[WIP]Shae Vizla, Mark II started! As she now actually appears in SWTOR

[mdb]

I have spammed everywhere so why not here too I jest about spamming but I am super excited by this project This is the complex bodysuit I mentioned int he Black Widow thread

Last year I saw the Star Wars the Old Republic site and was intrigued by the avatar of what appeared to be a red head in armour. It turned out she was in fact a red head in Bounty Hunter armour. And she now has a name:
Shae Vizla - Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki

The next trailer should be out tomorrow, very much looking forward to it and she does appear so hopefully some more references to work from

This armour appeals as I can build it the way I started to build my Female Templar armour last year with sheet plastic and styrene glue. It's how I customised my Mara Jade greaves too.
This is what I mean, but these are not the armour for the costume Just how I plan to make it.

That project is stalled for a while

And Mara shins heavily modded and with styrene strips.


The helmet I am sculpting as it's cold enough that even my budget stuff is nice and carvable in this weather
An hour of slapping plasticine onto a head form (duct taped to my head size)

15 mins with a metal ruler and a little more plasticine on the face.

Much more work to do clearly! But as a really rough start it's not too bad


And felt tip pen on bodysuit for the crazy piecing:

This changes a heck of a lot from artwork to artwork so I'm having to try and interpret the average between them all.

 

[Qui-Gonzalez]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

Oooo...this I want to see. I am waiting on the game as patiently as possible. Seeing costumers do it right will help.

 

[Dakarn]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

Can't wait to see how this progresses! Ever since I saw the Deceived trailer for SW:TOR she looked like a cool character.

Personally, I like the armored Jedi, which I'll eventually work on once I get a regular New Republic Jedi costume finished.

 

[mdb]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

Qui-Gonzalez: Thank you I know! I am a really crappy gamer (ask me how I killed Lara Croft in the training ground... oy) but this has got me all interested It's Bioware so should be good!

Dakarn: Thank you I know, the cinematic was amazing and she just really stood out Apparently she is a bit ruthless and "brutal" so we shall see how this pans out in the next trailer- I suspect she may wind up in the other pre-game tie ins
I really like the armoured Jedi too. The robes over the armour really appeal so I'm going to hope Shae gets some cool weather gear at some stage too

The bodysuit fabric is all purchased and it is a mix of rubberised heavy duty lycra (it's about 1mm thick maybe more) and a heavy faux suede. Some of the art makes the leather look super shiny some nice and matte. I like the idea of making it look as close to real materials as possible but still give me range of movement. And I love how the cinematic took an already complex bodysuit and just amped it up like woah I can do it, I have practiced with the fabric and with facings and reverse facings.
Oh and yeah all those seams will make for interesting body markings by the end of the day Stripy arms FTW!

The next step is to hunt out some firm card to pattern the chest plates and greaves.

I hope to make the jetpack into a functional item. Yes to zoom around- er I mean the top half I hope to have for storage. Luckily there are pouches for phone and cards. I just need to decide on how to have it attach to the back plate in case there are times I need to go sans flying machine.

I have rarely been this excited by a project A new Ginga Star Wars character! I thought she was just some cool concept art at first

 

[Hamsterstyle]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

As soon as I saw TOR trailer a few months ago I immediatly gravitated towards The unnamed female bounty hunter. I'm glad someone is tackling it.

 

[mdb]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

As soon as I saw TOR trailer a few months ago I immediatly gravitated towards The unnamed female bounty hunter. I'm glad someone is tackling it.

I know. I'm hoping the next trailer (should be up in a few hours now, fingers crossed, I am watching the E3 count down ) will have her be just as amaing

I'm hoping to do a good job. I have a costume contest I am entering this weekend with another project but I cannot stop thinking about this one I know how I am doing my templates and pretty sure on the final materials it's a matter of the tools to cut with I may just invest in some more tips for my rotary tool. I have a short drill type cutting tip and the flat disc cutting tool but I think I may look for a few more (I do have all the sanders and drill bits that also came with my tool).

The bodysuit could be done first but there are elements that need to balance between the two so I'll have to at least make the armour templates before cutting my fabric. The armour is the more predictable of the two layers (it doesn't bend or stretch) so it is the one to use as a reference.

 

[Qui-Gonzalez]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

She just had a wee bit part in that trailer....which was amazing! You did see they are selling a small statue, right?

 

[mdb]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

I know Ah well she was still in it Even if it was to fly into shot and land...

I have seen the statue It means I can go a little easier on myself with all the crazy details of the cinematic

I have decided I want this to be as practical as possible, I spent another day in a full bodysuit that zips up the back and I must say I'm getting tired of it I'll be trying to construct the undersuit in a way that I can be as comfortable as possible and able to stay hydrated and not worry about bathroom breaks and the hooplah a back zipped body suit entails. Heck I am looking at unpicking my Catwoman bodysuit at the waist and inserting a series of snaps to the corset too

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

 

[Phizzle127]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

Wow, this is going to be a good one. Look forward to the progress!

 

[mdb]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

Thank you

So I have a little more progress to show:


I templated most of the chest armour tonight. There will need to be tweaks made to fit I suspect and I needed to open a few pieces to fit over the bust so they get fixed first. Then I need to build very the bottom section to get that stepped effect (depending on how I make it is whether I need to do that to the top as well).
This was tough because the actual shapes are not intuitive for a female form so I was building on air for quite a lot of it. But it worked a lot better for the first pass than I was expecting so that was good


Much as I am sad for the loss of a lot of detail in the statue I do love love love how they kept the face of the helmet as it is in the cinematic. There is a slight mask shape to it (contoring cheeks for instance) as opposed to the flared flat shapes in some of the art and in game images.

Oh yeah mannequin is covered in plaster and resin from various other projects. I need to give her a good scrub...

