Duke's Skyrim Nightingale Armor

[PerniciousDuke]

I'm very excited to finally be making some progress on this suit for my roommate.

He is a big fan of bows and assassins,
costume answer=

You may recall a giveaway that I did awhile back. Congrats again to PaiganBoi and electricknite for guessing this cosplay.



Special thank you to zombiegrimm for the massive amount of
Skyrim Pepakura Files



Time:
Planning - 16 hours
Leatherwork - 127 hours (49 pieces tooled)
Props - 32 hours


Materials:
Saran wrap - $2
Gorilla Tape - $20
PVC pipe and couplings - $34
PVC Cutter - tool
Poly Cotton Batting 7lb - $18
Balloon - $1
Pepakura Designer - free
ArmorSmith- $30
Printer Paper - $1
(2) Clear Tape - $2
Christmas paper - $1
Leather color samples - $5
(2) Sides 7-9oz Veg Tanned Leather -
(1) Belly 7-9oz Veg Tanned Leather -
(1) 50" x 1.25" Leather Strip - $22
(2) 50" x 3/4" Leather Strip - $24
(6) Box cutter knives -
150 grit sandpaper 4"x6"- $1
220 grit sandpaper 4"x6"- $1
Leather edge beveler - tool
(<1yd) Leather tracing paper -
Bevel Stamps - tool
Background Stamp - tool
Heat gun - tool
(<1) roll of Paper towels
(2) Black Dye
Black Gel
Satin Shene
(6pr) Disposal gloves
3 Leather Needles - $3
(25yds) Waxed Thread - $7
Box of bandaids- $3 (for stitching)
"Leather Weld" glue - $8
6-in-1 Punch - tool
Black Leather Edge Dye -$20
Snap Setters- tool
Grommets - $5
Large Snaps - $5
Small Snaps - $5
3d Printed Parts- $30
Krylon Triple Glaze - $4
Krylon Chalk Paint- $7
Black Auto Enamel - $5
5minute Epoxy- $4
(30ft) Black Paracord- $6
(1/2yd) Suede Fabric- $8
Spray Adhesive- $2
Cardboard- $0
2mm Craft Foam - $2
Dark Steel Spray Paint - $5
1yd Grey Upholstery Fabric - $12
1/2yd Black Shiney Spandex - $6
6" x 24" Painting Canvas - scrap
2yd Black Wool - $4 (thrift store)
(8) Spikes from an old Belt - $0
(1) Cabinet Drawer Handle - $4
(4) Cable Hold Downs - $3
(4) Carabiners- $6
(4) 3/4" buckles- $12
(1) Leather Skiver- tool
(4) rare earth magnets -$4
(1) Ecoflo Satin Shene Leather Seal - $8
(1) Locktite Gel Control Glue- $4

Lyrca Undersuit - $30
Ski Mask - $15
Knuckle Gloves - $12
Boots - $28
Resin Cast Blade of Woe- $30 Etsy
Handmade Con Arrows- $25 Etsy





Props
(12pg) 110lb Cardstock 8.5" x 11"
(10) hot glue sticks
(20oz) Fiberglass Resin
(20oz) Bondo Body Filler
Expanding Foam - $4
1/2" dowel - scrap
Black Primer - $4
Dark Walnut Brown Spray Paint - $4
Hammered Silver Spray Paint - $6
Acrylic Black Paint $1
Matte Clear Spray Paint -$4

 

[PerniciousDuke]

Before you ask.... yes! I will be making this out of actual leather.

More than that it is called tooling leather which just means that it is thick enough to receive 3 dimensional designs by cutting and hammering them into the leather. So in essence this will be leather armor.

First step is making a duct tape dummy. (YouTube it if you're not familiar)

Since such large pieces of leather will need to become wet, shaped and then dried to that shape, it seemed a 1:1 mannequin of my roommate was the best starting point.

So far we have the ducttape shell and the PVC skeleton. We just have to put the two and two together.

 

[TurboCharizard]

I'm very excited to finally be making some progress on this suit for my roommate.

He is a big fan of bows and ninjas, costume answer=
View attachment 262307


You may recall a giveaway that I did awhile back. Congrats again to PaiganBoi and electricknite for guessing this cosplay.
View attachment 262308


Special thank you to zombiegrimm for the massive amount of
Skyrim Pepakura Files



Time:
Scaling + Stand - 1hr

Materials:
Saran wrap - $2
Duct Tape - $20
PVC pipe and couplings - $30
Poly Cotton Batting 10lb - $18
Pepakura Designer - free
ArmorSmith- $15
Printer Paper - $1

Wow a Skyrim character! No surprise that the class is stealth archer, that's the best way to play the game

 

[PerniciousDuke]

Wow a Skyrim character! No surprise that the class is stealth archer, that's the best way to play the game

If by play, you mean cheese then yes.
I prefer to play by bashing goblin faces with two maces simultaneously.

But I definitely did unlock this armor too because who wouldn't want to disappear in the middle of combat only to reappear at the death of thine enemy!

 

[mkshane81]

Yes! This is by far my favorite armor set from Skyrim. Will be watching!

-Matt

 

[BaronVonReicher]

If by play, you mean cheese then yes.
I prefer to play by bashing goblin faces with two maces simultaneously.

But I definitely did unlock this armor too because who wouldn't want to disappear in the middle of combat only to reappear at the death of thine enemy!

