There isnt really a catagory for this.. so i just picked 3d We decided to create some Bay-formers for Halloween this year. They will pretty much be all foam board. They look rough now, but eventually we will prime, fill, sand, paint, gloss and weather them down. Here are some progress pictures of Prime, Ironhide, Ratchet and Bee.. I'll post more as more pieces come together. Our spare bedroom looks like an autobot junkyard.
You're off to an amazing start, but if I may, and if I'm out of line for suggesting this then please tell me so. But, from my experience, foamboard just doesn't hold up for prolonged use. I switched to a material called GatorBoard, it's two pieces of fiberglass with a rigid foam sandwiched between them, where foamboard is two pieces of paper with polystyrene foam sandwiched between them. The GatorBoard is really rigid, I build a Proton Pack out of it a few years ago and it's 3 Dragon*Cons and multiple Halloween's, where as a normal foamboard Proton Pack didn't survive it's first Dragon*Con, we were constantly doing repairs to it to get it to stay together for the Con. It's just a suggestion, thought that you might would want to know about the GatorBoard. Anyways, like I said, you're off to an amazing start.
Thanks... we will have to look into gatorboard. But these costumes arent really being designed for the long haul. If they survive Halloween and a convention or two, I'll be happy. Kind of funny you mentioned a proton pack.. we've built many of those.. We've been winning contest with those for years, but we've run out of places to go to in just about every neighboring city. We've also done Colonial Marines from Aliens, and DOOM outfits from the movie a few years back.
Tested out a few paints to see what looks best on foam.. might try to go a with a higher gloss.. Tested on Ironhide, that way if we mess up we can just respray him black again.
A few parts from Ironhide's hood. sad part is a good chunk of this will be hidden.. proper lights and turn signal to be added later.
This looks absolutely fantastic!! And I gotta agree with Overhaulimus. I'm an artist and do alot of large scale 3d installations and use Gatorfoam. The stuff is highly durable and well worth the extra bucks.
thanks! I'll definitely take a look at gatorfoam for the next project. Busting out 4 Autobots in 3 months is going to require some rushing.. which i dont mind doing with the cheap foam. This is my first time working with it.. my other props / costumes have been wood or fiberglass.
thanks all.. i apologize for the cell phone picture quality. Once we have some actual finished shots I'll stop being lazy and use a real camera. Been taking a break from Prime and working on Ironhide.. have the inner core of the torso done, just need to start layering it up. Here he is with this Topkick hood and head in place.. and there's a bonus dog toy in the pic too.
Most of the 4 costumes are only about 75% done.. but here is Prime's helmet. Fully painted, weathered, and glossed.. even used some charcoal to scuff him up a bit. Just need filters and lights for the eyes..
Great start guys! Now have you thought off venting these costumes? It's going to get really hot in them after a few mins....
Yeah, venting was a top priority.. you can see vent rows going down the sides of prime between the sides and the crown. I got a huge batch of like 35 sheets of 3ftx4ft boards from Foamboardsource.com
Ah... nice! You may want to add fans (computer fan) to the costume to draw in cold air. Vents along won't help cool you down... also if you have lights added that is also going to give off alot of heat. BUT... so far I love what you have built so far.