Custom Captain America Costume

M

McGribble

New Member

• May 25, 2016

• #1

Hello All,

I am new on here as I recently found the site when I became interested in making my own foam creations. For years I have wanted to make a Captain America costume and I finally decided to do it.I started with the helmet and used the basic template you can find online. I followed a tutorial I found on youtube to eliminate some of the hard edges and ended up modifying the template to fit my head better. Below is the finished product...



I ended up distressing the silver and what started as foam painted tan for the helmet padding, was treated to some brown shoe polish and some acrylic paint to make it look more like leather.

Next I Started working on the shield...

I simply used eva foam and printed a flat template traced it on and then cut out the outer circle. Once I had that done, I scored the lines with my exacto blade and hit it with the heat gun to open the details. Next is the paint...

I will post updates as things progress but I wanted to get things started. I am pretty please with the way things are going so far considering I am new to this...

 

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cjchiu

Sr Member

RPF PREMIUM MEMBER

• May 25, 2016

• #2

Dude, that helmet looks great! Can't wait to see how the rest turns out.

 

ClayTheSpider15

Active Member

• May 26, 2016

• #3

Dude, this looks awesome! Keep up the great work!

 

oswaldthegreat

Jr Member

• May 26, 2016

• #4

That looks badass. Just wondering, is the shield concave, if so how did you curve the foam without leaving a seam in it?

 

M

McGribble

New Member

• May 27, 2016

• #5

Thanks for the kind words, I just started painting the shield this morning so I will post pics as soon as it is done...
oswaldthegreat - The shield is concave, though it was a bit tricky to get it to stay that way.

My original thought was to simply use a heat gun to shape it over a yoga ball and figured it would hold it's form. Chalk that one up to being new with EVA foam...

So to sure up the structure I made two additional rings and used contact cement to glue them to the inside.

The function is similar to the way the standard template works with there being a gap in the ring that when closed causes the ring to concave. When I glued it to the back of the shield it forced the from to bend down as I wanted it to. The shape is not perfect, but it is pretty darn close...

Hope that answers your question.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Nov 8, 2018

M

McGribble

New Member

• May 27, 2016

• #6

I got the shield painted, though I need to touch up the star since I had some overspray.


Once that is done, I will hit it with a few layers of clear gloss and then distress it a bit like the A on the helmet.

 

sparton110

Well-Known Member

• May 27, 2016

• #7

Looking great!Really like what you did with the shield. Looking forward to seeing more.


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AegidiusDesigns

Well-Known Member

RPF PREMIUM MEMBER

• May 28, 2016

• #8

Looks very promising, man! I'm working on a custom Cap build as well! I've got the template almost finished, still need to find a good design for the helmet and arms, but it's getting there!

The helmet legit doesn't even look like foam, man, that looks incredible! Especially the wings Definitely following this thread, I love original custom builds!

 

CSMacLaren

Sr Member

• May 29, 2016

• #9

Wow, nice work! Keep it up!

 

canister

Well-Known Member

• May 30, 2016

• #10

wow awesome work, you sir have skills!
look forward to future updates.

 

M

McGribble

New Member

• May 31, 2016

• #11

Wow, thanks for the kind words everyone!!!

I finished the touch-ups on the shied and took a pic from a better angel. I still need to distress it like the helmet, not so much battle damage, but just making it look more like metal. I also need to figure out how to do the straps for it but I am going to work on a few ideas and choose the best option.All that aside, I am really thrilled with how it came out.

 

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sparton110

Well-Known Member

• May 31, 2016

• #12

Shield looks great! Digging the pattern your working on. I tried something similar but didn't like the little tags it left. Ended up using the cut and heat method for line detail. Let me know if you find out a way of getting rid of them.


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M

McGribble

New Member

• May 31, 2016

• #13

Yeah, I know the key is to make sure the burner is fully heated and honestly I used a tip that was rather wide. I may use a finer tip and give that a try but I will let you know if I figure out a way to make the lines clean.

 

jackoshadow

New Member

• Jul 20, 2016

• #14

Sorry to bring back an old thread, but wondering how you attached your arm straps? I'm having to build a foam shield for NYCC (no metal allowed) and it's awesome to see how you solved the curve problem. That was keeping me up at night, since a flat shield just won't look great. Also, did you use the same kind of paint everyone is using on the metal shields? Inquiring minds want to know!

 

M

McGribble

New Member

• Aug 10, 2016

• #15

Sorry for the really late reply. I have been busy with other things and this is the first time back on the site for a while. I have not attached the straps to the shield yet, but I had two possible plans.

1. use the same think I used for the helmet and simply use contact cement to attach them.

2. add two additional pieces of foam on the back side of the shield shaped like what the straps are attached to in this image...

and attach the straps to those with what is used for attaching pouches on the utility belts. Chicago Screws...

the additional foam can be attached to the back of the shield with contact cement. You can get a small pack of chicago screws at pretty much any hardware store.

Again, sorry for the late reply. I hope I am not too late and I hope this helps...

 

SpideyWing

Active Member

• Sep 9, 2017

• #16

This is and even later reply but do you have a pattern you could use if so could you post it


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