Armadillos and Pillbugs and Seams, Oh My ! (Part I)

Alrighty... here's the sit-rep. I know you've been waiting with bated breath for my solution for the elbow, knee and hip gaps... and here it is.

Feel free to insert heroic fanfare, anytime.

First, you're going to need a few things... one of those hand-rivet jobbies (they're around $25 or so unless you go all bells-and-whistles on it... and really you aren't going to need to punch any rivets stronger than aluminum... so there's no point unless you have OTHER projects. Oh yeah... and rivets. In the pics below I used 1/8" diameter (short) rivets... which means they have a length of 1/8" as well.
What does this mean? I'm sure it's crucial in SOMEone's world... suffice to say... I WOULD have gone with 'medium length rivets (1/4") but I didn't read the package before I bought 'em.
"Caveat emptor" and all that.
Read on.
Anyway... you'll also want to practice a little to get things right. My first thought was to go with bands overlapping - like the pillbug or (if you're a classic X-Men comic fan, Colossus's skin)... but then I saw a video by a Replica Prop Forum guru by the name of Starx... and HE gave me the idea to cut a slice into one side of each piece to add a little more range of motion to them. This will be perfect for the ranges that will need to bend MORE than the others (elbow flexion, knee flexion) and the extension sides will be fine with straight panels (so far as I am estimating... by the time I get around to them, that mindset may very well change LOL)
So here we have a panel... I suggest cutting one (or a bunch of them) out of some of your extra (or used) cardstock to get an idea for how it all works... use the correct tip on the rivet 'gun' that fits your rivet properly, insert the slim end of the rivet into the rivet gun, the snub end of the rivet will go into the hole of your pieces... pump once or twice (or three times if you have smaller hands making sure your rivet is fully inserted against the rivet gun 'tip'... and SNAP!
Rivet pop away, the remainder (a small shaft of the leftover aluminum) is discarded.
Now... here's where Starx (from the RPF) and the hardware store guy you will ask for these materials get to shine again.
BUY RIVET WASHERS!
They're small, they SEEM innocuous, but try doing a rivet without one first... and see the tip of the rivet... how it sorta gets all semi-bent and crumply... now slip a washer onto the end after you stick the rivet through your drilled holes and see what happens. The rivet - when it is being compression-forced into its new shape - has little room to expand inside the

Paper bands and no rivet washers equals crumply mess with no strength.

washer, so it goes around it and makes a really firm fixation point.

The difference is night and day.

So now you need some materials... something flexible - Starx recommended some waste-bins you can buy at a retail store, I used (snicker) an empty kitty-litter bucket. So long as the plastic is flexible enough to work with, whatever you use should be fine.
I bought a couple of those larger Rubbermaid bins which I plan to use for the leg bands, as I need larger slices... and I just don't have that many kitty litter buckets LOL!

So once you have your slices - for the arms, I made mine 2" wide and 7.5" long, but I have a fair bit of arm to cover, estimate a length of just inside (towards the elbow) from the mid-point of the bicep to the midpoint of the forearm... I used 9 pieces, but I could have gotten away with eight. You might find some different success with less-wide pieces (as the less wide they are, the more range of flexion you will have, but the greater potential risk of 'exposure' if the panels should come away. Truthfully, there's little chance of that happening... I just like round numbers. =)
Once you have your pieces, trace them with a sharpie marker onto your plastic thing and cut them out. I used tin snips... but then I tend to overkill everything. If your plastic is reasonably thick, regular scissors just won't... erm... 'cut it'... so save yourself the hassle, I say.

Each piece (regardless of whether you slice a wedge out of one side) I punched two holes in on ONE side, 1/2 inch from each edge and 1/2 from the side... if you want to do the wedge the way I did mine, it's an inch in from wither side and 1/2 inch deep. To keep things reasonably accurate and lining up, hold the adjoining pieces together when you drill (yes drill - this is plastic) the holes... and make sure you have something underneath that you can drill into!

