Definitive Ant-Man 2015 Costume Thread
- Thread starter The Prop Lord
- Start date
BROTHERFOSTER
Sr Member
There's a complete suit for sale in the junkyard section.
He only clear you can use on those types of reflective paints is a water based clear. Alclad Aqua clear or future floor polish. After that you can go over it with a urethane clear and it will retain MOST of its shine
oblagon
Sr Member
Anyone tried using rub n buff silver on their helmet? Was thinking to use it on the tubing as it's flexible and wanted the helmet to match.
Also for those looking for the tubing on the back of the helmet and knees; they used old phone cables on the suit.
http://www.payphone.com/Armored-Handset-Cord.html
Also for those looking for the tubing on the back of the helmet and knees; they used old phone cables on the suit.
http://www.payphone.com/Armored-Handset-Cord.html
GAVAL
New Member
Going all out for Ant-Man with the goal of wearing it at Dragon*Con 2017.
I only have 50 days to get it where I want it. I'll have to wear it out in the heat of Atlanta for the Giant Marvel shoot at 330 in the afternoon potentially in the summer sun.
Here's the plan:
There are a lot of helmets out there with wonky dimensions. I've only seen a couple that work for me. I found 2 sources. One is custom molded by an artist in the UK which I've ordered. The other is a 3D print by a guy in Japan who goes by "Mr. J Works." He seems to have dropped off the face of the earth RIGHT when I ordered my helmet kit from him. It would have had lights, a fan, and an opening mechanism. I've gotten no response from him and all of his accounts on Facebook, Youtube, and Ebay have gone really silent lately. He had good feedback until very recently.
Here's a video. His work is amazing. Damn shame I cant' reach him...Hope by some miracle it shows up and he's just on vacation or something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAAd3Nn8fjc
So I went ahead and bought the helm in my Avatar pic from the guy in the UK as plan B. It just came up as a sale right when I started to doubt my main helmet source. Figure if the kit I wanted more comes in eventually I can sell one or the other or just get a refund. Either way time is ticking and I have to move forward.
Because of the heat this helmet MUST have a fan and it MUST open. Why? The helmet is attached by armored cable to the back box, so taking it off also means having to detach the cables because there's no way to hold a helmet cabled to a backpack that's not awkward when cooling down. So unless I want to be like that poor Ant-Man costumer I met back in 2015 who had to ask me to attach and detach his cables so he could catch some air (and I don't think he had a mask fan either) it MUST open.
The guy in the video below did it nicely:
https://youtu.be/7WDdI5sNd1E
I'm sending the helmet I settled with from the UK to a friend in Georgia. I dont' have time to do everything so I'm letting that guy take care of cutting the face plate off of the helmet and wiring it with lights and a fan, then making it so the face plate can either be lifted off and affixed to the forehead of the helmet with Magnets (I've seen Iron Man helmets do this to great effect using rare earth magnets) or if there's time it'll actually open with the touch of a side button. It'll all be powered with a helmet-mounted USB-interface phone/tablet recharge brick.
A shot for motivation from the actual prop department duing production of Ant-Man.
---
The Suit: I've ordered a custom leather suit from White Sheep Leather in Pakistan. They communicate well, hand make everything, have hard prices to beat, and give you a good base suit that fits more like a motorcycle suit, on which to add detail.
The White Sheep suit comes with flexible fabric or leather piping. I'm gonna need to look at it when it arrives in a couple of days to see if I can keep it (their piping) or if I'm going to remove or cover it with rubber tubing. I plan to make joints out of worbla or some other moldable hardening agent that I can paint and make to fit by hand.
The piping I do attach, I intend to do the same way the best Ant-Man cosplay ever made was done by Eldritch Arts. She spot-sewed the piping in some spots then used a special glue she recommended to me to affix the piping between black or silver stitches. I ALMOST got her to do my back box, but because of timing, and because I know she's super busy also prepping for D*Con I opted to do the print below.
Then I'll add to the suit buckles and hard looking pieces in joints that aren't made of worbla with foam painted to look like metal and molded to the suit because they all have to be curved to follow body contours.
---
Gloves and Belt:
XCoser makes an acceptable (for my taste) light-up belt and gauntlets. I will repaint those to my taste and to match the helmet and other metallic components. I'll probably also fill in the words "ANT MAN" they have all over their stuff. Why? I just don't get that....anyway Xcoser's belt does not come with the proper back belt component. They put their real buckle there. So that I'm having one 3D printed with a file I found on Autocad's site. It'll be painted to match everything else.
The Leather gloves are being made by White Sheep Leather and will be attached to the Xcoser repainted Gauntlets. Then I'll have to run tubing down the fingers and make them appear to go into the gloves with some spot-stitching, the same glue used for the above mentioned piping, and worbla or foam "joints."
The buttons for the gloves, I haven't settled on. I found 3D models for them, but I want buttons you can push. I need to see if anybody else had better options for those. Otherwise I may make them myself with foam and plastic buttons from electronics components.
---
The back box
I almost settled on making this from foam, but I also found a good file for this on Autocad's site to 3D print, so this will be a print.
---
Connecting the back box to the helmet:
I will either use RCA female connectors on the box and helmet mounted into the resin/plastic and then will use armored pay phone cable with male RCA's in them to attach.
OR
I will get strong rare earth magnets and make these magnetized attachments for easy quick removal when the helmet just has to come off.
(I keep thinking of 2015 Dragon*Con guy who's magnets weren't strong enough and came unglued. Never glue what you can screw, bub!)
---
The boots:
I'm undecided between two plans.
I'll either get the $80 Sport Boots that turn up in searches for Ant Man boots and add modifications to them with foam:
https://shop.softailsandhogs.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=V305-Mens-Boots&CartID=1
OR
I'll get the boots offered by a Chinese company which look ok, and which I could improve on with some painting and piping/foam, but I'm worried about the fit. I have to walk around in these a LOT. They MUST be comfortable. I'm willing to let go of accuracy here to save myself tons of blisters. So probably option A here....
---
Under the helmet I'll be wearing a breathable ski mask to hide my skin. The helmet will have a face fan. On either side of the fan will be velcroed small wash rags soaked in "Florida Water" cooling liquid. Smells great and has a menthol like effect to cool the body.
Inside the suit chest pockets (or strapped to my torso if no pockets come with the suit jacket) I plan to put a couple of thin, cold gel packs. They should keep my body temp down at least an hour.
The White Sheep suit does not have texture in the red, persay. Instead it's porous, so it should breathe some. So under the suit will be a breathable layer of black under armor to keep me as cool as possible.
