Terran's budget costume build log (Resistance X-wing and A-Wing)

TerranCmdr

Active Member
I've had this costume nearly complete since last August and haven't had the time to get my build website up (my son arrived around the same time), but I've been dying to share it. So I might as well get started here - I have most of this written up already and just need to go through the pictures. I may end up updating my website and linking that but I just wanted to share something at least!

I need to take a better full body shot, but here's me on Halloween with my little BB unit
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Anyway, I'll start with the helmet. I wanted to do this costume as cheaply as possible so the obvious choice for me was Pepakura. I found a file here, downloaded the program, and started printing. 19 pages later I had what would become my helmet. Many nights of spent Xacto blades later and I had all the pieces. I then glued everything together using quick-dry adhesive and was pretty proud of the result.

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The process for this is pretty well established, so I gathered my supplies and went to town with the fiberglass resin.

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I jammed a piece of foamcore in there for stability but it didn't do much - the darn thing dried lopsided.

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Nonetheless I fearlessley pressed on and applied "Rondo" to the interior of the helmet. Nasty stuff.

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I taped the helmet down with the hope that it would straighten itself out. It did not. At this point I also thought it was a bit too big, so I decided to just start over.

This time around was much easier. I now had access to a printer that would cut and score the paper for me. I had to edit the plans in Ai, which took the better part of a couple weeks' worth of lunch breaks, but the payoff was so worth it.

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(Click for video!)


The printer took maybe 20 minutes to do what took me weeks the first time. I also scaled the helmet down to 98% this time in the hopes that it would fit my head better. So once again I went about gluing all 600+ tabs together, using CA glue this time, which sucks when you get it on your fingers.

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A few short days later and I had my second helmet! Compared to the first one it was tiny, but I was confident it would fit properly.

Once again I pulled out the fiberglass resin. This time however I was careful to have something for the parts to dry properly - a foam head with padding, and a foamcore construction for the visor part. Things went a lot smoother.

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I had to trim down the bottom part of the helmet beacuse for some reason the pep file had that part really narrow. It wouldn't even fit over my head. Some tin snips took care of that.


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Then it was time to Rondo once again. It took a few batches to coat the insides of both pieces but it came out ok. Still working on getting the right consistency with this stuff.


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Finally it was time to start slapping Bondo on the thing! I went pretty generous with my first coat.


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Then, of course, lots of sanding. At this point I realized the pep file didn't include the rear "mohawk" on the helmet, so I decided to add that with some foamcore and more Bondo.


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Following that it was more Bondo, more sanding, and so on. In between coats, I marked trouble spots with sharpie. On the visor, I decided to add in a lip that wasn't present in the pep file.


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It was really coming along! I was feeling confident so I decided to prime up the visor to see how it would look. I had just a couple places that needed attention...


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At this point I also decided to do the scariest thing - drilling a hole in the helmet to attach the visor! The bolts I sourced from Home Depot, they are a close approximation.


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It went well! The test fit looked good too. It was looking pretty good at this point so I decided to give spot putty a try and prime the whole thing up. (I wasn't impressed with the spot putty.)


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Ok, one more pass with the Bondo and we'll call it good enough!


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Sprayed the heck out of it with filler primer in an attempt to fill any small imperfections, and finally got the white primer/basecoat on! Was pretty happy with my work at this point.


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In between sanding I was figuring out exactly how I wanted my helmet to look. I decided on a paint scheme similar to Poe's helmet in the beginning of TFA. I was able to import the pep file into my 3d software (MODO) and use that to visualize my paint schemes. Once I was set on the scheme and details, I used the same printer to print and cut some vinyl decals. I bought spraypaint and sprayed it on a piece of cardboard, then use the Pantone swatches at work in an attempt to match the color. They came pretty close.

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From there it was on to masking and painting. I started with the visor. I used the "French's" technique to create the chipped paint look. I did discover not to leave the mustard on for too long as it can stain the undercoat. For the scratches I just used whatever sharp object I had laying around (I think maybe a screwdriver?)


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The rest of the helmet was pretty straightforward. Came out pretty nice.


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I then applied the decals. I wasn't sure my printer would have the resolution necessary for the "sliced onion," but it turns out it did and it looks great!


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With all the decals on it was time to get some foam padding on the inside. I used a few pieces of foam I found in the toss-pile at my previous job and just cut and fit using scissors and hot glue. It's not pretty, but it's also not visible when I wear the helmet. At this point I realized just how snug the helmet fit and figured I should probably have done a 99% or so scale. I have to really squeeze my head into this thing. Still, it looks pretty decent.


I should note at this point I had to cut the bolts down that hold the visor on. I lack the proper tools so I had to use a hacksaw. Definitely earned the beer that night.


