Systems update 90% complete (Posted 24th May 2011)

Wings are all painted now, need to paint a white line on 2 and half wings then they can all be clear coated and mounted. Got a few small pieces on my jacket to do which won't take long at all as its most sticking things on or putting velcro on. It will should be finished either today or tomorrow night. An end of 7 months hard work and a lot of problems to sort out within that time.

She is the hardest thing I have ever started to construct and in all honesty will be my last that I construct. I'm not a very patience person as I have discovered and like to do things in fabric more as if you go wrong you un-do a stitch, with this if you go wrong you have to do the whole panel again from scratch....

Time so far: A day

Spray Paint Defeated (Posted 12th May 2011)

After a whole day worth of spray different colours and leaving things all to dry, the blades are finally finished :) Still got a few problems of trying to get it attached to the forearms.

3 blades are nearing completion and the others need to be filled in and then primed ready for the paint once again, then its assembly of the wings. Going to have to glue or tape my shoes into my boots that I have made, luckily I got a friend that got some stuff that is going to stick them and stick them well in the boots :3

Time so far: 1 day

*Final Countdown Commenses* (Posted 10th May 2011)

Another two weeks to get V-13 looking the part for Expo. The boots have been glued together, final touches have been done at the top of the mecha legs, these have been cleaned up and rubbed down so all the white parts look white again, this also happened on the jacket... Mask needs a final clean, so does the forearms, after the blades are attached.

As I had a complete disaster with the blades, I have to re-start the painting again and my dad explained how to spray paint properly. We sanded the blades down to remove the paint that I put on the blades, these are now primered and waiting for the proper paint once again. Hopefully this weekend we will see the blades done and some of the wings done.

Time so far: 2 hours

Final Part of Legs of doom (Posted 6th May 2011)

After some fail attempts at cutting some foam to shape and many burns to the hand I have managed to make the boots, there is some final touches to do, however these wont take more than a day to do. I'm happy the way they have come out, I'm proud of my mecha boots as they are my first. I can safely walk in them, which is also a plus. Also the last contact adhesive I'm not buying again as it has stunk the house completely out.

Purchased some hinges for the wings so hopefully on sunday these will get done as the attachment of the blades.
Time so far: 3 hours

Legs of doom part 3 (Posted 1st May 2011)

Got one of my boots looking lovely, the other I think I may have to get extra blue PVC for :S I hope not...*fingers cross* Made the big parts of the lower legs and its now becoming a reality that I may have a completed V-13 by end of May :D Picture shows the two pieces together and how the back looks like

Lower Legs of Doom Part 2 (Posted 25th April 2011)

I wasn't feeling too great today, however I thought to myself I need to something to V-13 to keep her going as I have little time left and most will be used up on fixing her and doing her wings, so I did a bit of work on the boots. Dark blue material is glued to one boot and I made the light blue strips to glue on top of this, as I had one already made I stuck the white triangle to the middle of the boot.

All whats left on that one now is all the big white pieces. The other boot needs dark blue done, the white triangle to be made and everything needs to be glued on to the boot.

Time so far: 1 hour

I don't want to see another spray can ¬_¬ (Posted 23rd April 2011)

Brought a few more cans of spray paint to do the colouring of my wings and blades, light blue went on fine, royal blue started causing problems, sprayed little and often as I was told, the wind blew the paper onto the paint and it stuck, so it had to be done over again, then it stuck again...

After trouble with the blue I did the white on the blades and that stuck onto the paper. I walked away from the whole situation cause I have to do the light blue again on one blade and re-do the royal blue and white on the other.
Time so far: 2 1/2 hours of going backwards. One wing was finished in the process...

Need to: re-spray blades and finish wings.

Lower Legs of Doooom!!! (Posted 18th April 2011)

I finally after much umming and erring started the lower boots... atm going alright, better than expected :) I got all the grey pieces on and painted. Need to still do a lot of work on them still...

Upper boots grey pieces are now painted plus the black have been done too. Waiting on the final piece of the puzzle which is the Lime green PVC which is currently being shipped. 8D really can't wait to do all those pieces hehehe...

