First Build - ODST w/ helmet and magnum, all foam

Hey guys! I thought I'd post my ODST build I've been working on for a while in preparation for Megacon in Orlando. It is completely made out of EVA foam held together with hot glue, most of it freeform except for a couple of DFT's blueprints (when I first started) and the helmet file I got from our database. The helmet visor I made from a raw sheet of clear acrylic, cut out and heatformed to that shape, and painted with thin coats of Krylon looking glass. I am not too happy with the finished result, as I'm missing the detail of a normal ODST visor, and I made the helmet itself a bit too big. The gloves are just fabric gloves with the fingers cut out, and a detail piece of EVA foam hot glued on top. The loose pieces/shins are held together with nylon strapping and parachute buckles/adjusters. The magnum I made in about an hour just freehanding the shape and gluing three pieces of the foam together for the thickness. Mobility in the suit is decent, and heat doesn't seem to be too bad of an issue. However, sitting down I would probably have to remove the belt holding the lower torso plate, hip/thigh plates. The whole thing is actually just plastidipped, and I liked the color/matte finish so I didn't add any paint. You can't tell much in the pictures, but I took metallic silver paint and brushed it on the edges/cuts. The camera also doesn't pick up various other detail cuts/effects I did. Overall I'm pretty happy with the results.

Obviously I am missing the shoulders. Now, I actually have made them, just can't think of a solid way to affix them to my suit. Any solid ideas? I also plan on adding a few things, such as hopefully some sort of self powered fan to the inside of the suit, and some decals such as the UNSC logo and things of the sort, just gotta build up the courage to just paint them on. I'd also love to make some sort of knife to attach to the chest, and maybe find some shotgun shell belts to add to the shin and gauntlet pieces. Anyone have any suggestions or critiques? Any extra detail I can add and how to go about it? Thank you for taking a look!

Very nice start.
For the adding the shoulders, there's many ways of going about it. You just have to figure out what would work best for you. - I've used velcro straps for small foam arm props myself, and I've seen other Halo costumes use buckle straps. You can also add a piece of foam that encircles your upper arm where the shoulder is glue gunned to it as well. Hope this helps somewhat. I'm new to costume-making myself, but it doesn't hurt to browse the many sticky threads for resource information either. Perhaps someone more skilled might respond too.

Best of luck in tweaking and when you debut this in public. :cool

BlazedStarbon said:

Very nice start.
For the adding the shoulders, there's many ways of going about it. You just have to figure out what would work best for you. - I've used velcro straps for small foam arm props myself, and I've seen other Halo costumes use buckle straps. You can also add a piece of foam that encircles your upper arm where the shoulder is glue gunned to it as well. Hope this helps somewhat. I'm new to costume-making myself, but it doesn't hurt to browse the many sticky threads for resource information either. Perhaps someone more skilled might respond too.

Best of luck in tweaking and when you debut this in public. :cool

Click to expand...

Thank you! and I've seen lots of people use the extra foam underneath the shoulders as well, I think that's a great idea. My concern is actually affixing that piece of foam to the underarmor like fabric underneath. I'm scared to hot glue it as it may melt, and I tried sewing it on, but the velcro is too thick and just generally didn't work out. I may go without the shoulders (ugh hate to do that) and focus more on the detail of the rest of the armor.

Any other comments?