Now the rivets! They should go in fairly easily without too much fuss at this point. The fuss comes momentarily.
See... in order to get everything lined up properly, as being bent will be the default position for these bands (we're doing the inside elbow, don't forget) to rivet them all with the bands lying flat would screw it all up and warp the look. So bend 'em. Here's where it takes a bit of manual dexterity to fold each piece, align them s best you can with one hand and drill the holes with the other hand... then AS YOU GO ALONG - rivet each one as you drill the holes.
Your end product should look something like this:

But that picture doesn't really give it the justice it deserves.
So here's one with be clutching the assembly so that it shows the 'bend' that will cover the arm and elbow gap (left) and articulating bands...
... and here's a shot of the assembly with a bit of an 'elbow bend' coaxed into it to show how the piece will conform to movement (right). I figure I have around 120 degrees of flexion altogether with it... which is more, incidentally than the upper-lower arms pieces of the armor will actually allow.

Not bad, eh!  Props once again to Starx and the RPF for setting me right on the path once I started tripping down it blindly.

Oh... and just for the sake of a little tongue-in-cheek humour and a display of the rivet washers in action... no, I WASN'T kidding when I said I used a kitty litter bucket. =)

Yes, I washed it first. Sheesh!

Armadillos, Pillbugs and Seamless Costumes...

Alrighty.
I'm almost at the point where I have all 'workable' (as in "not-boot") pieces resined and fiberglassed... so this weekend I will probably be stitching together some straps to form an under-harness... probably to connect to the brace...
I'll see if I can throw together a better illustration than my chicken-scratched notepad etchings... but I figure since I'll be showing the finished product to you, that will suffice to get the basic idea.
Folks are more than welcome to toss me an email or PM and ask, though =)

BECAUSE I'm at the point where I should be thinking about 'assembly' (aka "how the whole thing is going to fit together and stay on") I was thinking about all the example costumes there are out there (and how awesome they all are, incidentally - you guys all rock! Props to the Replica Prop Forum!)...

... and also how most of them seem incomplete to me. By 'incomplete', I mean "missing some finishing touches".

Specifically, the elbow joints, the knees, the hips and the waist... and under the arms.
It's pretty clear in most pics - especially these ones - that the 'under-armor' is some sort of articulated plating/scaling... the purpose of which, presumably, to act as reinforcement for the joints between the larger armor pieces.

So how do I make them.
Enter the mighty armadillo (and/or the pill bug):

(As a science-nerd side-point, the pill bug's Genus is "Armadillium" =P )

Have a close look at how both critters have tightly-interlocking plates, such that when they adopt their defensive postures (coincidentally, both 'rolling up' into a ball) the plates continue to be interlocked, providing a protective shell while still maintaining flexibility... and when the critters are 'normal' (seen above) the plates are present - and still articulated - but it's not impossible to move.

I have a plan... (stay tuned!)

Con-ward-bound!

It turns out, AV has her 10-year college reunion on the weekend of April 21st/22nd...
... so guess who's going to Fan Expo!

http://www.fanexpovancouver.com/

Well that's the plan, anyway...

As much of a perfectionist as I am, I won't be wearing the armor unless it measures up to my exacting standards.
Which means I'm effectively moving the finish date up two weeks from its original May 1st point.
I'll be registering shortly, but whether I go for one day or two will depend upon the other itinerary points on that weekend... and whether or not I get the armor done 'up to spec'.

I guess I'd better get cracking, then... LOL

On a somewhat related note... anyone want to make contributions to get me to San Diego Comic Con this year?   ;)

"Sitting Here, Wasted and Wounded, On This Old Piano..."

(With apologies to New Jersey's #1 Son, Jon Bon Jovi...)

I was told I should 'muse' more to fill in the 'gaps' between times where I have enough pics to make a post about the actual costuming part of my cosplaying blog...
Truth be told... I can't honestly think of what to muse ABOUT.

I mean... do I talk about the first time I wore a costume for myself... my first convention?

Or shall we skip past all my closet-skeletons and focus on the present... I'm going to do that for now... mainly because I have many more pics of my recent stuff... and I'd have to call in favours (and "suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" from my old friends) to get pics of my older stuff.

Unless you guys WANT to hear about me dressing like a Klingon?  o.O

LOL

Pimpin' My Ride...

I've recently spread the word a little bit over Facebook in regards to my little slice of blog on the interweb here... and it seems to have worked - traffic went from a suburban side-street to a four-lane highway overnight!

