Me as Cpl Hicks at Chicago wizard world Comicon this weekend. Armorbis all homemade from fiberglass painted and weathered with regular acrylics; everything else was mostly just foam, PVC, and polyurethane...mostly. Can’t afford Chefs fatigues so I opted for the Polish ones. Didn’t get as many photos as I would have liked. MAybe have better luck in St. Louis this spring.

Looks good marine! For future reference, if you hit up any Chicago area cons, post in the uscm forum. We've got a lot of members who are in the area and would love to go on a drop with you!

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PFC Mike Rizzuto MVM
USS Blackhawk
3rd Batt 12th Regt

Looking sharp!

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"I'm working on it ... "

Very nice. You make the shotgun scabbard?

Yes, I made the scabbard on the way to Chicago from St Louis in the car! I cut it out and heat formed it out of brown EVA foam prior and used a soldering iron to poke the holes in the side for the leather shoelaces that held it together and stitched the twine in on the way to Chicago. While there, I used the soldering iron to stitch in a set of belts to make it the correct length. Then painted it burnt umber to match the belts (best I could do).

Outstanding. Very clever and looks great

Looking good Marine!

That's your first cosplay? That's great kit right out of the gate!

Thanks for all the nice words. Planning to be at the wizard world convention inSt Louis in 2019 (whenever it is, probably April). Hopefully I will have his portable cutter built by then!!

That looks great! Really good proportions on the armour (something folks often struggle with on their first set) and that Polish camo just rocks. You should be proud of the finished impression!

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My entry-level prop and costume tutorials: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12751

Well done! is the pulse rifle foam?? this gear looks amazing top to bottom, I feel inspired to go work on my own today! do you have any build pics or tips on that pulse rifle or other parts?

Yes, pulse rifle is foam, pvc, and metal (cut and bent). With the armor, I went through several iterations before I got it right. I also learned that if you make fiberglass thin enough and use straight weave fabric to reinforce (vs random weave), you can heat it up with a heat gun and bend it. Once it cools, it stays so I could form fit it to my waste. I could also make the should paudrons and waist/rear pads flat and curve them. The light rig was hard sheet plastic accented with a ‘For Sale’ sign from menards. I still have all the templates for the silicone/corn starch, latex rubber, and plaster (mother mold) and the diagrams for the pulse rifle/M-240 if anyone lives in the St. Louis area.

Added some pics of the Pulse Rifle Build(s) (I made 2--One for me as Hicks, one for My daughter as Ripley) if anyone was interested. I know Evil Ted did one of these on his YouTube Channel but I did mine differently.

Very nice!
Nice build and paint for the m41

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FRCM
https://www.facebook.com/FRenchColonialMarines

Excellent Work!! Foam?!?! WOW!

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USCM- The Colonial Marines- A Brotherhood of Bad Asses!

His Ithaca Model 37 (Close Encounters version) is foam as well. The PVC chamber and barrel were stretched to make the barrel narrower and thinner. The light is made from sheet plastic from Menards with the raised areas and light diffuser made from a heavy ‘For Sale’ sign. The light itself was borrowed from a $2 flashlight. The adjustable ‘neck’ was all kinds of complicated to build!!!

was there a pattern for the pulse rifle? ive seen one good pattern on google images but can never get the file to load up. was that lamp a kit?

I have an airsoft version of the pulse rifle that I made templates from and used as reference. It’s really close to the screen version. I got the dimensions for the light box off this site from a post someone else kindly contributed based on the propts they used in the movie. The other items I kinda guessed at from pictures on the web. I made about 3 or 4 versions of the ‘light cube’ before I finally got it right.

If you were going to make the 2 part system like I did for the pulse rifle, I’d recommend finding a good side view and blowing it up on the printer (I always use PowerPoint but I am old fashioned). For the Thompson portions, I’d blow up a picture of s Thompson without the stock or foregrip. The shroud is a little tricky because it’s at a goofy bevel at the sides and bottom but if you make it from thin, but fairly rigid (maybe 4mm) foam and fill it in with solid pieces, it works great. Can’t see it but he 1/2” PVC running through the center where the mag would go over has a “T” piece I modified to “snap” the grenade launcher barrel to. When it is in, it hold the entire unit together but during building, allows you to remove the launcher to paint and modify it separately. I used PVC because I wanted something for the rifle barrel shroud, “sliding” (it does NOT slide) stock, and barrel holder (that Upsidedown V-shaped piece near the end of the barrel) to mount to. These were important because of the need to the sling to mount to something solid. Be happy to share any plans I can if they would do anyone any good.

The light box under construction. Notice the fiberglass armor in the back. Took several iterations to get those right!

dude ill take any and all plans you might have. i need to build a light. and i really need to learn to use fiberglass like that. I could learn so much from this thread.

I’ll see what I can post on the site that will be readable/usable. A lot of the time I kind of made stuff up as I went along, especially with the shoulder lamp where there was a lot of modified screws and homemade parts (reinforced with aluminum and cast in polyurethane plastic or fiberglass). First thing I would look up would be the pepakura files someone posted way back when on this website. Those were invaluable. I had to modify the chest and back a little to custormize them to fit by heating the sides up and bending them to fit my waste bit of there than that I made cardboard cutouts of the pepakura diagrams which I transferred to foam which after gluing together were made into latex or silicone molds along with plaster bandage for casting. Took a while to do but effort was well worth it. Unfortunately I didn’t take many photos along the way. Regardless I kept all the plans.

how did you shape the light handle?

I originally made the lamp handle out of EVA foam so it would be light weight. I got ambitious and decided to cast it in polyurethane or polystyrene (I forget, anyway it’s really heavy now!). The foam version had an aluminum rod running through it to keep it from bending (all my props are reinforced with metal/wood/PVC/etc). I used a picture from the internet as the reference for the basic outline, glued with the internal aluminum rod, and sanded the finger spots with a spindle sander (could do the same thing with a dremil tool). The washers were glued on for when I ran the tightening rod through the entire thing. The casting material is silicone and corn starch. Smells awful but works well and is really cheap. The highlighted areas on the “top” are more cutouts from the same ‘for sale’ sign as the main box. Oh, FYI-make sure you make your box first so you can match the handle to it!

thats incredible, never heard of the silicone and corn starch thing. definitely gonna look into it. that is incredibly ambitious and accurate. I would never have attempted that build without seeing this. getting inspired now.

Also, if anyone was wanting make the armor (or costume of any kind), INVEST IN A MANNEQUIN!! Makes building/testing/modifying significantly easier, especially if your friends/family is not really into this and doesn’t want to risk getting a soldering iron or drill stuck in their back!