New to the cosplay world and looking for advice!

Hey guys i'm new to the cosplay world and I am currently deciding how to start my first set of armor. If anybody has experience with Eva foams and pepakura it would be greatly appreciated to spread any knowledge to someone who has no idea where to start. Are certain models of armor easier to construct than others? specific materials I could use? Any and all advice is very welcome.
Thanks guys
Max

I'm on the same boat it'd be great to get some advice on where to start off, i'm planning on using Eva foams also for my first set also.

First off, welcome to the forums!

Both eva foam and pepakura methods have their pros and cons, it's just a matter of deciding what is right for you, my best advice would be to spend a good deal of time reading through some of the many build threads in this forum. A few things to factor in when choosing your method of building are availability of materials in your area, as well as if you are willing to invest in some safety gear (more so for pepakura).

You can tap the link in my signature to my build thread, and I touch on both pepakura and foam building and my processes for costume making!

I would suggest doing a foam build first. Pepakura and fiberglass resin is one of the preferred methods but it's difficult to do if you don't have room outside and the necessary safety gear. Plus, from my personal experience, it's not fun to use!! (My next build will be foam!)

You can check out my build thread to check out how I did the fiberglass. I tried to take many photos to give an idea of each step in the process. There's also many many others here have done the same. ( I based my build on many here but used longshotx, carpathias and spitfire22v, very good pictures in their threads--If you're doing a different gear set, just use the search function and try and find other builds with the same gear you're using)

Try making a helmet out of pepakura (or a handplate if you'd like a smaller project, do a helmet if you want to see what kind of time some of the larger pieces take, plus the helmet is cool). The only thing you need for this is 110 lb card stock paper. You can get this at any office supply store. For your first go, I suggest a low temp glue gun.

Check out halo goddess scaling tutorial, I scaled all my pieces using that method and it was very straightforward.

Try doing the Mark VI Normal Def build. The pieces are easy to construct compared to some other sets. You can add detail to them, and really make them look sharp. (If you can't figure out how to invert the pattern on one of the gauntlets, because one of the files isn't there, just PM me)

This is extremely rewarding hobby but I'm letting you know now it's time consuming! If you need any other advice feel free to message me and ask!

Not gonna lie I freakin' hate fibreglass. Used it once and have been going with foam builds and hot-glue hardening since.

The only time I bother with fibreglass is maybe for a helmet. Helmets made with thick EVA foam are not pleasant to be in for long periods of time.

If you want tips just have a read through the "Stuck" pages. You'll learn more there than you can from any single member.

FlyinPhil said:

First off, welcome to the forums!

Both eva foam and pepakura methods have their pros and cons, it's just a matter of deciding what is right for you, my best advice would be to spend a good deal of time reading through some of the many build threads in this forum. A few things to factor in when choosing your method of building are availability of materials in your area, as well as if you are willing to invest in some safety gear (more so for pepakura).

You can tap the link in my signature to my build thread, and I touch on both pepakura and foam building and my processes for costume making!

Click to expand...

also keep in mind cost of materials for you locally and what you are prepared to spend. If you want to go with resining and fibreglassing, it will cost more than EVA foam, and costs will vary depending on what you can get your hands on. Best to research build threads as others have suggested, then research costs and material availability, as that will likely influence your decision.

also, start with small projects first. A full suit is a big build to jump into. For example, I started with my forearm pieces. Learnt a lot in the time i took to make them about what did and didn't work for me. Then long before I got to the sealing and painting stage, I played around and made foam bracers and shoulder armour for my Jedi, and tested how to do stuff on those because I made them simpler, and if I stuffed something up on those it wasn't like I had completely ruined my Spartan suit nor would it take me much to rebuild them.

Spartan 420 said:

Not gonna lie I freakin' hate fibreglass. Used it once and have been going with foam builds and hot-glue hardening since.

The only time I bother with fibreglass is maybe for a helmet. Helmets made with thick EVA foam are not pleasant to be in for long periods of time.

If you want tips just have a read through the "Stuck" pages. You'll learn more there than you can from any single member.

Click to expand...

You could try rondo, resin and bondo mix. I used that to harden the inside of my helmet and it worked great, and doing multiple layers will make it harder. It's increibly easy to do (I hate fiberglass with a passion as well). I've also heard people discuss a material called bondo glass which is bondo mixed with fiberglass threads and is supposed to be very strong and good for strengthening the inside as well.

From my my experience bondo and resin is a good method, the only problem is (from my experience) there is a much higher start up cost because of all of the tools you need to buy to work with it effectively.

Thanks for the help so far everybody! Been doing a lot of research and thanks to everybody here who helped me!

I would recommend Foam, not only is it cheap but its easy and fun to work with.

That being said, here some tips for making foam armor, all of which i found out the hard way. Make sure you have a sharp knife. i mean the second that thing starts to make dual cuts change it. this will save you lots of sanding down the road.
Two, Make sure you have your piece 100% built before you start painting anything. The problem here is you start to paint and then realize your forgot to add on a piece or sand that edge, and it will end up taking you a lot longer than it should. this goes for gluing pieces on as well. make sure its done before you attach it.
Three when you do paint give each layer plenty of time to dry, im talking a good hour. it may not seem important but if your not patient with the paint it will end up gooping and making weird lumps and textures.
Finally the most important make sure your templates fit! take the time to make the correct measurements and draw it out before you start cutting. those templates are going to decide how good your armor looks and how well its fits. there are probably the most boring but important part of the build.

I hope this helps. good luck, cant wait to see how it turns out.