Spider-Girl (/Ben Reilly) Webshooters WIP

[keirberos]

Eventually, I'd like to do a Spider-Girl suit— however, the options are kind of limited on that front, so for the moment I decided to try working on the web shooters. My thoughts are to do them as bracers, using Sintra as the base, with molded plastic (such as InstaMorph) for the 'cartridge' pieces.

Since I'll have to wait for the actual supplies to arrive, I decided to play around with cardboard and card stock in the meantime, to make a mock up and work out the sizing.






The edges (on wrist and forearm) weren't trimmed because I'm more concerned with width and spacing right now. The wider end of the cartridge pieces came out a little too wide, but otherwise I think it looks promising. Next thing I'll probably fiddle with while I'm waiting is a design for the trigger mechanism. What do you guys think?

 

[Nebula]

The proportions look perfect! I'm excited to see how this turns out

 

[keirberos]

Thanks! Just molded the cartridge pieces today! Getting the size just right (to get them sitting flush) is proving to be a little challenging, but I think I've got them all at a good point now. And, the upside of using the moldable plastic is that I can keep adjusting.

I'll try to remember to put up some pics tomorrow morning. Then it's off on another supplies run! Gonna try to run elastic thread through them as opposed to mounting them on plastic. I figure if this doesn't work, I can still re-mold them; as soon as I put glue on the cartridge pieces, though, that's it. So, I'm putting off that option.

 

[keirberos]

Here we go! All twelve molded pieces. They came out a little flatter than my mock up, but still have pretty nicely curved edges, so I'm happy with them.

If I were to do it again, I think I would try to make a wood form and shape the plastic over that, to create more of a shell— that'd make it lighter, leave space to work with for mounting, and hopefully make them more uniform. For uniformity, resin casting would probably be ideal, but... The trick is getting them to an exact shape and size where they will fit together and fit my arm. I don't want to cast six pieces only to find that they were a little off and have them go to waste, so... for now, sticking with InstaMorph!

Also: melting plastic while trying to cook dinner at the same time is not necessarily a good idea.

 

[keirberos]

Okay! After an hour and a half of fiddling around I finally decided how I wanted to put in the openings in the back. I went with a heat gun and some leather working needles. Other methods attempted: heating the needle (scorched and discolored the plastic) and drilling/dremeling the plastic (made too much of a mess and rough finish).

I held the heat gun on the spot I would be putting the holes for about 15-25 seconds; I then used the needles to create the opening and widen it.


Then into an ice bath to set it without any additional settling. Then rinse and repeat— there are two sets of holes on each piece.


Threading the elastic through (0.5mm black elastic thread); went with four strands in each one. This was the single most PITA moment so far, requiring an extra set of hands and much cursing. For the next time, I will be lacing the same piece of elastic through four times instead of four separate pieces.


Tada!


For the curious, that's a spare piece of lycra from my last project that I used to test how it would feel over the costume. Turns out I made the bands a little too tight, and since I will feasibly be wearing these for a couple of hours (and I would like to keep circulation in my hands), they got snipped shortly thereafter. It all works out, though, since I forgot to paint the first set before threading them. Besides loosening them up a smidge, they are actually really comfortable— they sit well and the weight isn't a problem.

On to painting! (That said, progress is most likely going to slow down— the dog just tore some stitches and I need to keep a close eye on him so he doesn't do it again.)

 

[DCDO]

good job

 

[The New Blood]

Okay! After an hour and a half of fiddling around I finally decided how I wanted to put in the openings in the back. I went with a heat gun and some leather working needles. Other methods attempted: heating the needle (scorched and discolored the plastic) and drilling/dremeling the plastic (made too much of a mess and rough finish).

I held the heat gun on the spot I would be putting the holes for about 15-25 seconds; I then used the needles to create the opening and widen it.
View attachment 300040

Then into an ice bath to set it without any additional settling. Then rinse and repeat— there are two sets of holes on each piece.
View attachment 300041

Threading the elastic through (0.5mm black elastic thread); went with four strands in each one. This was the single most PITA moment so far, requiring an extra set of hands and much cursing. For the next time, I will be lacing the same piece of elastic through four times instead of four separate pieces.
View attachment 300042

Tada!
View attachment 300043

For the curious, that's a spare piece of lycra from my last project that I used to test how it would feel over the costume. Turns out I made the bands a little too tight, and since I will feasibly be wearing these for a couple of hours (and I would like to keep circulation in my hands), they got snipped shortly thereafter. It all works out, though, since I forgot to paint the first set before threading them. Besides loosening them up a smidge, they are actually really comfortable— they sit well and the weight isn't a problem.

