Following the foot steps of Buckets To Boots

Status
Not open for further replies.

Viper 466

BCO
405th Regiment Officer
Community Staff
Member DIN
S026
Alright, I started this adventure as quarantine began and here I am trudging along. I’m attempting to toss together an Army Trooper in the same vein as TurboCharizard and PerniciousDuke.

I’m going to do a full cost breakdown as I go and try to ensure I follow this thread through to completion. I tend to fall of the finish your thread band wagon due to the limitations of mobile posting.

So far I have about 80-ish wip images from start to present on fabrication. I have lots of catching up to do.

Costs in brackets will be used to tally up the total all in. I have a fairly large on hand stock thankfully due to cosplaying for a few years so lots of scrap elements were used for this gear. I am trying to do this as a budget build, in doing so I am using more commonly available foams and attempting to limit my costs.

If I miss any tools or things I'll try to come back and update ye olde list.


Tools
Heat Gun
Hot Glue Gun
9mm Knife
18mm Knife
#11 Pen Knife
Dremel - Sanding and grinding bits
Sand Paper - 150, 120, 220, 400, 800 grit
Super / CA glue
Painters Tape
Barge Contact Cement
Armorsmith Designer ($50.00)
3 straight edges
Sharpies
Pencils
Pens
Scissors

Paint Colours - Acrylics

Bark Brown - Plaid ($5.00)
Burnt umber - Paid ($2.50)
Territorial Beige (???that name) - Apple Barrel Acrylic ($2.50)
Black - unsure on brand ($3.00)
Administratum Grey - Citadel
Khorne Red - Citadel
Evil Sunz Scarlet - Citadel
White Scar - Citadel

Foam
12mm - Walmart 12$ each 2 packs ($24.00)
4mm - On hand
2mm - On hand

Sealer
Leak Seal - 12$ for 3 cans ($36.00) I sealed inside and out
Filler: Kwik Seal - ($3.50)

Soft Components
Magcosmen Jacket in Grey ($45.00)
Knee Pads - On Hand
Duty Belt - ($15.00)
Webbing - 38mm and 50mm - ($12.00 roughly)
Buckels - 38mm ($6.00)
Buckels - 50mm ($15.00)
Tri Glides - ($6.00)

TOTAL COST SO FAR - 215.50 Cad roughly
If you're just starting out don't be afraid to take breaks between steps as tools aren't cheap.

Also to be fair, I have a head start on this. Back in 2018 when I visited Seattle I got handed a foam vest and chest armor set up by Evakura Armor and Jon the Worlds Tallest Spartan during a visit to their shop all because it happened to fit me and was already dumpster bound. I won't be making a flak jacket as the foam vest covers that territory. One day I want to replace the foam set up with something a little softer and less rigid but that's neither here nor there.

Character design - Full armored modular Army Trooper - No Ruck
CH252 Reach Style Combat Helmet with Flashlight and Range Finder
Chest
Gungnir Variant Right Shoulder
Gungnir Base Left Shoulder
Chest Plate
Ab Plate
Thighs
Shins

I'm going to try and get close to TurboCharizard 's Army Trooper colour scheme wise for the effect of uniformity IE: Storm troopers are dudes that look the same. Gotta follow the Sarge come heck or high waters.

So let’s just jump into it.
 
Last edited:
First up fabrication. Hold onto your butts.
All the parts came together in roughly 18 days since I got mandated to stay home. First up is the torso.

I began with the gifted foam parts and started by making templates and then grinding off some of the sealer that was already on it. The sealer was the reason it was heded to the trash, Evakura the original maker of this super crisp torso wasn’t satisfied with it.

This took a while and I sadly didn’t get it all as I had to hand sand off Epsiolon Pro I t’s fairly rigid and does a good job making a hard shell.

Once I was satisfied though I moved on to the next step. Adding the details up with 2mm craft foam and rebuilding the centerplate. I realized once I had the shoulder straps tacked down gently that the main body was a little small. Making some templates based off the files in The Armory was the next steps.
From there it was just securing it all together and trying it on. I went back in afterwards and continued to add details until I was satisfied.

ED6577C0-8743-4919-834E-2CCBC4C6E443.jpeg

D4DCDFAE-C65C-48EB-9DC4-C7A5B85BBC1E.jpeg 58D19894-8421-4540-8748-ACAD1C049DE1.jpeg

8819AE0B-6047-47C7-9876-31BB415F26B6.jpeg 60051D59-F412-439A-B6B4-C204900B89DC.jpeg
DE55FA9E-7296-4F08-9145-B1C905C0A99C.jpeg

Smidge too small and doesn't quite line up.

