Judge Dredd costume - Comic book version (Judge Minty)

Down to the finishing touches on this costume.
I knew I wanted to line the helmet, and researched for a while how I was going to do it. The tricky part was, there really wasn't room in the helmet for a full liner, at least if I was going to have it sit on my head at the height I wanted.

I originally had wanted a real professional looking liner, something like you'd see inside a motorcycle helmet. But in order to get the helmet to fit just right (at least with my skills) it just wasn't going to be possible.

In the end, I glued in some EVA-type foam. Near the bottom of the helmet (up to ear level), I used 1/2" thick foam. This would probably have been what I would have used for the whole thing, since it has a "real" helmet liner look, but it would have made the helmet sit too high and too tight.
I cut some ear holes for comfort, and I wet-sanded the edges of the foam before gluing the piece in in order to give a more rounded, finished appearance. So at least while I'm wearing the helmet, it looks like it has some kind of factory liner in it.

For the upper part of the helmet, I switched to 1/4" foam, and I actually left the foam out of the very crown of the helmet so that it would sit lower. I had to experiment with putting in some extra pieces here and there (the very front of the helmet, just below the badge, has a second 1/4" layer, which keeps the helmet's visor off my nose).

The foam was glued in with Barge brand cement and then painted with Meltonian spray paint meant for leather and vinyl. (The foam was already black, but looked better and more uniform after spraying with black paint).

The helmet fits great now. Snug and comfortable, but not too tight and doesn't shift if I shake my head back and forth.

Here's are two pics. Because I took the photo of the liner with a flash, it looks a little washed out and grey, but it looks pretty black overall in real life. The black helps cover some of the flaws in my work (like the seams in the back where I had to put in an extra piece because of a mistake).

Oh, and the first pic is just me spraying the inside of the helmet black. It was originally bare red fibreglass (I forgot to take a "before" pic of this, as usual), and I knew I'd want a black base of primer before applying the foam, just in case I left any gaps. Since I later realized the crown would have no foam at all, this worked out well. You can see that the very top of the helmet is still just painted fibreglass in the second picture.
(I used Duplicolor black automotive primer, and then the Meltonian black over it).
View attachment 58872View attachment 58873
 
NEW DREDD GLOVES

I wanted to make a second pair of Dredd gloves in case I needed them for a companion Judge Anderson costume. But now that I've made them, I'm thinking I might use them as my Dredd gloves instead. I'd love some opinions.

Here's what I started with. A brand new pair of motocross gloves that the guys in the U.K. pointed me to:
View attachment 59773

The first thing I did was turn them inside out and cut out all the padding and the lining. Which was a huge pain. But I'm glad I did it. These gloves don't fit quite so tight now (they were only available in medium) and they'll be a lot nicer to wear in this California heat.
View attachment 59774View attachment 59775

Next I worked with my leather guy to extend the cuffs, take off the metal plates, add some pouches and add a few of those signature "knuckle strips" on the backs of the hands like in the comics. I painted the knuckles black, like the Judge Minty gloves because I like the look of that rather than all green. I feel like it emphasizes the knuckles a bit.
Here's the finished product. Sorry for the bad quality shots but I'm in a rush to get ready for Comic-Con.
View attachment 59776View attachment 59777View attachment 59778

Finally, here's a picture with the old gloves vs. the new gloves. What's the verdict?
View attachment 59779
Here are some pros and cons if it helps:
The old ones are much larger. But I wonder if they look a bit too large and comic-booky. Hard to tell without seeing the whole costume in context I guess (this is in relation to my body size, which isn't huge - I'm about 5'9" and 160 lbs).
The new ones are a lot less hot to wear because the old ones are like winter gloves, so that's a win for the new.
The new ones fit a bit too tight on the sleeve but I plan to widen the cuff in the future. I also plan to put the pouches on the new gloves right next to each other. right now there's a bit of a gap inbetween. Though either pouch style could be comic-accurate I guess (I've even seen Dredd's gloves drawn with just one pouch).
Finally, the new gloves are more comic-accurate with the knuckle strips, but they also look a bit more sci-fi and spacey. Which isn't bad since Dredd is from the future, but I also kind of like the more utilitarian look of the old gloves.
 
