Calladar's Kat WIP

[calladar]

as promised here is the boot conversion..

i started off by removing the toe area of the boot.

i have only glued the heel of the shoe to the foam to allow for the shoe to move within the boot when walking.

i rounded the square toe out to make it look more like the front of a boot.

i then made a template for the sides of the boot..

if you notice the angel i put in the center of the boot area. this allows for the boot to bend while walking. picture of this later in post.

after cutting the sides for the toe i glued them on each side. i forgot to take a picture of this and i am sorry but you can see it as i move along. i then measured and made a template for the toe and cut it from the foam.. after cutting it from the foam i beveled the edge that was going to be joined to the side piece to be able to get a smooth joint.

after beveling the edge i took a heat gun to the foam to put a bend in it to be able to make the bend around the toe easier.

after gluing the toe on i figured this was a good time to show how i start to smooth the joint.

i first put a bead of hot glue into the joint just enough to fill the gaps in the joints to just above the surface. i let the glue set all the way and then using the edge of the hot glue gun tip i begin to melt the hot glue bead back down to level with the foam. keep a paper towel near by to be able to wipe excess glue from the tip of the glue gun that way you prevent buildup on the gun which will transfer to the piece. this may take some practice but it can be done where the joint becomes invisible and in hard spots i will use flexible putty after mod podge because the flexible putty will not stick to the hot glue.

now that i have the sides on i reinforced the foam from the inside to ensure solid joints that will not come apart later.. i laid a piece of foam on the top of the toe area and traced the pattern of the top of the foot and cut it out of foam.

hit the top of the boot with the heat gun and put a little bit of a curve around the edges and glued it to the top of the boot.

with the angles in the sides allowing for the boot to flex while walking here is how it looks when flexed.

 

[calladar]

ok would not let me put up any more pictures in that post soooo moving on.

now on to the fun part.. i took the boot out to the old dremel tool.. I walked into the garage to the old work bench and discovered my wife painting my daughters under suit for her grunt.. i just had to take a picture... then realized where she was doing that at and screamed "GET AWAY FROM THE BIKE!!!!." needless to say i am now in the dog house for yelling but "darn it woman you gonna get over spray on my other woman"

but i digress.....

after laughing for a bit i moved on to the old dremel.. what i use for the foam is a sanding wheel medium grit. the course grit is too much and the fine just takes freakin forever.

do not forget to wear safety glasses.. i know i know the old adage of safety first but this is no joke.. the wheel heats as you work the foam and throws allot of hot foam and pieces of hot glue off and you do not want either of those catching you in the eye.

]

when using a dremel wheel on foam do not fight the rotation of the dremel. let it work for you.. for example when i put the wheel to the foam it wants to pull the dremel away from me as the wheel spins. i apply a small amount of pressure and allow the wheel to move in the direction it wants controlling the amount of foam removal by pressure and direction of the dremel. if you try and move against the rotation of the dremel you can easily dig too deep or hit an area you didn't want to and when that happens with foam there is not any putting more bondo on and sanding it again. it will result in throwing the piece away and starting over. so work slow and let the dremel do the work and don't force it.

after hitting it with the dremel this is what i ended up with.

i then moved on to foamies for a little detail.. i did her's a little different from mine just to keep it fresh and i took the little side thingys off the side of the old boots and transfer them to the new one.

now it is......

time...

two thin coats to seal the foam.. while i was letting the mod podge cure i did the other boot and mod podged it as well and ended up with this.

time for paint...

after painting the detail and the toe was all ready for clear coat i took the boot guards off the old boots and put them on the new boots and after it was all together i put 2 coats of clear coat flat on it and once it was dry i ended up with these..

new set of boots all done and ready for Dragon Con...

 

[thorn696]

Awesome looking boots, with great looking detail. You almost make this look easy.

 

[HaloGoddess]

I started to have an idea how you did it after looking at the final pics of your Carter boots. XD After seeing a basic step by step presentation, I think I should be able to pull off the foam boots for my Kat costume now.

Also, for the "side thingy's" on either side of the boot, how exactly did you make those? I can think of a way to make them, but I'm just wondering how you did it. I'm curious to know if you made them the way I'm thinking about or if you took a different route.

Does your wife like the new boots now? Those should make up for you yelling at her about the bike! XD

 

[calladar]

Also, for the "side thingy's" on either side of the boot, how exactly did you make those? I can think of a way to make them, but I'm just wondering how you did it. I'm curious to know if you made them the way I'm thinking about or if you took a different route.

Does your wife like the new boots now? Those should make up for you yelling at her about the bike! XD

what i did was use the toe file to make the detail piece on the side of the toe.. what i did was adjust the file for foam and cut it out and glue it together.

and yes she likes the look of the new ones now.. and i was in the dog house until i got the lighting put in her kit last night and when she got up this morning she was excited.. now off to work.. fun times.

 

[HaloGoddess]

Ah, okay. That is what I was thinking for the side pieces. There is another way I thought of, but in order to make the pieces symmetrical and look even for both sides would be a rather tricky process. Also trying to make sure the angle is cut just right would require some work.

And did you tell your wife I said "thank you" for the helmet as well? I know I left a comment on your FB.

 

[calladar]

And did you tell your wife I said "thank you" for the helmet as well? I know I left a comment on your FB.

she saw it in FB and thought that was good that you had gotten it.. she knew about the other one falling through..

 

[calladar]

ok test fit tonight getting ready for dragon con.. still think the chest piece is a little wide but going with it.

The Crew..

 

[howaado]

Amazing work, your costumes look great, really wish I was able to go to D-con this year.

 

[CoolC]

Wow! Congrats on completing your builds! Entire family all dressed up! Really cool looking.

 

[Darkrider9]

You do some very very nice work calladar. Pretty amazing how you made such good suits in so little time. They all look awesome!

 

[DETHANIEL]

excellent work on the whole package

 

[Spacemeat]

Totally awesome work! Good to see it on the whole family, hope you guys have lots of fun out at DragonCon

 

[Spitfire22V]

That has to be one of the coolest family photos I've ever seen! :cool Amazing job on the costumes, you guys are going to blown D-con away. Any chances of a close-up of Jun's sniper shoulders? Keep up the great work, I enjoy going through your threads.

 

[vshore100]

I agree SF. That's the kind of family photo I would like to take. Great work on the boots. I appreciate you taking time to show how you put the whole thing together. It looks great!

 

[XxCrossFadexX]

Im lovin the grunt costume! I've only seen two in existence! Great job on the whole family!

 

[Gamemaster]

Wow. Simply wow. To you sir, I take off my helmet.