Those who know me - or have read about my exploits on Facebook - know that I'm into superheroes in a rather geeky way... having worn Green Lantern and then Cyclops for the past two successive Hallowe'ens.
I'm THAT kind of geeky, though... that is a bit sticklish about 'realism' (such as it is)... I vastly prefer to wear a costume that fits my body size and frame... so I won't likely wear a Spiderman... but I WOULD wear a Venom, for example... and even Cyclops (statistically 6'3" and 175lb) is smaller than my 6'2", 210lb... but the way he was illustrated in the Claremont/Lee days of the 1990s, you would have thought he was more my size.
(Hullo! Comic book geek? LOL)
So that said... I had decided to (and still eventually will) wear something I have yet to see done WELL in the cosplay community - Brian Braddock, aka Captain Britain.
(Hey shaddap... *I* like him. Also... please refrain from the obvious 'wearing white spandex pants' issue... I'll deal with it when the time comes. LOL)
The spandex part of the costume should be easy enough... I'll just commission it out... I know enough costumers that I could get this done easily and well within a decent budget (I anticipate $200 per bodysuit conservatively... hey at 6'2" and 210lb I have a fair bit of terrain to cover... let alone the labour of sewing lycra/spandex, the colour matching, the specific angles and shapes of the areas of the costume... no... far better for me to fork out the cash to someone who can and will do it right the first time rather than stumbling through it myself...
The PROBLEM I anticipated was with Cap's helmet.
Rounded ear cups, solid back... in any number of comics, ol' Cap has clearly taken off the helmet... so it's a legit piece of the costume (and doesn't change much from illustrator to illustrator) but the fact remains that I had ZERO idea how to go about making it.
I asked a Facebook friend - Panda Valentine (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=820205600&ref=ts) - whose partner Jason (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=830935186&sk=photos) seems to have gotten the hang of helmet making... as he appears in a number of Panda's photos as Magneto (another costume plan of mine, but that's for later).
I had geared up to send Jason a couple or a dozen questions or so (I really did intend on getting back to you guys!) when I had stumbled across a number of posts on the Replica Prop Forum (www.thereplicapropforum.com) where members were discussing Iron Man armor builds (and the helmets).
I read one builder state that it took him 'five months of weekends' to complete his armor... and I started thinking.
... and anyone who knows me KNOWS that when I start thinking... bad things happen.
The rest, as they say... is history.
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