WIP - Raiden MGS4

[Trinadi]

I had plans to do this costume for a long time. I started the actual process of roughing it out in April 2010 and began work on it in June. It was originally finished for Anime North 2011, which was in May. The armour was all made of plastic Rubbermaid bins, and the headset ended up being a mixture of epoxy putty and wooden pieces which were rushed and looked terrible. The armour, too, was a bad design choice and by the end of the day my Vamp was carrying a great deal of the pieces off my lower legs.


Because of this, I decided to remake the majority of my stuff, and have been working on it slowly since after the convention ended. I plan to have a version of it done by FanExpo.


These are some of the pictures I took while making the original headset:

Some of the 78-odd individual pieces of armour I wore and the torso section:

The sword and one knife. Both are a bit worse for wear at the moment:

And finally the state of things on the current headset:

There are still quite a few imperfections at this point.

 

[maverick626]

looks good , are you going to make it in resin? since it seems to be clay what you are using to mold the pieces

 

[omooney]

Awesome project... keep at it!

 

[Trinadi]

So after two months I finally got the pictures my friend took at Fan Expo. She herself will admit that she is a bad photography, but the costume itself is also rather terrible.

In the intervening time between Anime North and Fan Expo I redid the armour in pleather. It worked better than what I had before, but it still looks loathsome. While it curved around my limbs better, the problem was that by the end of the first day the edges were curling up, revealing the underside. It also tugged the spandex oddly. The knee pieces were a last minute solution, as I had not finished things in time to cast plastic versions.

I did manage to cast the headset but was unable to get the colour of paint I wanted for it. I also didn't manage to get all the decals on the armour or the eye pieces looking proper (I didn't factor in how curving the pieces would warp them). Then, of course, the rigging system didn't work. It ended up glued to my face, with the sound traps velcroed to a balaclava.

At this point I am preparing to remake all the clear pieces, including the shin guards, which both snapped clean in two just before heading out on the Friday. I am hoping that this will be the beginning of making the costume actually look well made.

 

[maverick626]

I share yopur pain .
I´m working on a raiden suit too , ( alredy finished a prototype version and wore it , yay! ) it needs a hell of a lot more work .
Your mask looks nice , i´ll tell you what i used to make mine,
Mostly is a big syntra mask , with the resin lip and visors , in order to hold it tight to my face with all the extra weigth i did 2 cuts on each side of the sound traps , and added 2 wide elastic bands ( like the ones for the head mounted flashligths) one vertical , and another little tilted to the neck , in order to hold the chin fastened .
That should work , and th eonly thing you need to hide them is either combe a little the hair , or wear a wig .

 

[SemperBourne]

oh wow..that looks awesome

 

[Trinadi]

i´ll tell you what i used to make mine,
Mostly is a big syntra mask , with the resin lip and visors , in order to hold it tight to my face with all the extra weigth i did 2 cuts on each side of the sound traps , and added 2 wide elastic bands ( like the ones for the head mounted flashligths) one vertical , and another little tilted to the neck , in order to hold the chin fastened .

Thanks, but I already have figured out what I'm going to do for next time. My problem was that because I was already $100 over-budget I tried to use cheaper material. Of course that was stupid and what I used was too weak to hold the weight.

It's good to hear what method others have used though. If my method falls through when I use the proper materials, at least I know straps of elastic will work.

Good luck with your costume!

 

[maverick626]

i started cheap on the budget too , but crappy materials ( and accidents during my everyday chores ) kept me from finishing it , and the total amount of money placed in it went on , and on , and on....
I believe i have invested in mine about 230€ , partly because i´m too damn stubborn and wanted the fricking transparent lip , light up leds and syntra armor , not eva foam