thought on eva foams

[rangemaster]

Hey guys I'm trying to strengthen the EVA foam Ironman suit I built and I was wondering if anyone has used ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) on this foam. Seems like a great concept to do vacuum forming plastics but I have no experience at all and from what I've seen from the process the biggest problem would be the foam melting while being applied. I've never tried it thats why I'm posing this question to the community to see if anyone has had experience with this or similar vacuum formed plastics. My goal is ultimately try to maintain a foamy underside to the armor (the parts that contact the body) and have the outer shell be hard and strong (unlike resins which could crack easier)
Thanks

 

[Jasonium]

If you look at the xrobots site - james has a really good bit on vacuforming plastic onto foam. Might help. I tried it but the vacuform table I built was rubbish. You could always just keep glossing it - it wont be perfectly hard but you can get close.

 

[rangemaster]

it seems like he used the vacuum forming setup on a resin remolding of the foam pads. thats too much work for me

 

[George]

I'd use XRobots' woodglue&Smooth-on method for plastic coated costumes,and woodglue&plastidip for strong-yet-supple effect.

 

[Drack]

You can like George said use smooth on or use worbla. Either takes time, money and effort.

 

[Jasonium]

I did have another idea. You could use wonder flex . It's a thermoplastic. You cut out the shape you need - warm in water/ heat gun. Then stick it on the piece of armour- it's self adhesive. It sets hard in about 2 minutes. I used it to cover a foam shield last year. Really easy and you can paint it after.