Update time!!!
Hey everyone! I haven't had a ton of time to sit down and post, but I've been working crazy hard (like 6-8 hours a day) on my build, and I'm out of town now with a little time to relax so I figured I'd fill you all in on what I've done! It's gonna be a
big update lol. I only just realized how behind I left this thread, I was too focused on building everything I had time for
I'm still trying to finish a version of this build for Orlando Outpost. Idk if it's possible or not, and I'm not going to destroy myself over it. There were a couple weeks I was working so hard and I was so scared of wasting time and just felt like constant con-crunch and anxiety, I sort of had to tell myself that I was giving up on the outpost plan so that I could calm down lol. I'm working so long as its still fun and worth it, there's no point in me building anything if it's too stressful for it to be fun. With that being said, I'm still able to work about 6 hours a day on it before it stops being fun, so it's still possible for it to get done in time. I'm also prioritizing certain pieces, so I may not have the robot arm, chest attachment, helmet attachment, thigh attachment, anything extra, for the first version of this suit. I'm willing to wear a more simple suit to Outpost and then upgrade afterwards. Now with that update on my plans and state of mind, lets get to
build details!
Where to start. Well here's a master list I made after being inspired by Sodiumcat on instagram. I love a good list.
I made a forearm. It was one of my least favorite pieces, they're just so detailed and weird lol. I worked on it for like 9 hours straight and hadn't even gotten to the details.
Here it is all done and detailed up in comparison to a screenshot
I soon got to work on the tacpad, which only took me a few hours to make.
Thank you very much to Rick Martinez (I'm not sure of his forum name) for the tacpad screen detail sheet and permission to use it!
I downloaded the picture of the screen, and sized it in microsoft word, put a layer of blue plastic over it and plastazote (see-through foam) underneath to diffuse the light. The tacpad isn't put together at all, I need to seal and paint it before I can secure it together.
This is everything I had at the time, tried on. I made shoulders as well but I don't have many pictures of them alone or in progress.
At this point it was pretty apparent to me that I needed to make a slightly larger chest piece, which I'll show soon.
Next I got started on the COD piece.
Here's another pic of everything I had, with a more finished COD piece, and a test glove.
I've also made a boot. It's pretty dang inaccurate, but I put crazy high heels in my boots to add height and be a big girl spartan lol so it's okay with me for now. It went as planned.
Here are some things I ordered, Jorge's dogtags for future photos, clear Sea Foam spray for the visor, and spray adhesive. I wanna give a huge thank you to Gabe Schulz of Lost Viking Props for answering any questions I've had trying to figure out my visor and undersuit plans, I've had vague ideas for stuff but he definitely helped me confirm things and think stuff through! I also wanna shout out Andrew Gillen of Infinite Props for sharing his undersuit research with me and giving me someone to talk stuff out with! You guys were very very needed in my process!!
Now let's get onto some undersuit build details!!
First I started with covering my duct tape dummy (its not currently the most accurate, but pretty close in size to me) in cling wrap, then in masking tape, and began drawing on the undersuit pattern and details. I used parts of my old suit to help a little with spacing and sizing, and just looked at a million references.
Here's the waist pattern all flattened and cut. The front pieces will just be flipped to make the entire piece, and the back will have a seam with a zipper.
So far I'm using 1/4 inch, and half inch thick upholstery foam, 1mm and 2mm thick craft foam, spray adhesive, and yaya hans matte 4 way stretch fabric (with a huge coupon of course) that's kinda rubbery.
For my size I decided it would be best to use 1/4 inch thick upholstery foam for the majority of the undersuit. Most of the pieces for the waist were simple and didn't need any detailing, but for certain spots I beveled the underneath edges a bit and then reglued them together so there would be a prominent pointed edge showing under the fabric.
Here I'm just laying out the foam pieces on the back of the fabric, marking where it needs cut and cutting the fabric for glueing.
This is during the glueing and wrapping process. Spray glue on back of fabric and front of foam.
This is a craft foam back piece that gets covered in fabric, and then I add velcro to the underside so it can be placed on the back and cover most of the zipper. I'll also attach some spine pieces to it. I may need to widen it just a tiny tiny bit, as it becomes a little too thin once the undersuit starts curving around me, like it won't 100% cover the velcro placed for it. Also sorry the past tense and future tense are getting messed up with this whole post, I did so much of this so long ago so it's hard to keep track and phrase things correctly and have it be easy to understand (plus its hella late and I'm very sleepy lol
).
This is the main structure of the back, with the velcro for the back cover, and some elastic glued on the inside for attaching to the rest of the waist.
Before I get to the last undersuit pics I have, here's the new chest piece I slaved away at for a little over a week. I worked on it for so so so many hours and it still took that long lol. I'm much happier with the size.
Now here's the part I kept telling my husband I was insanely proud of and couldn't wait to post about, but I wanted to get the waist wearable before I posted! He had to hear about it for quite a few days before I could tell anyone else I seriously couldn't sleep the night after I made this because I loved it so much.
Testing the look and size of everything with my old helmet.
One of my many reference pics.
It most definitely will crease with wear, and I'm not really sure how to help that currently. It's also gonna be dang hot. But oh well. I love it lol.
Its not fully done, I need to reinforce the whole thing and add a few small detail pieces, before Outpost if I have time but we'll see.
This is the current inside. I've used lots of glue of different types, and some sewing so far. Each separate piece is connected with elastic. I think I have some better ideas for the legs though.
Since hitting the milestone of wearability on the waist I haven't been able to work a ton, but I did manage to make the thighs way quicker than I thought I could. I forgot to save the original pictures though, so they come with instagram story captions heheh. I also used armorsmith designer to size my thighs, cause homegirls got some thighs lol. It helped SO much, and made them way less intimidating knowing I didn't have to alter them as much by hand. They also aren't as accurate as I could make them now, but they'll do just fine.
I tested out the sizing of my old soft case to see if I could just add it to this build to add some character without taking lots of time to build a new one.
And now we're up to date with me visiting lots of family for some graduations. I'll be out of town for a total of two weeks which is
so much build time to lose, but it's fine cause I love being here with my family
I
did actually bring any paint ready armor pieces I have up here, so during down time and good weather I'm getting a little work done on those.
I just hit the limit for attached files so I suppose I'm done! Sorry if it takes me forever to update again, just know I'll be working hard and I will get to comments and questions when I can, so ask away! I
do want to mention that I have a ko-fi, so if you feel like you wanna support my work in that way, I would
so so so appreciate it. I spend lots of time on my craft and I wanna share and freely offer my gathered knowledge to those it could help, I love that part of this community so much. My art and costumes do obviously cost money though lol, so if you feel like you'd like to help me out in that regard (you
of course do not have to), it would make my day and make my crafts even easier to continue!
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Have a wonderful rest of your week, and keep building!
-Kitkat
