The Punisher Project: Sidestrike Done

[SpiritV]

Hi everyone,

After my first costume was a huge success - although, I have a long ways to go - I have decided that I'll go as The Punisher to the local Geek Con (there's not enough of us comic book fans to just have big Comic Con so all gamers, LARPers, video gamers, comic book readers and fantasy fans get together ). Because I want to keep my epic beard, I'm thinking of doing something like Marco Checchetto's Punisher, with the bandages and everything. Kind of like this.



More bandages, though. Of course, I have questions and I figured I'd turn to the experts. I've got the guns covered. We're sanding off NERF guns these days and experimenting around with spray paint. All in all, we're confident about this part. However, other parts make me wonder.

1. What kind of armour vest is he wearing and where can I buy one?
2. How does one fake bloody bandages?

And I think that's already it. I might have this be my thread where I spotlight the ongoing development of the costume, if I have anything particularly novel to add to the discussion. Or if you have questions for a newbie in terms of NERF spraypainting, feel free to ask. I'll answer to the best of my knowledge.

Thanks for your help!

 

[PunisherNC]

Re: Punisher Questions

You may have better luck building or commissioning your own vest. I researched the vest the best I could for quite some time and the best I could come up with was a British Police stab vest....

you can see my results for that build here:
http://www.therpf.com/f78/punisher-rucka-checchetto-version-finished-pics-page-2-a-150251/


If I had to do it over, I've customize the vest a bit more... but there's always a next time

 

[GhostMinion]

Re: Punisher Questions

As a firearm collector and enthusiast, I can tell you real body armor ain't cheap, and sort of hard to come by. Some places won't even sell it to civilians, despite the fact that it's perfectly legal to.

I agree with PunisherNC, you'd spend far less, and likely get a more accurate (to the artwork) vest if you build it or commission someone to.

 

[SpiritV]

Re: Punisher Questions

You may have better luck building or commissioning your own vest. I researched the vest the best I could for quite some time and the best I could come up with was a British Police stab vest....

you can see my results for that build here:
http://www.therpf.com/f78/punisher-rucka-checchetto-version-finished-pics-page-2-a-150251/


If I had to do it over, I've customize the vest a bit more... but there's always a next time

Wow, that looks really nice. I've seen a picture somwhere who's got a fairly accurate vest. I'm not looking to have the perfect version, but some form of body armour needs to be had. I'm even thinking, after hours and hours of searching for a vest that looks like Checchetto's, that I might just add a different vest to it. The new Gerads version is more than feasible.

Because, here's the thing. Gerads is known for his military accuracy, right? So I thought "Why not ask him?" and I did. Turns out Frank wears a Crye Precision CPC, which appears to be some sort of modular harness thing that I don't quite comprehend yet. However, there are a number of lookalike vests on Ebay.

As a firearm collector and enthusiast, I can tell you real body armor ain't cheap, and sort of hard to come by. Some places won't even sell it to civilians, despite the fact that it's perfectly legal to.

I agree with PunisherNC, you'd spend far less, and likely get a more accurate (to the artwork) vest if you build it or commission someone to.

I'm going to get a knockoff fake armour, from the looks of it. I've discovered that the paintball people have a hobby of making great lookalikes to the real thing at a fraction of the price. So that's good. Especially since the one name that I got - Cry Precision CPC (as seen on the Gerads version of the Punisher) - is insanely expensive.

I'm also wondering if adding a completely different armour to the costume would work out. Something that looks a bit more "tacti-cool" and less tactical. But that's just a thought.

 

[PunisherNC]

Re: Punisher Questions

I agree with you on all accounts, man. I priced the Gerads armor too and I don't have $800 to drop on a vest, lol. So I found an airsoft vest that's pretty doggone close. Here's my Gerads build:

http://www.therpf.com/f78/marvel-no...ersion-10-22-white-ammo-pouches-added-215940/

 

[SpiritV]

Re: Punisher Questions

I agree with you on all accounts, man. I priced the Gerads armor too and I don't have $800 to drop on a vest, lol. So I found an airsoft vest that's pretty doggone close. Here's my Gerads build:

http://www.therpf.com/f78/marvel-no...ersion-10-22-white-ammo-pouches-added-215940/

Amazing. Based on that costume, I've decided that I'll go for the Gerads skull. Because that looks pretty damn good. But I'm not sure about the white pouches. However, this leads to further questions:

1. How did you attach the skull to the vest?
2. How do I cut plastic without melting the thing?
3. Do I need to bend the plastic or is it comfortable enough with a flat skull?
4. When I get a Crye Precision CPC replica, do I need fake plates to go with it to make it look more armoured?
5. Also, is there space for a tactical belt underneath the vest?

