didn't really like the look of it. And I'll probably still be designing it for some time. But I have been tweaking the cowl here and there, and I've finally narrowed down what scale it needs to be when I print the pep files. I made one yesterday and it fits pretty well to my face, aside from the nose area which I'm still working on. The 3D model for the back piece of the cowl needs work, it not round enough, but I think the front piece is almost done.

Ignore the hideous wallpaper in the background.

 

[DarthStevenus]

So I finally pulled the trigger and started cutting out my chest armor from foam. I also cut out the bat symbol from my big sheet of sintra. I still have to clean the edges, glue the pieces together, and shape everything with the heat gun, but I'm pretty satisfied with it so far.

Here it is.

Sorry I can't post the pictures directly. I keep getting a message, "this GIF image has the incorrect file extension", even thought the image isn't even a gif. Gifs aren't the only file type you can post on here right? I swear I posted a jpg or png once no problem.

EDIT: A slight update. Switched things around a bit to make it look more interesting.

 

[DarthStevenus]

Just got the chest armor molded with the heat gun, and hot glued some of the pieces together.

Before gluing

Checking the size/proportions

 

[DarthStevenus]

Got a pretty big update. I've been on summer break for a while and that means I've had lots more time to work on my Batman costume. I've mainly been focusing on the cowl, but I've also started working on the gauntlets. So, here are some pictures of what I've done in the last week or so. First I made my final pep of the cowl and marked the holes where the straps will go.

These are for the elastic straps at the top of the cowl

Holes for the smaller straps with the buckles

Started fiberglassing the pieces

Showing the straps at the top (after finished fiberglassing)

Showing the straps on the side (I'm also wearing this hood from Henderson, which I would recommend BTW)

Doing my best to look intimidating, but really just looking like I need to take a dump

First coat of Bondo on the back piece of the cowl (put way too much on and had to sand for a straight hour by hand)

After sanding the first coat

After applying and sanding the second coat of Bondo

Sprayed on some primer to make it easier to see what needs to be filled in with glazing/spot putty


And that's about as far as I got on the cowl. I applied a little bit of glazing/spot putty, but I didn't take a picture of that. While waiting for the resin/Bondo/primer/whatever to dry I tried to get some work done on the gauntlets. I shaped them with a heat gun to make them wrap more tightly around my arm, then I sprayed them with some black satin Krylon fusion. I also ordered some carbon fiber vinyl which I placed under the hard plastic and over the padding underneath. I think it looks pretty cool. And finally I cut the fins out of sintra, beveled the edges with my dremel, then painted them silver.

One set of fins

Showing off the carbon fiber vinyl

A better picture of the finish of the gauntlets

I'm still not sure how I'm going to attach the blades to the gauntlets. I don't like the idea of just gluing them on, since I'd really just be gluing them onto paint which might chip off. I was thinking of maybe cutting slits into the plastic piece of the gauntlets and pushing the fins up through them, after gluing a square, flat piece of sintra onto the bottom of each fin so it doesn't go all the way through. If that makes sense. I don't really like the idea of cutting holes in my nice gauntlets, but I can always fill them with bondo or something if it doesn't work out.

EDIT: Here's a picture of the fins cheaply duct taped to the gauntlets (before painting), just to give you all an idea of what it will look like.

 

[DarthStevenus]

Made progress on the gauntlets today. I cut out some small pieces of sintra and mounted the fins onto them with super glue. Then I cut slits in the plastic part of my gauntlets with a hot knife and slid the fins up through the holes. They fit really nicely, now I just need to figure out how I want to clean up the edges of the holes. I'll probably end up using bondo. Anyway, pictures.

Here are the fins superglued to the other pieces of sintra

After cutting the holes with the hot knife

Sliding the blades through

Showing the inside

After putting the carbon fiber and padding back on

And a few shots of the gauntlets on my arm

 

[The14thDr]

Looks great so far! I checked out a couple of your fanfilms and they look cool. If you wanted, I could give you some designs to make a real working grapnel for free. I'll post the designs on my Batsuit thread as soon as it's complete. Subscribed!