Kids Captain Phasma costume from 4 foot TFA Stormtrooper toy

mmhnc

Well-Known Member
So like I'm sure a lot of people here I start Halloween costumes for my kids as soon as the previous years Halloween ends. So before my 3 year old son even saw The Force Awakens he was asking for a Captain Phasma costume. By now I hope we all have seen what TJ Maggio did last year with one of these 48" Jakks Pecific Stormtroopers but if not here is the RPF Pulse link.

http://pulse.therpf.com/dad-converts-jumbo-stormtrooper-figure-into-kids-costume

So I kept an eye on my local store that had an army of these things knowing that at $100 they would still have some left after Christmas. And low and behold right after Christmas that had one 60% off.
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After the kids where doneplaying with him I got out the screw driver and completely disassembled him.
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Now one of the big problems here is this is a toy, the inside is completely filled with ribbing to give it strength. But I spent years making plastic prototypes so cutting out some ribs shouldn't be that hard right? Well I spent the next 2 months with a utility knife, some cutters and my Dremel, this was what came out of this guy.
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And this is what it looks like completely cut apart, (please excuse the 1970's shag in my basement, it's the one room I haven't redone yet.)
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I still need to size everything to fit since he is about 8" taller than my son, but this is where I was last night. I also have a helmet I am working on but I will post that a little latter.
 
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Re: Jakks Pacific 4 foot TFA Stormtrooper to Captain Phasma Costume

Interested to see how this turns out.
 
Re: Jakks Pacific 4 foot TFA Stormtrooper to Captain Phasma Costume

So for the helmet I used @rundown 's pep file, I shrunk it to 80% and spent about 3 weeks assembling, I have started to use white PVA glue for pep as it is less sticky than super glue and less hot than hot glue, it also allows me to peel off parts if I make a mistake. I found the brow extreamly hard to fold so I just made a solid version and added some strips of chip board. I then resined the outside as just last night fiberglassed the inside. Here it is pre resin
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Re: Jakks Pacific 4 foot TFA Stormtrooper to Captain Phasma Costume

Helmet all fiberglassed, now just lots of primer and Bondo to finish it before paint!
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Re: Jakks Pacific 4 foot TFA Stormtrooper to Captain Phasma Costume

Sorry no updates for a while, I was trying to figure out making the lenses but found another post that really helped, I will post that process a little latter. The other issue I had was I had some collapsing when I resined the back of the helmet and I think it will need addressed , I set out last night to start correcting it.

First you can see the issue, the back of the helmet should be straight
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So I went in and started to bridge all the bad gaps, keeping everything nice and tight so when I re-resin them they won't collapse.
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Now I just need to add in the step downs to connect each piece
 
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Re: Jakks Pacific 4 foot TFA Stormtrooper to Captain Phasma Costume

Was able to finish constructing the repair last night, next I will re-resin and then cut out the old section from the inside and re-fiberglass.
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Re: Jakks Pacific 4 foot TFA Stormtrooper to Captain Phasma Costume

Ok a few updates on the helmet:
I was able to resin the outside of the repaired area, then cut out from the inside.
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Then I reglassed the inside.
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Then I hit it with its first coat of primer, getting it all a uniform color really helps highlight the high spots.
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Next I like to go in and attack all the high spots with a file, I find this helps smooth out the polygonal look of pep helmets, any prep now saves in bondo work latter!
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I did find one more small spot that will need fixed before I move on, I will try and fix that tomorrow.

I have been holding off on sizing the armor since 4 year olds tend to have spontaneous growth spurts but we are getting close enough that I think we will be safe!
 
