My Dark Knight build (GCFX suit plus tweaks)

[LePaul]

Time for another update!

Adding some suspenders as other suggested has helped a good deal. The shoulder pad idea was good but it made it really hard to get the shoulder/chest armor to fit...those under the shoulder straps are a tight fit.

The 2P-10 is a finicky adhesive on these urethane parts. Today my friend and I attached velcro (no adhesive backing type). Once we had the gel on the velcro and activator on the gauntlet, we found we had better luck putting clear plastic over it and pressing down. We even noted some heat from doing so. So, less air is better.

Here's my latest picture with the gauntlets on and sporting the new cowl from coofunkcurly I'm still using the GCFX neck piece for now. While you can't see it in this picture, the bigger cowl and neck piece seem to collide a bit. Still tweaking!




I'm still having the problem of the armor pieces peeling off the mesh undersuit. I got some great email suggestions from Kris at Hell's Kitchen. I'm going to pick up some Sikaflex 221 and try that on a few spots.

 

[w2228226]

Your suit looks great. but I think you may need an accurate belt. GCFX‘s belt is not accurate.

 

[Srandal]

Hey LePaul. Anyway you could explain/show how you did your suspenders. I just got my GCFX suit in the mail and I am facing the same issue. It looks awesome, just sags a bit, and some of the armor is peeling away as well. Did the 2P-10 end up working for you? Thanks in advance.

 

[LePaul]

Hey LePaul. Anyway you could explain/show how you did your suspenders. I just got my GCFX suit in the mail and I am facing the same issue. It looks awesome, just sags a bit, and some of the armor is peeling away as well. Did the 2P-10 end up working for you? Thanks in advance.

Hello new friend

Since my suit was clearly made for someone 5'10 (or a tad more) and I'm 5'9 and some change...I had to do a few things.

My upholstery friend and I found a spot around the belt line that we could pinch in/hem inwards about an inch. Nerve-wracking work getting the suit to maneuver around the sewing machine.

With that material (sewn from inside) now sticking out, I attached some ordinary suspenders to that. Now, hemming the suit at the middle like that blocks the zipper, so I can't get it all the way down now, but I am able to wiggle past it. Truth be told, we've debated removing the zipper from the hem-line down and sew it shut, then replace the remaining with a bigger/less snag prone one so I can actually reach and zip myself up and down (as you've seen, getting in and out of that suit is a 2 person chore)

I was really disappointed in 2P-10. I watched the videos and did several tests on wood blocks and found it worked "OK" but it is extremely brittle.

What I have used it for is the velcro attachment for the gauntlets (which mine look awful). I didn't use the enclosed velcro because quite simply, it won't stick to the urethane.

I reached out to Kris at Hell's Kitchen and asked what they use for their suits. He stated that he uses Sikaflex 221 On several test pieces we did with pieces of vinyl cloth we had, it isn't a bad choice. The tube I bought is white, tho...so if you have any oozing from applying to close to the edges, you may need to do some touch ups with a black marker, like a thick sharpy. Once I was happy with the test pieces, I used it on one spot of armor, the ones that cover your fanny Applied it, let it dry overnight with a weight on top of it and the result is very good. I'd like to see if I can find this stuff in black or gray...but with my R2-D2 projects and 3D printing on my Ultimaker, I haven't gotten back to the suit in a while.

I'm curious what you think of your suit? I'm frustrated I bought it but for every bad thing I find about it, I find one good. The mesh undersuit is the biggest problem, since the mesh isn't as well supported against the undersuit as it should be. That's what's causing the sagging, in my opinion.

I'm not sure how other suits are made...is the mesh sewn into a tight-fitting body suit of Spandex/Lycra? Or is the mesh bodysuit made to fit snug to begin with, so that you just put on your black spandex/lycra undersuit and slide into the armored mesh?

 

[Srandal]

Thanks for the quick response!


I do like the suit, it has slight imperfections, which I guess is to be expected. It was certainly more affordable than any of the others I looked at. I think the main issue is just the undersuit is to large. I'm about 5'7 and the knees of the suit seem to want to be a couple of inhces below where my actual knees are. I wore it last night for the first time and were it not for the sagging I thing it would be great.


Well, that and the armor falling off. The large piece that covers the abs was falling off almost completely. As were multiple larger leg pieces, and one of the "L" shaped pieces off the chest that covers the cape holes. After reading on the BOTB about that, I purchased some loctite gel and it worked great on the "L" pieces. I also tried it on a few spots for the abs and the legs and it also seems to work great adhereing to the mesh suit. I can't pull it apart now. I just hate that I have to spend $50 on gel to do something that should already be done. I guess that's whet we get for trying to save a few bucks, lol.


