SonOfKrypton
New Member
Hey everyone,
I'm new to TheRPF (and forums in general). This is my first ever foam build so I thought I would document/share my process. I’ve been growing my hair out slowly over the past year or so. Finally, it’s just long enough for me to pull off Thor so that’s what I’m doing for Halloween this year. I’m going with a costume that is mostly based on the one from the first Avengers movie. I will end up making some minor deviations where it makes sense, but that’s my general starting point.
Before I started, I found this great Instructable on creating foam armor and that formed the basis of my knowledge here. I also did further research on tips and tricks working with foam and hot glue, getting clean cuts, etc…
I was lucky enough to have found a handful of posts (like this one from @Dynofiend) who have tried similar versions of this costume. Like Dynofiend, I also started with the template on October and Rules Cosplay Blog (shown below).
This post from @bananahammock was also very helpful.
It was awesome to see what worked and what didn’t, what solutions others have tried, and where I thought I would be better served by coming up with my own solutions. Others have done some amazing work, but I wanted to make this one uniquely my own. I’m a graphic designer by trade, so I love coming up with creative solutions to challenges.
That said, being new to all this, I didn’t want to push myself too hard, so I nixed the armored sleeves. I only started this a couple weeks before Halloween and wanted to make sure I could get it done. At 6’00” 190lbs, I’m not really a small guy, but I’m certainly no Hemsworth. Regardless, I don't think I'll look totally hilarious going with the sleeveless look.
I also decided not to try and recreate the Mjölnir. You can get a good-enough looking adult-sized toy version for pretty cheap, so I’m taking the easy route there. At this point, I just want to do what works. If I decide to tackle more builds in the future, maybe I’ll go the more purist route then.
Below are some reference photos I used to start designing:
Here are the supplies I started with:
1) Six 3/8” thick 2’x2’ EVA foam floor tiles: We Sell Mats Interlocking Anti-Fatigue EVA Foam Floor Mat
2) 2 cans silver spray paint: Rust-Oleum 1915830 Metallic Spray, Silver, 11-Ounce, Rust-Oleum 223782 Paint For Plastic Hammered Spray, Silver, 12-Ounce; 1 can blue spray paint: Valspar 12-oz Indigo Streamer Satin Spray Paint; 1 can Plasti Dip: Performix 11203 Plasti Dip Black Multi-Purpose Rubber Coating Aerosol - 11 oz.
3) 1 glue gun: DEWALT Rapid Heat Ceramic Glue Gun (DWHTGR50) with glue sticks: Surebonder BS-12 High Temperature Best Glue Sticks, 4-Inch
4) 1 heat gun: Wagner 0503008 HT1000 1,200-watt Heat Gun
5) 1 razor knife: DEWALT Folding Retractable Utility Knife (DWHT10035L) and 1 wood-burning kit with heat knife: Walnut Hollow® Creative Versa-Tool
6) 3 yards 36” wide red fabric: 20% Wool Felt Fabric (Barnyard Red)
7) 1 officially licensed toy hammer: Marvel's Avengers Thor Hammer
8) 1 sleeveless blue compression shirt: Under Armour Men's Heatgear Sleeveless Tee (Midnight Navy/Steel, Large)
9) 1 pair of blue pants: Levi's Men's 508 Regular Tapered Brushed Twill Pant, Boiler Blue, 32x32
I began with the chest plate...
I used the template I found online and after taking my measurements and sizing the template in Photoshop, I printed, taped, and cut out the pieces to use as stencils. Below you can see it all laid out before I began to cut apart the individual pieces.
I used a fine point sharpie to trace the stencils on the EVA foam. Since the chest plate is symmetrical, I only had to create stencils for the pieces on one half and then flip them over and retrace them for a mirror image. I cut out each piece with the utility knife. Being my first time cutting EVA foam, the first cuts were a bit rough. I later found that using the versa-tool with the heat knife attachment was smoother on the round cuts. Below you can see the pieces fit back together.