So for todays update I wanted to cover how I made the lenses. As you can see in the picture below these fit tightly into the eye openings and have a curve out.
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Now I can't take credit for coming up with this all on my own, I got the idea after seeing how @thorssoli made his lenses for his Phasma helmets, the big difference is he made a partial cast from his mold and then built a little vacuum chamber box, I only have the 1 copy so I had to make a less permanent tool. Check out how @thorssoli did it here http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=243732&page=4

So the first step was to make a box around the eye openings, I did this with cardboard and packaging tape.
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I then used a vacuum attachment so I would have a flange to attaché the hose tube and sealed it all up.
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I used some thin clear plastic that I had laying around I think it is clear styrene but I'm not 100%, I tried first with some 0.093 polycarbonate, but that was to thick and to hard to heat. So after cutting to the ruff size I taped over 1 eye started the vacuum and heated the other eye with my heat gun, this is a touchy process, it needs to heat evenly but not get to hot or it will blister. And wouldn't you know as soon as it got just it enough the vacuum sucked the lens into the hole and presto, 1 side done, now the trickery part was repeating for the other side without messing it up, but it worked like a charm and the result is below!
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Still need to tint but they came out as good as I could have hoped!
 
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Well we are getting close to Holoween so it's time to kick it into high gear. Yesterday I was able to get almost everything painted with Krylon fusion gloss black (to do a chrome right you should base in gloss black)
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Then got it painted in Ace hardware chrome, I tested a bunch of chrome paints and this is the one I like the best.
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Now I am going to wait a few days to make sure it's good and dry before hand along since chrome paint is really fragile and will smudge and rub off, after a few days I am going to try clearing, first with some far away most coats, so it's almost dry by the time it hits the surface, I will still lose some shine but in my testing it seams like the best way to clear this stuff. In the meantime I am going to start the blaster, adding a stock and lights before paint. Also I have to keep going on the Jango Fett costume I mentioned at the beginning!
 
So I started moding the blaster last night to add lights, the blaster has 2 lights, the red ones on the side and a flash light in the end. Also Phasma's blaster has the front of the trigger guard removed so we will do that as well. Now my little guy has requested that we leave the stock off because he thinks it will make it to big to handle, so I guess less work for me there!
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Also started making a grip as the original toy had the grip molded into the hand.
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As a side note I was really excited to find the blaster was made of ABS as opposed to PP or HDPE like the rest of the toy, I'm excited because regular super glue sticks to ABS really well!
 
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Updates on the blaster, I got it all primed with Krylon Fusion, I used yellow for 2 reasons, 1. I ran out of black 2. I had hopes that the yellow would show through the chrome. Unfortunately that wasn't the case, oh well I will just have to do a yellow wash when I weather to get the tinge the real prop has.
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I made sure to clear this really well after I payed down the chrome paint as this will be really handled and the chrome tends to rub off. This takes away a lot of the Chrome effect but it's a trade off. Next I set to putting together the wiring for the LED's as you can see I was able to stick a 9v into the area where the power pack it, I found that appropriate!
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I created lenses using the same thin plastic I used for the helmet lens, I just painted the red one on the side with some translucent red paint.
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And now for the big reveal!!!
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Now just add the detail black, grip and weather!
 
I'm reaching the home stretch! Finishing the last of the details on the helmet tonight, had to add back in the grooves that didn't turn out originally, here is how I did it.
after drawing out the groves I went in with a small pointy Dremel bit and did an initial cut
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Then I followed that up with a ball end bit
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And finaly cleaned up all the edges with a round file
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In the end it turned out way better than I expected and really wasn't as hard as I anticipated, so I guess bonus for my schedule!
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Now just to do a final fill of some problem areas, some sanding, and some final prime and this thing will be ready for color!
 
Helmet is more or less done, not perfect but about as close as I think I will get, need to fill a couple holes in the grove and wet sand the primer.
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Looks awsome! Making all the other dad's look bad lol. I don't have time to mess with pep, I'm a cheater who mods the kiddo helmets from target lol.

Just don't forget to post pics from Halloween:)
Alex
 
I'm almost done! All the armor is painted, I added the rubber area around the eyes using plasti-dip.
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Still need to make cape and gloves and of course assemble but we are getting very close!
 
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