---
The Helmet is currently headed to Georgia to be modded. Cheers to the artist who hand-crafted it then put it up for sale on the rpf forums of Facebook.
The suit should arrive in 2 days. The belt and gauntlets shortly after. I'll start with the gloves and repainting of the belt and gauntlets, then hit the piping and metal strapping on the suit.
The boots, I'll decide on in a week and order something. Any input is welcome here.
I'll start sending pic when I begin the physical part. Shopping around for tubing and armored cable is my next immediate concern.
Gav
EDIT: Say Baw, did someone say piping joint?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/351046247181
Perhaps actually used on the suit?
I only have 50 days to get it where I want it. I'll have to wear it out in the heat of Atlanta for the Giant Marvel shoot at 330 in the afternoon potentially in the summer sun.
Here's the plan:
There are a lot of helmets out there with wonky dimensions. I've only seen a couple that work for me. I found 2 sources. One is custom molded by an artist in the UK which I've ordered. The other is a 3D print by a guy in Japan who goes by "Mr. J Works." He seems to have dropped off the face of the earth RIGHT when I ordered my helmet kit from him. It would have had lights, a fan, and an opening mechanism. I've gotten no response from him and all of his accounts on Facebook, Youtube, and Ebay have gone really silent lately. He had good feedback until very recently.
Here's a video. His work is amazing. Damn shame I cant' reach him...Hope by some miracle it shows up and he's just on vacation or something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAAd3Nn8fjc
So I went ahead and bought the helm in my Avatar pic from the guy in the UK as plan B. It just came up as a sale right when I started to doubt my main helmet source. Figure if the kit I wanted more comes in eventually I can sell one or the other or just get a refund. Either way time is ticking and I have to move forward.
Because of the heat this helmet MUST have a fan and it MUST open. Why? The helmet is attached by armored cable to the back box, so taking it off also means having to detach the cables because there's no way to hold a helmet cabled to a backpack that's not awkward when cooling down. So unless I want to be like that poor Ant-Man costumer I met back in 2015 who had to ask me to attach and detach his cables so he could catch some air (and I don't think he had a mask fan either) it MUST open.
The guy in the video below did it nicely:
https://youtu.be/7WDdI5sNd1E
I'm sending the helmet I settled with from the UK to a friend in Georgia. I dont' have time to do everything so I'm letting that guy take care of cutting the face plate off of the helmet and wiring it with lights and a fan, then making it so the face plate can either be lifted off and affixed to the forehead of the helmet with Magnets (I've seen Iron Man helmets do this to great effect using rare earth magnets) or if there's time it'll actually open with the touch of a side button. It'll all be powered with a helmet-mounted USB-interface phone/tablet recharge brick.
A shot for motivation from the actual prop department duing production of Ant-Man.
---
The Suit: I've ordered a custom leather suit from White Sheep Leather in Pakistan. They communicate well, hand make everything, have hard prices to beat, and give you a good base suit that fits more like a motorcycle suit, on which to add detail.
The White Sheep suit comes with flexible fabric or leather piping. I'm gonna need to look at it when it arrives in a couple of days to see if I can keep it (their piping) or if I'm going to remove or cover it with rubber tubing. I plan to make joints out of worbla or some other moldable hardening agent that I can paint and make to fit by hand.
The piping I do attach, I intend to do the same way the best Ant-Man cosplay ever made was done by Eldritch Arts. She spot-sewed the piping in some spots then used a special glue she recommended to me to affix the piping between black or silver stitches. I ALMOST got her to do my back box, but because of timing, and because I know she's super busy also prepping for D*Con I opted to do the print below.
Then I'll add to the suit buckles and hard looking pieces in joints that aren't made of worbla with foam painted to look like metal and molded to the suit because they all have to be curved to follow body contours.
---
Gloves and Belt:
XCoser makes an acceptable (for my taste) light-up belt and gauntlets. I will repaint those to my taste and to match the helmet and other metallic components. I'll probably also fill in the words "ANT MAN" they have all over their stuff. Why? I just don't get that....anyway Xcoser's belt does not come with the proper back belt component. They put their real buckle there. So that I'm having one 3D printed with a file I found on Autocad's site. It'll be painted to match everything else.
The Leather gloves are being made by White Sheep Leather and will be attached to the Xcoser repainted Gauntlets. Then I'll have to run tubing down the fingers and make them appear to go into the gloves with some spot-stitching, the same glue used for the above mentioned piping, and worbla or foam "joints."
The buttons for the gloves, I haven't settled on. I found 3D models for them, but I want buttons you can push. I need to see if anybody else had better options for those. Otherwise I may make them myself with foam and plastic buttons from electronics components.
---
The back box
I almost settled on making this from foam, but I also found a good file for this on Autocad's site to 3D print, so this will be a print.
---
Connecting the back box to the helmet:
I will either use RCA female connectors on the box and helmet mounted into the resin/plastic and then will use armored pay phone cable with male RCA's in them to attach.
OR
I will get strong rare earth magnets and make these magnetized attachments for easy quick removal when the helmet just has to come off.
(I keep thinking of 2015 Dragon*Con guy who's magnets weren't strong enough and came unglued. Never glue what you can screw, bub!)
---
The boots:
I'm undecided between two plans.
I'll either get the $80 Sport Boots that turn up in searches for Ant Man boots and add modifications to them with foam:
https://shop.softailsandhogs.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=V305-Mens-Boots&CartID=1
OR
I'll get the boots offered by a Chinese company which look ok, and which I could improve on with some painting and piping/foam, but I'm worried about the fit. I have to walk around in these a LOT. They MUST be comfortable. I'm willing to let go of accuracy here to save myself tons of blisters. So probably option A here....
---
Under the helmet I'll be wearing a breathable ski mask to hide my skin. The helmet will have a face fan. On either side of the fan will be velcroed small wash rags soaked in "Florida Water" cooling liquid. Smells great and has a menthol like effect to cool the body.
Inside the suit chest pockets (or strapped to my torso if no pockets come with the suit jacket) I plan to put a couple of thin, cold gel packs. They should keep my body temp down at least an hour.
The White Sheep suit does not have texture in the red, persay. Instead it's porous, so it should breathe some. So under the suit will be a breathable layer of black under armor to keep me as cool as possible.
---
The Helmet is currently headed to Georgia to be modded. Cheers to the artist who hand-crafted it then put it up for sale on the rpf forums of Facebook.
The suit should arrive in 2 days. The belt and gauntlets shortly after. I'll start with the gloves and repainting of the belt and gauntlets, then hit the piping and metal strapping on the suit.
