Tactical Batman

[Whit]

I finally have more to show, although it's just my gun at the moment. I am pretty much finished with the grapple gun. I might make one minor change. I forgot to cut off the little key chain loop from the bottom corner of the handle.

I still need to make or modify the darts to look more like little grapples. Other than that, I am very pleased with how the gun turned out.

Let me know what you all think.

Before:

Gun holster_1 by J_Whit, on Flickr

After:

Grapple_lhs by J_Whit, on Flickr


Grapple_rhs by J_Whit, on Flickr

 

[MandoMan531]

Look good! Cool concept as well. I'd work on the detail on the grapple gun. That target molded into the plastic looks a bit tacky. Probably hard to get rid of though.

 

[Whit]

Look good! Cool concept as well. I'd work on the detail on the grapple gun. That target molded into the plastic looks a bit tacky. Probably hard to get rid of though.

Yeah, I would have liked to have gotten rid of that stuff, but I would have had to do a lot more work. The plastic is pretty thin and I didn't feel like trying to fill all that stuff in and then sanding it. Already did a lot of that with the paint job.

 

[MandoMan531]

Yea I hear ya. I've done some nerf mods before and it's hard to get rid of all that. Still, looks good!

 

[coondog45]

I think the gun looks good. Great job.

 

[stang wars]

Great work!!!! Funny what some paint and time can do. Keep it up.

 

[Whit]

Re: Tactical Batman_Pic Heavy

Finally an update. I haven't been able to work on my costume very much in the last couple of weeks, but I have made some progress.

I have started to define the front armor pieces of the vest and was able to cut out the rest of the armor pieces that will go on the back of the vest.

Now it's just a matter of finishing the shaping of the foam pieces and putting this things together. I've been experimenting with some treatments to the foam before I plastidip it. I'm trying to decide what kind of finish I want for the vest and whether or not to glue it all up and then treat and plastidip or treat the armor pieces, glue everything and then plastidip everything at once.

I'll keep you updated on that when I get closer to doing it. I still need to get some side release clips in order to fasten the vest around me. Need to troll Goodwill and Salvation Army.

Anyway, here are two update pics. The closeup shot shows how I am shaping the foam. I'm using the sanding drum bit on my dremmel at a relatively low speed. I am finding the trick to sanding the foam this way is to go with the rotation of the drum and not so much opposite of the rotation unless you moved back and forth, quickly. This is counter to what you would normally do. If you go counter to the rotation, the sanding drum likes to dig into the foam quickly and you end up with divots in your foam.

For the smaller grooves, I used a spherical metal bit on my dremmel and followed my drawn out lines. You have to be extremely careful doing it this way, as the cutting head wants to dig in easily.

Full flat shot of vest:

Vest_new by J_Whit, on Flickr

Closeup of front of vest:

vest closeup by J_Whit, on Flickr

I will need to redefine my corners because they get lost using the sanding drum. I will need to get an 80 or 100 grit sanding block and redefine the corners by hand.

I'll probably shape the bat symbol by hand as well to chamfer the edges a bit. That way it'll match the other armor pieces.

Any advice or comments are welcome.

 

[Sproigo]

Dude! That is looking mean! I like the direction you're taking! I will be following this build for sure! Stellar work on the grapple gun as well! Also did that holster/belt come in black and are you gonna change the color to a gold/bronze if so?

 

[Whit]

Dude! That is looking mean! I like the direction you're taking! I will be following this build for sure! Stellar work on the grapple gun as well! Also did that holster/belt come in black and are you gonna change the color to a gold/bronze if so?

The belt/holster came in black. I haven't decided on that yet. You bring up an interesting point, though. Might need something to break up all that black. I could keep the belt and holster black but do a bat symbol buckle in gold/bronze. Maybe silver or lighter gray?

Might have to work up some concepts and see how they look. Thanks for comments.

 

[coondog45]

This is looking so good! Keep up the good work.

 

[hikarub]

Looking really good so far. Very interested in seeing how this turns out. Will you be using elbow and knee pads to keep up the SWAT look you were going for? I hope it doesn't turn out looking like "hockey pads Batman" from TDK!! LOL!!

Keep up the good work!

 

[Survivalist]

Looks great so far. It kind of reminds me of the armour in the opening scene of DC Universe Online, which I love.

 

[Sproigo]

Bro, I was reading the hush storyline and had an idea: are you gonna do like the air suited batman? Like the kinda corduroy under-armor? That has potential to look sick with the kindof armor you're rockin

 

[Sproigo]

I meant stealth jumper batman... Didnt know the technical name lol

 

[Whit]

I meant stealth jumper batman... Didnt know the technical name lol

I wasn't familiar with that version so I googled it. Pretty darn cool. Not sure if I will be able to accomplish the ribbed under suit or not, but that could be pretty sweet!

I am almost out of budget, so I am not sure how I am going to get this all done. Need to carve out some more time to work on this. Lots still to do.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Sproigo]

Dude, off topic but the hush storyline is phenomenal! If you dig Jim Lee's pencil work you'll love the art and the story rocks too!

 

[chuckyAPP]

This is very cool, need to see more.

 

[martcpl705]

This is a great concept any updates?

 

[Whit]

Sorry, folks. Not real update yet. Been renovating my house a bit, so that has taken up a lot of my time lately.

I did start on my helmet, but haven't done much. Took a hard hat and put a layer of paper mâché mesh in it. It still fits my large head and will be a good base for me cowl. I also have a wife and two young boys and finding time to have my wife help me make a paper mâché mask of my face has proven to be difficult lately.

I do need to get back on t it, though, because I plan on being done for Halloween. My budget is almost gone, so I am scrounging to find some stuff. I still need boots, cape and would like to have some new pants and a shirt. I've got a compression shirt and pants, but they don't really fit my theme, so I've been trying to find some black tactical pants on the cheap.

I hope to have a proper update in a week or so. Definitely getting down to the wire. I did find a way to get supper smooth edges on my harbor freight mats, though. I took a sample piece into work and sanded the edges of it with an orbital sanding drum. Works awesome, but as always you have to be carefull or it will easily grind down your peices. Haven't taken in my vest to get that done after work hours.

Thanks for keeping subscribed and giving me a little push.

 

[fanboy]

This is really cool, looking forward to more updates!