Alternative foam shaping methods

[Prussianlove]

I'm trying to construct a set of armor for the character Undyne from Toby Fox's Undertale out of foam, but I lack a heat gun to shape rounded parts, and a hairdryer won't cut it on 2mm foamies, much less EVA matting. Any alternatives that won't melt the foam? Thanks in advance.

 

[FlyinPhil]

Personally I'd just invest in a heat gun if your hair dryer isn't quite cutting it. I think I payed 12 bucks for mine about 6 years ago, and it's performed well on tons of projects including a lot of vehicle work as well as my cosplay stuff.

 

[Rooster]

I agree you should simply invest in a heat gun. Also, I would be sure to wear gloves that wont melt to protect your hands, When I was bending foam for a N7 build I later scrapped, I frequently was on the border of burning my hands because there wasn't enough material to hold.

 

[Prussianlove]

Alright, I'll see what I can do. My biggest issue was that I may not be able to afford one or get it in time.

EDIT: Yeah a cursory glance gives me Prime shipping earliest November 2nd. I can take a glance around tomorrow and see if I can find anything in a hardware store that isn't too expensive, but I may just be SOL.

 

[Jme]

You can usually find them pretty cheap at Walmart


"I'm just a witness"

 

[FlyinPhil]

Bought mine locally at a hardware store called princess auto, which is roughly the canadian equivalent to harbor freight. Cheap tools, but they have a tendency to get the job done! You could also try home depot, Lowes, wal mart, etc.

 

[Spartan X]

When you don't use pepakura and you hand draw the pattern, how can you make sure it fits you ?

 

[RobTC]

Harbor Freight heat guns are like $9. Always "on sale". Never heard of them going bad, either.

When you don't use pepakura and you hand draw the pattern, how can you make sure it fits you ?

You need to make templates from either yourself, or a dummy form of yourself. You wrap the area you're fitting in foil and duct tape, then draw on your pattern, peel off the foil/tape and flatten it out (cutting relief darts (ie. triangles) into it if necessary to make it lay flat). You can then transfer this pattern to your foam. Basically, foamsmithing is just a variation on tailoring- you're just using an unusual fabric. Look up "Evil Ted" on Youtube, he has a bunch of videos on this process.

 

[Spartan X]

Thank you so much !!!!