Dead Space Level 3 Engineer

[HollowPoint13]

Alright, so I've been tossing around the possibility of making this costume for quite awhile. Recently I've been getting back into the Dead Space game and with the new one coming out on the 25th, I'm going to (finally) start on making this costume. I'm new here, so I hope that I get some feedback and ideas for this.

I'm not as skilled with materials as alot of the members on this site are and I'll be working with materials that I've never worked with before, so any advice is welcomed. This is my first (what I consider) major project. I've worked on a few extremely low budget horror films, but that's the extent of it.

I'm going to be updating this as the weeks go on. My deadline is having this thing finished by May 15th at the latest. Anyway, here's what I have so far...

Okay, so far, I have some ideas for materials, mainly for the helmet.

For the front of the helmet, I plan on making the curved strips across the face out of (white) craft foam. Behind it, I will add the aluminum wire mesh to support the bend of the foam across the front. If the strips and detail pieces aren't thick enough to my liking, I can always just add layers, gluing them together. I don't see why this wouldn't work...

As far as the protruding little pieces on the front (and anywhere else on the helmet), I plan on making those pieces out of polystyrene board.

With the back of the helmet, I'm thinking maybe a skate helmet will do the trick. I'll take out the padding foam inside of it so it will sit lower on the head. I noticed that most of these helmets have vent holes in them on the top, which I could use a type of bondo to cover. I can shape the helmet with the polystyrene and/or foam.

Most (if not all) of the pieces of the armor on the suit can be made with the polystyrene and craft foam I think.

The "spine" on the back, I am thinking that I could get clear tubing. Seeing how I know absolutely nothing about actually wiring things, I was thinking of frosting the tube and just running blue EL wire down it. I've seen some of the costumes with just a straight blue light bar down the back, but I would prefer to have it curved.

I'll add more and post pictures once I start physically working on this thing later this week. Feel free to send some tips my way!

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

Since the overall texture of the suit´s armor seems to be rough anyone I think the currently widely used camping mats should be a great first choice of material!

For the helmet I recommend getting a cheap plastic skating helmet and then work the foam mats on that. The raised ridges on the arms and the rest of the armour could be easily done in camping mat material, just glue two mats together for more thickness and then cut the ridges out.

Michael

 

[Jayn]

Go to your hardware store and take a look at 'corrugated fiberglass roofing foam closure strips' . They look like a dead on match for the trapezoid shapes on the body armor..

 

[Kommissar]

i plan to try this costume out some time in the future, can't wait to see how you progress with it.
have you seen the armor that an EA head made for the first game for a costume on his own dime? it went around with the con booth for a year, very cool.

 

[Baron]

I'll be following this thread with some interest as well, as I've been thinking about making some dead space armor as well. Although the big question is to go with 1 or 2? It looks like the armor from 2 looks a lot more streamlined.

 

[MooCriket]

Looking forward to seeing your progress on this!

 

[Wes R]

I know this sounds dumb but try and find one of the Isaac action figures for extra help in figuring things out. It's pretty accurate and it's 7" tall so the detail is pretty good. I'll be watching this one too as I want to make a helmet for my friend to display.

 

[HollowPoint13]

For the helmet I recommend getting a cheap plastic skating helmet and then work the foam mats on that. The raised ridges on the arms and the rest of the armour could be easily done in camping mat material, just glue two mats together for more thickness and then cut the ridges out.

I was actually looking at a few different projects where people used this material. I will definitely look around some stores here to see who carries it, but I imagine it will be somewhat easy to find. It definitely seems like a stronger material than the polystyrene. Plus, with it being on the body and in areas that move around quite a bit, I would think the mat material would be flexible if it needed to be (not that it would have to be extremely flexible).

I may look into this today at some local stores!

i plan to try this costume out some time in the future, can't wait to see how you progress with it.
have you seen the armor that an EA head made for the first game for a costume on his own dime? it went around with the con booth for a year, very cool.

I think I have seen it. Is it this guy?

Did this guy make it on his own? It looks incredible!

I'll be following this thread with some interest as well, as I've been thinking about making some dead space armor as well. Although the big question is to go with 1 or 2? It looks like the armor from 2 looks a lot more streamlined.

For some reason, I can't help but think the new armor looks like Megatron...

Though I do like both, I just like the more rusty and worn look of the armor from 1.

I know this sounds dumb but try and find one of the Isaac action figures for extra help in figuring things out. It's pretty accurate and it's 7" tall so the detail is pretty good. I'll be watching this one too as I want to make a helmet for my friend to display.

It doesn't sound dumb at all. Actually, I already have a few pictures as reference as there seem to be better pictures of the figure than the actual character himself....haha

 

[Kommissar]

I think I have seen it. Is it this guy?

Did this guy make it on his own? It looks incredible!

