Project plan: Inventory and feasibility

[Grimzkhul]

First things first,

New here, I've been stalking the forums for a while now and have been wanting to start on this project for a while now. I'm impressed by the project on here, some are just jaw-dropping.

I have a background as a tattoo artist and an addict gamer.

To explain the project in short: Dead Space rig (similar to the advanced suit)

but customized, it will be my base reference as far at the look goes but I want to create a unique armor. The goal: a less bulky type of power-armor.

Now the tricky part: It will be used in a week-end long post-apocalyptic LARP and I want to work with foam (don't have the space for resin work). This includes the helmet. I've looked around but just in case I missed anything critical, if you have any links/suggestions for this build I'd appreciate it. Be aware: This activity is in the woods, will be facing branches, the ground, player weapons (made of latex and foam) and most likely rain and mud (for the feet)

Now for the boring part, let's see if I missed anything as far as tools/materials go. Any recommendation is welcome. I need to purchase most of these.

Tools:

Dremel power tool w/ sanding and cutting attachements
Utility knife
Variable 1500 watt heat gun (dewalt)
Variable angle cutting tool (for cutting bevels)
High temp hot glue gun
Sandpaper (ranging from 60 to 320)
Soldering iron (for LED work and details work)
Scissors
Sharpies/pens

Material:

Floor mat EVA foam
Craft foam (for detail work)
Mod podge (to fill cracks in, to be sanded afterwards)
Plasticard (for detail work and pattern)
Plasti dip (Hesitating between liquid and aerosol)
Various paints
Adhesion promoter
Black fabric (to have a base for attaching my straps and reinforcing the back of my pieces)
Expanding foam (to fill in empty pieces)

Missing anything? (I'm kinda OCD when it comes to starting a project I need to plan my tools/materials to the last detail, took me a week to order my tattooing equipment when my master allowed me to start doing everything on my own)


I'll get a friend that's a costume designer to create my undersuit from spandex and cheap pleather (to have more dimension). To form the dome of the helmet I still have no idea how I'll go about it.

Project ETA: Mid-May will be making another thread once the funds are in and the project is on track.

Thanks in advance folks!

 

[daviduffy]

You're pretty much right on when it comes to the tools and supplies that you'll need, although I will caution you that no matter how thorough you are at the outset, you will probably find that you need other materials or supplies as time goes on. I do have a few suggestions as well:

- Instead of a utility knife from a hardware store, I would get a more craft-oriented xacto knife, as well as quite a few #11 blades. For clean cuts through EVA, you'll need it to be super sharp.

- I know this is a ways down the road, but you said you were an obsessive planner, so it bears mentioning that it doesn't seem like you've thought about how you're going to attach your armor to yourself. This is usually accomplished with a system of plastic buckles and nylon webbing purchased off of eBay or Amazon, as well as a belt and pair of suspenders in some cases. Another thing you should consider is that while foam is more flexible than fiberglass/bondo, you will still have to probably cut one or more of your pieces to get them on yourself. Buckles can once again be helpful in this application, although in my build I preferred magnets (neodymium).

- You may not end up needing expanding foam unless you're working with sealed empty pieces, like a firearm model. EVA has pretty good structure to it.

That's all I can think of off-hand! For what it's worth, I'll drop in from time to time, and I wish you the best of luck with your build!

 

[Grimzkhul]

My main worry would be the fact that I will be abusing the hell out of it, is there anything stronger than hot glue for bonding pieces together? Will the plasti-dip help the foam from tearing apart from impacts and the such if layered enough? or again... is there a better way to go about this...?

For the chest I was considering magnets for the pieces I will have to separate, but for the attachment I honestly hadn't thought about it until you mentioned it. The chest itself should be able to stay in place without buckles but to make sure I think I'll have my friend build buckles unto the suit itself. I believe I could always go about the velcro (heavy-duty) way as well no? Attach the female bands to the undersuit and male parts (hooks) behind the armor pieces, making my undersuit universal for later armor builds?

Thanks for the knife tips.

 

[vargatom]

Nice list there, but I have a couple of comments...

Dremel power tool w/ sanding and cutting attachements

Best way to sand foam is to get a really, really exhausted sanding band and use a low RPM setting. Check Evil-FX for some videos.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGuyverGuy?feature=watch - You want the Daedric Sword ones.
I also watch his channel sometimes, although now he's moved on to a different method after all the foam N7 armor.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/evil-fx

Also get something to clean all the foam dust - vacuum cleaner is a must but you can also use a very soft and big brush.

Variable angle cutting tool (for cutting bevels)

Useless IMHo, including the X-acto one.
I freehand all my angled cuts, it gets me more precise and cleaner results.
The angled foam board cutter usually dents the surface and you can't see what you're cutting. You're probably going to need 45 and 30 degree cuts most of the time.

