Batman the dark knight suit options questions

I can tell you that my Gotham City FX TDK suit arrived today

It was essentially thrown into the box, nothing was protected. The chest emblem and frontal areas have rub marks on them
The front pieces on the cowl/shoulder pad setup, one part came off, another is dangling by a small portion of whatever they use to bond the pieces on.

The "23.5 inch cowl" is extremely tight on my 23.5 head...as in my eyes are bugging out!

I've emailed them asking for options, repair or return/refund. For just under $2000 I was expecting something better than this. I'm pretty unhappy at the moment but in hopes they'll work with me to make things better.
 
^ Same experience with the GCFX cowls, they are sized very small. I recommend you check out coofunkcurly's cowls, they're sized much better for your head and A LOT more comfortable, thinner rubber, more flexible and breathable than what GCFX uses. My head measures about 22.5" and even the GCFX cowl is too small for me.
 
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Coofunkcurly has the best cowl. His are extremely detailed, comfortable, he packages the cowl nicely, and is great to work with. I'm sure he is slammed with haloween requests!
 
Many have mentioned this gentleman's name so I sent him a PM
With the Halloween madness going on, I know everyone is busy but I hope to hear from him

I saw another site/provider has a really sharp looking setup too, anyone have any experience with https://www.facebook.com/revolutiondesignfx ?

That would be an HK suit.

I was happy with GCFX up until my most recent order - I needed some gauntlets in a hurry, and knew that their shipping times were good. The gauntlets they supplied were paper thin in many places, so I had to glue them to my suit to prevent serious ripping. They no longer seem to care about the quality of their recasts.

So as far as buying a suit is concerned, HK will take your money, and not ship anything unless you can threaten legal action, and GCFX will ship a poorly made suit quickly. UD look like the only reputable seller left, and if you order now, it will be shipped by March 2014, which is quicker and cheaper than HK. It has also got to be one of the easiest suits to wear.

I wish there was more competition for this stuff.
 
Coofunkcurly has the best cowl. His are extremely detailed, comfortable, he packages the cowl nicely, and is great to work with. I'm sure he is slammed with haloween requests!

I just got mine. Its a wonderful cowl and the price was good.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
 
I'm new to the urethane armor/parts after years of aluminum and resin with my R2-D2 builds.

It sure has a....distinctive .... smell!

How is the best way to affix the urethane pieces to the body suit? I hear glue mentioned a lot but wondered if anyone does what the stormtrooper guys do...snap plate (metal snap on plastic) then glue to armor (in their case, ABS)?

I have to admit, it looks like getting into that cowl is quite a challenge, especially the strap/velcro I saw on mine.

I'm curious to learn how other secure the chest piece in place since or if the shoulder pad/lay in place is the norm?

Again, thanks!

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That would be an HK suit.

I was happy with GCFX up until my most recent order - I needed some gauntlets in a hurry, and knew that their shipping times were good. The gauntlets they supplied were paper thin in many places, so I had to glue them to my suit to prevent serious ripping. They no longer seem to care about the quality of their recasts.

So as far as buying a suit is concerned, HK will take your money, and not ship anything unless you can threaten legal action, and GCFX will ship a poorly made suit quickly. UD look like the only reputable seller left, and if you order now, it will be shipped by March 2014, which is quicker and cheaper than HK. It has also got to be one of the easiest suits to wear.

I wish there was more competition for this stuff.

I've been in the RPF for years as a lurker (great reading, hard on the savings account!) I really appreciate that information.
 
I'm new to the urethane armor/parts after years of aluminum and resin with my R2-D2 builds.

It sure has a....distinctive .... smell!

How is the best way to affix the urethane pieces to the body suit? I hear glue mentioned a lot but wondered if anyone does what the stormtrooper guys do...snap plate (metal snap on plastic) then glue to armor (in their case, ABS)?

I have to admit, it looks like getting into that cowl is quite a challenge, especially the strap/velcro I saw on mine.