Generally, the plan is as follows, currently (this might change): I'll do a mixture between teh Gerads and the Checchetto version with the Gerads skull and the injuries and the beard from Checchetto. And a massive armoury of modded NERF guns.

 

[Peek73]

Re: Punisher Questions

Just a thought, NO EXPERT, but I do wear body armor daily. If you were going for wear and comfort have you ever thought of something like this.

I found this on Amazon and it's short enough that you could wear a duty belt on your waist and connect it to the belt with keepers. A bit of paint/touchup work and bam Punisher vest. The lower section could work for the skull and it might give you the look you want without the ammo pouches. This could give you the freedom to change the upper part of the skull and attached to the chest. Maybe just using white 1/8" craft foam and a fabric glue to make your skull and attach it to the vest. The vest is cheep, around $30.00. Just a thought.

 

[SpiritV]

Re: Punisher Questions

Right. So.

I've decided to go as a mixture between the Gerads version of the Punisher when it comes to clothing and the injuries of the Chechetto version. So that's going to happen. Why? Because it was stupidly difficult to find a vest that actually fits the looks of that in the comics and the idea of cutting my own armoured skull sounds pretty badass. The questions I face now is where to get the material to make my skull. I have been thinking of getting white plastic, but I've never worked with the material before, seeing as this is my second costume ever.

I also need fake ballistic strikeplates, so I was wondering if I should just cut them from the same material as the skull? Is there something I need to pay attention to? Most strikeplates I've seen somehow are a bit bent? Can I bend plastic that way?

 

[Kix]

Re: Punisher Questions

Get EVA foam for the insert plates, really. You can make it take up good amount of space by doubling it up, and you can heat-bond them together, and you can shape them with a heat gun.

Wildly easy work, if the fake vests already have places you can insert plates into.

 

[SpiritV]

Re: Punisher Questions

Get EVA foam for the insert plates, really. You can make it take up good amount of space by doubling it up, and you can heat-bond them together, and you can shape them with a heat gun.

Wildly easy work, if the fake vests already have places you can insert plates into.

I'm willing to give this a shot. But I've never worked with EVA foam. Mainly because it's not available here. Home and hardware stores as well as arts and crafts stores have never heard of the stuff. Is there a good and reliable seller on eBay or Amazon or something you could recommend? And how hard is the material in the end? Could I paint black foam to be white with spray cans?

 

[Kix]

Re: Punisher Questions

You can paint foam any color you want, you just need to seal it first-- Plastidip is popular.

And EVA foam is just like any craft foam but much thicker.

http://www.amazon.com/ProSource-Puz...=UTF8&qid=1421244804&sr=8-2&keywords=eva+foam is a great deal on Amazon for six 2-foot-by-2-foot tiles. Comes in black or gray.

http://www.amazon.com/We-Sell-Mats-...=UTF8&qid=1421244804&sr=8-1&keywords=eva+foam seems to be similar and come in a lot of dang colors.

Usually one side is smooth, one side is 'bubbled'; I assume each one of those shows one side. (The first shows the raised side, the second the flat). But for all I know, the second one could be smooth on both sides. I do not know. I do all my purchasing in person, but now that I know they come in colors, I might have to grab a set of these! Good ol' Amazon Prime.

Anyway, the material is a LOT harder after it's been heat-treated, but it's still not exactly steel or iron we're discussing here. It's flexible (to a small degree) after heat-treatment, insomuch as that it has some 'give', but it's not gonna flop around like it did before the heat gun at all. It certainly keeps its form once shaped and heated, thus the endless foam builds!

Plastidip for the record: http://www.amazon.com/Performix-112...e=UTF8&qid=1421245155&sr=8-1&keywords=plasdip
(Although if you search "sealing foam" on these forums you'll get a lot of OTHER options, many of them super-impressive, but plastidip is a good first-step in the world of foam sealing).

