Foam Edits to my chest armor

[RUST]

Yo wonderful people of the 405th, question time. I’ve been trying to give my chest piece more of that “Hell jumper look” by making the bottom of the chest more curved. It’s completely Eva foam, so I was thinking maybe light use from a heat gun would do the trick, but I didn’t want to mess up the armor overall. Any tips to get that curv I’m looking for?

 

[Justin Ghazal]

Heat gun might work but if that part is glued together you need to go pretty slow so it doesn’t start to fall apart. Also is it glued directly to the armor bc when I put my chest piece armor on I put a spacer between it and then curved around it. that might help.

 

[RUST]

Hmm, if that’s the case I might want to avoid using a heat gun for too long if at all. It is glued directly to the armor. The spacer idea is a really good one! I was considering using contact cement to hold the bottom front edges down to the sides to give it more of a curve, but I’m afraid that the foam would snap off if I didn’t heat it right.

 

[Justin Ghazal]

Hmm, if that’s the case I might want to avoid using a heat gun for too long if at all. It is glued directly to the armor. The spacer idea is a really good one! I was considering using contact cement to hold the bottom front edges down to the sides to give it more of a curve, but I’m afraid that the foam would snap off if I didn’t heat it right.

Good luck on it. Also it looks awesome btw.

 

[RUST]

Justin Ghazal much appreciated brother . If I could just get the bottom chest piece to look a little less boxy and more armor like it would be perfect lol. Your odst looks very good as well!

 

[Justin Ghazal]

Justin Ghazal much appreciated brother . If I could just get the bottom chest piece to look a little less boxy and more armor like it would be perfect lol. Your odst looks very good as well!

Thanks I just painted all of it this weekend. Got a 3d printed one coming in the mail

 

[RUST]

Are you getting it commissioned? If so you should send me a link or something cause I’ve always been interested in getting a set of 3D printed armor

 

[Justin Ghazal]

Are you getting it commissioned? If so you should send me a link or something cause I’ve always been interested in getting a set of 3D printed armor

Ya the guy I got it from was awesome to work with told him what I thought about and he made it.

 

[RUST]

That looks sick! What’s the guys name??

 

[Justin Ghazal]

Ya the guy I got it from was awesome to work with told him what I thought about and he made it.

That looks sick! What’s the guys name??

I found him in halo props Facebook chat with his personal account. I just asked him what’s a good contact for ppl to reach out to him. Once he lets me know I will tell you

 

[Justin Ghazal]

I found him in halo props Facebook chat with his personal account. I just asked him what’s a good contact for ppl to reach out to him. Once he lets me know I will tell you

Joseph Walton on Facebook
Shmalofan props is shop name

 

[RUST]

Joseph Walton on Facebook
Shmalofan props is shop name

Much appreciated man

 

[Sean Anwalt]

For your foam build, one suggestion:

The bottom center is comprised of the three pieces. Cut them apart. The center piece, bevel cut the sides that attach to the other pieces, and reattach. Don't do too much of a bevel, though, or you'll have the opposite problem.

Another idea is to separate them altogether and reattach with straps. That will help all of them wrap around you when you put it all together.

 

[he4thbar]

The bottom center is comprised of the three pieces. Cut them apart. The center piece, bevel cut the sides that attach to the other pieces, and reattach. Don't do too much of a bevel, though, or you'll have the opposite problem.

I was thinking the same thing before I even scrolled down to see your comment. If you can cut those 3 pieces apart and either use spacers or just contact cement them to your chest core. I think you will get the look you are going for.
You can always test fit with pins though(after cutting it into 3 pieces)! I do it from the inside so the holes don't poke through on the showing side.

 

[RUST]

They are actually 3 separate parts already . But the spacers idea sounds like a really promising one. Im thinking of lightly heat gunning the back of the 2 bottom pieces, then gently folding them so I can either contact cement or use hot glue to hold them to my core. Which do you guys suggest? Also, as for a model of heat gun, what do you both recommend?

 

[PaiganBoi]

They are actually 3 separate parts already . But the spacers idea sounds like a really promising one. Im thinking of lightly heat gunning the back of the 2 bottom pieces, then gently folding them so I can either contact cement or use hot glue to hold them to my core. Which do you guys suggest? Also, as for a model of heat gun, what do you both recommend?

The heat gun I have is a cheap Black & Decker. Been using it for the past 3 yrs and it's held up quite well.
As for the ab plates, I have done what you are planning. Some heat on the side plates to give a bit of a curve and directly attached to chest base.

 

[he4thbar]

Agreed with PaiganBoi , i bought a cheap Genesis one for $20 off of amazon and it works great for me. and I like paigans idea directly to the chest was what I was gonna do so that it forms with the core.

 

[Sean Anwalt]

Yeah any brand heat gun should work fine, just so long as it gets hot. I'd also recommend attaching the outer sides of those plates to the chest piece as well. That will help the look maybe as much as thre heat gun.

To clarify, the edges of the lower pieces to the base vest piece that sits next to your skin, not the upper ODST chest plate. The torso vest part.