G1 Soundwave

G1 Soundwave
Completed



Video of dancing in the costume: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JztdJ1udtig
Skit this costume is in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU4C4tY9gug

Work log
precent Completed: 100%
Cost: about 100$
start date: march.
Deadline: 29 july (made it!)

Head - 100%
Chest- 100%
-Shoulders - 100%
-shoulder canon - 100%
Upper Arms- 100%
Lower Arms - 100%
Hands- 100%
"stomache" - 100%
Cod - 100%
Upperlegs - 100%
Lowelegs - 100%
-Feet - 100%
Concussion canon - 100%
electronics - 80%
Lazerbeak - 100%




Materials/tools used/bough so far:

Tools

Snap blade knife
scissors
eraser
pencil
brush
ruler
measurement band
Tape
hot glue pistol
Soldering Iron

Materials & such
Cardboard
Transparent red color - for the screen.
magnets
hot glue
acrylic colors
Gumtape
upholstery foam (for the buttons push function)
acrylic spray sealer
protection glasses
plastic sheets
paper

sweet
looking forward to seeing your progress!

Soundwave seems to be a popular choice for most beginners. Boxy and all made up of simple squares and rectangles, it's a logical choice.

I would take it one step further, though and do what Pilot did -- putting speakers in where they were supposed to go and making him play music.

Although you then can take it one step further and make his crotch-buttons actually work.

Good luck, and I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures from you~

Yes there are many squares and such so that will be a bit easier to make than those more round shaped parts some others have.

Skiss/planning

After thinking through everything I've started to skiss it up, I think I've also solved some problems.
Im thinking of putting a portable computer inside and connect it to some speakers and a reprogrammed keyboard, if it works out well, hopefully, the buttons will work and It will play music.

Im not good at drawing but I tried to skiss things up a bit. Atleast I hope you can see what it is.
Front torso, cod, legs and feet. + the head a bit up to the right


From the side


Arms



a skiss on the lock for the hatch to the left and kinda the torso on the right.

Head

I decided to start with the mouth piece, and then go on to the sides and the helmet itself. It felt easier that way.

The mouth piece is only done in the front, I need to cut the fronts a little more and ad the sides and bottom.
here is some in-progress pictures





Now I've made the things on the sides, though the length of them is too long so I'll adjust it when I need to.


Here I've worked on the helmet, it's getting closer to done now =)


And here is the helmet again, but I've worked a bit on the forhead



Here I put the Mask and Helm together and cut it out to fit.


here is the magnets on the mask and inside the helm they are pretty small, but VERY strong. took me half an hour with brute force to get these things from each other... but when glued like this they hold firmly but it isn't hard to remove either.

Alright! the helmet and mask is done and ready for outer threatment!


Alright!
I've done the outer treatment and started painting it. It's the wrong color for the moment, atleast the blue. So Im gonna buy the right color next week.
This is how it looks like for the moment. (I also bought the glasses and I'm going to paint it this weekend)


I painted my glasses red with transparent red I found at Hobbex. (a store mostly for stuff to building models and painting them and such.)


And her is the repainted head with the glasses, it's just the first layer of paint. I need to make the nose now. =) (the picture isn't good and the visor looks a bit black on the picture. just noticed that =P)

Torso

I didn't know how to start with the torso, So I decided to take a normal Cardboard box and try it on and then from that scale it down until Im happy with it.

I've cut it down a lot, and made the sides that point inwards, I think it's enough. But Im thinking about cutting it to point more inwards, it wasn't that visible on the photos when I looked at it. (opinions on it is much appreciated)

I've skissed up for the hatch, and the little downward thing in front of my head is also skissed up and ready to be cut.
I've yet to make the hatch, shoulder-canon and button on the left shoulder. but I will soon.

I've also done the shoulders and decided Im done with them. Just to remake and glue stuff and then put the velcro and other things to hold it up. then it's painting and such.

The torso, a lot of ugly drawings on it.


The side of the chest.


One of the Shoulders up close. the tape looks really ugly, can't wait to start the gluing and remake part.


Finally took the courage and made the hole for the hatch.


Alright the hatch, It opens too, and there is room inside, a piece of cardboard has replaced the glas for the moment.



This is how it looks like now!
The backpack is finished and I've almost made the hatch completely now, Im gonna use upholstery foam to make the eject button pushable as I did with the cod buttons.
It took some time to get the backpack to the size I wanted but I think it turned out okay =)




and the shoulder canon =)

Upper Arms

This part can be in the way but can still be necessary and such. So Im gonna try make this one in soft foam and fabric too. as the upper legs. But these parts will probably be stuck to the tights by velcro.
Im gonna experiment with it a little and see if it works.

Lower Arms

Alright I made the base in cardboard.
and I put a cardboard piece inside it so it wouldn't fall around and stay on the arm properly.

Cod

I made a dubble layer for the cod, so that I could make holes for the buttons in the outer layer, then put upholstery foam between the button and the bottom layer, thus making it pushable. If I have time, I will make a hole in the upholstery foam and put something hard om the bottom side of the button that doesn't reach the whole way down to the bottom layer, and then some kind of switch on the bottom layer of the cod to make the button actually work. But that will probably be a later project. and I don't know if it will work practicaly. But in theory it works.

The front, in progress of making the buttons.


