Sculpting tips for back plate (Revan)

Hi all,

I'm currently building a Darth Revan costume and am after some some information about how to go about sculpting a back piece for Revan's armour.

I have someone making me the main armour pieces as he has the moulds all done but he isn't doing the back piece. For 501st/UKG I really need the back piece so am looking to try to make that myself.



The problem is, I've never done anything like this in my life.

I think sculpting it and vac forming is the way to go.. I'll either find someone local with a vac former or make a homemade one but that's not the problem..

I'm mainly concerned about the sculpting. I have no idea where to begin?

What type of clay to use? Should I buy a mannequin torso and sculpt on that?

Should I even use clay?

Other option includes fibreglassing but the front piece that's being made for me is made from ABS/HIPS so it makes sense for the back to be the same.


Any general information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

If I can't find the resource to do this myself I may ask the person that's doing the armour for me if he'd be interested in a commission to make the rear piece. At least once it's done he'll have a mould for it. It looks a pretty simple piece to make for those with the knowledge and tools.

sculpy or moster clay

Sculpy smells nice too... make your mold, then have someone vac form it for you and check results.. plenty of prop builders you could send it to to have it molded

surprised at the lack of response

my questions really stem from a process point of view..

should i get a mannequin torso and just sculpt the detail onto it or should i create a layer of clay/sculpy and make the detail on top of that?

should i PoP my back and create a mould from that to use instead of a mannequin. my chest side is bigger than any one i can find so that might be a better thing but it needs to be bigger still as it'll be going on top of the robes so not right up against my back.

with that in mind do i even need to go to the trouble of making a mould.. it doesn't have to fit the contours of my body exactly so i could just make a design curved enough to fit and do it that way?

so yeh.. would appreciate some hints and tips on the actual process of how to go about making something like this.

Thanks

Honestly that doesn't look like a sculpt at all. The bottom part looks like it's rows of fabric sewn together and the other parts look like plastic. I think your best bet would NOT to go and sculpt it, but to try creating the piece out of a hard material (and ideally vacuumforming it, but you could end with a piece in sintra or foam just as easily).

If you have a big enough vaccuforming machine you could flatten out the design to a rectangle and use a heat gun to bent it to shape, and cut the rest off to the final shape.

Fabric in the middle and then just a flat rectangle of plastic for the bottom piece?

Hmm, I'd be tempted to carve this out of rigid foam (urethane insulation foam), slightly exaggerating the details & then coat it with a thin layer of fibre glass.
You could then coat the out side in a layer of body filler & sand it smooth. Then break out the foam & reinforce the plate from the inside with a little more fibre glass.
Of course you'd need any dimensions off of a front plate (if there is one) so that it matches at the sides.
Doing it this way would be relatively easy, buying the materials would be easy & not too expensive either.

I'm guesstimating under £50 in materials if you shop around.

HTH

booksandcorsets said:

Honestly that doesn't look like a sculpt at all. The bottom part looks like it's rows of fabric sewn together and the other parts look like plastic. I think your best bet would NOT to go and sculpt it, but to try creating the piece out of a hard material (and ideally vacuumforming it, but you could end with a piece in sintra or foam just as easily).

Click to expand...

the black/grey portion is made from leather/vinyl material but that's not what my question relates to. I'm just asking about creating the hard armour piece above that.

also i never said the piece was sculpted.. the plan was to make a sculpt mould, vac form over that and paint the final piece (which would of course then be plastic)

sorry if this caused any confusion.

Leigh said:

Of course you'd need any dimensions off of a front plate (if there is one) so that it matches at the sides.

Click to expand...

yes i won't be starting doing this until i have the front piece so i can match it up.

thanks for the suggestions guys, given me some things to search and look into

as a side question, what about worbla? i keep hearing how wonderful it is for creating armour but how good actually is it? would it last? keep thinking if its heat mouldable then couldn't it warp if you're baking in mid summer?

the 'plan' is still to try to vac form the final piece as that is how the front will be made but i am wondering if worbla would work as an alternative?

Worbla, wonderflex, foam, all of these are valid options to make this. It's a pretty simple shape so you have a lot of options.

If you're making a buck to vacuum form against, it might be an easier option to have it out of a hard substance (IE, pep it and glass/bondo so it's firm) rather than sculpting it out of clay, which depending on the clay could deform with heat/pressure.