My costume build

[Professor Steve]

Hi folks,
I have been a long time lurker/occasional poster on this site and after studying almost every post on this forum,I decided that it's about time I pulled my finger out and got started.
My first attempt utilized paint buckets and I later realised that they are made from Polypropylene and cannot be glued or painted ( ah well). I then tried PVC pipe and realised that the armour would be far too heavy to wear. So that idea was abandoned. Finally ( after watching a documentary about Japanese plywood rmour), I tried plywood ( bent to shape using the aforementioned PVC pipe.
Here's what i have so far.

 

[spgfx]

That's an out of the box construction material for a costume. You have done a really nice job and I looks really cool. I will be interested to see how this progresses

 

[Isubomo]

That is definitely different and ..beautiful..any videos on youtube about how something like this is done?

Really cool work!

 

[Vyrstolf]

That's nice

 

[Professor Steve]

Thank you for your kind words.
Not sure if there are youtube videos or not, I simply cut out the rectangles ( approximately a half inch larger than the piece), soaked them in water for 24 hours and wrapped them around some plumbing pipe and tightened them with (ratchet type) luggage straps (they took 48 hours tofully dry. I used pipe that was slightly smaller than the finished bend to allow for thewood to spring back after it's removed. I then traced Vinamans patterns ( thanks Vinaman) on them and cut them out with a fret saw.

 

[Wreav]

I recommended plywood when I first started out, had people laugh at me... Glad to see someone who's actually done it successfully. The idea was called primitive but I new something great could come out of it. Good job sir.

 

[Pyromaniac]

Looking great! I'd never really considered using wood, is it a difficult process to actually shape the wood properly? And I'd imagine that those will be some heavy-duty pieces of armour, then again I don't actually know how strong plywood is, but hey, probably a lot stronger than foam. I might give plywood a go some time since I can't seem to find much decent size EVA foam...

 

[Isubomo]

A work of love most definitely! Can't wait to see more!

 

[Draggindrew]

Awesome Work!!!!

 

[Professor Steve]

Small update -
Due to only having a small length of pipe left, I can only bend one piece every 48 hours or so. Anyway, here's a picture of my first shoulder bell in the jig and the finished piece ( along with a bicep ). Only another nine of
each to go.

 

[predtrooper]

Its nice to see a different approach, and perhaps give people ideas for there own builds

 

[Mr Fett]

Very interesting. Have never seen anyone make wood armor for sci-fi suits before! Pretty neat.

 

[cavx]

Very nice and very unique.

 

[Professor Steve]

Thanks for your comments

I have finally finished the shoulders and biceps ( I now have to figure out how to fasten it all together).
Whilst waiting for the wood to dry, I made 3 biohelms from Pepakura files and made myself a mannikin ( with an appropriate head),
and made some dreads from black cotton cloth,stuffed with fibrefill and painted with 2 coats of latex.

Here's the results

 

[Professor Steve]

Small update, I finally got the chance to glass my pep helmet. Here it is, aftrr peeling off card.

. I guess I'll be spending the next few weeks filling and sanding.

 

[MAULER666]

Cloaked Predator bust would look awesome, great use of different materials too. Wish I had the patience to make the Pepakura bios.

 

[Isubomo]

Great to see some more progress pics Steve!!! Looks like you've been busy