COG Armor aka First Date with EVA (Foam Build, WIP/Pic Heavy)

Hello everyone! Figured I've been on the site for about a month now getting great advice from the community here so it was time to share what I've been working on. I'm in the middle of my first foray into Eva foam: COG armor from Gears of War 3. I figured it would be a simpler build for me as a noob before attempting to tackle a full body suit like Halo or Iron Man. My goal is to have this all done by mid-October for the first of several Halloween events I'll be attending.

Instead of going as a specific Gear (like Marcus or Baird) I'm going to be some other never-before-seen COG, but one without a helmet. This gives me a little creativity in my eyewear (more on that later) and prevents me from having to worry about wigs, shaving, etc. This also will give me the freedom to make small adaptations to pieces and combine pieces from several Gears, seeing as this was common among COGs in the game.

I'm basing the chest armor on the standard 'COG Gear/Golden Gear' armor (almost the same as Baird's, but with differences in coloring).



I had a difficult time finding those big EVA foam sheets where I live, but browsing through the clearance section at Walmart I found a bunch of these on clearance.

They're smaller than the big sheets (about a square foot of usable area on each piece), but I got them for 5 bucks a pack and with 14 sheets per pack it's still a really good deal for EVA foam. The downside is that the inside of my armor looks like this:


I'm using pep files as a loose guideline, but for the most part I'm just designing this from scratch. I had a major issue with proportion and sizing, since I have a 'long' torso. Since the pep files are based from in-game models where the characters' torsos are wide and stout, I had issues with the pep scaling. If I matched the width to my body, the armor piece was too short, with the bottom of the chest piece lining up at nipple level instead of just above the navel. It looked ridiculous. On the flip side, if I matched it to the correct height I ended up with a piece that was comically wide and reminded me of Eric Cartman. So I had to recreate the design to match these reversed proportions while retaining the general look of the original piece and not looking too 'warped' or distorted.

On to progress...

Started with the circles and center piece, since they are the visual core of the front piece.




Shaped and added more pieces.





Started on the back.














Big lesson learned... never try to figure out the LEDs and wiring AFTER you've build an elaboarate multilevel piece.










More to come...

Back to the front...













Couldn't figure out where to mount the shoulder batteries, so I went with empty spots on either side of front shell..

Lookin good so far, really like the lighting, seems a bit bright though, but oh well.

DRG said:

I had a difficult time finding those big EVA foam sheets where I live, but browsing through the clearance section at Walmart I foounf a bunch of these on clearance.

They're smaller than the big sheets (about a square foot of usable area on each piece), but I got them for 5 bucks a pack and with 14 sheets per pack it's still a really good deal for EVA foam. The downside is that the inside of my armor looks like this:

Click to expand...

LOLOL, that's hilarious

But this is amazing!! Your detail is incredible and your lighting is spectacular. I don't think it's too bright but I also know that when you take a picture of lights, they seem a lot brighter in the picture.

Fantastic work; I'm subbing this and I can't wait to see more.

Thanks! The detail seems to improve as I get through the piece, as I'm figuring out which techniques I'm good at and which ones I should leave to the professionals.

As for the lights, every light 'screen' is actually diffused behind two pieces of plastic sanded down to be semi-opaque. I wanted them bright enough to be visible in a lit room but not glaring enough to blind people. They certainly pop in real life, but they are not nearly as bright as they seem in the pics.

I also should add there are 3 more lights on the back that aren't seen in any of the pics I've posted... one of each lower side of the middle piece and a center one pointing up on the area right below the tube-looking things (as seen in the last of the 3 game screenshots I posted). That one is probably an absurd detail to include since you won't see it unless I'm crouched, but still...

This is amazing! Might have to try my hand at COG armour myself someday.

Very nice job so far. The details and lighting are great.

Dang dude, i think you got lucky with your first date! This one is a keeper
What are you useing to cut? it very smooth!