I prefer to play by bashing goblin faces with two maces simultaneously.

bashing goblin faces

goblin

 

[Sean Anwalt]

Duke, thou art the man.

I have a set of studded armor I did from leather and fake fur. Walked around with an arrow taped to my knee at a ren fair. It was fun.

Super duper excited for this build, man, keep us posted!

 

[PerniciousDuke]

Skelton is as stable as can be (I added a brace just below the knee cap)


Let's see how we do attaching the skin today!


Edit:

I'd say mission accomplished.

 

[Sean Anwalt]

Hey lemme know how much that leather runs you all together

 

[PerniciousDuke]

Hey lemme know how much that leather runs you all together

I bought it so long ago I wouldn't be able to tell you, but I can keep track of how much I use and check my local store to see what hides go for these days.

 

[Sean Anwalt]

That'd be good, too.

 

[GMer56]

First step is making a duct tape dummy. (YouTube it if you're not familiar)

So far we have the ducttape shell and the PVC skeleton. We just have to put the two and two together.

View attachment 262309

Let's see how we do attaching the skin today!


Edit:

I'd say mission accomplished.
View attachment 262408

LIAR! Everyone knows duct tape is silver!

Lookin forward to your leatherwork.

 

[PerniciousDuke]

LIAR! Everyone knows duct tape is silver!

You are correct sir! And the materials list has been fixed. I'm still gonna call it duct tape though.

Materials:
Saran wrap - $2
Gorilla Tape - $20

Update:

This suit is full body so I wanted the mannequin to be as well. I'll need to form the facemask too.

My roommate was unwilling to let me duct tape his head. Trust is an important part of every relationship! But, I digress.

Attempt 1: I blew up a balloon to his size and wrapped it in duct tape. FAIL. When I popped the balloon the duct tape "deflated" as well.

Attempt 2: I blew up one balloon the size of his head and a little balloon the size of his chin. Then, wrapped it in saran wrap.

Before wrapping it in duct tape.

Success!

 

[xXDashIVXx]

Dudes got a neck

 

[PerniciousDuke]

I'm sure every costume builder has cried out, "Why did I agree to do this!? What is wrong with me?!"

I'm experiencing those feelings now.

For some reason I thought since I had the PDO files that means I've got this in the bag. Now, its looking like a lot of preplanning. You only get one chance with leather. If I cut it too small there is no going back. And the pdo is not as defined as I was hoping.

First step was scaling the files in armor smith designer.


Then I had to modify each file in as big of pieces as I could. This was kind of fun. Once I had them I told it to hide folds less than 150* and to join edges together that are 10mm or closer.


Next up I'll be printing them out and hanging them on the mannequin to determine where the leather should go .

 

[SI3RRA 117]

You definetly have your work cut out for you!! But you’ll get it. You seem seem to get the hang of new skills quick! Look forward to the progress

 

[PerniciousDuke]

Not much to report.. I'm definitely glad I have the mannequin. Armorsmith didnt seem to really capture the whole picture. You can see that the cuirass is too small and the forearms and knees are just a little too big. (If you need some giggles, try searching cuirass pronounciations.)


Also, what do you think of my new hat rack?

Moving forward I think I will use a Life Line, Regis. I'm going to try to rope my mother in on this project.

 

[Electraknite]

lucky you're mom is open to helping. If I even mention sewing to my mother her face contorts and she gets war flashbacks fighting with broken machines and shattered dreams.
She's a hell of a cook though.

I'm so excited for your build. Nightingale armour is my favorite!!
What will you use as the base to attach the leather to? And how will you attach it?

 

[PerniciousDuke]

What will you use as the base to attach the leather to? And how will you attach it?

That's a hard question to answer. For the most part leather won't need to attach to anything. It is it's own article of clothing.

Some spots like the knee will need to attach to cloth in which case I will most likely do the same as if one were to attach a cloth lining to leather, glue it. There are glue specific to leather. I use Leather Weld.

I'd like to glue the forearms to wrappings as well to make it once piece.

Some items like the bicep have a snap in the game and I will most likely make that functional. Snaps (or rivets) are a great leather securing method.

The bulk of the costume will be leather armor. I think we'll do a zentai suit under just so he's not naked beneath there.


Progress:

It's been quite a headache to plan where the armor is connected and how it will be donned. We want as few of pieces as possible. After many hours we've managed to make the main armor in two pieces. (Clarification one piece of armor means many pieces of leather permanently attached together. I will say "one piece of leather" if that is what I mean)

First we looked at how other people have done it. Great attempts, but I think everyone I've seen has skipped over some details/proportions creating a slightly off suit.



Next up was reference shots from in game.

Here's a cool re-imagining render:


We think that the bust is one piece, that the straps on the front are functional and the snaps at the end of the triangles actually strap the bust to a seperate piece of armor around the ribs.

We can continue the bust down to the bottom of the middle part of the tunic and we can connect the rib section to the hip section and shake it all about.

It's much harder to make a functional custom belt buckle so I've opted to make the buckle permanent and instead put clasps in the back to secure the armor.

Here are the two armor pieces we think we could get away with. The waist section would be put on first. The chest piece second and you would have to tuck the middle tunic part under the buckle while donning the chest.


Then outlined to show which parts will be seperate pieces of leather.


Next up will be patterning the dummy with this set up in mind.

 

[Dirtdives2424]

Moving forward I think I will use a Life Line, Regis. I'm going to try to rope my mother in on this project.

I can't even get my wife involved in the family cosplaying.......