Do get both an X-acto knife and a standard extendable utility knife though.

Sandpaper (ranging from 60 to 320)

Never really needed those.

Scissors

Very useful for cutting 2mm/4mm craft foam sheets. But for the pep/template stuff I've always used a utility knife.
Can also be used to cut off the hot glue that spills over edges.

Sharpies/pens

Haven't tried it yet, but a silver sharpie should help at the paint stage, to "draw" scratches and chipped off paint on top of the base color coat.

Craft foam (for detail work)

Get sheets with at least two different thickness - I use 2mm and 4mm. You'll probably need more of the 4mm, but it depends on your workflow.

Plasti dip (Hesitating between liquid and aerosol)

I've bought both, even though I'll only test it this weekend.
The idea is to use the brush on liquid wherever I can, and use the aerosol for the parts that can't be reached with a brush. There's a chance you'll have some of those.

Missing anything?

Strapping/webbing/buckles/velcro to get the armor pieces to stay where they're supposed to be. You'll probably have to figure this out for yourself, but only after reading a lot of threads here from Drack, LilTyrant, RoxyRoo etc.

Also get protection equipment. Clear glasses are a must, so that nothing can blind you, and at least a dust mask too. You'll probably also need a respirator for the plasti-dip and paint work. If you're in a small area, also get a ventilator or fan or something. I've found heat protection gloves to be quite useful.
Also get masking tape, clear tape, lots of hot glue sticks (50+), a metal ruler, paper towels, large plastic garbage bags. And keep anything - literally anything - that you'd otherwise throw away, from bottle caps through sticks to anything (especially rounded objects as they're hard to build) that could be used to detail the armor. Once you coat it with plasti-dip it'll be part of the suit, no matter if it's made from wood or plastic or metal.

It also helps to have a notebook computer / iPad at hand - with a charger - to look at reference images, and something to play music on. Also get throw-away clothing that you wouldn't mind ruining with dust, glue, burns, cuts and such.

 

[vargatom]

My main worry would be the fact that I will be abusing the hell out of it, is there anything stronger than hot glue for bonding pieces together?

Hot glue is actually quite strong - you need to cut it, or tear the foam itself, to separate pieces once they're properly glued together.
In fact, I regularly use hot glue on the inside of joins to reinforce them even further. Hot glue is basically plastic that's not resistant to heat.

Will the plasti-dip help the foam from tearing apart from impacts and the such if layered enough? or again... is there a better way to go about this...?

Don't think so, but the foam itself takes a lot of force to tear.
If you use high temp glue than it's unlikely that it'd ever come apart.

I believe I could always go about the velcro (heavy-duty) way as well no?

I plan to attach armor pieces to my undersuit using 10cm wide straps of velcro, will let you know how it works. Theoretically it should be fine as foam is pretty lightweight.

But this is something usually custom designed for each set of armor, you'll probably have to come up with a solution on your own. It's not that hard though

 

[BoneRiot]

I'd like to make a recomendation as an alternative to Hot Glue that i'm actually kinda surprised i haven't seen around. I use a product DAP Contact cement (6 buck jar at walmart) you brush it onto both sides of contact, let it dry for about 20 minutes and then press the pieces together. If you've let it dry out right you'll have a fantastic hold within about 2 minutes of holding it together, i use it for larp weapons and stuff that takes some heavy beatings. It's a bit more finicky (once you bring them together they're going to stick and stay that way) but if you're slow and precise the strength is a wonderful trade.

If you decide to use Plastidip at all (which only really helps prevent minor dings and dents) then give the dap about 72 hours to cure before pd'ing it (doing it too soon can re-activate and weaken or cause the dap to bubble). It's a combination of dap+puzzle mat + pd i've used hundreds of times, gives amazing and intense durability.

Also keep in mind that if you PD anything that the pd will ripple and fold with excessive compression of the piece.

Finally from working with brush on pd vs aerosal, myself and those i've worked with prefer to start off with the spray doing 1 or 2 very thin coats to give a mass and widespread base, then finishing off with the brush. The spray can come out gloopy or puddle up if you're not applying it very thinly. The brush method can be slightly tedious as you really have to brush it in in order to get a smooth coat, but if done right you can take the details of the glops and get a great metal texturing out of it.

You can see how if there's any sort of imperfections in the pd it can really show, that's layered on top of 4lb puzzle mat btw so same medium all the way.

 

[Grimzkhul]

Good to know it'll hold up properly. Thanks for the tips guys, looking forward to building this, I'll most likely have the money for the tools soon (couple of big projects coming up). Then it's "smooth" sailing from there on out.