StarCraft 2 Ghost Build Thread

Hello all,

I recently started a new costume project and this will be the first one that I keep a running log on the process. While I do not have a target date yet, completing it by the end of 2018 would be a nice goal.

This project is creating a custom variant of the Terran Ghost Armor from the computer game StarCraft 2.

There are three main reasons for creating a custom version of the armor instead of an exact replica from the game.

1) Being a RTS game, the in game model of the male character is fairly low-poly and lacks enough detail to create an exact replica. The two hero Ghost characters are female. I might be able to use parts of their high res images to fill in some details, but the male ghost armor is quite different than the female version.

2) There are certain design aspects of the model of which I am not a big fan.

3) I want this suit to be practical to wear for hours at a time. My previous armor was a Tau FireWarrior from Warhammer 40K and I built it to be as close to the gaming miniature as possible. The large rigid armor panels of that suit make it quite difficult to comfortably walk around, let alone sit in a chair. For the Ghost, I am integrating some design concepts to allow the armor panels to hopefully be more flexible.

Anyway, onto what I have completed at this point.



The first part of the build is to create the front of the body armor. This is one part where I am deviating from the in game model. The character has separate pieces for a chest plate and a waist armor system, but I am combining the two.

The black vest shown in the image will be worn below all the armor panels and each panel will be attached to the vest. While the details of the attachment are not fully complete, the idea is to allow each of the panels to slide under each other so that everything can squish up a bit when I sit down or pick something up off the ground.

Each armor section is built from 3mm craft foam with a coating of Worbla. This construction method should give the panels a good amount of durability while limiting weight.

That is all I have for now. I should have some more time later this week to finish building the armor panels.

Just for fun, since people like to ask how much my costumes cost and how long it takes to design/build, I am keeping track of both. Currently I am at about 6 hours and $150, though a lot of that money is for components which have not been integrated into the build yet.

My progress on the Ghost armor is going fairly well. The design for having the armor panels flex with my movement is starting to work.



Each of the Worbla foam panels are attached to the under armor with snaps as you can see with the chest plate. This allows the panels to slide under one another and also bend outward when I sit down. Its already a lot more comfortable to wear than my Tau Firewarrior armor.

Next up for the build is to find a way to keep the bottom of the armor panels from flinging too far out. Currently, each panel is only attached by the top. Also, the weight of the panels pulls everything down a bit, so more straps will be needed to hold the chest plate up and in position. After those issues are sorted out, I will need finish each of the panels and smooth out their surfaces a bit.

Thanks for reading.

Looking good, if I may offer one small piece of advice. For maximum flexibility make sure your main chest piece only goes down as your natural waist line and not you hips. This is a mistake that's commonly made with commercial reproductions of historical chest armor. If it goes all the way down to your hips then you'll have a hard time moving your torso where as if it's at your waist you'll be able bend back and front and side to side without any problem.

Riceball said:

Looking good, if I may offer one small piece of advice. For maximum flexibility make sure your main chest piece only goes down as your natural waist line and not you hips. This is a mistake that's commonly made with commercial reproductions of historical chest armor. If it goes all the way down to your hips then you'll have a hard time moving your torso where as if it's at your waist you'll be able bend back and front and side to side without any problem.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I didn't know about that specific guide. Fortunately, probably as the result of dumb luck, I built the solid chest piece to stop a few inches above my waist.

he build of the armor is progressing. I have an odd way of building these things as I am not great at getting a clean finish from Worbla. I just use Worbla as a light weight support material and I coat it with a thin layer of Smooth On Shell Shock resin. This is usually a two step process where I apply the first layer, do lots of sanding, and apply a second layer where needed. The top chest plate is in between layers at the moment. It takes quite a bit of sanding to get everything smooth, but I am getting there with the panels.




For the shoulder pads, I am 3D printing the basic form to make them as symmetrical as possible. Unfortunately, I tried to combine different Blender workflows, like sub-surface modifiers and sculpt mode, and that does not work too well. As a result, some of the final details will need to be done by hand, but I still have to print the other half of the pads.






Finally, I also started the back armor, but these pieces are pretty basic. The Terran Ghost wears some sort of backpack, so I’m not too worried about how these look.



Well, back to work.

Looking back at my March post, It seems like I have not made much progress...

Anyway, the torso is much closer to being complete.



I just need to properly attach the shoulder pieces, finish painting things, and get rid of all the visible black material. Fortunately, the back panels and shoulder pieces are just getting basic paint schemes. Currently, I am not too happy with the red shoulder strap pieces, so I may go back and re-do that part if I have time. If not, they will get replaced on a version 1.1 of the armor.

Next to the body armor, I have started working on one of the Bracers. The actual ghost in game model lacks any detail as to what the bracers should look like, so I chose a design similar to what Nova is wearing in the canceled Starcraft Ghost video game. Some 3D printed pieces in translucent PLA will be lit by LEDS to provide the glowy effect on the bracers.



Finally, I have also 3D modeled the Canister Rifle body in Blender and begun the process of 3D printing the entire weapon. Due to the stupidly long print times for this part of the costume, I figured it was a good idea to tackle it next. I wonder if I can get all the parts printed by the end of July....

That is all I have for today. Hopefully I will have some more frequent updates at this point.

The progress on this build continues with most of the major pieces well under way. All that is left to start is the helmet and the backpack.

Here is the current state of the bracers. Both are covered in a resin coating, but the one on the right has not been sanded down, so this image is a before and after photo. The one that has been sanded will probably get a small amount of spot resin in some of the pits and then one more quick sanding.



After this step, there are a few more details to add, including a some 3D printed parts for LEDs.

Then, there are the shin guards. When it comes to the male ghost, there are not really any great references for this part of the costume. The in game model is too small to provide enough details and the leg armor worn by the hero ghosts has a very feminine look to them. As a result, I built some pretty standard shin guards with some of details inspired by Nova's armor.



The last two images deal with the canister rifle, which is about 95% 3D printed. The plan is to integrate some sound effects to capture the iconic "Nuclear Launch Detected" line, but more on that process later.





That's it for now. I've got a whole bunch of finishing parts ahead of me, but right now, I'm 3D modeling the helmet. Thanks for reading!

With Halloween over, I now have the time to stop and take a breath with this build. I pretty much spent sometime nearly every day to get an early version of this costume ready for Halloween.




The next stop for this costume is going to be a local Sci-Fi Convention in January called ConFusion. The only piece I have to build is the actual backpack. I just used my day to day backpack for the photo above.

After that, I need to spend some time cleaning up the mask. It is almost entirely 3D printed, but I did not give it a proper finishing. The photo below shows all sorts of little issues with the helmet.



Other than that, the rifle could be cleaned up as well, but it does not have the highest priority at the moment. Unlike every other costume I've built to this point, this one actually did not fall apart at all. Everything held up for several hours on Halloween. I definitely have some minor improvements to the wear-ability of some of the pieces, but everything worked pretty good.