Mass effect fem Shepard armor in resin

[Raphaella]

Hi ! I'm a french girl big fan of Mass Effect and I have decided to make a Shep' Armor in resin.

Why resin ? Because I need something solid, to use some part of the armor for fighting show (in particular Star wars). I was a little afraid about the mountain of work because I'm more a fighter than a builder : I do french stick (like Arsen Lupin), french boxing, historical sword and... Laser saber ^^ So I have eight hour per week of badass Houuuu yea !!!

Here a video, I'm the woman in black : https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10203725626313494


My base is pepakura. I love origami, paper etc. So it was great to do that : In front of good TV series like Person of interest or Legend of Korra The difficulty was the size because I'm not a girl with perfect forms : I'm strong, little and stout. I'm proud of it but it's more work. I resized lot of pieces.

The harder work is the resin and the fiberglass because it's toxic and it's long... Veeeeery long... I'm not finish but it's on the good way.

 

[Raphaella]

I'm a fan of Freya work https://www.facebook.com/Freyawillia?pnref=lhc Her armor motivated me and her thread help me a lot

 

[eidylon]

Looking good...

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

Impressive start, looking forward to seeing more progress.

 

[Raphaella]

Ooooook so I make my first mistakes ! I failed some pieces : thigh and collar because they loses they shape ! Plus, the back don't satisfy me because the box is not enough regular. But has I said : I'm a warrior ! I never surrender ! Well it's my first costumes and I play hardcore level because it's in resin, so it's normal I think...
I'm back to Pepakura ^^
I'll need a Dremel to cut parts of fiberglass out.

 

[Raphaella]

I cut the fiberglass out with my Dremel. Not finish. Pieces are very solid !
Here a shoulder and an arm :



I re-pepakura the pieces who lose their shap (collar, back and thigh) and this time I will make more pieces, more smaller than big pieces who lose their shap !

 

[alegoub]

verry good!!

 

[Scarve89]

Hey Raphaella, good job indeed! you can also use some piece in foam for critical part (unless it's a sacrilege to mix pep and foam?) they won't deform and more confortable.
Just an idea I'm not a pro.
you're in Bordeaux and you're working onto boxes of wine bottles :lol

 

[Raphaella]

I will use foam for the inside of the pieces to make them more comfortable but I will not use foam on surface because it's to fragile. Maybe some on abdomen or PVC... I don't know yet

you're in Bordeaux and you're working onto boxes of wine bottles :lol

No : French boxing, savate lol J'ai un anglais de merde T_T

 

[alegoub]

ont te comprend c'est deja ca xD

 

[doykim]

Ooooook so I make my first mistakes ! But has I said : I'm a warrior ! I never surrender !

"Il faut toujours apprendre de ses erreurs, petit scarabée."
Good luck for this project, it might be terrible !

 

[Raphaella]

What I re-build this weekend. I was very busy the last two weeks. It was the International Festival of comics of Angoulême in France. As a journalist in comics I have to go here (Katsuhiro Otomo is the next president ! Wouhouuuu !). But i'm back and I hope I will finish resin next week.

 

[Achilla137]

I'm really excited to see how this goes

 

[Raphaella]

Thank you Achilla !

This weekend I finished the big pieces of the armor. I put the second layer of resin and fiberglass
Next week I'll make finishes before starting mastic.

I started something important too : abdomen. As I said : I fight a lot ^^ and I need robust pieces so I will not use foam. This is a difficulty.
The only person who did N7 armor with abdomen in PVC, is Freya. So I read her post many times and tried to decrypt how she did.

I went in supplies shop and I bought PVC plates and tissues





I did a cutting pattern

 

[Raphaella]

the plates are cut



I will thermoform them to bend them a little

I'm not sure of the result :/

 

[alegoub]

alors les résultats?^^ / then the result?

 

[ataris121]

any thought of skinning the surface with worbla or wonderflex?

 

[Raphaella]

Not yet ! Maybe this weekend. I will retail my pieces too. I'll take pics

I bought a Nerf last saturday. I know : Nerf is ****, not enough solid, bad, bad, bad... gnagnagna... But I have not enough money to buy a Replica and I have to finish my armor before May and a convention in Bordeaux, so... Maybe one day. My favorite weapon is M-37 Falcon ^^ :



For now, I have this and I'll ask a friend to help me with electronic (I want to put some LED and a mechanism that makes the smoke). I will do everything to make it a nice weapon !




- - - Updated - - -

any thought of skinning the surface with worbla or wonderflex?

I'll thiking about it, I don't know this. I have a friend who did pieces with PVC so I did the same

 

[Raphaella]

Armor test before finishes, retail and mastic (sorry for my head I was very tired and the light was horrible)

 

[Omega31]

The M-37 from Nerf sounds like a challenge but a great idea! Hope it works out for you!