The Log:
1. Head - 100%
2. Torso - 100%
3. Shoulders - 100%
4. Arms/Hands - 99%
5. Cod - 99%
6. Legs - 99%
7. Back Kibble - 100%
8. Gimmicks/Accessories (doesn't count toward total %)
.......Cannons - 0%
.......Glowing eyes - 0%
.......Martini glass - 0%

9. Concepts/Diagrams
10. Body Shots
11. The Final Word

--

TOTAL COMPLETE: 99%
Cost so far: $375
DEADLINE: July 23, 2009

SQUEEE! Mirage is hearts ever since Spotlight! And his Classics design is one of the best TF toys ever.

You get double awesome bonus gold stars!

LOL, keep changing your mind, do you? Can't wait to see it! xD

PRODUCTION HAS OFFICIALLY STARTED, LAWL.

Pictures of posterboard mockups to follow in coming days.

That looks absolutely bitchin. I'm planning on going to SDCC this year but there's no way my Bumblebee costume would fit in any normal sized suitcase. So I'll be odd-one out, wearing my normal clothes. I can't wait to see the finished thing come July!

You could always ship it out here and pick it up once you get here. Just make sure to pack it up nicely.

o1- Head

.Plans
Complicated face, simple helmet. Made out of 4mm craft foam, blue, white, and dark gray vinyl, and black plastic industrial flooring material for the side vents. I also hope to have EL sheet eyes this time, haha.

.Finished Mock-up of Helmet



.3.28.09 WIP



.4.29.09 WIP

The beginnings of a face! Perhaps a bit too frowny... might remake this part.


5.17.09 - COMPLETE

o2- Torso

.Plans
Relatively simple upper body with a more complicated system of plates and lames for the midsection, which will be 2mm foam. Upper torso will be 4mm.

WIPs

Back is still partially unfinished. This is the under armor... there's going to be an enormous ensemble of a mantle that will rest on the shoulders, and also a yoke that will cover up my neck area.



*Edit: HURG, it's too form-fitting even with the top chestpiece on, and as a result, really accentuates my high waistline. This is going to need bulking up.

5.18.o9




Much, much, MUCH better. It's light, bulky, and getting to be just the right kind of shape that I want. Note that the little hole in the front is going to be red inside there (and just below that, his "23" decal), possibly lit by an LED, and the silver stripe in the back is going to be mostly covered with what will be back kibble. I tried the ensemble on with the hip bits and thighs for a good measure of consistency and scale, and so far so good.



And here is the best shot I could find of the finished torso piece. It velcros on the top, sides, and the abdominal kibble comes out for easier storage too. All in all, it fits like a dream.

o3- Shoulders

.Plans
D:
...huge. I just want them to stay on and not leave an enormous gap between it and the torso. Possibly made from foamcore and 4mm. It's gotta be sturdy.

.WIP



7.13.09
A single, finished shoulder. Second one should only take me half the time to do, thank god.





7.15.09
Two finished shoulders with torso for scale/silhouette.

o4- Arms/Hands

. WIPs

Diagram of upper arm. Because of difficulties with arm movement with Blaster, I've divided the upper arm into two pieces. The orange part will remain stationary with my arm and shoulder, and the lower part (nesting over the upper part) will nest and rotate, allowing for medial/lateral rotation in my arm.



4.19.09




Finished the mock up of the arm. All it needs now is some foam and vinyl. 83

5.22.09


5.25.09


And here's basically a finished arm. Unfortunately, the elbow joint essentially fell apart during the convention (due to crappy vinyl, and foam too thin to handle the stress) so I'm going to be fixing them up so they'll be in good, photogenic order by Sept. 1st for the shoot.

Before:


After:


Last night I just decided to go and rip it out altogether. It will allow me a wider range of motion, and I won't have to worry about a joint getting caught on itself. I might remake it someday, but for now I am rather satisfied without it.

o5- Cod

.Plans
Robo-diaper this time so it'll stay in place and generally look better. Goal for this is to have as little gap above the thighs showing while maintaining as much leg swing as possible.

.WIP



.5.9.09
This is the backside. I've got a front... thing planned out, but I haven't made it yet, so yeah. But this is pretty much what it looks like. It's really solid and sturdy, and the hip kibble stays in place like a charm.



8.30.09
This is the rig I ended up with for the con. The thighs are attached to each other by a thin strip of craft foam coming up and over the crotch area, which prevents them from falling down.

o6- Legs

.Plans
Make them look good, really. Uhm... also make the platforms under the feet out of something sturdier so I won't get shorter through the day, haha.

5.13.09



7.9.09


7.12.09
This is car kibble for the outside of my legs.


More WIPS...




Here's a detail of one of my wheels. It's only about 3/4s of a wheel, and hollow so my foot can fit inside (mine and costume foot). Man, I put so many little details in it that nobody saw unless it was falling off. xB Anyways, the sides are foamcore, and the rounded part is craft foam covered in strips of electrical tape.



This is the platform that I built my foot around. It measures something like 7"x7"9". It was built out of 6 layers of 3/16" foamcore, and two 32 oz. tubs of yogurt. I filled the one that's directly under my heel with a roll of cardboard so it wouldn't collapse under my weight, then proceeded to glue/tape it all together. I still wasn't convinced it would hold my weight for long periods of time, so I went and filled the cracks with expanding foam. Each can is single use, so I had to buy two at $5 each. That stuff was a huge pain to work with, but it really did the trick. These platforms rock.

