So... Those bell curves

[arctrooper]

In my very brief experience with costuming, it seems one of the hardest parts of armor building is creating smooth bell curves. I'm curious to hear how you all achieve those smooth half domes! Let's hear it!



See, the problem with trying to shape armor (for those less experienced in this kind of thing) by hand is most materials do NOT like to bend in a bell curve.

 

[Darth Lars]

What material are you using?

With pepakura, domes are often comprised of several facets. Then you use fillers to smoothen these out. Alternatively, lay papiér maché on a ball/balloon, but fitting it to other pieces could be tricky.
With foam, you can use a heat gun to extrude a bump, but only so far.

 

[arctrooper]

Right. Unfortunately, I know little to nothing about working with 3d programs.

I'm speaking more to bell curves made from raw material (ie. sintra, styrene, foam, etc.). Even vacuum formed shapes have to come from some kind of positive sculpture.

 

[division 6]

If you are going to vac then your buck (mold) can be made many ways.

1. Sculpt item in clay, let stiffen then vac.
Remove clay then pour stone (Ultracal 30), after it sets remove and clean up and you have your tooling.

2. Some shapes scan also be made of wood (hard woods are best and have less grain)

3,Acrylic and even PVC pipes and fixtures can be used.

4. Carved high density foam will even produce a few pulls before breaking down.

You can mix materials as needed to get the shapes you need.

 

[arctrooper]

So, with carving foam, I've heard that bondo and other paints eat it... I've never really known how to seal it before.

 

[division 6]

The HD foam doesn't need sealing, but as I said you won't get many pulls before it damages it.
I'm talking about the solid industrial stuff not pink insulation foam or floral.

If you are doing lots of pulls then something solid like Ultracal 30, acrylic or wood are your best materials.