Ranger and Jorge

[Coroidan]

Plasti-dip dried! Painty uploads

I'd love to make the lenses one-way, so people can't see my eyes when I'm wearing it. Anyone have any ideas on how to do this, while retaining the red colour? Some sort of cheap mirror tinting or something, per chance?

I was going to originally build the helmet, but I sat down and worked out I could buy one for only a little bit more expensive than making my own, and since I'm a lazy bugger that's exactly what I did. Still waiting for it to turn up, though - It should be a replica US WW2 M1 Helmet. While I'm waiting for it to arrive, I'll get to work on the camera and light. I have a helmet camera I use for snowboarding that I'm planning to mount into the little side box, so with any luck I'll have a fully functioning HD 720p camera in it.

Also, if someone could inform me where the bloody hell I left my citadel paints, that would be super. I want to do some detail work.

 

[alecgates15]

Three ideas I've got: 1) wear a full face mask 2) put some mesh behind it or 3) tint some plastic black and put it behind the red plastic. I'm not sure if the 3rd one would work but it sounds plausible.

 

[cory045]

nice i love the texture look

 

[blutn]

nice build, Im doing the ncr mask at the moment and am about to start the sanding tomorrow as soon as I get to the shop for lots of sand paper.. for a one way effect maybe mouting the red lenses on a darker lense, possibly buy a blacked out or mirror motorcycle visor and cut those to shape then the red stuff ontop of it for colouring ???

ive got big plans for my mask involving electronics which I will keep to myself incase they just dont pan out..

 

[Coroidan]

Yeah, I'm thinking the double lense might be the way to go. I was considering getting some EL wire to mount behind or with the red lenses, or maybe just use red LEDs as they are easier to get here.

 

[Coroidan]

Sorry about the double-post. I'm working on updates, I swear!

So I'm trying to attach the foam chunks for the body armour for my ranger to a black undershirt I picked up. It's sticking for the moment, but I dunno how well it'll all hold together afterwards. Was wondering if anyone might have some suggestions on how to hold all the foam together either to the shirt or to something else?

 

[Bmth1123]

so when i get that far im going to buy some sort of vest maybe a shoting vest or something like this http://cgi.ebay.com.au/BERETTA-SHOOTING-VEST-/180638493821?pt=AU_Hunting&hash=item2a0ee4ac7d and just hot glue or sew it on to the vest

 

[Coroidan]

I've been using tacky craft glue to get it onto the shirt so far. Maybe I should go pick up a hot glue gun... And yeah, I think a vest would have been a better way for me to go, but I don't think I've got time to get anything from eBay. Might see if I can hit up an army disposal store or something.

 

[AbbyWanKenobi]

Eppppppppppic!
And I meant to comment on your Jorge helmet before about not using edge ID numbers, but forgot to. Anyway, that's skill, my friend. Not to mention it looks so clean and faultless. Pure skill, well done.

 

[Tenebrus]

Excellent work bud, when i saw your jorge i actually threw my work in the dumpster in disgust XD. Keep it up and i think if you can handle it you should do the full suit.

 

[Gamemaster]

Patterns on both sides of your foam? That sucks. For small pieces where I needed both sides smooth I used 80 grit sandpaper on a block and then polished it with 320 grit on a block. Not sure if it would work on larger pieces.
For the undersuit if it is cloth hotglue will bond it securely to the foam, if it is nylon hotglue will peel off under stress. Crazy glue might work on nylon, could get expensive though

 

[Coroidan]

I Wound up whacking some baking paper over one side of it, and hitting it with the iron. Melted all the little bumps down and made it fairly smooth. Was trying to sand it but it just kept going really rough, unfortunately =(
And thank you heaps for the info about the shirt! I've just had a look, and it appears to be Cotton. I've been glueing the foam chunks on with Tacky craft glue so far, and it seems to be holding for the moment, but I don't trust it (it's got them shifty eyes). Was going to try and get some hot glue in along the edges (bought a glue gun today), and maybe even do some foam backing to the shirt. Originally I wanted to be able to just pull on the shirt, but now I'm thinking of cutting the back out of the shirt and using the nylon belts I got as a harness sort of deal.

Also, I should say, I bow to your impressive work with foam! I seem to have no talent with the stuff =P

Eppppppppppic!
And I meant to comment on your Jorge helmet before about not using edge ID numbers, but forgot to. Anyway, that's skill, my friend. Not to mention it looks so clean and faultless. Pure skill, well done.

