Cardboard Armor for Halloween

[iPwned]

so at the beginning of October, I was lounging around at home watching TV and was thinking "hmm, it's October, i wonder what i should be for Halloween?" My gaze wandered to fix on my Legendary helmet that i have sitting in front of the TV and i had a genius moment. A lightbulb went off above my head and everything. So, as such, I started on my MJOLNIR Mark VI around October 7th. I started on the helmet first and then moved to the chest/back plates, shoulders, gauntlets, gloves, waist band, thighs, shins, and lastly shoes. The whole process took me about 3 weeks on and off, working on a little bit everyday but not devoting all of my time to it. I finished it literally the day of Halloween as I had to paint the shoes that day...but overall I think it turned out very well. Judge for yourselves, give me opinions on either how badass or how crappy it looks (truth hurts, but i think i can take it). Advice on how to improve would be much appreciated as well.

The Process:

Helmet:

The beginning of the helmet. I used painters tape at first because i thought the spraypaint would stick better to it (which it did...but i switched to duct tape later on anyways for some reason). My snowboarding helmet is the base of the thing

my helmet about 75% completed next to my Legendary helmet

helmet about 99% done, just have to paint it now. I used triple A batteries as the light things, but i think ill put LED's in there sometime this year.

The completed helmet

Body:

i later on changed the bottom portion of the chestplate to look more like the real Mark VI, but basically done with it.

the completed chest/backpiece

the rest of the pieces were pretty simplistic to do compared to the chest/back and helmet, so this is basically the completed armor without the shoes or the underarmor neck piece that i added on later. For the guns i used an UZI BB gun i had lying around and built a stock on it to make it into an SMG, and made the Assault Rifle out of cardboard and a brass tube for the barrel.

*Armor was painted using Adam's method, but with microfiber cloth to wipe to create an even more weathered look

The completed costume:

thanks for reading if you did read it, and as i said opinions and advice would be appreciated.

 

[sk8er4life]

thats good cardboard armor. Nice job!

 

[MC PwN 3R]

how old are you? cuz the armor looks a little skinny...well, the good news is that its good, the bad news is the armor wont grow with you if you're young
but remember, you can always make another suit.

 

[MysticLegend]

Whoa, nice suit!
....and to think you made it all in about 3 weeks.

 

[Evil Femle]

That is pretty good cardboard armor. I hope your up for suggestions and such. In my opinion your helmet looks a tad bit large for the rest of the armor, but either way it's still awesome. Good work!!! Especially for the amount of time it took you to make. You can always make another suit and spend more time with it. I know it would be way better cause you already made one suit so you'll have experience under your belt.

 

[iPwned]

how old are you? cuz the armor looks a little skinny...well, the good news is that its good, the bad news is the armor wont grow with you if you're young
but remember, you can always make another suit.

heh, well im actually 19, just really small for my age. Working on that though...but i have no idea how to work out my wrists so they can get bigger =(

That is pretty good cardboard armor. I hope your up for suggestions and such. In my opinion your helmet looks a tad bit large for the rest of the armor, but either way it's still awesome. Good work!!! Especially for the amount of time it took you to make. You can always make another suit and spend more time with it. I know it would be way better cause you already made one suit so you'll have experience under your belt.

yeah that's the thing about my costume that everyone said. "Omg you look like Master Chief. Except with a big head. Bobblehead MC."
i think for my next one ill layer it so the body looks bigger. I dont think im going to make another helmet though. That one works just fine.

 

[sk8er4life]

how did you get cardboard to shape so well ? I really like your suit from the helmet down i want to make one like thatto go with my helmet.

 

[iPwned]

it's hard to explain. Im really good with sizing things proportionally and drawing it, so basically i just looked at reference pictures, mentally calculated what dimensions it would be on my own body, then drew the pieces onto cardboard, then cut it out and structured it into 3D wearable pieces.

 

[AF200XL]

wow not bad at all...defently need to size armor tho =p

 

[homsar66]

Pics of the smg plz? i have an uzi laying around somewhere and you just inspired me.

 

[sk8er4life]

was it thick or thin card board? I know how to do the arms legs ect. But its the chest and back piece i need help with. I using your pic as a guide but it needs to be smaller for me but can you put up a pic of the back piece please so i can use it as a reference.

 

[iPwned]

Pics of the smg plz? i have an uzi laying around somewhere and you just inspired me.

yeah dude here you go:

it's a little messed up after Halloween, the bottom of the stock used to sit closer to the handle.

was it thick or thin card board? I know how to do the arms legs ect. But its the chest and back piece i need help with. I using your pic as a guide but it needs to be smaller for me but can you put up a pic of the back piece please so i can use it as a reference.

i used a combination of both. For the chest and backpiece i used thin cardboard cause i need it to be semi-flexible so it would fit to my body whenever i tightened the straps together, but for the legs and arms i used thick since they didnt need to bend that much and needed to retain their form.

here's some pics of my backpiece: (again, somewhat worse for the wear after Halloween)

hope that helps =]

 

[Grunty5]

Thats a nice SMG but now that u dont have to throw it together at the last minute i would suggest goin back and working on that ductape/cardboard job on the back of it

 

[iPwned]

yeah, the paint started chipping off the duct tape after a couple of hours of wear...i should use painters tape for everything from now on.

 

[sk8er4life]

thanx a ton i will begin asap. waiting to get thin cardboard and tape. How did you attach the cardboard to your body? velcro, tape ect.

 

[iPwned]

well you see those two black straps attached on the sides of the back/chest piece? I just used those to tighten down the armor around my torso. Snug fit, didnt move that much or anything.

 

[sk8er4life]

i can see the chest/back but i was wondering about the arms legs ect.

 

[iPwned]

oh those. After i cut out the shape i just wrapped it around my arm/leg and used duct tape to create the fit (had tissue covering my skin so i didnt wax myself )

 

[sk8er4life]

Ok i see now. I willl begin when i get thinner cardboard.two last questions. How did you make the cardboard bend in that shape for one of the two towers? And which tape is better painters tape or ducktape?

 

[iPwned]

i basically just made a 3D triangle out of cardboard, then attached the base of the triangle (point first) to the backpiece.

i'd recommend painters tape, since spraypaint seems to stick to it better. Duct tape is slick, so the paint started chipping off of my armor almost as soon as i started wearing it. My helmet has yet to chip though, and i made it using painters tape. So i'd use that.