The boots, I'll decide on in a week and order something. Any input is welcome here.
I'll start sending pic when I begin the physical part. Shopping around for tubing and armored cable is my next immediate concern.
Gav
EDIT: Say Baw, did someone say piping joint?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/351046247181
Perhaps actually used on the suit?
Last edited:
GAVAL
New Member
Eldritch Arts, who made likely the best Ant-Man cosplay ever used spot sewing and a special glue.
Here's a quote from a chat we had about her piping:
" I sanded the underside of the tubing so it'd be grippier, and sanded the leathaer where i wanted it to go. then used barge contact cement, which held pretty well. but for the ends of the tubes and places wehre there was more movement, I sewed the tubing down near the bottom with black thread so you can't really see it."
Last edited by a moderator:
exo95er
Well-Known Member
Yep. You're on track. I used multiple/various aquarium airline tube connectors for my suit as well. Used Y-connectors for the portions where the piping "bends". It was a labor of love dremmeling those pieces in half, sanding, then painting them - good effect overall.
For the glove buttons, I used these (google or amazon search): uxcell 5 x Momentary SPST NO Red Round Cap Push Button Switch AC 125V 3A). Just need to cut the plastic bottoms out, and then you can just cut a hole in the gloves then thread and lock them in place.
Awesome to see your plans for the suit. Did mine last year and was fun hunting and piecing together all the parts and pieces.
Good luck!
GAVAL
New Member
An update as I make progress on my Ant-Man ensemble. I posted earlier about how I was assembling parts and pieces from all over the globe to make it happen.
Since then a lot of packages have arrived and with the clock ticking till Dragon*Con I needed to get right to it. I'm documenting this not to show off my work, because I wouldn't call myself a very experienced cosplayer, but because I'm hoping what I learn as I go can help another person who has a dream like me of wearing a legit-looking suit of their favorite movie character.
I'm also doing this because I want to fill in the blanks where previous builders left me with a lot of questions. I've reached out to some of them directly and watched a lot of videos or read a lot of old posts to figure out the parts of the suit that stand out me, and then I'm figuring out how to go about making those components so that I'm left with a suit I feel is where I want it to be when wearing it in public or at photo shoots.
A quick update to my prep post on a couple of items:
These buttons, I found, out of China, are pieces I think I can use for the hand activated size change buttons so prominently featured in the movies. I ordered 4 of them out of Wal-Mart.com. 2 extras in case I totally destroy the first two because I'll undoubtedly be cutting these open with a Dremel cutting tool.
A quick note on the boot situation. The sport boots listed above and which I have sought are on "back order" which I interpret as no longer sold. So I looked around the Vulcan site and I took a closer look at the Ant-Man boots and I noticed the boots are not actually knee high boots as may cosplay shops would sell them.. The suit is made out to be all one piece Scott can put on in 10 seconds if he has to, so I realized the way the pants are made (which I ordered from White Sheep Leather) I would be better off with ankle boots...and they really do look like angle boots in the movie:
That being said, and since I can't get the Vulcan 305's anymore...and the 300's look WAY too bulky (like ski boots) I chose the Vulcan 310's..
https://www.leatherup.com/p/Mens-St...ns-Motorcycle-Troop-Sport-Boots/11489525.html
Here they are with my White Sheep leather pants, which are surprisingly good. More on White Sheep's items later. Sorry about the rotation. I see no option to change it on these forums. I will paint and add foam parts to these boots to cover up the laces and throw in some color and weathering.
My helmet is being completed in Georgia. It's a modification of a display helmet I bought from an airbrush artist in the UK. We've decided that helmet will be heavy if we try to put the power supply in the helm. And it'll already be hot as hell where I'm going, so having a working battery in the helmet will also be a potential problem.
The solution? My guy in Georgia modding the helmet while I finish the suit and accessories wants to put a power supply in the back box (notoriously hard to find.) He then wants to fun power up the armored cables I linked earlier (Which did arrive) and use RCA connectors to actually send power from the backpack to the helmet to power its fan and lights and eventually its opening mechanism. Just like in the movie!
So about that back box...I found some files and had a localish buddy print them. Here's what the test prints came out looking like. His printer had issues, so I had to do some filling and sanding and stripping to get it ready as soon as possible to send to my Helmet guy. Here's how that progressed:
After wood filler and sanding, I used black plasti dip, then the chrome paint linked earlier with a foam brush. This stuff evaporates rapidly because it's intended for a sprayer, so beware and work fast!
In other areas, the XCoser belt and wrist accessories weren't bad at all. I gave it a fresh coat of paint and filled in all their "ANT MAN" logos. The color will match my helmet and other accessories. More importantly I had to add a back buckle to the belt as it doesnt' come with one. That was 3D printed and painted to match the rest. Where it needed bolts or rivets, I used googlie eyes covered in plasti dip, followed by gloss black paint, and then the chrome paint. The Xcoser belt buckle lights up, by the way. You wouldn't know it without prying the red middle out of the "regulator" but there are lights in there!
The suit also arrived. It's awesome in many ways and horrible in others. The piping is just unacceptable for my personal taste in the shoulder strap areas. I cut those off last night and began priming and painting tubing to replace it with.
Pipe joints are another problem. I'm experimenting with air-hardening clay to mold the joints, but tubing cut and placed over the suit piping may work even better. Others have used Worbla in the past and I will also experiment with that.
The back of the suit pants (not pictured) are missing details seen in the movie. I will, if time permits, add those red sections to the calves and small boxes behind the ankles if I can later.
I found this great reflective material with a beehive pattern to it in red. Using that to highlight areas of the suit that may or may not have had lights in them in the movie or done with CGI (where I'm not already putting lights, that is.)
Randomly: I have extra back box botched prints if someone gets desperate. Toss me a PM or look me up on Facebook. More later. Foam crafting begins tonight for accessories on the suit top, backs of the pants, and for the shoes. Lots of tubing work to be done. That takes a while because the tubes need a layer of black plasti dip before you can apply chrome paint. lots of drying, flipping, repainting, waiting, etc.
Since then a lot of packages have arrived and with the clock ticking till Dragon*Con I needed to get right to it. I'm documenting this not to show off my work, because I wouldn't call myself a very experienced cosplayer, but because I'm hoping what I learn as I go can help another person who has a dream like me of wearing a legit-looking suit of their favorite movie character.
I'm also doing this because I want to fill in the blanks where previous builders left me with a lot of questions. I've reached out to some of them directly and watched a lot of videos or read a lot of old posts to figure out the parts of the suit that stand out me, and then I'm figuring out how to go about making those components so that I'm left with a suit I feel is where I want it to be when wearing it in public or at photo shoots.
