Mass Effect Collector Armor

Hello RPF!

First post here, though I've been over on the 405th for a few years now so I'm sure there are a couple familiar face... forum handles... around. Sadly, I wasn't a huge fan of Halo 4 and downright disliked Halo 5, so I've been in the market for new cosplay inspiration. A month or so ago a friend of mine asked for some guidance in starting a FemShep costume, and while helping track down reference shots I happened across a picture of the collector armor and instantly knew I had to give it a try.

Having recently seen Drack's Chaos Knight build (amazing work, if you haven't seen it) I was already interested in a Worbla project, and this seemed like an excellent fit. The organic shapes would need a very pliable material, but I also wanted the armor to be hardened. In the end, I decided on a Worbla-over-foam approach, figuring 5mm foam should give it enough strength without adding too much bulk.

I couldn't find much for guidance in the way of files, so I'm attempting to freehand all of the necessary templates. Takes a bit longer on the first side, but the second half should be a bit more normal. Also allows for a nice comfy, custom fit.

Enough talk though, time for pictures.


The goal:




I started on the forearms, using the 5mm foam base with layers of craft foam or Worbla to get the raised details and a wood burner for the recessed lines.




Right forearm pieces complete!




The elbow spike was a bit trickier to get started. I began with the base and an approximate shape/shark fin. Guesstimated how to split it up into pieces, then cut those out of craft foam and glued them together.






Once I was finished with the bicep and tricep pieces, it was time to try it all on. After sufficient application of masking tape, it stayed on long enough to get some photos.







The cutout in bottom of the forearm is where I plan to attach the front spine/leg that I have yet to start working on... Mobility isn't half bad, nor is the weight.

Taking a bit of a break from the arm, I also launched into the ab plates. All seven of them, plus the pectoral plate. Apparently wearing this armor, you grow additional abs.



The pectoral plate, pre-Worbla. Mix of foam layers and hot glue beads, because why not!



And all covered up (terrible lighting, but meh):



That's about it for now. This has taken place over the course of about a month, so updates will be a bit slow and somewhat sporadic, but I'll post them when I can.

Thanks for looking!

Sounds like a cool project. But, none of the picture links seem to work

That's odd, was using the same method I did on the 405th and they're showing up fine for me. I'll re-upload as attachments sometime today/tonight.

Thanks for letting me know!

Loving the progress so far!

trackboy186 said:

Loving the progress so far!

Click to expand...

Thank you! Always slow but steady.

Been working on finishing the right side and I'm slowly closing in. Once I sorted through all the various pieces, the shoulder and back consist of one giant plate that wraps over the shoulder, then two more smaller plates on the back, and finally one small piece on the hip. Roughed out, looks a bit like this:



Modifications ongoing, but it's close... had to adjust some spacing, as well as add about 3-4 cm to the inner edge of the shoulder plate to get the angles right. Tried it on with the piece that fits over my actual shoulder and things fit together fairly well. It'll be a bit tricky keeping the gap between the two in check, but I can always extend the lower piece if necessary.



Still a lot to do, but I figured at this point I just have to jump into it and make corrections as I go. Test fitting this solo has been... interesting, to say the least. Taping pieces to my shirt wasn't as helpful as I'd hoped; will use a compression shirt in the future and hope it stays in place a bit better.

I decided I may as well start on the lower pieces and work up to the shoulder arch, so I went ahead and detailed the lower side/back piece. Worbla layers next, then onto the upper back piece.



Once those two are done, I think I'll have to figure out how to get the pieces attached to... something. All of my prior costumes have been either self-supporting or Pepakura power armor that has a well-defined method to hook the pieces together. I'm struggling a bit with how this should go together, though the answer is probably a bunch of nylon webbing/velcro.

Part of the uncertainty stems from some question around what I'll use for the "muscle" material. Either a fabric/laytex covered foam, or possibly DragonSkin. I love the idea of it being squishy in the event someone at a convention were to touch/poke it (let's face it, someone's going to poke it...), but I'm uncertain how I could get the right look without creating the shape in some other material, molding that, then casting it with DragonSkin.

Any thoughts/suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks for looking!