Jecht Cosplay - FFX / Dissidia - SDCC 2011

So on a whim a friend told me I would make a pretty decent Jecht. So on another whim I tried to cook one up. I didn't think it would be that hard, and it wasn't....if I weren't such an idiot making the sword, but we'll visit that in a second. Here is the reference for starters.




Started off by patterning out spiky things on his back. As per the in game art they are in a but of a wing formation. I don't think I wound up using this specific pattern, but the concept was the same.



 Patterned and cut out the rest of the armor for the arm.



Wound up using super big spikes that I made. So pretty!



Added some styrene and sintra to the shoulder pieces to give some good detailing. Also added Liquid Nails and bondo to close up the seams on the spikes.





Added the same style of detailing on the forearm armor as well as the clamshell under bracer. The bracer would clamshell by having elastic on both sides of the bracer and having my arm slip into it.





Now onto the drama that was the sword. My initial idea, after being all awesome with my Shanks gun
was to use the foam, fiberglass madness method I made up. Yeah...well...it didn't work out. Looked like a balloon.

 



So I did a plywood build...shape was NOT right at ALL.





So eventually I just did it the RIGHT way and I printed out the sword from the art, then traced it out onto my plywood. Everything on the sword was fabricated by me. The buckles on the bottom are sintra and the loops are made from plywood on either side. Smoothed it out with a ton of sanding as well as bondo to fill out wood grains.



Painted the thing black and glossed it.  Used my paper guide and converted it into a stencil for the orange detailing then send it out the door. Hope people like it!

Bao Sanniang's Spinner. AX 2011

Had to make my girlfriend some crazy DOOM yo-yo for her Dynasty Warriors 7 cosplay of Bao Sanniang.



Started out by making a circle cutting tool for my band saw. I did this by taking the miter gauge's rail and gluing it to a piece of plywood then drilling a hole into the wood. Next I used a bolt to put through the hole and BAM by drilling a hole into a piece of wood I could make perfect circles by rotating it around the bolt. Sooooo cool and something I would use again and again.



I did this 6 times. I wound up cutting a ring, a disc and beveled disc for each half of the yo-yo (spinner). I then cut the blades from sintra (expanded PVC foam) as well as the platforms I would eventually sculpt my detailing from.



I used plastic dinner plates as the dome shapes of the spinner. I had to grind down the raised bottoms of the plates to make them look a little bit less like dinner plates.



I secured the two halves with a bolt and some nuts. The string can extend and retract so it can be carried with an extended rope or retracted for ease of use.



Next I would sculpt some details from Aves's Apoxi Sculpt and place it onto the spinner.



Then I added a handle and a paintjob and it was done. Thanks for reading!

Zhou Tai Cosplay AX 2011

My first attempt at plastic armor was Zhou Tai from Dynasty Warriors 7 for Anime Expo 2011. Was quite the trial but the end result was totally worth it.




The first step was to cut out the arm pieces and leg pieces from expanded PVC foam (sintra) which is a plastic. I cut it out with a bandsaw and heat formed them with a heat gun.




After that was done the knees and the rest of the arm was cut. The left piece was darted and then shaped in order to get the domed sort of shape.



Chest piece was made the same way as well as the back piece, but the back piece was eventually tossed out due to mobility issues.



Helmet started life as a construction helmet. Patterned a ring of sintra that would go around it from cardstock. Seemed like a sound plan.



After awhile the armor started coming together structurally.  The lipping on the knees and forearm piece was done by heating the plastic to a very high temperature and kneading it almost like a dough to get the nice lip.



Started adding more sintra to the helmet so that it would have coverage all around it.





Started the detailing process. By keeping the initial patterns that I had for the armor I was able to easily to get a pattern for the trim that would go around all the armor. The swirls and curls were cut out of sintra with a bandsaw then glued with liquid nails and super glue.



Helmet was filled over with bondo auto body filler to give it a nicer dome shape and sanded like a mad man.



More detailing on the chest piece. Looks like a mustache. The detailing is a different color because it is a thin styrene, I did not want the detailing on the chestpiece to be particularly thick so thin styrene was used instead.



Sorry for the lack of pictures, but towards the end of the project there was a big time crunch. Here is the helmet and some greaves with the detailing in place. Held together with liquid nails!



I honestly  completely forgot about the sword until a couple of day before. So I had to cobble one together VERY quickly. First I got a picture of an actual sword and cut it out of paper to get a good curve. The uniform curve on the katana is integral to getting it to slide in and out of the sheath. Made the scabbard in a hurry. Scabbards I just make like a box, lined with cloth.



So some steps I didn't photograph since I was rushing like crazy, but the edges were bondo'd to cover and seams, painted with acrylic and spray paints then presto change-o a costume is born! Questions, comments, concerns? Let me know in the comments!

Strong World Shanks Cosplay. Fanime 2011

Strong World Shanks for Fanime 2011 marked the beginning of me actually trying to LOOK like the character instead of just making a really wacky weapon. He didn't have the sword in the statue, but he did in one of the game sprites so I decided to make it for lulz.





Sword and sheath were actually straight as per about 2/3's of the art I could find, so I made it straight! His sword was made with plywood and I beveled the edges by sanding them with a belt sander. Sheath is built like a box and is lined with cloth in order to mitigate scratching on the wooden sword's paint.





By sanding the handle round as well as the sheath I got a very nice effect. I added some plywood panels the beef up the handle.







Made the handle guards out of MDF and carved the swirl with a dremel tool. Learned tsuka-ito (Japanese handle wrapping) quickly and cobbled it together. I decided to stain the handle instead of painting it white, I am partial to wood grains on props wherever possible.



On a side note Jen made me the costume itself...and it is a SUIT JACKET made from SPANDEX. Yeah...that JUST happened.



Made a pommel out of MDF and glued it to the bottom with liquid nails then painted it! Time to work on the cannon!



So I was TOLD that if you coat foam with paint you resin won't eat it. Well...they were wrong.



I failed a couple more times too. First was the one pictured above, and 2nd was when I tried to go Foam -> Bondo. The problem with going foam -> bondo is that the foam is soft and the bondo WILL crack if ANY pressure is put onto it because it is not strong enough to bear the pressure. My final gun (the one on top) had a layer of masking tape to prevent the resin eating the foam, fiberglass matte to keep the thing rigid THEN the bondo.



I got a PVC pipe and some plumbing unions to serve as the muzzle of the cannon. Was a bit long so I had to shorten it.



Added some MDF, styrene and a doweling rod for detailing and everything went well!



 We did the scars from scar wax and nail polish, the wig was as is from an eBay seller. Not the best presented project, but was a great stepping stone. Debuted at Fanime 2011!!! Questions, comments, concerns? Let me know in the comments!