Big Sister: BioShock 2

[Loess]

Well, I can't think of any clever things to lead into this with, but I figured that I should put up a thread for what my fiance and I have been working on for the last while.



We've been building her a Big Sister costume from BioShock 2. (Finally got her interested in costuming:love)

We started with an inflatable play ball, and paper mache'd over that, then covered the paper with fiberglass and bondo.


The chest armor mantle started out as cardboard that we fitted over her shoulders, and covered with fiberglass.


After the first round of fiberglass work on the helm and mantle was finished, we broke out the MDF and made some mating flanges. A bit of pink insulation foam to shape the back, and some expanding foam to fill in gaps under the flange, and the mantle is ready to be shaped and glassed.



The air tank started out as some more pink foam, and a cardboard concrete former. We added some MDF to it, and really dressed it up.


Remember when I said that the mantle was ready to shape?


This was the first time that we had most of the rough shaping done, and could see what the helm, mantle, and tank would look like together.


That's probably enough pics for one post, but there's a couple more months of progress to get through. (soo many pics to sort and post...:wacko)

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

I just saw the action figure for this character, looking good so far.

 

[Tyger Cheex]

you might find this of some interest:

http://kotaku.com/5476129/cross+dressing-bioshock-2-cosplay

Great work so far, look forward to seeing the finished article!

Be sure to check the video out!

 

[KevVader]

^Pretty sure that guy is a member here who recently sold off his Big Daddy costume....no?

Either way, very cool...and great work by the OP...love Bioshock!

 

[division 6]

Make sure to add vent holes with fans and a sound system so she can breath and speak.
A cheap sound pickup will help her to hear people around her as well.
I use one with my Fett and it's almost like I don't have a helmet on.

 

[CB2001]

Great job. This is the second most impressive "Bioshock" related project I've seen chronologically meaning (the first impressive one I've seen is in a YouTube video

 

[Project jam]

Best of luck, was gonna link the bleep bloop video but it's been done already

 

[Loess]

Thanks, guys! Hadn't seen the College Humor vid before, but Volpin's suit has been a big inspiration to us. We wound up 'borrowing' some ideas from him.

Get ready for another big content drop... there's still a lot to go to catch up to where we're at.

The big handwheel for the top of the tank started as a ring of MDF, and some plywood strips. A bit of time on the bandsaw and belt sander, and some chisel work got it to look pretty good.


Another MDF ring became the flange for the porthole on the helm.


After the mockup of the helm greeblies, we took a dremel to the helm and cut all the portholes.


The shield for the left arm began as a cardboard template and pink foam, which I carved to shape.


After getting all that pink foam carved and sealed, we got to work 'glassing all those parts, and smoothing them with body filler.


We added MDF strips to the tank on each side of the flanges, and finished up the handwheel, so the tank is currently ready for a last bit of filler and paint.


My fiance drew out all the panel lines and details to build up on the helm around the ports, which she'll do with Das clay as soon as I finish the 'tophat' port.


The dive weight is ready for paint too.


The last big thing that we've gotten done is the straps for the leg braces, which we cut out of veg-tan leather and dyed to match the leather that we got to make her corset and shorts.


As it stands now, we've got the left shoulder built up from foam and carved, but no pics of it except the glued-up blank.

We need to do the steel work for the leg braces, arms, and back plate. The helm needs a bit more work, the left arm needs a bunch of work (and I still can't find any decent references of the final version of the needle-lance thing) the right arm isn't even started, but shouldn't be especially difficult. We need to make the corset and shorts, but we're not too worried about those. If we can resist the urge to take a few lazy weekends, we should have this done for the end of April....

I hope.

 

[Project jam]

It's looking awesome! I will definitely be following this build

 

[Bizarro Lois]

I have to say that I'm very happy to see people working on Bioshock costumes, especially the Big Sister and that guy who did the Big Daddy. Your progress looks good so far.

 

[Cleverlilminx]

Looking good so far, can't wait to see it when it's done!

 

[Volpin]

^Pretty sure that guy is a member here who recently sold off his Big Daddy costume....no?

Either way, very cool...and great work by the OP...love Bioshock!

Actually, that was me. The Big Sister at the GA Aquarium was a collaboration between ~10 Atlanta prop/costume makers. Really well done.

I worked in a lot of the same materials for my Big Daddy - foam, fiberglass, etc. I would recommend not using so much MDF though, that thing is going to get heavy really quick! I only used 'glass, foam, and some resin and mine was ~60lbs all together. Make sure you're comfortable!

My build log on the project if it can offer any help:

http://volpinprops.blogspot.com/2009/09/big-daddy-bioshock.html

 

[Loess]

http://volpinprops.blogspot.com/2009/09/big-daddy-bioshock.html[/url]

Thankfully, the MDF pieces that are already there should be the only ones that we need. And, we cheated and cut out any parts that we didn't absolutely need to lighten this up. I think that what will save us is that we have so much less hard armor than you had to wear.

(BTY, your build log was fantastically helpful. I've read it at least three times, and used it more than once to show my fiance examples when I was planning this out with her.)

Make sure to add vent holes with fans and a sound system so she can breath and speak.
A cheap sound pickup will help her to hear people around her as well.
I use one with my Fett and it's almost like I don't have a helmet on.

Forgot to include a reply to this in my last post, we're planning on using the tophat as a housing for an exhaust fan, and hiding air intakes in the bottom ports. I've been thinking of hacking a pair of cheap active hearing protector earmuffs so that she can hear out of the helm.

Thanks everyone for the warm reception to this, it's my fiance's first big project like this, and she's really been enjoying building it. (I think she's got the costuming bug now.)

 

[obiwan2]

Costuming bug?? Uh, oh, it's the beginning of the end! :lol Just kidding

This is a very ambitious project and is coming along really well! Please keep us updated

 

[Bizarro Lois]

Don't forget to tie the pink ribbons on her!

 

[Loess]

Don't forget to tie the pink ribbons on her!

Absolutely!

 

[AaronLee]

My favorite part of the costume were the doodles on the helmet/tank

 

[Lab604]

First off wanted to say great work so far, Looks like its really coming together.

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I was one of the people on the college humor Big sister project. I would just like to correct a misconception that there were 10 people working 24/7 on this project for 10 days. There was actually a total of 13 people who lent a hand, and everyone was given credit no matter how much or how little they did. As well as for the first 2/3 of the project it was Nathan, Riddle (HimeArts.com) and myself (Lab604.com). In no way do I want to take away from the rest of the teams work, because without them it wouldn’t have gotten done.

 

[division 6]

Impressive work and a well done to all involved.thumbsup

Make sure to add some air vent's for the wearer as an upgrade.
Having worn a 3PO a few times I know those things get stuffy.

D6

 

[Alienate]

Make sure to add some air vent's for the wearer as an upgrade.

Absofrickinglutely. You will start to hyperventilate within a few minutes otherwise.

When I wore the Big Sister suit for the aquarium shoot, I scrapped the install of the helmet exhaust fans (one intake in the top large tube, one outtake toward the bottom) to save the weight of the batteries and mess of the wires in the time crunch. Strongly advise against this

The sound was actually pretty good inside, I could hear people speaking to me just fine, though they couldn't hear me as well, so an external speaker might not be a bad idea. That was our particular helmet though, yours will likely have different acoustics.

How are you planning on harnessing the helmet? Be careful with weight.

Looking great so far, good luck!

Nathan

PS: the best reference I found was the toy.