Gears of War Foam Armor Build - Finished

[Vitro]

The short story:
Hello All, I've been lurking for a while and finally picked a build for Halloween a month ago, Marcus Fenix armor from Gears of War 1. I loved the armor everyone has made and was really inspired. I wanted a fast straight foam build and Brashsculptor created a very nice detailed foam set and she was gracious enough to share her patterns. I'm also helping my brother-in-law build a set. Hoping to finish them by the 20th for our annual Halloween party. Wish me luck!

The longer story:
Last year I built a set of samurai armor out of plastic rubbermaid trash cans. It was a long road to Halloween 2011 but man was the pay off worth it. I was hooked on armor building. So this year I started researching the Halo armor on the 405th forums. One thing that stuck with me from the samurai costume was I never wore the helmet, it was just too hot. Besides, how are people going to hear me belt out Bon Jovi karaoke in a Halo helmet? So that led me to Marcus Fenix, just a bandanna? No prob.

I started collecting pep files and during my searches foam builds kept popping up and I said "I gotta try it". Then the 405th went down and I only had a few files. Some searches lead me here to the RPF and some even to deviantart. That's actually where I found Brashculptor and her build seemed just what I wanted. She shared her hand made patterns and I began. So here I am working on it on the weekends rushing to finish but loving it all.

My brother-in-law saw the first pieces and had to make one himself. I even started a foam build of a Skylander for my son.

Thanks for viewing. On to the pics.

 

[Vitro]

Re: Gears of War Foam Armor Build

I realized too late that some of the pieces should have been a thinner foam than the 1/2 inch I had. I felt better once I let go trying to make it look super authentic. Besides it's not like I'm going to enter it in any contests or anything....


I scratch built the belt and ammo clip holder thingies.

 

[Vitro]

Re: Gears of War Foam Armor Build

Once I got some thin foam the detailing was easier. Also I started to engrave with my Dremel which is pretty fun.

Shin and thigh guards. Plus I got some LED's for the shoulder lights. I tested them out on a bread board. Oooh shiny.

 

[LadyJoker]

Re: Gears of War Foam Armor Build

Lookin' good! Can't wait to see the finished costume, I'm a huge Gears fan

 

[Vitro]

Re: Gears of War Foam Armor Build

Lookin' good! Can't wait to see the finished costume, I'm a huge Gears fan

Thanks LadyJoker! I sat down last night to work on it and work got in the way. Our party is the next following Saturday so this weekend I'm hoping to get it as close to finished as possible. Thanks for the support

-Vitro

 

[sounggi]

Re: Gears of War Foam Armor Build

how will you do the finish on the foam? I'm very interested

 

[Vitro]

Re: Gears of War Foam Armor Build

how will you do the finish on the foam? I'm very interested

I'm torn.

Plan A is to not really seal it and tdo a gray primer then a silver metal coat with paint.

Plan B would be to seal it with 50/50 water/wood glue. I have a gallon of the stuff from woodworking.

I'm thinking Plan A will use up more paint but Plan B might be too rigid.

I'll have to do a small test with each and see how they turn out.

-Vitro

 

[madmax]

Re: Gears of War Foam Armor Build

Hi,have you got a link to the armour plans,if your friend will share them,i really want to do Marcus ,i have a lancer just no armour,and i suck at pep work

 

[adms1117]

Re: Gears of War Foam Armor Build

wat thickness of foam did you go with? i cant really tell (if u already said and i missed it i sry)

 

[Vitro]

Re: Gears of War Foam Armor Build

@madmax - I got the plans from Brashsculptor on the deviantart forums. She also has a build thread on the 405th. I'll ask her if I can send them to you. I don't know the extent of her blindness but it prevents her from seeing the pepfile numbers. So she scratchbuilt her armor by hand made patterns and did an AWESOME job!

@adms117 - I'm using 1/5 inch foam from Harbor Freight (on sale this weekend for 6.99). Then I'm using 2mm foamies for the details. I should have using the 2mm on the cylander neck piece at the top of the back pack but just left it as is.

 

[Vitro]

Re: Gears of War Foam Armor Build

Weekend Update:

Finished building the boots, gloves and bracers. I added some foamies to the main chest piece. But I've decided to engrave the detail instead on the front. We'll see how it comes out. Going to do some painting and hopefully I'll have time to add some straps. Maybe even the LED's.

thanks for viewing,
Vitro

 

[Tatters]

Re: Gears of War Foam Armor Build

Lovely stuff,

If brashscultper does give permission to give out her plans, I'd love a copy as well to give this another try after a failed attempted earlier in the year

Chris

 

[Vitro]

Re: Gears of War Foam Armor Build

Hi!

Almost done. I was going to say about 95% but then I realized I forgot to paint the ammo bags. And to think I just had enough gray paint but now I'm thinking of painting them black.

Pretty much everything is painted a primer gray. I went with plan A and just did a gray primer. It did use up my two cans of paint but I think it turned out better than I expected. I was going to add another layer of foamies for the extra plate layer but instead I dremeled the joint lines and the rivets. I'm using the cheap rotary tool from Harbor Freight, I actually bought it for all the bits it came with but for foam it's perfect.

Left to do:
Touch up the red and green foamies where I carved off the primer for the rivets.
Apply a weathering in black to darken the creases.
Shoulder LEDs
Paint the ammos holders and arm bands I missed.
Paint the logo and other details


Tips: I should have used black foamies for the pauldrons. I carved the rivets after the primer and the contrast to the dark gray looks really good. On the back I added the rivets after the primer. I did the same with the pauldrons cause I forgot and now I have Christmas shoulders .
99 Cents Only stores are GREAT for scavenging for costumes. Bought the velcro and some dog collar with clips for strapping.
My brother-in-law's armor is coming along even faster. Instead of cutting multiple pieces then glueing them together we just cut a bigger piece then carved the detail into it. For example the two front long pieces where the logo will go is just one on his. Saved lots of time there. And instead of foamies for layering he carved rivets and lines everywhere.

Thanks for viewing.
-Vitro

 

[Vitro]

Re: Gears of War Foam Armor Build

I might not finish the LED's for this weekend so now I'm just adding the final details.

I created a stencil for the front logo so I can also use it on the 2nd set of armor. I cropped a picture of it from one of my reference pictures then I outlined it using Inkscape. Printed it to size, transferred to poster board using carbon paper and finally cut out the pieces. I think it's a little small but after spending so much time cutting it out I think it's fine.

The chest piece without the logo is my brother-in-law's and he did all the rivets and lines by hand.

-Vitro

p.s. for those interested in the plans I'm still waiting for permission from Brashsculptor

 

[Vitro]

Hi all,

Had our party this weekend which was a blast! Here are some final pictures. The armor held up really good. I found some stress areas that will need some fixing plus reinforcing and best of all wasn't as hot as I thought it was going to be. I made gloves but forgot to wear them. I'll take more pics on Halloween. The "Lancer" is a knock off from Toy's R Us the chainsaw even rotates. I'm calling it finished if I don't I could keep improving it until next Halloween!

Thanks for Viewing!
-Vitro

p.s. here's the PDF of the patterns Brashsculptor created that was the main basis for our armor. Once we got our main pieces together we added our own details and variations.

4shared folder - My 4shared

 

[F S CREATIONS]

Very nice, i love the insignia and the work on the upper torso.

 

[Vitro]

Very nice, i love the insignia and the work on the upper torso.

Thanks!