You guys rock!
(Props will be coming shortly for the folks that have spread the word thus far! Just let me get through my next couple of midterms this week... /sigh)

So to everyone that's recently popped up to take a peek, I say "Welcome!"
Feel free to leave some comments! I'm always open to suggestions if you have ideas - or you want to plug your own blog, or know a good cosplayer or photographer OF cosplayers...
The sky's the limit... and I really don't have a firm direction as to where this blog is heading... so I welcome everyone to help steer the boat!  =)

Excelsior!

Use Protection.

Seriously. Some of the stuff you're going to be working with is NASTY!
Like 'hazardous chemicals' nasty.

Fiberglass resin, for example, is a two-part liquid plastic that consists of a quantity of resin and a smaller quantity of catalyst or hardener.
Adding the hardener to the resin causes the liquid resin to cure to a very hard, yet brittle plastic; the more you deviate from the manufacturer's specification. Using this resin in combination with a weaved-fiberglass cloth yields a reinforced composite material that is strong, lightweight and rigid.

Polyester resin is a particularly dangerous material because of the fumes that it gives off in an unmixed state and during the curing process. Short-term effects of these fumes are dizziness, nausea and skin irritation. Long term effects of overexposure can include nervous system (brain) damage, asphyxiation, and cancer related hazards.

Yeah. The big 'C'.

As for Bondo (which is a brand name, you'll note the same name on the can of resin), it's basically an auto-repair putty, commonly referred to as a 'body filler'. This stuff mixes with with a hardener as well (an organic peroxide), and turns into a putty which then sets and becomes rock-hard.

Then there's the aerosolized glue.
Seriously... what would make it a good idea in ANY universe to inhale that?  o.O

As for precautions and the like... use common sense.
Resin especially has fumes (as stated above)... a mask that covers nose and mouth and filters the air would be a BIG help... as in safety protocols with these products actually require the use of an organic vapour respirator. If and when you start sanding, there will be particulates flying through the air. When you're wearing your safety goggles that cover your eyes completely, watch closely at the particles of the resin... those tiny tiny fibers of fiberglass? You'd be getting those in your eyes... breathing them without a respirator.
It's a bad scene.

Also, this stuff can and will irritate exposed skin... so wear nitrile or latex gloves whenever you handle it... and be sure to wear clothes you EXPECT to wreck... you ARE going to get some of this stuff on your clothes... and they WILL then be wrecked.

If you use anything more powerful than hand-held sandpaper, use tougher gloves and long sleeves... having a power drill tear a slice into your arm or bruise you if it gets out of control.
Yeah... it can happen.
Trust me.

Be cautious. That's all there is to it. The risk to your health for slipping up on your safety precautions or taking shortcuts just isn't worth it.

Turn Up the Heat!

Forming the pieces to your body will be easy in some cases (like the bicep pieces) while it will be a right pain in the @$$ with other pieces. I mean... let's face it... you'll take the back off, put it on to feel the fit, and take it off again quite a few times before you're done... but it is vital that you get the correct shape for the piece BEFORE you use the Bondo on it.
Remember your duct tape dummy? Here's where it gets a moment to shine!
Hang your trouble pieces on the dummy... and heat form them there. If your dummy is anatomically as accurate as possible to your body frame,  you won't need to switch the pieces around quite so much and you can see the process from the outside looking in - a new perspective!






As for WHAT you use to heat form, I used - yes, seriously - a hair dryer. That's all the heat you will need. If you don't have one, you won't need to spend more than $10 on one to get the heat required.
Use your mask, though... heated resin particulates smell just as nasty as wet resin.

With the back piece especially (but the chest as well) you can use the dummy to hang the piece while you heat it.  You'll need to experiment on your own a little fore this part... there's a 'tolerance point' of heat for the resin... up to that point, it's semi-pliable as far as heat goes... but once you reach that point, it becomes a lot easier to work with.
Be careful you don't bend things too far (this is why we have multiple coats both outside and inside the pieces)!

For larger pieces, duct tape the snot out of it, then heat form it directly on your dummy... your dummy is reasonably close to your body shape, so even if you move a section too much, it is still much more recoverable than flipping the pieces on and off your body... and a lot faster!

An extra hint for the back piece? Duct tape it down as you are heating it; come in over the next day or two and give it a quick once-over with the hair dryer while you're working on other pieces... bu the end of it the back piece should be contoured much more closely to your own back's shape.

