Cosplayers

Join
We are pleased to announce that as of March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor has been introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

ARMOR BUILDS!!! Halp.

felcandy
felcandy Posts: 228 Member
edited February 5 in Social Groups
Hiya, im working on two armor sets (femshep and legend of dragoon - rose dragoon form) and im also working on a very complicated mask (dishonored - corvo attano)...

I am struggling with choosing the best materials to build armor with. I already have my mass effect helmet covered in resin (pepakura) but i didnt want to go through the pepakura process for the entire set of armor.

I have four different options on how to make the armor and I am okay with doing it different ways for the different armor sets.

1. Pepakura - time consuming and tedious, but easy to follow.

2. Paperclay - not the sturdiest material and ive never worked with it before

3. Foam - ugly. I hate it.

4. Worbla - seems most professional, but its pricey and im kind of on a budget. not familiar working with this material.


If there are other ways of making good armor builds, please... enlighten me! I am super new to cosplay!


You can add me as a friend if you want :)

Replies

  • mruntidy
    mruntidy Posts: 1,015 Member
    theres a good tutorial on the net under xrobots that gives some great techniques.

    A hot knife is better than blades.

    High density foam is better than low density as it is a lot smoother especially for a shep costume
  • felcandy
    felcandy Posts: 228 Member
    Thanks man hehe should have just sent you a pm. I appreciate it
  • JeepersMister
    JeepersMister Posts: 33 Member
    Foam isn't always ugly! I've seen some amazing costumes done in EVA foam. I think you just need to seal and paint it right.

    Have you been to therpf? http://www.therpf.com/replica-movie-costumes/

    There are a bunch of people who make some amazing costumes. They often show how they make it so you might get some ideas from them.
  • patchworkpuppet
    patchworkpuppet Posts: 6 Member
    ahh hello I am here several month late! How is your armor going? I also have made shepard armor but (like most people in the N7 Elite) I made it out of foam. What exactly do you dislike about foam? I'm totally in love with it, myself ^_^
  • mruntidy
    mruntidy Posts: 1,015 Member
    ahh hello I am here several month late! How is your armor going? I also have made shepard armor but (like most people in the N7 Elite) I made it out of foam. What exactly do you dislike about foam? I'm totally in love with it, myself ^_^

    Likewise, I have nearly finished my main weapon for this years costume out of foam, hoping to get the painting started this weekend :D
  • busywaterbending
    busywaterbending Posts: 844 Member
    hdpe2 plastics and heat guns are my best pals. I create shapes from this thin plastic, then glue on craft foam ontop of the shapes to create depth. Then a few coats of acrylic paint. done.
  • kandell
    kandell Posts: 473 Member
    I've seen some really excellent foam armor, so I wouldn't knock it quite yet. It all depends on how ready you are to spend the time and effort to get things just right.

    As for paperclay, I have a perpetually in-progress set of armor that I've been making in paperclay. There are a few benefits and drawbacks.
    1. Very lightweight
    2. Takes a long time to dry
    3. Is obnoxious to sand down unless you have a power sander
    4. Is not as sturdy as other armor options. My chest piece, essentially an armored bra, snapped in half when I attempted to try it on

    I just ordered worbla for a few costumes I'll be doing this year. I've never worked with it before, but there are some really good tutorials out there. I'm excited!
This discussion has been closed.

Categories