Alphonse Elric - Full-body armor construction

kiarrens · Post by **kiarrens** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 4:50 pm

Alright, so I've checked out the foam armor tutorials and all that fun stuff, and I'm planning on using a variation of it for the Alphonse costume my friend and I are making for AnimeBoston's masquerade this year. My question is, is it feasible to use bondo on foam? Since this is full-body armor it needs to be durable. I'd like to use fiberglass resin but I've found that I really dislike the smell of the stuff, and it's expensive and a pain in the neck to work with. I'm going to use the flower cone things for the spikes on his arms, that's a definate, but other than that... well, I just need some advice. I haven't worked on anything this big and some help from people who have experience with the materials would be highly appreciated.
Here's Al, if you didn't know what he looked like...

I wanted to make it out of aluminum, like my Ed arm, but after my friends yelled at me for a few weeks I decided to take their advice and be realistic. ^^;

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Wed Aug 25, 2004 7:43 am

Hmm. I can get you in touch with two people who have this project on their backburner, or at least one. My boyfriend keeps saying he wants to make one. He'll probably respond to this post in a little bit. And there was this other guy at the club we go to sometimes who was trying to build Ed armor who also wanted to do an Alphonse.

Dark_Tiger · Post by **Dark_Tiger** » Wed Aug 25, 2004 2:40 pm

Tia wrote:He'll probably respond to this post in a little bit.

She knows me well, doesn't she?

my friends yelled at me for a few weeks I decided to take their advice and be realistic. ^^;

The word "realistic" and full mecha costumes (of which Alphonse counts as, or at least has to be built similarly to) do not go hand in hand. To do something like this, particularly if you want good mobility (you aren't going to get full mobility, or vision, or the ability to sit down), requires an insane amount of work.

Here's my advice, in no particular order:

1. make every piece separate and connected to an underlying network of straps or suit, just like real plate armor. This will give you a lot more mobility, as well as help avoid pinching.

2. Make every single piece that is shown, plus make the lower legs and upper arm pieces in two. This is not only to help you move, but also to get you out of the thing.

3. Go to the bathroom before putting this thing on. It'll be hot, you've going to have to drink a lot, and it'll be a pain to get out of, unless you build in a trapdoor.

4. On the subject of bondo: It smells the same as resins do, the chemical reaction is similar. However, it is a lot cheaper. I can't think of any issues with using craft foam and bondo, but why bother? If I was making this (and I will, once I go IN FREAKING SANE) I'd make quick and dirty molds using foamboard and modeling clay (foamboard being a friend of mine's choice for bondo backing BTW), and sink some vinyl patio screen into the bondo while it was still wet to increase the strength. Then I'd use craft foam to connect the pieces together, assuming it'd hold up. This again, is to make it something close to wearable and also to try to hold cost down (you'd need a lot of craft foam).

5. Since you're going to have very limited vision, and almost as limited balance and mobility, you might want to get a crew together to make sure you don't step on or get glomped by other con-goers. I wouldn't have thought of this either, until I saw a Pikachu cosplayer I know do it with her ~10 person strong "chu cru."

6. Wear something heavy (and absorbent (for the sweat, you hentai)) underneath. This sucker could pinch, particularly in places you really don't want it to.

7. My best guess on time for this is about 100 person-hours fabrication, 20 hours assembly, 6 hours in paint, and gods knows how long drying. So plan accordingly.

Well, that's about all I have to say about that. Good luck with your full armor project.

glass snow · Post by **glass snow** » Wed Aug 25, 2004 7:03 pm

I dont know if this will help...but here we go.

1. as said before...look up some mess on how Knight armor works, remember they were beating the ol' crap out of eachother in that mess, so it had to be some what fluid in movement.

2. instead of using..resin use this method
( i have not tried it meself, but i have heard that it works really really good. and holds up like a dang base ball helmet.

3. Get ahold of some felt, the thick kind not craft felt

4. Buy Scuplt or Coat from sculpturalarts.com ( its not inexspensive, but hey you would pay the same amount or more after buying resin and other foam mess.)

5. Make molds for your pieces, out of, paper balls, bowls...ect.
( make sure you cover them with plastic wrap before you mold the armor to it)

6. cut out pieces.

7. make a 50% water, 50% glue solution, ( just buy the cheepo glue in the big jug)

8. Soak pieces in the solution, then drape them over your mold and let dry. Totally dry, it may take a while, because wet felt takes alot of time to dry, so put it in the sun.

9. remove molds from hardened pieces

10. Cover in sculpt or coat, as many coats as you think is needed, but it has the consistency of whipped butter? ( thats what they said on the site

)

11. sand and drill holes if needed the stuff will hold up to alot of things, and you can also cover those foam cones too!

well I hope that works out!

God bless you all yee all.

kiarrens · Post by **kiarrens** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 2:43 pm

Thanks Dark_Tiger and glass_snow! ^^ The corkboard seems like it'd probably be the best bet.

Thankfully I won't be the one wearing the costume, I'm just making it. My poor friend Simon has volunteered for the hapless task of being Al. We'll likely have a whole Alchemist Entourage by then, so hopefully he won't get glomped too badly. He was also saying something about installing computer fans to keep him cool, but we're not sure if that's gonna play out yet. ^^

Dark_Tiger · Post by **Dark_Tiger** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 4:49 pm

Corkboard? Neither of us mentioned cordboard? Come to that, I've never used corkboard, how are you planning on doing it?

kiarrens · Post by **kiarrens** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 6:53 am

You didn't? *scrolls back up through the thread*
O_o I think I was really tired when I was checking this the other day, gomen.... lol

Dark_Tiger · Post by **Dark_Tiger** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 11:19 am

Actually, this month's Newtype, they have a shot of a pretty good Al cosplay. Personaly, I think it's a little skinny, but that's just me.

myomaru · Post by **myomaru** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:31 am

kiarrens wrote:Alright, so I've checked out the foam armor tutorials and all that fun stuff, and I'm planning on using a variation of it for the Alphonse costume my friend and I are making for AnimeBoston's masquerade this year. My question is, is it feasible to use bondo on foam?

I wanted to make it out of aluminum, like my Ed arm, but after my friends yelled at me for a few weeks I decided to take their advice and be realistic. ^^;

u might wanna try this site
http://www.bioweapons.com/images/CELS/HowTo.htm
although it is for a different costume, just change the steps to fit ur costume in the process

Tia · Post by **Tia** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:00 pm

Oh my god. That site is incredible. It's like everything you ever need to know about constructing armor.

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Alphonse Elric - Full-body armor construction

Alphonse Elric - Full-body armor construction

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