Gundam Wing

[GundamWingGirl]

Greetings fellow prop builders!

I am new to this site, but NOT new to the wonderful world of foam, prop building as I have dabbled in it before. However, I am new to building something 100% freehand, since for this particular build, I have not downloaded and used any templates because none exist! However, I DO have a template for the helmet, so maybe this build is more like 90% freedhand? lol Anyway, I think I have made some decent progress. It's been a tough and long process since I do still draw out my own templates so I can trace onto the foam and have the foam properly cut. The ONLY reference I have is an action figure that is around 6 inches tall. Since it's more of the anime persuasion, the proportions are a bit exaggerated compared to the human body so I have been doing the best I can. This build is also a slow build due to personal life. I have been working on and off this costume since april 2016. haha

Okay, enough with the rambling, how about some pictures?


Here are pictures of the figure I am working from. I used to enjoy building gundam models years ago. After seeing some incredible gundam suits by.......yes.......clivelee I started to search for more gundam cosplay and stumbled upon these MS Gundam Girl figures. Fell in love with this particular version as I LOVE the colors. I eventually bought the figure and decided I want THIS for a future cosplay. ^_^ You may notice that it appears to be missing pieces and it is. My son climbed, got a hold of it and when I found it, it was in pieces all over my kitchen floor! D: This is all I recovered. I do have the weapon, but that is put away for now. I really love this figure and it's the first figure like this I have ever owned. Paid a lot of money for it too so I was pretty depressed. I plan on buying another so I can properly display it somewhere much higher.......out of the reach of tiny hands. lol


This particular piece was probably the most toughest part to build since it took me several attempts at creating templates in order to achieve a proper shape. I still honestly think it seems smaller when worn compared to the figure, but it might be okay.


Various pictures of the gauntlet/forearm piece. This wasn't too intimidating to create templates for. I pretty much got my templates good the first go around and everything seemed to come together nicely. As you can see, the build is not 100% complete. I ran out of the 3mm craft foam I was using for the prong (or whatever you want to call it haha) that sticks up from the top. I used a thin piece of carboard to reinforce it since foam alone would be too wobbly.


I don't have much of the chest pieces completed. I'm not too thrilled about the finished size and feel like I may need to redo these pieces. If you refer back to the figure, you will notice that there is a green orb in the center. I want to make this light up and the first thing that popped into my head was trying to find one of those jumbo, rubber bouncing balls in a green color, cut it in half and use a white, or even a green, l.e.d and insert it into the center of the cut side and hope that it would give it a nice green glow. However, I think finding the ball is easier said than done. I'm open to suggestions for this part as this is something I have not worked with before in the past.


This piece proved to be a little trickier than I had imagined. I got it just right on the 2nd attempt. I do have the other one started, but it's not fully assembled and is missing the black detail pieces.

 

[GundamWingGirl]

Had to continue to a second post since I'm only allowed 10 pics per post.

Creating the fron shin pieces took me a minute to create due to the shape since it's not just a straight up and down piece and has that slight curve. I really had to do a lot of sketching and measuring to get this piece to turn out and compared to how it looks on the figure and placed on my own leg, I think it looks pretty good.


These pieces were the first ones of the build I started on because the shape is pretty simple and basic. Only had to make sure that I had good measurements so I could draw out my templates. The first picture is the pieces that are in the front and the second would be the back side. Not sure if you notice it at first glance, but the piece painted white for the backside has some slight damage since I was away and my son got a hold of my scissors and decided to practice his stabbing into my foam! D: Don't want to rebuild it since these were a pain to glue and I don't have the template for the upper detail. Any ideas how to "fill" the rips in the foam so that it's smooth and doesn't show when I finalize the paint?


These would be the rest of the leg pieces. The first picture shows the pieces that get placed directly behind the leg of the calf muscle and the other picture shows the pieces that go on either side of the leg. Those were actually tricky to create too because on the figure they are curved so I had to picture in mind what it would look like when laid flat so I could draw out my template. For 2 of the pieces, I already used my heat gun to get a rounded shape.



