DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (FINISHED)

[hmoney143]

I have decided to make Raditz costume from DBZ

I started off with the armor.
First I drew up some concept pictures.

I mocked up some patterns for the base torso using my duck tape mannequin and cut them out using 1/2 in foam floor mats.

Now for the shoulder pads, I started by sketching up some patterns and cut them out in foam.
The shoulder pads have an egg shape to them so I heated the foam up with my heat gun and bent it over a football.
Before shaping

and after shaping and gluing

I then added a few pieces of foam to even out the armor and give it a shape I was happier with
Here is the result

Then I layered 2mm EVA foam over it for the stripes on the shoulder pads.

Next I'll begin finishing the torso piece.

 

[hmoney143]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

Here is the progress!
I layered the torso with 2mm foam to give it the details.

Then wrapped 5mm foam in 2mm foam for the tubing that lines the armor, here is a sample.

Then I attached it to the torso.

Here is what it looks like with the shoulder pads sitting on top.

I contined the lining process with she shoulder pads, abs and waist lining. then I attached the shoulder pads

A big thanks to STEALTH who gave me some good advice about forming the chest piece to make it look rounded, 30 minutes of heat forming later this is the result

I think I'll spend some more time heat forming but I'm happy with the progress so far, next I'll get started on the hip and groin flaps.

 

[hmoney143]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

Hip and groin flaps done!
I used 1/2in thick foam for the flaps

I used a heat gun to give them a rounded shape, then added strips of foam and tubing on the outside using the same method as described above.

And used Velcro to attach them to the bottom of the armor


I still need to fix a few imperfections but it's almost time to paint!

 

[Logermeister]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

Good stuff! What are your plans for the essential mane?

 

[springsteel]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

This looks awesome!

 

[hmoney143]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

Good stuff! What are your plans for the essential mane?

I think I'll buy an extremely long wig and experiment with cutting and styling it, I had some experience with wigs when I made my Gary Oak wig but haven't done anything like this. Haha I will cross that bridge when I come to it!

This looks awesome!

Thanks Spring!


As of now the armor is about half way done painting and should be ready in the next couple days. I've started work on the gauntlets and will start working on the boots soon!

 

[DWVinny]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

Looks great so far! Not sure how screen accurate you are looking to get with this but.. One thing I noticed when making armor for my son. Is almost all screen shots of this type of armor have 6 ribs on the belly section, and 7 on the shoulder pads.
I believe the pic you posted is fan art. Heres one from the show.

 

[kialna]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

To be honest, I wonder how consistent they are with drawing those things.

 

[DWVinny]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

Its pretty consistent, even with the toys

 

[kialna]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

Now I'm really curious about cell's spots....

 

[Alpha Proto]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

Good work!
DBZ armor is what got me into using foam.

 

[hmoney143]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

Looks great so far! Not sure how screen accurate you are looking to get with this but.. One thing I noticed when making armor for my son. Is almost all screen shots of this type of armor have 6 ribs on the belly section, and 7 on the shoulder pads.
I believe the pic you posted is fan art. Heres one from the show.
View attachment 551340

Thanks! I actually looked into the whole number of strips and tried to keep it true to the anime ( its what I watched to get pumped for this build haha) but I noticed that something didn't look quite right when I translated it to the armor, maybe its a mistake I made in measuring the base of the armor. in my personal opinion it looked better with every strip being the same width.
Thanks for the advice!

 

[DWVinny]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

On my sons armor I probably got more into trying to be exact than was necessary. Honestly.. In all my measuring and resizing It turned out that the width of 6 stripes on his, came out to be roughly 1 and 1/8 inches. Exactly the width of my yard stick LOL so I just traced that with a razor blade LOL The strips themself were made from foam toolbox drawer liner. spaced ever so slightly apart. If I had more time I would have been more particular with it. Giving them more of a "bubbled" look instead of glued flat.. But start to finish I only had about 10 total hours to put into it.. Even still it looks pretty good imo.

 

[George]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

Hmoney,thank you for sharing this build with us ! I love DB and DBZ,and in my humble opinion I would say that not enough builds are being made revolving around these series.
For an alternative armor design I would like to refer to JfCustom's foam files,page 18,posting #7 (Saiyan armor by Dancin' Fool).This may be of use to you for possible other builds :cool

 

[DWVinny]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

Ill add that, I like that you made the chest piece sit on top of the lower portion. Something I had wanted to do but didnt based on time.. I think doing that gives it much more of a realistic feel.

 

[hmoney143]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

Thanks for the support everyone! I will hopefully get this bad boy painted and finished this weekend!

 

[Freemananana]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

I sure did love DBZ back in the day. Glad to see someone cosplaying a non-main character. Raditz was a great character! This suit looks pretty awesome. Painted this weekend you say? I'll look forward to that update. How are you sealing and painting the foam? Different methods have always interested me.

 

[hmoney143]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

Quick update!
Between the terrible weather and a few mistakes I've made, I have not completed painting the armor. I used masking tape that must have been to strong Because it peeled a lot of the plastidip on the armor, I've been working like crazy to fix the mistake but it still has a long way to go.
Now for the good news, I have completed the hip and groin flaps.

The one on the right is before weathering and the left is after. The armor isn't necessarily dirty in the Anime but I personally think the weathered look is much better and gives it a sense of realism.
Hopefully I will make some progress on the rest of the armor this week!
Now for the gauntlets
I mocked up a quick pattern and sewed them together using some extra black pleather.

Then I made tubing using the same method from the armor and attached it using contact cement.

I still need to add the piece between the thumb and index finger and then add the rope like piece around the wrist.

 

[hmoney143]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

Here is the armor 95% done.

I still need to touch up a few more details and seal the whole thing but I'm happy with the result so far. Once its done I'll take some pictures in better lighting haha.

 

[hmoney143]

Re: DBZ Saiyan armor Raditz (WIP)

Putting the finishing touches on the armor today