WoW - Judgement Paladin

[BHE Photos]

Cosplay: Judgement Armor from World of Warcraft
Completion Date Goal: have a rough draft ready by DragonCon (9 days from now).

While I didn't play a Paladin in Vanilla (my mains were a Prot Warrior and Marksmanship Hunter), I have always felt like the Judgement tier set was one of the most iconic/cool armor sets from Vanilla WoW and arguably still to this day.

It is surprisingly difficult to find WoW armor files for anything besides Arthas and Anduin, but I was able to find a set of files for this armor.

I will be 3D printing most of the hard parts shown in the attached image, though I don't really like the way the designer did the feet, and I think I'm going to do the belt out of leather.
The chest piece is a bit too "barrel chested" for my body shape, so I may have to reprint it later.

This will be the first project that I do significant sewing for. I intend to make all of the soft parts myself, with the exception of the boots. So far I've sewn a very basic tunic/tabard in solid black, which will be the base layer (though I made it a bit tight, so I might have to adjust it a bit). I will attach some sleeves eventually once I decide if I want to pursue the more detailed style or just a basic sleeve.

Shown in the first attachment is one of the side kilt pieces. There will be two of these, and I intend to have about a 4" overlap in the back, and they'll be attached to the belt at the top. The red ribbons are currently 4" wide, but once I pick up some red thread I'm going to hem the edges and make them 3" wide. At the bottom of each strip, I'm going to print out plastic hanging pieces/ends. I think this will give them some weight to keep them hanging properly, though if they end up being too noisy I might switch to white cloth. These red ribbons will be under the side piece but over the bottom layer tunic and completely wrap around me.

I am planning on using resin printed gems and real wax for the various seals and gems on the reference images. Ideally I'd like to put some real paper on the shoulder books, but that might have to wait for a later update.

I want to age some paper and do the small hanging scrolls, so I bought a couple of sheets of various papers from Joann's, and I'm going to see which looks better after some aging. I'll need to figure out some appropriate runes to print on them though.

I am hoping to get an Ashbringer printed out in time for the Con but that's a relatively low priority. I'd also like to eventually do a cool leather tome to carry around with me as an off-hand piece.

Since I'm sewing this and have total control of things, I want to explore sewing my rigging right into the tunic. I'm going to run a piece of nylon across the shoulders with buckles on each end for the shoulder armor, and maybe a similar system for keeping the bracers from slipping too far down.

Goal for Sunday, Aug 18:

• Hem and bias tape the tunic and other side piece
• Buy red thread and hem up the red ribbons
• Create base layer leather belt to attach kilt to (side pieces and ribbons)
• Design and start printing white ribbon ends
• Put an initial coat of UV Resin on all the currently printed parts

I've got a lot of work to do on this build and not much time to do it in. I'm tempted to bust out a basic cape or something similar to avoid having to put much effort into the back. I wanted to get this thread started though, before I got too deep into it.

 

[BHE Photos]

Aug-20 Update:

Kilt/skirt portion is basically complete. I have to finish about a foot of stitching, but my bobbin ran out of thread on my leather sewing machine and it's a pain to refill, so I'll finish it tomorrow. Currently I printing a test piece for the ribbon bottoms, a 4 layer-thick tab that will be hand stitched to the ribbons.

Also slapped together a hood, which I don't currently plan to sew to the tunic but I'll see how well it decides to stay under the armor when the time comes.

For the belt, I've decided to place the ribbon skirt as the bottom layer, with a 6" wide EVA foam belt directly over that, and then a 4" strip of leather directly over that. The foam will give it the heft of a paladin belt and hide the top of the ribbon skirt, while the leather will be what actually holds it together. I'm undecided about how I want to actually make the buckle and tightening work, I'll have to look into some options tomorrow.

Outside of stitching the belt layers together and strapping, I think this should conclude the sewing portion of the build.

I'm hoping that my Neptune 3 Max is going to cooperate now that I've swapped out a nozzle so I have a piece of the Ashbringer sword printing on it.

I need to really get working on post-processing the 3D printed pieces soon. I suspect that DragonCon may have to go without the large front chains and the various scroll pieces in the interest of getting the other stuff done. I think if I finish everything I currently have printed/sewn, the build will be acceptable.

