Flynn Props

Here is a quick tip for blending Thibra armor seams that I recently discovered while putting the final touches on my Genos armor!

Pictures are ordered left to right, top to bottom:

1.  Here is an unsightly gap that was created from joining two Thibra armor pieces together.  You could just leave a gap like this, but you could also fill it in so that it looks clean and pretty :D.

2.  Heat up some Thibra scraps, and roll them out into a skinny log the size of the gap.

3.  Working quickly, press the log into the gap.  Don’t worry about getting it smooth and flat since that will be fixed in the next step.

4.  You will need a metal spatula style sculpting tool for the next step.  These are sometimes called different names and come in slightly different styles, but the most important thing is that the tool is all metal.  Using your heat gun, heat up the edge of the tool until it is very hot.  I personally didn’t have any problems with the rest of the tool getting too hot to hold, but if you do, wrap the rest of the tool in a piece of cloth.

5.  Run the hot tool over the area where you pressed the Thibra scraps into the gap.  The hot tool will heat up the surface just enough to be able to smooth the Thibra.  Keep heating up the tool and smoothing out the Thibra until you are satisfied with how it looks.

6.  You will now have smooth, sharp edges on your armor instead of ugly gaps!  You can also use this method to fill in holes or fix other problem areas.  

The reason why heating up the tool works better than heating up the armor itself is that you can control where the heat is and can heat up the tiniest of areas.  Thibra has huge issues with bubbles forming after it has been reheated, so if you heated up the armor with your heat gun, the surface of your armor would bubble.  The effort of blending the edges would be pointless since the rest of the armor would look worse than before.

As usual, let me know if you have any questions!

This week’s cosplayer of the week is none other than our club President, Logan!

Logan Colla, also known as Aedan Flynn is a senior at UW Madison in the Comp Sci department. In the summer of 2013, he stumbled onto the universe of cosplaying and prop building. Following from the expertise of builders like @volpin-props, he created his first major project, Guy Manuel’s Daft Punk helmet, and thus his business of @flynnprops was born. Since then he has cosplayed many different characters, each more complicated that the last, with the most recent ones being Arbiter from Halo 5 and Uncle Qrow from RWBY. 

He is currently working on a few projects but is honing his precision German engineering to prepare for his next cosplay Reinhardt from Overwatch. 

Photos by Brandon G Photography and @x-geek

Team Instinct is in the 2nd Place!

Perhaps Valor has become complacent following it’s early successes?

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http://www.volantedesign.us/vests/go-trainer-vest

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When you’re making costumes out of foam, you might have noticed that when making a pattern that wraps around, like bracers, the thicker the foam, the more length you have to add to compensate for the thickness.  You could always guess how much, but that can be risky if you under measure, and more work if you over measure.

Gems with Plastic and Iridescent Flakes (+LEDs)

EVA Foam Armor: Strapping/Securing

Qrow’s weapon transformation concept.