Im making a whiplash cosplay (the one from the 'iron man vs whiplash' comic) and need a cost effective way to make the armor for it. Designing it is no problem, but what to use when making it is.

My friends made their halo odst cosplays for london mcm 17 from pepakura, fibre glass and filler; but i've seen people making cosplays from matte board and plasti-dip as well.

can anyone reccomend which of these two, or any other options, which would be cheap (£300 budget) and constructable using minimal space (small house X< )

My next planned cosplay needs shoulder and breast plates and I was thinking of using light-weight wire mesh and paper mache if that helps?
You have a much larger budget than me though so you could try craft foam and/or that posh moulding putty stuff I can't remember the name of. My costume budget is usually about £40 so I've never really considered the more expensive materials.

thanks for that, paper mache wouldnt be wise for me, flight attendants normally ignore the 'FRAGILE' sticker on flight cases coming from belfast, you see

It'll be cheaper to use a less industrial method, buy a hard shell suitcase and pad it all out with your clothes.

To be honest I don't think either of your methods are suitable if you don't have the workspace. Fibreglass certainly needs ventilation, so you'd end up doing that outside. Entirely depends on your setup.

I'm very much a supporter of using foam to make armour. Foams such as plastazote and EVA can do wonders.

It might sound "un-pro" at first, but then if you look at the armours Evil FX makes out of EVA, you might change your mind.

Also, on top of being flexible, foam is way lighter to travel with and to wear!

I have to agree with what pez said about using foam for armour, I started off using steel plastic and rubber but it becomes a bane to work with, wear, and transport really really quick. It also means your actually a danger to other people while your in your costume.

Plastazote wonderflex combo seems to work wonders(no pun intended). another way is to use foam rubber and latex.

do you reckon it would fit within my budget? if so its a definite because it looks awesome!

Foam armour is brilliant, as far as I'm concerned~!

I'm also quite fond of cardboard, papier mache and then paperclay'd armour (but that's what I'm doing right now, so I have a certain bias towards it). Just... be prepared for sanding the paperclay if you do go for it.

Yeah I think it would, because foam isn't expensive! You can find advice on plastazote just by searching this forum, people have talked about it a few times before. As for EVA it works mostly the same way anyway, the texture of the foam is just a bit different.

Foam armour is indeed awesome. Here's a great new type I've seen made recently, courtesy of volpin props (same dude in America who made the bouncer big daddy)



click for how he did it!

im so pleased this appeared, that guys tutorial has helped me severely with something i thought i was going to have to do the old fassioned way. cheers tab.

Just one thing to add to Volpin's tutorial - I think the EVA he used, because it was made for flooring, was already sealed on one side. If you get plain EVA in a big roll, you will have to seal it the way craft foam and plastazote needs to be sealed before you can paint it. But luckily the foam is less expanded than plasatazote, so you don't have to use latex, just a few layers of PVA glue will do.

For painting, use more flexible paints like acrylic (or rub n' buff! XD), and it won't crack as easily as Volpin experienced.

Best to go to Poundland and buy a roll of their camping/yoga mat to have a go first. Not the best quality and might not be the thickness you want, but it does give you a feel of the material for just a quid.