Eva foam build advice

[blacker97]

hey guys, i'm very new here and my friends and i have decided to try and tackle a five person spartan group for a convention next year and i could really use some help with the project. mainly, how much eva foam does it take roughly take to make one full suit? what sort of under suit is recommended for this? we have some concerns about using sheer, thin fabrics like spandex due to the weight of the armor pulling the fabric. lastly, what sort of visors would you recommend for the helmets? is there a specific online store that supplies them for a fair price or would you suggest that we utilize motorcycle visors or even make our own?

thanks for any help you guys can give, im hoping that we'll make this project a reality with the help of the 405th.

 

[m00sem4n]

You've got 4 friends that are into cosplay, jeez mate you struck gold. If you are all average builds then it would be one of those large rolls of 1/4 inch EVA and a four pack of the smaller but thicker squares per suit. By my design anyway. If you opt to use all 1/2 inch EVA (those 4 packs) then it'll be about 4 packs per suit. All assuming you make few errors, btw.
For the under suit lots of people get away with simple athletic wear. Its easy, comfortable, and holds up well. The armor really has a negligable amount of weight, but if you string the leg pieces together, rather than mount them to the suit, you will get pulling that you'll need to account for and adjust through trial and error.
The visor question is harder to provide even a vague answer too since people give different recommendations for making/buying different types. It would help to know which you plan on recreating?

 

[ruddi0699]

Hey, i'm also fairly new to cosplaying but i have built a halo 3 odst cosplay completely out of EVA foam, it took me about 10 or 12 sheets total to finish the entire costume, for a spartan though i would imagine it would take a bit more so i would get extra. Also, my suit turned out to be pretty light weight using this foam so i didn't really have to worry about the armor falling, if this does become an issue though for the legs, i would make clips from the body armor to the upper legs so that they stay up. For an under suit i just used some sweatpants and a long sleeve T- shirt, its not too professional but for starting it still looks pretty awesome. Lastly, for the visor you can use a motorcycle visor, on ebay a mirrored one can cost quite a bit though, I've seen anywhere from $30 to $50 Or if you want to go the cheaper route you can get a 2 liter bottle and cut out a visor template.
Hope i helped, remember if it is your first cosplay you probably will make mistakes but don't let them discourage you, learn from them, once you finish it i'm sure it will pay off,

 

[blacker97]

i've actually got an entire group of friends into cosplay but only the four want to do this sort of build, but yeah it is pretty nice. as for the helmets, we're planning on doing halo four mark V's and one halo CE mark IV i believe. do you have any suggestions on how to mount/attach the armor to the suits? ive seen a few different methods involving clip harnesses and elastic bands.

thanks for the speedy replies guys, this is insanely helpful.

 

[m00sem4n]

Ok well in that case motorcycle helmets would work but since this is a project of scale you may consider throwing together some kind of primitive vac-form table. Just cuz you know you'll be making several in a short time, may be worth it.

Because its all foam, some velro here or there and wide elastic work really well, while maintaining the flexible comfort of the foam. Both can easily be afixed to the EVA with contact cement or hot glue if you really lay it on. You'll want to sew it to the fabric though if that's called for. Put breaks on the armor and use clips there when a piece can't fit over a limb well without severe distortion. The only place on spartan armor that this is really used is for the chest, where the front and back separate to get it over you arms and head but still keep it tight to your body afterwards.

 

[FoxtrotZero]

The only place on spartan armor that this is really used is for the chest, where the front and back separate to get it over you arms and head but still keep it tight to your body afterwards.

I don't have any experience building MJOLNIR suits, but this doesn't seem right to me. Depending on your proportions, you may also want/need some sort of seperation on the vambraces and calf sections, to get your hand/foot through the wrist/ankle point. Also, I have never seen anyone regret having a quick-release on their codpiece for easy restroom access.

 

[surfahbum808]

I don't have any experience building MJOLNIR suits, but this doesn't seem right to me. Depending on your proportions, you may also want/need some sort of seperation on the vambraces and calf sections, to get your hand/foot through the wrist/ankle point. Also, I have never seen anyone regret having a quick-release on their codpiece for easy restroom access.

I think he meant having the chest either in a "clamshell"-like build where there are clips on the bottom portion of the chest piece that comes under the arms, or a 2-piece build where you have 4 areas to clip together. The reason being is for most people (unless you're built like a spartan), the chest piece fits height wise, but not depth wise. In my carter build, I hade to take the chest in a full 4 inches for it to fit snugly. I went with the 2-piece chest style on that build. On my second foam build I went with the clam shell. For me, I think the clamshell is a bit better because you don't have to worry about clips breaking, or coming undone. Even if one does happen to come un done, it's under your arms so your chest piece isn't hanging off. My carter build had this problem the first year I used it so I had to buy stronger clips that I actually screwed into the armor.

