Wow, looks great! Good job, look forward to seeing the updates.
Thank you!
Ready for an update? here we go..
This is some of the process of the chest and back.
When the chest was pepped it was done as one piece instead of a font and back. I think this actually made considerably more stable when I got around to the fiber glassing part but led to some strange areas that needed addressing....
First, there was no hole for my neck...
I cut this out with a Dremel using a cutting bit, then sanded down the excess
After trying the parts out I ended up cutting back quite a bit more (see later photos...)
Next step was separating the front from the back. I had some trouble deciding where to make the cuts until I figured out a plan for how they would be re-connectable. Obviously, the first think I did once they were cut is run inside and put them on in front of the mirror to determine the fit. I noticed right away that the parts along the sides that connect the front and back would be very uncomfortable. They were stiff, stuck out sort of funny and had a really ugly connecting point.
Foam seemed like a good option to fix this so I started doing some modifications...
I removed the pointy "flap"? section from the back with the dremel and using some paper and masking tape extended the flat area a few inches and added 2 layers of fiberglass mat
I also cut down the front part of the connection considerably so there will be an overlap between the foam and the fiberglass parts. I'll get a photo of that in the next post....
After the glass cured the area was trimmed down and cleaned up.
Going through some of the Halloween weekend photos I've found that it becomes really easy to see the weak and strong points on the costume.
BUT, from more than a few feet away, the difference in foam and fiberglass from the chest to the back is pretty seamless. (the midsection... that needs some serious tweaks but i'll get to that soon.
I'll be doing a "part 2" to this post after I take some more photos of the inside of the chest showing the connections.