Tron Legacy Costume

[Raindown]

Yes I know they have been hashed around a bit. I was just hoping that at some point in all that hashing someone may have whipped up or found a compilation of how to work with El tape. I am not exactly mechanically inclined(yay for a paleontology degree) so I am a wee bit inept in this sort of thing.

Your still going to need a power supply (batteries), assuming you want to move around. As you will note from the kit picture you posted, they show a wall socket "power adapter." A few smaller inverters come with a spot to put a battery in, but probably the majority contemplate an outside power source. The whole how long your battery lasts and getting the correct voltage gets a little tricky, but nothing someone can't learn with some diligent reading.

There are battery packs/holders which can get to your desired voltage using commonly found batteries. Plus, you can get some nice run times out of these. Cutting, soldering, and the wiring requires some planning. Before you cut anything, I recommend making templates with paper or whatever so you can see how it sits on the fabric. Also plan and diagram out your wiring.

Honestly, after you figure it all out, the costume design and integration of the two seems more challenging.

 

[thormungandr]

Also what do you guys think of using "engineering grade reflective tape" as a poor mans Tron style costume? Does anyone have any experience with the stuff? Does it look decent at least?

I used it on my original Tron outfit and it came out pretty cool. I think if you are using white tape it tends to blind a little more in pictures. The blue tape I used gave off a tame glow

 

[cyvaris]

Hmm well I have spent the last(checks watch) four hours messing around with this. I am going to go for the more "civilian" program look instead of the armored biker. I am thinking of grabbing some El tape(or maybe wire) and using it on the piping and the zipper of and old jacket. The rest I will "highlight" so to speak with the reflective tape. Any suggestions on tape vs wire?

 

[thormungandr]

Hmm well I have spent the last(checks watch) four hours messing around with this. I am going to go for the more "civilian" program look instead of the armored biker. I am thinking of grabbing some El tape(or maybe wire) and using it on the piping and the zipper of and old jacket. The rest I will "highlight" so to speak with the reflective tape. Any suggestions on tape vs wire?

The tape looks alot cooler than wire. I got a strip of it and used electrical tape to make a design on it. I took the jacket to electronica last week and people came up to me all excited asking where I got it. EL wire is cool and all (I may use some on the undershirt) but the tape is where its at. or you can always use the diffusion method discussed earlier in the thread.

 

[Cell34]

The tape looks alot cooler than wire. I got a strip of it and used electrical tape to make a design on it. I took the jacket to electronica last week and people came up to me all excited asking where I got it. EL wire is cool and all (I may use some on the undershirt) but the tape is where its at. or you can always use the diffusion method discussed earlier in the thread.

I agree with what was said above, except the tape is a lot more limiting and also more pricey. If you are looking at making a few straight lines the tape would be great, however if you have multiple angles, wire seems like it would be a lot easier to implement.

Additionally, with tape you are pretty much forced into 1.4 meter x 10 millimeter dimensions unless you want to fork over serious money for wider and different length pieces.

If you want more info about the diffusion method mentioned, it can be found at the top of page 42.

Chad

 

[Rinzler]

I am still struggling to diffuse red EL wire, nothing I try can diffuse it, if anyone comes up with a method that works please let me know. I am reworking my concept costume to just use non-diffused Red EL Wire pattern tonight, not ideal but I have limited funds and access to resources so it's best I can do
My next concept costume I might limit the amount of illumination like on Rinzlers & Trons, I need to unlock some more designs from Wii Tron Evolution Battlegrids so I can tailor another costume.

 

[Exobyte]

I am still struggling to diffuse red EL wire, nothing I try can diffuse it, if anyone comes up with a method that works please let me know. I am reworking my concept costume to just use non-diffused Red EL Wire pattern tonight, not ideal but I have limited funds and access to resources so it's best I can do
My next concept costume I might limit the amount of illumination like on Rinzlers & Trons, I need to unlock some more designs from Wii Tron Evolution Battlegrids so I can tailor another costume.

Have you considered Twinight's approach referencing the concept art? It owns up the idea that it's EL Wire, but it comes out looking very sharp and clean.

