Gimpdiggity
Master Member
Hi everyone!!
I'm putting together a Captain America costume for...well, really just for fun. I have a friend that wants to go to Comic Con in Detroit/Novi with me, but it was too late for us to get plans together for this year, so I figured if I was going to go next year, I may as well put together a costume.
I bought one of those "cosplay suits" from Amazon and got all of the stuff for it, mainly because I didn't think I'd be able to sew the whole thing together on my own. After looking at it, I probably could have put it together just fine on my own, with a bit of time. Hindsight is 20/20, though, so I've got the suit.
The product came with a mask, utility belt, gloves, gauntlets, and boot covers...but they weren't very good quality. I set about trying to find a good way to get some better looking accessories, and decided since the show is so far off, I could give it a few attempts at putting together my own.
I found a pattern for the gauntlets, boot covers, and utility belt at The Foam Cave, and figured I would give that a shot.
I've never done anything even remotely close to this before, so I figured a pattern would be a good place for me to start. It was easy to download and print, and I was cutting stuff out and gluing it together pretty much straight away.
I ended up making several "rough drafts" in order to get the process down. I was using too much CA glue, and it was causing the spots between the "outer panels" to be brittle and crack when they were bent.
This was my first completely finished gauntlet.
I decided to go with red foam because I've heard that some of the finishing work on these can get beat up a bit, and at least with the red if I get a gouge in one of them or something it will still show the red underneath, which I figured would be pretty cool.
After getting that one together, I quickly realized that the strap system wasn't really up to what I was wanting to put together. I ended up devising a different system for mounting the gauntlet to my forearm, which unfortunately I can't share right now because I'm waiting on the parts to do it to come in as they were backordered. I will be using 3/4" nylon webbing along with plastic side release buckles to be making the straps, and then they will be held to the gauntlets with 3/4" nylon webbing "keepers" that will be glued in place.
These are the straps I'll be using to hold them to my forearm:
Once I got all of that worked out, I needed to make another gauntlet. This time I wanted to try something different, as I was running into the problems with the glue causing some cracks, so I grabbed some of my 30 minute two part epoxy that I use for building RC boat hulls. I figured that it would be good, because it's SLIGHLY flexible itself to account for the stresses on the boats hull and the possible expansion and contraction due to temperature fluctuations. It also would be easy to brush on and make sure that it didn't end up getting where it wasn't supposed to be.
It ended up working out GREAT. It's flexible, as I figured, didn't get out onto the areas where the gauntlets need to bend to fit around the forearm, and is holding just as well as the CA was from my testing.
I then set about getting it coated. I got some red Plasti Dip from Walmart and ended up using quite a few coats. I had found online that a lot of light coats generally ended up with a smoother finish. I wanted a BIT of texture, though, as it would appear that the gauntlets from the photos I've looked at (this is from the first "Avengers" movie) were made of leather, so I wanted a bit of texture to look like they weren't some kind of solid pieces.
I ended up with this:
It's got just enough texture to it that it looks like it's made out of some kind of organic material, which is what I was going for.
I'm currently putting a few final coats on it as I ended up bending it around something so that I can get some of the Plasti Dip into the areas that were kind of "less exposed" when it was just flat, but I should have the gauntlet itself finished up later on tonight.
I have the second one built, I'm just waiting for the two part epoxy to cure. I'm hoping to have that one finished and Plasti Dipped by Wednesday, which is when my parts for my straps are supposed to ship, so hopefully I can have them done by next Monday to see how they look.
I'm currently trying to figure out if I want to try to lay any clear Plasti Dip over the top of them to give them some shine, or if I'd rather just leave it with the slightly satin type look that they have right now. I'm leaning more towards leaving them how they are.
Anyways, I just wanted to share. It's nothing close to what you guys are putting together, but I'm having fun doing it.
Jeff
I'm putting together a Captain America costume for...well, really just for fun. I have a friend that wants to go to Comic Con in Detroit/Novi with me, but it was too late for us to get plans together for this year, so I figured if I was going to go next year, I may as well put together a costume.
I bought one of those "cosplay suits" from Amazon and got all of the stuff for it, mainly because I didn't think I'd be able to sew the whole thing together on my own. After looking at it, I probably could have put it together just fine on my own, with a bit of time. Hindsight is 20/20, though, so I've got the suit.
The product came with a mask, utility belt, gloves, gauntlets, and boot covers...but they weren't very good quality. I set about trying to find a good way to get some better looking accessories, and decided since the show is so far off, I could give it a few attempts at putting together my own.
I found a pattern for the gauntlets, boot covers, and utility belt at The Foam Cave, and figured I would give that a shot.
I've never done anything even remotely close to this before, so I figured a pattern would be a good place for me to start. It was easy to download and print, and I was cutting stuff out and gluing it together pretty much straight away.
I ended up making several "rough drafts" in order to get the process down. I was using too much CA glue, and it was causing the spots between the "outer panels" to be brittle and crack when they were bent.
This was my first completely finished gauntlet.
I decided to go with red foam because I've heard that some of the finishing work on these can get beat up a bit, and at least with the red if I get a gouge in one of them or something it will still show the red underneath, which I figured would be pretty cool.
After getting that one together, I quickly realized that the strap system wasn't really up to what I was wanting to put together. I ended up devising a different system for mounting the gauntlet to my forearm, which unfortunately I can't share right now because I'm waiting on the parts to do it to come in as they were backordered. I will be using 3/4" nylon webbing along with plastic side release buckles to be making the straps, and then they will be held to the gauntlets with 3/4" nylon webbing "keepers" that will be glued in place.
These are the straps I'll be using to hold them to my forearm:
Once I got all of that worked out, I needed to make another gauntlet. This time I wanted to try something different, as I was running into the problems with the glue causing some cracks, so I grabbed some of my 30 minute two part epoxy that I use for building RC boat hulls. I figured that it would be good, because it's SLIGHLY flexible itself to account for the stresses on the boats hull and the possible expansion and contraction due to temperature fluctuations. It also would be easy to brush on and make sure that it didn't end up getting where it wasn't supposed to be.
It ended up working out GREAT. It's flexible, as I figured, didn't get out onto the areas where the gauntlets need to bend to fit around the forearm, and is holding just as well as the CA was from my testing.
I then set about getting it coated. I got some red Plasti Dip from Walmart and ended up using quite a few coats. I had found online that a lot of light coats generally ended up with a smoother finish. I wanted a BIT of texture, though, as it would appear that the gauntlets from the photos I've looked at (this is from the first "Avengers" movie) were made of leather, so I wanted a bit of texture to look like they weren't some kind of solid pieces.
I ended up with this:
It's got just enough texture to it that it looks like it's made out of some kind of organic material, which is what I was going for.
I'm currently putting a few final coats on it as I ended up bending it around something so that I can get some of the Plasti Dip into the areas that were kind of "less exposed" when it was just flat, but I should have the gauntlet itself finished up later on tonight.
I have the second one built, I'm just waiting for the two part epoxy to cure. I'm hoping to have that one finished and Plasti Dipped by Wednesday, which is when my parts for my straps are supposed to ship, so hopefully I can have them done by next Monday to see how they look.
I'm currently trying to figure out if I want to try to lay any clear Plasti Dip over the top of them to give them some shine, or if I'd rather just leave it with the slightly satin type look that they have right now. I'm leaning more towards leaving them how they are.
Anyways, I just wanted to share. It's nothing close to what you guys are putting together, but I'm having fun doing it.
Jeff
