Assembling the Armor

1 of 3

http://www.hardscrabblefarm.com/costuming/eva-assembling-armor.html

br> H

L
BLOG

&T
H

EVA F
A

Here are the pieces for the Garron Paduk boots. They have
been cut out using an X-acto knife. The sharpie tick marks are
to help me match up the pieces and to mark locations for
seam lines, center line, etc.

The next step for them will be to flatten the texture by

heating the surface with a heat gun.
After the texture has been removed, you can start to heat the
EVA foam for shaping. Keep the heat gun about 2"-3" away
from the foam, and keep the gun constantly moving. You
don't want to heat it up too much. If you do, you'll end up
with a burned/scorched spot.

I only use superglue for assembling my EVA armor. I know some people use hot glue & other adhesives, but I've found that my
coating/painting aheres better if hot glue is not involved.
Bill Doran of Punished Props did a video on his YouTube channel about the various super glues he uses for his props. I couldn't
say it any better, so instead of trying, here's his video.

These are the boot tops on my Marcus Fenix boots. I placed

them on the MF boots because I hadn't completed Garron's
boots yet. (the boots were on back order)
You can see that there's a fairly sharp bend in the front of the
boot top. This was achieved by grinding out 1/4" deep channel
in the back side of the foam.

4/15/2016 3:03 AM

Assembling the Armor

2 of 3

http://www.hardscrabblefarm.com/costuming/eva-assembling-armor.html

This is the Doc Marten boot with the EVA shell applied. The
boot & boot upper will not be glued together. I attached an
elastic strap to the pull loop of the boot & velcroed it up high
inside the boot top. The elastic was able to stretch when I
walked, and pulled the boot top back down when I wasn't
walking.

Here are the main panel lines cut into the boot top. I used the
sharpie tick marks that I made earlier as a guide. Just take
your metal ruler & mark the line with a sharpie. Then use the
side of a Dremel 85422 Silicon Carbide Grinding Stone to
cut the panel line. This is where having the flex shaft
attachment is very handy. You can lay the flex shaft along the
foam so just the edge of the dremel stone cuts into the face of
the foam.

This shows the addition of the kneepads to the boot. As you

can see, the kneepad is made from two halves, that are heat
formed & then glued together. I could have made this from a
single piece, but the model shows a seam there, and making
it in two halves allowed me to replicate the shape of the curve
accurately for the two kneepads. Otherwise it would have
been trial & error to match the curve of the two kneepads.

Now I'm applying details made from 2mm & 3mm fun foam
(Silly Winks). The large pieces are cut & then applied to the
boot using superglue. I did not cut the slots into the kneepad
inset until after I had glued the piece down. I did a plunge cut
with the end of a dremel chainsaw sharpening stone to drill
each end of the slot, then went back with the same bit to
connect the two holes.
I used the same process for the slots cut into the face of the
boot top just below the kneepads.

4/15/2016 3:03 AM

Assembling the Armor

3 of 3

http://www.hardscrabblefarm.com/costuming/eva-assembling-armor.html

Here's the boots just about done. It still need keepers to hide
the seam between the kneepad & straps, but it's just about
ready for Plastidip.
To find out more about simulating the stitching visit THIS
PAGE.

Garron Paduk's pauldrons

Upper Right Photo: This is the shoulder paudron pieces after
they've been cut out, heated to remove the texture, and the edges
dremeled to give them a smooth rounded edge.
Upper Left Photo: The pauldrons have been heat formed. Robin
discovered that an old 2-5/16" hitch ball clamped in the shop vise
was a perfect tool for forming rounded sections of foam. You heat the
foam up using the heat gun. You'll be heating both the front & back
sides of the foam, but really pay attention to the outer side for the
stretch/form. Once the foam is heated up enough, you'll pull/stretch
the foam down over the hitch ball. Make sure to move the foam
around on the hitch ball or you'll get an uneven curve.
Lower Right Photo: You'll need to remake/adjust the patterns for
your fun foam pieces after you've heat formed the main EVA foam. I
had to stretch the fun foam template by almost 2" due to the
stretching caused by the heat forming. Again, like the slots in the
kneepads, I did plunge cuts with the dremel AFTER I applied the fun
foam to the pauldrons.
Lower Right Photo: These are the pauldrons after Plastidip. They
are ready for paint.
<-Back to Cutting & Shaping the EVA Foam

On to Plastidipping and Painting the Armor->

Web

www.hardscrabblefarm.com

2003 Brian Mead / Hardscrabble Farm

If you'd like to use any of this content on your website, please notify me via email prior to posting the content. Also, please credit the source as Hardscrabble Farm and if an author or
contributor is noted, please credit them too. Basically, if you want to swipe my stuff, I know I can't stop you...or it would be costly, time consuming, and definitely NOT fun to try.

4/15/2016 3:03 AM