Dredd 2012 - Female judge

Temperance

Well-Known Member
Making a judge to cosplay with a friend at Dragon con next year. I wear glasses and can't wear contacts, so I actually like cosplays with helmets so I can hide my specs B) Because of that, I chose not to do Anderson and just do a generic Female judge.

Unlike a lot of my costumes I outsourced a lot of parts for this; I don't plan on competing with it and I just wanted to make a fun cosplay to kick around in, so the need to make every single part myself wasn't so strong; also, there are a ton of really nice premade parts already out there from some fabulous makers.

The jacket was a lucky store-bought item. A lucky Winners find.
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Helmet was purchased on Etsy from Rabid Weasel Studios: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/205...a_search_query=dredd helmet&ref=sr_gallery_15
Very nice base to work from, Aside from dremmeling the face place out, there was little to no other prep required before priming and painting. It even came with a little instruction sheet on the cutting out of the face plate and the types of paint to use. I used Rustoleum Colonial red and Semi-gloss black. The gold plate was Krylon Gold Metallic. I used createx black airbrush paint to dirty up the plate.
The scariest part was using my dremmel to give the helmet a beating with some careful weathering and scrapes. >_<
Then the whole thing was sprayed down with a satin clear finish.

The face plate was made with PETG .04 sheet. I cut out a bunch of pieces and used idye poly Black to tint it: https://www.dharmatrading.com/dyes/idye-for-natural-and-poly-fabrics.html

I tinted a bunch of pieces for various times and water temperatures before I found the best color - some came out too dark to see and others so light you could see me through the plastic - it's really a finicky process. The visor was then attached to the interior of the helmet with some stick-on velcro.
foam padding was covered with fabric and added to the interior of the helmet for comfort and a better fit on my tiny tiny head.


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Check out the facebook pages,Brit cit Judges,Uk judges,the Judge dredd costume group,loads of resources for Budget to bought items
 
Thanks MadMax, I actually have most of the stuff purchased already, it's just a matter of putting it all together XD

Next up: Vest!
I got my armour pieces from Studio creations: http://www.studiocreations.com/howto/dredd/dredd-shop.html
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These are so very nice and saved me so much time. I used some of my gold craft paint and sponged it on the raised sections of the shoulders. The part that took the longest was dremmeling a bunch of tiny holes around each piece to handsew it to the vest itself.
Studio creations also has a lovely strap placement and vest pattern: http://www.studiocreations.com/howto/dredd/dredd-vest.html
Since I'm tiny, I had to mod down the vest to fit me. I printed out the male version provided, then used my own measurements and the amour plates as a guideline to shrink it down to tiny lady sizes :D
Fabric for the vest was found here: http://www.spandexhouse.com/search-result.php?pline=&searchKye=Spacer-143
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Side buckles were knock-off china buckles from ebay: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Assorted-Siz...%3A6a9af3481600aa488274dec9fffe55d6%7Ciid%3A1
Despite not being official cobra buckles, they have the correct shape and look. They weigh a million pounds and a SOLID metal, but the largest buckle only comes to 1-3/4", not 2". Fine for me since I'm smaller, a larger 2" cobra buckle would be outrageously huge.
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The neck roll was made from a buttersoft pleather. I pinned and made my own accordion leather, then made a quick and easy neck-roll pattern with some foam and duct tape. All the strapping was then pinned in place, tried on for fit, then sewn together.

The badge was custom 3D printed from Hillside Workshop on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/553103760/custom-judge-dredd-badge-guaranteed?ref=shop_home_active_1
He was really great :3 He let me see the proof before he printed and let me make changes on the font before it was printed and shipped.
One problem I discovered was the badge was slightly larger than the hole in the vest plate. I had to shave the sides down with a dremmell to make it fit. I do not think this was a problem with the badge measurements (they were accurate), but since studio creations vacuum-forms their plates from a screen-used set of armour, the copies they make are slightly smaller than they should be officially. But, once the plate was sanded down and installed, you really can't tell. I glued the badge in place with some epoxy.
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Oh gosh, I forgot to mention I got my Kayak pulls for the shoulder pieces at Cabela's: https://www.cabelas.ca/product/89678/propel-kayak-carry-handle-with-screws
I live in Canada and it's kinda winter here, so they have to be ordered in, but it's cheaper than buying online and paying for shipping.

