mugiboogie
New Member
I've been keeping this secret for way too long. I've been gathering some techniques here and there posted on the 405th, and decided to venture and try to make my own set of armor. I will be constructing the costume of Karas, the main character in Karas: The Prophecy and Revelation. For those of you who do not know, Karas is one of those awesome suited Japanese superheroes in one awesome anime.
He's like Batman, only that he can actually transform into a jet and car. Although Karas was introduced in 2004, he was revitalized in the video game Tatsunoko vs Capcom. I'm praying he's still a popular character. Lol!
The armor is quite the ambitious attempt. He's got a lot of parts that are near impossible physically, which is pretty counter-productive when creating the costume. However, for some reason, I'm still head strong in creating his armor.
The helmet, most of which is complete.
The entire build thus far.
Some armor plates.
The rear torso pieces.
The front torso pieces.
The forearm (to be resined).
First half of the leg armor.
The helmet and my harness (humorously drawn as an Earth Kingdom cap).
Helmet side view.
My duct tape freakishly skinny alien mannequin, which will be armored soon (hopefully).
As for the process, I start with creating a papercraft pattern from scratch. From there, I print, cut, glue, etc, etc. Each part is printed three times. One is for a base layer, another for reinforcement, and another to get rid of all the wrinkles and such. This process makes the papercraft extremely sturdy. From there on, I used a technique I stole from one of you guys to make props. I basically use Fiberglass Resin on the inside first, doing two layers, and then doing two layers on the outside. Since there is an abundance of 150lb cardstock layers, there is no need for fiberglass fabric. To cut on time and money, I decided to opt out of putting Bondo Body Filler on the outside of the armor parts. To compensate, I have carefully brushed on all the Fiberglass Resin to be as smooth as possible. I do not plan on sanding the armor. Finally, the armor parts will have added detail once my Apoxie epoxy-based modeling clay comes in. I will have to add trimming, orbs, and some other neat things to the armor. After that, I will of course, prime, paint, and prep for wearing.
I'm trying to catch a convention at the end of June, so that's my deadline. Also, due to this insane deadline, I will be saving all the weapons for last. Hopefully I'll get around to making them!
Of course, no Karas is without his Yurine!
(No, I'm not the one responsible for making this awesome costume.)
All comments, critiques, and suggestions are welcome. More updates to come!
