pinoyfiasco
Member
Forgive me if this write-up is a bit jumbled and lacking in visual aids! I've been backing up my photos and some of the older images I needed haven't been sorted yet.
ODST shoulder is pained and weathered. Right now it's just a collection of flat greys, though I'm thinking of putting a painted stripe in there just to break up the monotony a little.
The pain point I'm trying to address right now is my undersuit. Suit 1.0 used TPU for the soft parts: neck seal, shoulders, ab wrap. Long story short, TPU was just not the ideal material for this application - at least, not wholesale. TPU is flexible, but not in a way that can supplement mobility around the joints and extremities. I can get more long-winded about this if you'd like, but maybe another time.
The shoulders were a huge pain point. The TPU was just not flexible enough for me to comfortably put my arms down. They dug into my armpits, which was a nuisance. My bicep armor kept getting forced down, which prevented me from flexing my elbows well. I also wanted a boxier silhouette around the shoulders, and I just couldn't shape them well. All in all, not ideal. None of this is the designer's fault - it's just the material and how those particular pieces fit my body.
I decided to go a different route and try my hand at silicone. InstinctCreative3D has some specially designed undersuit molds, and I've seen them used to great effect when Noble Team showed up at DragonCon. With how challenging my suit's shoulder/bicep mobility is already, this really seems like the way to go.
I've got one shoulder mold printed, which will need to be assembled (had to plane cut them for my P1S), seams filled, and sanded. I don't need to go crazy with the layer lines, fortunately, since I'll be applying a coat of truck bed liner on the inside so the silicone can take on the texture. The nice thing about this, too, is I can easily line the shoulder pads with foam to help it maintain its shape without sacrificing its pliability.
Granted, I could be biting off way more than I can chew with Halloween being my deadline (with two other suits I'm working on, lol). For now I'm just trying to get shoulders and a neck seal done, and I can worry about the ab wrap later. I have some Dragonskin 10 on the way. Should I fail to finish this up, my backup solution is a BDU which will be easier to don and walk around in.
I did try a quick little solo sunrise shoot the other days. Unfortunately I was alone so I wasn't able to get the whole suit on by myself, and I opted to just wear everything over a hoodie. Needless to say it's hard to operate a camera like this! I'm happy with the couple of photos I was able to get, though, since I get to show off a bit of my new chestplate and left shoulder, as well as my new resin printed visor.
ODST shoulder is pained and weathered. Right now it's just a collection of flat greys, though I'm thinking of putting a painted stripe in there just to break up the monotony a little.
The pain point I'm trying to address right now is my undersuit. Suit 1.0 used TPU for the soft parts: neck seal, shoulders, ab wrap. Long story short, TPU was just not the ideal material for this application - at least, not wholesale. TPU is flexible, but not in a way that can supplement mobility around the joints and extremities. I can get more long-winded about this if you'd like, but maybe another time.
The shoulders were a huge pain point. The TPU was just not flexible enough for me to comfortably put my arms down. They dug into my armpits, which was a nuisance. My bicep armor kept getting forced down, which prevented me from flexing my elbows well. I also wanted a boxier silhouette around the shoulders, and I just couldn't shape them well. All in all, not ideal. None of this is the designer's fault - it's just the material and how those particular pieces fit my body.
I decided to go a different route and try my hand at silicone. InstinctCreative3D has some specially designed undersuit molds, and I've seen them used to great effect when Noble Team showed up at DragonCon. With how challenging my suit's shoulder/bicep mobility is already, this really seems like the way to go.
I've got one shoulder mold printed, which will need to be assembled (had to plane cut them for my P1S), seams filled, and sanded. I don't need to go crazy with the layer lines, fortunately, since I'll be applying a coat of truck bed liner on the inside so the silicone can take on the texture. The nice thing about this, too, is I can easily line the shoulder pads with foam to help it maintain its shape without sacrificing its pliability.
Granted, I could be biting off way more than I can chew with Halloween being my deadline (with two other suits I'm working on, lol). For now I'm just trying to get shoulders and a neck seal done, and I can worry about the ab wrap later. I have some Dragonskin 10 on the way. Should I fail to finish this up, my backup solution is a BDU which will be easier to don and walk around in.
I did try a quick little solo sunrise shoot the other days. Unfortunately I was alone so I wasn't able to get the whole suit on by myself, and I opted to just wear everything over a hoodie. Needless to say it's hard to operate a camera like this! I'm happy with the couple of photos I was able to get, though, since I get to show off a bit of my new chestplate and left shoulder, as well as my new resin printed visor.