Finished


And there's the finished leg. I forwent the side kibble because I didn't have any time to make a second... and it looked pretty awesome without it too. The cavernous space that is the inside is spray painted matte black so it won't show up in pictures as well.

o7- Back Kibble

I was going to do wheels here, but they're going to be too big and too time-consuming. So, I've opted for additional kibble that I noticed some of the F1 models having. This is what I've determined to be an engine intake that goes on the back of the racer, behind the driver's head. I built a compartment in it to house future electrical bits, and apparently burgers for BotCon. xD

o8- Gimmicks/Accessories

.Plans
Two arm-mounted guns that glow orange, glowing eyes, and a prop martini.

o9- Concepts

o1. Near-full body- front

o2. Back torso

o3. Arm diagram

References

o1. F1s Top

o2. F1s Side

o3. F1 Diagram

1o- Body Shots

7.8.09




7.28.09


Debut








Concert Hall Shoot

Head updated.

Arms updated. :3

Added a WIP body shot.

Picture added!

Also, my fuggin' enormous shoulders are going to have to be attached to some kind of harness under the mantle (white chest piece it's taped to in the picture). This ensemble will probably include straps to go around my upper arms, and another strap that connects both pieces over my back, and under the armor. Actually on second thought, I might just make some super tight-fitting things to fit around my upper arms (two straps for each one), and just have it velcro to my jumpsuit... hm.

Anyways, in other news, my lower legs are too small. ARGH. I tried scaling them up by photocopying each piece at 115%, but when I reassembled it, it didn't fit right. So... yay. My first set back.

ALSO:

If you're using the weldwood contact cement (red kind), note that the stuff in the small jar and the stuff in the large can are almost entirely different consistencies. Small jar glue is very viscous, an opaque yellow (so don't use on white foam because it will show), and really doesn't require any time to set; whereas the stuff in the can is thinner, transparent, and must dry almost completely or else it'll cause the vinyl to warp, bubble, and separate from the fabric backing.

Oh damn.

Dem sum big shoulders. Good luck with that monstrosity... xD

Hound's shoulders are gynormous too so what I did was string two lines of black elastic per side and it sort of just rests on my shoulders with the elastic being just taut enough to keep it from shifting. Debating cutting up some reaaaaly small bits of velcro to attach 'em to the torso but it hasn't been giving me problems thus far. Surprising what a little elastic and velcro can do. XP Have you considered putting two rods in the shoulders to give support and to make it easier to attach to the harness?

i hope this isn't too vulgar of me.. but you made that posterboard your Glitch! it bends to your will

^^;; i guess that wraps up anything else i wanted to say

For those who didn't see on DA... added another WIP photo. :D

Looks awesome so far =D

It's just one thing I wonder, the paper you use for making it, it looks a bit harder and more sturdy than normal paper, where do you get that?

Thanks!

And yep, it is. It's just posterboard, though. You can get it anywhere, really. Even at chain grocery stores. xD

Well, after some stupid shipping snafu, I finally got my vinyl today from syfabrics.com.



(It's way more aqua-colored than in the photo... more like this: )

Now I can FINALLY finish my helmet, shoulders, and cod. Hooray, on with the show.

Helmet WIP added.

That looks godly Pilot!

And just curious, are you shipping Mirage to California? I'm trying to think of how to get Arcee there myself.

Thank you!

And yeah, I'm getting him shipped (or I'm sticking him into plastic tubs and taking him on the plane with me, which, come to think of it, will probably be cheaper... $20 for every extra check-in, versus the price of postage for packages of that size). I won't have all of him done, and am deliberately avoiding doing his legs and feet because of just that.

That's really looking good. How well do the shapes transfer from mock-up with the poster board to the foam with it's varying thicknesses? Where do you order your vinyl from?

Thanks! It actually transfers very well... you just have to keep in mind that the foam is thicker than posterboard, and cut accordingly (this usually means beveling the edges inward on the inside for thicker foam).

As for my vinyl, I get it from a store (when I'm at home) in downtown LA, but they don't have many useful colors, so I ordered my blue from SyFabrics.

-------

Also, updates to torso and arm sections.

I'm curious about the vinyl you use, is it the wet look kind?

Central Texas is completely out of marine blue flake model paint and has been for over a month now so I'm having to change finishes if I want him for Botcon. Which I do, lol.

Yep, PVC "wet look".

Arm WIP photos added, as well as a drawing.

Gettin' closer!

Head update. :B

Mirage is looking amazing. I love that vinyl! I'm going to have to pick some of that up for Hound.

Where on earth do you get vinyl in LA? Apparently all the fabric stores in Texas are filled with effing morons. I don't know why they're having so much trouble grasping the concept of wet vinyl or even pleather but they do. -_- I figure I'll pick up the vinyl for the pockets on my Marissa suit when I'm there since I'll be in LA two days before BotCon.

If you just go to the garment district in down town you can stop by Micheal Levines it's a pretty awesome fabric store. Last time I was there they had a huge selection of wet look vinyl. Though Pilot bought this batch online from syfabrics.com. They're really cheap, though you have to be careful because the pictures don't accurately depict the color. I'd order a set of swatches from them if I was you. Hope this helped.

P.S. The garment district has pretty much everything fabric related you could ever need so if you don't find what you want at Micheal Levines you can just wander into the neighboring shops and look around. Also one more note about the garment district they close early so make sure to go there in the morning or else you'll miss all the shops.

It's just white vinyl but I'm worried about getting it in time. I'll stop by this garment district when we get in on Tuesday hopefull! Thanks for the rec on the store. The color should be easy to find. *snerk*

And if you go to the fabric district take cash. Some don't accept credit and in smaller stores you can bargain the people down a bit. Which is helpful for expensive fabrics like vinyl (or wool as was my case).

And don't forget money for parking! :lol: