Thorssoli's MkVI Costume Buildup

[Jico]

i don't really think this is possible... it might be but probabaly not, you see once you get the right strength magnet to keep your weapon in place, you run the risk of destroying either your armour or weapon everytime you go to pull it off, if you like the look of it though, you could have the magnum as a static prop on your leg and keep the one you plan on pulling out in a pouch or something. but maybe... (oh, btw have you thought of a clip system to hold it in place like a slide or something that could be universal to all your weapons?? and great work so far on your everything )

Or.. use a powerfull electromagnet with a switch in the armor!

 

[Road Kill]

What is this!?!?! Another " Road Kill" ???



Oh noes, I must invite you to a BBQ.



As for the armor, this is coming along as one hell of a set. I can't wait to see this finished.

you're Roodkill and i am Road Kill and plus there is also someone whose username is RoadKiller, but armor wise it is coming along very nicely

 

[Loess]

You could fit a small bayonet lug type rail and socket to the thigh and pistol. They'd be difficult to see, and the motion to draw the magnum off the rail would be fairly small. There would be the problem of having to keep the one side of the magnum angled away from cameras in photos, though.

Truly superior work, Thor. I've been admiring, and inspired, ever since you first posted this thread.

 

[ShadoKat]

You, sir, are an absolute master! Like many people here, your thread was one of the very first I saw upon arrival at the 405th, and it has served as inspiration ever since! Question for you, though... I see you've made plug molds for a lot of your parts, but have you ever made a plug mold for a helmet? If so, how did you do it? If not, is it something you've ever considered tackling?

 

[DMW]

<snip>

I also decided to experiment with embedding rare earth magnets in the thighs where the weapons are supposed to click into place:

I've decided I don't like the way they work. Even the lightest of my foam pistol castings fell off when I jumped. So I'll probably fudge this bit and just velcro the pistol in place.


<snip>

Just curious... how many magnets did you use and how big were they? I've been debating something similar; I'm just wondering if a row or maybe an array of magnets would get around the gravity issue.

 

[aktaylorh]

You could try Hard drive magnets. Those things are hardcore, or you could get a cell phone belt clip that clicks in and out. My dad used to have one that i think would work great.

 

[Zat German]

You could try Hard drive magnets. Those things are hardcore, or you could get a cell phone belt clip that clicks in and out. My dad used to have one that i think would work great.

Hard drives use rare earth(neodymium) magnets, same thing thorssoli tried. However, I think his problem was trying to use one on each side, rather than metal on one side and a magnet on the other.

 

[Altair651]

Congrats on getting this thread up to 100 pages Thor! I have been here since the beggining of this topic, and I must say... Youve come a long way! Keep up the great work, and give yourself a break would ya!? You deserve it!

 

[CV26]

Good job !!

 

[thorssoli]

Congrats on getting this thread up to 100 posts Thor! I have been here since the beggining of this topic, and I must say... Youve come a long way! Keep up the great work, and give yourself a break would ya!? You deserve it!

Not 100 posts, sir. 100 PAGES. That's almost 1,000 posts. That makes this thread an entire order of magnitude bigger. Huge even.

But that's not what matters now. What matters now is...

...Boot mold update:

Here's the molds with the first layer of silicone:

Here's the upper mother molds built:

I decided to go with a rigid mold for the bottom of the soles (since the flexible foam can be pulled from the rigid mold) Here's the reinforced resin poured over the bottoms of the boots:

In other news, I'm making progress on the rest of the suits for Halloween. Here's the shins all in rows:

Stay tuned, we're very near to 1,000 posts...

 

[Altair651]

Not 100 posts, sir. 100 PAGES. That's almost 1,000 posts. That makes this thread an entire order of magnitude bigger. Huge even.

Oh, my bad, thats what I meant... =P

 

[thechoochman528]

Hey Thor, I've been scouring your threads for what flex foam you use for some of your casts. Are you using Smooth-on's Flex-foam-IT? If so at what density?

Also, any other helpful tip and tricks you can pass along with using the flex foam may come in handy.

I still recall from 2 years ago, how uncomfortable my butt plate was and I'm thinking a foam one might allow me to sit a little better.

 

[thorssoli]

Hey Thor, I've been scouring your threads for what flex foam you use for some of your casts. Are you using Smooth-on's Flex-foam-IT? If so at what density?

Also, any other helpful tip and tricks you can pass along with using the flex foam may come in handy.

I still recall from 2 years ago, how uncomfortable my butt plate was and I'm thinking a foam one might allow me to sit a little better.

Mostly I've been using Flex-Foam-It 17, but you'll want to pick a density based on what you need it to do.

