Batman DE: My first costume build Completed (Pix Pg 2)

[Spidey74]

Hi Folks!

I've been reading posts on the RPF for several months now. Reading and learning about all of the creative and innovative costume building. I've been intrigued ever sense and have been inspired by many people on this forum. I wouldn't say that I'm a creative person but I decided that I would try my hand at building a suit. There were many suits that I considered doing including Spidey, Cap, and the bat. In the end I decided that I would do Batman, one of my favorite characters, but in the style of Sandy Collora's Dead End Batman. Also, it had elements that seemed achievable and not entirely out of my ability.

So here's the basic outline of how I plan to build this suit.

Cowl: Dead End Cowl (Reevz666)
Compression Suit: White Under Armour dyed Grey
Shorts: Black Lycra
Boots: Gotham 100's until I can afford an upgrade
Belt: Black military ammo belt - 10 pouch
Emblem: Either acrylic fabric paint, latex, or urethane
Buckle: Scratch build based on Dead End style
Cape: Another Scratch build using satin and latex
Gloves: Basic motor cycle gloves
Gauntlets: Foam/Plastic scratch build

A few shout outs to the kind people on this forum that have been so helpful and informative: Batiman, BatTexan, and Reevz666. I wouldn't be this far along without their help.

So let's get to it. I actually started planning at the end of Sept, figuring I might have enough time to complete this before Halloween. I've already ordered the Dead End cowl from Reevz666 and I'm totally stoked. Can't wait to get it. I've got the under armour gear, black lycra shorts, a pair of the Gotham 100s, and a black 10 pouch military ammo belt on the way.

I ordered up white under armour compression gear because the heather grey just didn't seem right, and it's what was used in BDE. I used regular Rit dye, applying several applications, and the base suit came out pretty good. Here's how it looks so far.
Before:
View attachment 70758
After:
View attachment 70759

Next I've order the belt but started on a buckle based on the Dead End style, but it won't be accurate. I'm going to modify it to be smaller since I'm not as big as Clark Bartram I'm going to make it from modeling clay, silicone mold, then cast a black resin plastic version. Here's the model so far:
View attachment 70760

I've got way more thoughts to add but I'm short of time. I'll post back later on the emblem and cape builds.

Cheers,
Craig

 

[Magnetizingprop]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

Can't wait bro!

 

[AdamL]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

That bodysuit looks SICK! Looking forward to your build.

 

[chicoperdido815]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

Looking great so far!

 

[GBrittelleJr]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

That is a great start! I didn't know compression gear could be dyed. Good info.

 

[TaylorMcManus]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

Can't wait to see how it turns out, I love the Dead End costume!

 

[Senfa]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

Good luck, looking forward to seeing how it turns out

 

[Spidey74]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

Thanks everyone for the encouragement!

So I finally got the mold completed last night. It was cast using Shore 30A silicone. I'll be working on the first cast this week. I'll post some pics once it's ready. Here's the silicone mold:
View attachment 70790View attachment 70791

Next I'll be working on the emblem.

 

[menore]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

Looking great mate.

 

[brulafu]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

Good work dude !

 

[Spidey74]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

So I've spent a lot of time researching the possibilities of putting the bat emblem on the shirt. I feel like I've learned a lot in a short time and I'd like to share it with everyone.

As Batiman informed me, the original suit was screen printed professionally. Of course my initial plan was to get the shirt screen printed. Turns out that it's not so simple.

First off, screen printing usually works best on organic like cotton or some cotton blend. Poly cotton is best but Poly will work too. The cost is crazy expensive too since most printing places only take large bulk orders. So that leaves a few options. Use a home-made silk screen kit and do it my self, which I don't have time for. There is also the vinyl cad-cut which can look like a screen print. I've not found anyone willing to take it on. The basic message has been that Nylon and 100% Polyester shirts will scorch in the heating process and cause the shirt to shrink. So I still had no good options to farm out this part of the costume.

So I started thinking about other options that may be easier for me to do myself. What I thought of was:

• pleather or leather glued or sewn on
• black latex applied directly using a stencil
• black acrylic fabric paint
• sculpt the emblem and cast it in black latex

So each of these ideas sound good but have challenges too. The leather logo may not have the right look and won't stretch with the shirt. Putting latex directly on the shirt solves the bonding issue, but the stencil may be tricky to get right after each layer and bleeding could be an issue. Acrylic paint may not stretch with the shirt and possibly have the wrong finish (too shiny). The sculpt can be done but I'm not very good so the texture would be uneven and imperfect, also I'm not sure if latex can be cast in a mold, and there's the challenge of the bond to the shirt.

So I'm going to test all four of the options to see what works best. However, I am leaning towards the last option because I think it has some cool potential even though it may be the more difficult of the options.

I'm open to other ideas or your thoughts on which way I should go.

