NykkoLazar
New Member
This is my batman/Dark knight foam costume build. This is my first costume ive ever made so i took my time with it for the most part. I started some time in the summer with the Cowl. I already owned a rubies version of the batman begins cowl which according to the real costume designers of the chris nolan films is the same as the Dark knight cowl aside from the neck. So for the first step i cut the neck off of the original mask so it was the shape of the dark knight version, then i bought a 2 part resin and fiberglass cloth so i can make it hard like a helmet. The biggest challenge of this process was getting the flimsy rubber to keep its shape during the curing. To aid this bought a kids hard plastic toy dark knight mask. i cut off the pieces that i needed and tapped them on the inside of the mask so the masks eyes in the shape they needed. after that I painted a few coats of primer so i could then sand it down to get as many of the bumps out as i could. Then the last step was spraying it with Plasti-dip. The actual suit from the movie has a very particular fabric which is a sport mesh that is very difficult to find in fabric stores but I noticed that it is very similar to small fishnet stockings. So i went to a Lingerie store and found a full full body fishnet suit that covered the torso and the legs, i got a separate pair so i could sew it onto the arms. The idea seemed odd but it worked out great and looks very close to the real texture. I sewed that onto a form fitting underarmor type muscle shirt and pants. The next piece i started to work on was the chest armor. For every piece of the armor that i created i first would make a paper test so i can fit it to myself before i cut it out of the foam. for this costume I used two different types of foam. For the bigger/thicker piece i used an 1/4 inch thick anti-fatigue floor mat. For the thinner parts i got foamy sheets from Michaels arts and crafts. On select parts of the suit including the pectoral region under the bat symbol there is a carbon fiber material on them, most people that have created a dark knight suit tend to get this part wrong i noticed. for this i found some carbon fiber vinyl which comes in a roll. I used a heat gun to get it to form to the pieces that needed it. a Heat gun is a very useful part in making foam costumes because it allows you to bend and shaped the foam and it keeps that shape when it cools. a dremel was used to put in the fine details in the abb armor and to make clean edges. The Chest piece took the longest to make of all the parts but i would say the most challenging park was getting the shoulder armor to be more round. Even after using the heat gun on them they wouldnt keep the needed shape but they still turned out pretty good. at the thrift store i found stretchy women's belts which i used for the straps that hold the shoulder parts to my arms. This suit required lots and lots of Hot glue. After every piece was cut out i sprayed them with Plasti-dip which gives it a rubber coating, not only does it make it look close to the real thing it also strengthens each piece. I then hot glued them to myself with the mesh undersuit on. I made this costume for a few reasons. One because it is a chance to look like batman, two because I put together a bat suit for a film assignment and ever since then ive wanted to make a good quality movie replica version. Im a 3D animation major and my goal is to work on special effects for movies, now i can also branch into costume and prop making. Thank you everyone for reading i hope that this gave you some tips or ideas to help make your own costume. if you have any questions about how a made something in particular i will gladly answer. on of my college buddies ended up dressing as bane He made that vest too it looked pretty awesome