When I was taking the first steps into this build, I started searching for gundam girl cosplays and found 1 girl who did a build just like this one, but she did the original color scheme. I have been using her build to motivate me on this one and to also help in how I will attach it all to my body once it's complete. However, she took a much different approach for the legs and I am trying to replicate the figure as much as I possibly can. That is proving to be very tricky. There are pieces under the white armor pieces on the leg that are proving to be more difficult than I anticipated. *sigh*

Before, I joined this site, I came across clivelee's tutorial for mech costumes and focused my attention more on the feet. However, the design he covers is much different than that of the figure since she appears to be wearing more of a high heel style. I can tell that the shoes will take quite a bit of planning since I am taking mobility and and balance into consideration.

OTHER KEY POINTS
I DO plan on building the wings, but I intend to have them motorized. I don't exactly want to use the grey foam since I feel that will be TOO much weight on my back and to keep them from being wobbly, I would have to reinforce it which would only add to the weight factor. I have NO idea as to what I can really use to create the wings and allow for mechanisms to run through the areas I need. I want something sturdy and lightweight AND will allow me to add the mechanics needed to make the wings move. She has a sort of back pack that the wings attach to so I am planning on using this to house batteries and whatnot to power everything.

The figure only portrays small bits of the helmet, but I plan on having my face covered so I will be building the full helmet for this particular gundam. I want to make the front face part of the helmet removeable and feel that magnets would be my best bet. I know they don't need to be super strong since this is not an area that will be at high risk of being bumped when walking through crowds of cosplayers. hehe

 

[zorprime]

I'm always a sucker for a Gundam build and I wish you the best of luck I'll see if I can offer some of my limited hlep to your questions

1. However, I think finding the ball is easier said than done. I'm open to suggestions for this part as this is something I have not worked with before in the past.

Doing a quick Amazon search I cam up with these led balls that would work and are pretty cheap
https://www.amazon.com/Fortune-Prod...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=42VZBMEVYZGXXVCDNNNN
You could also get just a green ball (dollar store/tree) think a ball like from a ball pit that kids play in, and just put a strand of leds inside of it and have that light up. Either option should be pretty easy and cheap to do.

2. Any ideas how to "fill" the rips in the foam so that it's smooth and doesn't show when I finalize the paint?

To smooth out cut foam or fill in spots on foam use plumbers silicon calk I've used this before
https://www.amazon.com/18128-Acryli...id=1478810713&sr=8-14&keywords=silicone+caulk
It can be found in local hardware stores as well as drugstores and large box stores in the home repair section. Basically you heat seal your foam first, then put some of this where you need it, and wet your finger and wipe it down to blend it in with the foam. When it sets up you can sand it if need be, paint it and it's good to go. I've used this technique on my Ironman suit and my wife's Samus suit as well, it does a great job of filling in cracks, holes, or tears in foam.

Best of luck to you and I'll defiantly keep an eye on your build.

 

[GundamWingGirl]

Thanks for the advice. I looked at the balls, but they are just too big for the area I have to work with. I may just have to stick to finding a green ball small enough that I can add to lights. too. Also, that stuff to fill my sons attempt at battle damage sounds useful. I really didn't want to rebuild the piece all over again. lol

I also think I might have figured out what I can make my wings out of and it was something that clivelee mentioned. Corrugated plastic! It's basically the stuff that you see election signs and whatnot in people's yards. It's lightweight and I think a few layers of it together would still keep it rigid and not bend so easy as well. Now just need to track down a place that sells it in large enough sheets since just one wing will be nearly as long as I am tall! lol Having them such light weight like that should easily allow for any mechanics to easily move the wings in the direction I need them to move in.

 

[GundamWingGirl]

Tiny update!

So I didn't think I would properly be able to draw out the template for my wings. Simply because I don't have paper big enough and while I could tape pieces together, I would still be worried about achieving the correct shape. I can model a little bit, so I took a good picture of one wing, opened blender and worked my magic. I wasn't concerned about thickness due to what ever material I end up using. I just needed a basic shape to work with and I would be able to work with it from that point.



So there is my lovely pattern. I do believe that I made the scale a little smaller than what it actually is compared to the figure, but I do have to take a few key things into consideration such as transporting and any possible weight irregularities because the wings will be so high on my back and I don't want to feel like I am about to fall backwards. The little backpack thing is where I plan to house the main power to control movement for the wings.