SgtSprinkles
New Member
Sawp peepz, it's the Sprink here!
I just wanted to officially say hello to everyone and after a bit of stalking this place, I've decided to finally join up and give costuming a shot. As a fair warning, I haven't done any kind of costuming or cosplaying at all. Ever. I have zero artistic ability and I have avoided all of the fancy stuff that surrounds costuming and cosplay... until last week. Last week I went to Toracon. At Toracon, I saw a man dressed as the Master Chief. The next day, I saw said Master Chief again but this time... he was wearing a pink corset over his armor. Yes; a pink corset. I will provide a pic if you people doubt me. It was at that moment that I realized; I am missing out on something spectacular and something that would be extremely fun. I love Halo and a few years ago, I knew everything about it. I played it day in and day out alone, with friends, and semi-competitively. I even roleplayed it and immersed myself into the world through words. I did fanfictions (which I have kept to myself for obvious reasons) and I also discovered my love for writing, which I still continue to feed at another roleplay site. And so, after seeing the Chief in a Pink corset I made a decision; I'm going to make a freaking suit. And it will be beautiful. Even if it actually sucks.
I spent the remaining time at Toracon, in between panels of course, browsing the 405th forum for details on how to make the suits (sometimes I was told by my buddy that I should just wait... BUT THERE IS NO WAIT). I looked up what kind of materials I would need, an estimated cost, and the general work I would be getting myself into as well as for some resources. By god there's a lot of resources on this forum that the information overload is making decisions difficult (Ex; EVA foam vs Pep and Fiberglass vs Rondo). But even so! I have made enough decisions to know my end goal; an ODST suit. I love the Helljumpers and I, personally, would much rather be an ODST than a SPARTAN. Yes, crucify me if you'd like but I will not deny the truth.
I then took steps to figure out how to make the suit, found myself some templates and blueprints, and downloaded the Pepakura Designer program thing. I made a list of things to get for the suit, crossed off what I already had, and got busy. So far, I don't have much but it has led me here.
I'm the type of guy who plans everything out in advance. I don't like wasting time and I don't like making mistakes. Starting over because of something small kills me, so I seek perfection. I do know that there is a limit to this perfection so I give myself some leeway as I can usually adjust for it. Due to this perfection-seeking, I have no idea what I'm doing. As I said, I have no artsy experience and this stuff is brand new to me. Hell, I never knew that I could use bondo for anything else besides cars until I saw it being talked about here. I never even knew something like cardstock/pepakura even existed either. I went to four different stores looking for it because I had no idea what it even looked like. All I knew was that it was printing paper or something (I freakin' bought a notebook at first thinking it was the right stuff. Lolnope).
But! I have made progress. I got the materials and tools for the starting job of pepakura modeling and I've begun said modeling. Yet as I go along, I'm finding myself having questions and I think asking you all would be better than my idiot self winging it, as I'll probably end up dead or missing fingers for some odd reason. So with my life story done, here's my questions...
* * *
--Disclaimer: I do understand that some of my questions may have already been asked somewhere over the rainbow. However, I am asking them because I have no idea that they have been asked and I do not know where they have been asked. If you know, then instead of saying "yo bruh, idiot, that has already been answered! gtfonub!", please link me to said answer. I would much appreciate it! I'm trying to learn the best I can and asking questions is all I know. dun b jurk, k? <3--
To start it all off! I have no idea if what I'm doing is supposed to look the way it does. If it helps, I'm using Kirrou's ODST Helmet model as I can't exactly model anything myself (if I'm not allowed to, let me know and I'll just scrap what I've got and start over). By that, I mean that I feel like what I've got looks off. It may just be my poor gluing and me being fresh to this, but I feel like there should be more of a bend in the paper. It seems far too straight that I am honestly frightened to continue; I feel like the helmet will come out deformed. Is this just because of the helmet not actually being complete and that there's not full anchors for the paper edges? Or am I doing something wrong here? [Image]
* * *
Next, how do you all make your undersuits and such? I haven't really read up a lot on them (I will be either later tonight or tomorrow, as it just popped into my mind) but I'd like to know how some of you all make them. Do you guys use some kind of black cloth? Or do you all actually model it and make it out of Pep, EVA, or some time of kevlar? I was considering just sticking the armor to some rugged, flat black clothes or something. I also planned to get some kind of black and grey fatigues or camo pants to stick my armor onto for the leggings.