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With all of that finished it was time for the greeblies. I modeled the pieces out in Rhino and sent the files over to my awesome friend who has a badass 3d printer. I was extremely impressed with the resolution and detail. I had originally planned to print the leg flares as well, but the material cost was prohibitive, so I settled for a half-piece with the plan to cast and copy.


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The pieces didn't even really need any sanding, so I just hit them with a few coats of filler primer and painted them up in silver and black acrylic. For the mic I used a piece of cut down paint can for the metal bar & some wire I had laying around. I attached it to the helmet using 1/2" neodymium magnets (I got the idea from this build). I love this attachment method as I can rotate the mic to wherever I like, or remove it completely for transportation/storage.


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The greeblies were glued to the helmet using Gorilla Glue. I had never used the stuff before but it was a perfect adhesive for this. It foams up and really bonds strong. After the greeblies were attached I used some Nuln oil and a paper towel to add some weathering, as well as some dry-brushing with silver (may have slightly overdone that, oh well.) Still on the list for this helmet is the visor, for which I already have a sheet of amber acrylic, I just need to make a buck to form it over.


I couldn't be happier with how this whole helmet turned out. Pepakura is a challenging thing to work with, but with enough patience the outcome can be pretty nice. I think overall this helmet probably cost me less than $100 in materials. (Bondo, resin, primer, spraypaint, 2d/3d printing.)


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The Chestbox:

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This was actually the first piece I made for this costume. I was working as a foam fabricator at this point and had access to an industrial hotwire cutter, so I decided to make this out of EPS foam. I found an STL file online (might have been this one but honestly I can't remember) and took it into Rhino. I made 2d outlines from the major parts and created a tool path from those.

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(If you look closely here you can see the outlines of my parts)

Once everything was cut I did an additional compound cut on the main piece (the angle at the top, with the hole) and did a dry fit of all the parts. Everything looked great so I began hard coating the foam. The coating I used was a 2-part powder/liquid mixture that you can brush on, which hardens in an hour or two. I did this before gluing everything together because it was easier to work with and get everything smooth. I sanded in between coats and I think I ended up doing 3 coats all together.

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Everything was looking great at this point so I glued everything together and sprayed on a white primer/base coat.

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It was at this point that I realized I had created another learning experience for myself. Despite all my hard work, I had failed to check the dimensions of my file. The box was too dang big!

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Well, chalk that up as a practice run. Back to the hotwire to cut it out at the correct size this time. The size ended up being too small to cut the buttons out of foam, so I had to do those out of scrap wood.

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Next to the original the size difference is pretty significant.

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Back to the white basecoat. Then I brushed in the black detailing, and finally the blue and sliver for the buttons. Used my dirty paint water for weathering and sealed it all with some clear coat.

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For the vest attachment I liberated a clip from a tape measure and screwed it into a chunk of wood, then glued that in place.

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Finally the only step left was the hose. I just so happened to have to replace my washing machine during this process, and noticed the hose was the perfect diameter, and pretty close to what I needed. Just hit it with some black spraypaint. To attach it to the box, I had to dremel out a channel for the hose to fit into, then I used caulk to make it stick. Once it dried it was not coming out again.

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It's not the cleanest build by any means, but it came to a net cost of $0 to me, so I'm pretty happy. From a few feet away it looks great, in my opinion!
 
@Blaxmyth thanks! I enjoy sharing my DIY journey. :D

The Belt:

Throughout this entire process, I have relied heavily on resources found on the Rebel Legion forums, specifically the stickied tutorials. For the belt, I followed an excellent tutorial written by Cliff Snyder, found here.

I ordered all the parts I would need and (im)patiently waited for their arrival. The belt (a British military PLCE) and extra buckles I purchased from eBay, and the straps from Strapworks.

I knew I would have to enlist my cousin’s help for the sewing, but I did want to expedite the process and have everything ready to go when she had the time. So I began by ripping the belt down to its pieces, and spraying it dark grey.

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I then scoured the tutorial and planned out exactly what needed to be sewn. I made some notes for quick reference.


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The notes were very helpful and my cousin was able to knock out all the sewing in a couple hours! After that, I went out and bought some 1/8" steel plate from Home Depot, printed out templates for the paddles, traced them onto the metal, and cut them out using tin snips. I then used a drill to create the slots in the paddles, and a battery powered Dremel to cut them out the rest of the way. It was a long, tedious process because the Dremel would die after a short time and would have to be charged for hours again.

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I then went to work with sandpaper and a hand file. They are a little rough, but I'm pleased with how they turned out.

