Ezreal's Gauntlet Build - First armor build so Help + Feedback welcome!

[allfades]

Hey guys! This is my first post here so first I'll say sorry if I do anything wrong just let me know! I've been a casual lurker for a few years.

Anyways, I'm starting my first armor build and I'm working on Ezreal's gauntlet from the game League of Legends. I've done some research and worked out a pattern out of craft foam yesterday, below are the reference images I'm using and the pattern/mock up I've done. I do have some questions though since this is my first armor real armor build, I don't want to use craft foam/EVA foam for it for a few reasons. The craft foam I have is too thin and tends to crack after it's been primed and painted so you have to be careful with it, I'm sure that problem is fixed with thicker foam but since this is a gauntlet I feel anything thicker would be too thick and look bulky and weird. The option I'm currently leaning towards is styrene, I have some thick styrene on me but probably need to go pick up some thinner pieces too to make the finger pieces.



My question then is since this gauntlet looks like there are no seams how can I glue flush seams of styrene? Is that possible? I've looked around and haven't been able to find anyone who has needed to do that so I'm at a bit of a loss besides just gluing it and maybe hoping to put some bondo on it after and sand it down? Does anyone have any suggestions before I jump right in and just start messing with stuff? Or is styrene not the best option to make this out of? (I know about wonderflex and worbla which seem cool but are much more expensive and hard to get a hold of than styrene.)

In the meantime the mockup is below and I'll probably start messing with Styrene today~



Thanks everyone in advance! I'll keep updating the thread as I go =)

 

[allfades]

Ok so with some playing around with styrene I decided to just do two overlapping edges and cover the overlapping with trim work. I didn't get a picture of the edges but I took one of the trim on top.




Then I worked on wiring the led that I wanted to cast in resin for the gem, and once I tested it I cast it in my mold.



I also sculpted and resin cast the designs on the upper part of the gauntlet as well. Then I painted them all with nail polish and backed them with foil. I also tested the gem again to make sure it worked.



After that I had to build the rest of the armor out of thinner styrene.

 

[allfades]

All finished!

The next step was to make all the finger plates, I just taped them together to make sure they would work together.



Then I made the rest and once I was sure they'd all work I spray painted them individually and glued a strip of elastic through each one.



Once I finished with that I cut a hole in the hand guard and put the gem with the led stuff through it and glued the gem down to make sure it all fit.



Then I put the borders on the top pieces and glued everything together.



Painted the borders a lighter gold.



Then added weathering and finished!

 

[Matchbox]

Nice, thats a pretty successful first attempt I'd say, that resin cast gem with LED gives a good effect!

What do you mean by Styrene, like literally polystyrene? ha, EVA foam is the usual suspect for armour building plus its quite cheap. Then the next step up is the fibre-glassing side.

Also there's no such thing as doing it wrong! it's all about learning making mistakes etc you know the rest

Next step is build the rest of the outfit ey!

 

[allfades]

Aw thank you!! I'm glad it turned out ok, I was a little worried since it was a lot of new things in one go. I think I learned a lot!

Uhhh I don't think it's polystyrene? But I'm not sure, a lot of things have a ton of different names to them hahaha! The website says it's high impact styrene plastic, I got it here.

I'll try EVA foam next probably, I like learning new things, and fiber glassing has always seemed really hard but maybe I just need to try it =)

And the costume was easy compared to this, hahaha!!

Thanks so much!

 

[Matchbox]

Fibreglassing is just posh paper mache!