(BEHOLD! I've used my beautiful circling skills to point out what I mean by "undersuits".)
I'm thinking that those things would be apart of the actual design, but I'm 95% sure that I'm wrong.
* * *
Third question!!
I absolutely seem to suck at making curves and bends in my pepakura paper. They're all messy and just.. bleh... But the actual helmet is steadily coming together. Even with all of these bleh-bends, are they could to affect my end product? I am continued on along with high hopes that I can smoothen out the edges and bends with whatever hardening and thickening material I decide on. If that's a lost cause, I'd like to know before I die later. I read up on how to bend the paper and I've followed some of the tips, but I still can't get the stuff right. My pitiful gluing doesn't help either.
* * *
Fourth question! HOT GLUE x BONDO/RESIN/FIBERGLASS?
I saw somewhere that tape doesn't like to be solidified or covered up by the bondon/rondon/resin stuff... Does the same apply to glue? I'm using low-heat hot glue, which is suggestion by a bunch of peeps, but some of it seeps out from behind the triangular tabs. Are those little tiny globs going to mess me up later? Or am I fretting over nothing, like everything else?
* * *
For now, that's all I've got. I'll probably edit some more in later or post some below (or both) if I come up with any more! Also if you guys have any hints, tips, or suggestions for me, please don't hesitate to share! Even if it's just a link to somewhere that could help, I will appreciate it. As I've said before, I am brand new to this stuff and I am a scrub, but I am a determined scrub. By next year's Toracon, I'm hoping to have a full suit made up and ready to go.
Thanks in advance for any information you guys are willing to share!
I just wanted to officially say hello to everyone and after a bit of stalking this place, I've decided to finally join up and give costuming a shot. As a fair warning, I haven't done any kind of costuming or cosplaying at all. Ever. I have zero artistic ability and I have avoided all of the fancy stuff that surrounds costuming and cosplay... until last week. Last week I went to Toracon. At Toracon, I saw a man dressed as the Master Chief. The next day, I saw said Master Chief again but this time... he was wearing a pink corset over his armor. Yes; a pink corset. I will provide a pic if you people doubt me. It was at that moment that I realized; I am missing out on something spectacular and something that would be extremely fun. I love Halo and a few years ago, I knew everything about it. I played it day in and day out alone, with friends, and semi-competitively. I even roleplayed it and immersed myself into the world through words. I did fanfictions (which I have kept to myself for obvious reasons) and I also discovered my love for writing, which I still continue to feed at another roleplay site. And so, after seeing the Chief in a Pink corset I made a decision; I'm going to make a freaking suit. And it will be beautiful. Even if it actually sucks.
I spent the remaining time at Toracon, in between panels of course, browsing the 405th forum for details on how to make the suits (sometimes I was told by my buddy that I should just wait... BUT THERE IS NO WAIT). I looked up what kind of materials I would need, an estimated cost, and the general work I would be getting myself into as well as for some resources. By god there's a lot of resources on this forum that the information overload is making decisions difficult (Ex; EVA foam vs Pep and Fiberglass vs Rondo). But even so! I have made enough decisions to know my end goal; an ODST suit. I love the Helljumpers and I, personally, would much rather be an ODST than a SPARTAN. Yes, crucify me if you'd like but I will not deny the truth.
I then took steps to figure out how to make the suit, found myself some templates and blueprints, and downloaded the Pepakura Designer program thing. I made a list of things to get for the suit, crossed off what I already had, and got busy. So far, I don't have much but it has led me here.