On to painting! (That said, progress is most likely going to slow down— the dog just tore some stitches and I need to keep a close eye on him so he doesn't do it again.)

This looks awesome so far, can't wait to see this done !

 

[PolyversalAri]

Great idea! I may need to attempt something like this for my own Spider-Girl

 

[keirberos]

Great idea! I may need to attempt something like this for my own Spider-Girl

I've had really good results with the InstaMorph, though it took some finagling to figure out what I needed to do as far as hooking it together. I really like it for the flattened, tapered cartridge look; now, they didn't come out completely uniform because I molded them by hand. For a more professional look, casting them in plastic would probably work better— I just didn't want to inadvertently size them wrong and have to throw out a lot of work. For the more cylindrical cartridges, it would probably be easier to use dowels or (this may sound weird) floral tubes— just something I noticed in the store once and went 'hey that would be perfect... if that was the look I wanted'. ^_^'

I swear I'm still working on these. Just a whole heck of a lot of stuff cropping up— the dog kept tearing his stitches, then I had to take a trip out of state, then family visiting, and currently watching my (twin, toddler) nephews. x_o So looking forward to a chance to finish these! (I've started collecting fabric for the costume...)

 

[PolyversalAri]

Hmm speaking plastic casting I'm now wondering what it would take to have these 3d printed... Time for research!

 

[keirberos]

That would be sweet. You gotta let me know if you do!

Now it all depends on the individual's arm size, but if you think it'd help, I can measure out the approximate dimensions on mine?

 

[PolyversalAri]

That would be great it seems like a simple shape for each piece, so I don't think it would be TOO difficult to sculpt these in 3d modeling software, even for a beginner like myself

 

[PolyversalAri]

Got a little crafty with Autodesk 123D Design tonight! First time doing this so its a bit crude.Posted the project on shapeways: Ben Reilly Web Shooter by gcnywaldork on Shapeways.

However, it would cost $67.54 to have the full set of 12 printed there "White Strong & Flexible Plastic" :unsure

Might want to find somebody local to print it for a more reasonable price.

 

[The New Blood]

Got a little crafty with Autodesk 123D Design tonight! First time doing this so its a bit crude.Posted the project on shapeways: Ben Reilly Web Shooter by gcnywaldork on Shapeways.

However, it would cost $67.54 to have the full set of 12 printed there "White Strong & Flexible Plastic" :unsure

Might want to find somebody local to print it for a more reasonable price.
View attachment 316804

This is awesome! I'm happy more women are getting into making spidey stuff! Can't wait to see how this progresses!

 

[PolyversalAri]

This is awesome! I'm happy more women are getting into making spidey stuff! Can't wait to see how this progresses!

Thanks! I made some edits:

1. Only 1 mm thick now.
2. Includes a bar on the back side that a strap or cuff of some kind can be looped through.

Making it thinner brought the price on Shapeways down to $49.44 USD for the "White Strong & Flexible Plastic" (the cheapest material).

 

[keirberos]

Looking seriously awesome!

Sorry I'm a little slow on this measurements— I was out hiking. Anyhow, mine are approx. 2.5 cm wide at the narrow end, ~4 to 4.2 cm on the wide end; 13 cm long; ~0.75 cm thick on the narrow end, and ~1 to 1.2 cm thick on the wide end. (Variations of course, because of the hand molded nature).

Now, my wrist is about 14-15 cm circumference, and my forearm is about 21-22 cm. The wide ends sit pretty well when they're on— just a hair of a gap, but I want that for mobility. There's a slightly larger gap between the narrow ends, because it adds up to pretty much the exact circumference of my wrist. I'd make those ends just a little wider if I had it to do again. As you can see in the picture, though, it doesn't show too badly.

Depending on how the strap/cuff that you plan on using sits, you might need to account for that in the circumference of your arm.

Oh, and if anyone's interested: I used a 34 oz jar of Instamorph (39.99 on Amazon), and have about a quarter of a jar left. For 1 mm... you might consider using something like Sintra and cutting it yourself? That's pretty expensive for 1 mm pieces. :\

 

[PolyversalAri]

Just thought that I would add in what I ended up doing for mine!



Just some craft foam glued on top of card stock, then spray painted in a metallic silver Right now it opens on one seem with an overlap to I just tape them shut with double sided tape.