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The last step was to attach the paddles to the belt using Chicago screws. As the tutorial suggested, I used a soldering iron to poke holes in the belt and webbing for the screws to go through. All assembled, the belt looks great! (I later had my cousin sew tabs on the paddles, it's an optional step but I like the look, and it hides some of the shoddy workmanship :p )

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The Boots:

A short post for these. I had planned to use "Walmart special" boots that I already had, because I figured nobody would look too closely at my boots. But, while out thrifting one day, I ran across these! They're much closer to the actual boots (I know they're not exactly screen accurate) and what a bargain! They were even my size! I was super happy to find these.



 
Well it won't let me edit the first post because apparently it now has too many images :lol: but I wanted to add my wife's A-Wing build to this thread as a continuation.

She randomly told me one day she'd like an A-wing pilot costume, and it just so happened I'd been planning one for myself so I had lots of reference ready to go. I started in the beginning of November with the goal being to have it ready for the TROS premiere!

Throughout this process the "Resistance Gunner build and research group" on Facebook has provided invaluable information, so big thanks to the group there. Special thanks to Danny Chen for all the photos he provided of his costumes.

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On to the build!
Right away I knew the biggest challenge was going to be all the buckles. I studied many images and came up with a list of what I'd need. Turns out buying all the real buckles would cost well over $100. Since that was my entire budget for this costume, I had to come up with an alternative, and having just purchased a 3d printer, I figured this would be an opportune time to put it to work! So I got to modeling.

The first piece I modeled was a slide buckle. This is one of the cheapest pieces but I wanted to run this as a test to see if my idea was even feasible.
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It went together perfectly and even functioned as it should! This gave me the green light to tackle the rest.

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I also printed the chest box and hose connector, both available on Thingiverse. I then had a big pile of parts to sand and paint. With a few coats of filler primer and some silver spraypaint, they look pretty decent. It was cold so I had to have the hair dryer ready.
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I weathered some of them but I'll get to the rest of them once I weather the vest overall. The clips are functioning, they use m3 hardware and paper clips for springs.
 
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During all this, I also started work on the jumpsuit. I had purchased the Kwik Sew 3389 for version 2 of my X-wing suit, but it was also perfect for the A-wing. I found some olive fabric at Joann, (Wuji Palm Amaretto if anyone's interested) and got to work.

(Note: This costume was never intended to be 100% screen accurate so I did take certain liberties with design and materials. The fabric used on-screen for this costume is pretty clearly Cordura, but this ended up being a good substitute. It's also much more comfortable!)

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I modified the pattern as I went, adding pockets and panels as needed. The big hangup came with the ribbing that goes down the sleeves. Normally I'd use the same 3" elastic I did on the X-wing suit, but Danny informed me that was too wide, and sure enough after studying the images it would have looked silly to have 3" elastic, plus having to dye it would be a hassle. After some thinking I decided to just try and create the ribbing using the same fabric. I sandwiched some batting between two pieces and got to work sewing rows. Lots and lots of rows. I then used a rolled hem foot (which ended up being basically garbage but I muscled through it) to finish off the strips, and they actually came out looking pretty decent!

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(my son was very "helpful" during this process)

Add a few loops, a zipper, and some elastic an there you have it!

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Finally came the vest (ok all of these kind of intertwined but it just makes sense to present it this way)

No patterns for the vest exist, so I had to create my own based on what images I had. The back is based on Phil's X-wing vest, the rest are eyeballed. I created a paper model to try and understand how everything goes together.

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I then drew up patterns in Ai, printed them on my home computer, assembled them and began cutting the poplin. I used the same technique as the X-wing vest and it came together fairly quickly.

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There was also a snag here though because this vest uses a lot of strapping (2.5 - 3 yards if I remember correctly) and nobody, at least that I found, had any 1.75" plain white webbing. I had a talk with Danny and he mentioned he just used the vest material tripled over, so that's what I did. Another slightly painstaking process but the results were decent.

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The rest of the vest came together without much incident. I modeled this after Tallie's version, which is shorter in the sides and has less buckles. I would say the most difficult part of the vest was just sewing all the buckles on. Had I had a better plan of how this was going together I might've had an easier job of it, but as it was I was muscling the entire vest around to get the box + "X" pattern for each buckle.

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The last piece of the puzzle were the leg straps, which were fairly simple.

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Et voila!

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The one thing I need to change for version 2 is the width of the shoulders, they're just slightly too wide. Other than that I'm very happy with the finished result. (Still need to add that 1 buckle to the middle back)

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Oh, and we painted and weathered the chest box the night before the premiere, and got it hooked up via an old washing machine hose (same as my X-wing)

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TerranCmdr, just saw this thread. Holy crap, not just your 3d modeling, but your sewing skills are completely amazing. The details here are blowing my mind.
Thank you! Sorry I don't check back here super often so didn't see your message. I'm getting ready to re-sew a new X-wing suit and to 3d model and print the A-Wing helmet currently.
 
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