I used the heat gun to seal the EVA foam all over. I wanted the armor to look fitted and shaped to my body as opposed to stiff and flat so I rounded the pieces a little at the top and sides. Below you can see how sealing and forming the pieces starts to make it feel more cohesive.
In the reference images I found I noticed that the jagged silver pieces near the shoulders seem to have an outer ridge that folds back a bit so I scored the back of the foam pieces along the inside of the fold and put a bead of hot glue in the gap. Then I folded the piece back to its desired angle and held it in place until the glue cooled.
You can see the way the edge folds below.
The template I used was only the chest piece and it looked like it was intended to use either an elastic or velcro strap around the back of the neck with the belt fastening behind the back, likely with velcro. I wanted something more. After looking at several reference photos from the various Thor and Avengers movies, I decided to make a kind of shoulder pad onto which I could hang the cape. This would also help it to drape higher off the shoulders, creating more of the arched look it has in the films.
I was able to find a behind-the-scenes featurette about the costume design from Age of Ultron and took a few screen grabs of the designers working on various incarnations of that version of the Thor costume (posted below). While not the same as the one I was hoping to recreate, it was helpful for coming up with ideas on how to pull the various pieces together.
For the shoulder pads, I decided it would be easiest to create an oval piece with a hole cut through the middle just slightly larger than my neck with a slit down the front that would allow me to pull it on.
I looked at some v-neck t-shirts to get a sense of how to size the hole and how far from center to place the hole. I created a paper mock up for the piece and found the hole was still way too big and pulled forward to much. I reworked the mock up, making the hole smaller and pushing it back more until it seemed like a close-enough fit. Then I cut it out of the foam, sealed it with the heat gun, and formed it around my shoulders. It was a little lopsided but it would do. Once the cape is on, I don’t think it will be noticeable at all.
I then glued some velcro straps on the inside of the front to close the slit. It still didn’t seem right though. I decided to add a collar to the back. The collared look is more prominent in the costume designs from the first Thor movie and the Age of Ultron (as you can see from the featurette screen grabs above), but I like its more regal look so I decided to add one. This would also give the elastic neck strap from the chest piece something to rest on other than my bare neck. To keep that band in place and help to hide it a bit, I added a tab to the back of the collar using a scrap piece of foam. I used the versa-tool to cut out a notch large enough that the elastic neck strap could fit inside. Then I added a square of velcro to keep the tab in place. Below is an illustration of how the tab works and a photo of the assembled shoulder piece.
Then the arms and legs...
The arm and leg braces were easier. I didn’t have a template like I did for the chest plate, but I had great reference photos and measuring was much easier on my arms and legs. I created basic templates in photoshop based on my measurements (see photos below) and I cut stencils out of paper like before. After I cut the foam and sealed it with the heat gun I started adding detailing and line work to all the foam pieces. This is where the versa-tool made the difference. I did freehand line work along the braces and added my own edging to the shoulder pads to give them some dimension. My lifetime of drawing and painting came in handy here.
Painting and finishing...
After hot gluing a few items together that would end up being painted a single color, I added 2 coats of plasti-dip to everything as a primer. Once that was dry I started painting the silver pieces. I used a base coat of the silver metallic paint, then followed with a light coat of the hammered silver paint. This gave it a more natural, worn look as opposed to a bold chrome finish like you would get with just the silver metallic. I used the Valspar Indigo Streamer satin on the handful of blue pieces. It’s a nice, deep blue that I think matches the color from the Avengers costume nicely.
After the paint had fully dried (24-48 hours or so) I started hot gluing the rest of the pieces together, working the seams and then adding a layer to the back of the seams as reinforcement. I added velcro to the back of the belt and added the velcro straps to the neck of the chest plate. Below are some photos of the chest plate and shoulder pads, along with the toy hammer and fabric I bought for the cape.
So that’s where I am right now. I still have to cut, pleat, and sew/glue the cape. I’m not sure exactly how I’m going to do that yet and I haven’t found much in terms of reference. I also need to add straps to the arm and leg braces and create the wraps underneath from the excess cape fabric. I'll post those this week when I finish them.