 

[BHE Photos]

Aug-21 Update:

Made a small modification to the tabard (leaving the sides open) and I'm just going to wear a long sleeve shirt underneath. After DragonCon, I will probably revisit it and sew a roomier and complete piece with sleeves.

Finally got the printed parts their UV Resin coat, an initial sanding, and a layer of filler primer. I'll probably sand the helmet and maybe the breastplate again, but the rest of the parts will likely go straight to top coat in the interest of time.

I heat sealed the 6" EVA foam belt and hit it with a coat of plasti-dip. It'll get a coat of white primer and then a gold top coat. The 4" leather belt will go over that, dyed black. I'm going to sew some 2" black nylon webbing to the ends of the leather and use the same "tactical belt buckle" that I've used on my Mark IV armor, and then place the decorative belt buckle over that (not shown in the photos, forgot to bring it to the garage last night for resin + primer). I'd like to engrave some holy runes on the belt, but I'm having a hard time finding good examples online, so I might shelf this idea as well for a future upgrade. The ribbon Kilt, foam belt, and leather belt will be bound together with Chicago screws, as I have no interest in hand stitching them all together.

I'm printing out the pieces for Ashbringer, and have 2 of the 3 blade pieces printed, and should be able to have the handle pieces printed by the end of the day tomorrow.

Tasks ahead:

• Dye leather belt
• Restock on filler primer
• Keep printing Ashbringer
• Start applying top coats to armor pieces

4 evenings of crafting remain before DragonCon.

 

[BHE Photos]

Aug-22 Update:
Last night I did a ton of painting. It's my least favorite part of any build, and this build is no different.

The helmet was the most frustrating. I wanted a gloss black to really pull attention to it (compared to a matte black on the rest of the armor), but because of how quickly I rushed from the black to the colors, I ended up with tape residue messing up the gloss black. I might tape off the red/gold and redo the black before I do the top clear coat.

I realized that outside of the helmet, I was only using black, gold, and a couple of spots of silver. The tertiary color of red isn't represented on many pieces, so I added a couple of accent points (corners of the shoulder books, undertrim of the shoulders, a spot on the glove plate. Eventually there will be a lot more once I start adding gems and wax detail pieces, but that'll be the next iteration.

Goals for tonight:

• Weld Ashbringer pieces together. Most of the surfaces are pretty flat, so I should be able to get a pretty aggressive UV Resin coat down to minimize sanding. I anticipate having the sword to the primered stage in a single evening.
• Clear coat the finished pieces.
• A couple pieces were missed in the painting: back piece of breastplate, shoulder sword handles, belt buckle, and the ribbon tags I've been steadily printing one at a time (because my Neptune 3 Max is being a fickle machine).
• I apparently never printed the blades for the shoulder swords, so I need to get those printed this evening.
• There are a couple of the middle robe pieces that I'd like to print if I have time, but I'm not very hopeful about it for this Con.
• I should be getting the buckles delivered today, so I'd like to put together the belt.

 

[BHE Photos]

Aug-23 Update:

Got the belt put together, PLA welded all the Ashbringer pieces together that need to be welded and got the pieces all the way through the primer stage. Tossed a quick initial topcoat of silver on the blade before leaving for work this morning.

I discovered last night that I only had a small amount of clear coat left, so only the helmet is currently sealed. I'll have to pick up a few cans after work today to take care of the rest of the parts.

Did a real quick fit up before going to bed last night. No rigging has been done yet. Missing from the fit up pic are the shoulder books (painted and ready to be glued on), the shoulder knives (blades still need to be printed, I completely forgot to start the print before leaving this morning, but the handles are primed and ready for paint), the belt buckle (base plate is printed and primed, cross needs to be reprinted in resin), and the front belt drop (finished printing this morning, needs to be welded and finished).

I don't have any time for crafting this evening or tomorrow due to a small Con I'm going to, so Sunday will be the day for finishing the prints, and then Monday will probably be rigging. Tuesday will be packing and then driving.

 

[BHE Photos]

Aug-27 Update:

I stayed up until 4 am last night to finish this, but the Judgement armor is at a stage that I'm comfortable calling it "good enough for DragonCon".

I slapped together a cape and opted to not use the back of the collar/breastplate because the process of putting it all on is currently not optimized for having to do it all myself. I'll have to refine it later.

