HidingInCosplay

Hi @Chaos, some images for you: https://imgur.com/a/BKsfZNJ https://imgur.com/a/B8JLsUW https://imgur.com/a/82rh9zr https://imgur.com/a/dVRG9fp https://imgur.com/a/28qVq6e Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to see. Still a work in progress but I'm loving wearing it.

Hey, @Chaos, thank you for checking in and many apologies for lengthy radio silence. My suit is up and running, I've made a lot of updates since posting last, I'll get some pics posted over the Christmas break (work and life have been a bit nuts). The Etsy shop I got the Andromeda files from shut down literally the day after I bought them, so I've never had documentation or even images of what it should look like from them. My print guy and I have made a lot of adaptations from them anyway as much wasn't wearable. If you've got other questions please do let me know, I'm happy to answer. Upgrades since last posting: Switched the thigh sections to adapted Nikko version Adapted the bicep sections; cut away the top section to allow more freedom of movement and to stop massive pront fails, adapted fittings to make it easier to put on. Reprinted chest, back, biceps, thighs, shoulders in PETG (following a 26° day at a June event causing major heat damage). Added lights to chest, upgraded eye lights. Remaining work: Further edits to thigh sections to stop them cheese-grating my knees Remake belt pouches in leather (currently smallest are still EVA foam) More fancy electronics (sound card, chasing chest lights and eye lights). Mechanical fixings for shoulder panels - they're currently velcroed and it keeps failing/drooping. Photos to follow, let me know if there's anything in particular you want to see.

Hi @Andreas Funk, my armour is mostly PLA printed, the feet and some of the belt greebles are EVA foam: I needed the feet to be flexible for safety and the STL files for the belt greebles were impossible to print. I have a friend who is into leather work so I'm hoping he can help me remake the belt greebles in patent leather.

Wow, @Andreas Funk, this is looking so awesome! You have nice detail on the ab greebles: I think mine are missing a bit of fine detail at the front, but I don't have a good reference for what it should look like. Need to add that to my list of improvements. The chest section on yours looks shallower front-to-back than mine. The file I used has long struts along the lower edge of my ribs, and then detail sections that lock into that. This makes the chest very spacious inside, which was good as it gives space for my cooling fans. But it makes the suit really challenging to wear: I can't reach across my front e.g. with my left hand to put on my right bicep, because the chest section is too boxy. It's a major problem I still haven't solved, other than having a 'squire' or droidsmaid to help me get in and out of it! Really looking forward to more pictures.

Wow!

Thanks, @Chaos😊 I've been on an incredibly steep learning curve, not really having done any 'hard' building before, so I wanted to try to keep a record for myself of the journey, it's been a ride! I hoped to do a full try out of the fixes yesterday but hit some big problems, *sigh* back to the garage...

Shoes foam build https://imgur.com/a/Hznhkn7 Shoes are so crucial for cosplay, right? The feet in both the STL file sets were solid, inflexible and impossible to wear, so I decided early on to make the feet in foam. They're based on a pair of wellies, cut down and cut away, with some lifts in the heel (I wanted to try to get a bit more height). The foam shoe fits over the top, so the original sole is still on the ground for safety. I jointed the shoes with elastic so they would flex as I walked without creasing or splitting. I also didn't want them to be too long: I wanted to be able to climb stairs safely, so the result is probably not quite right in terms of proprtion.

Important lesson about heat and PLA https://imgur.com/a/OYoqq9T The first armour section I got to work on was a forearm, I spent HOURS sanding (not having discovered spray putty at this point. I then rinsed the sanding dust off and got impatient waiting for it to dry, took a short cut with the heat gun and... disaster! Well, that taught me a lesson. This was the reason for deciding against vinyl wrapping for the finish: the heat needed to seal the wrap would have melted the print.