I'm curious to learn how other secure the chest piece in place since or if the shoulder pad/lay in place is the norm?

Again, thanks!

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I've been in the RPF for years as a lurker (great reading, hard on the savings account!) I really appreciate that information.

You'll want some 2P-10 glue for attaching the urethane to the mesh suit - Apply either thick or gel glue to the urethane pieces, and spray the mesh with the activator. For doing the legs, either get a cling film wrapped mannequin, or put the suit on yourself (again, you'll need cling film) - The glue does get hot when curing, which is not too bad, apart from the codpiece (That made my eyes water).

The shoulder/chest pieces for both the HK and GCFX suits are like American Football armour - They go over the head, and secure under the arm pits with straps. The HK is a LOT heavier than the GCFX, so if you're planning to spend the day in it, I'd highly recommend protecting your shoulders with some padding. Mine are still bruised from a convention that was two weeks ago - My rugby armour arrived today for next weekend's outing.

Whatever you end up with, you'll enjoy it. I can't sit in my suit, it weighs 3 stone, and is hot as hell, but I can't wait you get it back on!
 
You'll want some 2P-10 glue for attaching the urethane to the mesh suit - Apply either thick or gel glue to the urethane pieces, and spray the mesh with the activator. For doing the legs, either get a cling film wrapped mannequin, or put the suit on yourself (again, you'll need cling film) - The glue does get hot when curing, which is not too bad, apart from the codpiece (That made my eyes water).

The shoulder/chest pieces for both the HK and GCFX suits are like American Football armour - They go over the head, and secure under the arm pits with straps. The HK is a LOT heavier than the GCFX, so if you're planning to spend the day in it, I'd highly recommend protecting your shoulders with some padding. Mine are still bruised from a convention that was two weeks ago - My rugby armour arrived today for next weekend's outing.

Whatever you end up with, you'll enjoy it. I can't sit in my suit, it weighs 3 stone, and is hot as hell, but I can't wait you get it back on!

Great reply, thanks

One thing I was reading from the 2P-10 website is that it dries quick but is very brittle. One of the things I am trying to address on my GCFX suit is some armor pieces that don't have enough glue on them and are at rest of peeling off. My friend is a sign maker and owns an upholstery business. He thinks we should give the gel 2P-10 a try but, like me, worries we will be re-visiting this problem again if it is brittle

Going thru the GCFX suit, my friend and I noted a few things...

1) It looks like the top and bottom are separate pieces sewn together. The mesh material sits over the body suit and it has a fair amount of flex. So, no matter how close you have this body suit to your size, the weight of the armor pulls things down. My big concerns are how the knees fold over the top of the boots and the chest armor starts to sag over the belt line We're thinking about adding (sewing in) some webbing material around the waist and possibly do (a) Have that act as a belt to tighten the waist or (b) attach suspenders to help support the outfit better

2) We found that using small bits of foam between the eyebrows and the edge of them helps relieve pressure placed on the eyes. It seems the right eye centers up fine while the left eye is off a smidge. Again, who would ever noticed besides us RPF guys! But an interesting observation....and face paint should resolve that.
 
Meant to add....

I was working on the GCFX gauntlets, one side is glue in velcro and you attach the provided velcro strip for the proper fit. Umm, the velcro adhesive doesn't stick to the urethane, nor does super glue. Another job for the 2P-10?
 
Great reply, thanks

One thing I was reading from the 2P-10 website is that it dries quick but is very brittle. One of the things I am trying to address on my GCFX suit is some armor pieces that don't have enough glue on them and are at rest of peeling off. My friend is a sign maker and owns an upholstery business. He thinks we should give the gel 2P-10 a try but, like me, worries we will be re-visiting this problem again if it is brittle

Going thru the GCFX suit, my friend and I noted a few things...

