Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi all, hope you all are able to help me with this.

Like it says above I'm looking to go to the UK Games Day next September and I'm wanting to go with a costume, as a Cadian Guardsman Sergeant with a soft cap (from the commander model). But I'm struggling to work out how to make the various pieces of equipment that I want to take, is anyone able to give me links to where I can get the pattern to make them. I will be very gratefull for the help and will also be putting pictures onto the website of the gear as I make it and the completed costume, plus most likely shots of me when I go to Games Day.

Thank you in advance for any help.

Stiyx

Edit - Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, not fully sure where this should have been posted.

A very simple if somewhat expensive suggestion for the body armour: Get a second-hand ice-hockey armour.

As for the chainsword: talk to your local LARPers (or google cyberlive), they should have plenty of good advice.

Who was it that made the Sister of Battle costume for his ol' lady? He made a chainsword and a bolt pistol, so tryin to pick his brain for ideas couldn't be a bad idea.

I make my boys cardboard armour all the time , the most recent being an odst suit from halo, I have learnt that big boxes of card board, like tv or fridge size, are the best stuff , since they are free, and also fruit boxs from supermarkets are very very strong , great for adding panels , but my to tip is , straps ! the sort you have on rucksacks, they are invaluable for tightining and uncliping the armour. i would buy a cheap second hand rain 3/4 size rain coat for the under garment, and bulid a front and back peice from large carboard boxes , you could spray paint and varnish fro extra strength, and add those straps to join it together, you could use skateboard pads for the shoulders , with extra cardboard. good luck

Not sure about finding patterns for this stuff, honestly, aside from a few papercraft templates that could be scaled up. That won't really help, though, as they're terribly intricate and would crumble in a heartbeat, if carried around. There is plenty of art floating around for reference, so you shouldn't have too much trouble knocking out a basic design, yourself.

For the chainsword and pistol, I would suggest taking a piece of posterboard/cardboard and cutting out the weapon's profile. Once you have that, bulk out the main sections with rigid foam, cardboard, foamcore, etc. Rough edges and gaps can be covered with cardboard and plasticard, which can also be used for detailing. Honestly, that's all there is to it - get the profile, bulk it out, skin it, detail it, then paint it (not that the execution is nearly that simple, of course ). Oh, and for the sake of strength and rigidity, I'd run PVC pipe through the core of your chainsword. It'll serve as your handle, as well as the backbone that supports all of your rigid but brittle materials.

The other advice up here is solid. Protective sports gear (ice/roller hockey, motocross, and lacrosse spring to mind as having the right shape) could serve as a good base for a Guardsman's flak armor. You should also look around for that thread CrashUSAR mentioned. I know I've seen WIPs of life-size 40K weapons in a few other places, as well, though I can't recall where, exactly...

the web forum 501st is agreat place to start , although those guys are very dedicated to geting it exactly right, so lots of papercraft stuff and moulds over there. great advice oadie btw

Use foam like you might use for scenery to make the armor's body. Wire and granny grating make good frame and plasticard or thin aluminum sheet metal will do the outside. Sheet metal is heavier but looks more like armor. for the sword buy a prop at a costume shop and use platicard to modify it. The bolt pistol i would recommend doing the same way as the armor.

CrashUSAR wrote:Who was it that made the Sister of Battle costume for his ol' lady? He made a chainsword and a bolt pistol, so tryin to pick his brain for ideas couldn't be a bad idea.

That would be Finnlock. :-)

Grimm

I thought Grimmnar and Finnlock were the same person? ;-D and yes, I stalk you, even here!

I hope you're able to pull it off, it sounds like a great idea.

I would agree with modified hockey gear.

If you learn how to make a chain sword, I'd love to do so as well.

Foam+Wire+Sheet Metal

http://commissar.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=picpost&action=print&thread=4010

ive been planning on building a kasrkin armor set out of plaster, just because plaster is the closest thing to "ceramite" armor (some sort of ceramic) if i had a kiln i would make it out of clay, but i dont have access to such equipment...

I have made Larp weapons and shields and I can tell you from experience that if you are going down that route you will need a product called plastazote you can find it from many suppliers but try orthapedic shoe suppliers as they will also sell you the glue. you need contact glue "thixotropic" if you can get it from dunlop then once you have assembled your armour/chainsword you need to coat it in a thin layer of contact glue then once this is dry latex which you can colour with acrilic paint and then you need to go and buy a product called "Isoflex special primer" its a clear roofing primer which is like a varnish but remains flexible you can buy it from b&q in the uk its great stuff! for the armour once you work out a patern you just glue layers together untill its the right shape for the chainsword you need at least three sheets plus a core (for larp weapons) people use a fibreglass or carbon fibre core not a tube but a rod! sandwich this between layers of foam and carve away!

Ceramite is not like plaster its a sci fi material that does not exist although it is scientificaly possibly to create a ceramic material with additives to make it lighter and stronger than steel we can't do it yet the best modern day equivilant would be carbon fibre or cevlar feinforced fibreglass.

i like to think ceramite would behave a lot like plaster and look and feel like it...thats why i want to use it...and when its dry, plaster is fairly light...its also solid and more durable than cardboard...

Maybe plaster mixed with resin of some sort? for added strenght but plaster on its own even once properly cured is not very strong

eh, plaster is also kinda hard to work with...what other materials are there to pick from? foam is an obvious no...too fake looking

Foam is only as fake looking as your ability to paint it, realistic matailcs are absolutly possibly plus the isoflex gives matals a really good shine so I would argue that point with you, take a look at some of the larp stores on the web having a larp/wandering soldier/Eldrich (the guy is kinda an arse by his weapons are very pretty/matlock to name just a few that I regulary chat with (wandering soldier is run by an awesome bloke and he make fantastic stuff)

For Larp check out Artyfakes. It's a UK company that have already made chainswords a chainaxe and a plasma cannon!

You could also check out skain moor they have a range of wh40k / steampunk / sci fi larp goodies. but I was refering to companies where I like the look of their stuff for reference, I wasn't sudgesting buying the stuff