Stage 5... (Posted 5th May 2013)

Rivetted the armour and added the RPD logo on the back. I've also decided to wrap the foam armour pieces with cotton black canvas, the reason for this is I want it to look more realistic. So creating an effect similar to that of Nylon cordura and Kevlar body armour is my next thing, also I will have to create that middle panel/flap before I do the white RPD logo on the chest.

Things are looking good! Can't wait to get it finished - hopefully done and dusted by the end of June. Then... haircut! :)

Stage 4... (Posted 27th April 2013)

Well, Leon is finally coming together. All the stitching is complete, next I need to buy some joint connectors to rivet the foam pieces to the boiler suit and hot glue the RPD patches on.

I also need to form the foam with a heat gun and then seal it and paint it, still figuring out how to do it cheaply as I do want flexibility but without going overboard on the budget.

Stage 3... (Posted 13th April 2013)

Today's work, not as much as I'd hoped but Max Payne 3 needed my attention *cough*

Well, I managed to finish off the knee patches and the leg side pockets. Minor details but still important!

What I am most happy with though is definitely my hip light, I bought the light from the market in town for around £4 and then used an old 50mm belt clip to create the attachment and also to give it a closer look to the original ingame costume. To have a working light is quite awesome, again - minor touch... but could look awesome in a photoshoot or video.

I did plan to start the armour but the weather is too wet, so no heat gun today! Ah well, I'll probably need some help with it anyway in regards to how it sits on my body and the rest of the costume.

All in all, a good day of work!

Stage 2... (Posted 12th January 2013)

Very belated progress, due to other commitments but I aim to crack on and have it all done by the end of February!

So, this stage was fun - I made all the prior alterations and some. I decided to use the breast pockets for the side leg pockets, hence why they are removed (not intended originally) and also I am using the arm sleeves for the knee patches. All this saves a lot of money!

The undershirt was most tricky, since the sleeves were too short but I loved the colour and fabric... so I butchered that and removed the sleeves and sewed three points into the boiler suit sleeve. It's a little tacky but I discovered I couldn't sew all around it due to the fact the sleeve is slightly bigger than the boiler suit. Not a problem though as everything is held in place with the elbow pads and those three tacks. :)

All fine and dandy!

Colour looks better in these photos too, much closer to how it looks in reality.

Hardest part so far was stitching the new zip as I had to do it by hand because of how I was doing it, probably a better machine method to use but I am more confident with hand stitching.

OH! I also made some armour, it messed up big time... scalpel are useless. Use scissors for foam! Lesson learnt haha.

Still... I'm really happy with how it is all turning out and I hope to keep costs below 60 pounds.

If you read this wall of text, thank you! Hope it was an interesting read. :)

Stage 1... (Posted 13th November 2012)

Boiler suit arrived, I'm definitely happy with it as it's a colour that sits between the classic version and the later games, without being too faded or too colourful. Alterations to be made soon, for now... I've just made annotations of what needs to be changed! :)

Prelude... (Posted 8th November 2012)

So, the most difficult part of this epic journey... finding the right colour overalls as a base! It's mad just how long it's taken, at least a month of daily Ebay searching.

But finally, I settled on Air Force Blue... I decided to go for that as it wasn't quite as dark as Navy which in my opinion would obscure many details. The other alternative was slate grey, which was quite light... but I felt as though that could be too detrimental in portraying the "realism" of the character. Not to mention that under harsh light it could be almost a pale blue!

So fingers crossed, I got the right boiler suit.