1) It looks like the top and bottom are separate pieces sewn together. The mesh material sits over the body suit and it has a fair amount of flex. So, no matter how close you have this body suit to your size, the weight of the armor pulls things down. My big concerns are how the knees fold over the top of the boots and the chest armor starts to sag over the belt line We're thinking about adding (sewing in) some webbing material around the waist and possibly do (a) Have that act as a belt to tighten the waist or (b) attach suspenders to help support the outfit better

2) We found that using small bits of foam between the eyebrows and the edge of them helps relieve pressure placed on the eyes. It seems the right eye centers up fine while the left eye is off a smidge. Again, who would ever noticed besides us RPF guys! But an interesting observation....and face paint should resolve that.

For the mesh suit, I made the made seperate trousers and top. I attached elastic ribon to the trousers to make braces and a belt, which holds everything in place, and i made a loop at the back of the top to pass the utility belt through, which keeps it in place. The utility belt covers the gap between the top and trousers nicely, and allows me to twist.

For the glue, yes it can be brittle, so you need to plan how each part will bend. Draw lines of glue perpendicular to the bend (so for the gauntlets which bend around you arm, draw the lines along your arm). There are sections on the legs where there are multiple bends (like the knees), so for these i drew a grid. There will be some cracking initially, but the glue is so strong that this should not be a problem. For these areas, I would recommend the thick glue over the gel, as it will soak into the mesh a bit more to provide a stronger bond.

The 2p10 will easily attach velcro to the gauntlets. However, the velcro GCFX supplied with mine is rubbish - get som industrial strength stuff from ebay.

For the mesh, again ebay - search for Polyester heavy duty black mesh. I got mine from a boat supplier, as it's intended to me used as catamaran flooring - it's stupidly tough, so get some titanium needles for your sewing machine. You will also need the associated heavy duty polyester thread if you want an indestructible suit :)
 
Thanks for the mesh lead!

One thing I keep looking at is this picture from the movie, what kind of material is that?

dark-knight-bane-batman.jpg
 
I have been slowly peicing out parts to get the ultimate tdk suit, got a coofunk hero cape and fan universe creations cowl and neck, currently using a combination of those with a king of swing v3 belt. I used professional strength super glue when putting my Suit together this is what it looked like the first time I wore it. It was pretty big on me then as i was only 168 pounds and 6'3 . image.jpg

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This was 8 months after at 2013 Chicago comic con I'm 203 in the pick suit fits much betterimage.jpg
 

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Can you tell me a good source for a metal belt? The urethane is ok but I'd prefer more detail

Fan Universe?

The armor looks great. Nice work! I have a ways to go
 
Um leiter22 here on the forums is in the process of making a linked resin belt I am waiting for him to starter doing runs cause it looks breathtaking. My suit isnt entirely screen accurate talking to kris at Hk now about getting just the undersuit, chest, abs, sides, and leg pieces and I should be pretty good, I have UD boots and waiting for my UD gloves.
 
I'd avoid Fan Universe for the time being. I ordered a cape from them about 2 months ago and they haven't even shipped it out yet. They do return emails within reasonable time and have offered a full refund throughout the process, but lately they haven't been responding to my inquiries and I'm inclined to take them up on their refund offer considering how long the cape is taking.

I'm also not the only person who's been having issues with them lately.
 
Yeah I got my cowl and neck from them very quickly I am waiting on a pair gauntlets as their gauntlets look amazing and seem much more detailed and clean looking then any others I have seen, they emailed me and said they are moving their studio and it might be some time before I get them, I just told them I would wait as they look to be worth the wait, my neck and cowl were excellent
 
Yeah I got my cowl and neck from them very quickly I am waiting on a pair gauntlets as their gauntlets look amazing and seem much more detailed and clean looking then any others I have seen, they emailed me and said they are moving their studio and it might be some time before I get them, I just told them I would wait as they look to be worth the wait, my neck and cowl were excellent

When was the last time they got back to you? They haven't responded to my inquiry from Oct 24 yet. Funny they told you they were moving studios, b/c they told me they had a water leak and lost electricity, and they told another member they had a fire a while back... they don't seem very forthcoming.
 
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