I'm new to TheRPF (and forums in general). This is my first ever foam build so I thought I would document/share my process. I’ve been growing my hair out slowly over the past year or so. Finally, it’s just long enough for me to pull off Thor so that’s what I’m doing for Halloween this year. I’m going with a costume that is mostly based on the one from the first Avengers movie. I will end up making some minor deviations where it makes sense, but that’s my general starting point.
Before I started, I found this great Instructable on creating foam armor and that formed the basis of my knowledge here. I also did further research on tips and tricks working with foam and hot glue, getting clean cuts, etc…
I was lucky enough to have found a handful of posts (like this one from @Dynofiend) who have tried similar versions of this costume. Like Dynofiend, I also started with the template on October and Rules Cosplay Blog (shown below).
This post from @bananahammock was also very helpful.
It was awesome to see what worked and what didn’t, what solutions others have tried, and where I thought I would be better served by coming up with my own solutions. Others have done some amazing work, but I wanted to make this one uniquely my own. I’m a graphic designer by trade, so I love coming up with creative solutions to challenges.
That said, being new to all this, I didn’t want to push myself too hard, so I nixed the armored sleeves. I only started this a couple weeks before Halloween and wanted to make sure I could get it done. At 6’00” 190lbs, I’m not really a small guy, but I’m certainly no Hemsworth. Regardless, I don't think I'll look totally hilarious going with the sleeveless look.
I also decided not to try and recreate the Mjölnir. You can get a good-enough looking adult-sized toy version for pretty cheap, so I’m taking the easy route there. At this point, I just want to do what works. If I decide to tackle more builds in the future, maybe I’ll go the more purist route then.
Below are some reference photos I used to start designing:
Here are the supplies I started with:
1) Six 3/8” thick 2’x2’ EVA foam floor tiles: We Sell Mats Interlocking Anti-Fatigue EVA Foam Floor Mat
2) 2 cans silver spray paint: Rust-Oleum 1915830 Metallic Spray, Silver, 11-Ounce, Rust-Oleum 223782 Paint For Plastic Hammered Spray, Silver, 12-Ounce; 1 can blue spray paint: Valspar 12-oz Indigo Streamer Satin Spray Paint; 1 can Plasti Dip: Performix 11203 Plasti Dip Black Multi-Purpose Rubber Coating Aerosol - 11 oz.
3) 1 glue gun: DEWALT Rapid Heat Ceramic Glue Gun (DWHTGR50) with glue sticks: Surebonder BS-12 High Temperature Best Glue Sticks, 4-Inch
4) 1 heat gun: Wagner 0503008 HT1000 1,200-watt Heat Gun
5) 1 razor knife: DEWALT Folding Retractable Utility Knife (DWHT10035L) and 1 wood-burning kit with heat knife: Walnut Hollow® Creative Versa-Tool
6) 3 yards 36” wide red fabric: 20% Wool Felt Fabric (Barnyard Red)
7) 1 officially licensed toy hammer: Marvel's Avengers Thor Hammer
8) 1 sleeveless blue compression shirt: Under Armour Men's Heatgear Sleeveless Tee (Midnight Navy/Steel, Large)
9) 1 pair of blue pants: Levi's Men's 508 Regular Tapered Brushed Twill Pant, Boiler Blue, 32x32
I began with the chest plate...
I used the template I found online and after taking my measurements and sizing the template in Photoshop, I printed, taped, and cut out the pieces to use as stencils. Below you can see it all laid out before I began to cut apart the individual pieces.
I used a fine point sharpie to trace the stencils on the EVA foam. Since the chest plate is symmetrical, I only had to create stencils for the pieces on one half and then flip them over and retrace them for a mirror image. I cut out each piece with the utility knife. Being my first time cutting EVA foam, the first cuts were a bit rough. I later found that using the versa-tool with the heat knife attachment was smoother on the round cuts. Below you can see the pieces fit back together.
