League of Legends - Tryndamere - Fanime 2013

BEHOLD!!! The most well documented armor build I've done to date! I have 80+ pictures available but Lord only knows if I'll use them all.

I always wanted to cosplay Tryndamere since his redesign was released, but I was too scared to try and do it. Then on Christmas morning we were having breakfast with Yaya Han of all people and she convinced us to make the attempt. I wound up finishing a month late since we were supposed to cosplay League of Legends together at Anime Matsuri, but better late than never.

**Note: This is not in chronological order of how things were fabricated, but arranged in line for ease of understanding.**

Let's get started!!! Here's the reference!



First thing I started knocking out was the sword. Made a wood base with a border. The border was to allow the separation of PVC foam and expanding foam so as to save some weight.



PVC was added on the outside of the wooden border.



This was then ground down using an angle grinder. A hole was cut to allow for an even greater weight reduction.



Expanding foam was added and sanded flush with the wood.



Lastly a styrene (important it is styrene since styrene is harder than PVC foam) plate was added to the whole affair.


The bases for the large gem were built from styrene and PVC nibs at the ends. These nibs were ground down later on with a sander.





Cardstock pattern for the wacky detailing was cut from the game art.



If you blue tape your pattern to the PVC it stays on better for a more accurate trace and, eventually, cut.



The gems were PVC and acrylic extrusion, then filled with apoxie sculpt.







Additionally the large gem was filled with model magic (for weight) and then PVC plates were placed on top instead of my typical apoxie method.



Painting time! Prime it, sand it, prime again. Base coat, finish coat. weathering. Always tape stuff off for maximum sharpness!







Helmet time! Started its life as a construction helmet then PVC was glued to it.




Horns were made even larger from initial pattern.





Ring guides added to give a uniform shape.





Bondo EVERYWHERE to get the damn thing smooth.





 OOPS!!! Had to bring the eye slits in and round them out. But also added acrylic extrusion and 1mm PVC detailing!





Model magic interior of horns.



The infamous aftermath of the prior shot where the helmet glued itself to my head and I lost an eyebrow in the process....If you're interested it doesn't grow back the same anymore.





Apoxie sculpt shell for the horns.



Prime it and sand it!



Base coat it!



Detail paint it!



Don't know where to start with armor. First progress picture again for it chronologically.



Guard was added to pauldron. Stacked PVC.



PVC extrusion was added to all pieces, example in bracer.







Skull belt patterned from cardstock. Used exacto knife and paper folding method to get symmetry.



Skull belt placed onto 3mm PVC.



Skirt armor! Used a PVC guide to give uniform spikes on the ends with apoxie sculpt.





Another example with the bracer.







Not shown.... priming and sanding portion.

Base coat down!



Tape it all off for the detail coat!









Had to paint the gem bits. Used a mix of the Testor's Flat Blue and Green Metal Flake. Put down 1 coat of blue then 1 thin coat of metal flake.





Strap it! Clam shell strapping is shown below. I labyrinth my arm in there with elastic for the clam shell effect.





Skirt is just nylon strapping.



Pack it into a tub for the con!



That's about it. I didn't use all the pictures, but they're mostly redundant. See you all on the Fields of Justice!!!