Now the buttons are done and I just need to put bottoms on them and add the upholstery foam I don't have yet. or I will check the basement for any just in case, you never know.
This is how the back and front looks like right now:

Front: (the buttons are pushed in in lack of upholstery foam.)


Back: (skissed up "pockets")


Im trying on the cod with the uncut upper legs, the buttons are pushable, but they are a bit hard to push, though. I didn't want the too lose.
time to start gluing this thing, and put on the belts and such too.


Hot gluing


Gumtaping, I've also put on some rems to but to the belt


Alright. The cod is 100% completed
there are straps inside of it and I got braces to hold it up, I just snap them onto the straps.

Upper Legs

I decided to just make them like this and then recut them to fit the cod and lower legs when they are done.
I decided to hold them up in belts and velcro.

Upper legs front


Upper legs side

Lower Legs & Feet


The knee, almost done I think, I made two identical.



And this is the front, I taped the knees on to it, though, the front thingy is a bit uncut, and so too long, but I will adjust that.


This is how it looks like right now


this is how it looks like now, I was thinking of just painting the vents on, But I decided I wanted some more 3D like details, So I cut out a hole and made the piece I took away into strap like looing pieces I used to make the vent.

Feet & hands

Im making the gloves by buying blue gloves and then using small pieces to glue on it. then cut them a bit so I can move my hand freely.

Im cutting them out in cardboard and making it like a skeleton, So one finger has 3 pieces on it. and every piece is made of top, left and right. except those fingers in the middle, their pieces to left or right or both is made shorter for mobility. so a bit of the top goes over the knuckles. (the very top piece of the fingers also have a front top)

At the beginning it looks like this


Then it looks like this, all ready to start gluing.


This is how the hands look like right now, they need some painting and such, I can play Guitar hero in them, though I don't get room with all fingers, but I can't pic up a small pen though.


I made a pose with the glove on.


Hand painted, they just need to acrylic spray sealer so they become protected and a little more shiney


I tried yoga block! they seem easy to cut in too. I glued some shoes I made out of socks and sandals I just took away the straps from. It's sticking nicely and doesn't seem to lose or get off even if I wanted to!
They are surprisingly easy to walk around it, I've (with the legs) run up and down the stairs and walked around, i can almost do a spinn in them, they are wonderful, and makes me 7 centimeter higher too

Electronics

I decided to try put the speakers in the back, now I just need to find some speakers small enough, and to have the right cable for them. Im still on the hunt for a good music player that will fit.

w00t!
this little thing might actually work to just wear under the costume, very geeky indeed =) (can be used in other costumes too maybe, it was an april fool in the beginning, but they actually made it anyway)

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/interactive/a5bf/

Though, if I wont go with that, I found some small speakers that will work too. =)

Voice changer bought, gonna put it together and test it out =)

Lulz, using my basic setup for the Work Log... xD

Can't wait to see how it turns out here~

yea I've never done a work log before so gotta learn from the Senpai's I guess

Senpai? Me?

Heh, I don't think so... xD

*UPDATE*

Skiss/planning

Electronics

Torso

Very nice, it's coming along...

I would say, though, that the legs for the speakers would probably be your best bet. Anywhere else and they could potentially weigh down your whole system and make it hard for you to move.

The torso might be a good idea, but in all actuality, you have the most space for the speakers in your legs.

When Lauren did her speakers, however, she just gutted out some large speakers, taking the magnets and heavy things out that she didn't need, and put them in the legs. While they were really cool looking, hers actually didn't play music at all; her real speakers were hidden under the vents in her knees. It was a really ingenious idea for her to do that, and I would say that in the knee would be your best option as well.

There is, however, once drawback; the amount of jarring motion her speakers went through for that one day of wandering around messed them up and, I believe, tore some of the cords. I'm not sure exactly what was wrong with them at the end of the day, but I know something was screwy.


Anyway, I would still say you should try or the legs at least with some small speakers in the knees.

Well, since Soundwave doesn't have any visible speakers, she can totally eschew any large cones and just install some small, hidden speakers like I did. And in fact, if she's gonna do that, I'd say figure out how to put them maybe in the back? My speakers were pretty small- about 6"x3"x1.5", so the two of them on your back wouldn't really look out of place at all.

And also Mirai: lol, my speakers still had the magnets on them and everything. I tried hammering and prying them off, but nothing worked. I ended up with pretty good bruises on my legs because of it, but they weren't really heavy. I'd say the only real disadvantage of putting those in was the strain they put on the leg itself, and I think that's what partially caused my calves to start falling apart.

Oh! And we figured out that the speakers got fudged up due to being blown. xD

Serious? xDD

I thought you were able to gut them! That sucks, dude... I figured the speakers would have been shot; I mean, you played music all damned day.

Thanks a lot for the tips, Im definitly gonna try it!
Since he doesn't have any visible speakers It's gonna be a bit easier to choose where I want them and no need to make fake ones. Im gonna try with some tiny speakers and see how it turns out. I can guess that the speakers isn't able to take too much damage and heat in the costume for a whole day, But I will try figure something out for how to protect it, just in case.

*UPDATE*

Upper arms

Upper legs

*UPDATE*


Head

*UPDATE*

Feet & Hands

Lower Legs

Head

*UPDATE*


Feet & Hands

Head

Lower legs

Nice work!

Looks awesome

Thanks =D

It's coming along ^^

*UPDATE*

Head

*Bonus Picture*
Me in the half finished Soundwave helm + mask

Looking good!