Excellent work bud, when i saw your jorge i actually threw my work in the dumpster in disgust XD. Keep it up and i think if you can handle it you should do the full suit.

Thank you heaps guys! There are a few mistakes on it, but I figured I'd just fix them up in post - also, I took the pictures from angles that hides them...
Also Tenebrus, that kind of makes me feel bad for not doing any more work on it yet! But I did start pepping the body before I started focussing on my Ranger, so I might eventually do up a whole suit.

EDIT: Bloody hell, I ramble a lot...

 

[Gamemaster]

You're welcome When you hotglue foam to cloth wear a work glove, that way you can press it firmly and the glue will bond permanently with the fabric.
And thanks for the kudos, I think I made 6 or 7 foam armor parts before my work started to look good so all it takes is practice and patience.

 

[Coroidan]

Oh, hi guys.

So yeah, Helmet turned up today and I think it will work gloriously for the build. What do you fine folks think?

 

[gingersnapples]

great find, it will do nicely

 

[Gamemaster]

Looks like treasure to me. From what I've seen of other builds it looks accurate. And your mask is jaw-dropping, that paint job is premium, keep up the good work.

 

[Coroidan]

So I've been somewhat busy working on this stuff today. Here's where I'm up to, I think.

GUN!
I've been a fan of the Fallout games since I played the first one, back when it came out. In it, the first gun you get is the 10mm pistol. I saw this Nerf gun, and it looks fairly similar (except for the 6-shot barrel) so I had to go with it. Sanded off the 'nerf' stuff so far, and primered it. Will paint it up silver tomorrow.

GLOVES!
Basically foam, with Fibreglass behind it for a bit of rigidity, sprayed with Plasti-dip, and drybrushed with silver. Because I'm a huge advocate of safety, my hand was in the glove when I hot-glued the plate to it. YAY SAFETY!

BODY!
Alright, so I'm only semi-pleased with how this is coming along. It's currently wear-able, and I've attached a bunch of nylon belts that pull it in nice and close to me when I put it on. However, the foam I think is a bit too thick, and with the duster coat I got over the top, it looks very bulky. I also dunno the best way to round the edges of the plates. Haven't primered this yet, but I was hoping to get to a stage that I can do that, tomorrow.

and HELMET!
Helmet is now fully-wearable, and doesn't require me to hold it on. I've hot-glued material strips just above the eyes of the mask, leading up to the helmet, so it's permanently-ish attached there. On the back, I've glued another 2 strips to the back of the mask, and then glued 2 hard drive magnets on those. When I slide the mask on, I can push the magnets up and they clip onto some metal brackets that were already mounted inside the helmet. Those glasses you can see in the background - I'm using those to mask my eyes. Was gonna physically attach the lenses, but it seems to work just as well if I just wear the glasses and put the helmet over the top.

So yeah, there ya go. I've got the arm plates foamed into shape, and was thinking of skipping the 'fibreglass' behind those, and just spraying them black. Plasti-dip seems to be able to take some bending with no issues at all, which is nice. If anyone thinks I should still fibreglass them for rigidity, let me know. Will also try to finish the body tomorrow, and modify the coat (If anyone's seen Ithica's build, I believe I wound up with the same coat he used, as it was the easiest and cheapest one to get to Australia, and I was running out of money until I started this new job). Will finish the gun tomorrow, that should be easy. Also need to do something about the tank on the back...

Rest of the costume is just jeans and shoes, then doing up a bunch of belts. I'm hoping I can get the majority of it done tomorrow.

Also, I apologize for the quality of these pictures. My decent camera has dropped its showbag, so I'm using an old one that isn't too great.

 

[Coroidan]

Double-post!

Still missing one part of the body armour, but I wanted to see how it sat. Now that I've got the shoulders pulled down, it sits a bit better. Still fairly bulky, but better than it was sitting yesterday.

Also, I'm having a fogging issue inside the helmet. Anyone have suggestions?

 

[Bmth1123]

where did you get the coat if its on a site could you get me a link please thnx

 

[Coroidan]

Sure!
Also here and here.

If you're smaller than me, you might be able to find a better one somewhere. I'm not exactly short or skinny... Also, this is the only one I could find cheap that would ship to Australia.