Looking good! I have to ask though, how easy/ hard is it for you to remove the light system? When you start finishing the foam with whatever you use (pva glue,mod podge, plastidip, etc..), you might want to cover the lights/ remove them (especially from plastidip).
I have always installed anything extra (lights/fans) after the final painting step, then do a light touch up if needed.
Keep up the good work!

Cjsuner,
For the thick foam I've been using a hot knife. I tried going through that stuff with my exacto blades and the results were terrible. As for the thinner craft foam pieces, I've used either the exacto or my better-than-average kitchen scissors, which have worked surprisingly well for the 5mm/6mm foam. I do have a few rough edges in the 'unseen' areas that were a result of trying to cut areas off after they were already attached. Seems the hot knife doesn't cut as cleanly when you don't have a flat surface and cutting mat behind it, mainly because it was more difficult to stabilize the piece while I was also holding it. In the future I will try to secure it to something if I have to make 'edits'.

cha0skn1ght,
Unfortunately the lights are not removable. What I did is prior to attaching it all, any piece that would go over a light was plastidipped ahead of time. You'll notice they are all black. Even then, I just started plastidipping yesterday and I was overly cautious... I maked over all those areas and even wrapped my top light boxes with plastic. This resulted in a few areas not getting the dip, but I figured I'll just seal those spots with Mod Podge since I can be a bit more cautious with the application. My main concern is that there are a few spots around the light zones where I'm unsure if it is sealed 100%, despite multiple passes with hot gun and some liberal use of clear caulk. My fear is that I'll somehow spray through those holes and it'll get on the screens or LEDs.

I did have a bit of a mishap with the plastidipping. I had the thinner foam attached with spray adhesive, but whether it was the plastidip or the humidity, this happened:


After a minor panic attack I calmed down and was able to carefully reattach every errant piece with hot glue. I know others have had decent luck with Super 77 and Spray Mount attaching the foamies, but I've had a number of issues with both and I think I'll just stick to *careful* hot glue application in the future.

cautious is the key word here .
I also generally stick to hot glue for foam. I have had really good success on foam with an adhesive called E-6000. You can get it in a tube or spray bottle.

Huh, I actually have a tube of E-6000 from another project but never thought to use it on foam. Biggest downside is I hate the smell of that stuff.

Update: Chest piece is 95% finished (needs side straps and additional detailing/weathering), started on boots

Painted blue panels on back


Front with paint and screw details in place


I'm building my boots around a pair of $10 Wal-Mart EVA clogs instead of just building a frame over a pair of shoes. I did the frame-over-shoe thing on my previous Lego costume and it annoyed me having the boots 'float' over my feet.

I started by building a 'wraparound' piece.




And glued it around the clog.




I build the base around this (and also reinforced it inside).






Started the upper boot








I'm hoping to have the boots done by this weekend so I can knock out the belt and gauntlets before moving on to the thing I'm dreading... my Lancer build with LEDs, sounds, and an incorporated toy chainsaw!

Well, boots took a bit longer to finish than expected, but finally... For anyone with knowledge of the different COG armor looks, I'm doing the Clayton Carmine style boots but in the COG Gear color scheme.

Top 'shield' added on.




On to boot side pouches... building a base form to give them some shape.


Wrapped in some 'duck cloth'.


These pouches weren't designed to be functional, although I could probably stash something in there if I need to.


Armor plates...


..and 'leather' straps.


Here's a boot about 98% completed:




I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. They are really comfortable to walk around in despite the massive size, thanks to the embedded clogs. I'll have back views of boots coming soon (a few back details weren't in place when I took those pictures).

Looks real great so far! Keep up the good work! I love Gears of War! It's one of the best story telling in a video game tbh. Especially Dom's story. Huhu.

For your first date with EVA, this is really good! And lol at using them Disney Princess' foam sheets. Very funny xD

wow, love the torso!

dude that is pretty sick!great work

That torso is really cool! I like your foam work, the lights turned out really well and I like that tube detailing on the black!