Gundam F91

Alright! Smash it to pieces! I have the intention to over the summer improve the costume and add missing details, so any critique would be very helpfull! Both good and bad!

Here is the costumes' Worklog; http://z4.invisionfree.com/transcostumers/...p?showtopic=347

Pics:



Just say everything you can come up with that is fine as it is or should be improved! Thanks!

First off -- gotta say that this sucker is very pretty! You did a smashing job on it.

The lines look a little ragged to me. From far away, I'm sure the costume looked flawless, but the closer someone got, the more jutted and shoddy the lines look. Sorry; by lines I mean seams. I first noticed it with the Chevron on the helm and the helmet itself. In the pictures they look lop-sided and very bumpy. Might I suggest the use of Wonderflex or some other form of hard plastic for the V-chevron-things in the future?

The "F-91" looks pasted on. Like .... I know that's what it is, but the fabric around the red lettering looks wavy and disjointed. This also ties in with the back wings. The fabric looks very loose and floppy. Maybe try to tighten the strain on it next time? I'll admit that the waves were the first things I saw and the first things I disliked about the costume. I do like me some smooth robot faces.

There's some major perspective fail going on that I've been able to see. The shoulders are much too large for the body mass there and it seriously looks like you SD'd your body but left the shoulders alone. Possibly beef out the chest and sides of the cod a little more? I've also noticed that the cod is too long. It looks like it's covering up far too much of the upper legs, while not giving enough girth to the costume for perspective purposes.

Your legs also look odd from a front view. Just before it bulges out for the knees they are incredibly skinny. It makes the costume look top-heavy and makes me wonder when those spindly legs will snap.

Other than that, I don't think there's anything else to report. Nicely done!

I only have two problems with this costume:

One, the application of the vinyl isn't the best. I'm sure you're well aware of that, though. There's a billion ways to mess up the gluing process, so next time maybe try out a different combination of materials and timing to get the fabric to stick really well.

And two, the scale is off. I know that making it exactly to scale is impossible, but you could have stood to make the legs and feet bigger/longer, beefed up the fore and upper arms a little, and thought about the size of the backpack a bit more. The things that come down on the sides are a little too big compared with the middle part, and the black things in the middle could have been a bit more robust in size and placement. They seem to be way more prominent in the illustration. It also seems that the backpack thingie is lacking in detail, though that's probably due to time constraints.

Excellent job, though! You gotta love a Gundam costume.

Alright, the critiquing period is over (albeit a little late!)

Sedra, you may comment now if you wish.

Thanks a lot for all the things pointed out!

I feel the same about the vinyl and scale thing, it's really out of it, and I would need to remake a few parts before putting this one back on again, I think the chest needs a few mods too.

As for the vinyl covering, I know it was my first try, and I did learn a lot about it! Glue is such an essential thing in it, The glue was way to weak, and after a while it lost it's grip on the vinyl and air came in, that's why it looks rather bad at some places, I really hate that part about the costume, and vinyl is really hard to work with. I dunno if I will keep using this type of method to make my costumes or if I'll look for something that I think is better to work with, but I will try a little longer and practice more! Though I like the parts that actually turned out good.
The scale was pretty off, and I think I need to change the structure a little so I can get better scales on it. Thanks again!

Oh and the reason The F 91 looks so strange, is because when the glue I used for that one dried, it messed up the PVC and wrinkled it, I was horrified by it and will not use it on PVC ever again, I couldn't remove it either, because I didn't have the time to remake the shoulders. But next time! It shall be even better.