A quick update to my prep post on a couple of items:
These buttons, I found, out of China, are pieces I think I can use for the hand activated size change buttons so prominently featured in the movies. I ordered 4 of them out of Wal-Mart.com. 2 extras in case I totally destroy the first two because I'll undoubtedly be cutting these open with a Dremel cutting tool.
A quick note on the boot situation. The sport boots listed above and which I have sought are on "back order" which I interpret as no longer sold. So I looked around the Vulcan site and I took a closer look at the Ant-Man boots and I noticed the boots are not actually knee high boots as may cosplay shops would sell them.. The suit is made out to be all one piece Scott can put on in 10 seconds if he has to, so I realized the way the pants are made (which I ordered from White Sheep Leather) I would be better off with ankle boots...and they really do look like angle boots in the movie:
That being said, and since I can't get the Vulcan 305's anymore...and the 300's look WAY too bulky (like ski boots) I chose the Vulcan 310's..
https://www.leatherup.com/p/Mens-St...ns-Motorcycle-Troop-Sport-Boots/11489525.html
Here they are with my White Sheep leather pants, which are surprisingly good. More on White Sheep's items later. Sorry about the rotation. I see no option to change it on these forums. I will paint and add foam parts to these boots to cover up the laces and throw in some color and weathering.
My helmet is being completed in Georgia. It's a modification of a display helmet I bought from an airbrush artist in the UK. We've decided that helmet will be heavy if we try to put the power supply in the helm. And it'll already be hot as hell where I'm going, so having a working battery in the helmet will also be a potential problem.
The solution? My guy in Georgia modding the helmet while I finish the suit and accessories wants to put a power supply in the back box (notoriously hard to find.) He then wants to fun power up the armored cables I linked earlier (Which did arrive) and use RCA connectors to actually send power from the backpack to the helmet to power its fan and lights and eventually its opening mechanism. Just like in the movie!
So about that back box...I found some files and had a localish buddy print them. Here's what the test prints came out looking like. His printer had issues, so I had to do some filling and sanding and stripping to get it ready as soon as possible to send to my Helmet guy. Here's how that progressed:
After wood filler and sanding, I used black plasti dip, then the chrome paint linked earlier with a foam brush. This stuff evaporates rapidly because it's intended for a sprayer, so beware and work fast!
In other areas, the XCoser belt and wrist accessories weren't bad at all. I gave it a fresh coat of paint and filled in all their "ANT MAN" logos. The color will match my helmet and other accessories. More importantly I had to add a back buckle to the belt as it doesnt' come with one. That was 3D printed and painted to match the rest. Where it needed bolts or rivets, I used googlie eyes covered in plasti dip, followed by gloss black paint, and then the chrome paint. The Xcoser belt buckle lights up, by the way. You wouldn't know it without prying the red middle out of the "regulator" but there are lights in there!
The suit also arrived. It's awesome in many ways and horrible in others. The piping is just unacceptable for my personal taste in the shoulder strap areas. I cut those off last night and began priming and painting tubing to replace it with.
Pipe joints are another problem. I'm experimenting with air-hardening clay to mold the joints, but tubing cut and placed over the suit piping may work even better. Others have used Worbla in the past and I will also experiment with that.
The back of the suit pants (not pictured) are missing details seen in the movie. I will, if time permits, add those red sections to the calves and small boxes behind the ankles if I can later.
I found this great reflective material with a beehive pattern to it in red. Using that to highlight areas of the suit that may or may not have had lights in them in the movie or done with CGI (where I'm not already putting lights, that is.)
Randomly: I have extra back box botched prints if someone gets desperate. Toss me a PM or look me up on Facebook. More later. Foam crafting begins tonight for accessories on the suit top, backs of the pants, and for the shoes. Lots of tubing work to be done. That takes a while because the tubes need a layer of black plasti dip before you can apply chrome paint. lots of drying, flipping, repainting, waiting, etc.
Last edited:
GAVAL
New Member
So pro tip: RPF forum posts can only have 24 pictures so here's the continuing progress thread...
I started working with foam to make accessories for the suit last night. My focus was on the hardware on the shoulders showing as lavender in these 3D print photos.
You can see them decently on Scott in this photo. See how different the 3D modeler's version was from the movie one? And the cosplays I've seen are even more different.
I encourage you guys not to settle for internet references. There are no dimensions available as far as I can tell on any of this and results vary if you use other people's cosplays or models to see their interpretations. Would you rather a copy of a copy or go directly from the real thing for references? I've seen HUGELY different results and interpretations from one cosplay to the other, so my advice? Put in the Blu-Ray and take your own reference shots until you see that one part you really can't get many other places because the shots of the suits online don't cover everything! Also I've noticed some details actually varied from screen used suit to suit. How about them apples? The reason is the costume department had to make multiple versions of helmets and suits for stunts and hero shots. So pick your pony and roll with it...here's one the more varied results...
So here are my shoulder hardware pieces in the raw. I used extra pieces of foam underneath the surface pieces to get the height differences right. I'm no foam expert but from the videos I watched my plan to seal and finish them is to use a heat gun to seal the cells, then mod podge, then plasti-dip, then gloss black (because my chrome requires an under layer of it), then my chrome paint linked above. I'm told to lightly sand leather so that it takes glue better, then to affix it to the suit with Barge Contact Cement. Barge requires you to apply the cement, let it sit for 10 minutes, then put the pieces together. Once you do that, they are not coming apart without taking half the suit with them, so it's going to be a breath-holding moment when that occurs. I have my suit on an ancient dress mannequin I stole from my mom's place to give me a good shoulder shape to apply these. If you don't have one I'd have someone wear the suit when you glue it. The shape has to be right to your body.
Speaking of body shaping, most of the Ant-Man cosplays I've seen seemed to lack one major 80's element from a suit designed to look a little 80's. Shoulder pads! You can bet before I cement the finished hardware to the suit that I'll have added shoulder pads inside of it to further give it shape and fill out those shoulder corners. The red part of my pieces here has to actually bend down the shoulder so I put a bit of a bend in them for starters. BEWARE, the triple cable has to pass under these and part of the neck collar has to affix to the thickest pieces on the inside at the neck. Have a plan for that before you glue this hardware on.
