Borderlands Shield Generator Part 2 (Cosplay)

Last time I got the structure and "moving parts" of my shield generator established.  This time I'll show you how I finished dressing it up.  Surprisingly this seemed like the much more challenging and time consuming part.  The structure fell together as if by magic, but the appearance required a lot of thinking and trial and error.  Here goes:

First, I taped up the plexi core to prevent it from getting dirty or scratched while working.  Then I started experimenting with craft foam as a "skin".  It cuts really easy, but behaved a little differently than I expected under the heat gun.  If you get it REALLY hot, you can stretch and deform it a little, but the best use of heat seemed to be in getting it to keep it's shape for gluing.  If I heated it just a tiny bit, it would stay exactly where I put it.  You can see how I formed a little box out of it above.  It's staying that way all on it's own.  That's comforting, because I'll know that as the glue ages, the foam won't be trying to tear itself apart!

Fitting some pieces around... you won't see it here, but I had to make a few of these a few times!  You can see the grey top piece trying to spring back into its heat formed shape while it's propped up for gluing.

Getting closer!  I trapped some thumbtacks under the black bottom foam so I'd have something to glue some little "terminals" to later.  I have some scrap EVA foam on them for safety.

Speaking of those termainals, here they are.  I squished some sculpy into a nut, and then unscrewed the nut after baking for a threaded look.  They have a pinhole in their bottoms so they can be glued onto the tacks later.

Finished foaming!

I used cheap craft acrylic paints (as suggested) to get the basic colors down.  (I have my old stencil print out for reference)

TA DA!  After the colors were on, I added the linework and details with markers and a little paint!  I hope you like how it turned out!  It blew away my own expectations!  I can't wait to wear it.  Don't leave home without your shield generator, safety is our #1 concern!

Borderlands Shield Generator (cosplay)

I finally reached a good milestone on my new project: props for my Gunzerker cosplay from Borderlands 2.  Last NekoCon I attended a panel showing what could be done with EVA foam... which I happened to have a ton leftover from my dartboard project (see a trend here?)  I've been dieing to play with it and I got my chance!  Here's an example of a shield generator in-game.  I'm shooting for something similar, but with slightly different attachments.

This is what EVA foam looks like in its wild state.  It's sold as anti-fatigue or playroom floor mats, and is usually about 1/2 inch thick.  In theory you can layer it up to make things as thick as you want.

Time to cut!  Luckily, I got some baddass shop shears for xmas that hungrily chomped through the foam!  (Shop Boss, basically for all the things you CAN cut with sicissors, but aren't supposed to) Here you can see the mockup of the particular generator I'm trying to re-create, and the unfortunate diamond tread on my foam.

Fortunately, an orbital sander handily erases diamond tread.  Ready to GLUE!

Then it was time for more precision cutting with x-actos and dremels:

Never one to miss the obvious, I couldn't overlook the facts that the in-game generator cores glow AND I had a lot of unused space in mine.

A trip to the toolbox and the attic, followed by more dremel time yielded some plexiglass with inlaid LEDs for edge lighting.  The core of the generators have a peculiar texture, and I searched high and low for interesting metal hardware to cut up.  Eventually I stumbled on chrome duct tape!  Much easier to work, and has a pretty acceptable texture!

At that point, I got kinda psyched, and jumped a few steps without pictures.  Whoops!  The EVA foam is really easy to shape with some heavy grit sandpaper and a power sander.  I also realized that I better add some structure for the belt-loop sooner than later, so I stuck some heavy zip-ties through with washers to stop them from pulling out.  I was going to just let the battery control the LEDs, but I ran across a switch and couldn't resist.

IT IS ALIVE!

Now for the interesting part... trying to make it look pretty!  The plan is to cover it in heat-formed craft foam, and then paint it with acrylic.  In the end the LED's will be covered with a trim ring, so all you will see is the cool glow from the center of the generator.  STAY TUNED!