Hey thanks folks.
Well, I've been really busy with work these days, so I haven't been able to do very much, but I have taken care of some smaller chores with some of my parts here.
I know some of you were waiting for an update on the fabric, but it's like I said in my previous post, I wont be able to fully confirm if this fabric is ideal "to wear" yet until I mount my armor to it. While it looks perfect and feels stretchy, it is slightly more limited in stretch than regular spandex. I want to make sure mobility isn't hindered to the point of uselessness when all is said and done. And again, I won't be doing any mounting for about a month. I'm trying to lose some weight around my gut before i make my first under suit. I'm almost there. The pain!:cry
Here's a couple of pics i took to show you how it looked with latex glued on the fabric from both sides, which adhered really well to it.
And here's the underside in which I added a very thin flexible super glue so it reinforces the bond.
If you notice in the first pic, I pulled really hard, away from the fabric to the point where a layer of latex had peeled and was left adhered to the fabric. That's how strong the bond is. My only concern is how well the fabric's finish will hold up around the edges when i begin to move around in the suit, stretching certain areas. Will it break or will it stretch enough to endure such abuse? We'll see.
Here's the glues I use for mounting my latex to this fabric. The pink one is a thicker viscosity which is ideal for the surface of the fabric, the blue one is a very thin viscosity which is ideal for the underside of the fabric. *so it soaks in and contacts the other end of the fabric which is super glued to the latex*
I am almost certain you can also use Weldwood contact cement too though as an alternative glue for latex armor on this fabric. You just have to have someone there for sure, to help you out unless you have a life cast of your entire self to mount your suit or a mannequin of same proportion as you.
Now moving onto my bat gloves. These are Nitestar's gloves which many bat costuming fans are familiar with. As great a quality these gloves are, they're not entirely screen accurate. For one, they're missing the suede index finger.
And second, they're a bit bigger than than they should be for my hands.
Soooo... I began to study the gloves from inside out and thought that I could modify them to have the suede fingers.
So I went to work and successfully got the tip of the finger done. I was lucky to have a sheet of quality black suede in my closet to work with.
It was a little difficult working with leather, but definitely not impossible, considering I hand sewn it myself.
Here's some shots to show you how i started and how it ended up.
Finished finger tip.
So now that I've grown some confidence, I can continue on with the rest of the areas that need suede, bringing my gloves one step closer to screen accuracy without having to buy a whole new pair.
Then I have this. My old resin 89 grapple gun prop I grabbed from evilbay years back. It was never in great shape. But at the time, I wasn't all that focused in the finish as I am today. I was going to actually trash this but my gf convinced me I could clean it up and use it for Halloween pics, etc. So I gave it a shot...
You can still see some dents and the fake screws in molded in the piece after my first sand job.
Then, after a couple days in of more primer and sanding, it got nicer. Not perfect, but I deem it worthy of handling for pics with the suit on.
I even drilled holes in where the fake screws were so I can add in real metal screws instead. I also cut aluminum to replace the plastic handle cover that goes on the other side. I will be airbrushing this to a nice satin black finish. The dart in bright gold. I will also add those target pieces that sits on the middle of the barrel as well as the tip of the base.
And lastly, for now, my contact lenses. Since I have dark brown eyes, I needed to grab a pair of lenses to help me look more like Keaton under the cowl. I know that Keaton has green eyes in the first movie. But I got mine in grey because in real life, when I put these on, it just looks more natural and realistic than the green ones I got before. And the grey ones take better pics than the colored ones too. I also felt Keaton looked like he had grey colored eyes due to the washed out colors they used in production. Only in close ups, did they look green. Hey whatever works right?:$
Alright, that's it for now. I'll update this topic as soon as I have something to update it with.
Take care everyone!:thumbsup