Need Ronin Warrior Armor Help

[Johnlep]

Hi, I was planning on making armor from the anime Ronin Warriors; specifically on the Ronin Warriors themselves and the enemy leaders.

I am a beginner by the way and would like to know if I should make this out of plastic or sheet metal. Now, I have seen some really good armor in these forums like the Storm Trooper Armor. Can someone tell me how that is made? It looks like sturdy, thick plastic. A tutorial would be very nice.

What I'm looking for is a point in the right direction of how to shape plastic or sheet metal.
If I go down the plastic route, is there a technique to shape plastic into armor pieces without using vacuumforming? I ask this because I want a nice thick plastic (that's how the Storm Trooper Armor) looks to me.

Some help on wearing the armor would be nice too such as how to add straps.

 

[00MrNotWrong00]

If your just doing one copy of each suit you may want to consider using cardboard. There are a growing number of people doing quality work in cardboard. After you get everything the way you want it I'd cover the whole thing with two good coats of latex paint ( something glossy ) then do your final coat on top, to get a nice smooth metal like finish.

I can't find the pictures right now, but there are a few guys here that have posted nice pictures of stuff they have made out of cardboard.

If you are not going to be getting payed for this, it may not be worth the time and money that goes into plastic or metal construction. Cardboard is cheap and easy and fast. I'm sure some one will chime in any moment with some great pictures and maybe even a link to a tutorial.


Keep us posted on how this goes I'd love to see what you end up with.:thumbsup

 

[00MrNotWrong00]

Check out this thread http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=68610&highlight=Iron+Man+Heavy+Artillery Maybe send him a pm it looks like he'd have a lot of insight into making nice things with cardboard.

There is a link about half way into that thread with a blog where some one makes some really nice robo cop armor out of cardboard.


Hope that helps :thumbsup

 

[jackdoud]

The main way I've seen these done is vinyl over foam "soft" suits. You build the suit out of thin foam sheets then use contact adhesive to glue high-gloss vinyl of your desired color on top.

This site is entirely in japanese but if you do a systematic click-through of the hyperlinks you'll see some amazing things built with this technique from robotic arms to full gundam suits: http://www.ops.dti.ne.jp/~darkk/