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Thanks!
I had originally thought about adding strips to the old gloves, but that large oval piece on the back of the hand is in the way.
That's the problem with motocross gloves, they usually have some kind of protection on the back of the hand that makes knuckle strips not possible.
For these new gloves, there was that metal plate, but it looked more removable so I thought it might work out.
Glad you like the result.
 
dude costume looks awesome, your progress guide and photo's are really informative, attention to detail inspiring.. have fun at comic-con. look forward to seeing your future projects
 
Okay here is the San Diego Comic-Con report:
Unfortunately, I got there too late on Friday to do any time in my Dredd costume (train delays). And then on Saturday, I couldn't get the silicone chin to work properly.
Mr. Bungle had provided me with a great silicone Dredd chin, but I just couldn't get it to stick well. I'm not sure what I did wrong. I used Telesis 5, which most people in the industry seem to swear by, but it did not work well for me. Maybe it's because the chin wasn't molded for my face, even though it seemed to fit okay. It's also possible that I just didn't use the Telesis properly, since I'd never tried using it before. Maybe I used too much of it. Maybe not enough. Maybe I didn't let it dry long enough, maybe I let it dry too long. I have no idea.
At any rate, the chin had to be abandoned. That was pretty disappointing.

The good news is that it was really fun to walk around the convention floor as Dredd. And it was great to meet Mike from 2000AD who was also there in his Judge costume. Great guy. (And a real trooper. He worked in that outfit every day of the con, for hours on end.)
We we couldn't get more than a few feet without people stopping us for pics, so I'm sure there are a lot of photos out there. Which is good because I hardly took any myself.
The only thing I didn't like about Mike is that he's so damn tall! : )
Even though I stand about 6 feet in my Judge helmet and boots, he made me look like mini-Dredd in photos.
Well, the other thing I didn't like is that so many people thought we were dressed as Stallone from the Judge Dredd movie. (Even though our uniforms really look nothing like what they wore in the film.) Oh well, I know the movie has a whole lot more awareness than the comics. At least people seemed to appreciate the outfits.
So here are a couple of pics of me and Mike from Comic-Con (I'm on the left).
View attachment 60527View attachment 60528
 
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Judge Minty said:
Cool. I'm off to search the net for more photos.

Steven
Click to expand...

Cool.
You might have the best results in about a week. In my experience that's about how long it takes for everyone to upload their Comic-Con photos to places like flickr. Whether they actually label their pics with something like "Dredd" to make them searchable is another story.

Maybe we created some awareness among the attendees this year, and next year we'll come back with even more judges. A group of three or four (especially with a mixed gender group) would really stop traffic.
 
max

i had the same trouble this weekend myself at play on con. the chin worked great for about an hour then it started coming loose and stuff and i had to get rid on it too.

but you guys look great!
 
Thanks! And since you've revived an old thread, I'll also mention that I'll be trooping as Dredd again at Comic-Con 2012 next month. And I'll have a Judge Anderson with me this time. I might put together a build thread for her outfit if I have time before SDCC.
 
Your wonderful thread has inspired me to create/buy modify a Judge costume for Comic Con 2013.

Seeing how you're in LA, Cali (and it just so happens I live in SoCal too) I was wondering who this special leather guy you keep referring to is and if he's the kind of guy who would work with anyone?

Cause you managed to save a whole lot of money on those leather gloves and make it look great at the same time.
 
Glad you like the gloves.
My leather guy is not available to the general public. But I like the idea of having another judge here in the L.A. area, so I can probably hook you up with what you need. Get in touch privately when you're ready to get started on your costume.
 
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