Wings/Blades are still being painted as I need to fill some holes before primer and paint. Still working how to put the wings together...
Time so far: 8 hours

Upper Boots Progress (Posted 14th April 2011)

I had to tear a few things off and rearrange, and basically restart the upper boots again...
Made bigger blue strips and made the blue boxes on the previous photo (underneath somewhere) smaller and cut them in half. Made the white pieces using the same method like the rest of the costume and proceed to hot glue everything together. All the grey bases all went on and I attached some black lycra around the legs so I can bend my leg in the way she does, without showing skin. Still got lime green parts, painting and front parts still to go on them.
I thought it was time to stop when the hot glue fumes were making me have a headache XD.

Started to spray paint the blades, need to work on my technique and so will be re-spraying so they look less patchy. Brought some magnets to see if I can try another method to attaching the wings to myself. Still need to find clear persepex though ¬_¬ any ideas please let me know.

Time so far : 6 hours

Panic mode Activated (Posted 11th April 2011)

Right, I seriously got to get cracking on this now O.o eep its coming up to a month left and still nothing really been done. The body suit pieces are done except for the green PVC which I will get on thursday along with more buckrum and spray paints.

Going to do the little fixtures at some point during the week then its just boot parts and trying to fix all the wings together and making them float, hopefully *fingers cross* by next week upper legs, blades will be painted and attached to forearms, plus wings will be painted and ready for assembly.

Upper boots (Posted 28th March 2011)

FINALLLY got rounds to these, after having a brainwave when I couldn't get to sleep last night.
Made a base from from buckrum and then started building parts on top of the base. With a highlighter I roughly pen outlines to get an idea of where things were going on the upper boot. Started with all the dark blue parts at the top then going to start the white and grey parts tomorrow. Hot glue is not kind. Still got Bigger boots to contend with ¬_¬ ergh, however now that I know roughly how to do them I should be okies to start them soon as well.

Blades/Wings Part 2 (Posted 15th March 2011)

YAY! something went right for a change and didn't give me any aggro ¬_¬
PVA gluing the blades today ready for painting so they are soaking up the rays in the back garden.

Started the Wings as well. I thought they would take up more craft foam than I thought so that was a plus side 4 to every 2 blades :D Woop! I got two of the basic shape done. I got to get some more to complete the others and the details on the blades. Put the zips in the back of the jumpsuit so I can work out a harness for the wings.

Not much else to say but :S BOOOOTTTSSSS Why must you be so evil looking... After Kitacon hopefully these will be underway...

Time so far: 5 Hours

Blades and Wings (Posted 12th March 2011)

I really should do the boots, however I still havent establish where to start yet O.o and its getting close to May with only 2 and half months to go... So I will be attempting the wings and blades as they are easy enough to do :3

It will be a layer of buckrum sandwiched inbetween two layers of foam and then details are added. I will be making all the componants, and then trying to work out a clear harness to fit everything on.

Mask Complete (Posted 21st February 2011)

All the pieces of the mask is now done, I need to neaten the mask up bit more before the big day. By using car tint, 4 layers went on a piece of an A3 clear plastic wallet. This made it dark enough to not see my face but I can still see out :D This was glued and sam then wired the electronics in (See completed mask picture) These will be alot more brighter when I purchase the right batteries for the LED we were just testing the connections in this photo.

Also got my base shoes for V13, still having to try and work out some problems before trying to start on the bottom half of V13. Did solve her wing problem though which was a plus ^^

Completed Jacket (Posted 7th February 2011)

Finally finished the jacket, the main top part of the costume *throws confetti* I need to clean it up and fix up a few tiny things, however main bulk done...
Clean up the forearm mecha parts, and have varnished all the pieces on the back.

Going to do the Non version's coat rings tomorrow, and re-do the hair as I need to put in the proper hair bands and place the hair piece in...
Time so far: 4 hours

Collar (Posted 1st February 2011)

My jacket now has blue straps and collar now *celebrates*
Got some painting and cleaning up to do before finishing the back off with the large grey pieces on the back...

