Foam Suit Durability?

[TKSteve]

Heya costuming geniuses! I had a question regarding the wearability of foam. My armor with the 501st has only been ABS. It gets sweaty, but nothing a paper towel can't take care of afterwards.

I've never built a foam suit, but know that sweat/body heat and hot glue don't usually mix.

What's the survivability of a foam suit under extended wear situations like cons and other appearances? Are you popping glue joins or does the subsequent bondo, etc. keep you together?

Thanks!

 

[cavedwellar]

Your body can't get hot enough to melt the hot glue joins.

 

[ginyu force]

It all depends on the quality of the materials and the time spent putting the outfit/costume together. If you just take two sheets of foam and use one glob of hot glue than it isnt going to stay together.

 

[TKSteve]

Your body can't get hot enough to melt the hot glue joins.

Yeah, but wouldn't the foam get wet on the inside and affect the joins?

 

[Temperance]

You'd probably have more concern getting damaged from other people bumping or running into you then from the hot glue weakening from your body heat.

 

[NinjaShani]

Yeah, but wouldn't the foam get wet on the inside and affect the joins?

You can spray a coat of water proof spray on your entire suit. It doesn't affect the foam and it works for the most part.

 

[Dynofiend]

I wore my iron man suit for two days, 20 hours in total, in 25c heat in full sun. Walked about 10kms, drank beers, sweat buckets, sat on bleachers and posed for a million photos. Not once did a glue join pop. Sure the paint took a beating, and i got a few small tears in the foam, but overall it was extremely durable.

 

[TKSteve]

I wore my iron man suit for two days, 20 hours in total, in 25c heat in full sun. Walked about 10kms, drank beers, sweat buckets, sat on bleachers and posed for a million photos. Not once did a glue join pop. Sure the paint took a beating, and i got a few small tears in the foam, but overall it was extremely durable.

That's just the kind of torture test I needed to hear, thanks!

 

[Dynofiend]

Probably something that I should point out; I reinforced a lot of what I believed to the be the high stress areas with a mixture of cardboard, duct tape, and plastic cut from milk jugs. The cardboard probably worked the best, hot glued to the inside of the armor in strategic places, bridging seams, it held up very well. I used it quite extensively on the inside of the cod. The plastic was used to reinforce the elbow and knee joints. You should be able to see some of what Im referring to in my build thread

 

[Demolition]

I brought cheap rolled camping mats and wore mine for a total of 2 hour and it took quite a beating its not as dense as the jigsaw type floor mats but was cheap so was good to practice i think the jigsaw floor mats are harder wearing and smoother so thats the way ill go next time i think. Just on a side note i know Timecon drove to comic con in his car and the heat from the sun through the window unstuck his suit so maybe something to look out for

 

[Dynofiend]

Yup, sun in a hot car will definately make enough heat to soften the glue. Note though that my suit was also made from cheap rolled foam mats, not the thicker floor mats!