That's the armor, but not the crafter.
the guy who made it is called Chuck Beaver, hes a pretty big executive in the company, so at cons he had someone else (paid?) to wear the armor.

 

[Wes R]

I want that full sized plasma cutter. I bet he paid top dollar for the parts on that suit too. Those blue Ozark Trail mats can be found at walmart most times, though they seem to be replacing them, or even online. It's hard to find good dead space reference art online. Nobody has ever scanned the art book that i can see. I wish they'd have put out necromorph figures sooner so i had some reference for my sculpting.

 

[HollowPoint13]

So I just got back from going to a few places for supplies. I'm going to be up all night working on this thing tonight. So far, I picked up:

Skate helmet
Aluminum wire mesh screen
Four sheets of craft foam
One roll of the blue Ozark Trail camping foam (thanks guys!)
Instant Krazy Glue (hoping this does the trick with the detailed parts of the helmet

and a few other supplies that I'll be needing...

So, with that being said, I've got the laptop on the table and a fresh pack of cigarettes (have a feeling those will come in handy when the stress sets in). I'll be refreshing the page and adding posts as I make noteworthy progress or if I run into a serious problem.

Here goes!

 

[Wes R]

good luck. i keep stocking up on those mats in case walmart stops getting them in.

 

[HollowPoint13]

There were only two of them left at Walmart when I picked mine up. Also, the Krazy glue doesn't work. It will not hold this ozark foam in place...

So I'm thinking maybe small screws? My only concern is that it may crack the helmet and I don't have a drill. :/

 

[Wes R]

hot glue works on the mats i think. You'll wanna research some of the threads on here for the ironman foam suits. yeah don't go trying to put screws in anything without drilling first and it may still crack the helmet if it's brittle plastic.

 

[epilepticsquirl]

careful with what super glues you use on foam, you might just end up eating through it!
I'll echo what wes said and say go for the hot glue. Seems to be the tried and true method. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread!

 

[HollowPoint13]

So I didn't actually see you two post as I was at the store picking up some small screws. I figured the helmet would be okay as it is a safety helmet. Luckily, the screws worked like a charm!

I just started the holes a bit with my exacto knife and the rest just kinda worked out. Whew! I've had nothing but hassle working with glue, but I will have to use it once I start messing with the craft foam. I went ahead and picked up Gorilla glue as it says it works well on foam. I steered clear of epoxy as I hear that the stuff eats through alot of different materials.

So here is where I am at so far. I removed all of the Styrofoam from the inside of the helmet and cut the straps off. My first initial idea failed, though. I cut out a strip of foam that wraps around the back of the helmet to the sides (like the helmet from the game). Instead of just applying it to the outside of the helmet, I thought I could just run a slit through the foam and slide it onto the helmet, keeping it in place with glue.

Wellll, making a straight slit length-wise half way down a roughly 5" strip of foam is quite the challenge and it wound up a disaster, so I went with applying it to the outside of the helmet, fastening it with three screws to keep it in place. Also, sanding this stuff doesn't really work. It just kind of fluffed it up for me, so I just started taking the edges off of the strip around the helmet with scissors and I plan on detailing it further with the exacto knife shortly.

My only concern at this point is that the strip may be a little bit too long, height-wise. No worries as it can be trimmed up, though.

After uploading those pictures just now, I've decided that the strips are a bit too tall, so I will trip them up a bit.

EDIT

This thing is coming along nicely, though it's sort of an eyesore without the paint. One thing I didn't expect is how big it would be. There's really no way to make this thing small and functional (well, I guess there is if you're the type that can make things from scratch). I was worried it was too big, but it's on par with the size of the guy in the costume above.

Cutting out the foam pieces are a bit of a pain as they are so small. It's hard to get really detailed because it's a porous material, but it definitely has it's advantages. I have used small sheet metal screws in places, which isn't costume accurate, but it really doesn't take away from the helmet. It may even add to it!

I'm excited to start painting this thing, though I still have work to do before I will be able to....but getting there!

Here she is minus a bunch of bits and bobs that still need to be made...

 

[HollowPoint13]

I added the last two set of pieces to the helmet, primered it and added a first coat of paint. The helmet still needs the "tube" that runs along the back of it, which I will add in a couple of days. After that, I will add the EL wire to the inside of the helmet.

If double posting isn't allowed, I apologize and I will just add this to my last post. Thanks!

 

[Jawafive]

Looks like a dead space helmet to me! Good looking work so far. One day I have to venture outside of superheroes and star wars and get to video games.

 

[StaggzCosplay]

nice! hey ive got a question, what did you fill the holes in with on the top of the helmet?

 

[Shade]

B-E-A-Utiful Helmet. I would LOVE to make one of these myself. Keep the progress pics a-comin'!