Tips and tricks? Okay.

1. Get it right the first time. You cannot bondo over holes in your foam castings.
2. Make sure your mold seams are tight. Less flashing means smaller flaws in the finished piece.
3. If you've got a narrow part that needs foam to fill it, consider starting your pour there. The foam will expand and flow through the path of least resistance. If it's easier to flow out of a vent than fill a skinny part of the mold, the skinny part will not be filled.
4. Use back pressure to ensure that the mold fills completely.
5. Use at room temperature, read the directions, and follow them religiously. Cold foam is very finicky about atmospheric conditions and it's easy to get it wrong.
6. Good luck. Despite a lot of practice, I still only manage about a 45% success rate with cold foam casting.

Stand by for an update on the new and improved boots...



Right now I've got to run off any meet my gym partner.

 

[Liq]

When things get less busy on both our ends I have so much stuff to buy from you, and a pair of boots adds to the list. What are you going to shift to after you're done with the Halo stuff? You going Reach, or something completely different? I was planning on Predator myself, but it's so hard to leave Halo armor, heh.

 

[rumble]

Accurate down to the treads. I love it! How do you anticipate the rubber holding up to walking around at cons? (if someone asked that already, just say so - I'll dig back and find it. Still haven't gotten all the way through this thread but I'm working on it lol.)

 

[dericrw]

EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC and did I say EPIC....................

1,000 POSTS

CONGRATS

 

[sonic sod]

holy shins!!!! nice boots btw

 

[thorssoli]

When things get less busy on both our ends I have so much stuff to buy from you, and a pair of boots adds to the list. What are you going to shift to after you're done with the Halo stuff? You going Reach, or something completely different? I was planning on Predator myself, but it's so hard to leave Halo armor, heh.

I'm tempted to do a Reach suit, but I really don't want to go through this whole process again. I was trading Brandon McClain parts for parts and I hope to get a full suit that way. I only need one of those, I think.

I made a Predator costume back in 2005:

A while back that costume made it into the Make blog and from there it ended up all over the internets.

As for my next project, I really need to finish up the little Sherman tank. After that I've got some steampunk concepts I'd like to bring to life. After that, who knows...

Accurate down to the treads. I love it! How do you anticipate the rubber holding up to walking around at cons? (if someone asked that already, just say so - I'll dig back and find it. Still haven't gotten all the way through this thread but I'm working on it lol.)

For the first pair I used Flex-Foam-It 17 and they're pretty stiff. I may make the rest of them out of a softer grade of foam. They won't make great hiking boots, but I think they'll be okay for wearing a few days a year.

1,000 POSTS

CONGRATS

And still going...
Boot Update!

When I last mentioned the boots, I'd just poured the rigid portion of the mold for the soles. Here's what it looked like when I peeled it off:


I was using some old resin from a batch that went bad a while back (paint won't stick to it when it cures) and when this stuff cured, it bubbled up a lot at the surface of the master. The end result was a lot of tiny pits all over the mold:


I puttied over the holes and then did a throwaway cast to see if there would be any problems with the mold. Here's the way the first pulls (solid blocks of boot-shaped foam) came out:


Satisfied that the molds would work, I wedged the donor boot into place. This was a cheap Ugg boot knockoff that would serve as the base for the foam to be cast around:


With the inner shoe in place, I packed it tight full of newspaper so that it wouldn't squish flat when the foam expanded around it. Then I mixed a batch of foam and injected it into the mold between the boot and the rubber jacket mold. Once it started to expand I poured another batch over the bottom of the shoe sole and clamped on the rigid sole mold:


Then I used a 2oz. syringe and injected more foam around the top edge:


As an act of superhuman restraint, I resisted the urge to rush and pull them early. In fact, I waited overnight before I went back to the shop, popped the new boots out of the mold, and then spent the next two hours strutting around in them:


I'm pretty happy with how they came out, but there was one void in the bottom of one of the soles:


And a couple of patches at the back where the foam didn't fill in all the way:


Still, they're very wearable and I'm pretty happy with how they came out:


Now I just need to crank out a dozen more pairs and get to painting.

Stay tuned...

 

[Castellan Craft]

Out of curiosity, do you think a rubber rather then a foam would work for the boots? You might not have to worry about whether expansion will fill stuff out, etc. http://www.alumilite.com/ProdDetail.cfm?Category=Casting Resins&Name=Flex 30

 

[thorssoli]

Out of curiosity, do you think a rubber rather then a foam would work for the boots?

It might work, but it would be more expensive and much heavier. I'm not worried about the foam expanding. I just have to plan for it.