Helmet arrival https://imgur.com/a/L96wh79 Helmet fix https://imgur.com/a/Q6qq9LI Paul at PSD Armoury made this for me, a find on Etsy. He usually makes helmets and droids for display only, so the helmet is raw on the inside. Because the DT helmet is so shallow, and I have an above-average sized head 😄 there's not much space inside. I had intended to fit a trooper cooler but there was no space for the battery pack, plus the original eye LED system sticks out and presses into my cheeks a little. The battery for these LED strips is smaller but dies really fast, so I've upgraded it since SWCE. I also added some slim foam strips to stabilise the helmet. Paul had mentioned he'd had difficulty fixing the chin/respirator section, there's only a very narrow edge to glue along. It snapped off quite soon after it arrived in spite of my efforts to avoid rough handling, so I added a layer of eva foam on the inside to try to avoid it snapping again. This might required a rigid reinforcement soon. Hot tip: putting my hair in two bunches instead of a pony tail helped it fit better too!

Scaling files; if only I'd known... https://imgur.com/a/BILs8mG The Blendr file for the thigh, with a first effort at a scale. The thighs have been a giant headache. I needed to make them short enough so they didn't foul the knee rings and didn't come up so high I couldn't walk, but also wide enough so that they would fit my fairly sturdy thigh. I also hoped to make it removable without having to take off the rest of the legs. It was a big expensive print and we didn't want to get it wrong so we tried a few slices, and settled on the final sizing. More on the ensuing disaster later.

First print: blaster greebles https://imgur.com/a/mO8EDRm Until we found our way with the sizing of the armour, Marc and I opted to make the main sections of the blaster the first print we did. It immediately looked amazing and really got me inspired! We had a bit of trouble getting the greebles to fit; the print on the sight failed a couple of times and I had to redesign its mount because the version in the files was very flimsy (you can see it some of the SWCE images that it's held on with a strap and kept getting knocked out of place). The rails on the barrel are also a bit flimsy so I have reinforced them with a little extra thickness where they joined. Last image here is Marc with the raw print. I think my version of the blaster is too big: would value a steer on how long it should be. I also note from the TV show that the DT seems to be able to stow the blaster against the right thigh bug that there's no evidence of a clip, holster, strap etc. The ammo magazine also sticks out significantly on the inside of the blaster, which means it won't sit neatly alongside my leg. For con days, it would definitely help to be able to stow it quickly.

Accidental double post, apologies

Hands attempt #1 https://imgur.com/a/7QTdZhx Hands attempt #2 https://imgur.com/a/zgIJCLc Hands #3 https://imgur.com/a/lNFUCtL Hands #4 WIP https://imgur.com/a/MU3wWHg All the hands so far! I'm in the midst of attempt #4, hoping this one's the charm! OK, taking a break to rest my eyesight (I'm old!), if you have a chance @Andreas Funk, @IcyTrooper, @Chaos to let me know if this is the kind of thing you need, please do; I will never be offended to be given basic advice!

Foam techniques - filling and detailing https://imgur.com/a/QjTWftY Automotive vinyl wrap test https://imgur.com/a/Ngphltl These two really make me cringe now - I have come a long way since this bodge effort. I still have a lot to learn if I'm going to use foam for future builds. I was really interested in the possibility of using automotive vinyl wrap to get a super-glossy finish, and the test pieces I did looked great! There were two downsides: one was that it was difficult to get a good finish on small non-rectangular detailed items (the smaller belts greebles would have been a 'mare) and the other was that the edges of the vinyl started to lift and peel after a short amount of time (a couple of days). I actually took some pieces to an automotive wrap company near me to ask their advice: their answer was that the wrap needs quite a lot of heat and pressure to get a good, lasting seal - more on the 'heat' part of that shortly.

SDCC? No other detail https://imgur.com/a/H99Sid2 Someone on a cosplay group sent me this, I think it's from SDCC? It's a really good effort, I think, but it made me even more convinced that the finish needs to be SHINY. The person wearing the suit has a very different build from me as well, I should really do a side by side comparison at some point 😁