I'm experimenting with the triple tubing by using small pieces of foam on the bottom side to hold them together with hot glue. I'll let you know if that works. If not I'll need a better plan which may require directly gluing them to the suit one at a time until they line up nicely and permanently. The tubes are clear rubber tubing from a pet store meant for aquariums. Plasti dip, then chrome paint, then some kind of clear coat because if you don't use it that type of rubber stays sticky and gross to the touch and will ruin your suit color with the outer chrome layer which never seems to dry on that type of tubing.
This is how I'm attempting to get my rubber tubing to hold together before putting it on the suit. The tubing is coated with Plasti-Dip, then gloss black, then chrome, then a clear coat (pick matte or gloss, whatever you prefer.) Then I have them tacked together on the under side with a bit of foam and hot glue. I don't expect the hot glue to endure, especially in the heat, but it was handy for holding the tubes together when I attached them to the suit. You can also see I have crafted the back straps made of foam the same way I made my shoulder attachments and the difference between my tubing and what came with the suit. I think the additions make one hell of a difference and the suit is beginning to look legit to me.
The collar only came with tubing on 2 spots, so I added middle tubing and the neck piece. The suit has to open up for me to put it on unlike the original suit which has a seam in the back (presumably) so I have to come up with creative ways to attach things like the neck piece and the chest Y which will have to fit over the seam. I'm going to attempt to do that with velcro so all I have to do is zip up the suit and apply two pieces with velcro across the chest seam.
About those gloves...
That moment when you think you ordered 4 buttons at a great price and get 20! lol
![IMG_20170731_1129112[1].jpg](https://therpf-f28a.kxcdn.com/forums/data/attachments/417/417542-3a2672f389fb530af2619a9f52e55ae7.jpg "IMG_20170731_1129112[1].jpg")
So before I put those candy-like buttons, I had to get the piping on to them.
The piping on the gloves is smaller than on the suit, and I haven' found anything that works yet, so I'm going with grey parachute cord and these little aglets I found at Hobby Lobby:
I finished those tubes up last night but forgot to get a shot of the gloves. I still need to secure the cord with either spot stitching (through leather. yay.) or with the Barge Contact Cement which seems to be holding well after 24 hours of curing.
Tonight I'll finish the collar up, then start working on tubing joints (made of air dry clay and other tubing).
Buttons on gloves, painting of existing piping that doesn't match, and then boots will be to follow.
Dare I say it...after I'm finished with those parts....I'll be done my end and waiting on the helmet and back box to return with full electronics, cooling system, and an opening mechanism.
---
Quick update. Gloves are nearly done. Just need cord tacking. Suit is coming along nicely.
After adding a few clay pipe joints I'm ok with what I"m seeing, so I made enough to finish the arms:
And for those curious here's the finished belt (which does light up) with pants and boots. I'll be addressing the boots in a couple of days.
I'm 75% done installing my air dry clay tube fittings and THIS shows up on a Google query...
So if the clay fails, I have these on order. Not sure what size to get. I'm guessing 3/16 or 1/4-inch will work. I think the tubing needs to go inside the joints rather than over them to look right.
Here's a link, future builders. You're welcome!
https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23171&catid=714
My clay joints on the arms....
I started working with foam to make accessories for the suit last night. My focus was on the hardware on the shoulders showing as lavender in these 3D print photos.
You can see them decently on Scott in this photo. See how different the 3D modeler's version was from the movie one? And the cosplays I've seen are even more different.
I encourage you guys not to settle for internet references. There are no dimensions available as far as I can tell on any of this and results vary if you use other people's cosplays or models to see their interpretations. Would you rather a copy of a copy or go directly from the real thing for references? I've seen HUGELY different results and interpretations from one cosplay to the other, so my advice? Put in the Blu-Ray and take your own reference shots until you see that one part you really can't get many other places because the shots of the suits online don't cover everything! Also I've noticed some details actually varied from screen used suit to suit. How about them apples? The reason is the costume department had to make multiple versions of helmets and suits for stunts and hero shots. So pick your pony and roll with it...here's one the more varied results...
So here are my shoulder hardware pieces in the raw. I used extra pieces of foam underneath the surface pieces to get the height differences right. I'm no foam expert but from the videos I watched my plan to seal and finish them is to use a heat gun to seal the cells, then mod podge, then plasti-dip, then gloss black (because my chrome requires an under layer of it), then my chrome paint linked above. I'm told to lightly sand leather so that it takes glue better, then to affix it to the suit with Barge Contact Cement. Barge requires you to apply the cement, let it sit for 10 minutes, then put the pieces together. Once you do that, they are not coming apart without taking half the suit with them, so it's going to be a breath-holding moment when that occurs. I have my suit on an ancient dress mannequin I stole from my mom's place to give me a good shoulder shape to apply these. If you don't have one I'd have someone wear the suit when you glue it. The shape has to be right to your body.
Speaking of body shaping, most of the Ant-Man cosplays I've seen seemed to lack one major 80's element from a suit designed to look a little 80's. Shoulder pads! You can bet before I cement the finished hardware to the suit that I'll have added shoulder pads inside of it to further give it shape and fill out those shoulder corners. The red part of my pieces here has to actually bend down the shoulder so I put a bit of a bend in them for starters. BEWARE, the triple cable has to pass under these and part of the neck collar has to affix to the thickest pieces on the inside at the neck. Have a plan for that before you glue this hardware on.
I'm experimenting with the triple tubing by using small pieces of foam on the bottom side to hold them together with hot glue. I'll let you know if that works. If not I'll need a better plan which may require directly gluing them to the suit one at a time until they line up nicely and permanently. The tubes are clear rubber tubing from a pet store meant for aquariums. Plasti dip, then chrome paint, then some kind of clear coat because if you don't use it that type of rubber stays sticky and gross to the touch and will ruin your suit color with the outer chrome layer which never seems to dry on that type of tubing.
This is how I'm attempting to get my rubber tubing to hold together before putting it on the suit. The tubing is coated with Plasti-Dip, then gloss black, then chrome, then a clear coat (pick matte or gloss, whatever you prefer.) Then I have them tacked together on the under side with a bit of foam and hot glue. I don't expect the hot glue to endure, especially in the heat, but it was handy for holding the tubes together when I attached them to the suit. You can also see I have crafted the back straps made of foam the same way I made my shoulder attachments and the difference between my tubing and what came with the suit. I think the additions make one hell of a difference and the suit is beginning to look legit to me.
The collar only came with tubing on 2 spots, so I added middle tubing and the neck piece. The suit has to open up for me to put it on unlike the original suit which has a seam in the back (presumably) so I have to come up with creative ways to attach things like the neck piece and the chest Y which will have to fit over the seam. I'm going to attempt to do that with velcro so all I have to do is zip up the suit and apply two pieces with velcro across the chest seam.