The quickrelease on the cod piece is a must, as putting the leg armor on after putting the cod piece on can be a bit tricky...it also helps when you have to go. You'll only have to take off one piece to do your business.

Since this is your group's first build, I would also suggest starting on a piece lower or smaller on the armor to hone in your foam working skills, for instance a hand plate, or a boot. This way, by the time you get to the harder and more technical pieces like the chest piece, or biceps (the biceps are a pain in the a**) you'll feel more comfortable and capable.

I would also suggest making the helmet out of pepakura, if you find that you're not acheiving the detail you want with foam. You'll have to buy multiple thicknesses of foam to get the detail in. You have your base EVA foam, and your varying thicknesses of craft foam aka "foamies". You can also carve out details into the foam if you have some sort of hot knife attachment, something like a wood burning tool, looks like this https://bevfabriccrafts.us-dc1-edit.store.yahoo.net/I/bevfabriccrafts_2195_293654206 .

Best of luck you to guys! I can't wait to see some progress pics! I've wanted to do a group build with friends for so long, but none of them have the dedication to see a whole project through. You my friend are very lucky!

 

[FoxtrotZero]

I think he meant having the chest either in a "clamshell"-like build where there are clips on the bottom portion of the chest piece that comes under the arms, or a 2-piece build where you have 4 areas to clip together. The reason being is for most people (unless you're built like a spartan), the chest piece fits height wise, but not depth wise.

Ah, I didn't mean to imply he was wrong in that it's necessary for the chestpiece - yeah, almost every build I've seen has some sort of clip system on the chest, and for good reason. My disagreement was that being the only place clips are needed. Depending on your build, there are other necessary ones, as well.

 

[m00sem4n]

^ haha, right you guys are. I was thinking very literally, as in I wouldn't require it to get the other pieces on, certainly makes things a little more convenient. I can see it being a must on the cod, having not yet been to a con I have not felt the torment of being caged in a suit.

Surfahbum808 put everything quite well, thanks for clarifying where I fumbled there

 

[blacker97]

goodness this thread got popular! we'll definitely look into the different chest piece arrangements and see what works best for us. not gonna lie, we're a bit concerned about the whole codpiece/restroom thing since the majority of the group are females. we're already estimating a strained relationship with the restroom while wearing these. as for the order of manufacturing, we're planning right now to practice assembling some mock ups using the pepakura files just to get familiar with working with this sort of pattern and material. i'll try to keep you guys all updated with progress pics as they come but this project is going to be a very drawn out process over the next year.

do any of you have any brand suggestions for the under suit? maybe possibly link me? everything i've looked into so far has been up in the $100 range and thats pretty far out of our price range on something as easy as the under suit.

 

[surfahbum808]

goodness this thread got popular! we'll definitely look into the different chest piece arrangements and see what works best for us. not gonna lie, we're a bit concerned about the whole codpiece/restroom thing since the majority of the group are females. we're already estimating a strained relationship with the restroom while wearing these. as for the order of manufacturing, we're planning right now to practice assembling some mock ups using the pepakura files just to get familiar with working with this sort of pattern and material. i'll try to keep you guys all updated with progress pics as they come but this project is going to be a very drawn out process over the next year.

do any of you have any brand suggestions for the under suit? maybe possibly link me? everything i've looked into so far has been up in the $100 range and thats pretty far out of our price range on something as easy as the under suit.

Lil' Tyrant had an excellent solution to the female bathroom in armor problem. Instead of taking off your boots shins then thighs to relieve yourself you can add a clip in the thigh pieces. Thus you can just take off your cod (or just slide it up, i supposed kind of like a dress) and your thighs. I would assume it would be an excellent time saver and an "almost hassel-free" trip to the restroom.

As for the undersuit, I just use underarmor compression stuff. If you look on amazon.com there are some brands that can go for as cheap as $10 probably more like $17 with shipping per piece. If you decide to do it that way you'll probably spend about $60-$80 on undersuit. You could always just wear a form fitting black long sleeve shirt and yoga pants. It's really up to you. The best undersuit though are the homemade ones, so if you have someone in your group that knows how to sew and cut patterns that woud probably be your cheapest, most detailed option. Hope this helped!

 

[blacker97]

Lil' Tyrant had an excellent solution to the female bathroom in armor problem. Instead of taking off your boots shins then thighs to relieve yourself you can add a clip in the thigh pieces. Thus you can just take off your cod (or just slide it up, i supposed kind of like a dress) and your thighs. I would assume it would be an excellent time saver and an "almost hassel-free" trip to the restroom.