I have also found the shoes I'm going to use. Got to work out how I'm going to do what I want to do with them, not a bad day today, but still a lot to do ¬_¬

Time so far: 5 hours

Jacket (Posted 28th January 2011)

Had a few days off from V13 as she was irritating me plus I couldn't do much else as grey leatherette was needed... this arrived this morning and so I decided to do the back of the jacket ¬_¬ wasn't easy I assure you lol

First cutting things in card to make sure everything fitted still on the back of the jacket, then contact and PVC/Leatherette... Making paper patterns for the strap that goes round to the front was the easiest job, making it fit together in foam was a different matter (very fiddly)

The leatherette was really dark (see picture)nearly black so this was painted to a lighter colour. All the back needs some PVA glue painted over to give it a shiny mech look. Just got the top half of the jacket and the blue straps. Phew!

Time so far: 7 hours

Arm Pieces (Posted 25th January 2011)

I took a whilst trying to get all the pieces fit as cardboard first, then cut all the components out of foam. Did the usual method of contact and PVC. To glue it all together I used hot glue. A few mistakes happened on the first arm, and so bit of painting may have to be done, the second came out perfect. I will make the blades closer to may Expo, as I'm going to do them all at once...

Onto the legs next, I'm going to take some time out for a while to chill before doing them as I need to get grey leatherette and some leather dye to do the backs of legs and the back of the jacket with...

Time so far: 6 hours

Jacket Disaster + Gloves Galore (Posted 21st January 2011)

Started doing some of the basic stuff again today as the jacket is still staring me... tried sewing the middle part of the jacket and it wasn't going right what so ever. Back to the drawing board and managed to try the same technique for my mask and it worked beautifully. Disaster was evaded.

Next task of the day was the gloves to go under the forearm mecha gear. Drew around my arm, made 4 pieces and sewed 2 together and viola gloves (first pair in my lifetime) ^^ Then I stuck the small handplates onto the gloves. Just the white nails and knuckles to do when I get more craft foam...

Time so far: 6 hours

Styling of the Wig (Posted 19th January 2011)

When I was away, my wig arrived for this costume, today I started styling it with some hairspray and hair putty... The wig was giving me a few problems in the beginning as it is sooo long ¬_¬ after the back was tame it was the front O.o after much sticking and swear words I have managed this and victory was mine(see picture) a few things need to be tweaked and the hair triangle needs to be made and fixed on... Not bad for a afternoon of work... now onto the jacket again ^^'

Time taken: 1 1/2 hours

Mask (Posted 19th January 2011)

The one part I was looking forward to making about this costume :3
Templates were made first to make sure all the parts would fit together properly, then these were transferred onto craft foam which was glue onto buckram.

It was then Cut and contact adhesive was applied to both the craftfoam and PVC which covers the craft foam eventually. This was done with all the pieces and glued together. Sam is doing the electronics at the moment as we did buy a big LED to fit in the middle, however this bulb is not in our good books ¬_¬ (see picture)

First it was a 9 volt, then a 6 volt, then a 3 volt, and actually its a 1 volter which means we went through 3 bulbs for nothing.... so Sam is hooking up some smaller LEDs... A clear visor will be tinted and placed in the void. Elastic will be placed at the back to hold the mask onto my face.

Time so far: 2 days

Jacket WIP (Posted 10th January 2011)

The one of the things I wasn't looking forward to making O.o
Took around 2 hours making a mock up of the jacket as the PVC I brought was not cheap...
I took two patterns I owned made newspaper patterns from altering these patterns then made a cloth mock up to make sure it was done correctly.. (top pic) This shows the amount of detail that needs to actually fit on the back of the actually jacket and in the other picture (bottom pic) you see the leatherette pieces sewn onto the PVC jacket with some details in marker pen still... I have alot still to go but I am on my way :S

Going to hopefully get the mask started in the next week also :)
Hard bits are still baffling me but slowly making sense... lol

Time Taken: 2 hours of planning and another 5 hours of sewing (PVC is not kind)

Base Jumpsuit Complete (Posted 7th January 2011)

Done the base jumpsuit for V13, it took a few thinking attempts before trying to sew it all up.

Wasn't as bad as I thought, I sewed the lines in and placed poppers to easily get out of the jumpsuit. It fits so well and I'm pleased with the progress :D
Time so far: 1 Day