40K Cosplay - Space Marines

I happen to love 40K Cosplay.  And Space Marines are the most challenging costume to do. 

Some do it well, Some do it VERY well.  Here is one example of an exceptional cosplay that was written up in Wired magazine. 

From Wired:

Step one: Join the “Obscurus Crusade,” an entire forum devoted to creating costumes based on the game’s Space Marines, Orks, and Tyranids. Or, for those not quite ready to enlist in the intergalactic army, creator Shawn Thorsson has provided an overview of his process at Instructables.

Designing the Armor

The first challenge in creating a life-size Space Marine is accounting for the difference in size. These iron giants are a couple feet taller than most normal people and that requires some design translation. People wearing the costumes have to walk on stilts and use arm extenders to make the proportions work and models need to be built around that.

Using a slick software package called Pepakura, cosplayers can pull 3-D data from videogames and turn those files into paper models. Once the paper is cut and folded, it is reinforced with fiberglass to give it strength for the next step.

With fiberglass models made, the space marine recruits can create multiple copies of the armor through a process called vacuum forming. Using this technique, a thin sheet of plastic is heated and pulled over a shape using a vacuum, leaving a near-perfect replica of the original.

Not every part of the costume could be built the same way. The helmets were very complex and required the designers to use a casting process. Once the base models were completed, they were customized in the painting and decoration phase.

After months of hard work the final costume started coming together. With a little paint and polish, these space marines looked ready to fight whatever baddies Emperor Zurg could throw at them. The costumes stole the show at Maker Faire 2012, and will likely wow even the most jaded Comic-Conner.

Honor and glory await any brave recruits willing to trudge through the 352 steps that take three-and-a-half months to complete. But be warned: This is not a project for the faint of heart. In order to enlist in the Space Marines you’ll need to brave sharp blades, horrible heat, and noxious chemicals. 

You can read the whole article here.

Loken