Soft Parts Mission: Make as accurate a Suit as possible.

[firevoid]

i want one of these really bad and my wife is really good at sewing. but would need either schematics or pictures of the pieces and where they go with the rest of the build. my wife wants to know how much your leaving for sewing margin? also keep up the good work both me and my wife are impressed.

 

[Deputy Dog]

tsau, you might want to check out the short live action movie put out by Bungie calle The birth of a Spartan. You can see the under suit very well and you see the man out side off the armor. It gave me a better idea on how I'm going to do mine.

 

[tsau mia]

@fire void: I really wont know how much of a sewing margin I will have until I start sewing. My budget is pretty tight, so I'll have as little scrap as possible. As I work on this project, I will be taking a lot of photos and notes so that anyone can follow what I did. I honestly couldn't tell your wife ahead of time, simply because I have absolutely no idea how to sew, haha.

@deputy dog: thats a great idea! Ive seen the video before, but never actually paid attention to it for my costume ideas. Thanks!

 

[Jack7226]

I love your idea and your schematic looks dead on. I cant wait to this this one done. Going to be Epic

 

[HaloGoddess]

I've had many thoughts about creating my own undersuit. I know some people buy those motorcycle type jackets, but it's just for the chest and arms and is a bit too pricey for me. Especially if it's something I'm going to wear only for a spartan costume! XD

I've thought about using craft foam and gluing it together since it is flexible and just making the pieces for the areas that the armor does not cover. Now that I plan on using foam to build my armor, I'll be like a total foam spartan! lol

I also saw that you mentioned that you have never sewn before? How do you plan on sewing it? By hand or using a sewing machine?


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[firevoid]

thats fine tsau-mai. my told me to tell you that you need to have at least 1 inch as a sewing margine that way it won't fall apart. i'm telling you this cause i don't want your undersuit to fall apart.

 

[tsau mia]

Good to know, thank you! I have read that leather doesn't need that much of a margin? Does your wife know if that is true?

Also, most of it will probably be done using a sewing machine.

 

[firevoid]

about my earlier post, i'm sorry but i heard her wrong its a quarter inch (1/4 in) margin and yes you would want that on the leather.

 

[icebrodie]

I'm aiming for the same thing, though I'm afraid I've started working on the 3D files for Shapeways.com and Ponoko.com for the solid components (my background is in engineering so this is basically the easy part first). I haven't given as much thought as I should to the undersuit's construction. I've been looking into the cost of Neoprene sheets (as used by scuba divers) though, and it's not quite as expensive as I first thought, at $80 for a 51" x 83" sheet, a bit more than most of the black cotton clothes I see people use... but for this, I'm considering if it would be suitable for some parts, that mixed with foams.

I donno though, this'd be my first tailoring project so I'm also considering some 'duck cloth' over foam. which'd be the cheaper option.

 

[Carpathia]

I'm aiming for the same thing, though I'm afraid I've started working on the 3D files for Shapeways.com and Ponoko.com for the solid components (my background is in engineering so this is basically the easy part first). I haven't given as much thought as I should to the undersuit's construction. I've been looking into the cost of Neoprene sheets (as used by scuba divers) though, and it's not quite as expensive as I first thought, at $80 for a 51" x 83" sheet, a bit more than most of the black cotton clothes I see people use... but for this, I'm considering if it would be suitable for some parts, that mixed with foams.

I donno though, this'd be my first tailoring project so I'm also considering some 'duck cloth' over foam. which'd be the cheaper option.

I would recommend against any material used in a scuba suit. Since that material is designed to retain body heat, you will become very hot, very quickly if you use this material for an undersuit.

tsau-mia: Your schematic looks great. I can't wait to see some pictures as I have begun to design an undersuit as well.

 

[icebrodie]

Ah, true, I'm actually considering liquid cooling it eventually, which... in addition to Wisconsin winters (a wetsuit-ish outfit'd be nice in my living room right now) would make the heat part less of an issue (true they use the smart gel to handle thermal in the actual suits, but that's a tad bit outside my price range, even with putting every spare cent of mine into this project).

 

[Shadowind]

Did you just use pictures from the Bungie site or are there a few other references that you found?
Very impressive suit design.

 

[hellphoenix36]

Didn't read through this much, but it occurs to me that using a wetsuit and then just varying layers of rubber and some water pouches, you could make a really flexible and good looking soot. (like latex in a mold, etc) Just my two cents

 

[tsau mia]

Sorry for the lack of updates guys. I have a retail store, so the holidays have been anything but kind to my schedule, in addition to moving too.
I did manage to get ahold of some leather in the form of an XXL jacket that someone sold me for like fifteen bucks. I also have another friend who's into Renaissance stuff and offered to help me learn to sew, because he works with a lot of leather armor. Shouldn't be too hard once I get my sewing machine working. I'll let you know and I'll post pictures as I go!
I also got all my references off of the bungie site. Game accurate is important to me

 

[icebrodie]

If I'm doing a foam latex undersuit, I'd give it a different material for the underlying layer, like a fabric. Currently I'm considering that option but don't have the resources to make a full body cast (a couple of very patient people are needed) so I'm gonna cast a mannequin for it, which means putting clay over it to mock up the suit, then removing the clay and casting the actual mannequin ... not easy considering I have to do most of this solo in a very small apartment.

 

[bluelotus82]

Ever thought of Nike or UnderArmor heat/cold gear as a base to wick sweat and keep you cool under all the padding and armor

 

[hellphoenix36]

problem with the under armor is their stuff is usually very expensive, more than its worth imho. however, it all depends on how much you're willing to spend on the undersuit. although i fully believe in creating an extreamely accurate suit, i support maintaining a balanced budget over a accurate suit. perhaps using a dry shirt or compression shirt as a base, then a mixture of both leather, rubber, and foam, which should save a lot more money than a $90 shirt that you subsequently have to build on top of, not counting the legs.

 

[icebrodie]

While the actual stuff is expensive, I'm sure someone could look up what materials are used and purchase that wholesale for this, though that'd require sewing skills (fortunately I passed home-ed) so it's not for everyone... at one point I was looking at sheet neoprene, however a combination of price and comments here made me reconsider that option in favor of more reasonable methods, right now I'm thinking of foam sections molded to my needs (would fit the look best, possibly)

 

[tsau mia]

I have a grey bodysuit from milanoo.com that fits me perfectly. Sometimes they put whole bodysuits on sale for like fifteen bucks (plus another ten or so for shipping) and they are custom fitted. You can always build right on top of that, and that may be my plan

 

[Shark Hunter]

For someone that is as detail-obsessed and oriented as I am, it's great to see this kind of work being done for the accuracy of the suits. I'm seriously looking forward to more updates, and good luck! This is quite the ambitious project.