I used the heat gun to seal the EVA foam all over. I wanted the armor to look fitted and shaped to my body as opposed to stiff and flat so I rounded the pieces a little at the top and sides. Below you can see how sealing and forming the pieces starts to make it feel more cohesive.
In the reference images I found I noticed that the jagged silver pieces near the shoulders seem to have an outer ridge that folds back a bit so I scored the back of the foam pieces along the inside of the fold and put a bead of hot glue in the gap. Then I folded the piece back to its desired angle and held it in place until the glue cooled.
You can see the way the edge folds below.
The template I used was only the chest piece and it looked like it was intended to use either an elastic or velcro strap around the back of the neck with the belt fastening behind the back, likely with velcro. I wanted something more. After looking at several reference photos from the various Thor and Avengers movies, I decided to make a kind of shoulder pad onto which I could hang the cape. This would also help it to drape higher off the shoulders, creating more of the arched look it has in the films.
I was able to find a behind-the-scenes featurette about the costume design from Age of Ultron and took a few screen grabs of the designers working on various incarnations of that version of the Thor costume (posted below). While not the same as the one I was hoping to recreate, it was helpful for coming up with ideas on how to pull the various pieces together.
For the shoulder pads, I decided it would be easiest to create an oval piece with a hole cut through the middle just slightly larger than my neck with a slit down the front that would allow me to pull it on.
I looked at some v-neck t-shirts to get a sense of how to size the hole and how far from center to place the hole. I created a paper mock up for the piece and found the hole was still way too big and pulled forward to much. I reworked the mock up, making the hole smaller and pushing it back more until it seemed like a close-enough fit. Then I cut it out of the foam, sealed it with the heat gun, and formed it around my shoulders. It was a little lopsided but it would do. Once the cape is on, I don’t think it will be noticeable at all.
I then glued some velcro straps on the inside of the front to close the slit. It still didn’t seem right though. I decided to add a collar to the back. The collared look is more prominent in the costume designs from the first Thor movie and the Age of Ultron (as you can see from the featurette screen grabs above), but I like its more regal look so I decided to add one. This would also give the elastic neck strap from the chest piece something to rest on other than my bare neck. To keep that band in place and help to hide it a bit, I added a tab to the back of the collar using a scrap piece of foam. I used the versa-tool to cut out a notch large enough that the elastic neck strap could fit inside. Then I added a square of velcro to keep the tab in place. Below is an illustration of how the tab works and a photo of the assembled shoulder piece.
Then the arms and legs...
The arm and leg braces were easier. I didn’t have a template like I did for the chest plate, but I had great reference photos and measuring was much easier on my arms and legs. I created basic templates in photoshop based on my measurements (see photos below) and I cut stencils out of paper like before. After I cut the foam and sealed it with the heat gun I started adding detailing and line work to all the foam pieces. This is where the versa-tool made the difference. I did freehand line work along the braces and added my own edging to the shoulder pads to give them some dimension. My lifetime of drawing and painting came in handy here.
Painting and finishing...
After hot gluing a few items together that would end up being painted a single color, I added 2 coats of plasti-dip to everything as a primer. Once that was dry I started painting the silver pieces. I used a base coat of the silver metallic paint, then followed with a light coat of the hammered silver paint. This gave it a more natural, worn look as opposed to a bold chrome finish like you would get with just the silver metallic. I used the Valspar Indigo Streamer satin on the handful of blue pieces. It’s a nice, deep blue that I think matches the color from the Avengers costume nicely.
After the paint had fully dried (24-48 hours or so) I started hot gluing the rest of the pieces together, working the seams and then adding a layer to the back of the seams as reinforcement. I added velcro to the back of the belt and added the velcro straps to the neck of the chest plate. Below are some photos of the chest plate and shoulder pads, along with the toy hammer and fabric I bought for the cape.
So that’s where I am right now. I still have to cut, pleat, and sew/glue the cape. I’m not sure exactly how I’m going to do that yet and I haven’t found much in terms of reference. I also need to add straps to the arm and leg braces and create the wraps underneath from the excess cape fabric. I'll post those this week when I finish them.
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