EPT![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/285131_1866035498217_1460920800_31518546_7341119_n.jpg)
An evil genius eager to see his devious designs come to fruition.
My pal was the brains behind the design of the suit, and since he's doing a technical writeup for some costume site I won't go into exhaustive detail, but I can give you a general idea. Insulation foam, as hot as it makes you, is the easiest material to work with for costumes like this unless you're willing to shell out for fiberglass, so we went to Home Depot and got a bunch of sheets of both 3/4" and 1 1/2" blazing pink foam.
![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/285401_1866036098232_1460920800_31518551_7869258_n.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/293471_1928736745709_1460920800_31594837_2350864_n.jpg)
Who says Precalculus isn't a worthwhile class?
The first and most important part of construction was making the templates for each piece we needed out of construction paper. This ensures consistent replication. For each piece, we first made a rectangular version of whatever it is we were trying to make. We then molded this with a hot wire cutter and sandpaper.
![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/217561_1866036218235_1460920800_31518552_3266438_n.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/308295_1928737025716_1460920800_31594838_4452108_n.jpg)
RIP tape measure. You served us well.
That brings me to my next point. Our selection of tools was pretty limited, but I think it worked out just fine. We found a cheap hot wire cutter on the internet that was excellent at molding the foam. We also took some spare wire from the handheld wire cutter and used to to make an ad hoc "band saw" for making more precise angled cuts. We also used these really cheap knives from Michaels, which we found to be better at cutting out pieces than the hot wire. Be careful when you're melting the plastic, though, as it gives off some pretty harsh fumes. My pal admonished me on the first day on the job: "You smell that? Don't. It's toxic." I'm not responsible for you if you get cancer or shrunken testicles or whatever.
![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/314064_1986130980529_1460920800_31644554_1181259033_n.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/304576_1986131980554_1460920800_31644557_992128118_n.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/309201_1986131340538_1460920800_31644555_1947050995_n.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/320921_1986131740548_1460920800_31644556_520287553_n.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/303608_1987933585593_1460920800_31646043_690756600_n.jpg)
Quite a few sheets of insulation foam, a killing of hot glue sticks, a couple of broken knives, and a gallon of paint later, our suits were ready. We all added our own finishing touches. I opted to install speakers in my suit, add case fans in the back, and, of course, paint on a little heart-to-heart for my zerg players out there. I wrote a blog earlier when I was about halfway done with getting the speakers in there. It was a bitch and a half to get the old speakers I was using out of their plastic cases, but I finally did it with a dremel and some very careful cutting. I hot glued the board in the suit, did a little bit of soldering to make it use a 9v battery, and I was good to go. The fans were powered by 9 volts, too. Here's a little video I took today showing my chestpiece in action:
We had a lot of fun walking around and either confusing or impressing people when we finally wore our suits on Wednesday. It was terrible to walk around in those boots, but we managed at around .2 miles per hour. A lot of people, thankfully, recognized that we were marines, but other people thought we were transformers. When they announced us as winners for the group day costume contest winners at the pep rally, they called us "the senior robots." Regardless, it was a blast making these suits.
![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/302435_295644323782449_100000106522146_1426151_635184075_n.jpg)
A gaggle of girls dressed up as characters from Avatar that probably didn't understand our suits.
![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/309865_1997300139751_1460920800_31653146_608222986_n.jpg)
A friend of ours heard about our plan and threw together a ghost costume at the last minute.
![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/308429_295644420449106_100000106522146_1426156_758779927_n.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/315406_1997302539811_1460920800_31653152_273127132_n.jpg)
Here we are, mixed in with the Doctor Who group and the rest.
![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/311630_1997303019823_1460920800_31653153_1212800718_n.jpg)
It is a little known fact that Time Lords are actually huge fans of StarCraft. Here, Doctor Dave poses with Minh after getting an autograph.
Right after the pep rally finished I went to the StarCraft Club booth at the activities fair for the freshmen with my suit and blasted some StarCraft music to lure the freshmen in. It was great, I think we got at least 30 emails.
There are a few things in my mind that are obvious points for improvement, if you're thinking of doing this yourself:
+ Show Spoiler +
-We tried to order plastic domes to make the helmets (and use some servos to make it open and close), but since we couldn't get a shipment of them in time, shitty plastic bowls from Party Depot were the best we could do. This didn't work, of course, because the bowls were flat at the bottom, preventing a full range of motion for the helmet. A better suit would, you know, have a helmet.
-The shoulderpads are attached to the suit. Because we designed our chestpieces before we really figured out how the shoulders would work, we made them too wide and were forced to hot glue the shoulders onto the chestpiece itself. A better suit would have shoulderpads actually attached to the shoulders. This allows them to move with the arms and look more realistic.
-The "bracers" on either arm look really out of place without gloves or something for the upper arms. We thought of using black plastic tubing (the kind that's ribbed, if you know what I mean) for the upper arms but never got around to it. We probably could have put latex gloves over ski gloves and painted them blue for the hands, but we never got around to that either.
-We used a nut and bolt on either side on each boot to connect the shinpiece to the foot. In my case my hinges had completely broken. By the end of the day our boots were in terrible shape. We didn't have time for this, but we did think that maybe adding bigass washers on either side of the bolt would make it eat into the foam less.
-The shoulderpads are attached to the suit. Because we designed our chestpieces before we really figured out how the shoulders would work, we made them too wide and were forced to hot glue the shoulders onto the chestpiece itself. A better suit would have shoulderpads actually attached to the shoulders. This allows them to move with the arms and look more realistic.
-The "bracers" on either arm look really out of place without gloves or something for the upper arms. We thought of using black plastic tubing (the kind that's ribbed, if you know what I mean) for the upper arms but never got around to it. We probably could have put latex gloves over ski gloves and painted them blue for the hands, but we never got around to that either.
-We used a nut and bolt on either side on each boot to connect the shinpiece to the foot. In my case my hinges had completely broken. By the end of the day our boots were in terrible shape. We didn't have time for this, but we did think that maybe adding bigass washers on either side of the bolt would make it eat into the foam less.
It was a bit sad doing all this knowing that it would be our final homecoming project, but I'm glad that we at least went all the way with it. (Or, at least, as far as we could.) Our suits are clearly far from polished, but with the amount of time and money (~$70 per suit, ultimately) we spent on them, I'm happy.