As for the undersuit, I just use underarmor compression stuff. If you look on amazon.com there are some brands that can go for as cheap as $10 probably more like $17 with shipping per piece. If you decide to do it that way you'll probably spend about $60-$80 on undersuit. You could always just wear a form fitting black long sleeve shirt and yoga pants. It's really up to you. The best undersuit though are the homemade ones, so if you have someone in your group that knows how to sew and cut patterns that woud probably be your cheapest, most detailed option. Hope this helped!

wow guys we made a horrible mistake and printed the biceps and started them first, i think i need to lay down after trying to figure out these tiny little pieces. how do you guys even do this? we're having enough issues working with the paper mock up, i can't imagine trying it with eva foam yet.

anyway, aside from my spirit being thoroughly broken by the ******* biceps, thanks a lot, we will definitely do this. i've never personally wore armor this involved before but the little i have dabbled in was pain enough trying to navigate restroom visits in. as for the undersuit, we'll do some window shopping and see what we can come up with. none of us have much sewing talent besides the general need-to-know cosplay stitching so i don't think making suits from scratch is much of an option for us. again, thank you all for the help, i feel a lot more confident tackling this with your support.

 

[m00sem4n]

Lol, can you imagine trying to do those details in foam?! I mean with the conventional folding of pep, of course.

Try to think of foam differently and it becomes less daunting. With the foam you work your way up from the larger shapes to the finer details. Gotta approach them in layers, which is one of the huge benefits of foam, since it has depth. Once you get to the final layer of detail, that thin craft foam is such a pleasure to work with, it just bends to your will and cuts like butter. Don't sweat it, you'll do fine:thumbsup

 

[FoxtrotZero]

Heh, surfahbum808 stole the words out of my mouth (off of my keyboard?) with Lil' Tyrant's Kat-B320 build. Her solution to using the lavatory in a full suit of armour was novel.

m00sem4n has the right idea with the way foam works - he knows a lot more about it than I do - in that you have to build from general shapes to fine details. Some people are good enough with a knife to do this all with the standard half-inch foam (or whatever size you're using). As an aside, if you're planning on building several full suits entirely out of foam, you might consider investing in a hot knife (or several, if this is a team effort - I don't know how much they cost, but I do know they're supposed to go through foam like it's butter, which is better than constantly having to make sure your blade is sharp).

Consider getting several different thicknesses of foam. The ones I see most often are half-inch, quarter inch, 6mm, and 2mm. Exactly what you use will depend on your needs and what's available to you, but if you swing by some craft stores to get the thinner stuff, I bet your build will be a lot smoother and a lot better looking. For really minor details, you can also use thin pieces of cardboard (or cardstock or cereal box or anything similar, depending on the necessary width).

 

[m00sem4n]

Ooo, that's a good point. For this scale it'd be worth the investment, burning in some detail with a metal ruler as a guide and some creative use of different tips can be immensely helpful, and fast!
I don't use it so much for cutting the main pieces though, I like a good old box cutter with a sharpener close at hand.

This is the exact model I use, if you're interested. I highly recomend.

 

[blacker97]

Okay well we finished all of our shins and knees for this thing and we are fairly happy with the results. weve got some touch ups left and we're still deliberating on whether or not we want to try and mess with adding lights to the armor but so far we're slowly getting the hang of it all. next on the list is probably either the boots or the thighs, with thanksgiving and winter break coming up we should have a lot more time to work on things and with any luck both sets will be done before the new year. the only thing we're having trouble with right now is having to angle cut every piece inside with our box cutters and exacto knives. initially we were just taking them all outside and using the dremel to sand the edges but, if you live anywhere near indiana, you know that its in the negatives here and my balcony has ceased being a hospitable place to sand.

anyway, hope you guys enjoy the progress pictures, its been a lot of fun working on these.

 

[m00sem4n]

Are you cutting the pieces and including the angle in the initial cut? That's quite difficult, I find. I usually just cut everything out at a right angle and bevel the edges later with a very fine and controlled sawing motion or just normally if the blade is sharp enough. I like doing it in two stages so that the shape and angle each have my full attention.

 

[blacker97]

nah we add the angle cut later. we cut all the pieces out inside, mark the edges that need angled, and then usually take them outside and bevel them with the dremel. its faster than doing it by hand with the exacto/box cutter, but either works.

 

[blacker97]

Update time! We've been making really good time on the project, we just finished crafting all of the thighs and boots and we're starting on the forearms today, hopefully those will be done sometime next week. We made a full mock up of a torso just to see how things fit together and we are incredibly intimidated by the angles and little indents. If you have any advice on making the torso less scary, please let me know. also, we've been looking at the codpiece and we've got some questions. do any of you guys have any tips on how to measure the cod piece and how to figure out the sizing? What do you suggest for adjusting the scale? We've got some concerns about the seam on the butt and whether or not making the back all one piece is a good idea or not. Do we need to worry about the seam potentially cracking or snapping?