jpford mil
New Member
Ok.... so I had a dilemma. I was challenged to make a HALO costume for my family's halloween party this past sunday. the challenge was made the sunday prior.... one halo suit, one week and a budget of $100...
needless to say, after many a sleepless nights and many aborted attempts, i completed my armor in one (that's right, one) night....
i could bore everyone with the details, but i stick to the high points so others may be able to learn from my lessons.
quick facts:
- used pep armor from the pep armor sticky
- forgot to scale the first 2 times, then settled on a 24.273 setting (i'm 5'10"/200lbs)
- could not/would not use fiberglass
materials:
- 110lb cardstock from office depot ($5.24/pack)
- 2 x cans of spruce green rustoleum satin finish ($5.64/can)
- 1 x can of textured dark brown rustoleum ($5.64/can)
- 2 x cans of black rustoleum satin finish ($5.64/can)
- 4 x cans of great stuff expanding foam insulation ($7.62/can)
- 1 x sheet of gold tissue paper from the dollar store
- 1 x box of industrial velcro ($26.74)
- 2 x bottles of fast grab tacky glue (~$3.00)
- 4 x cans of black plastidip spray
- 1 x 3L bottle of generic soda
- 1 x roll black duck tape
technique:
- download, scale, print pep armor (if you can, print with grey scale faces, it helped me later on) **make sure you scale the armor a little bigger than normal, ~10%, this is important later **
- cut armor and score card stock with utility knife (** i know the tip about using red and black pens to score, but the xacto knife worked better for me)
- prefold all the pieces
- glue together all the pieces, let dry for 30-60 minutes
- paint pieces with 2-3 coats of plastidip, letting dry 30 minutes in between each coating. (this kinda makes the paper pep into a rubbery hybrid material)
- using the foam insulation, slowly spray the inside of the armor, using small rows of product about a finger's width, leaving a finger's width between each line of foam
- wait 60-90 mintues for it to expand
- using a small spaces hack saw (~$5.00 at lowe's or home depot) cut off the large bumps and any foam that's not where it should be
- make cuts in the armor pieces. this is so you can clamshell the armor around your arms and legs. (not needed for chest plate, backpack, etc.)
- using sand paper (i used coarse grit taped around a wiffle ball bat) sand the inside of the armor pieces, but not so much so that the structural integrity of the piece is compromised
- paint the outside green, and the inside black *** DO NOT USE THE PLASTIDIP ON FOAM!!!!! IT WILL SHRINK YOUR FOAM TO DOLL SIZE!!!! ***
- immediately using the brown textured paint, mist the armor. this will give it a more 'real' look and will shorten the drying time (i don't know why, it just did)
- once the helmet is dry, cut out the face plate hole, take the cut out and tape a sheet of paper to it
- trace the cut out onto the sheet of paper
- drain the bottle of soda, place the traced outline onto the bottle and cut out the visor
- lightly glue the gold tissue paper (yes it is somewhat transparent) to the soda bottle visor
- when the armor is dry, on either side of each vertical cut, place a 1" x 1" velcro square (hooks, not fuzz)
- cut straps from the fuzz velcro to be used for securing your armor.
- remove the backing from the adhesive on the fuzz velcro straps and place lengths of black duck tape on it. this makes the securing straps for the armor
i used a nerf longshot painted hammered black for my rifle and added some flair items like a name tag etc to personalize my armor.
hope this helps....
needless to say, after many a sleepless nights and many aborted attempts, i completed my armor in one (that's right, one) night....
i could bore everyone with the details, but i stick to the high points so others may be able to learn from my lessons.
quick facts:
- used pep armor from the pep armor sticky
- forgot to scale the first 2 times, then settled on a 24.273 setting (i'm 5'10"/200lbs)
- could not/would not use fiberglass
materials:
- 110lb cardstock from office depot ($5.24/pack)
- 2 x cans of spruce green rustoleum satin finish ($5.64/can)
- 1 x can of textured dark brown rustoleum ($5.64/can)
- 2 x cans of black rustoleum satin finish ($5.64/can)
- 4 x cans of great stuff expanding foam insulation ($7.62/can)
- 1 x sheet of gold tissue paper from the dollar store
- 1 x box of industrial velcro ($26.74)
- 2 x bottles of fast grab tacky glue (~$3.00)
- 4 x cans of black plastidip spray
- 1 x 3L bottle of generic soda
- 1 x roll black duck tape
technique:
- download, scale, print pep armor (if you can, print with grey scale faces, it helped me later on) **make sure you scale the armor a little bigger than normal, ~10%, this is important later **
- cut armor and score card stock with utility knife (** i know the tip about using red and black pens to score, but the xacto knife worked better for me)
- prefold all the pieces
- glue together all the pieces, let dry for 30-60 minutes
- paint pieces with 2-3 coats of plastidip, letting dry 30 minutes in between each coating. (this kinda makes the paper pep into a rubbery hybrid material)
- using the foam insulation, slowly spray the inside of the armor, using small rows of product about a finger's width, leaving a finger's width between each line of foam
- wait 60-90 mintues for it to expand
- using a small spaces hack saw (~$5.00 at lowe's or home depot) cut off the large bumps and any foam that's not where it should be
- make cuts in the armor pieces. this is so you can clamshell the armor around your arms and legs. (not needed for chest plate, backpack, etc.)
- using sand paper (i used coarse grit taped around a wiffle ball bat) sand the inside of the armor pieces, but not so much so that the structural integrity of the piece is compromised
- paint the outside green, and the inside black *** DO NOT USE THE PLASTIDIP ON FOAM!!!!! IT WILL SHRINK YOUR FOAM TO DOLL SIZE!!!! ***
- immediately using the brown textured paint, mist the armor. this will give it a more 'real' look and will shorten the drying time (i don't know why, it just did)
- once the helmet is dry, cut out the face plate hole, take the cut out and tape a sheet of paper to it
- trace the cut out onto the sheet of paper
- drain the bottle of soda, place the traced outline onto the bottle and cut out the visor
- lightly glue the gold tissue paper (yes it is somewhat transparent) to the soda bottle visor
- when the armor is dry, on either side of each vertical cut, place a 1" x 1" velcro square (hooks, not fuzz)
- cut straps from the fuzz velcro to be used for securing your armor.
- remove the backing from the adhesive on the fuzz velcro straps and place lengths of black duck tape on it. this makes the securing straps for the armor
i used a nerf longshot painted hammered black for my rifle and added some flair items like a name tag etc to personalize my armor.
hope this helps....