About those gloves...
That moment when you think you ordered 4 buttons at a great price and get 20! lol
So before I put those candy-like buttons, I had to get the piping on to them.
The piping on the gloves is smaller than on the suit, and I haven' found anything that works yet, so I'm going with grey parachute cord and these little aglets I found at Hobby Lobby:
I finished those tubes up last night but forgot to get a shot of the gloves. I still need to secure the cord with either spot stitching (through leather. yay.) or with the Barge Contact Cement which seems to be holding well after 24 hours of curing.
Tonight I'll finish the collar up, then start working on tubing joints (made of air dry clay and other tubing).
Buttons on gloves, painting of existing piping that doesn't match, and then boots will be to follow.
Dare I say it...after I'm finished with those parts....I'll be done my end and waiting on the helmet and back box to return with full electronics, cooling system, and an opening mechanism.
---
Quick update. Gloves are nearly done. Just need cord tacking. Suit is coming along nicely.
After adding a few clay pipe joints I'm ok with what I"m seeing, so I made enough to finish the arms:
And for those curious here's the finished belt (which does light up) with pants and boots. I'll be addressing the boots in a couple of days.
I'm 75% done installing my air dry clay tube fittings and THIS shows up on a Google query...
So if the clay fails, I have these on order. Not sure what size to get. I'm guessing 3/16 or 1/4-inch will work. I think the tubing needs to go inside the joints rather than over them to look right.
Here's a link, future builders. You're welcome!
https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23171&catid=714
My clay joints on the arms....
Attachments
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GAVAL
New Member
I took a series of screen shots of things you cant' find on the internet to show details I haven't been able to pin point through standard image searches. Thought they might be helpful to someone one day. These are shots of my television playing the blu-ray. I wish I could make the menu go away when I paused, but I couldn't find a feature to do that.
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GAVAL
New Member
I started working on the neck collar thingie...Just a T fitting on the tubes I can connect and disconnect over the zipper seam making a total of three items I have to latch when putting on the suit: Collar, Y join at chest, and this neck thing....
I'll hit it with silver, then with some reflective red tape and some weathering and hopefully it'll be easy to connect and disconnect when suiting up. I anticipate this'll weather the most and need the most touch up paint from all the pulling and tugging at the T joint I'll have to do to get in an out of it. Might just have to make this something I velcro on rather than connect and disconnect at the T.
Found a cute little continuity error in the movie:
No neck tubes:
The next day, neck tubes. (see above)
---
And now we have a neck thingie. I couldn't get the tubes to curve symmetrically so I inserted some rigid wire through the "necklace" so I can bend it to my will and attach it at the shoulders easily, and more importantly, in a removable fasion.
I also started on the shoulder red circle button-looking components yesterday. I will have to attach those carefully over uneven parts of the suit with piping and as you see in the above pic the bike suit didn't come with piping connecting the silver rectangles (to be upgraded) to the shoulder piping where the red circles go, so I'll have to put my own piping there. These are just water bottle caps and sheet plastic. The caps will be filled down to a lower profile and will be shaved to fit over piping and diffent levels of leather on the suit adjacent to the piping.
I also did a test to see if my paints work well on the silver piping and components of the suit so I can get them to match the chrome I'm using everywhere else. Turns out if I hit that silver stuff (vinyl perhaps?) with gloss black and then my chrome paint it works great, so the entire silver portion of the suit will get a repaint if time is allows.
The gloves were spot tacked with Barge contact cement last night and are officially done. The dried glue is very shiny in some spots. I might try to dab some flat black paint on those spots to make it less obvious the "tube" cords are cemented to the leather. I also might tack sew those tubes after a few tests if I get a sense that they could come off from cement alone. I just dread having to try to sew through finished leather gloves.
I also made parts for the boots to hide the laces. I'll finish and attach those tonight. Trying different flat and satin paints to get the foam pieces I made to match the leather of the boots...
---
I'm gonna call these boots done and wearable. They could use some touching up and better paint matching or wearing to dull the red, but they are close enough that I can use them. Moving on!
The circle thingies made it onto the jacket last night as well as added tubes. I'll be covering all of the square tube "joints" with these new foam ones which will have a matching color. Then I'll be repainting all of the tubes that I left on the suit (piping) to match the ones I added.
I'll hit it with silver, then with some reflective red tape and some weathering and hopefully it'll be easy to connect and disconnect when suiting up. I anticipate this'll weather the most and need the most touch up paint from all the pulling and tugging at the T joint I'll have to do to get in an out of it. Might just have to make this something I velcro on rather than connect and disconnect at the T.
Found a cute little continuity error in the movie:
No neck tubes:
The next day, neck tubes. (see above)
---
And now we have a neck thingie. I couldn't get the tubes to curve symmetrically so I inserted some rigid wire through the "necklace" so I can bend it to my will and attach it at the shoulders easily, and more importantly, in a removable fasion.
I also started on the shoulder red circle button-looking components yesterday. I will have to attach those carefully over uneven parts of the suit with piping and as you see in the above pic the bike suit didn't come with piping connecting the silver rectangles (to be upgraded) to the shoulder piping where the red circles go, so I'll have to put my own piping there. These are just water bottle caps and sheet plastic. The caps will be filled down to a lower profile and will be shaved to fit over piping and diffent levels of leather on the suit adjacent to the piping.
I also did a test to see if my paints work well on the silver piping and components of the suit so I can get them to match the chrome I'm using everywhere else. Turns out if I hit that silver stuff (vinyl perhaps?) with gloss black and then my chrome paint it works great, so the entire silver portion of the suit will get a repaint if time is allows.
The gloves were spot tacked with Barge contact cement last night and are officially done. The dried glue is very shiny in some spots. I might try to dab some flat black paint on those spots to make it less obvious the "tube" cords are cemented to the leather. I also might tack sew those tubes after a few tests if I get a sense that they could come off from cement alone. I just dread having to try to sew through finished leather gloves.
I also made parts for the boots to hide the laces. I'll finish and attach those tonight. Trying different flat and satin paints to get the foam pieces I made to match the leather of the boots...
---
I'm gonna call these boots done and wearable. They could use some touching up and better paint matching or wearing to dull the red, but they are close enough that I can use them. Moving on!
The circle thingies made it onto the jacket last night as well as added tubes. I'll be covering all of the square tube "joints" with these new foam ones which will have a matching color. Then I'll be repainting all of the tubes that I left on the suit (piping) to match the ones I added.
