My Tron Legacy Rinzler costume

J

jupton

New Member
Hey guys I'm a brand new member on the forum, but I've been utilizing a ton of the great posts found here to help me in my attempt at a Rinzler costume. It's finished now and wanted to share some of my own experience and maybe help out more people who are wanting to give it try themselves.

So I'll start with the PARTS & ELECTRONICS

My parts list consisted of:
Three 3v DC inverters powered by 2x AA batteries each
One 12v DC inverter powered by an 8x AA battery pack
Three 7ft lengths of orange EL wire
One 8" x 11.5" white EL panel
Several 2-way and 3-three way wire splitters with clips

The basic suit was an Under Armour cold gear compression shirt with hood and pants, and I bought a Rinzler replica identity disk

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...more to come
 
THE HELMET

By far the most challenging part of the project was construction of the helmet. I saw a lot a really great work by other members here using everything from cardboard and filler foam to clay and resin. For my project I decided to go a little different route and use plaster on a cardboard frame.

I started by building the skeleton out of just cardboard. This was mostly just to provide a framework on which to place thin plastic sheets cut to shape, but the ribs proved to be very structurally supportive when the weight of the plaster was added.

I knew that the shape was not "movie perfect", but I also knew that I wasn't planning on spending the time to make a completely perfect costume. The entire project only took about two weeks. This piece, that I was able to assemble in one long evening was good enough to satisfy me.

...more to come
 
THE HELMET cont...

So, as I said before, I decided on plaster on a cardboard frame as my medium for the helmet. There were some difficulties with it. The plaster must be applied in multiple thin layers and allowed to dry overnight after each application. Otherwise, cracking will be too much to deal with. Each day cracking became less of an issue as the plaster built up.

Another issue is weight. Plaster is not light. Although, dry plaster is much lighter than wet plaster. Once the final layer had been applied the helmet seemed to feel a little bit lighter everyday as the last bits of moister evaporated out. The final weight of the finished helmet was almost 8lbs. It sounds like a lot, but in reality once I had it on it didn't feel much heavier than a large motorcycle helmet.

Lastly, until the helmet was painted and treated with three layers of polyurethane it was pretty fragile. I was able to avoid any major damage by being very careful, but a single drop would have definitely destroyed it. After, all it was basically just made of chalk.

The EL wiring was easy to install through holes that I drilled and I covered the eye holes with thin dark transparent plastic before spraying it with the polyurethane. The result was a smooth black surface that I was able to see through, but you could hardly tell that there eye holes at all.

...more to come
 
THE DISK & SUIT

I went pretty basic on the design of the suit. I got a black compression shirt with a hood and some black compression pants and simply wove the EL wiring through it.

I bought a replica Rinzler disk. If I had the time I would have liked to mod the disk to stay lit and be brighter in general, but I did not. Instead a used the simple fix of taking a length of the EL wire and hot gluing around the the ring of the disk to create the constant light. Don't worry, the hot glue comes off easy so no permanent damage to the very cool replica disk.

The disk pod/backpack (made from a plastic bowl spray painted black) housed my 8x AA battery pack, the 12v DC inverter and one of the 3v DC inverters. The pack attached to the suit with velcro and I ran the linkages for the battery pack and inverter outside the pack, but hidden behind the disk so that the power could be easily connected and disconnected without having to remove the pack.

The other two 3v inverters attached to my legs with velcro (as you'll see in the final pics). They were the only exposed power sources on the costume. But, since in the movie the character's light cycle sticks were carried on their legs anyway, they didn't look awkward and were actually very appropriate.

...more to come
 
THE FINAL PRODUCT

So here is finished costume. The "T" on the chest and the two circles on the back were cut out of white EL panel, sewn on to the suit, and powered by the 12v inverter on my back. I had to cover the white panel with just the right combination of red and yellow transparent plastic to match the hue of the EL wiring. They are not actually lit in these photos, but when they were the colors matched nicely.

Overall I was very pleased with everything. The whole project took me about two weeks, working on it late at night after the family had all gone to bed. I hope you guys like it and thanks for any feedback.

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jupton said:
THE FINAL PRODUCT

So here is finished costume. The "T" on the chest and the two circles on the back were cut out of white EL panel, sewn on to the suit, and powered by the 12v inverter on my back. I had to cover the white panel with just the right combination of red and yellow transparent plastic to match the hue of the EL wiring. They are not actually lit in these photos, but when they were the colors matched nicely.

Overall I was very pleased with everything. The whole project took me about two weeks, working on it late at night after the family had all gone to bed. I hope you guys like it and thanks for any feedback.

IMAG0484.jpg

IMAG0481.jpg

IMAG0482.jpg
Click to expand...







Rinzler - Rinzler Overview


try this website out for Rinzler outfit reference pics
 
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