immortanjoanna
Jr Member
I don't even know where to begin when it comes to the armour. I guess it'll have to be trial and error!
The holsters came from an online place in WV. I cut them down to match Joe's. I will find the exact site.
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I don't even know where to begin when it comes to the armour. I guess it'll have to be trial and error!
I've been doing some trial and error myself working with the transparent worbla. So far I've only done the bracers. I used the inside of a trash bin similar to this for the outside bracer since the top part of the bracer curves slightly outward. For the inside I placed the worbla on a pilsner glass, and taped the hell out of it so it wouldn't bubble. Neither of these gave me the exact size I wanted, but I'm putting metal wire in the lining of the armor that I can properly bend into shape.
It isn't perfect and leaves the armor a little bumpy/cloudy, but since Joe's armor needs to look a little distressed anyway it isn't a problem.
I did ask this earlier upthread, but I also just bought a jumbo supply of the transparent worblas a 'plan B' if I can't get any sort of vacuum forming setup to work. How rigid/flexible is your finished piece out of this stuff? I get the impression this stuff is very thin, and I'm not particularly confident as to how well it'd hold up.
It's pretty thin, and a little flexible. The best comparison is a 2L bottle of soda. I'm (hopefully) going to wear this for Dragon*Con, and I'm not worried about transporting it or having people bump into it. The plastic should keep it's shape, especially with the metal wire lining around the edge. Definitely cut out a piece to play around with first, this has the consistency of a thicker plastic wrap when heated up. Plus with the heat it expands a fair amount, so heating it up slowly helped a lot to prevent bubbling.
eriksmask is building his out of worbla as well and has completed more than I have, so he can probably offer more tips for working with it.
A soda bottles a pretty close comparison. The one difference is the worbla is much more pliable... It won't crack or crease on you. The properties seem to be closer to a vinyl. I did try two layers to give it more strength, but I hated the look- lots of air bubbles. I definitely suggest doing something heavier under the trim on the edges, I used regular worbla and it has held it's shape quite well.
Suprisingly the shoulder armor and forearm guards have giving me more trouble than the chest piece. Maybe because the chest piece is more organic, so you can get away with some mistakes.
My boot plan, exactly.
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Another update, so I've continued to be unhappy with the worbla armor for the arms, no matter what I tried the symmetry looked off. I also wanted the arms to have a little more strength to them. So I found two transparent display male leg forms. Similar to this...http://www.ebay.com/itm/19-TALL-MAL...DING-XRLR10-/280743172203?hash=item415d98d86b
I cut it to shape and added the hardware and regular worbla trim. I still need to finish the second one and add the fabric over the edges. It's super heavy duty ABS plastic, my chest piece feels wimpy by comparison, hah!
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