I wrote to them about it, but no response yet. I think they are closed on Friday. I knew ahead of time that it probably wouldn't fit perfectly, I had already read your post here and a few on the BOTB, but decided for the price it was worth it and just went for it. I did buy some suspenders yesterday, and I have plenty of high quality velcro so I will try to make something like that work. Just messing around last night, I found that if I was a little bigger it would probably fit great. I put on a pair of sweatpants and a thick shirt, then squeezed my way into the suit, and there was very little sagging. It actually fit great, although it would help if I was still just a bit taller. I already have pretty large shoulders, so that may help.


I just got it in yesterday, but I had been researching it for months, and I had already bought the cowl, cape, and gauntlets from them a few months ago for my foam suit. The gauntlets are probably the single item I was the most dissapointed in. I sent the first pair back because the urethane was so thin in parts it just ripped. I am looking into other sources for new gauntlets and a screen accurate cape. I plan on getting a new cowl from coofunkcurly soon.


I'm not dissapointed with it, because I did a lot of research first. I could see how people could be frustrated by the thing though, if I knew nothing about the sagging/armor before I bought it I wpild have pro0obably been pissed. It fit my budget and it does look awesome. It still has pretty thin urethane in some spots, and some of the front pieces are a little worn looking or scuffed, but nobody but me will likely ever notice that. I wore it for some friends last night and they were freaking amazed by it. So I know the kids will love it.


To answer your first qustion, the first suit I made was a wetsuit with the foam glued directly to it. It fit great, but it was hot and miserable. I think the mesh looks much better. So, I guess the only options are peeling all the armor off and taking the suit to a tailor, or just putting suspenders/velcro in them. It still looks like most of the armor will peel right off and it doesn't appear to hurt the suit. Not sure about the parts I tried the loctite on. That stuff might be on for good!


Overall I would recommend them to other people, but only if you have done the reseach and know what to expect. It was between Kris and these guys for me. I talked to Kris a few months ago and there was just no way I could swing it. I'm not a fan of the UD suit so that wasn't an option.


Thanks for the help and advice! I'll stay away form the 2p-10.

 

[LePaul]

Wow, it has been many months since I provided any updates on this!

I've had a lot of private messages asking if folks should steer away from the GCFX suits they keep seeing on eBay. Yes.
There's also many knock offs out there and "artists" claiming to made this or that piece with extraordinary detail. Skip them too.

Its hard to avoid the temptation of having the funds and seeing a complete article up for bid. I wish I hadn't. I wish I had inquired in here a lot more, followed the leads many friends gave and kept saving for a quality suit.

Over the past few months, I bought one of coofunkcurly's cowls, which is a huge improvement. I can take the cowl off without feeling like I'll loose an ear in the process

I did make one more purchase from GCFX, and I hated to do it...but I needed a mesh hood that matched the suit mesh. $49 and it arrived pretty quickly.

I no longer use the suspenders inside the suit as a year of weight lifting has helped me fit into the suit a lot tighter than my chubbier form!

The Sikaflex that was suggested arrived...but was white. We opted to use a black urethane adhesive used for mounting windshields. I can't recall the brand name but the plan that has worked so far was this....Gently lift up the armor areas glued poor with super glue, fill with the black adhesive and apply pressure overnight so the armor adheres thru the mesh and onto the jump suit it is sewn onto.

That's worked well and I recently had my first public appearance with the bat suit. I was quite warm inside and my friend that does a lot of clown-dress up had my eyes blacked out in "very black" mascara. Blacking out the roots of your eyelashes isn't easy work...and even harder to remove completely!



Getting to the event was funny. I had to take the cowl and cape off, but half way there, my friend and I noted something...I'd never sat down in this suit, so when I get up, I have no idea if things will fall off! So, we were a bit concerned some armor pieces may bend/fall off...but thankfully, I was "intact" when I got to the mini Comic Con event.

Now I am re-examining the suit and there are additional areas that need to be re-glued. Mostly in the legs. They aren't falling off yet but not hanging on by much

So, imagine your luck with an un-improved suit!

Finally, there are other areas that just tick me off. The gauntlets are crap, who ever molded and cut them out didn't take any time to do them right. The shoulder/chest area was worn straight out of the box and the 'carbon fiber' coverings were not put on correctly; bubbled in one area.

On the good side, people who saw the suit loved it. I kind of lack the Christian Bale punched-in-the-throat-Batman-rasp but got by I know Batman doesn't smile but it was hard not too when there were so many very little kids standing around me in amazement.

After a few more tweaks...and thankfully some cooler weather, we'll do some pediatric patient visits soon

 

[Rickhemingway]

You look great in the suit! Thank you for posting all the details on what it takes to work with urethane suits. I do find it interesting to know, as I have been considering one. Very helpful tips there, thank you again!