 

[NoSon]

does anyone know of a way to keep the ID disc to stay lit without having to replace the inside lights?

I know someone made a post saying that you could just rip out the sound board. I just got my Identity Disc yesterday and I've been wondering the same thing.
I'm a little iffy on just taking the components apart until I get confirmation.

 

[Icey]

I am still struggling to diffuse red EL wire, nothing I try can diffuse it, if anyone comes up with a method that works please let me know. I am reworking my concept costume to just use non-diffused Red EL Wire pattern tonight, not ideal but I have limited funds and access to resources so it's best I can do
My next concept costume I might limit the amount of illumination like on Rinzlers & Trons, I need to unlock some more designs from Wii Tron Evolution Battlegrids so I can tailor another costume.

What if you were to place some red fabric over the lights and then layer some clear vinyl over the top of that if you need the shiny look? Do you have a picture of how bright they are? It could help generate more ideas.

 

[FreakT]

so as most of you know, i am building a tron betrayal costume, and theres a few things i need help with. if anyone can see any problems with it so far (not design problems, thats perfect. im talking about like problems with it being even.) i would appreciate being told. also ive put the outside rim of the kevin flynn disc on the sam flynn identity disc to make it look more accurate like in the movie. again, this costume is the one from the flashbacks of tron in tron legacy (also in the comic tron betrayal). does anyone know of a way to keep the ID disc to stay lit without having to replace the inside lights?

Is this what you´re looking for, the light, watch my posts!?
http://www.therpf.com/f24/tron-legacy-deluxe-identity-disc-mods-98306/index8.html#post1551303

 

[MisterDigital]

Hi there, everyone. I've been lurking for a few days now and reading alot of the posts. You guys (and gals) are doing some really amazing things! It has totaly kicked me into wanting to make a Sam flyn style suit. After reading alot of the methods used I had a bit of a new idea for making a more streamline slim fitting TL suit.

I know alot of you have used wetsuits for your armor, but has anyone tried this yet?

Using the wetsuit as the entire suit, cut out the sections for the white stripes and lines only. This would keep the structure of the suit mostly intact and prevent bending in all the wrong places. The suit would basicly still be whole, just with rectagular slits in it.

Then turn the wetsuit inside out and line the holes/line with white shower curtain strips, then your e.l. wire and finaly a layer of white duct tape (or anything abit more flexibe) to hold it all down.

When you turn the suit back rightside out it would have slightly recessed (or maybe flush) glowing/diffused lines.

Sure the suit would be pretty plain without the hex pattern and no armor, but it would look very sleek and clean as everything would be wired underneath the wetsuit. You could also seal the cuts you made with a light coat of something like rubber cement or wetsuit glue to keep them from splitting futher. Plus the wetsuit is thick enough to block the ligh of the el whire that isnt exposed.

What do you guys think? Would the e.l. hold up well enough for bending? If you think it would, this is the way I will go. I think it would be one of the least expensive ways to do it. .. What do you guys think?

 

[Rinzler]

What if you were to place some red fabric over the lights and then layer some clear vinyl over the top of that if you need the shiny look? Do you have a picture of how bright they are? It could help generate more ideas.

I have tried opaque and transparent red, orange & white materials with no luck, it shows as a hotspot line through materials each time, not looking for a shiny look just a more diffused light for the red. I have pretty much given up on it now for this costume, redesigning my "piping" into 2 lines of red EL wire running parallel now.

 

[MisterDigital]

I have tried opaque and transparent red, orange & white materials with no luck, it shows as a hotspot line through materials each time, not looking for a shiny look just a more diffused light for the red. I have pretty much given up on it now for this costume, redesigning my "piping" into 2 lines of red EL wire running parallel now.

What if you tried painting the top of the EL wire with a flat red paint? The light would be shinning out from both sides and would eliminate the hotspot stripe down the middle. That might make it look more uniform and diffused (maybe).

 

[Cell34]

Hi there, everyone. I've been lurking for a few days now and reading alot of the posts. You guys (and gals) are doing some really amazing things! It has totaly kicked me into wanting to make a Sam flyn style suit. After reading alot of the methods used I had a bit of a new idea for making a more streamline slim fitting TL suit.