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GAVAL
New Member
I can tell this is gonna be one of those suits that looks fantastic at a distance, but when you get closer you start seeing seedy underbelly and impatient mistakes...
Anyway, here's an update. I have a lot of touch up paint to do but I've got all of the hubs and joints in on the jacket. I love the way the hubs came out. They really make the ensemble look a lot more convincing due to their increased color and detail over what came with the suit. The piping has mostly been repainted to match the accessory chrome. That led to a lot of mistakes on the part of my impatient and unsteady hand. Touch up will be needed.
I went ahead and gave the new pipe fittings I found a shot. You can see what they look like in some of these shots as compared to the clay fittings I started with. I used clay to fill in the portions of the pieces I had to cut off to turn T's into L's and Y's into 45 degree elbows.
The joints are VERY strong. Since they weren't quite in the right angles I needed to match the piping on the suit I had to take a heat gun to them and bend them wider as you can see in the first pic here.
View attachment 750238View attachment 750239
View attachment 750240View attachment 750241View attachment 750242
View attachment 750243View attachment 750244
The connection between the piping and the joints is questionable. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Part of the problem is I'm trying to use the existing piping and am no installing my own, so I'm having to make it look like it fits together when, in fact, it doesn't.
Piping has cord inside of it. What I've been doing is cutting the piping skin, getting to the cord inside, cutting that out, then covering the "deflated" piping with my plastic or clay joints. It works pretty good sometimes, others, not as well.
Looking ahead I will put the joints that remain onto the pants of the suit, then I have to repaint the pants piping to match the jacket. After that I will attempt to spot stitch my tubes and joints into place to lessen the chance of the contact cement failing.
Shoulder pads need to be sewn or glued into the suit to fill out the shoulders which are a bit broader than mine. Also because it's an 80's suit. Maybe I saw too much Despicable Me 3.
Following that with spot touch up paint, I'll be ready to call the suit presentable and there won't be anything else to do but wait for the helmet and back box power supply to arrive so I can affix them to the suit.
----
8/10/17
So as I go I experiment. I finished up with the jacket (except for a little touch up paint) and will save a shot of that for when I can put the entire suit on. I will say I did a trial run and wore it with the cooling vest and immediately noticed a couple of small pieces of tubing wanted to come off or were too long, so I've spent the last couple of evenings adjusting the lengths of those tubes, re-gluing them, and then securing them with leather needles and wax thread to make sure they aren't going anywhere. Sewing them wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I feel a lot better about things now that the glue is backed up with some really strong thread that I painted to hold tubes in place. I may lose a joint or two but at least the tubes aren't going for a ride.
I also added the shoulder pads with safety pins. I may or may not sew those on one day but the suit doesn't really have a lining of solid material. Rather it's a very breathable mesh designed to keep the wearer aired out and leather off direct skin contact.
So my attention now turns to pants. I decided to go all out on these tube connectors. I didn't just cut out the cord and cover deflated piping. I removed the entire damn piping. The results, as expected, are way better. If I lose joints on the jacket, when I replace them I'm definitely going this route.
Anyway, here's an update. I have a lot of touch up paint to do but I've got all of the hubs and joints in on the jacket. I love the way the hubs came out. They really make the ensemble look a lot more convincing due to their increased color and detail over what came with the suit. The piping has mostly been repainted to match the accessory chrome. That led to a lot of mistakes on the part of my impatient and unsteady hand. Touch up will be needed.
I went ahead and gave the new pipe fittings I found a shot. You can see what they look like in some of these shots as compared to the clay fittings I started with. I used clay to fill in the portions of the pieces I had to cut off to turn T's into L's and Y's into 45 degree elbows.
The joints are VERY strong. Since they weren't quite in the right angles I needed to match the piping on the suit I had to take a heat gun to them and bend them wider as you can see in the first pic here.
View attachment 750238View attachment 750239
View attachment 750240View attachment 750241View attachment 750242
View attachment 750243View attachment 750244
The connection between the piping and the joints is questionable. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Part of the problem is I'm trying to use the existing piping and am no installing my own, so I'm having to make it look like it fits together when, in fact, it doesn't.
Piping has cord inside of it. What I've been doing is cutting the piping skin, getting to the cord inside, cutting that out, then covering the "deflated" piping with my plastic or clay joints. It works pretty good sometimes, others, not as well.
Looking ahead I will put the joints that remain onto the pants of the suit, then I have to repaint the pants piping to match the jacket. After that I will attempt to spot stitch my tubes and joints into place to lessen the chance of the contact cement failing.
Shoulder pads need to be sewn or glued into the suit to fill out the shoulders which are a bit broader than mine. Also because it's an 80's suit. Maybe I saw too much Despicable Me 3.
Following that with spot touch up paint, I'll be ready to call the suit presentable and there won't be anything else to do but wait for the helmet and back box power supply to arrive so I can affix them to the suit.
----
8/10/17
So as I go I experiment. I finished up with the jacket (except for a little touch up paint) and will save a shot of that for when I can put the entire suit on. I will say I did a trial run and wore it with the cooling vest and immediately noticed a couple of small pieces of tubing wanted to come off or were too long, so I've spent the last couple of evenings adjusting the lengths of those tubes, re-gluing them, and then securing them with leather needles and wax thread to make sure they aren't going anywhere. Sewing them wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I feel a lot better about things now that the glue is backed up with some really strong thread that I painted to hold tubes in place. I may lose a joint or two but at least the tubes aren't going for a ride.
I also added the shoulder pads with safety pins. I may or may not sew those on one day but the suit doesn't really have a lining of solid material. Rather it's a very breathable mesh designed to keep the wearer aired out and leather off direct skin contact.
So my attention now turns to pants. I decided to go all out on these tube connectors. I didn't just cut out the cord and cover deflated piping. I removed the entire damn piping. The results, as expected, are way better. If I lose joints on the jacket, when I replace them I'm definitely going this route.
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GAVAL -
Man that is looking great! I'm excited to see this all come together!
Here is my suit that i finished up recently for SDCC
Here you can see that the helmet opens up just like it does in the movie. which was quite helpful for when I feel like I needed to breathe!
cheers all!
Man that is looking great! I'm excited to see this all come together!
Here is my suit that i finished up recently for SDCC
Here you can see that the helmet opens up just like it does in the movie. which was quite helpful for when I feel like I needed to breathe!
cheers all!
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GAVAL
New Member
drumguy560
This is awesome! You did a fantastic job!
Can I get some more details about how you get the helmet to open? Is it motorized or manually done?
