I want to build an HEV costume, what materials should I use?

[Dr. Fishtastic]

I've seen people build some awesome LARP costumes and stuff, and I plan on making an HEV costume for next halloween, and I figured that I should take a headstart. I'm currently thinking of styrofoam boards for the shin areas and stuff, but can you guys recommend me some good materials (no fixed budget atm). I could do with some tips on tools and materials since I'm doing something like this for the first time. I already think I should reuse some old grey sweaters for the cloth-like areas.

[editline]10th November 2010[/editline]

I'll even post a tutorial on how I did it if I end up going with it

[dai]

Look up papercraft model versions of the suit; I know in this case people have made to-scale measurements and such, so find that and go dig up either a ton of cardboard or a ton of foamcore board (more expensive, better though). Trace out the patterns and use a sharp new box cutter to slowly slice your lines, then tape/glue/whatever the pieces together as you go along.

depending on how you want to finish it all off, you might want to consider a single layer paper mache' coating to smooth over your corners and such, maybe more if you're careful not to make it all warpy.

[Dr. Fishtastic]

[QUOTE=daijitsu;25980639]Look up papercraft model versions of the suit; I know in this case people have made to-scale measurements and such, so find that and go dig up either a ton of cardboard or a ton of foamcore board (more expensive, better though). Trace out the patterns and use a sharp new box cutter to slowly slice your lines, then tape/glue/whatever the pieces together as you go along.

depending on how you want to finish it all off, you might want to consider a single layer paper mache' coating to smooth over your corners and such, maybe more if you're careful not to make it all warpy.[/QUOTE]

I actually want to start from scratch, but I'll look into papercraft and papier mache

[JustyB]

I've heard of people creating papercraft suits and then coating them in layers of fiberglass and resin in order to make the material durable and to smooth over the edges. While they focus mainly on halo themed armor and weapons, you should check out the 405th.com forums. They make shit like this all the time and I'm sure they'd be more than willing to help.