Hi Everyone!
So, for anyone who was following my last thread, I'm now working on an armored variant of that costume because, apparently, I just can't leave well enough alone.
I'm using the below artwork as reference and want this one to be an original "mash-up" of some of the elements I like from all the various sources and movie versions. The kneeling reference is from the "Living Legend" TPB, the armored rendering is by Guy Bourraine Jr and I do not have a source on the line art. If anyone knows where this originates, please let me know and I'll add a credit here.
I also have to give a shout out to sparton110 for his awesome build and it made me want to do an armored version for myself.
The base costume will be very similar to the last one, with some color and torso style changes, and we'll come to that soon. First, I needed to get started on the armor pieces. I'm mix-and-matching some of the templates from two other armor files that I have (Iron Man Mk VI and N7) and working some of it up from scratch. The first thing I needed to come up with was the template for the chest. I began this in poster board. I made this template by making a copy of my Old Republic chest (based on N7 templates) and splicing the brace from the IM Mk VI onto it to create the collar area and the back of the neck. The backpack is from the N7 template.
Once I had the basic shapes and proportions down, it was time to start cutting some foam. The base for all the armor will be 12mm (~1/2") foam floor mats purchased from Lowe's. I will also be using 2mm "foamie" sheets as well as 6mm craft foam sheets, both purchased at Michael's.
Two things that I always like to do when making armor from foam:
1. Use the heat gun to pre-shape curved pieces. You can really cut down on the difficulty of gluing and get much cleaner seams if the pieces are already shaped. It's easy to do and will save a lot of time and effort later in the process.
2. Round off the edges. I use a drum sander attachment for my electric drill to round off and smooth the cut edges of the foam. This can help even out slightly uneven cuts and also gives the edges a nice finish. Once finished sanding, just run your heat gun around the edges to smooth and seal them. This pro-tip comes to you thanks to Bill Doran at Punished Props - check out his amazing books and the rest of his site.
Here's the chest piece assembled. The lines on the front are the placement lines for the detail pieces that will go on later.
The details for the chest piece were cut from 2mm foam and contact cemented in place. The bevels are then carefully cut and peeled away. I created a place-holder star from a scrap of foam and tacked it on so that I could always see it in scale. The actual star will be a resin cast.
Next, I assembled the backpack. If it looks familiar, that's because it's based on the template for the Mass Effect N7 armor. However, this one will end up being given an much different treatment. I made the center first and added the star motif by cutting the star and circle out of 2mm foam and contact cementing all the layers together.
The great things about making detail pieces like this out of 2mm foam are: it's really easy to cut accurately and smoothly, even if you have 3 layers it shapes around curves really well and it coats and finishes very nicely.
Once that was in place, I made the side "pods". For the cut out piece in the pods, I thought it would look cool if they were flush at the center and then dipped down at the ends. When the whole thing is finished, I think this will give it a little more sculptural detail and interest and keep it from getting too angular and "stacked".
Here's how the backpack looks up against the back.
I went around in a few circles on attaching the pack and decided that I didn't want it to be permanent and fused to the chest piece, but (since I really like the harness look on so many of the Cap versions - like the new movies and the Living Legend art) I wanted it to be a separate piece that's held on by a harness. So, naturally, that needs a template. The template is simply made out of poster board at the right curves to fit over the chest.
I am at a crossroads on how I want to do this. I'm torn between a more classic "leather" look like the one I recently made:
Or creating this new one with a base of red faux that I just bought and making the inner band of the blue cordura. So, the blue all blends but there's a pop of red stripes at the edges of the harness straps. Also, that leads to a decision on silver or black hardware... So many choices...
But, that's a bridge I can cross later. In the meantime, I wanted to draft out the shoulders. I did this one by hand with just some poster board and got the scale and shape I wanted. Here's the base in the foam.
I then decided to carry the "stealth" stripes motif out to the shoulders. However, I decided to do a more classic Commander Rogers star-and-circle motif rather than the flag and patch from the stealth suit. I made all the details for the shoulders out of the same 2mm and contact cement.
So, here's the upper armor so far:
The jacket and torso for this version will also be getting a whole new treatment and I'll be covering part of that next. As for the armor, next up is finishing all the detail application, sealing the seams and (if it's not too cold) Plasti Dip and paint!