I'm the type of guy who plans everything out in advance. I don't like wasting time and I don't like making mistakes. Starting over because of something small kills me, so I seek perfection. I do know that there is a limit to this perfection so I give myself some leeway as I can usually adjust for it. Due to this perfection-seeking, I have no idea what I'm doing. As I said, I have no artsy experience and this stuff is brand new to me. Hell, I never knew that I could use bondo for anything else besides cars until I saw it being talked about here. I never even knew something like cardstock/pepakura even existed either. I went to four different stores looking for it because I had no idea what it even looked like. All I knew was that it was printing paper or something (I freakin' bought a notebook at first thinking it was the right stuff. Lolnope).
But! I have made progress. I got the materials and tools for the starting job of pepakura modeling and I've begun said modeling. Yet as I go along, I'm finding myself having questions and I think asking you all would be better than my idiot self winging it, as I'll probably end up dead or missing fingers for some odd reason. So with my life story done, here's my questions...
* * *
--Disclaimer: I do understand that some of my questions may have already been asked somewhere over the rainbow. However, I am asking them because I have no idea that they have been asked and I do not know where they have been asked. If you know, then instead of saying "yo bruh, idiot, that has already been answered! gtfonub!", please link me to said answer. I would much appreciate it! I'm trying to learn the best I can and asking questions is all I know. dun b jurk, k? <3--
To start it all off! I have no idea if what I'm doing is supposed to look the way it does. If it helps, I'm using Kirrou's ODST Helmet model as I can't exactly model anything myself (if I'm not allowed to, let me know and I'll just scrap what I've got and start over). By that, I mean that I feel like what I've got looks off. It may just be my poor gluing and me being fresh to this, but I feel like there should be more of a bend in the paper. It seems far too straight that I am honestly frightened to continue; I feel like the helmet will come out deformed. Is this just because of the helmet not actually being complete and that there's not full anchors for the paper edges? Or am I doing something wrong here? [Image]
* * *
Next, how do you all make your undersuits and such? I haven't really read up a lot on them (I will be either later tonight or tomorrow, as it just popped into my mind) but I'd like to know how some of you all make them. Do you guys use some kind of black cloth? Or do you all actually model it and make it out of Pep, EVA, or some time of kevlar? I was considering just sticking the armor to some rugged, flat black clothes or something. I also planned to get some kind of black and grey fatigues or camo pants to stick my armor onto for the leggings.
(BEHOLD! I've used my beautiful circling skills to point out what I mean by "undersuits".)
I'm thinking that those things would be apart of the actual design, but I'm 95% sure that I'm wrong.
* * *
Third question!!
I absolutely seem to suck at making curves and bends in my pepakura paper. They're all messy and just.. bleh... But the actual helmet is steadily coming together. Even with all of these bleh-bends, are they could to affect my end product? I am continued on along with high hopes that I can smoothen out the edges and bends with whatever hardening and thickening material I decide on. If that's a lost cause, I'd like to know before I die later. I read up on how to bend the paper and I've followed some of the tips, but I still can't get the stuff right. My pitiful gluing doesn't help either.
* * *
Fourth question! HOT GLUE x BONDO/RESIN/FIBERGLASS?
I saw somewhere that tape doesn't like to be solidified or covered up by the bondon/rondon/resin stuff... Does the same apply to glue? I'm using low-heat hot glue, which is suggestion by a bunch of peeps, but some of it seeps out from behind the triangular tabs. Are those little tiny globs going to mess me up later? Or am I fretting over nothing, like everything else?
* * *
For now, that's all I've got. I'll probably edit some more in later or post some below (or both) if I come up with any more! Also if you guys have any hints, tips, or suggestions for me, please don't hesitate to share! Even if it's just a link to somewhere that could help, I will appreciate it. As I've said before, I am brand new to this stuff and I am a scrub, but I am a determined scrub. By next year's Toracon, I'm hoping to have a full suit made up and ready to go.
Thanks in advance for any information you guys are willing to share!
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