"cbradshaw007's 2014 Halloween Costume Contest Entry"

[cbradshaw007]

"cbradshaw007's 2014 Halloween Costume Contest Entry"

My costume entry is Leonidas Fett.

I saw a T-Shirt design by Juan that just screamed to be made. A character combined from Leonidas from 300 and Boba Fett from Star Wars. I did my best to keep the slider as middle ground as I could when creating each component. Some things were sacrificed to time or lack of a better idea. This is only the second costume I have made on this scale. The first was from a kit. (Republic Commando) The build took me all summer with a goal of unveiling it at Dragon Con. I met the goal by finishing the last two parts at the Con.

Fun details of this build:
I haven't worked with leather since Boy Scouts pre 1993.
I have never sew in my life.
I had to learn how to make molds and cast for this project.

I did a lot of research for this. The beauty of this is that both characters have extensive details for the builds. After gathering reference pics I started ordering parts. I reached out to NME Props about the helmet. I decided it would look better if I started with a solid base and went from there. I told them I needed to modify their helmet to make the style I was wanting and wanted to be able to cast copies of my finished product. The agreed as long as I contribute a percentage to a charity of their choosing. I spent way to much time at Tandy Leather and Reynolds Advanced Materials. I broke the costume down by its parts and started working on what I could.

I created a facebook page with all the pics posted for the build process.

https://www.facebook.com/LeonidasFett

I have the build for each part in folders labeled accordingly.

I'll focus on a few things here:

 

[cbradshaw007]

Re: "cbradshaw007's 2014 Halloween Costume Contest Entry"

- - - Updated - - -


The shield:
This was the first thing I was able to work on. I contacted Brian Kanoy and brought up the idea. He is quite a master with tools and creativity. We came up with a plan using home insulation from Home Depot as the core. We would then cover it in fibergalss. (My first time to ever use this.) To start we cut the 4'x8'x2" foam into two pieces. after gluing them together we put it on a spinning point and used a hot wire to cut a 3 foot diameter. We then used a table saw to cut the backside indent. Using a board with a nail we would spin the foam over the blade, move the board forward and spin again. This slowly removed the section we didnt want. Next we flipped it over and did the same on the outer edge. Next we used a belt sander, hinge, boards and clamps to create a sanding station that we could lower the sander onto the spinning foam. The clamps allowed for quick adjustments and angle changes. When we finished the was a fairly perfect dome. We then coated both sides in fiberglass. Using the fabric to strengthen the outside. We put an extra layer on the edge, knowing it would take some abuse. We then focused on the symbol. I reached out to Juan and was able to get a high res version of the artwork. After a little photoshop to extract the image on the shield, I printed up a couple of sizes to see what it would look like on the foam. Once we picked a size it was glued to a chunk of foam and traced with the hot wire. A real cow skull was used as reference on the symbols texture. Using the wire we cut a half inch thick layer and then mounted it on the shield. Many layers of fiberglass later (and lots of sanding) we had the core done. Brian made some screw mounts that we sunk into the foam and fiberglassed into place. A lathe was used to form the handle. A leather strip was used for the fore-arm brace and a layer of felt was glued to finish the back. Antique Brass spray paint became the core color of the costume. I used a bright red for the blood coating of the symbol. Using black acrylic paint and water I antiqued the front and edge. A basic clear coat was applied to finish off the project.

 

[cbradshaw007]

The Helmet:
Starting with the NME Props base helmet, I started by making a mold. After making a copy I made the changes I wanted to make. Simple changes really, the nose guard, a trench for the Mohawk and a texture over the whole thing to take away the smooth finish. I cut out a peice of ABS plastic I had left over from another project and ground it down to the shape I wanted on the nose guard. I glued it into place with epoxy. The trench was made with two more scrap pieces of ABS that i cut to match the curve of the helmet. I added a half inch spacer and clamped it all together to glue. I used blocks clamped in place to glue it to the dome. I drilled holes for mounting bolts in the blocks and into the helmet. This allowed me to keep it all straight and together till the epoxy dried. Afterwards i coated everything in truck bed liner spray for a ruff texture. I created a new mold of the modified helmet. Using Reynolds Advanced Materials supplies I created the mold and the subsequent cast. I used a layer of brass and bronze powder with the plan of it being a cold cast metal helmet. This plan didn't work out so well so I decided for paint.I cut out the removable parts of the helmet. Scarring was added for affect. The side parts were glued in place. A base coat of primer and layers of Antique Brass were applied. A coat of red was applied to the rim around the opening and copper was applied to the cheeks. The range finder was painted and mounted to the helmet. I used magnets to attach the cover over the range finder. A clear coat was applied over the whole helmet at this time.

I finished the helmet at Dragon Con in the hotel room. I used a small piece of foam to glue all the horse hair to for the Mohawk. The hair was separated into small sections. I used hot glue to attach the small groups of hair to the foam. Then a rubber band was attached above the cut area of the hair and the new bundle was cut and glued into another part of the foam. This kept the mess to a minimum and the hair the same length. Once it was finished I did some cutting to clean up the outer edge. The foam, hair, and glue just barely fit into the trench. Once stuck in the trench, I had holes cut into the sides of the trench and added glue to hold int the helmet. A brass rivet end was used to cover the hole. The ponytail was glued in last filling in the space left. All hair used was horse hair. The hotel room looked like we shaved a wookie by the time i was finished.

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[cbradshaw007]

Re: "cbradshaw007's 2014 Halloween Costume Contest Entry"

Here is the finished product so far:
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I plan on making some changes after Halloween is over. The chest piece needs to be cut down a bit. I am adding wookie scalps to the shoulder. At some point I will remake the spardo since it in my opinion needs to be redone.

I am very proud of this costume build. It took a summer and a lot of learning to make.

 

[Michael Bergeron]

This entry just needs a proof pic and gallery pic to be complete.

 

[Michael Bergeron]

Gallery is here in case you were looking.

http://www.therpf.com/gallery/g966-2014-10-halloween-costume-contest.html

 

[cbradshaw007]

 

[Michael Bergeron]

This entry is complete. :thumbsup