Props Bio-Foam Water Bottle

Status
Not open for further replies.

Elcorio

Active Member
Hello 405th! Just finished up my ODST build and somewhere in the thread, the HALO Bio-Foam canister was brought up. This got me thinking and I decided to create my own thread as I go through this trial and error process.

The overall idea is to have the ability to carry cold water at a con while keeping the look of the costume intact. Here are the images of what I have worked up so far. There is still quite a bit of finishing work that needs to be done, but so far, so good. I'll post more as the process comes along. Enjoy!

51n+SuzN-KL._SL1200_.jpg 20190209_223007.jpg 20190210_111808.jpg 20190210_111854.jpg 20190210_111752.jpg 20190209_222948.jpg 20190210_200904.jpg 20190210_202257.jpg 20190210_202253.jpg 20190210_202301.jpg 20190210_202320.jpg
 
This is awesome! I am probably going to steal this idea, just so you know.

And by probably I mean definitely.
 
Keeps the hydration and in character at the same time. Great idea. Why not a hydro pack in a backpack? Just curious?
 
What material is that white part?

It is a plastic called HDPE. I bought a 12" X 24" X 1/8" piece and so far it has been quite useful in a wide variety of things. The only real concern I have right now regarding this build is the manner in which is all being held together. I am using el cheapo super glue and it feels fairly secure, but I believe the repeated twisting of the cap might cause it to break off. I think I will look further into using a dedicated plastic bonding epoxy and may pull the handle off, sand down the super glued parts and use the epoxy. Just trying to build it robust like to avoid the need for future repairs.

Here is the link to the HDPE plastic that I used.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007IAOPU6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

20190215_052303.jpg 20190215_052315.jpg
 
Made some progress on the prop this weekend. I ended having to add in some creative engineering upon realizing that if I had secured the lever piece to the bottle housing, I wouldn't be able to twist off the cap. Enter magnets!

The whole piece can be detached, thus allowing the cap and "spoon" piece mounted to it to spin completely around. I believe I will further add in some bevelled 5mm pieces along the sides of the bottle piece to somewhat hide the slight misalignment of the magnets. I also started reinforcing the joints with Loctite Epoxy versus super glue. After that, it will be off to seal the foam pieces and paint!

Lastly, I will use 18" velcro loop straps to go around the whole thing when wearing it just to make sure that any bumps and bouncing doesn't shift the bottle / magnets piece and keeps it in place.

So far, so good!

(The white cup at the bottom is just to hold it vertical. LOL)

20190303_162107.jpg 20190303_162143.jpg 20190303_162157.jpg 20190303_162215.jpg 20190303_162244.jpg 20190303_162334.jpg 20190303_162055.jpg
 
Who knew that mixing all these colors in the right quantities would result in the color I was looking for! LOL

267294

Biofoam Canister / Water Bottle is done! Kind of rushed since I want to have it for my FIRST CON EVER next weekend! Pretty excited about it, but I now understand about the working until the last minute all you folks reference. Still need to figure out how to mount this bad boy to the armor.

267295267296267297267298267299

When looking for a mounting solution, I opted to mount the canister to the back of my chest piece. This way it is out of the way and the chest piece distributes the weight of the bottle across my shoulders. Not that a bottle of water is all that heavy, but I wanted it securely mounted. A couple of very carefully measured and cut slits in the area then fed the 18" velcro straps through the cuts. My using 1/2" foam for the base and going through another 5mm piece on the exterior, there is no tearing issues in the foam. That is with a full bottle and jumping up and down and my wife who will be with me has already been shown how to properly remove it and put it back.

267302
 
Last edited:
Dude.
Have fun at your first Con. Hope you enjoy all the attention, compliments and photo ops. Considering how amazing your suit is, I am sure you will be getting a lot of that.
 
Last edited:
Absolutely incredible, could you post the files for the parts? One day when I build my own suit I definitely want to add biofoam canisters.
 
Absolutely incredible, could you post the files for the parts? One day when I build my own suit I definitely want to add biofoam canisters.

Thank you, but I didn't use any files. I had an idea of how I wanted to do it and just kind of eyeballed it off of reference images and drew out my own templates on cardstock. A lot of it was try, fail, redo, fail, redo, finally!

Finally, we have someone who can patch us up at cons lol.

For real though, amazing work!

Thank you. Interestingly enough, I rocked it at the con and completely forgot to actually use it. The best part though was when a hardcore HALO fan asked for a picture then as I turned to walk away, he says "NO WAY! you even have a bio-foam canister!?"
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top