 

[dkwd]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

This armour appeals as I can build it the way I started to build my Female Templar armour last year with sheet plastic and styrene glue. It's how I customised my Mara Jade greaves too.
This is what I mean, but these are not the armour for the costume Just how I plan to make it.

Templar - as in from Hellgate: London?
Any pictures of how that turned out?

David

 

[Sakara]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

I adore Hellgate London and one day will make the female Templar....lol

Cant wait to see the Bounty Hunter made flesh!

 

[mdb]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

Yeah, I started that project a while back But I am the judge of the biggest cosplay contest here in NZ (There are smaller events which is very cool but this is a big one) and when someone said they were going to do a group of Hellgate costumes for it I put the costume aside as I was only in the experimenting stages

The BH is on track though and most of the techniques and tools and materials I was going to use for the Templar are going to be used for the BH I would like to have finished the Templar but it wouldn't look good to rush it and I have no one to wear it with.

 

[desolate]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

i will be watching this thread. how do you intend on making the helmet???

 

[mdb]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

Desolate: I have been sculpting it from budget plasticine over a headform- a polystyrne ball cut and shaped to my head size and shape. I have recently also been able to use expanding foam to make a head form a bit more human sized and shaped and the next stage will be to get my head cast

Helmet through the ages:
3/6/10

13/6/10

2/8/10

So quite a profile change 1.5kg clay put on then taken off In theory I could have just shaved and shifted the existing clay but it really was much easier to add too much and cut it back.
My tools for this have been a heat gun to soften the plasticine and a big budget metal ruler to shave with. I knew that horrible sharp edge would come in handy

Shaping the cheeks and eye ready for first molding and casting:

Cats always help. It's a rule of life. Yes there is now fur in the clay. This is what a pot, the stove top and netting is for- cleaning clay


Budget silicon mold making- warm water with lots of detergent, squirt caulking* smoosh in hands and then onto sculpt:

End up with what looks like an alien... Next step is a fibreglass jacket- and trimming the silicon into better keys As the helmet flares and there is minimal undercutting I think i should be safe leaving the silicon one piece. I made a silicon mold of my Samara tentacles which popped on and off easily without distorting the silicon so this should be fine too. The jacket may be able to be in one part too given the flare and shape of the helmet.


Armour progress:
I do have progress! Much thanks to Matt (Dr maul here I think?) for wielding hot knife and spending I think 2 hours cutting? I think it was at least that. Thank you, I do now have a new tip for my soldering iron that is able to be smacked into knife shape but 3.5mm styrene will never be easy to get through That was 45 pieces of varying sizes and at least one nasty interior curve!
Welding of styrene:


Styrene welded and needing heat shaping:

I only removed the melted edges on the bigger pieces but sanded down the smaller a little so that I could get that overlap of the upper and lower chest. All the gaps and uneveness will be fixed once the welding starts on the front. I have had success with this sort of process on the collar of my Samara costume though that is a much much smaller scale!

If the weld is thin enough in the back then heat shaping is a doddle as it acts a bit like a hinge I did add a bit much in some places, but luckily not where the shaping will need to occur. I'm going to give it another day or two as I remember the foamy mess I made when I was too eager to shape my Mara greaves...

Styrene glue is much fun, unless you have a cut on your hand in which case the acetone isn't so fun

I have been using a glass jar to snip my 0.5mm sheet styrene into (about 2 by 1cm pieces) and about 150ml of acetone. The acetone luckily is hardly used up in the process so I've been able to add more styrene each night to make more glue for the next day.

I did also discover my stash of heavy card to template the greaves vambraces and probably jet pack.. It's amazing what you can find behind the sofa. There is even a huge canvas to be painted back there...

*I just cut off the tip of the tube this time I usually cut the entire end off to save on effort with the gun but the smaller hole means more surface of the silicon gets exposed to water which speeds up the curing process. Besides it looks like worms! Or those big Thai rice noodles. My inner child finds this delightful.

I've also been working on a Sabe battle outfit as a slight distraction- I'm quite looking forward to her headdress too More plastic!

 

[desolate]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

do you intend on making more than one helmet?? if so i would be interested in one.

 

[nasakat]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

Fabulous work!

This is my big project for the winter in prep for next years cons so I'm glad to see someone else working on it and having such great success

 

[Bizarro Lois]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

This is going to be great. Nice pics so far. Oh, and I have to add that I love your avatar - My husband loves Mass Effect and your Liara looks great!

 

[mdb]

Re: WIP: Shae Vizla, Bounty Hunter TOR

Ack! How have I been missing so many posts! I know I've been heavily distracted with judging contests and and being stressy and not very well at all

Desolate: I am going to be making a good mold of the final sculpt so it should be possible to cast more than one I will be getting back to work on this asap, health issues should be settled soon to be able to get sanding and bogging and sanding

nasakat: great I hope you share progress on the rpf too

Bizarro Lois: Thank you Though it is actually Samara from Mass Effect 2 I have finally built armour I am happy with: I made fibreglass pieces first but while super shiny and pretty they didn not move the way they needed to so I made some masters and molded them and cast them from latex. It worked really well and I at least got to wear the shoulder pieces a few weekends back

I have a few more progress photos to share:


Some shots to show the progress from silicon shell and jacket mold to the first layer of resin and fibreglass, back filled with urethane foam to reduce weight but give support, then bogging and sanding and bogging and sanding... I think imay have sanded some more since then but I had to stall this for a while as I was ruining my shoulders, elbows and hands

One of the reasons I needed to bondo so much was I took the silicon out of the jacket to give it a really good final wash to make sure all the silicon was cured and clean and when i put it back in.. I didn't get the forehead key all the way in place so the resin was buckled there.