6EDE6A65-E7A7-42C3-95C9-7FD0861708C9.jpeg

Rebuild
E76FD2F0-95AF-4029-9111-8CF7AA8A1B81.jpeg 503AF0EC-C568-4E0B-8977-230212C7CBEE.jpeg 8A7332C8-51A4-48A4-A419-5E50FEF35D7D.jpeg

Have to raise these Chevrons
E0B17596-0D5B-4C3A-B2D4-83C9D4FC2A74.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Next up waaaassssssss *checks notes* Shoulders apparently.

For this I used Dukes thread and tried tried to navigate it as best I could. Keeping on the 12mm foam I went to all the goodies nabbed from The Armory and figured out which shoulders I wanted to use.

I chose a basic double gungnir layout and sorted one and then the variant for the other. I sadly sort of forgot to document all the detailing process so... woops. But yeah, painters tape and goodies like that for making templates. I laid it on the foam, made rough measurements then cleaned them up using a straight edge when I transferred them to cardstock.

For the crevices I offset the foam and kept it fairly uniform. The back side of each shoulder is recessed as the side consists of walls instead of bulking up the material.

5885CB53-C240-46C0-BC29-BE4EFC2FDD14.jpeg
08378B41-3FD3-471B-B622-9D402B1A7EB5.jpeg
01FC4E29-8941-4576-8BE1-23E83E112468.jpeg
AEF87B82-1E3A-4945-99F3-E5FBEB28370B.jpeg
1B30CDEF-EC8A-4F34-8020-B89FC41B5640.jpeg
64B52F5B-6804-4A96-A012-A0829C546691.jpeg

Sadly-er I’m a little off base thickness wise for some parts to keep that uniformity and my gear will deviate slowly on this pattern from others as the curse of makers goes.
 
After the shoulders were done I moved onto probably the most difficult part of the fab. The shins. I’m not entirely happy with em. They have some flaws that I keep eyeballing really hard.

Knife blades were running low and I made some hasty calls I’m not too fond of. If I ever upgrade this bad boy these things are going right into a fire.

AND SO WE BEGIN. The big problem I encountered here was this, all the compound shapes and the templates are made for pep and not so much foam, or at least the thickness I used. Need it to bend? Go thinner and reinforce it.
B1D71654-C794-474B-8ABF-F565F6368AD6.jpeg
i sort of charged in trying to suss out what other folks used instead of backing up and using my noodle.
Also... bug eyes?
4AEE87C3-CDB9-4DD8-BF46-C81839145AD0.jpeg
No? Just me? Alright moving on.
0FDF4D5D-2077-4788-915C-179C27775A8F.jpeg
Still no? No? No. Okay then. There’s some layering here I would admittedly do again, and some cuts that I thought would hide that are sub par not realising I had made a mistake. Woop. Have to live with it sadly. Inmanaged to buff some of it out with sand paper but it’s not perfect.

B7682A1F-1058-44A1-B183-05B0C2687E5A.jpeg FAA16352-0046-4BFF-A714-CEF682FAD62F.jpeg 115CD5EA-0DCF-4672-B1AF-FF586F1BF7E9.jpeg


After this it was just finding and layering details.
C9FC2FAF-F9BE-4205-B44D-9BB8DC952B65.jpeg 9E43726A-D0E1-4F56-8023-255454B696C9.jpeg

The main seams on the back of the legs on this will haunt my until I die.

AAAAAAND AB PLATE. It’s sort of just a flat slab with some slight details and a curve to it. No much to talk about really.

8E1187AA-A714-485D-B6C0-72B248BF2C07.jpeg C69A0478-E56C-42B9-8B67-3F4561112547.jpeg C922BAEF-6172-46A9-AE33-C76119FF80EC.jpeg
 
THIGHS. I started to pick up speed and have all the subtlety track record of an avalanche of filing cabinets down a flight of stairs.

The Army Trooper is mostly flat slabs of foam so lots of this was a lot faster than I anticipated. So no more talk talk. Only Foam.

F1B8C750-147B-4846-98C4-9CBF7D374218.jpeg 6447E2EE-F02E-4844-A1E6-073DC65DA503.jpeg
138F9C0C-3820-4100-AC71-8E1161CE6E54.jpeg 5067D69F-9328-4D9E-97E7-0841045578FD.jpeg
81F5F23B-91FE-41CC-9606-5A522C82B3EC.jpeg613D9966-9EED-4CE7-8724-CAD7D044403A.jpeg

I forgot to take pics of the last details going on. Then I forgot to include them in this pic. Woops...

DA11E1E6-AC59-4AB5-81AE-A4CE0B93D710.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Uhhhhh I think I started sealing next. It’s all kind of a blur. Leak Seal is my primary sealing agent for this build. The things I love about it are that it’s durable, adheres to your foam, can be sanded, and is flexible. The big thing I continue to hate, is the absolutely rugged texture. It makes the next step something very familiar. Sand die sand again.

