Indy Mogul Armor

[greylocke]

Using this Video ‪Build Some Sci Fi Armor for CHEAP : DIY‬‏ - YouTube I have started on a set of armor which my kids and I will use for a short film I've written and y kids will act in. This is the beginning of 4 sets of armor and later helmets I will be making for this project.

I found the foam mats at walmart for 19.00 but then my sharp eyed oldest daughter spotted them at big lots the other day when we were there, for 12.00 SCORE! So I bought 3 packs of 4, as she needed a pack for her to exercise on, the other two I get to use. So it pays to shop around as I thought I would only be able to afford 2 packs of the mats in this months budget.

I don't have a blade attachment for my soldering iron and my regular utility knife isn't setup for detail work so I bought a new utility folding blade also at biglots for 6.00 with the small one included.

first I mark off 1/2 inch around from the bottom of the tabs all the way around and cut that off. Then since I have rather wide shoulders and chest I measured in 3" from opposite sides where my bend would go so the armor will wrap around. On the first piece I did I also had to trim 2" from it from my belt line to the hollow of my throat, so it wouldn't dig in while sitting. To do the bends in the front piece I also did it by hand with my heat gun. Not very fun as I now have a nice burn on my thumb and index finger of my left hand. For the back piece I used my yard stick which I have been using for my measurements and as a straight edge with a c-clamp on the counter of my kitchen island. I really needed 3 hands for that as well so I couldn't get a pic while I was doing it. I noticed that to get it to where the bend will be easy and will stay in the material, you need to hold the heatgun about 4" away from the material until it just starts to slightly discolor, usually about 70-90 seconds Then it will bend easily, also heat the down side for about 20-30 seconds then back to the side with the markings. After the whole bend is in turn off the heat gun and hold the bend down for a minute or two to allow it to take a set. Then flip it around for the other side. I'm done for the day, I need to get some more poster board and work out the pauldrons and side pieces and I still haven't decided if I'm going to go all velcro attachments or straps and velcro. It just depends on my budget.

Any hint, tips or suggestion would be most appreciated.

 

[greylocke]

Well I made my template for my pauldrons and side armor and then went ahead and cut them out. After using the heat gun to get the bend I wanted in the pauldrons I noticed that the outside edge looked kind of askance so I went back and heated it up and bent the outside edge down some. To get the side panels to bend the way I wanted I taped the panels to a 5 gallon bucket and heated them up carefully. After about 4 minutes per panel I let them cool down and removed them. They still wanted to spring back but had some bend in them so I held them edge on on my counter and played the heat gun on the underside for 3 minutes, then set them between the table and chair with the chair back keeping the bend I wanted in the panels. I let them sit for 10 minutes each and checked my bends. Perfect. So I just finished cleaning up for the night and soon I'm off to bed. I'm heading to Corpus tomorrow to look for a few things my local walmart doesn't have.

 

[IndyFanChuck]

Sounds like fun, getting your kids involved! I wish you lots of luck! I bet your kids will love it! :thumbsup

 

[greylocke]

Started on helmet while I fugre out a few things

I'm trying to figure out straps and stuff on the armor, so I started on a helmet using this as inspiration for the the helmet. http://www.therpf.com/f24/tutorial-...met-less-than-10-gbp-finished-see-pg9-120552/

In the first pic you can see I taped together a cardboard ring, into which I put a blown up ballon. I pulled the balloon down enough to give a proper line where the cardboard meets the balloon. Then I made up some paper mache paste, 1 cup of flour and 5 cups of water. Let it boil for 3 minutes stirring constantly and then let it cool. My paper is a few old newspapers torn into strips and squares. The final pic shows one layer. I'm letting it dry one more day before I put on a second layer. I plan on 5 layers total with 2-3 days drying time between each, then I have a large 1 gallon can of bondo and a new tube of hardener that I'll be using.

 

[greylocke]

Mostly done

I am mostly done with the armor. You can see a photo of my youngest trying it on, then 2 photos of me after painting it and adding a Knights Hospitaller symbol that has been rotated 45 degrees in red to the chest piece and the pauldrons. I think my next step is either a cod-piece or groin protector and then start on the various accoutrements for it's intended use. I also need to start working on the arm and leg armor. For the undersuit, I'm going to take a Tyvek painters suit and dye it a dark green and use thickened black dye as an ink to make it more of a camouflage I'm just hoping the Tyvek takes the dyes well and they won't run too badly when worn in the Texas heat and humidity. For attaching the arm and leg armor would it be better to attach it directly to the undersuit? Or should I hook it all together to be worn without the undersuit if needed?

 

[greylocke]

Well the kids liked my armor so I had to make

armor for them as well. I also helped my daughter make the wings for her costume for Halloween. I also helped the boys make their own helmet/masks for their costumes. For the boys helmet I blew up a balloon , then cut up a 3 liter soda bottle and taped it to the balloon, and taped off the view port area, then I made up a bunch of paper mache paste and let the kids go to town. 3 layer of paper mache then we spray painted them. Also I made the weapons for the boys to use. My one son has a flame thrower with a gun part made out of 3/4 in pvc pipe and the tanks made out of 2 3 liter bottles and 1 2 liter bottle, using wire coat hangers bent to support them, with a piece of 1/2 inch pvc tubing ruining from the bottles to the "gun". Another one of my boys has a rocket launcher made out of the blower attachment for my leak blower that a painted 2 liter soda bottle fits snugly in. My youngest had the body of an old cordless drill with some plastic I formed into a tube and cut the top off of another soda bottle and attached to the end for a gun. My oldest boy just wanted the armor and his nerf gun, he wouldn't even let me paint it Oh well, the boys had so much fun making their helmets they want to try to make bigger and better ones, and they want to make full armor, with leg and arm pieces. If I could just get them that interested in helping to keep the yard and housework done, I'd have it made.