What material did you use for the black portion of the suit? It actually looks very screen accurate. The more I look at movie screen shots the less I think the black portions that were not ribbed were leather. The material seems too thin, smooth, and form fitting to be leather like my suit.
My helmet will not be able to open the way I intended in time for Dragon*Con. The face plate will be removeable and will light up when reattached, and held with magnets. but we won't be able to get it to mount on top of the helmet or open up with motors any time soon. Maybe by Halloween.
Gav
This is awesome! You did a fantastic job!
Can I get some more details about how you get the helmet to open? Is it motorized or manually done?
What material did you use for the black portion of the suit? It actually looks very screen accurate. The more I look at movie screen shots the less I think the black portions that were not ribbed were leather. The material seems too thin, smooth, and form fitting to be leather like my suit.
My helmet will not be able to open the way I intended in time for Dragon*Con. The face plate will be removeable and will light up when reattached, and held with magnets. but we won't be able to get it to mount on top of the helmet or open up with motors any time soon. Maybe by Halloween.
Gav
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GAVAL
Im the same one from the video that you mention early on in the thread. All of the info on the motorization is there
the he helmet I wore for SDCC wasn't motorized due to time constraints. The motors are in there, but only acted as hinges for the faceplate. I glued up a "bump" that you could pull the faceplate over and it'd stay, but was thin enough that you could pull it back down too.
The material on the real suit is 100% leather. I don't remember specifically how I know that, but it was somewhere in my research for the suit. There are many different grains and thicknesses of leather however, so the movie suit could've definitely been a different grade. My suit is actually a heavily modified cosplaysky suit, and the black parts are just faux vinyl leather. It's ok stuff, but the outer layer can come unglued from the under layer, which doesn't look great.
For my piping I bought clear PVC tubing, and used my airbrush to spray chrome paint on the INSIDE of the tubes a nice clear coat, and no smudging on the chrome! Worked very well!
the rest of it is either hand detailed, 3D printed, or foam fabricated. There is a back to the suit too, but who in the world cares about the back?!? Haha!
anyway, good luck on the rest of the build! As many here know, I'm an open book on techniques!
-d
Im the same one from the video that you mention early on in the thread. All of the info on the motorization is there
the he helmet I wore for SDCC wasn't motorized due to time constraints. The motors are in there, but only acted as hinges for the faceplate. I glued up a "bump" that you could pull the faceplate over and it'd stay, but was thin enough that you could pull it back down too.
The material on the real suit is 100% leather. I don't remember specifically how I know that, but it was somewhere in my research for the suit. There are many different grains and thicknesses of leather however, so the movie suit could've definitely been a different grade. My suit is actually a heavily modified cosplaysky suit, and the black parts are just faux vinyl leather. It's ok stuff, but the outer layer can come unglued from the under layer, which doesn't look great.
For my piping I bought clear PVC tubing, and used my airbrush to spray chrome paint on the INSIDE of the tubes
a nice clear coat, and no smudging on the chrome! Worked very well!the rest of it is either hand detailed, 3D printed, or foam fabricated. There is a back to the suit too, but who in the world cares about the back?!? Haha!
anyway, good luck on the rest of the build! As many here know, I'm an open book on techniques!
-d
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GAVAL
New Member
Thanks so much for the info! I really did enjoy your video and we're going to try to employ some of your techniques.
I'm experimenting with different methods of attaching piping to the suit. I'm curious what method you used? Your stuff looks pretty sturdy. Have you lost any parts in those days wearing the suit about? And what was yoru solution for the join? Were those 3D printed?
I had considered painting my clear tubing on the inside but in the end went with the outside after trying different combos of primer and paint to get one that was durable. Great to see some ideas I rejected actually did work out!
-Gav
I'm experimenting with different methods of attaching piping to the suit. I'm curious what method you used? Your stuff looks pretty sturdy. Have you lost any parts in those days wearing the suit about? And what was yoru solution for the join? Were those 3D printed?
I had considered painting my clear tubing on the inside but in the end went with the outside after trying different combos of primer and paint to get one that was durable. Great to see some ideas I rejected actually did work out!
-Gav
@GAVAL
Im the same one from the video that you mention early on in the thread. All of the info on the motorization is there
the he helmet I wore for SDCC wasn't motorized due to time constraints. The motors are in there, but only acted as hinges for the faceplate. I glued up a "bump" that you could pull the faceplate over and it'd stay, but was thin enough that you could pull it back down too.
The material on the real suit is 100% leather. I don't remember specifically how I know that, but it was somewhere in my research for the suit. There are many different grains and thicknesses of leather however, so the movie suit could've definitely been a different grade. My suit is actually a heavily modified cosplaysky suit, and the black parts are just faux vinyl leather. It's ok stuff, but the outer layer can come unglued from the under layer, which doesn't look great.
For my piping I bought clear PVC tubing, and used my airbrush to spray chrome paint on the INSIDE of the tubes
the rest of it is either hand detailed, 3D printed, or foam fabricated. There is a back to the suit too, but who in the world cares about the back?!? Haha!
anyway, good luck on the rest of the build! As many here know, I'm an open book on techniques!
-d
GAVAL
New Member
I think it's high time I shared some helmet pics. The helmet, to me, is the most interesting piece of this cosplay, and I wanted my helmet to be the most interesting and well-made component. My end goal is to have a helmet which opens with a spring or motorized mechanism. As an alternative, I wanted a helmet which could have the face plate removed and mounted on the forehead to make it easier to see, get around, and breathe, especially in the potential Georgia heat. (Though I am praying for an early first cold front at Dragon*Con as I heard they got last year.)
I wasn't able to get option 1 done in time, and with this design of helmet, it may not ever happen, but we'll try one day. Option 2, we also ran out of time to make it completely happen. So what you see here is a compromise. The face plate comes off and is held in place with magnets. The magnets also cause the helmet to make contact so that red LED strips can illuminate the eye lenses without creating glare or vision trouble.
Here is a video sent to me via Messenger from Charles Fincher and his dad, James, who worked on the helmet and power supply system. I should have it in my hands for a full dress rehearsal by Friday.
I wasn't able to get option 1 done in time, and with this design of helmet, it may not ever happen, but we'll try one day. Option 2, we also ran out of time to make it completely happen. So what you see here is a compromise. The face plate comes off and is held in place with magnets. The magnets also cause the helmet to make contact so that red LED strips can illuminate the eye lenses without creating glare or vision trouble.
Here is a video sent to me via Messenger from Charles Fincher and his dad, James, who worked on the helmet and power supply system. I should have it in my hands for a full dress rehearsal by Friday.
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