 

[BatTexan]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

Nice start! Sounds like you've done your homework.:thumbsup

One more option you might consider for the bat is to mold the sculpt in silicone and cast it in tinted urethane. It's how I did my Arkham Asylum bat. Since silicone will copy the surface finish perfectly, you could use Krylon matte acrylic spray on the sculpt so it's not shiny. If you're interested, I've got wip pix of my bat I can email you, just let me know.

 

[weaponx82]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

A few years back I did a Batman Dead End inspired costume and the bat emblem was one of the bigger challenges for me. What I found worked best on under armour was a stencil and fabric paint. It's been five years and it's still held on great. The fabric paint I used moves and stretches with the under armour great.

If you do go this way, be extra careful when brushing around the edge of the stencil. It can be a challenge to get a clean line even with the stencil. I'd recommend doing some practice on a throw away piece first.

The flash on my phone washes it out a bit but it is a good solid black. This pic was just taken now. Five years after I did the work. I just played with it and it still stretches and moves great with the fabric. Not a single stress or crack mark in the bat logo. The bottle of fabric paint in the shot is the paint I used.

Good luck!

 

[weaponx82]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

If you can figure out a way on how to get rid of the under armour logo on the thigh, without damaging the fabric, let me know.

 

[Graphic Jordan]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

Weapon X I bought the exact same black for my bat suit...

How did you stencil it on.. I assume you had the shirt on your body and had someone else do it? Otherwise if you did it lying flat it would warp when your body stretches the compression shirt out. No?

 

[Spidey74]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

Nice start! Sounds like you've done your homework.:thumbsup

One more option you might consider for the bat is to mold the sculpt in silicone and cast it in tinted urethane. It's how I did my Arkham Asylum bat. Since silicone will copy the surface finish perfectly, you could use Krylon matte acrylic spray on the sculpt so it's not shiny. If you're interested, I've got wip pix of my bat I can email you, just let me know.

Thanks BatTexan!

I've seen one of your Arkham bats in another post, which gave me the idea. Thanks for the advice. I was thinking that urethane might be too heavy or thick in comparison to latex. Can latex be used in a silicone mold?

 

[Spidey74]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

A few years back I did a Batman Dead End inspired costume and the bat emblem was one of the bigger challenges for me. What I found worked best on under armour was a stencil and fabric paint. It's been five years and it's still held on great. The fabric paint I used moves and stretches with the under armour great.

If you do go this way, be extra careful when brushing around the edge of the stencil. It can be a challenge to get a clean line even with the stencil. I'd recommend doing some practice on a throw away piece first.

The flash on my phone washes it out a bit but it is a good solid black. This pic was just taken now. Five years after I did the work. I just played with it and it still stretches and moves great with the fabric. Not a single stress or crack mark in the bat logo. The bottle of fabric paint in the shot is the paint I used.

Good luck!

Thanks for the tip weaponx82. I bought basic acrylic paint and fabric medium to mix with it. Of course that leaves it to me to mess up the mix. I like the idea of the textile fabric paint that I don't have to mix. I'll checkout the local art store for that, although they did help me pick out the acrylic paint I have now.

Also, what did you use for the stencil? I was planning to use something thin like construction board or maybe a transparency.

 

[BatTexan]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

Thanks BatTexan!

I've seen one of your Arkham bats in another post, which gave me the idea. Thanks for the advice. I was thinking that urethane might be too heavy or thick in comparison to latex. Can latex be used in a silicone mold?

If you're talking 1/4" or less thickness for your bat, I don't think there's much weight difference between latex and urethane. You can use latex in a silicone mold, but you'd have to brush in many thin coats, letting each coat drying before brushing the next one. It could take quite awhile to build up a decent thickness. With urethane, you just mix it, pour it and leave it alone until it's cured.

I gotta say, weaponx82, you did a damn fine job with that bat!:thumbsup

 

[weaponx82]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

....How did you stencil it on.. I assume you had the shirt on your body and had someone else do it? Otherwise if you did it lying flat it would warp when your body stretches the compression shirt out. No?

...Also, what did you use for the stencil? I was planning to use something thin like construction board or maybe a transparency.

I don't know the proper name for the material I used as a stencil but it was basically a very thin plastic much like a transparency. I'd recommend something like this or a thin sheet of styrene over construction board. Though highly unlikely, I'd be concerned about the construction board soaking up the fabric paint and bleeding through to the other side.

When I stenciled it, I just laid the compression shirt down squarely on a flat surface and made sure my stencil was centered. True it did stretch the bat emblem when put on but it wasn't a noticeable/bad distortion. It didn't look like a 'fat bat' or anything like that.

 

[Graphic Jordan]

Re: Batman: My first costume build (WIP)

How many coats of the Lumiere paint did you have to apply? I've used this brand on my girlfriends WW build.. and I had to do a few coats for best coverage. How does this work with a stencil... as the stencil would have to be still between each coat.

Did you use a temp adhesive to hold the stencil in place when you painted it in? Did you use a foam brush?