As for the resin, it will 're-dry' as it cools and the new shape will be more-or-less kept... and now you can get a better idea as to how everything is supposed to fit together!

"Oh THAT'S where that goes!"

As you know I've been papercrafting... and I've developed a taste for it...

What do these two characters have in common?




You'll find out after I finish the Iron man armor.
Meh heh heh heh...

Duct Tape Dummy

Now that we're going full-tilt and getting into the resin part of the process... you're going to run into a bit of a snag in terms of not only specifically shaping the pieces to fit the contours of your body properly... but where to put them all.

... 'cause there's a lot of them... and some of them take up a fair bit of space.

I give you: the duct tape dummy.
I went to a local thrift shop and purchased a long-sleeved t-shirt and trackpants that were a size smaller than I usually wear - so as to avoid bagginess in the clothes. Put those clothes on, then find somebody you trust to wrap your body with the duct tape around the clothes you're wearing.

All the way... ankles (or as close as your clothes get) to wrists and everywhere in-between.

You will not be able to move much and don't make it TOO tight... make sure you can still function and bend a little... you won't get much movement, but you don't want a lot... just enough to not have your hands and feet fall asleep from lack of circulation.
Think of it as a really tight wetsuit.  =)

When you're done... and here's where the trust comes in... you are going to get your assistant to cut you out of the duct tape.
VERY CAREFULLY!

(To the assistant:
Use scissors, but be ginger when you're going up the forearms and calves... YOU may not feel like you're stabbing the dummy, but THEY sure feel it!)
Once up each calf and forearm to the elbow (or so) then down the back (again - CAREFULLY!) to just around the waist line should do it... that should be enough to wiggle out of the duct tape suit. If not, cut a little more until you can.
Once you're cut out of the duct tape prison, you're going to want to figure out how you're going to MOUNT your dummy (dirty! LOL)
Some people have used thicker dowling or broom-handle poles in the legs, I've also seen a single piece of rod stuck through the middle. I found an iron bar croinked into a shape vaguely resembling a coat hanger with a long neck, so I stuck THAT inside the chest cavity of my dummy as I was stuffing it, then sealed up the neck fairly tightly... and hung him from the basement rafters like an effigy.

To STUFF your dummy, use duct tape and seal the calves and forearms back up, then 'tie off' the ends. So your dummy has no hands and feet... oh well. Go up the back to the neck again after you stuff some rags or some kind of non-toxic stuffing material into the legs. Stuff the torso and arms from the neck hole, then go around the neck until you're happy that the stuffing won't come out.

Now you can drape your armor bits and pieces on the dummy and see how they fit! (More or less...)



You won't get an exact measurement on your dummy... and the dummy will probably bulge a bit in areas... oh... go around the midriff of the dummy a few times and do some crotch-over-the-shoulder loops as well. The weight of the stuffing will pull your dummy apart at the middle if its legs aren't supported.

"Bits my shiny, metal ass!"

Duct Tape? Abs-olutely

Hur hur hur.
Yeah... the abdominal/rib/lumbar sections were a bit of a piecemeal operation to assemble... basically you have to envision how the whole body is shaped... which is where my years of human anatomy knowledge came in handy.

For those NOT familiar with lordosis curvatures and the like, my suggestion would be to finish the codpiece FIRST, so you have at least one piece with which you can be sure to know where it goes.
 
The other three pieces (on the back, four abdominal pieces) fit one atop the other... the low-back area pieces are a gentle curve towards the body, the abdominals lie more-or-less flat.

The ribs... that's a different setup. They mainly articulate with the back plates and have a pattern that vaguely resembles:

)  .  (

... with the parentheses being the line of the rib plates and the period being where your belly button would be. It's a bit of a jigsaw puzzle, figuring out which pieces fit into which back plates... but once you get one side, you can simply match the OTHER side's pieces... if it helps, you can see a gentle curve from my back 'over' my hips and pointing slightly downward at the front. This will match the line of the codpiece.



As for the abdominal plates, they're pretty easy to piece together... there's really only one way for them to go.



