Update:
I have completed a Helmet, Back and Chestplate. Unfortunately my own perfectionism is my enemy as the seams are upsetting my sense of perfection! My model is designed for foam but as some very thin parts are removed, I cant join components electronically so I cut them all out and assembled. I found out the hard way that seams only 1cm apart look very bad!
I have, however altered my approach.
Up until now I have been using 45* 5mm foam. The thickness made scaling easier but I think the density was making construction harder as it was quite soft. My Contact cement also seems to have been curing in the tin, as it now has the consistency of jelly....
I started thinking, if I cant join electronically, I could always join the paper cut outs. So i chose a component that was small, but had lots of parts, the Neck Seal! it has 40 parts in it some no thicker then 2cm. I printed them out and sure enough some of the parts lined up fine, some however could not be joined as paper just isnt made to bend like that! So... I thought to myself.. maybe the key is a 2 stage template. using 5mm foam for the frame worked well but Im not wasting foam making each part twice! I can however, get 2mm 45* foam dirt cheap £4.50 for 2mx1m roll.
So my idea is, and im testing this with the next seal first. . .
1. Print out the paper templates and join the ones that join well, for the next seal this reduced me down to 12 parts from 40! score!
2. using the paper templates that are merged, cut them onto foam (2mm) as exact as possible (obviously)
3. Combine the foam templates together to form larger sections that don't have defined edges, since curves can be molded in foam well. The foam allows horizontal distortion of the foam where paper would have ripped.
4. Lay the foam flat being carefull to not stretch it more then needed. Then use THAT as a template for tracing onto 5mm 100* foam which will be the final form. This should eliminate 80% of my seams.
5. For the finer details between 1mm - 3mm, score with a scalpel and apply heat to contract the edges to create the intricate details. For the larger details 3mm up to 2.5cm use the 2mm foam and cut out those very small parts again and attack them onto the surface of it, cleaning edges as i go.
6. The remaining seams should only be large ones that have defined edges so I should hopefully be able to use my rotary tool to smooth off any roughness after applying filler.
Im hoping this will mean ill have the appearance of almost solid sections of Armour across large areas. Im not sure how to go about the fingers however as they are small and complete enclosed curves.
How does my plan for the main Armour sound, likely to work?
Also any thoughts on fingers?
I'm only up to starting part 3. as i mentioned, my contact cement has turned to jelly and doesnt actually stick to anything, you can scoop it out and roll it into balls currently... despite being continually sealed I'm disappointed in its shelf life! Ive had to order new materials, a roll of 2mm and 5mm foam, as well as fillers and a new brand of contact adhesive that is meant to be specifically used in foam crafts, so fingers crossed!