Cracked the Ashbringer blade when I was gluing the aluminum rods inside of it, which is pretty frustrating but also entirely on par with my gluing experiences.

I went through a ton of Chicago screws in this build, and they have quickly become my favorite way to attach straps (nylon or leather) to the 3D printed parts. I'm definitely going to restock and buy in bulk from now on.

The helmet fits, but due to the breastplate I can't really look down at all, and the helmet is super snug not allowing for great vision or even really breathing. I don't intend to wear it a lot anyway, but I'll definitely be reprinting it or maybe making an extension piece to sit between the front and back half. Also fans are needed.

 

[Zoogami Snowfox]

Turned out pretty good with the fast deadline! Enjoy Dragoncon

 

[BHE Photos]

DragonCon After Action Report:

Possibly even moreso than the Mark IV, this Cosplay was crazy toasty. There are 4 layers of cloth around my legs and 2 layers of cloth, a plastic breastplate, and a cape at the torso. I was sweating profusely before I got a single block away. Due to the heat, I didn't bother bringing the helmet. Since I have no way to sheath/carry the Ashbringer without just holding it, putting the helmet on and taking it off repeatedly would be a major hassle.

The armor held up pretty well though. One of the snaps that holds up the buckle plate almost worked it's way out of the leather and kept getting unsnapped, but otherwise everything stayed together. One of the shoulder swords had to be re-hot glued when I first arrived, and one will also need to be fixed due to getting knocked off during the return trip.

Probably the main "issues" I ran into were the fact that the most comfortable way to carry the Ashbringer was propping it up on my shoulder, which caused the paint to rub in that spot. The helmet was obviously an issue because it's mostly unwearable except for brief, stationary photos. The bracers don't have any padding and currently like to roll around on my wrists and required constant reorienting. The Kilt ribbons are just long enough that I need to be very careful when walking up steps. I think if I didn't have Ashbringer in hand, I could just hold them apart.

Unfortunately I never ran into the other Judgement Paladins at DragonCon, though I did see one in the Masquerade. There was a group of like 5 people that did the Dragonflight that I didn't see until I was out of my armor unfortunately. I really wish I could have got a photo with them.

The next Con I'll be bringing this to is Colossalcon North, in November. My plans for upgrades/fixes:

• Pauldrons: currently the swords are hot glued to the Pauldron books, with a piece of EVA foam between them to create more surface area. This works in theory, but makes them a nightmare to pack and a hazard when walking through tight spaces and crowds. While I normally despise magnets, I think this will be a perfect use for them. I want the swords to fall off when they get caught on something/someone, and be easily removable for packing, so I'll put a couple of magnets on the blades and the books.
• Helmet: I'm undecided about what I want to do to make this more wearable. I think I'll start by printing an extension piece to add length (front to back) of the helmet, but I also might reprint the back piece, scaled up in the right direction. Then I'll probably add a hinge to allow it to pivot like a knight's helmet. That way I think I will be able to keep the helmet on my head with the face plate lifted when I'm just standing around and then just pop it down when someone wants a photo. I might use some magnets to get the hood to lock into place as well, so I don't have to try to grab it from behind my helmet.
• Bracers: just going to add some foam to the inside to the insides and hope that keeps them in place. I'll probably try to strategically layer it to create the correct shape of my forearm.
• Ashbringer: for Colossalcon North, I think I'm just going to fix the paint. I am going to experiment with making a fiberglass version of the blade though, to drastically reduce the weight. When I do make a fiberglass version, I will take the opportunity to add wire channels so that I can make the puck light up. For carrying the sword, I'm going to try to figure out something to allow me to hang it at my side. Ashbringer is a two-handed sword and I'm fairly certain the in-game version is back sheathed, but I don't have the flexibility to do that. I'll probably make a 3D printed bracket that will hang off my hip and let me slot the sword onto it.
• Extra details: I really want to start adding the paper ribbons to the armor and the wax seals.

Long term goals:
I'd really like to add the Avenging Wrath wings to the armor. It would be my first attempt at animatronics, since I'd have then retract/extend when I "cast" it. This definitely wouldn't happen until at least next year.

Also, anyone that keeps up with WoW is certainly aware that they just announced updated models for the Tier 2 armor sets. So as I can find files and ideas, I plan to start working towards converting the armor to the new model. This would mostly mean new Pauldron swords, bracers, and some adjustments to the belt.