Star Lord-Movie Version (super low budget)

[Chrysoprasis]

So, I'll admit I had never heard of Guardians of the Galaxy before the movie, but I really enjoyed it and wanted an awesome Halloween costume so I decided to try my luck at making a Star Lord costume and props. I am a poor college student and have virtually no money to spend on costumes so I am doing my best without 3D printing or fancy tools. Hopefully someone out there in the same situation will find this useful.

 

[Chrysoprasis]

Here is the initial sketch I did of the helmet to scale with what I had measured on my head.

Here is the first few pieces.

 

[Chrysoprasis]

At this point I am just roughing in the whole thing with cardboard and hot glue. I like to leave a little extra around the edges that will be exposed so I can dig out the backing and have the single layer to fold over and glue down to hide the corrugation. I also score the back of the cardboard to make it more flexible for curved shapes.

Here is the first little bit put together.

Putting the mouth piece together

Here are the respirator tube thingys that will go along the bottom edge.

 

[cborchardt82]

fantastic so far, love budget builds. My budget tool of choice is fun foam, Our dollar store sometimes carries pack of 10 for $1. Love the use of cardboard.

 

[bryant]

Solid start

 

[.:MirrorminD:.]

Considering how you're going about it, definitely off to a good start.

 

[StarLordGoG]

Very good start i say keep up the great work

 

[Chrysoprasis]

I thought I saw on here somewhere that someone posted an HD image file of the Sony Walkman TPS L2 with each side laid out to make a paper version. if anyone could find that link for me I would really appreciate it. I have been looking around all day for it. I got these cheap headphones off of Amazon today and I'm just going to get a nice print off of the Walkman and skin a box with it to put my Ipod inside.

I have also been working on the helmet a little more.

 

[GothamsClown]

I can't wait to see you end product. Almost everything i make is basically out of cardboard and I was planning to do a Star Lord helm the same way...GO TEAM LOW BUDGET!!

 

[Chrysoprasis]

So Here are a few shots that show more detail of my process for getting smooth edges with cardboard pieces.

View attachment 385169
So I sketch out the piece I need and then cut it out with about a half inch border around it. Then I carefully cut along the lines that I marked for the actual size and shape that I want the piece to be but I don't cut all the way through. I only cut through the top layer and the corrugation. Then I can bend at that cut and grab the top two layers and they are usually pretty easy to peel off from the bottom layer. Then I make a cut in the corners of the bottom layer so that I can fold the flaps up along the edges.
View attachment 385176
For this piece I wanted a bit taller of an edge than just the thickness of the cardboard so I cut thin strips of cardboard and glued them along the edges.
View attachment 385197
Then I fold up the flaps and glue them around so that the corrugated edges and seams visible from the outside are covered.
View attachment 385199
This piece was scored with my box cutter on the back to make it flexible so I could put a little curve into it.

Here are updates of the helmet



So I built the sides and the very bottom part underneath the respirators in the front.

It seems to fit a little loose which is intended so that I can put structural support and padding on the inside.

 

[Chrysoprasis]

I have also been working on the shin guard/boots. I just so happen to have a pair of sketchers that are practically identical to the ones that everyone has been saying are "the ones" so I am just going to make shin guard covers for them that look like the boots.

I started out with the knee pad shape in cardboard. In some of the reference pics it looked as if there was a hint of some structural support on the front of the boots so I am going to do some flimsy cardboard underneath the vinyl pleather. I didn't wrap the edges since the pleather will cover it up anyway.


Then I scored the back to give it a curve and hot glued the pleather to the front.


Made sure it was stretched tight and smooth on the front.

Then I cut notches in the corners...

and glued the edges back.

Then I marked out the design in the front...

and carved out all the little shapes with an exacto blade. This part took forever and it looks a little sloppy now. Hopefully I can do some touch-up painting and get it to look good. It is such a tiny detail that I think I will be able to get away with it.

I drew out a pattern for the main part of the boot and fit it to my leg. Then I cut out the pleather and notched the edges so I could fold it over with a tiny line of hot glue to give a smooth edge. There is very little actual stitching on the boots from what I see in the reference so it works to my advantage to use hot glue.


I attached the knee pad piece and I need to stitch around the bottom edge as seen in the reference. I made sure to go light on the hot glue here so it won't give me a huge problem when sewing though it. it is going to be a tight edge and I may end up hand stitching it. We'll see.

 

[Chrysoprasis]

I have also been working on pants. I didn't take pics during the process so I will just post how they turned out.

I got a pair of snow pants at the thrift store that had a cool type of fabric and lots of zippers and buckles and stuff that I thought looked close enough. They were too baggy in the legs and too small in the waist so I ended up taking out all the stitching along the zippers that go up the sides. I first put them on as best I could and then pinched the legs together and marked on the pants where I should cut along the pants.

There were like 3 different panels around each zipper and it was a huge complicated mess so I was to preoccupied trying to figure everything out to take pics. When I had everything taken apart I cut strips out of the legs and used that fabric to stitch into the waist and then I put everything back together.

I know the real deal doesn't have zippers down the side but with how tailored to my legs they are there is no way I could get them on and off without them and plus I kinda like the way they look.


I also had some extra snaps and things from the snow lock layer at the bottom of the legs so I put in some of the more prominent detail panels like the pocket on the inner thigh and the long sloping fly.

The other shapes I just stitched a wrinkle in to imitate the seam. I am planning on airbrushing a little color variation into some of the panels to match the reference and sculpting the jet controls to put on there. Maybe if I have time I will make that big mess of layers that is supposed to go on the left hip out of foam but for now I think they are close enough and I am happy with how they turned out. I just hope it cools off soon so I don't have to run around in this form-fitting sleeping bag.

 

[Chrysoprasis]

I found this jacket at Ross the other day that I think will be a good starting point.

At $60 it was pretty much the most expensive part of my costume. I am planning on using some pleather that I got to mate color to make more panels for the front that go up the shoulders and down the sleeves. I am going to try to make it snap on and off so that I can still preserve the jacket for normal wear this winter and maybe justify the expense a little better. if I get really ambitious and have time I will make a stamp and print some of that pattern onto the add on panels as well as making some of the badges and things.

 

[Chrysoprasis]

I made a little progress on the boot covers last week.



First I attached the kneepad to the main shape and then stitched the boot cover to the bottom.

Then I glued a thin piece of cardboard that I scored into the back for structure.

Then for the back of the calf I used a black pleather

and I dumped a ton of hot glue around the edge so that it would stay together without a stitched seam. Hot glue doesn't really stick at all to the vinyl of the pleather so I used a lot of it and surrounded the entire edge and then smoothed it down as it cooled with a wet finger. It burns but that's how you know it's working right?

Then I connected the two pieces together. at the top there are small elastic bands on either side so that I grips onto my leg and then the bottom is tacked on with a few stitches and the other side is held with velcro. I will try to get some better pics of this mechanism.

Sadly I am going to be swamped with midterms the next few weeks so it will be a real stretch just to get this done for Halloween. I was hoping to be done a little early so I could wear it to Disneyland Trick or Treat but it doesn't look like that is going to be possible. Unless someone wants to do my midterms for me. Yeah fat chance.

 

[Chrysoprasis]

My wife just came home with an awesome garage sale find! It looks like a near perfect knock off radio version of the Sony Walkman TPS L2.

Just slap a couple of decals on there and you would never know the difference. It even has the arrow decal already.

Now I just hope my headphones ship over from the UK in time for Halloween!