New to Foam Armor Builds / Simple Andrew DFT (WIP w/ pics)

Elcorio · Jan 7, 2017

Hey all, new to the whole cosplay foam armor world. Just thought I would share some of the builds I am working on. With each piece, the lines get cleaner and more precise. It is definitely a learned art.

This all started when my wife bought my youngest child a Master Chief Halloween costume for $30 and I thought I could come up with something better for cheaper. Low and behold, I stumble upon this site and have two cases of eva foam floor mats in the garage. So that blossomed into everything so far.

I plan to do an armor suit for me following the Hughes build model and venturing into the pepakura side of the builds, but find that for learning purposes, the Andrew DFT is a seriously scaled down and simplified model to use for beginners.

Now I am starting to use the builds for practicing the sealing, coating, and sanding of the builds before final paint. Either way, my kids think the builds are the absolute coolest things on the planet.

Opinions and tips greatly appreciated!

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StayFrosty · Jan 7, 2017

Wow, that's really good for your first attempt. Hell, that's really good for any time you're making foam stuff!

mblackwell1002 · Jan 7, 2017

WHOA! the detailing on the chest piece is crazy!

there's no tips for us to give, YOU need to give US tips!

How did you DO that?!

TOWLBiscuits · Jan 7, 2017

Looks great! one of the nicer dft odst builds I've seen.

Elcorio · Jan 7, 2017

Thank you all. I recently started incorporating some 3mm foam as trim pieces and am really liking the way it looks.

Worked on the shin armor this evening. As I am getting more comfortable and precise in the cuts, I find I want to change the look. These are no where near the level of detail I want to get into for MY ODST build, but I will again defer that these templates and pieces are great for learning.

As far as the tips for the detail in the chest piece, my kids wanted some type of rank and being as I am a former Marine, I thought it only fitting to give them a USMC rank. It is the E-7 Gunnery "Gunny" Sergeant rank. I downloaded a pic from the internet, sized it to fit the chest piece, then printed it on 110lb card stock. I carefully cut out the interior parts, traced it onto the chest piece, then patiently and very lightly "scored" the foam with a #11 blade scalpel. A little bit of heat from the heat gun and there it is!

Good luck if you try it (on a test piece first of course)......just take your time with the scoring.

TwinMustang · Jan 7, 2017

Well colour me impressed. That looks great!

StayFrosty · Jan 7, 2017

Aw man the last pic isn't working for me. I really wanted to see the rank too...

Fuzzytrexy · Jan 9, 2017

Just plain out awesome!

Elcorio · Jan 31, 2017

Working on a new helmet for my son and started to deviate from the Andrew DFT design. Started adding little things here and there.

Strider · Jan 31, 2017

Your work looks fantastic! For a first time build, you're doing great

Keep up the good work! Hope to see more.

FANGS · Jan 31, 2017

Wow! Just...wow. Fantastic job!

TheBeard · Feb 1, 2017

Dude that looks awesome!

PaiganBoi · Feb 1, 2017

Looks great. Like the customizing you are doing.

vivalablake89 · Feb 1, 2017

Those helmets are looking amazing, You have some amazing foam skills my friend! I also really dig the added details, that tubing wrapped around the back looks killer.

Blade · Feb 1, 2017

Awesome man what did u use for the viser ??¿ looks way better then the school binder stuff

ConservaTom · Feb 1, 2017

Gotta love those dft templates. But your additions to the base models a really making your pieces something special. Keep up the good work!

Elcorio · Feb 5, 2017

Blade said:
Awesome man what did u use for the viser ??¿ looks way better then the school binder stuff

Thanks.

At work, we have a laminating machine. I bought a sample sheet of Blue Sapphire Reflective window tint (8X10 sheet) from Solar Graphics-Colored Film, Decorative, Window Graphics for $2 and laminated the window tint. That gave me an 8X10 sheet of fairly rigid plastic that I could cut the template from. It worked fairly well, but I do not like having to piece together the template right in the field of view and when I attempted to create scored folds in some parts, the window tint caused the laminate to separate slightly.

I am still working on this though and trying to work through the laminate separation issue. I think the idea is doable, just need to figure that part out. One thing I have done so far is to cut out the templates, piece them together, then laminate a blank sheet. From there, I was able to cut the laminate in the visor form and lay it flat with only two cuts needing to be made. I have some more film samples on order and once they come in, I am going to try to overlay them on top of the clear visor. I'll update with pics once I get it done.

Blade · Feb 7, 2017

Wow rock on man can't wait to see your finished work on the rest of the armor and I think I'll try something similar to what u used for the viser till then thanks and good hunting

Cadet · Feb 7, 2017

That is some the cleanest and detailed Foam building I have seen. It's seriously fantastic! I wish I could work with foam nearly half as good as that.

Elcorio · Mar 30, 2017

Haven't posted in a while. I'm here in Louisiana and we just went through Mardi Gras. My wife rides in one of the parades and her float theme was "Wish I was a super hero". Her costume was Captain America and how could you be Capt. A. without a shield? Then her friends wanted one also, so I ended up putting the ODST build on hold and started making three of them from EVA foam.

Now that that is over, its back to the ODST build for my kids. I am still using Andrew DFT's templates, but as each piece evolves, I tend to "add" things that I think look better.

My youngest son's build is complete and now on to paint. He decided on red and black for a color scheme. IMO, I think the first couple of pieces looks like Deadpool met Kilo Ren, but its what he wanted.

Just finished the assault rifle weathering and really love the way it came out. Build wise, there are some imperfections I don't care for, but since they are for my kids to play with, I can over look that for now.

Cheers!