Holding them together you don't really have to worry about much... resin each of them in turn, layer a dose of fiberglass on the inside, then coat in- and outside with resin again. What I have done in the pics is articulated each piece together with duct tape to get the initial feel of how the complete setup will feel both with all the pieces assembled in their units... and the entire back-ribs-abs configuration. Don't worry about permanently connecting them all JUST yet... you still have quite a few pieces left to do...

Resin-ant Evil!

Alright... you've spent gobs of time cutting little pieces out of cardstock and gluing them all together...

... what now?

Now, Young Padawan, we solidify things.

I have read that there are 'non-toxic' and 'non-smelly' alternatives, but the substance that seems to be the 'go-to' goop for crafters seems to be Fiberglass resin.

This stuff is NASTY!

Each of these cans is around $15 or so...  the mask as well.
Well worth it... it's quite noxious... also read the instructions... if at all possible, do it in a well-ventilated area.

Wear a breathing mask with this stuff... this stuff is literall y a goopy substance that will harden into a resin-like substance... what do you think particulates of this stuff will do in your lungs?
Your clothes ARE GOING to smell... and you WILL get this stuff on your clothes... so wear clothes you will be willing to sacrifice to your craft.

It's sticky... so wear gloves... you can get a box of 'medical examination' or latex (or non-latex) disposable gloves from your local pharmacy... if I recall the box will have like 50 gloves for $25ish.

Now... when it comes to mixing the resin with its hardening agent (the agent comes in a little tube with the can... or if you're like me and run out of agent, you can buy it separately for about $5 per tube)... when I mixed, I used an empty (duh) can of salmon. If you have an eye for absolute accuracy, you can figure out what exact measurements you will require of the reagent to add to the resin... but I'm not that precise nor am I particularly patient. I played with the amounts and I find that 1/2 can (about a 5 second slow pour or so) takes about 20-25 drops of the hardener... it's not an exact science to me... if you use too little hardener, though, the resin won't set and you'll be screwed. Scrap the piece and do it again.
Like I said... 5 second slow pour (about 1/2 a can of salmon) and 20-25 drops of hardener should do it.

Pictured here is a spatula (bought as a pair at a dollar store) that have this remarkable talent for not getting the resin stuck to them permanently. The flexible rubber-plastic part only, though... the handle will keep the resin ad infinitum. It's good - if nothing else - for mixing the resin-hardener mixture together...

For APPLICATION of your resin mix, you can use the spatula to slather it on the pieces... or if you prefer a slightly more intricate method, save the brushes from your used-up rubber cement bottles - you should have a half-dozen or more - and use THEM to apply the mix.
The problem with THIS method is that the brushes are finite... one use only once they dry... and you won't be able to free them from the mixture the way you can with the rubber blade of the spatula. If you opt to use the brushes... use each one as much as you can in one sitting... the resin won't dry right away... so you can get away with filling and refilling your can with resin mixture a number of times.

The fun part about this is that if you don't finish resin coating everything in one sitting (and you won't - you have two coats on the outside to do and two on the inside) your can - left to dry - is basically coated with resin. You literally need only one (maybe two) cans to hold the resin mix.

Stay tuned for more!

Attach Tab A to Slot B...

Well not exactly... it's more a 'paint by numbers' gig.
A few things to keep in mind:

The glue is applied to BOTH the surfaces that you will be sticking together... apply the glue and then leave it for 30 seconds to a minute... it's a bit of a step-wait-step process, but if the glue is still 'wet' and not 'tacky', the pieces won't stick together and will slide all over the place - especially if they're heavy enough.
Trust me. Wait the minute between applying the glue and sticking the pieces together... cut another piece out or score the dotted fold lines of another piece while you wait.

One piece stuck to another... rinse, repeat... and the end result is - a few possible sticky fingers later - a completed piece!

(This is the 'replacement' left bicep).
Don't worry about the little 'mistakes' or apparent flaws you might see... (look at the middle section and how it appears to 'bow' in the middle of it). Don't worry about flaws... you will be applying resin to the entire piece (on both sides) and if you need to, you can and probably will be heat-forming part or all of a piece. Add to that the fact that the autobody filler will be coating the entire piece and your flaws vanish under a rock-hard slab of Bondo!

Step By Step (ooh Baby?)

Here's Part I of a nigh-presumably-infinite series entitled "Tricks and Tips"
Or something... it's a work in progress.