I know alot of you have used wetsuits for your armor, but has anyone tried this yet?

Using the wetsuit as the entire suit, cut out the sections for the white stripes and lines only. This would keep the structure of the suit mostly intact and prevent bending in all the wrong places. The suit would basicly still be whole, just with rectagular slits in it.

Then turn the wetsuit inside out and line the holes/line with white shower curtain strips, then your e.l. wire and finaly a layer of white duct tape (or anything abit more flexibe) to hold it all down.

When you turn the suit back rightside out it would have slightly recessed (or maybe flush) glowing/diffused lines.

Sure the suit would be pretty plain without the hex pattern and no armor, but it would look very sleek and clean as everything would be wired underneath the wetsuit. You could also seal the cuts you made with a light coat of something like rubber cement or wetsuit glue to keep them from splitting futher. Plus the wetsuit is thick enough to block the ligh of the el whire that isnt exposed.

What do you guys think? Would the e.l. hold up well enough for bending? If you think it would, this is the way I will go. I think it would be one of the least expensive ways to do it. .. What do you guys think?

With my wetsuit, if I hadn't cut out the panels for the hex spots I think it would have been way to tight to do anything in. Also, another problem you will run into with a wetsuit is the back zipper. I didn't think of this and now I have to create an identity disc hub that is cut in half so that the zipper can close, and then the the two halves can be attached.

Not a big deal but, time consuming.

 

[Rinzler]

What if you tried painting the top of the EL wire with a flat red paint? The light would be shinning out from both sides and would eliminate the hotspot stripe down the middle. That might make it look more uniform and diffused (maybe).

I used a very thin strip of red reflective tape over top of EL Wire and a red reflective tape on bottom to try to remove hotspot, it just made it look like 2 very dull lights lines.

 

[MisterDigital]

I used a very thin strip of red reflective tape over top of EL Wire and a red reflective tape on bottom to try to remove hotspot, it just made it look like 2 very dull lights lines.

I was afraid of that. I was thinking I might try to squigle the wire back and forth to fill in the space as much as possible and hopefully even out the glow. That will mean alot more EL though. Bumer.

As for the wetsuit zipper, I thought of that. I was planning to use one with a front entry. That way the collar is closer to the Flynn suit, too.

So you think it will be too tight to squeeze in the wire?

 

[Icey]

I have tried opaque and transparent red, orange & white materials with no luck, it shows as a hotspot line through materials each time, not looking for a shiny look just a more diffused light for the red. I have pretty much given up on it now for this costume, redesigning my "piping" into 2 lines of red EL wire running parallel now.

Ahh ok I didn't know you were doing one strip down the middle. You'd have to recess it significantly in order to diffuse it then, which is, unfortunately, extremely hard with these kinds of costumes. Two wires on either side is probably your best bet, unless it's bright enough that it can shine all the way across the strip with just one on the side.

 

[games001]

I know someone made a post saying that you could just rip out the sound board. I just got my Identity Disc yesterday and I've been wondering the same thing.
I'm a little iffy on just taking the components apart until I get confirmation.

There is a mod on these forums to do the 'Always On' setup. It kills the efects of blinking lights, but leaves the sound. It also means having to solder 8(?) points on the main board.

You splice a lead to the Black -Neg wire on the battery box, directly to these points. Battery Neg point to the R3-R10 pins, in this case made with less wiring by dropping a solder bar on the 6 pins along R3-R5/R8-R10.

This mod gives you this, without the flashing lights, but with sound.

 

[CostumerNew2010]

Can you still switch On/Off the powersource without killing the battery life though?

There is a mod on these forums to do the 'Always On' setup. It kills the efects of blinking lights, but leaves the sound. It also means having to solder 8(?) points on the main board.

You splice a lead to the Black -Neg wire on the battery box, directly to these points. Battery Neg point to the R3-R10 pins, in this case made with less wiring by dropping a solder bar on the 6 pins along R3-R5/R8-10.

This mod gives you this, without the flashing lights, but with sound.

 

[games001]

Yup Cos, you can switch it On/Off with the main switch while still getting the sound and a 'tiny' flicker of LED light with the swing momentary switch.