I used the same buttersoft pleather from the neck roll on my pants, as well as a sport knit. I did the ole "Wrap myself in plastic wrap and duct tape" to draft a pattern for my legs. I made more accordion leather for the back bit and the space above the knees. Pants for ladies have no fly, but a side zipper. Despite making them snug I found they still needed a pair of suspenders to keep them from creeping down.
Knee pads and elbow pads were made with EVA foam. I cut out the shape I wanted, then used a heat gun to soften them up. I pressed the shapes into a half of a plastic Christmas ornament to get the round shape. They were then coated with black Plasti-dip to seal and sponged with some green paint. They have velcro glued inside them so they can stick to the knees on the pants.
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Belt and bits:

All the leather work for the belt accessories was made with either vegetable tanned leather dyed with fiebing's Kelly Green from Tandy leather: https://www.tandyleather.com/en/product/fiebing-s-leather-dye
Or, it was made from a hunter green vynil. My choice to use one or the other really depended on if the item had stitching on it or not. So the breach mine and flash bang pouches were full leather and the med kit and gas grenade were vynil. Once all put together and weathered, you really can't tell which is leather and which is not.
I used Steve Mack's patterns for all the accessories: http://www.wwpd.net/2014/08/judge-dredd-belt.html
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The flash bangs themselves were made with some simple red and white fishing bobbles. I sanded off the lip edge, roughed them with sandpaper and spray painted them khaki green. The Breach mine I made out of resin. I found a small container at a dollar store with the shape I wanted, filled it with resin, then when cured, I popped it out and used a dremmel to drill the holes and a hand rasp to carve the textures on the top.
I didn't take any photos, but the magazine clip holders were made from kydex which I also got from Tandy Leather: https://www.tandyleather.com/en/product/kydex-t
The belt buckle was purchased from JNB studios on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/558...ga_search_query=dredd buckle&ref=sr_gallery_2
simple resin cast with a flat back, so I attached a simple belt buckle plate.
 
Boots boots! Can't kick butt without boots
I tell you, for female judges these are significantly more tricky to do on a budget than for guys. New motocross boots can range anywhere from $150-500 depending on the quality. Most men can get a deal on used boots, but they are virtually impossible to find A) in Ladies sizes, and B) NOT pink D:
After a lot of digging, I looked into getting some youth boots. I'm a ladies 7 which translates to about a 5.5 in mens sizes. I found some reasonably priced used FOX boots in a youth size 6. I figured I could add an insole or two to make them fit better. T_T Of course it ended up being a little more complicated then that.

When the boots arrived, I discovered the translation from ladies to mens was a little more complicated than a simple conversion. My feet were swimming in the boots. They felt more like an 8.5 or 9 instead of what I assumed would be a 8 at most. Another issue I discovered was a structural issue; since motocross boots are meant to protect you ankles, they have a lot of rigid armor protection around the ankle areas. This protection is meant to curl around ones ankle for support. Since I was swimming in these boots I had to do more than add an insole or two and wear some thick socks. I used some EVA foam floor mats and cut myself a large insole to fill out the boot a little, then cut several smaller heel lifts to raise my heel inside the boot so my ankles were hitting the correct spot on the boot. This has turned my flat boots to 3" wedges on the inside XD

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Once the boots were wearable, I made some shin guards and toe caps out of EVA floor foam, then covered them in worbla and painted them. The Boots had a large Fox head logo on the outside calf so I had to carefully cut it out and replace the section with a piece of leather. The leather piece isn't entirely attractive, but once I put the shin guard in place it made the patchwork a little less obvious. The toe cap was glued in place and the shin guard was attached via Chicago screws and nylon strapping with some rivets.
 
Gloves!
Similar problems with boots, there are very few motocross gloves that are made for women that aren't outrageously expensive or PINK ¬_¬
I decided to just mod my own with a pair of old gloves. Some basic everyday gloves were on their way out, so it seemed a good a time as any to purchase some new ones and put the old ones to work. The gloves were wrist length, so I purchased some pig glove leather to add some cuffs. I drafted a quick duct tape pattern and cut out two wrist pieces. To one, I added the screen with some thin PETG plastic edged with some felt.
Then I made two strips with velcro for the wrists. I sliced a small line into the gloves along the seam to insert the wrist adjustment and and sewed a D ring to the opposite side. After that, I ran the new leather cuffs through my machine to attach them to the gloves.
I couldn't find any replacement rubber knuckle guards, so I sculpted my own, made a silicone mold and cast some resin ones. They were then glued in place with some E6000.
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Lawgiver:
I attempted to make my own from a 9mm cap gun and some foam. It turned out OK..ish. I found it was a little squishier than I liked, and overall - even with a good paint job - I wasn't entirely satisfied with it. so in the end I broke down and bought a 3D printed copy on Etsy from Traywick designs: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/569...wgiver-mk-ii-2012-kit?ref=shop_home_active_29
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you need to assemble the gun yourself, but it is pretty straightforward and comes with an easy to follow PDF guide with pictures.
I used some Scrap Kydex from my magazine clip holders to make the holster. Pretty straightforward - paper template cut out then heat formed to shape. Leather backing and strap holders were riveted in place
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With all that, I'm actually... done D:
Just need to take the time to do some photos with the whole thing together.
 
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