Budget Judge Build- first ever cosplay :)

Torirat

Torirat

New Member
Hi there,
I have just started my first ever cosplay of a fem-judge, it's a scary thing to do and I'm hoping I don't embarrass myself at the small con I am attending in march.

I've got some trousers, and a nice collarless leather jacket, boots and gloves... I've just started a bmx helmet mod but am too scared to use fibreglass so will be using papier mâché and filler.

i have a toy glock which I will be modding to be my lawgiver and need to get the vest sorted out... I'm kicking myself for not picking an easier thing for my first time but it's great fun planning it all out..
 

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Helmet with one layer of paper mache on it. I know the shape isn't quite right, but it looks ok and is recognisable.
 
Having just about completed my first ever Pep build (Dredd Helm). I found that working with fiberglass was not such a scary process. Just a little messy.
I simply cut pieces from a large sheet of fiber cloth and applied resin.

My worry for you is that the paper mache is not going to be strong enough when you get to the filler and sanding process.

However, keep up the good work, welcome to the world of self build cosplay, its a truly enjoyable hobby.
 
Thanks Uridium, I'm hoping it holds up ok. The lawgiver is mostly done. Waiting on a few lucky eBay wins to get the stuff I need, but my daughter has just announced a desire to be mother Gothel from tangled in about 3 weeks so I'll be sewing instead of dredding for the foreseeable future
 
image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgNot so much progress this weekend. Got my badge done with alternative name plates, the lawgiver has had a coat of plastidip (in between rain showers), but I've not been able to get started on the sanding of the helmet as none of the papers I bought are coarse enough grade to get started with.
I'm struggling to find a tactical vest for not much money, planning on making the armour panels out of a yoga mat but need something to sew them onto.
Also I've bought a belt buckle off eBay, hoping it is ok/gets here, I figured that will just be a cool thing to have holding my trousers up even when I'm not dressed in all my gear.

still have so very much to do, it's quite scary at some times.
 

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That stuff looks good Uridium, how much did you buy to make the vest, and do you have a pattern to work from or will you be eyeballing it? My sewing skills are weak at best unfortunately, so I was hoping to grab a ready made one but it's looking less and less likely.
plans for this week are to get the helmet up to a primer stage, paint the lawgiver and possibly start making the armour panels for the vest.
im so glad I only have a part time job at the moment lol
 
I am waiting on my order, but I ordered 2 units. He sells by the meter with a width of 1.6 meter. I figured that was ample for a vest.

As for a pattern, I am going to use the Pep file in this Instructable, Follow his link (on page one) to his 4Shared download.
He has some great vest building info, I recommend reading through all of the Instructable.

Dredd 2012 Costume Tutorial

Syrus has a thread with patterns for the female body armor, (I think you've posted in that thread), The Pep I talk about is for a male vest, as you can see from this website the female vest is more sculpted, http://www.studiocreations.com/howto/dredd/dredd-anderson.html

I'm also a complete noob at sewing, in fact if you ask me, Sewing Machines run on black magic and witchcraft. Should be an interesting learning experience for me.
 
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Looks like you're off to a great start, and that helmet is looking good!

For the vest, if you get a peice of spacer fabric that is as long as the zipper on the jacket you have, and 3x the width of your jacket from shoulder to shoulder, that should be enough! You can also cut out the paper templates for your armor plates, then line them up on your jacket to get an idea of the amount of space the fabric will need to cover. Just don't forget that you need some for your arms, too!
 
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So that's a layer of primer on my helmet and some satin black on the slider of my lawgiver... I'm so happy with my progress :) just wish my eBay stuff would hurry up and get here.
 
Disappointingly the filler didn't fill the nike swooshes on my shin pads properly. And the coat of grey plasti dip I gave them has highlighted this... Any suggestions?
 
Torirat said:
Disappointingly the filler didn't fill the nike swooshes on my shin pads properly. And the coat of grey plasti dip I gave them has highlighted this... Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

What filler did you use? Sand back the primer and refill and sand back untill its flush then repaint. For any filling on plastics or resin i use Halfords | David's Isopon Bumper Filler 100ml

It adheres like no ones business and is very easy to sand, is ready to sand/drill whatever within an hour too. Its also quite easy to use not as gloopy or messy as body fillers etc, flexible too.
 
Re-fill it, but don't sand all the way down to the plastic. You want to leave just enough filler that it is ever so slightly higher that the surface, and feather sand the edges back so you don't see the height variation.
 
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