Foam armour

[Yogi Ben]

Hey everyone,

i tried looking for a tutorial on this subject but i couldnt find any help.

a while ago i took a few pep models and imported the models into 3ds max and created a mashup helmet, i intend to do the same for the whole armour, i saw someone use foam instead of cardstock, does anybody have a link to a tutorial on how to use foam instead? also does it need hardened or anything for paint?

any help would be great.

 

[Nintendude]

From what I have been able to tell the EVA Foam has to be heat formed in some cases like with that Mass Effect one I think we have all seen, and what I was thinking at least Mark V and Space Marine wise is building the pepakura parts then heat forming the foam over the paper as a sort of mold for the foam.

 

[Yogi Ben]

so your saying it would be easyer to just make the armour from cardstock?

 

[Nintendude]

In a way without the resining and fiberglassing and bondo, you would make the pep out of paper and using the EVA foam place it on the armor and heat it with a heat gun probably to basically mold it over the paper, you would probably have to glue it together if one sheet would'nt work for the pep. The other option I see is to cut out the pep pieces and use them as a template on the foam.

 

[Yogi Ben]

yeah the second option is what i saw somebody do, but ive never worked with foam before lol. and i understand it would be much lighter, but im not sure what sort of foam to use and how to connect the pieces

 

[Jax Archillies]

all I use is hotglue, and presto! foam armor

 

[Yogi Ben]

yeah but what thickness? and do you print out the pep and use that as a stencil?

 

[Nintendude]

Well I guess a good one to use as a template would be somewhere between 6 and 10mm foamies for example I know the Predator group has made templates to do that for thier armor.

 

[UNSC Leatherneck]

Most of the guys making the foam armor have been using snap together foam floor mats that can be found at Harbor Freight or even Wal Mart. I believe they're 1/2 inch thick. Timecon and Privateer have used pep files as a sort of template, cutting the pieces out of foam and hot-gluing them together. Some of it will take trial and error since the foam is thicker than cardstock. The EVA foam can be heat formed, but forming it over straight cardstock probably won't work too well. The cardstock is too flimsy to stand up to you pushing on it. Hand-forming with heat may be an option, give it a try and see how it works. Me, I'm just getting started on a reach suit using this technique.

 

[Yogi Ben]

thanks for the reply leatherneck, i live in the UK so unfortunately i dont havce access to wal mart but i know somewhere i can get foam! im gonna go up at some point in the next few weeks and start making this helmet, i may make the visor part out of cardstock for the time being just coz there is alot of visor and its fairly complex (which is gonna be alot of fun to shape the visor) when i have some progress ill post a new topic to show you all how i get on. thanks again for the awesome advice!!

 

[RoxyRoo]

You could do what I'm doing... freehand the whole thing. *twitch twitch*

 

[Jax Archillies]

tb-21 is 1/4" thick. hot glue is good. the stuff doesnt melt or anything..so.....

also no templates here. will be building a full foam Lancer soon!

 

[Sithslayer78]

I found a tutorial on some basic EVA Foam cutting and forming. It's not exactly relevant to Halo, but It really helps to wrap your mind around the concept.
http://www.schenz.com/fm_eva.html
I'll say, this foam armor thing is the best thing since Canned Bread!

 

[Yogi Ben]

canned bread? really? i also have a question... does the foam need to be hardened (ie glassed) for paint and stuff

 

[Charlieiscool12]

I'll say, this foam armor thing is the best thing since Canned Bread!

lol I was like, "WTF?!?" when i saw this.
and to the post above me, the guide posted previously did a coat of mod podge

 

[Yogi Ben]

ill have a read, hopefully i can find a substitute that i can find over here