 

[LePaul]

Thanks for the comment!

I try to be detailed since I know I have asked others for help...and they have been very helpful

I did some searches on here about the best adhesives to use. I found some had suggested E-6000, ShoeGoo and Freesole.

E-6000 is easy to find locally and I decided to try that out on the velcro that attaches to the gauntlets. The test piece of velcro I used glued on fine and stayed in place. You could, if you really really needed to...but E-6000 works,

Putting a lot on...



After gently pressing into place and making sure any oozing is cleaned up and allowed to dry



As for the armor on the suit that needs works....the adhesive that GCFX used eventually crackles/pops and fails. Its crap. It looks like thin beads of super glue.

I read up on Shoe Goo and Freesole and based on what I read here, Freesole adheres the best (rubber to fabric).

Shoe Goo comes in a greater quantity, Freesole cost me $9 on Amazon (free shipping) and was only a 1 ounce tube. I bought the type with the black coloring tube. You put in a couple drops and mix away.

Today I applied heavy globs of Freesole under the armor pieces coming off the mesh. I focused on the left leg, since that needed the most work. 5 or 6 pieces had separation in the middle section of the armor piece. A few had some lifting on the edge, which required a steady had so the adhesive would've ooze out from under the armor.

I did all of this work with the suit on a mannequin....as it is drying, a few pieces needed a small weight to apply pressure on them. Some, I was able to get away with using painter's tape...just putting the strip from the armor piece to the surrounding mesh

More pictures soon!

 

[LePaul]

Another picture from my first time out in the suit...



Over the past couple days I've used up my tube of Freesole, touching up areas of the suit where the armor has separated from the mesh.



Here's what Freesole looks when dried



So as you can see, using the Freesole with the lack coloring comes close to matching the armor color and mesh

Tomorrow I'll try the suit on again and see if there are other spots I should touch up with more adhesive!

 

[sparrowfan]

looks great man, def improvement, did you change the cape too?

 

[LePaul]

looks great man, def improvement, did you change the cape too?

I'm working on that...the GCFX one keeps falling apart where it was sewn to the liner...getting one from Coofunk

 

[dms54nyc]

Great job on the improvements lepaul but man am i glad i never ordered anything from them. Sorry you went through that

 

[Rickhemingway]

I'm working on that...the GCFX one keeps falling apart where it was sewn to the liner...getting one from Coofunk

Are you going to get his new stunt sized cape?

 

[LePaul]

Are you going to get his new stunt sized cape?

I plan to, I've been talking to him about getting one!

- - - Updated - - -

First picture from a photo shoot I did with an amazingly talented photographer last night.

 

[LePaul]

I haven't posted in a while and thought I would do so again!

The suit continues to be a mini project in itself. A few more touch ups here and there. Some more armor segments needed more gluing since the Super Glue work Gotham City did continues to fall apart.

Again, Freesole works superbly.

Another area I am working on the gap between the top and bottom sections of the suit. The belt line is too wide and I need to hem the suit a bit more.

Word of a Dark Knight in my community has spawned some fun media attention, most loved by my local police department...for GOOD reasons! Clearly my 'secret identity" is a poorly kept secret, but did a interview with a local publication and spent a couple hours with their photographer for some really amazing pictures. While playing on rooftops with high winds and 20 degree weather isn't for the faint of heart, we had a lot of fun. The reporter was terribly conflicted on what to publish...tell about the work I've done to this suit...or play on the legend of Batman and keep it mysterious. She opted for mystery. The published pictures and story got many hits and lead to others contacting me about photoshoots with them,

The local police department has a wonderful page on Facebook with frequent community updates and news. The officer writes it with great humor and noted that when a Batman picture (see previous post) goes on the page, their shares/comments and Likes go through the roof. This lead to a recent photoshoot at the police station...and walking in the front door suited up was memorable (what would my high school guidance counselor say now?) The officers had numerous ideas already in motion and quickly moved me from location to location to photograph them (I won't spoil their hard work revealing it now). When they lead me to the pistol range, I felt I had to emphasize that this armor was indeed RUBBER and I would fold in half if shot at But it was all good...they wanted Batman to mimic the scene from the movie where we are analyzing bullet holes and targets Phew!

To those looking at the various offerings from GCFX on eBay...I again urge caution. Hours...Days...Weeks...have been spent fixing this suit to look good.

And now, some recent pictures from the pros!

 

[teragon]

Very cool shots :thumbsup

 

[fez79]

I like you suit!

 

[Rickhemingway]

So how do you like the gauntlets? Do you have any close ups of them? Are the fins movie accurate?