Stay tuned!
So, for anyone who was following my last thread, I'm now working on an armored variant of that costume because, apparently, I just can't leave well enough alone.
I'm using the below artwork as reference and want this one to be an original "mash-up" of some of the elements I like from all the various sources and movie versions. The kneeling reference is from the "Living Legend" TPB, the armored rendering is by Guy Bourraine Jr and I do not have a source on the line art. If anyone knows where this originates, please let me know and I'll add a credit here.
I also have to give a shout out to sparton110 for his awesome build and it made me want to do an armored version for myself.
The base costume will be very similar to the last one, with some color and torso style changes, and we'll come to that soon. First, I needed to get started on the armor pieces. I'm mix-and-matching some of the templates from two other armor files that I have (Iron Man Mk VI and N7) and working some of it up from scratch. The first thing I needed to come up with was the template for the chest. I began this in poster board. I made this template by making a copy of my Old Republic chest (based on N7 templates) and splicing the brace from the IM Mk VI onto it to create the collar area and the back of the neck. The backpack is from the N7 template.
Once I had the basic shapes and proportions down, it was time to start cutting some foam. The base for all the armor will be 12mm (~1/2") foam floor mats purchased from Lowe's. I will also be using 2mm "foamie" sheets as well as 6mm craft foam sheets, both purchased at Michael's.
Two things that I always like to do when making armor from foam:
1. Use the heat gun to pre-shape curved pieces. You can really cut down on the difficulty of gluing and get much cleaner seams if the pieces are already shaped. It's easy to do and will save a lot of time and effort later in the process.
2. Round off the edges. I use a drum sander attachment for my electric drill to round off and smooth the cut edges of the foam. This can help even out slightly uneven cuts and also gives the edges a nice finish. Once finished sanding, just run your heat gun around the edges to smooth and seal them. This pro-tip comes to you thanks to Bill Doran at Punished Props - check out his amazing books and the rest of his site.
Here's the chest piece assembled. The lines on the front are the placement lines for the detail pieces that will go on later.
The details for the chest piece were cut from 2mm foam and contact cemented in place. The bevels are then carefully cut and peeled away. I created a place-holder star from a scrap of foam and tacked it on so that I could always see it in scale. The actual star will be a resin cast.
Next, I assembled the backpack. If it looks familiar, that's because it's based on the template for the Mass Effect N7 armor. However, this one will end up being given an much different treatment. I made the center first and added the star motif by cutting the star and circle out of 2mm foam and contact cementing all the layers together.
The great things about making detail pieces like this out of 2mm foam are: it's really easy to cut accurately and smoothly, even if you have 3 layers it shapes around curves really well and it coats and finishes very nicely.
Once that was in place, I made the side "pods". For the cut out piece in the pods, I thought it would look cool if they were flush at the center and then dipped down at the ends. When the whole thing is finished, I think this will give it a little more sculptural detail and interest and keep it from getting too angular and "stacked".
Here's how the backpack looks up against the back.
I went around in a few circles on attaching the pack and decided that I didn't want it to be permanent and fused to the chest piece, but (since I really like the harness look on so many of the Cap versions - like the new movies and the Living Legend art) I wanted it to be a separate piece that's held on by a harness. So, naturally, that needs a template. The template is simply made out of poster board at the right curves to fit over the chest.
I am at a crossroads on how I want to do this. I'm torn between a more classic "leather" look like the one I recently made:
Or creating this new one with a base of red faux that I just bought and making the inner band of the blue cordura. So, the blue all blends but there's a pop of red stripes at the edges of the harness straps. Also, that leads to a decision on silver or black hardware... So many choices...
But, that's a bridge I can cross later. In the meantime, I wanted to draft out the shoulders. I did this one by hand with just some poster board and got the scale and shape I wanted. Here's the base in the foam.
I then decided to carry the "stealth" stripes motif out to the shoulders. However, I decided to do a more classic Commander Rogers star-and-circle motif rather than the flag and patch from the stealth suit. I made all the details for the shoulders out of the same 2mm and contact cement.
So, here's the upper armor so far:
The jacket and torso for this version will also be getting a whole new treatment and I'll be covering part of that next. As for the armor, next up is finishing all the detail application, sealing the seams and (if it's not too cold) Plasti Dip and paint!
Stay tuned!
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