Anyway... first off... the cutting.
When you print the pages onto your cardstock (I used 100lb paper, but I have read that some folks prefer thicker paper (200? actual cardboard? I'm not entirely sure of their specifics... ) it will look like this:

 A cutting surface and exacto-style blade are good to start... some people use rulers or other straight edges to ensure their accuracy along the crucial lines... I found that over time (well after one piece) I took LESS time doing it freehand... even taking my time I seemed to go faster than I did while using a ruler.  But to each their own.

Once your pieces are cut out of the page - and quite a few of the pieces will be involved with other pieces on the same page - you will want to bend at the dotted lines. These lines are the fold lines that involve the tabs that you will be putting the glue on very soon. A blunt-yet-fine pointed edge (a pencil, ball-point pen with no ink, or... if you're careful, the exacto-blade itself lightly drawn along the same line) should suffice. The goal here is to score the dotted line so it will bend cleanly without affecting the rest of the piece.

Next step... glue!
This part is somewhat more individual... some folks swear by crazy glue or contact cement... I VASTLY prefer Elmer's Rubber Cement. It's clear (which is a BIT of a disadvantage) but it doesn't smell (and make you headachy or high) and it's less obnoxiously tendrilly Peter-Parker-spider webshootery sticky than the amber-coloured contact cement-glue I used in this piece... you can see the contrast - I have applied Elmer's to the area where the brush is ALREADY.
It's about $5 a bottle (120mL) and each bottle will last you a while... but admittedly I went through probably 10 bottles overall.
Here's a bit of an extra trick, though... once the bottle is used up and you can't get any more glue out of it, the brush can be used to apply the resin to the finished pieces... more specifically to the outsides of the pieces... I'll detail this more a bit later.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

This has been a busy week for me... and I got impatient and jumped ahead on something.
I'll end up using them as 'practice pieces'... but not only did I NOT sand down the edges on the left arm and forearm pieces... but I slapped a layer of Bondo on them.
Did I connect the forearm pieces to each other and fiberglass them solid?
Of course not.
Have I articulated the elbow piece to the upper arm and forearm pieces to form a working joint?
Of course not.
Does this mean I'm going to have to do the left arm (bicep, forearm and wrist) completely from scratch again?
Yeah. Probably.
Shut up. LOL

From the start of this project - be it impatience, be it distractedness, be it external factors... whatever... I've been beset with small hiccups that have forced me into a bit of a learning curve after-the-fact.
For example... the files laboriously and meticulously 'Pepped' (created and edited in Pepakura) by Robo (Thanks again, Robo!) are for a specific body frame and size... and from varying posts I have read, should fit someone with a 32" waist (which I more or less have) and 6'0" tall.
I'm a bit bigger than that, though... and thicker than a 'medium' bodyframe... the upper arm (for example) ended up quite snug with little room for movement within it and threatening to split apart at the elbow joint if I gave it a good solid 'flex'.
So I had to resize it.
Luckily, KAV is a Graphic Designer, and we have Adobe Illustrator CS on her home office computer... so resizing a pdf wasn't anywhere near a problem... except when it came to printing it... even an increase of a mere 5% in size meant that the same polygons might not fit in the same print area as the original-sized bits.
Plus... the pages of the pdfs had to be individually resized... so that's more that 300 pieces... increased in size by 5%, rotated and coaxed into fitting into the print area of the home printer.
Pain. In. The. Ass.
Needless to say, I resized a couple times before settling on a 5% increase... why I didn't listen to my gut instinct I have no idea... but I made a +10% and even a +15% bicep piece before the 5% size was adopted.
Further along this line... with a 5% increase in size, the forearm bulge (closer to the elbow) felt like it was a little TOO big. So I used the smaller 100% size instead; ditto for the calves.
(As a wonderful little chunk of irony, it seems that both the forearm-elbow and knee joints articulate a little better with the altered sizes I have established. Score one for 'serendipity'. LOL)

Even after reading about how I should grind/sand down the edges of the resined pieces so as to allow a smoother end-finish with the Bondo, though... I STILL put the Bondo on the left arm pieces.
Durrr...

Well... at least I know what's involved now with the Bondo... and so far it seems pretty idiot proof.
<.<   
>.>
We shall see...