Talaaya
Well-Known Member
Original build thread
My build thread got pretty massive so I'll do my best to sum it up in this thread.
My costume is Samus Aran's Varia Suit from the Metroid series, specifically the version from Metroid Prime 2 and 3. Here's a rundown on the suit:
- The helmet, chest, arm cannon, forearm, elbows, and shoulders were all 3d printed (the shoulders were later molded and cast in resin to reduce weight and increase durability).
- The upper arms, thighs, shins, and shoe tongues are craft foam covered with Worbla.
- The glove is all Worbla.
- The torso is just craft foam, and the shoes are just craft foam over store bought shoes.
- The hip ribbing is black surgical tubing cut in half lengthwise and superglued together.
- The visor is fluorescent green acrylic with a sheet of reflective window film applied to the inside, creating a 2 way mirror.
- The suit has EL tape (similar to EL wire, but in flat strip form). I didn't have time to solder all the many connections so for now it's just a nice green coloring.
The 3d prints and the Worbla have a rough texture initially, so to smooth them I used a combination of materials to give them a glassy smooth finish including Bondo, wood glue, glazing/spot putty, and Apoxie Sculpt. All of the paint colors are auto paints except the yellow and the black detail paint which are a spray can acrylic and normal acrylic, respectively.
I worked on this project for over 2 years and there were countless challenges throughout it. One of the hardest problems to solve was getting Samus' impossibly unrealistic proportions to fit on a real human and still emulate her overall look. Not only that, but then getting the digital 3d models to fit my real body without being able to actually try them on before running an expensive print. Pepakura came in very handy for this. Luckily I was spot on for all the 3d prints. The worbla, on the other hand, was just as much of a challenge if not more, especially the shins. I spent a very long time trying to get the shins to work. Even now they don't fit correctly and I'm going to remake them at some point in the future. Getting all the pieces to work together while I wear them was hard too. The torso was also very difficult to make. It's skin tight and my duct tape mannequin ended up being too fat and was slightly off, so I had to figure out how to get the curvature right without it being held by anything! I'd have to try it on periodically to see if it was working. I could write an essay on how many problems I had to overcome; the list goes on and on.
I'm really proud of how the entire thing turned out, but I'm particularly happy with the helmet and the glove. I was very worried that I'd look like I have a giant head because her helmet is so wide (it still looks huge compared to Samus' tiny head, but it came out as good as it possibly could have)! The glove is so nice and slim, is super smooth, and moves really fluidly. I couldn't be happier.
This is my first cosplay (if you don't count the costumes my mom made with me as a kid)! However, I do have a strong art background: I've been drawing and sculpting ever since I can remember and always wanted to grow up to be an artist - and I did! I'm now a professional game artist. Having this skill set means 3d printing was a perfect solution for me. It was also very rewarding to see my digital art come to life in the real world for the first time! Don't think I went into this knowing what I was doing for most of it though. I had never worked with any of these materials before and it was a huge learning process.
Here are some select progress pictures:
Proof pic!
My build thread got pretty massive so I'll do my best to sum it up in this thread.
My costume is Samus Aran's Varia Suit from the Metroid series, specifically the version from Metroid Prime 2 and 3. Here's a rundown on the suit:
- The helmet, chest, arm cannon, forearm, elbows, and shoulders were all 3d printed (the shoulders were later molded and cast in resin to reduce weight and increase durability).
- The upper arms, thighs, shins, and shoe tongues are craft foam covered with Worbla.
- The glove is all Worbla.
- The torso is just craft foam, and the shoes are just craft foam over store bought shoes.
- The hip ribbing is black surgical tubing cut in half lengthwise and superglued together.
- The visor is fluorescent green acrylic with a sheet of reflective window film applied to the inside, creating a 2 way mirror.
- The suit has EL tape (similar to EL wire, but in flat strip form). I didn't have time to solder all the many connections so for now it's just a nice green coloring.
The 3d prints and the Worbla have a rough texture initially, so to smooth them I used a combination of materials to give them a glassy smooth finish including Bondo, wood glue, glazing/spot putty, and Apoxie Sculpt. All of the paint colors are auto paints except the yellow and the black detail paint which are a spray can acrylic and normal acrylic, respectively.
I worked on this project for over 2 years and there were countless challenges throughout it. One of the hardest problems to solve was getting Samus' impossibly unrealistic proportions to fit on a real human and still emulate her overall look. Not only that, but then getting the digital 3d models to fit my real body without being able to actually try them on before running an expensive print. Pepakura came in very handy for this. Luckily I was spot on for all the 3d prints. The worbla, on the other hand, was just as much of a challenge if not more, especially the shins. I spent a very long time trying to get the shins to work. Even now they don't fit correctly and I'm going to remake them at some point in the future. Getting all the pieces to work together while I wear them was hard too. The torso was also very difficult to make. It's skin tight and my duct tape mannequin ended up being too fat and was slightly off, so I had to figure out how to get the curvature right without it being held by anything! I'd have to try it on periodically to see if it was working. I could write an essay on how many problems I had to overcome; the list goes on and on.
I'm really proud of how the entire thing turned out, but I'm particularly happy with the helmet and the glove. I was very worried that I'd look like I have a giant head because her helmet is so wide (it still looks huge compared to Samus' tiny head, but it came out as good as it possibly could have)! The glove is so nice and slim, is super smooth, and moves really fluidly. I couldn't be happier.
This is my first cosplay (if you don't count the costumes my mom made with me as a kid)! However, I do have a strong art background: I've been drawing and sculpting ever since I can remember and always wanted to grow up to be an artist - and I did! I'm now a professional game artist. Having this skill set means 3d printing was a perfect solution for me. It was also very rewarding to see my digital art come to life in the real world for the first time! Don't think I went into this knowing what I was doing for most of it though. I had never worked with any of these materials before and it was a huge learning process.
Here are some select progress pictures:
Proof pic!
definitely voted for you
