So here is where I am stumped. The back plate is a part of why I stalled out last year. I cut, shaped, and glued the foam and what quite happy with it. That in until I reached the next step. See I wanted to use Worbla to smooth out the seams, as well as give it some extra rigidity. And the Worbla would make it not look and feel like foam, as well as protecting the foam from any sharp objects.
I have a shield that I made out of foam and plastidip, and I know how quickly just grass eats away that foam and paint. So the last thing I want is to make armor that is going to have paint chip or wear off if I want to sit on a couch. And I have full intentions of being active in the armor. Like, come home from work, put it all on, get in the Uber, and go somewhere. Typically MFB where its more compact and they have places to sit or I may be posing for photos and moving around a lot. Or, and this is the dumb idea I have but will likely never pull off, DIY lazer tag system. (I totally love the idea of integrating lazer tag into some armor and having lazer battles but I don't see that happening anytime soon.)
Unfortunately the Worbla just wouldn't shape right. It help creasing or ripping and over all looked like trash. I did two attempts before running out of material. I don't want to do fiberglass for several reasons. I just don't have the work space for it, and doing it outside is out of the question because its 100°F+ outside. It's also a material I just don't want to work with.
A few people suggested just hiding it with a rucksack. But again, with the nature of how I want to wear this, that is out of the question. Maybe after everything else is done I'll make a ruck, but not now, not to hide this piece. Not to mention that a ruck would add more to the over all size making sitting in a car or moving though a tight packed bar difficult.
So I talked with my roommate and I mentioned that I think we should just 3D print this part. We'd have to slice it a lot, as well as modify the files we have. Or just straight up model a new one. She suggested using some calking to fill the gaps. That I could smooth it out and then sand it down.
I then thought of my favorite builder on YouTube, Martian Molin. If you are unfamiliar with who he is, hes the builder of the Marble Machine X as well as the leader of the bad Wintergatan. I forget his exact wording but the idea stuck with me. He was building the MMX very much in a form over function way. Making parts that looked good and how he wanted them to be, but not having the reliability he wanted. After all, he wants the machine to play 1,000,000 with 0 fails. And after about 2 1/2 years of this he found that he would never hit his goal of a million marbles with out issues if he kept to that path. He'd end up with a very nice looking machine that couldn't play music. But if we sacrificed some artistic vision for more sound mechanical designs he could hit that goal. And so he tore down the MMX and rebuilt large portions of it. Blending solid engineering designs with some artistic flair to make a machine that has so far played 80,000 marbles in one session with out fail.
And that's what I thought about. "Maybe I'll have to forgo the Worbla for now til my skills improve. Maybe working with other materials is what I need to get the project moving from this sticking point. After all, its what Martian would do."
So I tried the calking. I went into it like I would with body filler (Bondo). I put a bead down, then using my finger pressed it into the seams. I did this a few times in a few layers till I had a good build up laid down. The idea being put more on that I need and sand down to where I want.
Well here's where I am at with that.
And I'm not happy. Only after I put this all on did I read that the calking she handed me is no paintable. AND, its not sanding, just pealing like a sunburn.
But, I'm not giving up yet. I have one more thing I am willing to try. Im going to get some roll craft foam and see if I can shape that over the back. Then use plastidip and a few other tricks to get it exactly how I want it.
And if all else fails scored earth fire up the 3D printer and take over the world that way.