248473D7-A5C9-440C-8DC8-FD6AF4023B9B.jpegE2A289AF-E728-4F94-B2A4-08DDBCCAD505.jpegE454AFF6-FEA6-4148-BD73-38E1FCA57A4E.jpeg49A8B170-BAB1-4B15-9D69-3AA5F113AAE9.jpeg
 
I am at the same phase with my armor and at times it does feel like it is endless.

Your armor is looking great!
Thanks! An yeah, much as I love sanding for the zen feeling it definitely wears on me after a while. : |
 
BASE PAINT. So using broad bushes and the cheapy acrylics from Walmart I slapped on my base. Black washing causes your colours to desaturate so start a shade above where you want to be. From there once all of the base painting is done before washing I'll be going at this with a dremel and then spot sealing the areas that I put dents and divots into. Trying something different weathering wise this time round.

Base colours will be:
Bark Brown - Armor parts
Burnt umber- Back side edges and crevices
Dollar Store Black - Vest
Gray - All the stuff that's gray. SO DESCRIPTIVE.


C704D9F1-680B-4D1C-952D-A7D0C6F04B69.jpeg 084BA30C-3E39-4678-BA3D-DF7B27B6952E.jpeg 197A5705-9B39-44A6-AC74-0D4935EDF020.jpeg D09EF879-CA77-4ABE-BB5C-EB92C16E72CE.jpeg

Also, if these are shins then why do they make such a good hat? CHECKMATE ATHEISTS.

18FFD92C-DFFF-4BCD-AFD1-CF6A712E51D5.jpeg

This is what I mean by cheap acrylics. They're very thin. One coat was semi transparent with lots of painfully sparse patches. To get the brown I needed on the armor it was minimum 2 coats.

1 Coat 3 Coats other thigh.
DD8C8D39-118D-4B46-ACC8-C9A3AE8A5059.jpeg C345DDCE-0457-4B73-8A1B-3643875AF7BE.jpeg

This is what I mean by desaturate. You can see how the colour becomes muted as you apply and remove the black wash. This adds depth and detail to your gear but also means that your dark colours get darker.
776AD1BE-3572-4932-8795-7A5CC504D908.jpeg

The power of BASS. Nowaitwoops. BASE. There we go.

14A42253-EF36-4CEB-B7FE-B7A5492C7C4F.jpeg

After this it's stencil time. STENCIL. TIME.
 
Last edited:
STENCILS.

I used green painters tape, rulers, and some educated guess work along with the references provided by PerniciousDuke and TurboCharizard to make my stencils. Sadly my stuff isn’t so crisp but thus the curse of going backwards. Normally I go to a vinyl cutter locally and get nice pro cut vinyl transfer stencils made because I can. But in all seriousness this usually allows for way better tack and the seal is nicer. It means less bleed and less clean up especially when using aerosols/rattle cans for all my stuff.

With This being a budge build though I'm pushing myself to do stuff with paper and green frog brand painters tape. Why? I DON'T KNOW.

Step 1: Transfer your design to the tape.
Step 2: Tack down the tape.
Step 3: Taking a sponge brush dab it into your paint, then dab off most of it so that it applies semi dry. This limits your bleed and allows you to apply more coats faster. This also adds some texture to your emblems making them different than your base coat. SCIENCE.

SO HERE WE GO.
Shoulders. Always hexagons... Never not hexagons....

D8F68BF7-5CA0-4C47-BE73-DD743F517981.jpeg 5294F478-846F-4E1B-BC52-6D276CD7C651.jpeg A029755C-DA17-4CF7-A66A-2E19B2A3B6A3.jpeg

Chest emblems. Aurora Academy Of Military Science and UNSC Army Logo.

1919DEF9-F87A-4248-A115-686B501F13CE.jpeg C35FAF7F-5497-4B6A-8243-55E249A92633.jpeg 93353A0E-6CCA-4EE1-8B83-C7B629B737ED.jpeg 43C90241-500F-40F7-88CC-B979B60D083E.jpeg 8000C003-C53F-4DF2-812A-94D94E4C8546.jpeg

SHOULDERS AND THIGHS

Shoulders round 2, triangles and stuff.

FB61054C-0FC8-4B7D-99BA-CAE6CA0A287A.jpeg A7039221-63AF-4F02-B56C-72A2060B6730.jpeg 94B8A1D6-FC1D-4F8C-A03E-C6C7202D6746.jpeg

Still some details I need to add to the thigh plates but they're basically done and ready for weathering.

8417B561-BDC3-4059-8B7A-EA267164E6EC.jpeg DC2C48C5-6263-47F8-9163-C0144EEDEAD8.jpeg

Laundry list of stuff to tackle.

Chest Chevrons need to be Gray,
Thigh plate detailing,
Dremel work for chips, nicks, and armor damage,
Light spot sealing,
Silver/Gunmetal for damage
Washing,
Highlights,

THEN I CAN SEW AND GET ON TO RIGGING.

We're almost caught up in this thanks to the power of massive image avalanches.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top