Cardassians in my bedroom!

Last night, there was a large, powerful windstorm that swept through our area. Branches went down, pool floaties flew across the yard, but worst of all...the internet was knocked out! Because I had no way to be distracted by Facebook all night long, I managed to get a decent amount of work done on my Cardassian uniform.

The first thing I did was finish adding the piping along the bust seam panel thingies. The piping was made with a strip of foam that was folded double and glued together. I glued it down along either side of the panels, the same way I did for the neckline edges.

It was then that I decided that I wasn't entirely happy with the diamond on the front of my armour. On the original uniforms, it had stood out from the chest, and mine was just laying flat. So, I took the scissors and cut the bottom half of the diamond away from the rest of the foam. I used some scrap pieces of foam to build a support structure that blended in with the breastplate. I was much happier after I'd done all that.

At this point, I was really, really happy with how it was turning out. So far, so good!

I used the pattern I had made for the front and cut out the same pieces for the back of the armour. I assembled everything in the same way, and added the piping. I scrolled through my reference images, and then I saw it...the back had a sticky out thing at the centre neckline, just like the front, just without the diamond. Le sigh. So, I undid a bit of the neckline at the centre and built up another triangle of foam to give it the proper shape. Seriously, Cardassians and their ridges!

So, that's where I am right now. The front and back are all assembled and ready to be fortified, detailed, epoxied, etc. There are some areas that are a little rough, namely the diamond in the front and the ridge in the back, where I had to mess with the original pattern and add new foam bits. I'm thinking of using Bondo, since it can be molded and shaped. It would also give a really nice finish the the whole armour if I decided to use it over the entire thing. The only problems I have with that are - 1) The original armour didn't look like 'knight in shining armour' type of body armour, which is the result I'd most likely get with the Bondo once it was all sanded and painted - 2) Bondo tends to make any piece you're working on massively heavy - 3) It's allot more work, since the foam has to be sealed so the Bondo won't end up dissolving it.

So, anyway, things are still progressing nicely! I'm heading to the fabric warehouses in Dallas tomorrow to hunt for fabrics for the uniform jumpsuit, as well as picking up supplies for my Klingon uniform (to be on display in the dealer's room at the Las Vegas Trek convention!), and a commission for a Starfleet duty uniform. Lots more details in the near future!