Moon Knight outfits (armor and suit)

[Bronnen]

I will be working on this over the next year, and though it is very complex, I finished my Dredd suit in just over a year so I think this will be ok.

First off, since for some reason Kevlar fabric is cheaper than Cotton, I'm going to be actually having a Kevlar vest under the suit as well as Kevlar fabric holding all the armor in place.

As for the armor itself, since I'm already going for Kevlar and other similar fabric, it will be made out of carbon fiber mats.

I've done the math on this, and with a lot of wiggle room for errors, I could conceivably make this for around 600 bucks. This would just be the outfits though, not including accessories, gloves, boots, cape or anything else.

I'll be posting pictures of stuff as I get it in.

I priced out Cotton as well, and with the same amount of wiggle room it jumps up to 900 bucks. Why the hell is cotton more expensive than actual Kevlar?

Now, I don't suggest anyone do this, but with these fabrics it could actually be used as a crime fighting suit, with th e ability to stop bullets and knives. Which is pretty bad ass in my opinion.

This is what i'll be basing the armor off. I know it's not the comic style, but other than the gold it looks pretty damn badass.


This is the suit I will be making first.

 

[Bronnen]

After some preliminary research I have discovered that Kevlar fabric degrades when exposed to UV light. Now, not a big deal if only worn in indoor conventions, but still a problem if brought outside for any photo shoots or events. I do really like the idea of having an actual bulletproof suit even if it's never used for that. So either I will have to switch up my plan, or cover it with a fabric that is heavy enough to block out the sunlight, but not so heavy that I would die while wearing it. If worse comes to worse, I'll just scrap the kevlar idea and just have small patches of carbon fiber fabric in the most vital areas as the fibre strength of carbon fiber is greater than kevlar and does not degrade, but is also around twice the price. The actual armor though Ill be forming in a homemade vacuum chamber and using carbon fiber and resin. Laminated carbon fiber does not stop actual bullets, but is incredibly strong against impact, tearing and slashing, while the fabric itself is weak against slashing and impact, but protects against bullets. Lots to think about here before I actually order anything.

 

[reididtenroc]

Kevlar is not realy bullet prooff except with almost 7 or 8 layer mini. And it's not sufficient because you need some material to absorb bullet strenght !

Usualy the kevlar fabric is used for knifes protect, because is lighter and easy to sew with some classics fabrics !

 

[Bronnen]

Oh yeah, I know that already. I think I've decided on Cordura for the base of the suit, i do have a cool idea for the actual carbon fiber armor though. Make a hollow form and fill it with 10-13 layers of Kevlar.. I don't think I'll actually be doing that but it might be cool to just try it and see if it works.

Though if you were really, really brave, you could get a bulletproof suit from 3 layers of Kevlar. 3 is the minimum required to stop must hand guns. They usually add 10-13 layers just so that it absorbs the impact better and leaves less of a mark on you.

 

[Bronnen]

Alright, barring any better suggestions from members here, the base fabrics will be Cordura, cotton, and a mesh weave fabric, all for the base suit. On top of that will be areas oflayered carbon fiber fabric in order to provide more durability in "impact" zones.

In theory, this suit will be perfectly fine as protection for a motorcycle suit. The mesh weaver will most likely just be for a few breathing areas because cotton and cordura will be incredibly hot. So I'm hoping with a mesh weave along the sides of the ribs/armpits and inner leg will be enough to keep it cool. If not, then it will just be an actual liner made up of the mesh, like motorcycle pants have. This should keep it cooler.

 

[Bronnen]

Random thought, has anyone had any experience with superfabric?

 

[Bronnen]

As I am very, very aware that resin casting is much easier in a vacuum bag and much better, I have purchased myself a small, cheap one off of ebay. Hopefully it'll work fine and I don't have any problems.

 

[Murdoch]

Random thought, has anyone had any experience with superfabric?

Looks expensive...GM

 

[Bronnen]

It's surprisingly not too bad, I contacted them just to see what their costs are and you can get some for under 20$ a yard. Compared to the fabric store closest to me where broadcloth is 18$ a yard, that's not too bad. I'm pretty sure the fabric stores in my city overcharge massively though.

It's worth your while to contact them though even if you don't order anything. They're sending me a bunch of different samples after I sent them an email. The lady said it was like 5-6 different sheets of almost a square foot Pretty nice customer service.

 

[Bronnen]

I have now begun the arduous task of assembling the chest armor out of PEP and transferring it to card stock in order to be coated in resin for the mold.

 

[Murdoch]

It's surprisingly not too bad, I contacted them just to see what their costs are and you can get some for under 20$ a yard. Compared to the fabric store closest to me where broadcloth is 18$ a yard, that's not too bad. I'm pretty sure the fabric stores in my city overcharge massively though.

It's worth your while to contact them though even if you don't order anything. They're sending me a bunch of different samples after I sent them an email. The lady said it was like 5-6 different sheets of almost a square foot Pretty nice customer service.

Hey I sent off a couple emails, but I haven't heard back from them as yet. Looks very promising. Thanks for the tip on this...GM

 

[Bronnen]

They answered me after a day I think.

 

[Bronnen]

After a few failed attempts. I'm finally making headway with the Pep armor. I should be finished the back of it by the end of today.

 

[Bronnen]

Well it has taken longer than expected but I've finished half of the back!

 

[Bronnen]

Cordura, Carbon Fiber, Kevlar and Cotton fabrics have been ordered. As has the majority of everything I need for vacuum bagging. All that's left is the actual hoses, breather fabric and release film.

 

[Bronnen]

The Superfabric came today, and HOLY ****. I was expecting a few sheets of it maybe a square foot's worth. I got considerably more. First picture is just a close up of one of the sheets. The fabric itself is very heavy duty fabric, stretchy enough to bend and flex, but heavy duty. Surprisingly soft as well, so against the skin it would not cause any irritation.
I tried to cut just the fabric itself with a sharp kitchen knife. To no avail. Scissors were needed to cut through the actual fabric, but once it reached the ceramic plates it was all but impossible. My actual high end kitchen shears cut through the ceramic plates, but those are meant to cut through bone so I'm not surprised. I used a really sharp knife and tried to cut through the plates. It did not go through at all. I tried to stab it as well and it did not go through. Below are pictures.




These are just the samples they sent me. There are lots of different patterns, colours and density of the ceramic plates. They even advertise some that are so small and so closely packed that a hypodermic needle can't penetrate it. I feel as though that would make it difficult to sew through so I wouldn't recommend that at all. With how much they sent me in the sample, I don't even think I need to order any to sew into the costume as I'm only using it for a few areas, but I will buy some in the future. This stuff is amazing.

 

[Bronnen]

The yards of Cordura I ordered came in today. That stuff is fantastic. Based on my estimates I should have enough for 3 costumes, which means tons of room for trial and error.

 

[Bronnen]

Question for the more established costume makers. Would it be better to place the armor pieces in a removable jacket that fits with the suit? Or should the suit be one piece entirely. I feel as though two pieces would be better.

 

[Bronnen]

Front chest piece finished in CardStock. It's going to be altered once it's been resined and bondo'd up to make it my own. I used the Desert Storm Batman Pep files since they were fairly close to what I wanted to do.

 

[Bronnen]

Some more pieces have been finished and I'm making good progress. Some of my resin went bad and I only noticed after I started coating the piece so I have to coat it again, but other than that it's going well.