 

[SpiritV]

Re: Punisher Questions

You can paint foam any color you want, you just need to seal it first-- Plastidip is popular.

And EVA foam is just like any craft foam but much thicker.

http://www.amazon.com/ProSource-Puz...=UTF8&qid=1421244804&sr=8-2&keywords=eva+foam is a great deal on Amazon for six 2-foot-by-2-foot tiles. Comes in black or gray.

http://www.amazon.com/We-Sell-Mats-...=UTF8&qid=1421244804&sr=8-1&keywords=eva+foam seems to be similar and come in a lot of dang colors.

Usually one side is smooth, one side is 'bubbled'; I assume each one of those shows one side. (The first shows the raised side, the second the flat). But for all I know, the second one could be smooth on both sides. I do not know. I do all my purchasing in person, but now that I know they come in colors, I might have to grab a set of these! Good ol' Amazon Prime.

Anyway, the material is a LOT harder after it's been heat-treated, but it's still not exactly steel or iron we're discussing here. It's flexible (to a small degree) after heat-treatment, insomuch as that it has some 'give', but it's not gonna flop around like it did before the heat gun at all. It certainly keeps its form once shaped and heated, thus the endless foam builds!

Plastidip for the record: http://www.amazon.com/Performix-112...e=UTF8&qid=1421245155&sr=8-1&keywords=plasdip
(Although if you search "sealing foam" on these forums you'll get a lot of OTHER options, many of them super-impressive, but plastidip is a good first-step in the world of foam sealing).

So the process from a black sheet of EVA foam to a white one looks like this?

1. Spray EVA Foam with Plastidip
2. Bend foam
3. Paint foam

Is this correct? Sorry if I'm being super-annoying here, but I've never done this.

Also, I am modding NERF guns for my project. I'm going to do "black with scratches" on most of them, seeing as they're all guns The Punisher's used in combat. Kind of like this:



This was done by johnsonarms.wordpress.com

How do I do this? I have primered a first gun, then layered gunmetal grey on it. Now I'm about to layer black on top of it. So I figure I need to scratch off the black somehow. But how?

 

[Kix]

Re: Punisher Questions

You shape with a heat gun before anything.

Although a common strategy for ideal paint sealing is plasti dip coat, brisk heat gun to fuse it, repeat twice more. If I recall correctly. I don't do this on my foam projects, but my foam projects aren't nearly as good as others on the RPF, so please do look into paint sealing guides.

re: Aged distress painting. There's three common ways.
1: undercoat the color to reveal (you've done this) and then decide where chips will be by putting down something to mask paint. Tiny pieces of tape, a spray of toothpaste from flicking your toothbrush bristles, anything. Then brush off the protecting stuff to reveal chips.
2: spray paint the color you plan to reveal as the top coat, wait about thirty seconds, then scrub it off with something coarse but ineffective, like paper towels. This will pick up most of it, but not all, especially in cracks and joints. I like this method.
3: using a regular hand brush or maybe a large "tank brush" model painting brush, and some silver acrylic paint, get the brush soaked with the paint and then use a paper towel to clean the brush of the paint, but do only a decent job. Then drag the brush all over various places to "dry brush" paint streaked lines on. I like this method sometimes too.

 

[SpiritV]

Re: Punisher Questions

Alright, it's on. We'll officially try some of the methods you suggested. Also, the armour will be made of EVA foam now. It will be pretty cool.

Let's begin with the pictures, then. Here is most of the arsenal. Two more guns are already dismantled and partially spraypainted. Two more are on their way.

 

[SpiritV]

Re: The Punisher Project: Fist Gun Prototype Done

So we bought the cheapest gun we could find and experimented around with it.

We turned a NERF Doublestrike



into an old, used revolver-looking gun.



so what do you guys think?

Our second prototype is a Sidestrike. It's currently awaiting its second coat of black spraypaint.

 

[SpiritV]

Re: The Punisher Project: Fist Gun Prototype Done

It took us a while, because life did the life-things but the Sidestrike is done. I'm thinking of leaving it all black, maybe adding a bit of scuffing to the handle and the front. What do you guys think?