Hi Everyone!
I'm brand new to the forum and this is my first post! TRON is my favorite movie, saw the original in the theater when I was 11 years old. I can't wait for the sequel!
I've never put together any kind of costume, but I'm thinking of attempting to make one modeled after Sam's suit for the TRON: Legacy release in December. (Maybe Halloween, if I can finish it by then!) I too had checked into LightTape, which is ridiculously expensive. So a cheaper alternative is most likely in order. I had also thought about the custom cuttable EL sheets as they are more cost effective.
One thing I thought of was if you got the POWO (Pink Off - White On) sheets, maybe you could use backlight film that you could print out with a blue tint to overlay the sheet with to make it appear blue? Since you are cutting the EL sheet into a strip, you could attach an overlay strip of blue tinted backlight film over it. I don't know how well that would work, but it might get the blue tint you're looking for.
Another idea along those same lines would be to use several strands of high-bright blue EL wire sewn together side-by-side and then have either a white or blue backlight film overlay on it so that it diffuses the light from the EL wire strands. Again, I don't know if that would work or not, but I thought I would throw it out there.
Another area I'm struggling with is how to achieve the rubberized armor look. I assume it's some sort of latex rubber overlay attached to some type of hexagonal patterned undersuit. I've never worked with latex rubber, so I was thinking of maybe using layers of craft foam, but I'm not sure how well that would work. Finding fabric with that hex pattern is proving to be very difficult as well!
I guess as a newbie, I sure picked a doozie to start with! LOL!